USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 41
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the outside of the door, where friend and stranger alike might enter freely. There were thirteen children in their family, seven sons and six daughters, and two other of the sons were soldiers in the Civil war- John M., who died in 1876 and was a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois under General Logan, and P. P., who served on the western frontier.
Mr. Robinson was reared on the Illinois farm, where he was taught to work, but he received only six months' schooling in all his life, al- though home study and diligent application to the practical affairs of life have compensated for these early deficiencies. Shortly after the war he came to Kansas and settled in Neosho county, near St. Paul. where he was a resident until he came to Cherokee in 1899. He owns two excellent houses in the best part of town, and has made an excellent success in business and industrial affairs and is accounted one of the sub- stantial men of the town and county, where he is very popular. He re- ceived his appointment as rural mail carrier on October 1. 1903.
Mr. Robinson was married at Neosho, Kansas, to Eliza Wilson, who became the mother of seven children, as follows: J. W .. who is a successful contractor on cement work in Kansas City: Oscar W .. who is a carriage painter; E. K., who is a soldier in the Eighteenth United States Infantry and has been in the Philippines for five years; Nettie Bennett, of Neosho county; Dora Williams, who died leaving four chil- dren; Leonard, who died at the age of twenty-one: and Pearl B., who died in 1897 at the age of sixteen. Mr. Robinson is independent in politics, and in religion is a Baptist.
CAPTAIN ALEXANDER M. WATSON.
Captain Alexander M. Watson, of Pittsburg, and father of Captain William J. Watson, the postmaster of that city, whose history is given elsewhere in this volume, is one of the most prominent of the early pioneers to this section of Kansas. The Watson family has been leading
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participants in the business and public activities of Kansas since before the war, in many of the events of the terrible ante-bellum period, in the industrial and agricultural development subsequent thereto, and in the calm of prosperity and civic advancement of the past few years.
The family originated in Scotland and was of that hardy and thrifty stock. Captain A. M. Watson was born in Edinburg, Scotland, in 1836, a son of Matthew and Elixia A. ( Macartney) Watson. Matthew Wat- son, with his entire family, emigrated from the land of the hills and heather in 1842, locating first in Canada, and in 1843 moved to Roches- ter, New York, where he lived till 1852. He returned to Canada for a short time, and in 1853 went to Michigan, and thence the family went further west to Livingston county, Illinois. In 1859 the family, with the exception of Alexander, emigrated to the territory of Kansas, locat- ing on the " Neutral ground," about two miles north of Cato, in what is now Bourbon county, the present counties not being organized at that time; the place of their settlement is just a short distance north of where the north line of Crawford county now runs. Here Matthew Watson, assisted by his family, took up land and worked hard and finally made a productive and valuable ranch of six hundred and forty acres. The country was very sparsely settled at that time, savage men and animals and primitive conditions had not yielded and shrunk westward at the approach of the civilizing white man. The range was free and un- fenced, and cattle had everywhere to roam. In 1872 Matthew Watson removed from this place to the northern part of Cherokee county, where he developed another fine farm, on which he lived until his death, in 1895. He was a fine character, an honor and an adornment to the early civilization of the state, and this with his Scotch sturdiness made him successful in his business affairs. His wife died in 1882.
Charles Watson, a brother of Captain Alexander, was associated with his father in these ranch and farm enterprises for a long period of years, and since his father's death he has been living in Pittsburg. He is a most interesting and entertaining old Kansas resident, and recalls
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many interesting and historical events that occurred during the years subsequent to the family's settlement here in 1859. He was born in Edinburg, Scotland, in 1837. He is one of the relicts of the devastating border warfare which was the most awful element of the Civil war. He enlisted August 24, 1861, in Company C, Sixth Kansas Cavalry, and served along the Missouri-Kansas line. On August 24, 1862, just a year after his enlistment. he was wounded at Coon Creek, near Carthage. Missouri, was taken to Fort Scott, where his leg was amputated below the knee. This disabled him for active army service, although he re- mained for some time in the ambulance corps.
Alexander M. Watson remained in Illinois after the rest of the family came to Kansas, and on December 10, 1861. enlisted, at Geneva. Illinois, as a private in Company D. Fifty-second Illinois Infantry, which joined the Army of the Tennessee under Grant. He fought at Fort Donelson, Shiloh. the siege of Corinth. Missionary Ridge, and numerous skirmishes. On December 25, 1863, his time having expired. he re-enlisted at Pulaski, Tennessee, in the same regiment. May 5. 1864. he joined Sherman's army at Chattanooga, participated in all the battles of the Atlantic campaign, and was at the battle of Altoona Pass. November 19, 1864, he was promoted to captain, and took his company through to the sea with Sherman, thence went north through the Caro- linas to Goldsboro, and after Johnston's surrender accompanied the vic- torious army of Sherman to Washington, where he was at the head of his company in the grand review, being mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 12, 1865.
In August. 1865. Captain Watson came to Kansas to join his wife. who had preceded him and had been staying through the war with his father's family. After remaining awhile with them in Bourbon county he came to Crawford county, and on February 1, 1866. took up a claim on Lightning creek, Osage township, about twelve miles west of where Pittsburg now stands, and here he developed a fine farm. He has the distinction of being one of the oldest living settlers of the county. He
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lived on his Crawford county place until 1869, then moved back to the old homestead in Bourbon county, trading off his farm in Crawford county to his brother Will. He later went to Parsons, Kansas, and was also in Emporia until 1876. He had some contracts on the Missouri, ' Kansas and Texas Railroad which kept him busy until 1880, in which year he took up his residence in Pittsburg, which was then an incipient but rapidly developing town, and he has lived here ever since. He was foreman for the Kansas and Texas Coal Company for seven or eight years, although his time has been chiefly occupied as a contractor, and he has erected a number of buildings in the city. He is one of Crawford county's most highly esteemed old-time citizens, and has done his full share in promoting the useful enterprises of city and county. He was married on January 1. 1861, to Miss Sarah Jane Hadley, and she died at Emporia, Kansas, in 1876.
CAPTAIN WILLIAM J. WATSON.
Captain William J. Watson, postmaster of Pittsburg, Kansas, is a representative in the second generation of a family of soldiers and prom- inent citizens whose worthy endeavors have contributed much to the up- building and progress of the Sunflower state. He. although born after the storm and stress period of Kansas history, has found outlet for his patriotic energy and enthusiasm in the most recent war of our re- public, in which he was an officer in one of the most brilliant regiments ever identified with the American army, and the wounds which he re- ceived in fighting for the island empire will be life-long marks of his valorous conduct. Outside of his connection with the pursuits of war. he has followed the profession of law, in which he has attained consid- erable eminence in his county and is ranked among the leading members of the Crawford county bar.
Captain Watson was born on a farm on the north line of Crawford county, near Cato, Kansas, in 1872, a son of Captain Alexander M. and
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Sarah Jane ( Hadley ) Watson, whose life history is given elsewhere in this volume. When he was quite young his father and family moved to a farm in Cherokee county, where he passed the years in farm and school work until the age of seventeen. He went through the high school at Pittsburg, and then took up the study of law in the office of John Ran- dolph, of Pittsburg. He later attended the law department of the State University at Lawrence, where he graduated in 1896, being admitted to practice in the supreme court at the same time. He immediately be- gan the practice of law at Pittsburg, and in April, 1897. was elected to the office of justice of the peace, being the youngest man ever elected to that office in this county. Up to the time of his election he had been a member of the law firm of Fuller. Randolph and Watson, but after his eleetion the business of his office was of such magnitude that it took all his time and attention. His thorough knowledge of law combined with his judicial habits of mind so that he transacted with energy and expe- dition and utmost impartiality the large amount of business coming be- fore him as justice of the peace.
April 27. 1898. two days after the formal declaration of war on the part of the United States, Mr. Watson left his office and went to the recruiting quarters in Pittsburg and enlisted as a private in Company D. of the famous Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, under Colonel (after- ward brigadier general) Fred Funston. He enlisted on the first day that volunteer enlistments were received in Kansas. He was almost im- mediately eleeted first lieutenant of the company, and shortly afterward went to San Francisco, California, where the company remained in camp equipping and drilling for six months; then sailed for the Philip- pines and engaged in active service. He was with his company in the many trying marches, battles and skirmishes that fell to the lot of the brave and gallant Twentieth Kansas. On March 23, 1899, he was pro- moted to eaptain and assigned to Company E of the same regiment. On March 29 following he was wounded in the breast by a Remington bul- let. at the battle of Guiguinto, Luzon, and he still earries that ball in his
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body. He was carried off the field, and at the time was not expected to live. He came home on the hospital ship Relief, arriving at San Fran- cisco August 29. After recovering from his wound he was offered a commission in the Fortieth United States Volunteer Infantry, which was accepted to date from August 17. 1899. Shortly after joining his new regiment he was offered a detail as aide de camp on the staff of General Funston, but preferred to remain in the line command as captain of a company. He was accordingly assigned to Company M. Fortieth United States Volunteers, and sailed again for the Philippines Novem- ber 17. 1899, having been previously mustered out of the Twentieth Kansas on October 28. At the siege of Cagayan, in Mindinao, on April 7. 1900. Captain Watson was again wounded by a bullet in the foot, and the wound was of such a serious nature, resulting in blood poison, that he was sent to the hospital at Manila, nearly a thousand miles away, where is was found necessary to amputate his leg just below the knee. He is thus the second member of the family to lose a limb in his coun- try's service. Being permanently disabled for active field service, he re- turned home and received his honorable discharge from the army July 1. 1901, after three years and three months of honorable devotion to the flag of the republic borne into distant seas.
Captain Watson spent some time in recuperating his health, and then resumed his law practice in Pittsburg. He was building up a very representative and lucrative practice, when he was appointed postmaster of Pittsburg, receiving his commission on April 1, 1902. He still re- tains, however, his place in the legal profession, in which he intends to engage when he relinquishes his present office.
On November 11, 1899, before sailing for the second time to the orient, Captain Watson was married at Pittsburg to Miss Lotta Lind- burg. a daughter of John R. Lindburg, president of the First National Bank of Pittsburg, whose history appears elsewhere in this work. Cap- tain Watson is commander of the Wilder S. Metcalf Camp No. 3, of the Army of the Philippines. He and his wife are highly esteemed in the
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social circles of Pittsburg, and his talents and brilliant army record make him a person in whom the citizens of Pittsburg take a great deal of pride.
THOMAS H. URTON.
Thomas H. Urton, lumber and grain dealer and also a contractor and builder of Englevale, is representative of the best interests of his town, and his career here for the past twelve years has been most cred- itable to himself and of profit to the community in general. He is a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen, capable of that civic self- sacrifice which is the hope and mainstay of every community however small or great, and whether in his dealings with his fellows as a busi- ness factor or as a social individual he has proved himself a man of worth and high personal integrity.
Mr. Urton is an Ohioan by birth and early training, and only the last seventeen years of his hfe have been spent west of the Mississippi. He was born in Adams county, Ohio, February 10, 1862, being a son of William and Elizabeth ( Crawford) Urton. His father, a native of Virginia, died in July, 1900, at the age of sixty-six years, and his mother was born in Ohio and died in 1867.
Mr. Urton was reared and received his education in Adams county. Ohio, at West Union high school, and at the age of seventeen entered upon his career of merchandising as a clerk in a general store. In 1887 he went to Iantha, Missouri, where he established and conducted for several years a general mercantile store. In 1892 he came to Englevale and bought his present business. He has a large trade in lumber and grain, and he also does a general contracting and building business.
Mr. Urton married. December 16, 1886, Miss Minnie Atkins, of Ohio, and they have three children: Fred, Geneva and Mark. Mrs. Urton is a member of the Presbyterian church, and he has fraternal affiliations with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 1612.
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He served as township clerk for eight years, and has otherwise made himself useful in matters concerning the welfare of the town.
JAMES SHACKELFORD CONDIFF.
James Shackelford Condiff, a foremost citizen of Mulberry, has lived in Crawford county for the past twenty years. He has made a prosperous and efficient record in his trade and in business affairs, he has supported and worked for the causes of religion, education and mor- ality in his community, has an unblemished record as a soldier and citizen in upholding the institutions of his country, and in all the relations of a busy life of sixty odd years has proved himself a man of unusual force and strength of character, being esteemed as such wherever known.
Mr. Condiff had just attained to maturity when the Civil war broke out. He was born in Casey county, Kentucky, September 28, 1841, and was reared under the influence of anti-slavery Whig beliefs, so that it was but natural that he should be an ardent supporter of the Union and abolition when the crisis came. He enlisted in his native county August 5, 1862, and served with credit until receiving his honorable discharge in September, 1863. He was a member of Company F. Eighth Ken- tucky Cavalry, J. B. Carson and William Hunter successively com- manding the company, and the regiment being under the command of Colonel Shackelford (a cousin of Mr. Condiff's mother). After being in camp a few weeks they were sent to Russellville, where they had a skirmish with the enemy, and they often had encounters with roving bands of bushwhackers and guerrillas. Their operations were conducted throughout the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, and they took part in the pursuit of General Morgan's troopers on his famous raid north of the Ohio river. That leader and most of his troops were captured at Portsmouth. Ohio. After that the regiment returned to Clarksville, Tennessee, and thence to Lebanon, Kentucky, and after a year's faithful service Mr. Condiff was discharged, being corporal of his company.
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Mr. Condiff was a son of W. B. and Louisa ( Shackelford) Condiff, both natives of Kentucky. Grandfather John Condiff was born in Vir- ginia and was of an old family of that state. of Irish descent. James M. Shackelford, the maternal grandfather, also of Virginia, served as a soldier and captain in the war of 1812. Mr. Condiff's parents both died at the old Kentucky home in Casey county, the mother at seventy- five and the father at eighty-three. The latter successfully combined the occupations of farming and minister of the gospel, being a devoted worker for the Baptist church. Politically the father was an inti-slavery Whig, and in the election of 1860 cast his vote for Bell. There were six children in the family : Adaline A .. Elizabeth, Sarah, John, who was a soldier in the Thirteenth Kentucky, James S., and W. C.
Reared on the home farm, where he learned lessons of honest in- dustry, and gaining his education in the neighboring schools, Mr. Condiff spent the early years of his life in his native state and early learned the trade of painter, to which pursuit he has devoted his efforts so energet- ically that he has raised it from the level of a trade to a profession, and he has made a successful and prosperous career based on this life occu- pation. Before beginning his army career, in March, 1861, he was married to Miss Ellen C. Chilton, a daughter of Charles and Polly ( Bernard) Chilton, the former a Baptist minister in Kentucky, and both her parents died in Kentucky. In 1882 Mr. and Mrs. Condiff moved to Vandalia, Fayette county, Illinois, and two years later came to Mul- berry, where they have since resided. During their long and happy mar- ried life of over forty years, eleven children have been born into their household, and the following are living: Laura A., Amanda, Bersheba, Mary. Eliza. John Harlan. Lucy E., James Garfield. Lewis Vergillis, Charles W. was killed by a train when twenty-four years old, and Lor- enzo Dow died at the age of seventeen in Illinois.
Mr. Condiff is a stanch Republican in his political sentiments. He has been active in public affairs of his township and town. He served as constable for a number of years, for years was on the school board,
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and has filled the office of township trustee. He is an honored member of Mulberry Post No. 183, G. A. R., Department of Kansas, and has held most of the offices from commander down. He and his wife are members of the Church of God, and he is one of the church trustees.
MARION G. SLAWSON.
Marion G. Slawson, who is engaged in farming and breeding of registered Hereford cattle and Poland-China hogs, as proprietor of the Maple Grove stock farm in Crawford and Washington townships, is a native son of this county, his birth having occurred here on the 10th of September, 1874. He is a son of Charles H. and Lydia (Briggs) Slaw- son, both of whom are natives of Whiteside county, Illinois. The father was a farmer by occupation, but at the time of the Civil war he put aside all business and personal considerations, offering his service to the gov- ernment in defense of the Union cause in September, 1861. He became a member of Company H, Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and served until the spring of 1866, doing faithful service in defense of the old flag. In the year 1869 he located in Crawford county, becoming identi- fied with its agricultural interests. Here he carried on farming until his death, which occurred on the 29th, of January, 1889, when he was sixty years of age. His widow is still living and now makes her home with her son, Marion.
Mr. Slawson pursued his early education in the common schools and afterward attended the Girard high school, while still later he pursued a commercial course of study in a business college at Wichita. He next entered the State University of Lawrence, Kansas, where he pursued a course in law and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Following his graduation he located in Kansas City, Kansas, where he opened an office for practice in connection with James F. Jacobs, but after four months he returned home. feeling that his services were needed on the farm, as his father was then well advanced in years
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and unable to perform all the arduous duties of the farm. Here Mr. Slawson has remained continuously since and is to-day the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of valuable land, constituting the Maple Grove stock farm. This is a splendid property well improved and thor- oughly equipped for the purpose used. He is very successfully engaged not only in the production of the various cereals adapted to soil and climate, but also in the breeding and raising of registered Hereford cattle and Poland China hogs, and he now has some very fine stock upon his place. In his business methods he is progressive and reliable, and is justly accounted one of the most enterprising young men of Crawford county.
On the 22d of December, 1897. Mr. Slawson was united in marriage to Clara M. Wilson, a daughter of James and Sarah ( Utley ) Wilson, of Illinois. They now have two sons. Charles J., born on the 12th of No- vember, 1899. and Merrill W .. born June 8, 1904. Both Mr. and Mrs. Slawson hold membership in the Methodist church at Girard and are highly esteemed throughout the community, where they have a large circle of friends. While a student in the State University he was a member of Company H, First Regiment of the Kansas National Guard. Socially he is identified with a number of organizations, including the Masonic fraternity, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of the Maccabees. He belongs to hoth the subordinate lodge and the uniformed rank of the Knights of Pythias. Castle No. 63, and is also connected with the Anti-Horse Thief Association, No. 279. Mr. Slawson was elected as trustee of the county high school of Crawford county in 1904. Politically he has attained prominence, which is well merited, for he has done effective work in behalf of his party as a loyal and progressive citizen. He gives his political allegiance to the Repub- lican party, and in the year 1904 was sent as a delegate to the state con- vention at Wichita, Kansas. In 1901 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature and while a member of the general assem- bly he gave to each question which came up for settlement his earnest
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consideration, putting forth every effort in his power to advance the wel- fare of the commonwealth.
HON. EBENEZER F. PORTER.
Hon. Ebenezer F. Porter, state senator from the ninth senatorial district, comprising Crawford county, and secretary and treasurer of the Carey-Lombard Lumber Company, at Pittsburg. Kansas, has for nearly fifteen years been one of the powers and potential forces in busi- ness and in matters relating to educational and material progress in this section of the state. He has from an early age borne a large share of responsibility in the management of his father's and his own affairs, and he has had to deal with large and important matters. Notwithstanding his large sphere of activity, it can be said to his credit that he has never failed in any of his enterprises.
Mr. Porter has gained the reputation among his associates of going straight to the mark in any business affairs, and, with a definite goal for his efforts and a sure aim, he has never faltered until he got what he was after. Furthermore, he believes in using a choke-bore and concen- trating the fire of his energies on one spot until it yields. Although he has been concerned with several large interests during his life, yet they have never been so wide of extent that his energies had to be dissipated to little effectiveness in conducting them. His friends say of him that everything he does is thoughtfully planned beforehand, and, with a foundation well built, his projects always rise to successful completion. Method and system are found everywhere in his work, and he keeps a strict account of the infinite details of his business. But his intense energy and broad mind have ranged into other fields than pure business, and Crawford county and the entire state of Kansas will always regard him as the founder and vitalizer of a department of education which is destined to exert a powerful influence on the life and the industries of the twentieth century. He went about to effect this great advance in
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