USA > Kansas > A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I > Part 32
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During the twenty-eight years of his res- idence in Indiana Captain Smith was an ac-
tive worker in the ranks of the Republican party and after coming to Kansas he took a deep interest in its growth and success and was honored with several local offices. For four years he was a member of the city coun- cil, and for nine years was treasurer of the board of education, while for three years lie served as deputy county treasurer in ad- dition to his long incumbency in the office of .county surveyor. He is a prom- inent Mason, holding membership in Reno Lodge, No. 140, F. & A. M .; Reno Chap- ter, No. 34. R. A. M., in which he served as the first high priest; Hutchinson Council, No. 13. R. & S. M .; and Reno Commandery, No. 26, K. T. He was treasurer of all the bodies for twelve years. In religious faith he is a Universalist.
A very important event in the life of Mr. Smith occurred on the 14th day of Oc- tober, 1840,-his marriage to. Miss Phoebe Root, who was born December 7, 1819, and is the daughter of Joseph H. Root, of New York. Her father, however, was a native of Maine and for many years engaged in the lumber business, coasting his lumber while he resided in the Pine Tree state and after removing to New York oper- ated a sawmill and floated the logs down the Genesee river. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of two sons and three daughters : Ephraim, who was a member of Company B. Seventy-fourth Indiana Infantry, died during the war at Gallatin, Texas ; Hattie E. who engaged in teaching the first public school in Reno courty, married James T. Norman and died in February, 1886: Alida is the wife of William R. Underwood, who was city clerk for seven years and who in the Civil war enlisted in Company F. Seven- tv-fifth Indiana Infantry, and Company E. Seventh Indiana Cavalry. serving for three years in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississip- pi as a member of the First Brigade, Sixth Division, Sixteenth Army Corps; Alexan- der is in the railroad service in Louisiana ; and Caroline is the wife of Charles L. Chris- topher, of Hutchinson. The parents are the oldest married couple in Hutchinson if not in the county. They are now aged eighty-
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six and eighty-two years respectively, and for sixty-one years they have traveled life's journey together, their mutual love and con- fidence increasing as year by year they have together met the joys and sorrows, the ad- versity and prosperity which checker the careers of all. Uniformly respected and venerated, amid a large circle of friends, they are now spending the evening of life quietly in their pleasant home in Hutchinson.
PERRY A. EVANS.
Perry A. Evans, who is clerk of the dis- trict court in Rice county, Kansas, and makes his home in the city of Lyons, was elected to the office in November, 1900. He is regarded as one of the popular and worthy residents of the community, in which he has made his home since 1877, coming here in his boyhood days. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, near the city of Wooster, Oc- tober 12, 1866, and traces his ancestry back to Revolutionary stock. His great-grand- father. James Evans, was a native of Wales, and in colonial days sought a home in the new world. When the attempt was made to throw off the yoke of British oppression he joined the American army and loyally served in the cause of independence under General Washington and General Lafayette. James S. Evans, the father of our subject, now resides in Sterling, Kansas. He was reared, however, in Ohio, and there made his home until 1877, when he came to Rice county. In the Buckeye state he wedded Lamenta Swan, a daughter of J. S. Swan and a native of Ohio. In their family were but two children, the brother of our sub- ject being D. G. Evans, a resident of Ster- ling.
Perry A. Evans was a lad of only eleven summers when brought by his parents to Kansas. He acquired a good education in his youth and for some years was engaged in the grocery business in Sterling, where he made many friends and gained success by his honorable dealing, his earnest desire to please his customers, his pleasant manner
and his reliability. In 1900 he was elected to the office of clerk of the district court and his business and executive force well qualified him for the position. He is regard- ed as an active factor in Republican ranks, keeping well informed on the issues of the day and thus being able to support his posi- tion by intelligent argument. As a politi- cal worker he is faithful, zealous and capable and his labors in recent years have contrib- uted to the success of the public in this por- tion of the county.
In Rice county, in 1887, Mr. Evans wedded Miss Bernice Williams, of Brook- lyn, Iowa, and unto them have been born three children, namely: Glenn, Lamenta and Lorena. Mr. Evans is a representative of the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is an intelligent, well informed young man, who is found re- liable in public and private life and whose many excellent characteristics, manifested from his boyhood days to the present time, have gained for him the esteem and con- fidence of all with whom he has been asso- ciated.
ALONZO McMURPHY.
Alonzo McMurphy, a prominent farmer on section 31, Sterling township, Rice coun- ty, claims Indiana as the state of his nativ- ity, his birth having occurred there in Por- ter county, on the 20th of November, 1846. His father, Moses McMurphy, was born in Vermont, in 1810, and died in Kankakee county, Illinois, in 1858, at the age of forty- seven years and six months. He wedded Ruth Hulinger, of Ohio, the wedding being celebrated in Norwalk, that state, August 1, 1833. His bride was born in Perry coun- ty, in 1811, and was a daughter of Jacob and Sarah ( Stronsnider) Hulinger, repre- sentatives of high Dutch farmers of Penn- sylvania. They were numbered among the pioneers of the Buckeye state, and there reared four of their ten children. The motli- er of our subject was first married in 1828.
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to Jesse Cain, who died in 1832, leaving two children, but one passed away soon afterward. In 1833 Mrs. Cain became the wife of Mr. McMurphy. His death oc- curred in 1857, and in 1862, in Lake county, Indiana, she was married to David Weed, of New York, who was then engaged in farm- ing in Lake county, where he had located at an early day. His death there occurred in 1875, when he had reached the ripe old age of eighty-two years. Mrs. Weed has been the mother of ten children and with the exception of one all reached years of matur- ity and were married. They are: James, who died in infancy ; Eliza, who became the wife of Robert Ingram and died at the age of twenty-five years, leaving an infant son, who soon afterward passed away; Polly, who became the wife of Walker Ross and died in November, 1899, at the age of sixty-five years, after becoming the mother of ten children; Harriet, who became the wife of Azariah Weed. a son of David Weed, and after his death in the service of the Union army she married Sherman Drury and is now living in Tennessee; Helen, who be- came the wife of Fred Westerman, who was her second husband, and died in Lake coun- ty. Indiana, leaving three children ; Melissa, who became the wife of Robert Ingram and died in 1893, being survived by three of her four children : Amy, who died at the age of nine years : Alonzo, of this review ; Martha, who died in August, 1866, at the age of six- teen years ; and Emma, who became the wife of Morgan Kelly and died in Sterling, in 1884. while their two children have also passed away. Mrs. Weed has had fifty-four great-grandchildren and has one great- great-grandson, Clarke Hayden. She has been three times married and has now been a widow for twenty-six years. From Indi- ana she removed to Kansas in 1884 and re- sided in Sterling until 1893. when she came to the home of her son Alonzo.
Mr. McMurphy of this review was an only son and his father died when he was twelve years of age. He received but a mea- ger education, owing to the fact that it was necessary for him to provide for his own living. He worked as a farm hand for five
dollars a month and in the winter he re- mained with his mother, assisting her in the work of the farm. In July, 1863, in Lake county, Indiana, he enlisted for three years' service in the Seventh Indiana Cavalry, re- maining at the front until March, 1866, when he returned home. He was in the quartermaster's department much of the time and was wagon-master under General Cus- ter. He was never wounded, but was large- ly broken down in health when he left the army, and is now a pensioner, receiving eight dollars a month.
On the IIth of February, 1867, Mr. McMurphy was united in marriage to Ruth Mitchell, who was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, a daughter of Daniel and Asenath ( Mullin) Mitchell. the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ohio. His birth occurred in 1821, his wife's in 1823, and they were married in Indiana in 1846. Subsequently they became farming people of Will county, Illinois, and Mr. Mitchell died in Kankakee county, that state. April 20, 1886, leaving his widow and three of their five children to survive him. Their children were: Ruth, now Mrs. McMur- phy ; Mary, who became the wife of Loren- zo Smith and died in Illinois, at the age of twenty-four years. leaving one child ; Rebec- ca, who became the wife of John Reed. of Buchanan county, Iowa, by whom she has seven children : Samuel, who died at the age of seven years; and William, a farmer of Waterloo, Iowa, and he has two children. Unto Mr. and Mrs. McMurphy has been born but one child, Pearl Ethel. now the wife of James J. Leatherman. of Iowa.
For one year Mr. McMurphy engaged in farming in Will county, Illinois, on land be- longing to his father-in-law, and then rent- ed a tract on Grand Prairie, after which he settled on a forty-acre farm in Kankakee county, Illinois, making it his home for two years. In 1871 he sold that property and took up his abode in the northern part of Rice county, Kansas, upon a homestead farm of one hundred and sixty acres. which he cultivated for three years, after which he returned to the Mitchell farm for the winter. In 1876 he again came to Sterling, Kansas,
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where he engagedin the livery business as a member of the firm of McMurphy & Hughes, and they also owned a stage route from Sterling to Ellsworth. They did a large business in staging, in renting teams and vehicles and in shipping horses and mules from Missouri to Kansas. Their oper- ations annually brought in many thousand dollars, but the business was terminated in 1881 and Mr. McMurphy became a ranch- man in Reno county, Kansas, where he re- mained for two years. In 1883 he pur- chased one thousand acres of railroad land in Rice county, for which he paid from two dollars and eighty cents to nine dollars and sixty cents per acre. Subsequently he added to this and was the owner of fourteen hun- dred acres, but he sold a portion to his son- in-law. He is one of the leading stock- farmers of the township, keeping on his ranch as high as fifteen hundred head of cattle at a time for himself and others. He has fattened as many as four hundred head a year, and as he never places his stock upon the market unless it is in excellent condition he has secured therefrom a good return on his investments. When he came to his pres- ent farm it was a tract of wild and unim- proved prairie and when he located in the county buffaloes, antelopes and wild horses were still seen, Indians also being numerous in the locality. Upon his place he has a splendid farm residence, large barns, excel- lent corn cribs, and cattle sheds, all of which he has erected and which are therefore a monument to his enterprise and thrift. He also has a fine orchard and groves of shade trees, which were planted by him. He has grown seventeen thousand bushels of corn in a single year and his granaries will con- tain fifteen thousand bushels of wheat.
Mr. McMurphy is a Chapter Mason and is an exemplary representative of the craft. He votes with the Republican party and has served as road master. His wife is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mr. McMurphy has served as one of the officers. Both his mother and wife are veteran members of the church. Mr. and Mrs. McMurphy have reared two adopted Sms .- Luther, who came to them when four
years of age and is now eighteen, and Ed- ward Herman, who came to them when ten years of age. Our subject and his wife are people of sterling worth, of broad human- itarian principles, of deep human sympathy, and of genuine kindness and wherever they go they win friends. Mr. McMurphy well deserves the splendid prosperity which has come to him, for his life has been one of unfailing industry and in all his dealings he has been straightforward and honorable, so that his record will bear the closest investi- gation.
J. T. NASH.
The safety of the republic depends not so much upon methods and measures as upon that manhood from whose deep sourc- es all that is precious and permanent in life must at last proceed. Macaulay has said that the history of the nation is best told in the lives of its individual citizens and it is the men of prominence in a community by which that community is judged. Among the representative and highly respected resi- dents of Rice county is J. T. Nash, who is now occupying the position of register of deeds, to which office he was elected in No- vember, 1897, on the Republican ticket. He has served continuously in the position since that time and his marked fidelity to duty, his ability and his faithfulness have won him the commendation of all concerned. He has been a resident of the county since 1887 and his identity with the Sunflower state dates from 1809.
Mr. Nash is a native of Kentucky, his birth having occurred at Concord, on the Ohio river in Lewis county, July 5, 1841. His father, Jesse Nash, was also a native of Kentucky, but the family was of German lineage and was founded in America by James Nash, the grandfather of our subject, who was born in Germany and spent his last days in Evansville, Indiana. He was a farmer by occupation and upon the family homestead Jesse Nash grew to manhood. After arriving at years of maturity he mar-
JE Nach
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ried Miss Cynthia A. Sparks, who was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, and was a representative of one of the old and worthy families of that state. The young people began their domestic life in Kentucky, where they remained until 1866, when they re- moved to Jasper county, Indiana. For many years of his active business career Mr. Nash engaged in dealing in lumber. He eventually returned to his native state, where his death occurred in 1884, but his wife passed away in Franklin county, Kan-
a member of the Christian church, and in his political views Mr. Nash was a Repub- lican. They became the parents of the fol- lowing children: G. W., Eliza, Elizabeth, James H., John T., Jesse, Sarah, Mary B., Adolphus S. and Theophilus. The last named died in Sterling, Kansas, aged fifty- five years. He had followed merchandising in Rice county, had served as a county offi- cial and was well known in that portion of the state, being an active factor in business and public affairs.
J. T. Nash, whose name introduces this icord, was reared in Festucky and ac- quired his education in the subscription scho ls. In his youth he became connected with the lumber business. At the time of the Civil war he offered his services to the government, enlisting in June, 1861, for three years as a member of Company A. Third Ohio Infantry. He remained at the front for two years, serving in West Vir- ginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. At Mur- freesboro he was wounded, after which he received an honorable discharge. Later he raised a company, which became Company A, of the Forty-fifth Mounted Infantry of Kentucky, and was its orderly sergeant. Later he was commissioned first lieutenant of Company I, but refused the lieuten- ancy, preferring to remain with his old com- rades of Company A. With that command he participated in the engagement at King's Salt Works against the forces of General Morgan. He was also in the battle of Lex- ington and Cynthiana, Kentucky, and in other engagements. Wherever duty called
he was found at his post and was always faithful to the starry banner of the nation. When the war was over he received an hour- orable discharge and gladly returned to his home.
Mr. Nash afterward went to Lafayette, Indiana, where he resided from 1865 until 1869, his time and attention being devoted to carpentering and contracting. In the lat- ter year he emigrated to Kansas, taking up his abode in Franklin county. He lived in Ottawa until 1887, when he came to Lyons.
sas, when sixty-eight years of age. She was . Kansas, becoming an active factor in the building interests of the city. Here as a carpenter and contractor he carried on oper- ations until elected to public office, and erec- ted many of the substantial structures (i 1 the city, which still stand as monuments of his thrift and enterprise. He lived in - faithfully up to the terms of his contracts and the reputation which he enjoys in the business circles is an unassailable one.
Mr. Noch was united in marriage in Frankl'n county. Kansas, in 1872, to Miss Mary A. Alford, of that county, who was born in Wordsfield, Monroe county, Ohio, and was reared and educated there. She had one brother who was a soldier in the Civil war and died of wounds received in battle. Three children grace their union : Warren ; Ella, who is assisting her father as deputy register of deeds in the office at Ly- ons ; and Daniel, who is a student in the high school. The family is one widely and fa- vorably known in this community and the members of the household occupy prominent positions in social circles. Mr. Nash is an advocate of Republican principles and does all in his power to promote the growth and secure the success of the party. His fitness for office, his reliability and his devotion to the general good led to his selection for the position of register of deeds, in which in- cumbency he is now serving, by re-election in the fall of 1899. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, belongs to the Masonic fraternity : the Royal Arch degree of Sterling Chapter. Ne. 50. He is also identifie.1 with the Knights of Pythias fra- ternity, and his wife is a member of the
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Methodist Episcopal church. A man of in- telligence, straightforward in business, gen- ial and approachable in manner, J. T. Nash ranks among the popular and valued citi- zens of Lyons.
JOSEPH GIERTZ.
The deserved reward of a well spent life is an honored retirement from business in which to enjoy the fruits of former toil. To- day, after a useful and beneficent career, Mr. Giertz is quietly living at his beautiful home in Kingman, surrounded by the com- forts that earnest labor has brought to him. He was born in Mecklenburg, Prussia, on the Ist of January, 1825, a son of Joseph and Mary (Kippert) Giertz, also natives of Prussia, where the father had charge of large estates. Joseph was early inured to farm labor in all its departments. When twenty years of age he entered the German army, in which he served for three years, and during two years of the time he was engaged in the war with Denmark. After the close of the struggle he again resumed the quiet and peaceful duties of the farm, continuing that occupation in his native country until 1860, when he crossed the At- lantic to America, locating first in Mason county, Illinois, where for the following two years he was employed as a farm laborer. From that time until 1883 he rented land in that county, but in the latter year he came to Kansas, locating on land belonging to a Mr. McGleason in Kingman county, whom he had known in Illinois. In the following year he went to Seward county, Kansas, and secured a homestead in Liberal township. which he improved and made his home for fourteen years, his first residence there hay- ing been a one-story frame building four- teen by sixteen feet. He also secured tim- ber claims of a half section of land, which he placed under cultivation, and there erect- ed a frame dwelling, sixteen by fourteen feet. In 1898 he sold his possessions there for six hundred dollars, receiving only fifty dollars for his timber claim, although he had placed about two thousand dollars' worth
of improvements on both places, including the erection of a windmill. In the spring of 1900 he purchased his present home, consist- ing of a residence and one hundred acres of . land, the purchase price being twenty-four hundred dollars. His residence is now one of the good ones in the city of Kingman, substantially built upon a beautiful eminence, thus commanding a splendid view of the city and surrounding country. The land is farmed by his eldest son, but the place is principally devoted to pasturage, in which they keep from one hundred to three hun- dred head of cattle annually.
Mr. Giertz was married in 1861, Miss Emma Studiman becoming his wife. She is also a native of Prussia and came to Amer- ica with the Giertz family. Thirteen chil- dren have blessed their union, only eight of whom still survive, namely: John, who carries on the work of the home place ; Em- ma, the wife of Charles Newland, a farmer of Ninnescah township; Eliza, the wife of James Goddard, of Indiana ; Frank, a prom- inent farmer of Seward county, Kansas; Minnie, the wife of Harry Heath, also of that county ; and Laura, Will and Sophia, at home. Mr. Giertz casts his ballot in favor of the men and measures of the Democracy, and he has served as overseer of highways in both Illinois and Seward county, Kansas. He is a worthy and acceptable member of the Lutheran church, and those who know him personally have for him high regard. A man of great natural ability, his success from the beginning of his residence in King- man county has been uniform and rapid. He has persevered in the pursuit of a definite purpose and has gained a most satisfactory reward. His life is exemplary in all respects and he has ever supported those interests which are calculated to benefit and uplift humanity, while his own high moral worth is deserving of the highest commendation.
WILLIAM EBBERT.
There are not many sections of middle Kansas where the name of William Ebbert is not familiar, for as one of the leading
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cattle men of the state, he is widely known. The Ebbert farm and cattle ranch is situated on section 34, in Ninnescah township, King- man county, Kansas, and has a reputation which extends over all this section of coun- try.
The birth of William Ebbert was in Pennsylvania, in York county, in 1859, and he is a son of John and Susan (Bowser) Ebbert. His father was a native of Ger- many, who came to the United States when .a young man, having been educated in his native country. He was an excellent farmer, a kind father and devoted husband and was sincerely mourned when his death occurred in Illinois, at the age of sixty-four. In pol- itics he had been attracted to the Republican party, and he liberally supported the German Baptist church, in which both he and wife were leading members. He married Susan Bowser, who was born in Maryland and be- longed to a highly esteemed family of that state. She died also in the state of Illinois, at the age of fifty-five, and is still remem- bered with tender affection. She was the mother of eight children, and six of these still survive, namely: Joseph, William, Samuel, Lydia, Rebecca and Mary, and all of them were reared in a home atmosphere which was of a character to make them use- ful and honored members of society.
When William Ebbert was about seven years old the family removed to Schuyler county, Illinois, where the father settled on a farm and was assisted by his sons. Will- iam learned all of the practical details of farming, in the thorough way which is the custom of German agriculturists, and in later life no doubt often felt glad that his father had been so exacting. One branch of the business, that of the scientific and econ- omical management of stock, he has devel- oped to the highest degree and through this has become one of the most substantial and reliable cattle men of this county.
In 1885 Mr. Ebbert came to Kingman county, Kansas, possessing but limited means, which he used to begin his business in an humble way. From the first he had faith in the promises held out by the appar- ent fertility of the soil of this section, and
he was far-sighted enough to see how good management could make this the finest cattle country in the Union. Accumulating land. he continued until he was in possession of twelve hundred and eighty acres, which he stocked with fine cattle, and by careful man- agement and excellent judgment he has built up a business which reflects upon him great credit. His elegant residence was erected at a cost of eighteen hundred dollars and all his improvements are in agreement with it, in finish and completeness. Mr. Ebbert keeps from three to four hundred head of cattle and has one of the largest ranches in the county.
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