A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 100

Author: Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York Chicago: The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 970

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teen children were born to these worthy par- ents, and Mrs. Brown was the second in the family. Seven still survive, all of them liv- ing in homes of their own, in Kentucky, ex- cept Mrs. Brown, a brother named Loveless, who lives near McClain, Kansas, and a sis- ter, Martha Brown, who lives in Wichita. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown are : Julian H., who resides on the farm, married Anna Black, and their five children are Maud, Alva, Charles, May and Glenn; William E., who resides on the farm in Harvey county, married Anna Logan, and has one child, who married Anna Nichol- son, of Newton, and they have one child, which is the only great-grandchild of our subject ; Mollie, who married George Har- vey, resides in Sterling, Kansas, and they have five children,-Ina E., Roy C., Ethel N., Mary J., deceased, and Ollie A .; Susan, who is Mrs. J. W. Phillips, resides in Har- vey county and has six children,-Rose E., Leslie C., Wilbur P., Joseph T., Anna J. and Mary E .; Walter, who is a resident of this county, married Ida E. Coble and they have five children,-Leo H., Dora M., Verne C., Lesta F. and Vera M .; Waller S., a twin brother of Walter, died at the age of seven- teen years ; Minnie I .; and Jemima J., who married Franklin J. Francis, and resides on a farm in Sedgwick county.

Since early youth Mrs. Brown has been a faithful member of the Baptist church and is well known for her many traits of Chris- tian character. Mr. Brown is noted in his locality for strict integrity and both have a wide circle of sincere friends.

JOHN GERBER.

ber received an excellent education in his native language and when eighteen years of age he bcame a sailor and made his way to America, making his headquarters at Buf- falo, New York, for four years. On the expiration of that period, being at that time twenty-two years of age he returned to the old country, but after a short time he again came to America, securing a place in Belle- vue, Seneca county, Ohio, where he has made his home for sixty years and during this long period he has so lived as to win and retain the confidence and love of all with whom he has had business or social relations.

Mr. Gerber was first marired to Barbara Heitz, also a native of Alsace, France, and there she was reared and educated. She bore her husband six children, namely : Ja- cob, a resident of Evans township, Kingman county ; Barbara, who died when young; Mary, who makes her home in Ohio: John, the subject of this review; Joseph, who died in Ohio; and Philopena, the wife of Mike Meng, also of this township. After the death of the mother of this family the father was again married, Lena Snyder be- coming his wife, and their son, Mike Ger- ber, is now a well known resident of this township. The father gives his political sup- port to the Democracy, and religiously he is a member of the Catholic church.

John Gerber, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to farm life in the county of his nativity, where he was early taught the value of industry, and in the public schools of his locality he received his early education. After reaching years of maturity he chose as a life occupation the vocation to which he had been reared, and he carried on operations along that line in Seneca county, Ohio, until 1878, and in that year came to central Kansas. For a time after his arrival in this state he was employed as a farm hand, receiving fifteen dollars a month in compensation for his services. During this time he also proved up a claim, on which he erected a sod house, and a team of Texas steers were used in breaking his land. Later, however, he sold

John Gerber, one of the early pioneers of the state, has the proud distinction of having been the first German-American to secure a claim in Kingman county. He was born near Bellevue, in Seneca county, Ohio, in 1855, a son of Tacob Gerber, Sr. who was born on the Rhine in Alsace France. The latter's father owned a large vineyard in Alsace and was a well known and highly respected citizen of his locality. Jacob Ger- that place and purchased the land which he

RESIDENCE OF JOHN GERBER.

John barber Agatha Gerber

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now owns, then consisting of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres. As the years have passed by prosperity has rewarded his well directed efforts and he has been enabled to add to his original purchase until his landed possessions now consist of four hun- dred and eighty acres in the homestead farm and three hundred and sixty acres, two miles distant, making a total of nine hundred and eighty acres. all excellent and productive land. In 1895 Mr. Gerber erected one of the finest residences in Kingman county, two stories in height, built on a substan- tial rock foundation and is well and taste- fully furnished throughout. He has also an excellent rock basement barn, thirty-two by fifty-two feet, well arranged for the shel- ter of horses, cattle, grain and hay. In ad- dition to these valuable farm buildings ' he also owns residence property in Waterloo, Kansas.

Mr. Gerber was married to Agatha Glassner, a native also of Seneca county, Ohio, and a daughter of John and Catherine (Gease) Glassner, both natives of Germany and both now deceased .. The father emi- grated from Prussia to this country at the age of sixteen years, locating in Seneca county, Ohio, and his wife came to America at about the same time from Alsace. At the age of nineteen years she gave her hand in marriage to John Glassner. They began their domestic life on a farm in Seneca county, Ohio, and there they spent the re- mainder of their lives and reared their chil- dren. The father was one of the most suc- cessful farmers of his neighborhood, and he also owned large vineyards on the Caliss Islands, between Sandusky and Canada, where he engaged in making a fine grade of wine. Six children have blessed the union of our subject and wife, namely: Lottie, Kathrine, Laura, Mary, Anna and Gertrude. The Democracy receives Mr. Gerber's hearty · support and co-operation, and many times he has been a member of the county commit- tee. He has also held the office of justice of the peace. His religious preference con- nects him with the Catholic church, and for the past forty-six years he has served as its trustee.

T. M. KIDD.

Among the enterprising and successful business men of Medicine Lodge none is more deserving of mention in this volume than T. M. Kidd, a contractor and builder. He is what the world calls a self-made man, for he owes his advancement entirely to his diligence, his well directed efforts and his honorable business methods. His life rec- ord is in many respects well worthy of emu- lation, for under all circumstances he has been loyal to truth, duty and the right.

Mr. Kidd is a native of Clermont county. Ohio, born December 22, 1836, and belongs to one of the well known families of that locality. His ancestry can be traced back to an early period in the history of Vir- ginia, and from that state Daniel Kidd, the grandfather of our subject, emigrated to Ohio when a young man, casting in his lot among its pioneers who aided in laying the foundation for its present development and progress. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bunton, a daughter of one of the early settlers of Ohio. She was reared in one of the old forts and was taught to load and shoot a rifle, for those were days when an Indian outbreak might be expected at any time, and the people were constantly on the alert to avoid such danger. Unto Daniel Kidd and his wife was born a son, to whom they gave the name of Joseph, and it was this child who, grown to manhood, became the father of our subject. In Cler- mont county, Ohio, Joseph Kidd spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and after arriving at adult age he married Adelia Wainwright, who was his second wife. By this union there were nine children, four sons and five daughters, but only three are now living: Thomas M., of this review ; William, who resides in central Illinois : and Mrs. Hannah Bradley, of Batavia, Ohio. One of the sons was a lieutenant in the One Hundred and Fifty-third Indiana Infantry and for a number of years resided in the Hoosier state. Others who have passed away are Julia. Alvira, Jane, Charles and one who died in infancy. The parents spent their entire lives in Ohio, passing away very

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many years ago. The father, who was born in 1803, was called to his final rest in 1892. and the mother died at the age of forty years. Throughout the greater part of his life he held membership in the Methodist church, in which he served as class-leader through four decades. His noble Christian manhood made him honored and respected by all who knew him.

On the old homestead in Ohio T. M. Kidd was reared and early trained to habits of industry, economy and honesty. After acquiring his education in the public schools he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for a number of years in the Buck- eye state and subsequently resumed it in Kansas. At the age of twenty-two he sought as a companion and helpmate for the journey of life Miss Susan Forbes, a lady of intelligence and of good family, who gave to him her hand in marriage and has since proved to him a most capable assistant. She was born in Clermont county, Ohio, a daughter of Anthony Forbes, who was like- wise a native of the Buckeye state, and in 1849, at the time of the discovery of gold in Calfornia, made his way westward to the Pacific coast, where he spent several years in mining. He also engaged in ranching in the Mariposa valley and had other business ventures, but ultimately returned to Ohio and subsequently removed to Alexandria, Missouri, where he made his home until his removal to Kansas City, that state. There he died of cholera in the year 1866. He had two sons, Henry and Joseph, who were sol- diers of tlie Civil war, joining a California regiment and taking part in the frontier service. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs.

Kidd has been blessed with three children : Charles, who is a carpenter and joiner by trade and is now connected with a hard- ware firm in Medicine Lodge ; Daniel, a resi- dent farmer of Oklahoma; and Diana W., the wife of L .; D. Sparks, of this city.

In the year 1865 Mr. Kidd left his home in Ohio and removed to Alexandria, Mis- souri, where he lived until 1876, when he went to Jackson county, Missouri. There he lived until 1885, when he came to Medi- cine Lodge. where he has since engaged in

business, conducting a hotel and also en- gaging in contracting and building. Many of the substantial structures of this city stand as monuments of his skill and handi- work. He has a thorough understanding of the builder's art and his knowledge enables him to capably superintend the labors of those who work under him. He faithfully lives up to the terms of his contracts and his reliability in business has secured to him a good patronage. Mr. Kidd has always been a patriotic and loyal citizen and at the time of the Civil war he enlisted in his country's service for a term of four months, joining the army in May, 1864, as a member of Company K. Fifty-third Ohio Infantry, un- der the command of Captain J. Dean and Colonel Stone. The regiment was stationed during the greater part of the time in Vir- ginia, along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, on the Potomac river, at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and near Cumberland, Maryland, being engaged in guard duty. Mr. Kidd served tintil honorably discharged from the service and he is now a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is a stalwart Prohibitionist. Socially he is iden- tified with the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are members of the Christian church. In manner he is frank and genial, having just regard for all the qualities which make up noble manhood.

ROBERT JOHNSON ELWOOD.

This popular and prosperous citizen of Harvey county, Kansas, whose homestead is in section 24, Macon township, and whose post-office is at Newton, was born at Pine Flats, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 29, 1846. James T. Elwood, his fa- ther, who has attained the advanced age of eighty-one years, was born in Westmore- land county, that state, April 17, 1821. James Elwood, the father of the James El- wood just mentioned and grandfather of Robert Johnson Elwood, was a blacksmith, who moved from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, to Indiana county, that state,

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about 1840. He married Margaret Sherri- dan, also of Pennsylvanian birth, and they had three sons and two daughters, all of whom married and had families. John El- wood, an uncle of the subject of this sketch, lives on part of the old Elwood homestead, on the site of grandfather Elwood's first abode there, which was a bark-covered log shanty. That pioneer not only improved a large farm but cleared an extensive tract of timber land on which his three sons settled.

Sarah Johnson, who married James T. Elwood, and became the mother of Robert Johnson Elwood, was born in Pennsylvania in 1822. She married Mr. Elwood about 1845, and died February 7, 1846, when Robert Johnson, her only child, was nine days old. The boy was cared for un- til he was ten years old by grandmother Elwood, of whom he always speaks as hav- ing been his best friend on earth. Mean- while his father married Mary Johnson, his first wife's sister, and Robert returned to the parental roof. By his second marriage Mr. Elwood had two children,-Sarah Eliz- abeth and John S. Sarah Elizabeth, who is not married, lives at the old Elwood home. John S. lives in Harvey county, Kansas, on an eighty-acre farm which was homesteaded by Robert J., April 30, 1871, when there was not a building on the present site of Newton. The land office was yet located at Emporia and the lumber for the first build- ing at Newton was on the ground, having been drawn seventy-five miles, from Em- poria.

Robert Johnson Elwood and three of his cousins met at Paola in eastern Kansas, April 1, 1871, and started thence for central Kansas with a four-ox team. Camping out by the way, they arrived at their destination the last of April, and three of them home- steaded eighty acres each, the other one hun- dred and sixty acres in section 24, range I east, five miles northeast of Newton. Dur- ing the first year of their residence there, the four kept house together in a ten-by-twelve- foot sod house on J. M. Johnson's claim, each improving his land by breaking ten acres and fencing it into forty-acre lots with Osage hedge, of which they set out seven

and a quarter miles, which is still growing and from which Mr. Elwood has secured many fence posts. All but one of the four men lived there until the spring of 1901 when Mr. Elwood exchanged his eighty acres there in part payment for the purchase of one hundred and sixty acres in Macon township, which he bought of Robert R. Chambers, his father-in-law, and to which he moved in order that he and his wife might care for Mrs. Elwood's parents in their de- clining years. As a pioneer Mr. Elwood had many interesting experiences, and he remem- bers that he and J. C. Johnson made the coffin in which was buried the first white woman who died in Highland township. Her death occurred in the fall of 1871; an ordinary lumber wagon did duty as a hearse, and she was drawn to the grave in it by a yoke of oxen,-one of the two yoke that Mr. Elwood and his cousins had brought with them to central Kansas; and only her hus- band, Mr. Elwood, Mr. Johnson and a col- ored woman, followed her to her lonely rest- ing place.

In the fall of 1869, while Mr. Elwood was journeying to the west, he met Miss Martha H. Chambers, of Tama county, lowa, whom he married February 6. 1873. Mrs. Elwood was born July 11, 1850. They left Tama county March 10, 1873, with a covered wagon drawn by a span of horses and drove through to Mr. Elwood's home in central Kansas, where it may be truly said that they have grown up with the country and prospered. Their daughter Laura, who was graduated from the State Normal School at Emporia in 1899, is a teacher in the primary department of the public school at Newton. Their son Leroy was graduated at the Wichita Business College and was for four years a stenographer in the offices of the Santa Fe Railroad Company in Newton, and is now in the mercantile business at Val- ley Falls, Kansas. He is a Master Mason.

Politically Mr. Elwood was formerly a Democrat, but during recent years he has been an active Populist. He assisted to or- ganize Highland township for school pur- poses and was long a member of the school board there, and has been chairman of the

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Populist county central committee of Har- vey county since the organization of that body, and was a delegate to the Populist National convention at St. Louis. Mr. and Mrs. Elwood are Presbyterians and each was reared in that faith by devoted Chris- tian parents. Mr. Elwood is a public-spir- ited, progressive man, who is looked upon as a leader in all good movements by his ap- preciative fellow townsmen.

Robert R. Chambers, of section 24, Ma- con township, Harvey county, whose daugh- ter, Martha H., married the immediate sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1822. Benjamin Chambers, his father, who was born in the same county, in 1794, and died in 1844, had nine children, of whom eight were reared to manhood and womanhood. Jolin was the first born and Robert Ralston was the second in order of nativity. The third was Elizabeth, and George was the fourth child. James lived in Burlingame, Kansas ; Benjamin F. in Nebraska. Nancy was the seventh born of her parents' chil- dren. Mary Jane married David Forney, of Marshall county, Iowa. Benjamin and Mary ( Ralston) Chambers were married about 1818.

Robert Ralston Chambers and Elizabeth D. Henry were married in 1847, in Penn- sylvania, where both were born, and they have reared eight of their nine children. Samuel Henry was born June. 11, 1848, and died in Iowa, unmarried, at the age of twen- ty-two years. Martha H., who married Robert Johnson Elwood, was born July II, 1850. Benjamin F., born December 23, 1852, in Pocahontas county, Iowa. has been twice married and has two children. Mary J., born March 25, 1855, married G. W. Tuttle, and died at Eldorado Springs, Mis- souri, in 1901. Nancy E. married Harian Sage and died in Newton, Kansas, January 25, 1895, leaving five children, John W., born January 4, 1860, died unmarried, in Macon township, March I, 1889. Isabella, who was born February II, 1862, is the widow of M. D. Reeves, late of Macon township, and has six children. Sarah Mar-

garet, born October 5, 1864, married Leslie Brown and lives near Neosho Falls, Kan- sas. Nellie Louisa, born January 29, 1870, died in infancy.

Mr. Chambers emigrated from Pennsyl- vania to Grinnell, Iowa, in the fall of 1854 and removed thence a few years later to Tama county, and thence in 1874 to central Kansas, making the journey with teams, his daughter and her husband, R. J. Elwood, having preceded him in the spring of 1873, where Mr. Elwood had homesteaded eighty acres of land. Mr. Chambers bought of a Mr. Hardenbrook one hundred and sixty acres of land in Macon township. on section 24, for one thousand dollars. A little of the land had been broken and some hedge had been set upon it, and there was a small frame house ready for occupancy, which in the course of events was replaced by the more modern structure which is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chambers and Mr. and Mrs. Elwood and their family. Mr. Chambers relates some disastrous experiences with grasshoppers during the first few years of his residence in Kansas, and tells interest- ingly how a cyclone swept away his first barn which stood on the site of the present roomy red barn of the Chambers farmn.

Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have had a happy wedded life extending over a period of about fifty-five years, and though they are now well advanced in years they are cheer- ful, contented people, well preserved ment- ally, whom it is pleasant to meet and talk with. Mr. Chambers has been a man of iron constitution, but is now in failing health be- cause of a diseased limb, which was broken some years ago. Until that calamity over- took him he was a model farmer, but his disability since then has been so great that his farm has become somewhat run down. Mr. Elwood purchased it with a view to making the life of Mr. and Mrs. Chambers easy during their declining years, and ex- pects soon to restore it to the order and pro- ductiveness that characterized it in former years, for he is a thorough farmer and an up-to-date, progressive man. It may be said of him that he is a genial, broad-minded

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gentleman, the number of whose friends is restricted only by the extent of his acquaint- ance.

JAMES HILTON.

Nearly thirty years were passed by James Hilton in the Sunflower state. To the settlers of the early days, far removed from the privileges and conveniences of city or town, the struggle for existence was a stern and hard one, and these men and wo- men must have possessed indomitable en- ergies and sterling worth of character, as . well as marked physical courage, when they thus voluntarily selected such a life and successfully fought its battles under such circumstances as prevailed in the northwest.

James Hilton was born in Connecticut, near Bridgeport, May 1. 1841, a son of Elijah Hilton, who was a native of Eng- land. The latter was reared in his native country, and after coming to the United States he was married, in Connecticut, to Anna Hilton. a native of that state. In early life Elijah Hilton was employed on a boat on the Great Lakes between Buffalo and Chicago. At length his boat was almost wrecked and he retired from the sailor's life. On the very next trip the boat was blown up and completely destroyed. Mr. Hilton died in middle life and his widow passed the remainder of her life in Connecticut.

James Hilton, our subject, thus deprived of a father's care when young, was com- pelled to make his own way in the world. In 1860 he went to Jersey City, New Jersey, where he learned the baker's trade, remain- ing there until 1872. Becoming weary of city life and learning of the possibilities and advantages to be secured in the new and growing west, in February, 1872, he came by rail with a party from Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, to Kansa's, first pre-empting a claim in Rice county. He subsequently sold that tract and secured a timber claim. Pec- ple of the present century can scarcely realize the struggles and dangers which at- tended the early settlers, the heroism and self-sacrifice of lives passed upon the bor-

ders of civilization, the hardships endured, the difficulties overcome. Mr. Hilton wit- nessed the development and upbuilding of this section of the state and ably bore his part in the work.

In 1876 he located on the last farm, where he recently died, of one hundred and. eighty-six acres, on section 6. Center town- ship. In addition there is also a grove of forty acres. The place is improved with a good residence, which is situated on a nat- ural building site, and the large barn, thirty- six by thirty-eight feet, furnishes accon- modations for twelve horses and the same number of cows, and thirty tons of hay can also be stored therein. He also owned ninety-three acres a half mile south of the home farm, which was afterward sold, and his landed possessions finally aggregated two hundred and sixty-six acres. In addi- tion to the raising of the cereals best adapted to this soil and climate he also engaged in stock-raising, breeding white-faced or Here- ford cattle. In this branch of his business he met with a well merited degree of suc- cess. The fields are under a high state of cultivation, and everything about the place indicates the careful supervision of a pro- gressive owner. Before the county was or- ganized the old Santa Fe trail went directly through this farm.

May 19, 1874, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hilton and Miss Tillie Thompson, who was born in Lycoming county, Pennsyl- vania, and was reared and educated in the Keystone state. When seventeen years of age she removed to Jasper county, Iowa, lo- cating near Prairie City. She is a daughter of William and. Adaline (Smeed) Thomp- son, natives of Pennsylvania. After the fa- ther's death the mother became the wife of John Pentico, and she now resides in Fred- erick, Rice county, Kansas. . Mrs. Hilton is the only child by her mother's first mar- riage, and by her second union she had seven children. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hil- ton was blessed with three children, one son and two daughters, namely : Ford J., who was born in 1875. and is now a resident of Geneseo, Rice county ; Addie E., the wife of Charles A. Dellinger, who follows farming

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on section 7, Center township, and they have one daughter, Anna Marie; and Anna E., a young lady of nineteen years, who is at home and is an excellent musician.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 100

Author: Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York Chicago: The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 970

Author: Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York Chicago: The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 970