A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 45

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

USA > Kansas > A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I > Part 45

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The union of Mr. and Mrs. Branch has been blessed with two children. The eldest, Charles Branch, is cashier in the Citizens' State Bank. The second son, Andrew, was formerly a student in the Agricultural Col- lege. as was also his brother, and he is now married and has three children. Mr. and Mrs. Branch now reside in Hutchinson, Kansas, where their eldest son resides with them. Mr. Branch is an advocate and earn- est supporter of the Prohibition party. His worth and ability have been recognized by his fellow townsmen, and for one term he served as county commissioner of Reno county. He has also served as township

trustee and township clerk. He is an up- right and reliable citizen, true to all the dut- ties of business, official and private life, and his sterling worth has gained him high ne- gard.

HENRY SIEMSEN.

The lumber dealer is a public necessity in any rapidly developing community, and in Kansas, during all the years of her ad- vancement, lumbermen have been among her foremost business men. There is no man in the trade in Ellsworth county bet- ter known than Henry Siemsen, of Holly- rood.

Mr. Siemsen was born in Holstein, Germany, March 20, 1869, a son of Fred- erick and Anna (Johansen) Siemsen, na- tives of Holstein. His father, who was a carpenter and builder, came to America in 1883, and located in Ellsworth county. Kansas, where he bought land and engaged in farming and in doing carpenter work as occasion dmanded. In 1889 he took charge of a lumber yard at Hollyrood, which lie managed for five years, when he retired from active business life. He is an hon- ored resident of Hollyrood.

Of the two sons of Frederick and Anna (Johansen) Siemsen, the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth. He learned the carpenter's trade with his father and followed it with success for several years. In the spring of 1899 he bought his present enterprise from George W. Ultch, and took up the business under the firm name of H. Siemsen & Company, with C. H. Rebber and H. A. Stoltenberg as part- ners. On the 3d of December, the same year, he purchased the interests of Messrs. Rebber and Stoltenberg and has since con- ducted the business individually, carrying a stock of lumber and building materials of all kinds, and also paints, oils, brushes, glass, etc., and he has been able to build up and maintain a good trade.

Politically Mr. Siemsen is a Democrat of considerable local influence, and he has , filled the offices of constable for one year,

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township trustee four years and road over- seer four years. He is a member of the German Lutheran church and of the Na- tional Alliance Aid, of Hollyrood. May 16, 1893, he married Bertha, daughter of Hen- ry and Annastina ( Ott) Stoltenberg, and has five children. namely : Dora, Clara, Bert, Hattie and Arthur.

EZRA WEAVER.

Descendants of early settlers of Pennsyl- vania, born and reared in an atmosphere of industry and frugality have sought fortune and found it in all parts of our country, and in achieving personal prosperity have con- tributed to the prosperity of the communities with which they have become identified.

One of the most prominent citizens of Pennsylvania nativity living within the bor- ders of Ellsworth county, Kansas, is Ezra Weaver, of Hollyrood, who was born in Huntingdon county, in the Keystone state, September 25. 1865. a son of George B. and Mary ( Smith) Weaver, both natives of Pennsylvania, his father born in Hunting- don county, his mother in Berks county. His father, who was a prosperous farmer, was an active promoter of public education and a member of the Lutheran church and an old-school Democrat. He died in his native county, in 1884, aged sixty-three years; his wife died in 1876. Ezra, of Hollyrood, was one of their eleven children. four of whom died in childhood and youth and seven of whom lived to maturity. Lafayette lives at Markleysburg, Pennsyl- vania : Isaiah is a farmer at Oregon ; Lydia is the wife of Samuel Hirst, of Pennsyl- vania : Caleb is a farmer of Pennsylvania; Sarah is the wife of George Herman, of Quakertown, Pennsylvania ; and Anna mar- ried Oliver Krause, of Greenville, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. Weaver spent his early life on his father's farm and his educational facil- ities were such only as were afforded by win- ter sessions in the common schools near his lome. He remained at home in Pennsyl- vania until the death of his father, and at the age of nineteen began working at the

carpenter's trade, for thirty-seven and one- half cents a day. He was thus employed in his native state until September, 1887, when he went to Wilson, Kansas, where he was employed as a carpenter until January I, 1888, when he went to Hollyrood, where he began business as a contractor and builder. He erected many of the early buildings in the town, employing at one time as many as thirteen men and was a leading contractor and builder there for two years.

In June, 1889, Mr. Weaver bought the general store and stock of goods of Jacob Bolinger, who was conducting a mercantile business on the site of the present drug store at Hollyrood. About three monthe after he bought the business Mr. Weaver removed it to its present stand. Beginning with a stock of goods worth about one thousand two hundred dollars and with a limited pat- ronage, he has by good and enterprising methods built his business up to its present magnitude. In 1885 he built a two- story stone house, which is one of the com- fortable residences of the town. Those who know him best rejoice with him in the suc- cess that he has attained. because they know that, beginning poor, he has built up an enterprise of which any man might be proud, and that he richly deserves the good fortune that he has so worthily created.

Mr. Weaver was married June 14, 1889, to Miss Minnie Richter, of Ellsworth coun- ty, and they have one son, named James Floyd Weaver. Mr. Weaver was for five year's treasurer of the township board and has also served as clerk of that body. In politics he is a Democrat and he has served as a member of the Democratic county com- mittee and as a delegate to county conven- tions. Though not a member of any church he is a liberal supporter of the Methodist church of Hollyrood. He is a member of Hollyrood Lodge, No. 380, Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows, and was its noble grand in 1901. He is a member also of German Lodge, No. 340, Knights of Pythias, and is one of its past chancellor commanders. As an Odd Fellow and as a Pythian he has rep- resented his lodges in the grand lodges of the respective orders.

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LOUIS C. AND WILSON SMITH.

county there are probably none more ener- getic or thorough-going than the Smith brothers, who are successfully carrying on operations in Westminster township. Louis C. Smith was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, on the 16th of September, 1856. while his brother first opened his eyes to the light of day in Peoria, Illinois, Septem- ber 28, 1800. Their parents, Henry and Margaret ( Wilson ) Smith, were natives of the Emerald Isle. Margaret Wilson came to this country with her mother and Henry Smith with his brothers. They were mar- ried in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 2Ist of November. 1850. The mother was called to her final rest while residing in Peoria, Illinois, passing away on the 29th of July. 1863, leaving three sons, one of whom. Robert H., resides in Colorado. Two of her children are also deceased. The fa- ther was a second time married, and by the last union reared two sons and one daugh- ter, namely : Maria, the wife of Ed Rough- enburg. of Peoria, Illinois, where she is em- ployed as a bookkeeper ; Newell, also of that city ; and Loren, who resides with his parents in Peoria. The father has now reached the ripe old age of seventy-five years. For eleven years he was employed as a watchman for a large pottery firm, and during that long period he was never off duty but one night. The maternal grand- parents of the Smith brothers, John and Sarah ( Buchanan ) Wilson, were also na- tives of the Emerald Isle, and the latter was a relative of President Buchanan. The grandfather died in Durm Lodge. County Donegal, Ireland. in January, 1837. when about thirty-five years of age, having been a practicing physician. He left his family in humble circumstances, but the mother nobly cared for and supported her children, and succeeded in providing them with the necessaries of life by taking in sewing. In 1847 she came with her family to the new world, landing in Philadelphia after a jour- ney of five weeks, and in that city she made her home for eleven years. About 1859.

I wever, in company with Mer daughter. Sarah Jane, now Mrs. William A. Birket.

Among the enterprising farmers of Reno . she removed to Iowa with Henry Smith, but two years later they removed to Illinois, locating at Peoria, where she made her home with Mrs. Birket and the three Smith brothers until her death, which occurred the 27th of July. 1875, at the age of seventy years. Mrs. Smith alse passed away in th . Prairie state.

Lou's Smith received a common-school education in Peoria, Illinois, where he re- mained until fourteen years of age, when he went to the home of his uncle, William Birket, who resided on a farm near that city. In 1877. when twenty-one years of age, he came to the Sunflower state, locat- ing in Butler county, where he farmed on rented land for nine years. He came to this state with an outfit of three horses and a wagon, and on his arrival here had just one hundred dollars in money. His brother. Wilson Smith, resided with his Uncle Birket between the ages of ten and twenty- two years, and in 1882 he joined his brother in Butler county, coming to this state with a cash capital of three hundred dollars. He subsequently returned to Washington coun- ty. Illinois, and was there married to Miss Alice Thompson, a native of that county and a daughter of William P. and Mary A. ( Kizer) Thompson, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Their wedding was celebrated in Ohio, and in 1850 they removed to Illinois, purchasing one hundred and sixty acres of land. the purchase price being $1.25 an acre. He has now reached the ripe old age of eighty-five years, but is well preserved both mentally and phys- . ically. His wife died in 1803. at the age of seventy-two years. This worthy couple were the parents of ten children, seven of whom grew to years of maturity, six daugh- ters and a son, and all are living with the ex- ception of one daughter, and the son. Mrs. Peyton Cress, the daughter, was killed in a railroad accident at Chatsworth, Illinois. leaving a son and daughter. The son, Elijah. M., was shot by accident December 21. 1901, and died immediately. He went hunting at the time and accidentally the

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weapon was discharged. Mrs. Smith, the youngest of her parents' surviving children, received a common-school education, and by her marriage to Wilson Smith has become the mother of two children,-Laura. a bright little daughter of ten years, and Edith, who was born on the 31st of Decem- ber, 1893.

After the marriage of Wilson Smith the brothers purchased a quarter section of rail- road land in this locality, for which they paid seventeen hundred dollars, going in debt to the amount of five hundred dol- lars. They made their home in a small three-room house until 1898, when they erected their present commodious dwell- ing. which is two stories in height. In 1888 the brothers divided their land, a quarter section, and Wilson now owns a tract of four hundred acres, two hun- dred and forty acres of which is in one body and the remaining one hundred and sixty acres is detached, and on his land he is extensively engaged in the raising of wheat and corn, having about three hundred acres planted with the former cereal. Louis Smith owns three farms, aggregating in all seven hundred and twenty acres, seven hundred acres of which is planted with wheat, yielding an annual return of about fourteen thousand bushels. During the year of 1901 he shipped about thirty car-loads of that cereal to market. The brothers have made a success in their farming operations. and during their residence in the Sunflower state they have so lived as to gain and retain the esteem and good will of a large circle of acquaintances. They are Republican in their political affiliations, and Louis Smith has served as a township trustee for two terms.

WILLIAM J. ROSS.

From early boyhood William J. Ross has been identified with pioneer life west of the Mississippi and since the fall of 1873 he has made his home in Reno county. Of the work of improvement he has not only been a witness but has aided in the develop-

ment and upbuilding of the county and has shared in the trying experiences and hard- ships which beset the pioneers who laid the foundation for the present prosperity and progress of the county. The days were sometimes dark and dreary, for drouth and the grasshopper scourge worked havoc in fields and meadows, but with steadfast pur- pose and firm faith in the future of Kansas Mr. Ross maintained his residence here and in due time his labors were rewarded with prosperity, so that he is now enabled to live a retired life in his attractive home at Pretty Prairie.

Mr. Ross was born in Rush county, In- d'ana, May 21, 1824. The Ross family to which he belongs comes of the Scotch clan of Hamilton. William Ross, the grandfa- ther of cur subject, was a native of New Inverness in the north of Scotland and at a very early age was left fatherless. He was then apprenticed to a shoemaker. His mother was a sister of the Duke of Suther- land, who, to make provision for the family. purchased a commission for William Ross as ensign in the royal army, and when, in 1775, the war broke out in the American col- onies he became a member of the celebrated Scotch Black Watch, which was sent to America to bring the colonies again into a state of subjection to the British crown. He served through the entire seven years of the war and after hostilities had ceased he re- turned to his native land and was mustered out. But he had become interested in .Amer- ica and at once came again to the new re- public, settling in Pennsylvania. Later he engaged in merchandising in Kentucky and in traffic between the United States and the West Indies. In 1833 he accompanied his son, Sullivan, to Iowa, where he died in the same year. So far as is known he is the only British soldier of the Revolutionary war ever buried on Iowa soil, while a Mr. Shepherd was the only member of the Co- lonial army that found a grave in the Hawk- eye state.

Sullivan S. Ross, the father of our sub- ject, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, Feb- ruary 4. 1800, at the time his father was en- gaged in merchandising there. He was one

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

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vi the earliest residents of the town and there erected the first brick house within its borders. Later the family removed to Rush county, Indiana, where Sullivan Ross cleared a farm from heavily timbered land. At that time Indians were still living in the locality and the work of improvements and civilization seemed scarcely begun. The family remained in Rush county until sev- eral years after the birth of our subject, when, in 1830, Sullivan Ross, with his wife and children, went to northeastern Missouri, where the father took up government land, upon which he lived until 1832. Then in company with his brother, Dr. William R. Ross, and their father, William Ross, Sr., he engaged in general merchandising in Quincy, Illinois, carrying a large line of dry goods, groceries and drugs, but the fol- lowing year, 1833, Quincy was almost de- populated by cholera. The wife and two children of Dr William Ross died, as also the mother of our subject and one of her chil- dren. She was in her maidenhood Miss Mary A. Junken, and was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1803. After the two families were thus bereaved in the cholera scourge, the business in Quincy was closed out and Sullivan Ross, with his surviving children, removed to Burlington, Iowa, where they continued in the same business, trading with the Indians as well as the white men. The subject of this review recalls an incident which occurred in his father's store at Burlington about 1835. The noted In- dian chief, Black Hawk, came into his fa- ther's store with his twelve wives and bought a black felt hat for each.

In 1838 Sullivan Ross removed to the eastern part of Jefferson county, Iowa, where he entered a claim from the govern- ment, residing thereon until 1849. Then leaving his son, William, and daughter, Margaret, in Iowa, he started with the other members of his family for California, where he engaged in mining with indifferent success until 1852. In that year he re- turned to Iowa and purchased a farm in Henry county, where he spent the remainder of his days, dying in 1855. He was a very prominent and influential citizen in the early

history of that state and twice served as a member of its constitutional convention, for, the first constitution being rejected. another convention was called. to which he was again sent as a delegate, thus aiding in fran- ing the present organic law of the state. The Democratic party numbered him among its leading members and his opinion carried- weight in the councils of the organization. He left the impress of his strong individu- ality upon the events which go to frame the early annals of Iowa and was a most promi- nent citizen of that state. In his family were the following children : William J. is the eldest of the family. Nancy E. is the wife of S. J. Bonnifield and resided in Iowa until 1859, when she went to California. Margaret is the wife of Charles Maguire, of Jefferson county, Iowa. Thomas E. died in 1851, at the age of twenty-one, upon his return from California. James H., who was a soldier of the Civil war, located in Mont- gomery county, Kansas, and became a min- ister of the Methodist Episcopal church, de- voting the greater part of his life to preach- ing the gospel. He died at Jefferson Springs, Arkansas, in 1886. Sullivan S., also a soldier of the Union army, now resides at Mount Pleasant. Iowa. Christopher laid down his life on the altar of his country, dying in the service in 1862. Lucinda is the wife of George Schmidtline, of Woodville, Oregon. The other member of the family died in infancy.

William J. Ross remained with his fa- ther through the period of his minority and acquired his elementary education in the primitive schools of the time and between his thirteenth and fifteenth years was a student in McKendree College, in Lebanon, Illinois. After reaching the age of fifteen he assisted his father in the store, the saw- mill and on the farm, and when he entered upon an independent business career it was in the line of the manufacture and sale of lumber, conducting a lumber yard and oper- ating a sawmill on the Des Moines and Skunk rivers in Iowa until 1850. He after- ward followed the carpenter's and mill- wright's trades for a time and in 1852 he accepted a position as salesman and book-

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keeper at Ottumwa, Iowi where he re- mained until 1857. when he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the office of treas- urer and recorder of Wapello county, Iowa. After serving for two years he was re- elected and thus continued in the office for four years. On retiring from office he be- came cashier of the Bank of Ottumwa, with the firm of Bonnifield Brothers, and acted in that capacity for a year and a half. In 1863 he went to the territory of Nevada and organized a mining company at Humboldt, devoting a year and a half to silver mining. When he had spent all of his capital in the enterprise without receiving profitable re- turns he gave up the business and returned to Iowa, where he engaged in the insurance business until 1867. In that year he was again elected county treasurer, and after serving one term again accepted a position in the Bank of Ottumwa as teller, assistant cashier and bookkeeper, there remaining un- til 1873.

The fall of that year witnessed the ar- rival of Mr. Ross in Reno county, Kansas. Here lie homesteaded the northeast quarter of section 22, township 26. range 7. This he intproved and resided upon until March, 1900. When he located there his was the farthest settlement to the south. His first home was a dugout, sixteen by twenty-four feet, and became known as the "big dug- out." The first winter of his residence here there was no settler either to the south or west of his claim and his nearest neighbors were Mr. Jordan and Warren Field, who were on the adjoining sections. In the spring of 1874 Mr. Ross planted twenty acres of sod corn and three or four acres of spring wheat and a similar amount in oats and vegetables. The small grain pro- duced little on account of the drouth and was used for feed, while the grasshoppers ate all the corn. Great suffering followed this year of calamity among the pioneers. A mass meeting was called at Hutchinson to discuss ways and means of relief, and of that meeting Mr. Ross was chosen chairman. A committee was then appointed to go east and secure aid, and Mr. Ross was also chosen for this task and in company with

Judge G. V. Ricksecker, of Hutchinson. he went to New York city, where they suc- ceeded in securing much needed assistance.

Mr. Ross experienced all the hardships and privations incident to this calamitous year of 1874, but he determined to stand by the state in which he had cast his lot and remained upon his farm, pushing forward the work of cultivation and improvement as fast as possible. He engaged in general farming and stock raising and when his money supply would become exhausted he would replenish the exchequer by accepting employment elsewhere, spending some time in Hutchinson at different intervals in book- keeping and similar positions, while his sons carried on the farm.

It was on the 2d of September. 1844, in Jefferson county. Iowa. that Mr. Ross was united in marriage to Catherine Bonnifield. a daughter of Rodham and Nancy ( Minear) Bonnifield. She was born in Randolph county, West Virginia, and with her par- ents went to Iowa in 1837. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ross were born eight children: Lou- isa S., the wife of W. C. Holden, of Kan- sas City : Thomas, who is engaged in mer- chandising in Hutchinson; Annie E., the wife of George A. Barton, of Grant county, Kansas; Nellie, the wife of Herbert Field, a farmer of Roscoe township, Reno county ; William, who died at the age of thirty years ; Charles W., of Enid, Oklahoma : Mack, a farmer of Sedgwick county; and Ida, the wife of the Hon. E. R. Watkins, of Sego, Kansas.

In his political views Mr. Ross has al- ways been a stanch supporter of the Democ- racy and has three times been the party's nominee for the legislature, but as the polit- ical strength of the county is overwhelming- ingly Republican he was not elected. He has served in the office of justice of the peace for ten years and his decisons were ever fair and impartial. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason, belonging to Clinton Chapter, No. 9, R. A. M., and has been elected a member of the grand lodge in rec- ognition of his faithful service in behalf of the craft. He is a past master of Ottumwa Lodge, No. 16. F. & A. M. He was serv-

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ing as master of his lodge in Ottumwa when the war broke out and by a great effort he maintained the organization and kept up the lodge during that period, serving as master for six years and as secretary for the same length of time. In recognition of his service he was presented by the lodge with an elegant gold watch, appropriately en- graved, which he still carries. Mr. Ross has always been an advocate of any move- ment in the line of morality, reform, edu- cation and general progress. He is an ac- tive worker in the temperance cause and was formerly a leading member of the Grange and the Farmers' Alliance. Since 1854-almost half a century-he has been a consistent member of the Methodist Epis- copal church and has taken an active part in its various branches of work, acting both as teacher and superintendent in the Sun- day-school. Since the spring of 1891 he has resided in Pretty Prairie. He has led an exemplary life, is a gentleman of refined and courteous bearing and commands the uni- form regard of all with whom business or social relations have brought him in con- tact.

FREDERICK KREY.

Men of German parentage and of Amer- ican birth have everywhere made good and patriotic citizens. Of such nativity is Fred- erick Krey, a prominent farmer and stock- man of Reno county, Kansas, who lives on section 30 in Hayes township, and whose post office address is Peace-Creek.

Frederick Krey was born in Lee county, Iowa, September 19, 1854, a son of Conrad Krey, who is now a retired farmer on sec- tion 14, Hayes township, near Sylvia. Mr. Krey was born in Germany, May 31, 1822, a son of Peter Krey, a farmer, who died in 1830, at the age of fifty-five years, leaving a widow and four sons and three daughters, two other children having died. Mrs. Krey reared her family to useful and industrious lives and died in Germany when past her seventy-fifth year. Conrad Krey learned the trade of a shoemaker and worked at it for

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 45

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