USA > Kansas > Crawford County > A Twentieth century history and biographical record of Crawford County, Kansas > Part 44
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
Dr. Brook was married at Opolis in 1893 to Miss Una Odle. They have a nice home, which is made happier by three children. Leona, Elnora and Clifford Erle.
WALTER FALWELL.
Walter Falwell who has for many years been identified with edu- cational work in Kansas contributing to the development and effective- ness of the public-school system of the state, having served for the third term as treasurer of the Southeastern Kansas Teachers' Associa- tion. makes his home in Farlington. He was born in Labette county, Kansas, on the 14th ot January. 1870. His parents. William T. and Martha A. Falwell, were natives of Lawrence county, Ohio, and in the year 1869 removed from that state to Kansas, settling in Labette county.
Under the parental roof Walter Falwell was reared, and in 1878 he accompanied his father to western Kansas, where they became in- volved in the Cheyenne Indian raid of that year, but fortunately escaped unharmed. He pursued his education in the schools of Independence, Kansas, and Chillicothe, Missouri, also in the West Plains Academy at West Plains, Missouri, and in the Kansas Normal College at Fort Scott. Kansas, although his course was not continuous. In the years 1883-4 he engaged in clerking in the postoffice at West Plains, Missouri, and in 1885 provided for his support by making ties in oil trough bottoms of the White river in Arkansas. The following year he was employed on the railroad in Missouri, and in 1887-88 he traveled extensively in western and southern Texas and in old Mexico. Desiring, however, to better qualify for life's practical duties by a more advanced education he
612
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
entered the Kansas Normal College at Fort Scott in 1888, pursuing his studies in that institution for a year. In 1889 he engaged in teaching school in Bourbon county, Kansas, and the following year again en- tered the Normal School at Fort Scott. In 1891 he resumed the work of teaching in Bourbon county, remaining there for three years, and in 1894 again entered upon a period of travel, visiting many places in the western portion of this country, and in southwestern Kansas. Once more he became identified with the work of public instruction in Bourbon county, Kansas, in 1895, but in 1896 went to the northwest and operated a diving suit in search of gold in the rivers of Oregon, Washington and Idaho in the employ of the Alaskan Milling & Mining Company. During that year he also crossed the Bitter Root Mountains over the famous Lolo trail and pass.
In 1897 Professor Falwell came to Farlington, Kansas, as principal of the schools of this place. During his incumbency his efforts were effective in placing the schools of the town among the best in Crawford county. He is deeply interested in his work. zealous and energetic, and has the faculty of inspiring the teachers under him and the pupils with much of his zeal for educational advancement. He was instructor in the Teachers' Normal Institute in Crawford county in 1900, in 1903 and in 1904, and he holds a life certificate to teach in the state of Kansas. In 1901 he was elected treasurer of the Southeastern Kansas Teachers' Association, an organization covering nineteen counties in this part of the state. and in 1902 and 1903 was re-elected. In May, 1904, Mr. Falwell was appointed by the secretary of the interior to take charge of the town site work in the Creek Nation, Indian Territory, which place he held until January 19, 1905. On January 19, 1905, he was promoted to the office of United States supervisor of schools and special disburs- ing agent for the Creek Nation; office, room 310 Iowa building, Musko- gee. Indian Territory. His home is still in Farlington, Kansas, and he will not move his family to Muskogee.
In 1891 Professor Falwell was united in marriage to Miss Chris-
613
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
tiana Belle Deesler, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Deesler, of Pawnee, Kansas. Anna, their only child, was born in 1895. Mr. Fal- well is prominent in Masonry, having attained the Knight Templar degree, and he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is a stanch advo- cate of Republican principles and an earnest worker in the local ranks of his party. In 1902 he served as chairman of the Crawford county delegation to the Republican state convention at Wichita. He has traveled extensively throughout this country and Canada, thus gaining wide information concerning its resources and its peoples and adding much to his fund of general knowledge. His interest now centers in his school work, and his labors in behalf of public instruction have been attended by beneficial results.
THOMAS BARNARD.
Thomas Barnard, foreman and pit boss at one of the large producing coal mines in the vicinity of Cherokee, has been in the coal mining in- dustry for twenty years past, and by his industry and first-class ability has attained his present position of responsibility. He is very popular among his associates, and during the four years in which he has held his present position he has given every evidence of utmost competency for the management of the duties entrusted to him.
Like many successful miners, Mr. Barnard is a native of old Eng- land. He was born in Nottinghamshire some forty-seven years ago, of a family noted for its industry, honesty and integrity. His father, who was a shoemaker by trade, and a good one at that, came to America when Thomas was a small boy, locating near Rochester, New York, and after working there for two years he was well enough fixed so that he could send for his family to follow him across the waters. The family afterward moved to Springfield, Missouri, and later to Weir City, Kansas.
614
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
The shaft at which Mr. Barnard is foreman extends eighty feet from the surface to a vein of forty-inch coal of superior quality, and under the present management is one of the best paying shafts in the locality. Mr. Barnard having spent practically all his active life at his industry is thoroughly conversant with its every detail, and is recognized as one of the most efficient foremen and pit bosses in the county. He is just now in the prime of his life and his powers, and his career is one of which he may be proud. He is well informed on the general topics of the day, and takes an intelligent interest in the world about him as well as in his immediate business. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Improved Order of Red Men, and has passed all the chairs in his lodge.
He was married to Miss Clara Debraner, and they are the parents of four children, Victor. Thomas, Virgil and Will.
JOHN R. DERRY.
Jolin R. Derry is a well known and prominent citizen of Englevale. where he conducts a general merchandise store. His store in Englevale is first-class in every particular, his stock is large and well selected, and his customers have proved steady and increasingly numerous since he had his opening day.
Mr. Derry was born in Brown county, Ohio, February 22, 1869. His parents, O. H. and Matilda (Wilkes) Derry, were also natives of Ohio, and in 1874 left that state and located in Iowa. They now make their home near Girard. His father has been a minister of the Chris- tian church for the past forty years.
Mr. Derry attended the public schools, which were the fount of his early education and training. When eighteen years old he began teaching, which alternated with farm work for several years. He also learned the trade of printer, and in 1898 he bought out the Independent News plant at Girard. He continued as editor and publisher of this paper for five years and a half, and then sold out his interests at Girard
615
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
and moved to Englevale, where he bought a stock of goods and opened his present business enterprise. In addition to his store he also owns his pleasant home in Englevale.
Mr. Derry affiliates with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 1612, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church. He was married on March 31, 1891, to Miss Lenora Blue, of Iowa. They have four children: Harold. Ruth, Aleen and Beth. (At this date, 1905. Mr. Derry is editor of a paper in Seneca, Kansas, where he resides. )
HON. PETER McCALL.
Hon. Peter McCall, superintendent of the Devlin-Miller Mining Company at Frontenac, Kansas, has for a number of years been in responsible positions in the coal industry and has also been highly hon- ored in political affairs. Mr. McCall is your true man of affairs, one who has "rubbed against the world" from the time he was at the tender age of eleven, who was an underling and in the ranks long enough to know the value of discipline and self-control, and who gradually achieved by honesty and industry inherent in his character and race a position where he himself has directed the efforts of others, and where his worth and individuality have gained their deserved rewards. From exact familiarity with one line of industry he passed to a corresponding famili- arity with men, and he has wielded influence and leadership in circles large and small, his popularity at one time placing him among the Illi- nois state legislators, where his ability was no less effective than in man- aging an industrial establishment.
Mr. McCall was born in Northumberland, England, in 1857, a son of John and Anna ( Flynn) McCall. His father was a native of Ireland, but became a miner in Northumberland, England. He emi- grated to the United States in 1864, locating at Duquoin, Perry county, Illinois, where he began work in the mines, and in the following year
616
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
sent to England for his family, who arrived in 1865. He continued his work at Duquoin until he was killed in a mine there, January 2, 1866. His wife died at the same place March 19, 1867.
Peter McCall was eight years old when he came to the United States, and at the age of ten was left an orphan, without a berth except such as he should make for himself. Thus circumstanced, after his mother's death he went to New Pittsburg. St. Clair county, Illinois, where on April 14. 1868. at the age of eleven years, he began working in the coal mines, and has been closely identified with the various phases of that industry ever since. He was employed in the mines around New Pittsburg until 1871, then went to the mines at Murphysboro, Jackson county, Illinois, and from there to the collieries at Collinsville, Madison county, in the same state, where he resided until 1883, having in the meantime been married to his estimable life partner.
From 1883 to 1885 he was in the mines of Macoupin county, Illi- nois, and then for about a year worked in nearly all the coal-mining dis- tricts of the west and south, including Texas. In 1886 he returned to Illinois and located first in LaSalle county and then in Bureau county. where two years later he had become so popular and well known that he ran as the Republican candidate for the legislature, and was elected and served two years in the thirty-sixth general assembly, including the extra session called by Governor Joe Fifer. As a lawmaker he was chiefly active in securing legislation safeguarding miners, and per- formed a valuable part in this direction. He is by nature a politician in the best sense of that term, presents a statesmanlike front on all occasions, and his winning personality gains friends by the hundreds.
From Bureau county Mr. McCall went to Brookside. Colorado, where he had charge of the coal mines, and in March, 1892, came to Crawford county, Kansas, to take the position of top foreman of the Chicopee mines of the Cherokee and Pittsburg Coal and Mining Com- pany. Two years later the company sent him to Frontenac as foreman of the No. I mine, and he has made this town his home ever since. After
كوم
James a. Smith &
619
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
being foreman of No. I for four years he was appointed assistant super- intendent of the Frontenac Mines of the Mount Carmel Coal Company, and on September 1, 1903, became superintendent of the Devlin-Miller mine, located three miles north and one mile west of Frontenac, and which is owned by Charles J. Devlin, of Topeka, who is also president of the Mount Carmel Company.
As far as his responsible duties have permitted Mr. McCall has taken an active part in the Republican politics of this section of Kansas, for several years has been a delegate to the county and state Republican conventions, and was elected and served one term as police judge in Frontenac.
Mr. McCall was married in 1878. while living in Collinsville, Illi- nois, to Miss Anna Fox. They have eight children, as follows: Mrs. Anna Laidler : Miss Catherine, who is assistant postmaster at Frontenac ; B. Loretto, John, Sarah, Peter, Nellie, and Charles Joseph. The family are all communicants of the Catholic church at Frontenac.
JAMES A. SMITH.
James A. Smith, lawyer, ex-county attorney and ex-probate judge. and often known as the "father of the Crawford county bar." has lived a life of extreme usefulness and honor, and nearly forty years of it have been passed in this part of the great Sunflower state. He has made his mark both as a soldier and as a civilian, has found a worthy part to play in every sphere of activity where he has been called, and to-day 110 citizen is more honored and respected in Crawford county than this veteran lawyer and soldier.
Mr. Smith was born in Warren county, Illinois, May 5. 1840, a son of Seth and Catherine P. (Tuttle) Smith. His father was a native of Connecticut, born January 1, 1812 but was reared in Boston, and came out to Illinois in 1838. He was a farmer by occupation, and came to Kansas in 1868 and bought land and made a farm near Fort Scott.
620
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
He lived a retired life in Girard from 1888 until his death, April 7. 190I, at the great age of eighty-nine years. His wife, who was born February 5. 1814. died five days later, on April 12, 1901, so that they had traveled a common way in life for over sixty years. They were members of the Congregational church, and most esteemed and worthy people. He was elected and served as sheriff of Warren county, Illi- nois, in 1858, the same year in which Lincoln and Douglas made their famous canvass for the United States senate. After the war he was city marshal of Monmouth, Illinois, for several terms. He was quite prom- inent in local politics. He gave two years of service to the Union cause, and of the seven sons which made up his family of children five were soldiers in the war, and five of the seven are still living.
Mr. J. A. Smith attended the public schools of Illinois, and was just entering the junior year at Monmouth College when the Civil war called him into the ranks. He enlisted, April 17, 1861, in Company F. Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, being sworn in for state service, and on May 25 was enrolled for the three years' service in the United States. He was in the battles at Frederickstown ( October 21. 1861), at Fort Donelson, at Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, at the siege of Vicksburg until the surrender on July 4. 1863, and was afterward detailed for duty in the commissary department until his muster out, June 4. 1864. He then took a position in the commissary department, holding it until the close of the war, first at Cairo, Illinois, then at Columbus, Kentucky, and finally at Fort Scott. Kansas, which brought him to the state of his future career and successes on January 1. 1865. While at Fort Scott he began reading law with General C. W. Blair and later with Judge W. C. Webb, and was admitted to the bar in Fort Scott in the fall of 1866. He then came to Crawford county, or what was then known as the "Neutral Lands," and was elected county attorney on the Neutral Lands. He served until after the division of the county in 1867, and was then chosen attorney of the newly created Cherokee county, in Novem- ber, 1867, and discharged his duties as the first county attorney until
621
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
January, 1869. He then went to Wilson county, Kansas, and entered a claim, and during the county-seat war he and his wife published a paper at Altoona.
Mr. Smith came to Cherokee, Crawford county, in 1875, and until the fall of the following year practiced law under his own name. He was then elected probate judge of Crawford county, and by successive re-elections served three terms of eight years, and one term at a later date gave him altogether ten years in that office. When not occupied with judicial duties he has been one of the foremost attorneys of the county ever since. He has been a justice of the peace for some ten years, holding that office at present, and has also served on the city council of Girard. His long residence in the county and eminent useful- ness as a member of the bench and the bar entitle and secure for him an unusual degree of honor and esteem among all Crawford county citizens.
Mr. Smith married, September 1, 1869, Miss Carrie Stearns, who was born in Vermont and reared and educated in Erie county, New York. being a daughter of Henry Stearns. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had three children. Helen, who died June 6, 1899, at the age of twenty- seven, was the wife of Rev. William M. Mason, a Presbyterian minister of Syracuse, New York, and they had one child. Helen Smith Mason. Mrs. Mason was an accomplished musician, a graduate of Girard high school, spent some time under the best of instruction in Boston, and was a successful teacher and one of the best of women. Grant S. Smith, the second child, is in the freshman year of college at Parkvale, Missouri, and Katherine C. is in the sophomore year of the same school. The family all hold membership in St. John's Episcopal church at Girard. Mr. Smith is a member of the blue lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic order, and has been master high priest and commander of the commandery. He has also filled all the offices in his Grand Army post. He is a stanch Republican in politics.
622
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
JOSEPH FLETCHER.
Joseph Fletcher. superintendent of the Mount Carmel Coal Com- pany, at Frontenac, Kansas, is an old and experienced coal miner and operator. having known no other business since he set out in boyhood to make his own living. He has attained a creditable degree of success in his life work, has the satisfaction of having made steady progress toward better things from the first to the present, and by his integrity of character and wholesomeness of action has gained the esteem and respect of all associates and friends.
Mr. Fletcher was born in Staffordshire. England, in 1855, being the son of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Cotherington) Fletcher. His mother died while they still lived in England, and about 1870 his father came to the United States with his family. He went to Bureau county. Illi- nois, and followed the occupation of coal miner in that county until his death.
Mr. Fletcher was fifteen years old when he came to this country with his father, and in his native land he had already gained his ele- mentary education and got a taste of coal mining as prosecuted in the old country. He began work in the Bureau county mines, and during nineteen years' residence in that county advanced from the ranks of his occupation to a position of responsibility. His ability became known to Charles J. Devlin, who at the time was manager of the coal depart- ment of the Santa Fe Railroad, engaged in the exploiting of mines from Illinois to New Mexico. Mr. Devlin appointed Mr. Fletcher to the posi- tion of mine inspector for these mines, and the latter discharged those duties until Mr. Devlin left the Santa Fe and organized the Mount Carmel Coal Company, in 1897. Mr. Fletcher then left his former position and became superintendent of the new company's mines in Crawford county, Kansas, the collieries being located at Frontenac and at Chicopee, Mr. Fletcher making his home at the former place. The two mines at Frontenac and the two at Chicopee have an enormous out-
623
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
put. In addition to these mines the Mount Carmel Coal Company oper- ates the properties of the Pittsburg Coal and Mining Company and the Osage Carbon Company, besides a number of other mines at Osage, Peterton and Scranton, it being one of the largest mining concerns in southeastern Kansas. Charles J. Devlin is president of the company, and Jonathan D. Norton is secretary, the main office being at Topeka.
Mr. Fletcher affiliates with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias and the Elks and still retains his membership in Bureau county. He was married in Bureau county, Illinois, in 1879 to Miss L. C. Wil- hite. a daughter of one of the oldest settlers of the county and a mem- ber of a well known and esteemed family there. They have three chil- dren, Arthur J., Lottie E. and Joseph, Jr.
HENRY KALM.
Henry Kalm is a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser in Lincoln township, where he has been a resident and active participant in affairs since the year 1871, so that he deserves to be classed among the old- timers of Crawford county. He has been steadily successful in his various endeavors since taking up his home in this land of America, and is one of the honored German-American citizens who at all times and in all places have effected so much for the permanent welfare and progress of their adopted country.
Mr. Kalm was born in Lübeck free state. March 18. 1829, of one of the sturdy and respected families, his parents living and passing to their final reward in that country. His father was Henry. Sr., and his mother's maiden name was Foe, the latter dying when the son Henry was a baby. The father was a basket-maker, and also a dealer in fruit.
Reared in his native locality and attending, according to good old German usage, the schools until he was fourteen years old. Mr. Kalm spent his early life in his native fatherland, but when still a very young man emigrated to this country. On his arrival here he says he possessed
624
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
only a five-franc piece as capital for his new world ventures, and was besides in a strange land among foreign people, hardly knowing a word of their language. But his record throughout has been most praise- worthy and he has gained a success which is honorable in the highest degree.
He came out to Adams county. Illinois, settling near Quincy, and was there married to Matilda Teton, a native of Germany, who died leaving one child. Matilda Bird, of Illinois. Mr. Kalm later married an American woman, born, reared and educated in Illinois. In 1871 they left Illinois and came to this county, where Mr. Kalın has made his home ever since. He has a beautiful farm of two hundred and forty acres in Lincoln township, rich and productive land, improved with excellent dwelling, barn and other up-to-date accessories, attractive and the more valuable by reason of the orchard and grove of sugar maples. and is withal one of the model farmsteads of Crawford county.
Mr. Kalm has also lost his second wife, but his home has been blessed with the following children : Della, Elmer E., Charles, Mary, William, Harround, Lotta. Myrtle, the three youngest being still at home. Mr. Kalm is also one of our Civil war veterans, having offered himself with the same patriotism as animated the native sons to service for his adopted land. He enlisted in 1864 and served nine months in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, during which time he saw considerable hard campaigning in Kentucky and at the end of his time he received an honorable discharge. He is a member of the Christian church, as was his good wife, who was active in all good works, kindly and charitable, a willing worker, and beloved at home and in the com- munity, so that her death meant a great personal loss not alone in her household but to her many friends.
ALBERT G. ROBSON.
Albert G. Robson, city engineer of Pittsburg and county surveyor of Crawford county, is a well known engineering expert in this section
625
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY
of the state, and his work has been of a very important nature, both in connection with private enterprises and in his official capacity, in which he has well substantiated the confidence placed in him by his fellow citizens. He has spent most of his life in southeastern Kansas, and his endeavors have been such as to add materially to the welfare of his community in addition to promoting his own prosperity.
Mr. Robson was born at Altona, Illinois, in 1873, being a son of William H. and Lottie ( Purdy ) Robson. The late William H. Robson, well known and honored in Pittsburg, where he was a pioneer citizen. and in other parts of the state, was born in Northumberland county. England, on the river Tyne, in 1834. He was of Scotch parentage. his ancestry having belonged to the Robson clan, of old and interesting history. He was born and reared in the coal-mining country of Eng- land, began coal mining at an early age, although he was not deprived of any of the means of education and was excellently prepared in scholar- ship. He came to the United States at the age of fifteen, in 1849, and located in the mining region of West Virginia. He made good use of his native intelligence and training and industry, and became a mining engineer and superintendent, and later a mine operator, and gained the reputation of an expert in the location and operation of coal mines. After leaving West Virginia he located in Ohio, and then for some years was located about Altona, Illinois, in the mining industry. From there he went to Iowa and to Wyoming, in the interests of the coal mining busi- ness, and in 1878 arrived in Pittsburg, Kansas, which town was then in its first stages of growth and development. His experienced eye, how- ever, took in the future possibilities of the place as a coal-mining center. and at that time he predicted the future greatness of Pittsburg provided a first-class water supply coukl be secured. . \ sure source of water was the great deficiency at Pittsburg in those days, and it was not until after the unfailing flow of the artesian wells had been established that Pittsburg progressed by leaps and bounds into the ranks of the foremost cities of Kansas, and since then the town has had practically no checks.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.