USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 34
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ROBERT M. ROSS.
Robert M. Ross, a retired farmer of McCune, living in Osage town- ship, is one of the old settlers of southeastern Kansas, where his years have been spent in useful activity since 1866, having come here soon after the war, in which he performed a full share of patriotic service and sacrifice. He was living in Mercer county, Illinois, at the beginning of the rebellion, and in August, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Second Illinois Infantry, his first captain being Thomas Likely and second Daniel Sedgewick, and the regiment being under Colonel McMurtry. They were in camp at Knoxville, Illinois, and then sent to Peoria, Illinois, where they were engaged in guarding railroad during the winter ; after some service in Kentucky and Tennessee they participated in the great campaign which began with the battle of Look- out Mountain. and at the battle of Resaca Mr. Ross was wounded in the left leg. This proved a dangerous wound, gangrene setting in so that the case came nearly to the point of amputation. He was detained for a long time in various hospitals, at Louisville. at Jeffersonville. Indiana, and at Mound City, Illinois, and was finally honorably dis- charged on account of disability.
This honored veteran was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, near Zanesville. November 20, 1833, so that he has already passed the seven- tieth milestone of his career, during which he has been found true and faithful to all the duties and responsibilities of such a long life. He was
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a son of Samuel and Mary ( McClellan) Ross, his father a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and of Scotch ancestry that traced back to the old highland chiefs. The mother. a daughter of Robert McClellan, was a relative of General Mcclellan of Civil war fame. The parents were married in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, thence moved to Muskingum county, Ohio, and from there to Adams county, Illinois, locating near Quincy. The father, who died at the age of eighty. was a farmer, and in politics originally adhered to the Democracy but after the war became a Republican. The mother also lived to he eighty years old, and they were members of the United Presbyterian church. The three children were Jane, Mattie and Robert.
Mr. Robert Ross was reared on the old Ohio homestead. attending the schools there, and later he went to Johnson county, Kansas, and to Mercer county, Illinois, in the "year of famine," where he lived till after the war. He was married in 1866. in January, to Miss Jane E. Marshall, who has been his faithful wife and helpmate for the past thirty-eight years. She was born in Ohio, where she lived until six years old, and then went to Hancock county and to Henderson county, Illinois. She was a daughter of Samuel and Martha Marshall, and her mother was a sister of Professor S. C. Marshall, now president of Tarkio College, Tarkio, Missouri. Her parents both died at Kirkwood, Warren county, Illinois, her father, who was a farmer, a Republican and a member of the United Presbyterian church, at the age of seventy-five, and her mother at the same age. There were six children in the Mar- shall family : Jane E .. Martha, Anna, Bell, John, and one that died young.
In 1866 Mr. Ross started for Kansas with team and wagon, camp- ing out at night, and was four weeks on the road. He took a claim in this county, and for his first home built a box house fourteen by twenty feet. He continued with unabated energy to improve his place from year to year, adding better buildings, until he had one of the best farms in Osage township, situated five miles northwest of McCune, and it
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forms a very valuable asset for Mr. and Mrs. Ross in their declining years.
Mr. and Mrs. Ross have had eight children born to them, a daugh- ter, Martha, dying at the age of eleven and another in infancy. Those living are: Alice Thompson: Anna Gilbert: James, who operates the home farm: Olive, at home: Emma Hamilton : Charles, who is also on the farm. Mr. Ross has the honor of being a true and original Repub- lican, having voted for John C. Fremont in 1856, and all his sons are following in his footsteps politically. He served a number of years on the school board. He is a member of Osage Post. No. 156. G. A. R., and he and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church.
DR. JAMES S. PATTON.
Dr. James S. Patton, who has made Crawford county the center of his active life since he was sixteen years old, is prominent at Fron- tenac as a druggist, banker and in connection with other business inter- ests, and for a number of years was a leading medical practitioner. although in recent years his business has made too great demands on his time for him to continue regular practice. The town of Frontenac owes much to him for its growth and progress, and his public-spirited endeavor has been freely accorded to all enterprises looking to the com- munity's upbuilding and welfare.
Dr. Patton was born near Livonia, Washington county. Indiana. in 1863, a son of Granville and Clementine (Trabue) Patton. Both the Patton and Trabue families were among the earliest settlers of Wash- ington county. Dr. Patton's paternal grandfather, B. F. Patton, with his brother Dave, settled in that part of Indiana in the early part of the last century, and from the wilderness cleared out a farm. About the same time George Trabue, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Patton. also arrived in Washington county, having come from Kentucky, and made himself a home from the undeveloped government land. Both
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families are of a longlived race. George Trabue attained the great age of ninety-eight, dying in 1903, and B. F. Patton also died within recent years when a very old man. Granville Patton was a Washington county farmer most of the years of his life, but a few years ago retired and came to Crawford county, Kansas, making his home now in Pittsburg. His wife died at the age of twenty-five years.
Dr. Patton lived on the Indiana farm during the first sixteen years of his life, receiving his education in the country schools. In 1879 he came to Kansas and entered a drug store in Cherokee. Crawford county, for the purpose of learning pharmacy. He later studied med- icine at Mineral City, with his brother-in-law. Dr. R. S. Mahan, as preceptor. He was engaged in practice in Sherwin, Kansas, for two years, and in 1889 took up his residence in Frontenac, which has been his home town ever since. He had a drug store here and also carried on his practice as a physician. His mercantile and other business inter- ests increased to such an extent that he has about discontinued his professional duties. Besides the large Patton drug store he has an adjoining building devoted to hardware, groceries, furniture and gen- eral merchandise lines: he also conducts a lumber yard at Frontenac and another at Englevale, and a livery stable at Frontenac. Recently he has gone into the banking business, having established the Frontenac State Bank and built a large two-story brick building as its home.
During the year 1904 Dr. Patton organized the Frontenac Coal Company, operating midway between Frontenac and Gerard, Kan- sas, located on the Santa Fe Railroad, and the company has a large tract of coal land purchased adjacent. and will successfully push the new mining industry to a successful end. Dr. Patton has also become interested in the commercial enterprises of the bustling and progressive city of Pittsburg, being half owner of "The Owl Drug Store," associated with Henry Kettler, and this firm is also known in the business circles of Pittsburg and community as "The Caloquine Med- icine Company," and they have their own laboratory and compound and
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manufacture the following remedies: "The Caloquine Indian Herb Tea." "Caloquine Chill Tablets" and "Peach Blow Cream."
Dr. Patton's place as one of the foremost citizens of his town is shown by the fact that he was the first mayor of Frontenac, and has always been interested in the welfare of his town. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Dr. Patton was married in 1885 to Miss M. B. Adams, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. They have two children, Sherwin I. and Vivian Clementine Patton.
. PERCY DANIELS.
Percy Daniels, former lieutenant governor of the state of Kansas, a lieutenant colonel from the war of the rebellion, one of the ablest and most statesman-like reasoners and thinkers on present-day political problems, is one of the honored pioneers of Crawford county. Like Cin- cinnatus of old, he enjoys and devotes himself heartily to the simple routine of country life, and is drawn from the plow only when some crisis in the political situation demands, or when he sees the need of clear and logical exposition to guide his fellow-citizens through the rocks of economic and national polity. He is everywhere recognized as a man of sound judgment, unswerving integrity, kindness of heart, in- domitable courage and persistency, and strong will power. No one could mistake his intensity and zeal for fanaticism, for he arrives at his conclusions by thorough reasoning and deep experience, but, once his mind is set to the right as he sees it, he is a rock of Gibraltar, unmoved and immovable. Not only Crawford county but the entire state is hon- ored by the presence among its citizens of such a man as Colonel Daniels, without mention of whom a history of Crawford county in particular would be very incomplete.
Colonel Daniels was the second son of Judge David and Nancy
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(Ballou) Daniels, the latter a daughter of Dexter Ballou, a pioneer woolen manufacturer of Rhode Island. Percy was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. September 17. 1840, and was left an orphan at the age of six years. He was not a rugged lad, but managed to complete a com- mon school and academic education. While he was studying engineer- ing at Providence a long spell of sickness compelled him to give up his studies, and he was with relatives at Worcester, Massachusetts, during the months of his slow convalescence. About this time there was an incident that well illustrates an element of character conspicuous through- out the career of Mr. Daniels. Among the mathematical books he used at school was one of a thousand sums and problems, without a rule or formula : in school he had failed to solve seven of these problems, but while sick and unable to write he completely solved the remaining ex- amples without writing a figure. The last and longest one took three days, and just as he finished it a blood vessel broke above his eye. Mr. Daniels' literary education was completed at the Westminster Seminary in Vermont and at the University grammar school in Providence.
He was eager to enter the ranks when the rebellion broke out. but health would not permit. Yet he became captain of the home guard and gave much attention to the study of tactics and military operations. He spent the winter of 1861-62 in the pineries of Michigan, where he re- stored much of his strength, and in the following May he enlisted in the Seventh Rhode Island Volunteers and opened a recruiting office at Woonsocket. A commission as second lieutenant was given him on July 26, and as first lieutenant on September 4. He was soon in com- mand of Company E. which he had been largely instrumental in raising. and on March 1. 1863. he was commissioned captain. On June 29. 1864. he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the regiment, but the records of the war department show that he was in command of the regiment from May 18. 1864. In fact, when serving as fourth captain he was promoted over his seniors to the command of the regiment. In absence of the commanding colonel he had command of the regiment until it was
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mistered out of service. He was brevetted colonel to date from July 30. 1864. Colonel Daniels was never absent from his company or regiment during an engagement, and did not even avail himself of two leaves of absence which he received, but which came at a time when battle was imminent. He was never wounded, although repeatedly horses were shot from under him and bullets pierced his clothing. Among the battles in which he participated with credit to himself and such gallantry and courage as have marked all his subsequent career, were those of Fredericksburg, battles in the western territory, before Vicksburg, Jack- son. Mississippi ; again with the Army of the Potomac in the conflicts before Petersburg, battles of Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor. and various operations at Petersburg, and leading up to the fall of Richmond and the surrender at Appomattox.
After the war Colonel Daniels was in Kentucky and Tennessee doing prospecting and railroad work, and the appreciation in which his service in the army was held by his superiors is shown by the following letter from General Burnside, that he received just before going south : "I desire before parting with you to express to you my sincere thanks for the generous, loyal, efficient and gallant service you have always rendered me during our long service together. I know of no one who deserves better of his country than you. You will carry with you my sincere prayer for your health, happiness and prosperity. I am sure that the same energy, talent, loyalty and gentlemanly deportment that have made you one of our best officers will make you a useful citizen and a kind friend to the community in which you settle."
Colonel Daniels was not satisfied with conditions in the south, and after making a tour of inspection in southeastern Kansas he decided to make it his home. He took to himself a life partner, and then came to Kansas and settled on the so-called Neutral Lands, at Crawfordsville. He took up a claim four miles northwest of the present site of Girard. and while breaking and putting this land into shape for a productive farmstead, he opened and conducted a country store. He later sold his
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store, and his principal occupations since that time have been farming his beautiful "Narragansett" farm and surveying and civil engineering. His career as a civil engineer has been a noteworthy success, and he has accomplished several praiseworthy undertakings and held some responsi- ble positions.
In 1873 he accepted a position in the city engineering department of Worcester, Massachusetts, and lived in that city until 1879. for the last several years rising to the position of city engineer. He did much for municipal growth and improvement while in that city, and in connection with his services the Worcester Spy, in an editorial on January 30, 1878, said : "The report to which these remarks refer is, of course, that of the retiring engineer, General Percy Daniels, whose sagacity and good judg- ment. as well as his professional accomplishments, have been of great use to the city." Colonel Daniels became unpopular with the admin- istration and the appointive power of the city on account of his insistent opposition to "graft" of all kinds and to public improvement for private benefit, and he accordingly terminated his connection in 1878.
For the following two years he was again a resident of Providence. Rhode Island, attending to the settlement of a brother's estate and also a part of the time engaged in civil engineering. He returned with his family to his Kansas farm in the spring of 1881, and has been a contin- tous resident of Crawford county since that time. He was engaged in railroad work for two years, and held the position of county surveyor of Crawford county for five years.
Colonel Daniels became interested in political problems and espe- cially the causes affecting the depressing condition among Kansas farmers in 1888, and his deep study led him to many expressions of opinion in the press and by pamphlet. , In the course of that year an open letter appeared under his name, containing the "seven cardinal points of his political faith," in which he demanded the Australian ballot system, restriction of immigration, and a graduated tax on the estates of millionaires, and asked the Republican party to endorse these demands.
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In 1889 appeared the since famous pamphlets entitled "A Crisis for the Husbandmen," which was a course of lectures delivered at the invitation of the Grange, which exerted wide influence on Kansas politics for a number of years. His continued investigations led him to repudiate the hypocrisy of the Republican party, which he had supported for twenty- nine years. In January, 1890. he purchased the Girard Herald for the purpose of promulgation of his beliefs. He kept the matter before the people until some of his specific propositions were adopted by the county conventions of the People's party, after which he soldl his paper and retired to his farm.
In the People's party convention at Wichita. June 17, 1892, he was nominated for the office of lieutenant governor. He was not pres- ent at the convention, but the enthusiasm of his supporters and the recognition of his value to the party ticket soon impressed themselves on the members, and before the third ballot was completed .the name of Daniels was hailed with acclamation for the place. He was elected in the fall, and gave a most efficient administration.
Colonel Daniels has held a high place in the state military of Kansas. Governor Osborn appointed him brigadier general of the Third Brigade of Kansas militia, and Governor Lewelling appointed him major general of the Kansas National Guard for 1893 and 1894, but he was not relieved until February 22, 1895. In this connection he per- formed a most important service during the strike of the coal miners of southeastern Kansas, which had resulted in serious disturbances and some bloodshed. Colonel Daniels was also lieutenant governor at the time. He held a long interview with the strike leaders and informed them that the laws of the commonwealth must be obeyed and authority upheld. He then recommended to the governor at Topeka that the state forces be employed to preserve peace. There was a disagreement as to methods at the conference of officials, and about one o'clock in the morning the governor turned to Mr. Daniels and said: "I am going home and go to bed, and I turn the whole matter over to you to
2,
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do as you think best." One of the cardinal views of Mr. Daniels, and one that he had set forth in a campaign speech, was that "the prime object of laws is the assurance of individual rights and the protection of life and property, and it is essential for the good of all classes that the laws be enforced against all classes alike. And that the official must be guided by this principle however much his duties may be repugnant to his preferences or hostile to his sympathies."
He therefore at once ordered the adjutant general to assemble eleven companies of National Guards at their armories with three days' rations. Most of them were ready to move at daylight, and in conse- quence the strike was settled in twenty-four hours, without more trouble. General Daniels at the end of the year made a full report to the governor of the strike, and the documents referring thereto were published in full in the daily papers at the time, but in the state documents published one year later that part of the report referring to the importance of an impartial enforcement of the law was stricken out.
Colonel Daniels has in many ways which there is not space here to detail been an influential force in county, state and national politics. He is the originator of the graduated property tax, and has been con- stantly the reasoning yet determined opponent of cheap, imported labor. trust and corporation combinations in restraint of trade, monopolistic extortion, and all plutocratic methods and schemes by which the sta- bility of American institutions are threatened. Far and wide over the country his "Crisis" tracts created a profound impression on all think- ing men, and letters came from men prominent in public life throughout the nation expressing their favorable comments on his views and rem- edies.
Colonel Damiels was for a time a member of George H. Ward Post, G. A. R., of Worcester, Massachusetts, and also of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He also affiliated as a charter member with the blue lodge Masons of Girard. but is not at present connected with any lodge.
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Mr. Daniels was married at Leicester, Massachusetts. in June. 1867, to Miss Eliza Ann Eddy, a daughter of Leonard and Isabel (Newton ) Eddy. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels have four children : Frederick P. is a civil engineer of Englevale, Kansas : Walter H. is a civil engineer. and at present at home: Elizabeth B. is the wife of William P. Olin, of Girard: and Earle N. is now in college in Pittsburg, and has been teach- ing for the past four years. There is one grandson, Frederick Harmon Daniels.
DR. J. H. WOODBURY.
Dr. J. H. Woodbury is known not only at his home town of Chero- kee and its vicinity, but also over a large section of the middle west. his reputation being based upon his extensive manufacture of herbal remedies, which are used in thousands of households and are considered necessities of the medicine chest just as much as are camphor and quinine. By those who use them the Woodbury remedies are considered to possess wonderful recreative power, and the fact that they are manu- factured from noted medicinal herbs without admixture of any mineral substances or deleterious elements of any kind indicates that the fame of his medicines is based on substantial and enduring ground. Among his most popular and effective remedies are Woodbury's Golden Oil and the Rheumatic King, and these and others have a wide and constant sale in different parts of the county. Dr. Woodbury has an excellent and well equipped laboratory in Cherokee, and his remedies are manufactured with the greatest care and in accordance with the most scientific prin- ciples of modern chemistry.
Dr. Woodbury is an old-timer in Crawford county, having located here in 1879. a quarter of a century ago. He was born in Union City. Randolph county. Indiana. April 25. 1844, of an old family of that state. His paternal grandfather, William Woodbury, who had been a soldier in the war of 1812. settled in Indiana in 1831, among the pioneers.
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Alonzo Woodbury, the father of Dr. Woodbury, is now living near Arcadia, Kansas, at the very advanced age of eighty-five years, and his wife, Elizabeth E. (Earheart) Woodbury, a native of the Mohawk valley in New York, is also still living, a venerable old lady of eighty years. The father has followed farming as his active occupation, has been a Republican in politics, and he and his wife are Methodists. They reared eight children, five daughters and three sons.
Dr. Woodbury was reared in Indiana, where he was taught above all else the value of honest industry, but he was also well privileged educationally. He studied in the medical colleges at Dayton and Union City, Ohio, but began active practice before he received his sheepskin of graduation. From Indiana he went to Page county, Iowa; was at Rockport in Atchison county, Missouri, and then at Polo, Caldwell county, in the same state, where he preached the gospel. He came out to Kansas in 1865. being a resident near Lawrence for awhile, and since 1879 he has been an esteemed and useful citizen of Crawford county. For several years he was also a faithful and zealous minister of the Christian church, of which he is a consistent member.
He was married in Page county, lowa. in 1864. to Miss Nancy Grove. a native of Ohio, and they have become the parents of the fol- lowing children : Etta, George, Charles, Frank, Eldora, Della, Bessie, Fred, Ella and Ernest. Politically the Doctor is a Republican, and has aways borne his share in affairs of the community and is a conscientious and broad-minded man in every particular.
B. N. BROWN.
B. N. Brown, of Sheridan township, is a resident of Crawford county of over twenty years' standing, having arrived here in 1882. He is a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, and having made a life work of these industries has gained a leading place among the men of that class in this section of the state.
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY 487
Born at Jerseyville, Jersey county. Illinois, November 30. 1840. he had just arrived at manhood when the Civil war came on, and in August. 1862, he responded to Lincoln's call and went up to Spring- field and enlisted in Company K. One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry, under Captain Morgan and Colonel S. N. Sanders. The regiment went into camp at Camp Butler : was sent south to Mem- phis, and thence to Vicksburg, being cut off from the rest of the troops for a time while on the way thither : took part in the battles of Raymond and Jackson. Mississippi, and in other operations around Vicksburg : at the battle of Champion Hills he was wounded. the captain of the com- pany receiving a wound at the same time, but he kept right on with his regiment : after the fall of Vicksburg. July 4. 1863. went south and was in the siege of Spanish Fort and the capture of Mobile : at Montgomery, Alabama, heard of the surrender of Lee and the death of Lincoln, and thence was sent to Memphis and on to Camp Douglas in Chicago, where he received his honorable discharge. The company in which Mr. Brown served had the reputation of being the best drilled infantry company of the Illinois troops, Lieutenant Hall of the okl Chicago Zouaves hav- ing been their drillmaster, and the company was often exposed to the hottest of the fighting.
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