USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 32
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In that county grandfather Stephens Curry was born, and one of his sons was Colonel W. L. Curry, an uncle of Mr. F. W. Curry, and now a resident of Columbus, Ohio. He enlisted during the Civil war and was made orderly sergeant of Company C. First Ohio Cavalry. He was a gallant and brave soldier, and for merit was promoted through the grades of captain, and later received the brevet rank of colonel. After his fine record throughout the war he became a man of mark in his native state, and has attained to considerable fame as a writer. His most pretentious literary work is a war history of Union county, which is not only a most interesting but also authentic work. It was first issued as part of a general history of Union county, but was later published separately in book form, and reached a large sale.
John W. Curry, the father of Mr. F. W. Curry, was born in Jerome township, Union county. He followed farming until about twenty years
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ago, since which time he has been connected with the coal mining indus- try. The prosecution of this latter enterprise was what led him to locate in Pittsburg, Kansas, in November, 1888, and he and his family have lived here for fifteen years.
Mr. Floyd W. Curry was reared to manhood and received most of his education in Pittsburg. On leaving school he took up the coal busi- ness, and for the past eight years has been in the employ of the Wear Coal Company, being now in the Pittsburg office of that large company.
Mr. Curry affiliates with Pittsburg Lodge No. 187. A. F. & A. M. He was married in Pittsburg. December 25. 1899. to Miss Gertrude Morris, and they now have a daughter. Clorinne.
HON. ASAPH NEWTON CHADSEY.
Hon. Asaph Newton Chadsey, who died at Cherokee, Crawford county, December 5. 1898, was for thirty years the best known business man of that town, and his death at the age of sixty years took away a man of great business and executive ability, of firm integrity and most beneficent character. He was known and honored throughout the county as one of its oldest pioneer settlers, and his life was throughout above reproach, of civic and personal purity, and wide usefulness in whatever realm his activity led him. He is remembered and loved for his un- selfish devotion to family and friends, and he was always performing some unostentatious acts of kindness and charity which helped and made life's pathway easier for others. The story of his career is simple. for he pursued the goal of his ambition without many wanderings from the direct current and channel of life, but from the time he left the old Illinois farm for army service until his last days were ended in Cherokee his years were years of action and diligence with ever increasing success up to their conclusion.
Mr. Chadsey was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, January 8, 1838. His father was a prosperous farmer of that county. He was educated 26
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in the schools at Rushville, Illinois, and afterwards attended Berean College at Jacksonville. Illinois, where he graduated. In 1862 he went to Quincy, Illinois, and enlisted in Company C. One Hundred and Nine- teenth Illinois Infantry, which was assigned to the Sixteenth Army Corps, Army of the Mississippi, under General A. J. Smith. He partici- pated in the fighting around Vicksburg. in the Red River expedition, in the siege of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely, was in the pursuit of General Price through Missouri, fought against Hood at Nashville, and his final muster out was at Mobile in September. 1865. when he had earned a most gallant army record.
After leaving the army he went to Chicago and took a course in Bryant and Stratton's Business College. In 1866 he came to Cherokee. Crawford county, or rather to the country that has since been organized into the present boundaries and political bodies, for this part of the country was then the Cherokee Neutral Lands. During the following winter he went across the state line to Lamar. Missouri, where he taught school one term, and then returned to Crawford county and went into the mercantile business at Monmouth. Three years later he came to Cherokee and established a store in partnership with Joe Lucas. this connection continuing for about three years. He continued in the mercantile business in Cherokee for the rest of his life, and the well- known Chadsey store, a substantial brick building erected thirty years ago, has since his death, been conducted by his eldest son. F. N. Chadsey. It has been one of the largest establishments in Cherokee for many years. and has always maintained a high standard of commercial excellence.
Mr. Chadsey was a very stanch yet exceedingly popular Repub- lican, and extremely public-spirited. In 1887 he was elected a member of the state legislature from this county, being a colleague of Colonel Brown, of Girard, who was in the assembly at the same time. He served in the lawmaking body with honor and distinction. He was a prominent figure in public affairs in Cherokee. He was several times elected to the office of mayor and councilman, and was also clerk of the
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school board. He was a member of the official body when the county was organized, and was always enthusiastic in promoting the growth of his own town. He was a member of the Christian church, and frater- nally was a Knight Templar and a Royal Arch Mason, was at one time commander of his Grand Army post, and identified with other social bodies.
Mr. Chadsey was domestic in his tastes, and lavished his affections upon his family, providing liberally for their education. He was mar- ried at Monmouth in 1868 to Miss Saline Elizabeth Adam, who survives him and with her younger children resides in the beautiful Chadsey home in Cherokee. where she is regarded with esteem befitting her own sweet character and noble life. Two of their children. Robert and Frank, are deceased. Those living are: Mrs. Ida Dorsey, the wife of G. A. Dorsey, a well-known scientist and the curator of the Field Colum- bian Museum at Chicago: Mrs. Florence Hare, the wife of H. B. Hare. of Cleveland, Ohio: Frederick Newton Chadsey, the merchant successor of his father: Miss Mildred, who is a graduate of the University of Chicago : and William Lloyd, attending college at Morgan Park Acad- emy at Chicago.
J. E. HARMON.
J. E. Harmon is well known and highly esteemed in southern Craw- ford county, where he can claim pioneer citizenship dating back to the year 1869, when there was not a railroad in the county and this section of the state was mainly valuable as a fine cattle range. Industrially the county had not aspired to any activity whatever when he arrived, and he was among the first men to mine coal. His first place of residence was in Baker township, where the town of Litchfield now stands, and it is to his credit that he mined the first coal at that locality, which is now one of the large producing places for coal in the county. For some nine years he mined coal in this vicinity on a custom basis; coal mining
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not becoming a profitable or extensive industry until the late seventies. He has been interested in the various phases of the industry ever since, and is recognized as one of the best judges of coal, coal mines and coal lands in Crawford county.
Mr. Harmon was born in Clark county, Missouri, in 1852, a son of Levi and Matilda (Sears) Harmon, the former a native of Kentucky and of Dutch descent and the latter of Scotch ancestry. The parents brought their family to Crawford county in 1869, settling in Baker township, where the father continued his life occupation of farming. dying when past sixty. He was a Democrat in politics, and he and his wife, who lived to be eighty years old, were members of the Christian church and were noted for their kindness and hospitality to all with whom they came in contact. Eleven children made up their family, five sons and three daughters growing to maturity. Mr. J. E. Harmon is the only one now living in this county, and his sister Ida Kendall lives in Galena, Kansas, and another sister, Mary Henderson, is in Oklahoma territory.
Mr. Harmon passed the first seventeen years of his life in Missouri, during which time he was able to attend school only at intervals, and his education and business training have been gained mostly in the school of experience and by his own reading and observation. He lived at Black River, Arkansas, for two years, but on account of sickness re- turned to Kansas and lived at Litchfield for twenty-two months. He then moved over into Cherokee county, living in Garden township near Galena, for some sixteen years. He has bought and sold large amounts of coal land in this part of the state, and has always enjoyed success in his connection with the coal industry. He now owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres not far from the towns of Bruce, Mon- mouth and Cherokee, and this land is especially valuable for its coal de- posits. He has opened up the surface vein and taken out some fine coal. this particular vein being located just eighty rods from the Bruce Deep Vein coal. Mr. Harmon has a good house, barn and other improve-
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ments on his place, which is located on Wolf creek, and he has met with satisfactory prosperity in his various enterprises.
Mr. Harmon was married in 1872 to Miss Lucy Clinkenbeard, of this county. She died leaving four children. William A., Matilda J .. John H. and Mary. Mr. Harmon was married to his present wife in 1896-Susie A. Harris-and they have one daughter. Velva L.
SILAS W. EMERY.
Silas W. Emery, who is engaged in stock-raising and farming in Crawford township. Crawford county, was born in Clermont county. Ohio, February 26, 1833. and is a son of Henry and Susan ( Ramsey ) Emery, the former a native of New Jersey, and the latter of Kentucky. The father attained the advanced age of seventy-three years, passing away in 1872, but the mother died in 1841 at the age of thirty-nine years.
In the common schools of Ohio Silas W. Emery mastered the ele- mentary branches of English learning, and at the age of sixteen years he started out to earn his own living by working at the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for nine years. In 1854 he journeyed west- ward to Knox county, Illinois, and invested his earnings in a farm near the city of Galesburg. He was for twenty-one years a well-known agriculturist of that locality, successfully conducting his farm, which annually brought to him a good income. In 1875, however, he sokl his property in that state and came to Kansas, where he purchased four hundred acres of land. He has since divided one hundred and eighty acres among his children, but retains possession of the remaining two hundred and twenty acres and has continuously resided upon the one place covering a period of almost thirty years. Its improvements are his work and indicate his careful supervision and practical ideas. He has lived a life of unwearied industry, and although he started out for himself with no capital he is to-day one of the substantial residents of his adopted county, having valuable farm possessions.
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On the 7th of October, 1857, Mr. Emery was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Ellen Meek, a native of Illinois. They traveled life's journey for almost forty years, sharing with each other its joys and sorrows, its adversity and prosperity, but at length they were separated by death, Mrs. Emery being called to her final rest on the 19th of May. 1896, when sixty-two years of age. They had become the parents of twelve children : Hattie E., who is the wife of James Pyle, a resident of Sherman township, Crawford county; Carrie, the wife of A. Lincoln McWilliams, who is represented elsewhere in this volume; Susie, who died at the age of thirty-two years; Mary, who died at the age of five months: Daniel, who is living in Crawford township: John R., who makes his home in Kansas City, Kansas; Thomas, Minnie E. and Sallie E., all at home; Margaret, the wife of Edwin E. Colean, of Pittsburg, Kansas; Teenie, who died at the age of fourteen years; and Jay, who completes the family.
While residing in Illinois Mr. Emery was a member of the Masonic fraternity, Pacific Lodge No. 400, Knoxville, Illinois. He has always given his political allegiance to the Democracy, and was once a candidate for county commissioner and later for county treasurer in Crawford county, but as this is a Republican district he met defeat together with the other candidates on the party ticket. He served, however, as school treasurer for twenty-four years and three months, and in all matters of citizenship he has been progressive and public-spirited, giving active and helpful co-operation to many movements for the general good. He was one of seven men who organized the second horticultural society of Crawford county and was made its president. His worth as a business man and citizen is widely acknowledged, and he has ever been honorable in his business relations and conscientious in the discharge of all obligations.
JAMES T. FOWLER.
James T. Fowler, who has been a successful general merchant of Arcadia for the past seven years, is a native son of Crawford county,
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and belongs to one of the oldest families, whose connection with the county dates back to the year 1856, over ten years before Crawford county was organized. He has spent an active life in this county and in various parts of the west, and as a merchant his personal worth and integrity of character and honorable methods of dealing have given him a well-deserved success.
Mr. Fowler was born in Lincoln township. Crawford county, October 12, 1873. His grandparents were Robert and Minerva ( Bilyeu) Fowler. His grandfather was born in England, April 26, 1830, and came to America in boyhood, settling in Christian county, Illinois. He was the one who first made the name of Fowler prominent in the history of Crawford county, and when he located on Bone creek in 1856 the other white settlers within the confines marked by the present boundaries of the county were few and far between. He lived on one farm in Lincoln township from the date of his settlement until his death, on April 26. 1903. at the age of seventy-three years to the day. He was one of the most honored of Crawford county pioneers. His wife (lied March 17th, 1903, also at the age of seventy-three.
The parents of James T. Fowler were George and Ellen E. ( Mason) Fowler. His father was born in June, 1852, in an Indian cabin in Indian Territory, while his parents were on an emigrating journey. He is now one of the leading farmers of Lincoln township. His wife died when her son James was nine years old.
Mr. James T. Fowler, after losing his mother, lived with his grand- mother until he was seventeen years old, receiving his education in the public schools of the district. At the age of seventeen, without ever having been on a train more than once and having seen very little outside of his own community, he started out to see the world and seek his fortune, with the usual aspirations and romantic dreamings of youth. He went to Washington territory, where he worked at farming for a year, and then made his way to Montana, where he was engaged vari- ously at timber work, teaming. and as foreman in the timber. Five
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years later he went to the Bitter Root valley in Montana, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land. After visiting home he returned to that state and was employed in the silver mines until 1897. when he sold his farm and other interests in Montana and returned to his home county. On October 1, 1897. he opened the general mercantile estab- lishment in Arcadia which he still continues with such good success. He is also agent for an old-line life insurance company.
Mr. Fowler was married in September. 1901, to Miss Ollie M. Lightle. a daughter of Isaac Lightle, a merchant of Arcadia. They have two daughters, the elder. May. being aged two years. Mrs. Fowler is a member of the Christian church, and he has fraternal affilia- tions with Lodge No. 329. A. F. & A. M., Lodge No. 401, I. O. O. F., and with Lodge No. 579. B. P. O. E., at Fort Scott. He was first presi- dent of the Commercial Club of Arcadia, which was organized .April I, 1904. He was at one time city councilman, and in politics is a Democrat.
EDWARD S. NEVIUS.
Edward S. Nevius, proprietor of the Nevius Coal Company at Pittsburg, Kansas, and one of the most prominent coal operators in Crawford county, is an excellent type of the man who adheres to one line of activity from the time he enters a career and by his persistence and energy attains a marked success to crown his efforts. Mr. Nevius became connected with the coal industry as a boy, and steadily advanced from one position to another, until he is now and has been for nearly fifteen years one of the leading independent dealers of Pittsburg. He has resided here for twenty years, and is one of the most esteemed citi- zens, honored for his strict business integrity and for the public spirit and enterprise which are manifest in all his relations with his fellow men.
Mr. Nevius was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, in 1864. a son of Charles L. and Nan (Stewart) Nevius. His father, a native of Ken-
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tucky, came from that state into the iron regions of Ohio at an early day. He was a soldier in the Civil war, and several years ago he took up his residence in Pittsburg. Kansas, being now in a clerical position in the office of his son. He and his wife have a pleasant home in this city. and are happy and genial old people, enjoying their remaining years in comfort.
Mr. Edward S. Nevius was reared and educated in Ohio, and when still a boy began work for the Southern Ohio Coal Company. He has since mastered the coal industry in every detail. and at an early age was given places of responsibility. In 1884. when he was twenty years old, he came to Pittsburg and took a position with the Kansas and Texas Coal Company, with which he remained for six years, during the last three years holding the position of assistant superintendent. On January I, 1900, he resigned in order to embark in his present business, which is conducted as the Nevius Coal Company and of which he is the owner. He operates three shafts: No. I. west of town : No. 2. two miles north of town, and No. 3. which is a new mine, at Stippville. in Cherokee coun- ty. Several hundred men are employed in these mines.
Although still a young man, Mr. Nevius is one of the oldlest oper- ators in this district, nearly all of the original operators here twenty years ago having either died or moved away. He has a very successful and profitable business, and it is conducted on lines that are the result of years of experience and study in coal mining and dealing.
Mr. Nevius married Miss Carrie Enochs, and they have two daugh ters. Nadine and Julia. Mr. Nevius is prominent in fraterini! circles. being a Knight Templar Mason and a Mystic Shriner, and also a mem her of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
DR. CHARLES WALTER OTT.
Dr. Charles Walter Ott, the leading dentist of Pittsburg. Kansas. has been established in his profession in this city longer than any other
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of his present fellow-practitioners, and has gained a wonderful reputa- tion throughout the county for his skill and thorough and careful work. He is modern in all his methods, and to be up to date in the dental pro- fession means as much as it does in the medical profession. for the two sciences have kept pace in their wonderful development of the past half century. Only the dentist of worth and skill can long hold the patronage of a large class of people, and no better acknowledgment of Dr. Ott's scientific workmanship can be made than to state the fact that he has been in successful practice in Pittsburg for nearly fifteen years, and that his patrons have returned again and again to him, many having come back to him even after they had moved away to other cities. His patients come from the better class of citizens, and he has enjoyed the respect and esteem of all, whether in his professional relations with people or in a social way.
Dr. Ott was born in Johnson county, Kansas, in 1866, being a son of William and Amy ( Davis) Ott. His father is one of the oldest living pioneers of that county. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and came to the Sunflower state in 1857. when the Indians and buffaloes still made that country their haunts, and when the country was the scene of some of the most desperate and bloody border warfare known to the history of our republic. He has been a prosperous farmer through- out his career, and, with his wife, who was born in West Virginia, still lives in Johnson county.
Dr. Ott received his education in the public schools of Johnson county, after which he taught school for three years. He then followed out his determination to take up the dental profession, and for that pur- pose attended the Missouri Dental College in St. Louis, where he was graduated in 1890. In the same year he located and opened his office in Pittsburg, where he has continued to practice with increasing success to the present time. He is a member of the Kansas State Dental Asso- ciation, and fraternally affiliates with the Masonic order and the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks.
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Dr. Ott was married at Pittsburg, in 1895, to Miss Louise Lloyd, of that city, and they have two children, Geraldine and Marcella.
Dr. Ott is the patentee of a new device known as "Ott's Clothes Line Reel," which as a most practical as well as ingenious household necessity. It can be manufactured at such a low price that most any home can afford one. He expects to prosecute the manufacture and sale of the article throughout the United States and Canada.
S. D. SMITH.
S. D. Smith, whose model stock farm is situated in sections 28 and 29 of Walnut township. Crawford county, is one of the oldest farmers, in point of time engaged, in this county. He manifested unusual energy in his youth, and began farming independently in this county when only seventeen years old, and during nearly the subsequent forty years has found his best success in tilling the fertile soil of Crawford county and in the industry of stock-raising for which this region has been noted since its earliest occupancy. It is no small honor to have been identified with this country ever since the county of Crawford gained a separate political existence, and his citizenship has been as sterlingly worthy as it has been long in years.
Mr. Smith was born in Morgan county, Illinois, February 25. 1850. being the son of Garrett and Elsie Smith, who were natives, respectively, of Virginia and Kentucky. They moved from Illinois to Iowa. thence in 1866 to Crawford county, Kansas, where four years were spent in farming, and then they returned to Iowa, where the mother died in 1885 at the age of fifty-six, and the father died in Washington in 1890. when eighty years of age.
Mr. S. D. Smith had his early training in the states of Illinois and Iowa, and after arriving in Crawford county in November. 1866. began farming, to which occupation he had been reared. He took up and im- proved a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, and in 1885 bought the
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one hundred and sixty acres on which he now makes his home. He has developed a fine farm out of this land, and to him is due the credit for nearly all the improvements that mark it out as one of the beautiful and productive farmsteads of Crawford county. In stock-raising he makes a specialty of fine Poland China hogs and Hereford cattle. About ten years ago he branched out into operating a threshing outfit and a saw- mill, and has had considerable success in these enterprises.
Mr. Smith and family belong to the Christian church, and he affili- ates with the Modern Woodmen of America at Walnut and is also a member of the Threshers' Protective Association of Crawford county. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served in the office of school director. In September, 1872, he married Miss Lettia A. Waterman, a daughter of John and Sarah Waterman, of Illinois, who were among the real pioneers to this county, settling near Girard in 1857. Her father died in Kansas, and her mother is now living in Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three children : Jesse L., who is operating a saw- mill in this county: Ethel and Colonel Verl, at home.
W. E. TURKINGTON.
W. E. Turkington, as a proprietor of extensive coal lands and mines and large farming tracts, and as proprietor of an extensive general mer- chandise establishment and owner of numerous property and financial interests in Cherokee, is one of the best known men of Crawford county, and therefore needs no introduction to the readers of this history. A man of broad business ability and executive direction, as shown in his control of his large interests, and of great personal magnetism and force of character, Mr. Turkington has been able to follow in the footsteps of his late father as a powerful factor in the affairs of this county, and has exercised and will continue to exercise a potent influence in matters per- taining to the general welfare and progress of town and county.
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