USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 38
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man he has been conspicuous among his associates, not only for his success, but for his probity, fairness and honorable methods. In every- thing he has been eminently practical, and this has been manifest not only in his business undertakings but also in social and private life.
JACOB BROWN.
Jacob Brown, of McCune, is one of the old settlers of southeastern Kansas, where he has lived since 1869, and for the past twelve years has been numbered among the substantial, public-spirited and worthy citizens of McCune. He is one of the honored men now living in Crawford county who wore the blue uniform during the war of the rebellion, and he gave faithful and brave service to his country in her time of need.
He was a citizen of the state of Illinois when the war came on, and in August, 1862, he enlisted at Danville in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Infantry, under Colonel Harmon. They were in camp at Danville, were sent to Covington, Kentucky, later to Louis- ville : took part in the engagements at Perryville and Nashville; thence went with Sherman's magnificent army on its campaign through the center of the Confederacy, participating at Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, at Resaca, New Hope Church, Dallas; at the siege of Atlanta, in a charge on one of the breastworks, Mr. Brown was wounded below the knee by a ball from a Springfield rifle, and the wound has never ceased to trouble him from that day to this. He was in the hospital at Atlanta, then at Chattanooga, and at Nashville received an honorable discharge, going home with a gallant record as soldier.
This esteemed veteran of the war was born in Sussex county, Dela- ware, near Bridgeville, April 2. 1833, being a son of William and Eliza ( Prettyman ) Brown, both natives of the same state. His father enlisted for service in the Mexican war, but did not reach the field of action until hostilities had ceased. He was a farmer by occupation, and his
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death occurred in Delaware at the age of fifty-five, but the mother lived to the great age of ninety years. There were ten children in the family : Daniel. William, Mary, Eliza J., John, Charles, Joseph, who was a soldier of the Ninety-third Ohio, Matilda, Sarah, and Jacob.
Mr. Brown spent the first nine years of his life in Delaware, and then went to Ohio, where he grew up on a farm and received his school training. At the age of eighteen he went to Crawfordsville, Indiana, and thence to Vermilion county, Illinois, where he was living at the time of the Civil war. In 1869 he came out to Kansas and located in Labette county, where he farmed for some time, after which he traded his land for town property in Parsons. He later resumed farming and continued it until his health failed. and about twelve years ago he gave up country life and moved to McCune, where he has since been an honored resident. He and his wife have a very comfortable home at this place, located on two large lots of ground, and have all the con- veniences that they can desire for their remaining years.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown have lived as man and wife for nearly fifty years, and it is the hope of all their friends that they may celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1905. Mr. Brown was married in 1855 to Miss Martha Jane Castle, who has nobly done her part during the past half century and has gained the love and veneration of all within the home circle and of her many friends. She was born in Vermilion county. Illinois, a daughter of William and Nancy (Randals) Castle, the latter a native of Tennessee and of a good southern family. There were ten children in the Castle family. and Mrs. Brown is the only one of her mother's children now living. but she has a half-brother and a half-sister by her father's second union. Her mother died at the age of fifty, and her father, who was a farmer, politically a Whig and Repub- lican and a member of the Methodist church, lived to be eighty years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had ten children, of whom Sena Ellen died in childhood and one died in infancy. Those living are William, John, Dora, Anna, George, Charles, Lizzie, James. Mr. Brown is an
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esteemed member of Osage Post No. 156. G. A. R., and has been a faithful member of the Methodist church for many years, as also his good wife.
ARLING M. WORDEN.
Arling M. Worden, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Pitts- burg Modern Milling Company, at Pittsburg, has been connected withli the business activities of this city since 1901, and is recognized and esteemed as a man of the push and the enterprise which are character- istic of Pittsburg as a commercial and industrial center, and also as possessed of that high degree of public spirit that benefits the com- munity at large and brings material results not alone for its possessor but to all with whom he has dealings. Mr. Worden had a wide and extensive business experience before coming to Pittsburg, and also as a citizen and social faetor has had a successful and bright career, with greater promise of usefulness for the future.
Mr. Worden was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1861, his parents being Joseph and Katharine (Smith) Worden. His mother was a native of Ohio, and is now deceased. His father was born in New York state, and afterwards came west and lived for a number of years as a farmer near Cedar Rapids. Iowa, whence he later returned to New York, and is now passing his remaining years in Oswego.
Mr. A. M. Worden was reared on the farm four miles south of Cedar Rapids, where he had his sehooling in the district sehools. He was also a student in Western College at Toledo, Iowa, and was graduated in 1883. He had already become interested in the milling business and had made up his mind to give his attention to that work, and after leaving school he went to St. Joseph, Missouri, and began work for the old and well-known milling firm of that eity, the R. T. Davis Mill Company. He has the satisfaction of being classed among the men who have risen slowly and surely from a small position to one of much responsibility,
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for he began his career by sweeping out the mill and familiarizing him- self with all kinds of general work. He afterward became an apprentice and learned the trade from the ground up in all its details. After being with the Davis company for three and a half years he went on the road as a salesman for the Cain-Hanthorn and Company mill at Atchison, and during his six years' connection with that company traveled all through the west and south. He then took a similar position with the R. H. Fawcett Milling Company of St. Joseph, and was with them until he came to Pittsburg in 1901 to take his present position. He had bought an interest in the Pittsburg Modern Milling Company, and was made its manager, secretary and treasurer. This company was organ- ized in 1898 to succeed the old-established firm of John R. McKim and Company, which had built the mill several years before. The product of this first-class mill, besides supplying the large local market. is whole- saled throughout Arkansas. Indian Territory and Louisiana, and the business has been built up to very extensive proportions.
Mr. Worden was married in San Francisco December 26, 1888. to Aliss Matilda Verhein, and they have one son, Fred Worden. Mr. Worden is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. and is a prominent high-degree Mason. During his long residence in St. Joseph he took an active part in Masonic work, and still retains his connection with the branches of the order there. He is a past master of Charity Lodge No. 331. A. F. & A. M., past high priest of Mitchell Chapter No. 89. R. A. M., past eminent commander of Hugh de Payens Commandery No. 51. K. T .. and past recorder of Moila Temple, Mystic Shrine. While holding the office of recorder of the Temple he compiled and wrote, and his lodge had published in at- tractive book form, an interesting history of the Mystic Shrine in the United States, and also going back to its origin in Arabia.
LEVI M. WILLIAMS.
Among the leading and representative farmers and stock-raisers of Crawford county is numbered Levi M. Williams, the owner of a fine
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property comprising four hundred and eighty acres of rich and arable land and situated on section 16. Crawford township, about two miles east of Girard. His land is arable and richly productive and annually returns to him good harvests for the care and labor he bestows upon it. Moreover he has made excellent modern improvements, and upon his place are found all the equipments and accessories usually seen upon a model farm of the twentieth century. In addition to the production of grain he is engaged in the raising of stock, keeping only high-grade animals, and both branches of his business are now proving profitable.
Mr. Williams is. moreover, entitled to representation in this vol- ume, because he is numbered among the pioneer settlers of southeastern Kansas, having resided in this portion of the state for more than forty- five years. in fact. he is a native son of Crawford county, his birth having occurred within its borders on the 27th of November. 1858. His parents were Ansel and Mary (Frogget) Williams, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. They came to Kansas, however. in the year 1858, when Ansel Williams cast in his lot among the pioneer settlers of Crawford county and secured a tract of land whereon he engaged in farming for a number of years. His death occurred in 1867, and his wife passed away in 1884. Under the parental roof their son, Levi M. Williams, was reared, although at an early age he was deprived by death of his father. He attended the common schools in his early boy- hood and at the age of eleven, following his father's death. he and his brother Paul took charge of and operated the home farm. They were thus associated in their business interests until 1880, when the brother died, and Mr. Williams then became sole manager. Following his mother's death in 1884. he purchased the interest of the other heirs in the old homestead and is today the owner of a valuable and well equipped farm property of four hundred and eighty acres. He has erected a fine and commodious home, in the rear of which are good barns and other necessary outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock and these in turn are surrounded by well cultivated fields and rich pas-
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ture lands. His entire life has been devoted to farming, and his per- sistent purpose in following but the one pursuit has certainly been a strong element in his success.
It was in March, 1888. that Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Lida McWilliams, a daughter of Phil N. and Lucinda ( Odell) Mc Williams, who were residents of Ohio and are now living in Craw- ford county. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Williams has been blessed with five children, namely : Samuel S., Ray, Montie, Gadys and Mabel. Mr. Williams is identified with the Modern Woodmen at Girard. and he gives his political support to the Democracy. He is now serving as school clerk and is interested in community affairs, desiring the welfare and progress of his native county and aiding in many ways in its promo- tion and development. He has witnessed the many changes which have occurred here as the county has emerged from pioneer conditions to take its place among the leading counties of the state, his mind forming a connecting link between the unimproved past and the progressive pres- ent.
STEPHEN JANNEY.
Stephen Janney, a retired resident of Cherokee, has had a long and useful career in material affairs, and is especially honored as an ex- officer who led his men in many a campaign and battle of the great civil war. He is an old citizen of the state of Kansas, and has been identified with its industrial and civic affairs in a highly successful and creditable manner.
Born in Clinton county. Ohio, July 1, 1832, he was just getting well established in a trade and means of livelihood when the war came on. He enlisted from his native county on August 2, 1862, in Company C. Seventy-ninth Ohio Infantry, under Colonel Kennett and Lieutenant Colonel Doan. From the camp at Denison, Ohio, they were ordered south to repel General Kirby Smith's raid into Kentucky, and were op-
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posed to General Bragg's forces for some time. Their operations were mainly in Kentucky and Tennessee in different courses of the general campaign. In the spring of 1864 they went to Chickamauga, and after the critical battles in that vicinity the regiment was assigned to the Twentieth Corps under Hooker at Chattanooga and joined in Sherman's Atlanta campaign, where he was one hundred days under fire. Mr. Jan- ney was also in General Benjamin Harrison's brigade for a time, when the latter had command of the First Brigade, Third Division, of the Twentieth Corps. Among the battles of this campaign in which he par- ticipated were Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, New Hope Church, Burnt Hickory, Peach Trec Creek. From Atlanta they went on the famous march to the sea, thence up through the Carolinas, and toward the end of the campaign, while leading a foraging squad, Mr. Janney was captured by the Rebels, being first lieutenant at that time. He was taken prisoner on March 5, 1865, was held three weeks at Salisbury, North Carolina, then taken to Richmond and kept in Libby prison a week, and the day before the fall of that city was sent down the James river to the parole camp, and thence went to Annapolis. He got a leave of absence for thirty days, and while on his way home heard of the assassination of Lincoln. He returned to Washington in time to participate in the grand review. His record of service was as first sergeant for eight months, then promoted to second lieutenant in 1863, and in 1864 he was promoted to first lieutenant, and for three months commanded his company, and his date of final discharge was May 15, 1865.
Mr. Janney was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Russell) Janney. The father was of English Quaker stock., from Loudoun county, Vir- ginia, the family having freed their slaves many years before the war and being anti-slavery people, while the Russells, of near Leesburg, Virginia, were slaveholders, and members of the family were in the Confederate service. Both the parents died before the war, the mother at fifty-seven and the father at sixty-three, the latter having followed
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the occupation of farmer and adhering to the religious doctrines of the Friends. They were the parents of eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. One other son besides Stephen was a soldier. George, a captain in a colored regiment, had yellow fever while in Key West, Florida, and died in 1866 as a result of the disease.
Mr. Janney was reared in Ohio and received a good education in the schools. He followed the trade of gunsmith for a time, and later clerked in a general store. After the war he lived in Mahaska county, Iowa, near New Sharon, until he came to Kansas. He was married in Ohio, March 28. 1862, to Lydia White, who was born at Canton, In- diana, but was later taken to Highland county. Ohio, where she was reared and educated. She was a daughter of Benjamin and Levina (Coffin) White, both of prominent Quaker connections. The mother died in Iroquois county, Illinois, at the age of seventy-two and the father at the age of sixty-three. There were four children in the White fam- ily, and one son, Henry W. White, is a resident of Smith Center, Kan- sas. Mr. and Mrs. Janney have three children : Charles O. is a mail clerk running out of St. Louis; Myrtle L. lives in Cherokee county ; Mrs. Rosa Morrison lives in Butler county, Kansas. Two children died in childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Janney are members of the Friends' church. They have one of the comfortable and modern homes of Chero- kee, a well furnished and tastily arranged residence, noted for its good cheer and wide range of hospitality.
CLARENCE N. PRICE.
Clarence N. Price, present mayor of the city of Pittsburg, Kansas, and one of the most prominent business men of that thriving city, is a Kansan by birth and rearing and is well acquainted with the business interests of the state from one end to the other. He has had his per- manent residence in Pittsburg since 1897, and since then has not only taken a prominent part in the commercial activities of the city, but has
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been a leader in public affairs, doing much for the advancement of the city in material improvement and moral and intellectual progress.
Mr. Price was born at Troy, Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1868, a son of Judge Nathan and Sarah E. (Pickard) Price. His father, who has been distinguished in the state as a jurist, soldier and pioneer, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and died at Troy, Kansas, in 1883. He came to Kansas, in 1859, during the dark and awful times before the war, and was a lawyer of Doniphan county. He was a stanch Republican in politics, and did much for Union sentiment and organization during that early period in Kansas history. During the war he organized Company F. Tenth Kansas Infantry, at Geary, Kansas, and was elected its Captain. He served in the border warfare in Kan- sas, Missouri and Arkansas. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Price, was born at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and is now living in Topeka, Kansas.
Mr. Clarence N. Price was educated in the Troy public schools, and at Hill College, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1883. He then returned to the west and entered the employ of a wholesale grocery at St. Joseph, Missouri, and has been engaged in that line of business ever since, most of the time on the road as a salesman. Several years ago he became connected with the Long Brothers' Grocer Com- pany of Kansas City as one of their salesmen, and in 1897 he estab- lished his home in Pittsburg in charge of the trade of the house in this territory. Since then a branch of the business has been established in Pittsburg, and Mr. Price has charge of this. He is a thoroughly accom- plished salesman, with a winning personality, and has a large and im- pregnable trade clientage in southeast Kansas and Missouri.
In April, 1903, Mr. Price was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of mayor of Pittsburg for a term of two years. His adminis- tration has been very efficient and popular with all classes, and is con- (lucted on a sound business basis. He takes a prominent part in local politics, and is an entertaining public speaker. He is influential in all the relations of his career, is enterprising and progressive, and is doing
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much to push Pittsburg to the front in commercial and industrial activ- ity.
Mr. Price was married to Miss Henrietta Geis, whose home previous to her marriage was at Morefield. Nebraska. He affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is a prominent member of the United Commercial Travelers.
T. W. MORGAN.
T. W. Morgan, of Osage township. is one of the most notable among the successful farmers of Crawford county. A resident in this county for more than twenty years, he has built up a farming enterprise which is a credit to himself and the county, and has always been a leader where industrial affairs are concerned. Possessed also of an eminent degree of public spirit, he has not been amiss in those matters which pertain to the general welfare of every community and to its progress in educa- tion, religion and material improvement.
Mr. Morgan is a native of Clay county. Indiana, being a son of John and Elizabeth ( Wright) Morgan. the former a native of Ken- tucky and the latter of Indiana. The father, who died in Indiana at the age of seventy-one, was a farmer. a Democrat of the Jackson type and a loyal supporter of the Baptist church. The mother lives at Brazil, Indiana, and is now seventy-six years old. There were eleven children in the family, six sons and five daughters.
Mr. Morgan was reared on the Indiana home farm, and there by honest industry laid the foundations for his permanent success. When he was twenty-six years old he married Miss Aletha J. Boor, a daugh- ter of E. M. Boor ( whose history will be found on other pages of this work). and it has been due to their combined industry and capacity for managing and directing their affairs that success has come to them in such abundant measure. While she has given such careful and prudent care to the household management, he has been able to give all his ener-
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gies to outside affairs, and as a result they have enjoyed a continuous and rapidly increasing prosperity. Mr. Morgan came to Crawford county in 1883. He bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, most of which was bottom land, and it has become one of the finest farms in Crawford county. On this land in pioneer days was located an old stage station and tavern. and many good men and bad men have lodged under the roof of the old log cabin, which still stands on his place as a relic of ancient history in this county. This old log house is twenty-four by twenty-four feet. and is a place of much speculative and historic in- terest. Mr. Morgan, in contrast to this old house indicative of the pio- neer past, has erected a modern dwelling at a cost of fifteen hundred dol- lars, in which all the comforts and refinements of the present century will be found. He also has a capacious barn forty-eight by sixty feet in dimensions, and innumerable other improvements. He cultivates four hundred acres of his fine place, having added two hundred and forty acres to his original purchase, and is noted for being able to make a suc- cess of any enterprise he undertakes.
He is a Democrat in politics, and was the candidate of that party for the office of county treasurer in 1902 and 1904. but although strong- ly supported, was defeated by the Republican majority always cast in this county. He was treasurer of the McCune creamery, and in order to make this industry a modern and thoroughly equipped establishment he visited the world-famed creameries at Elgin, Illinois, and introduced as far as consistent all their best methods and improvements in the local creamery. Mr. Morgan is a member of the Home Builders' Union and A. O. U. W. and Sons and Daughters of Justice, and has also been identified with numerous enterprises which have made for the welfare and progress of this section of the state. Mr. Morgan, both in season and out, has always kept his faith in Kansas, and he is justified in saying that Kansas has kept faith with him and rewarded him abundantly for his past efforts.
Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have the following children: Aura, Roy,
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Lee T., Carey. Kenneth, Lloyd E .. Aletha May and Helen Margaret. and they also have five grandchildren. The children all enjoyed good advantages both at home and educationally.
WILLIAM R. GOODING.
William R. Gooding, a leading farmer and stock-raiser of Craw- ford township. Crawford county. has lived on his present farm in this county and township for twenty-five years, so that he is one of the old citizens. He has had a most successful career, covering a period of over seventy-five years, and most of it has been devoted to agricultural pur- suits. Since coming to Crawford county he has been numbered among its leading citizens, and has been progressive and enterprising both in his own business affairs and in his efforts toward the advancement of public prosperity and welfare.
Mr. Gooding was born in Marion county, Ohio, February 15. 1827. being a son of Sylvester R. and Eliza Gooding, natives, respectively, of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His father died in 1874. when sev- enty-four years old, and his mother passed away in 1895, at the ad- vanced age of ninety.
Mr. Gooding was educated in the common schools of Ohio, and was reared to the life of the farm and remained at home until he was twenty-one years old. For the following eight years he engaged in buying and shipping cattle for a New York firm, and then rented a farm and began agricultural operations on his own hook. He continued a successful farmer of Ohio until 1879. when he sold his property in Marion county and came to Kansas, where he bought the two hundred and forty acres that make up his present homestead. He put all the im- provements on this place, including the house, barn, fences and trees. and has really metamorphosed a prairie tract into one of the most attract- ive and beautiful farmsteads in the county.
Mr. Gooding has taken much interest in township affairs, and served
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as township treasurer and has been on the school board for fifteen years. He is an independent Republican in politics. His wife is a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Gooding was married December 29, 1859. to Miss Ann Elizabeth Moon, a daughter of Solomon H. and Ann Ma- ria Moon, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Switzerland. Her father died in 1839, at the age of thirty-nine, and her mother in 1885, at the age of seventy. Mr. and Mrs. Gooding have had three children: Fred S., who lives on one of his father's farms, married Jessie Pangborn, and they have four children, Anna Bell, Orion E., Julia E. and Jessie Grace: Mary Bell is the wife of James H. Richmond, of Portland, Oregon; and Frank R. was killed in a cyclone near Cherokee, Kansas, April 15. 1895.
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