A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 67

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 67

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daughter of James and Margaret Copper. In 1863 George Kirk crossed the At- lantic to America, locating in Penn- sylvania, where for seven years he was superintendent of a coal mine sit- uated near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1870 he removed to Harvey county, Kansas, where he secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres located in Hal- stead township. He is still residing there and has placed many improvements upon his property, for which he has refused an offer of twelve thousand dollars. He has erected a fine residence, substantial barns and com- modious granaries, has planted a grove and has an excellent orchard comprising ten acres. Since coming to Kansas he has fol- lowed general farming and stock-raising and success has attended his efforts. In his political views he is a stalwart Republican, and fraternally he is connected with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, while both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist church. In their family were ten children, as follows: William, who was formerly a master mechanic in the Independ- ence mine and is now a machinist in the em- ploy of the Denver Machine Company at Battle, Wyoming; James, of this review; Agnes, the wife of William Curtis, a section foreman located at Halstead, Kansas; Jane, the wife of Frank Hamilton, of Barton, this state; George, who died in Dighton, Lane county, Kansas ; Margaret, the wife of Sam- uel Crouch, of Halstead; Thomas, an en- gineer at the Western Salt Works, at Hutch- inson; Albert, now a student in the Baker University, of Kansas, his home being in Halstead, this state; Mary, who died in childhood in Halstead; and Charlie, who died in infancy.

Mr. Kirk of this review was only six years old when his father removed from Pennsylvania to Kansas and in the public schools of Halstead he obtained his educa- tion. He remained with his father until twenty years of age and assisted in carrying on the work of the farm. From 1884 until 1888 he was engineer of a threshing machine through the threshing season and in the win- ter months acted as engineer in a flouring

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mill in Halstead. During that time he also learned the plasterer's trade. In 1888 he came to Hutchinson and was engaged in plastering for four years when he accepted the position of engineer at the Riverside Salt Works, being employed in that capac- ity for fourteen months, when he was given the position of night foreman and acted in that capacity for three years. He then went to Cripple Creek, Colorado, and operated the hoisting engine in the Kitty M. gold mine, owned by the Anaconda Mining Com- pany, filling the position for five months. On the expiration of that period he returned to Hutchinson and took a position in the ice plant of Carey, Puterbaugh & Company, which he held for a short time, when he ac- cepted the position of day foreman in the Western Salt Works. He served so faith- fully and efficiently for a year and a half that he was made superintendent of the en- tire works and in that capacity has remained continuously since, enjoying the unqualified confidence of his employers. Through years of experience while serving in various ca- pacities in this line of work he gained a minute and thorough knowledge of every de- tail of the work, and this knowledge, com- bined with his natural ability to direct and superintend, has placed him in the responsi- ble position to which he was called.

The Western Salt Works, of which Mr. Kirk is superintendent, were erected at a cost of about thirty thousand dollars, and the entire plant covers about three acres of ground. It is equipped with four pans, each twenty-five by one hundred and fifteen feet, with a capacity of six hundred barrels of salt per day. Forty tons of coal are daily con- sumed in the operation of the works. The product is largely shipped to Kansas City, Omaha and St. Joseph. The present com- pany has expended about nineteen thousand dollars on improvements on the plant, built a new packing room, remodeled the building and rebuilt the pans. Mr. Kirk has entire supervision of the active working of the plant, and his justice and consideration for those who work under him has won him their warm esteem, while the confidence of the company in his ability and trustworthi-

ness is indicated by his retention in the posi- tion.

On the 26th of March, 1887, in Hutchin- son, occurred the marriage of Mr. Kirk and Miss Rose Carey, who was born in Shelby county, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Jane (Bundy) Carey. Her parents were both natives of the Buckeye state and in early life were connected with the Society of Friends, while later both joined the Meth- odist church. Mrs. Carey died in Hutchin- son in 1896, but her husband is still living here. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Kirk have been born four children: Grace, born in 1888; Mamie, who was born in 1890 and died in 1895; Arthur, born in 1892; and Harry, in 1894. Mr. Kirk belongs to the Odd Fellow's fraternity and to the Fraternal Aid. In pol- itics he is entirely independent, voting for the man whom he regards as best qualified for office without regard to party affiliation. He has never sought or desired political pre- ferment, giving his attention entirely to his business and his enterprise, ambition and honesty have enabled him to advance to a leading place among the prominent young business men of this portion of the state.

REV. SIMEON SWARTZ.

As one of the old and honored residents of Kansas, where for many years he devoted his attention to the work of the Divine Mas- ter, in the uplifting of his fellow men as a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, it is certainly incumbent that a re- view of the life of Mr. Swartz be incorpor- ated in this work, and the publishers feel that no better tribute can be, in the main, offered than to enter the modest autobiog- raphy offered by Father Swartz himself :

"I was born on the banks of Rush creek, in Fairfield county, Ohio, nine miles south- east of where the city of Lancaster stands, on the 2Ist of December, A. D., 1832. I am of German descent, my great-grandfather having emigrated from Wurtemberg, Ger- many, about the year 1754. My grandfa- ther, George Swartz, was born in Pennsyl-

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vania, in 1775, removed from Little York, Pennsylvania, to Fairfield county, Ohio, about the year 1800, and there my father, George Swartz, was born in the month of August, 1807. He there married Miss Mary Beery, whose parents came from Vir- ginia. All my grandparents, three of whom I well remember, were honest, upright Chris- tian people. Both of my parents also lived strictly religious lives, and as far back as I can remember they kept up their family al- tar, morning and evening. They were mem- bers of the Evangelical Association to the end of their lives.

"I was converted to God August 18, 1846, when not yet fourteen years of age, and was licensed to preach in August, 1853. in my twenty-first year. I was married to Miss Sarah Kring, October 2, 1856, she be- ing the eldest daughter of Rev. Conrad Kring, late of Franklin county, Ohio. My marriage relations with her have been all these years, indeed, fraught with happiness. The Lord blessed our union with two daugh- ters and six sons, and one of the latter died in infancy, but the rest are all living and doing well. I think my wife and I can say what few parents can: Our children are all converted and members of the church. Our second son, William L., is in the active ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church and is at present in the Oklahoma confer- ence; while our third son, Daniel B., is a local preacher, living in the Concord circuit, western district of the Oklahoma confer- ence.

"About two years after my marriage I entered the Ohio conference of the Evan- gelical Association, the church of both my own and my wife's parents, as an itinerant minister, and I labored in this conference for six years, soon after which we removed to a farm near Elpaso, Woodford county, Illinois, where we maintained our home about three years, after which, in 1869, I entered the Illinois conference, in which I traveled for five years. In the spring of 1874 we fell in the current of the stream of emigration headed for the 'notorious' state of Kansas, made so by her alternate successes and failures. In my ministry. calls were

made through our church papers for aid, and I solicited means for the suffering in Kansas. My last charge in the east was at Savannah Mission, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi river. We left there for Kansas on the last day of March, in a two- horse wagon, crossed the 'great river' on a ferry-boat ; came through Iowa by way of Iowa City, Oskaloosa and Sheridan, and while traveling through Missouri we met many teams returning from Kansas. 'Where are you bound for?' would be the first salu- tation of the returning parties. 'To Kan- sas,' was my reply. "Better turn around and go back,' was invariably returned. 'We have been there and tried it, and nobody can make a living there.' Some of them, when they saw we were determined to go on, would hoot at us, and I felt like telling some of them that 'Where the wasp gets her poison there the bee gathers honey.' Though some- times my heart failed me when looking on my almost helpless family, there was one thing of which I was ever conscious,-that a Divine Providence was watching over us. We regularly kept up our family devotions while on our journey. Every morning we would not only ask the Lord to go with us through the day but also ask Him to direct us to a suitable camping place at night ; and we were never disappointed. We also asked Him for a suitable place to stop over for the Lord's day, and this was invariably grant- ed. We also asked Him to direct in our lo- cation in Kansas, which I to this day believe He did. We were headed for Great Bend and had previously arranged. to have our household goods consigned to that place, expecting to go northwest from there. But when we arrived on Plum creek, on the 4th of June, 1874, and saw the beautiful prairies stretching away in every direction, as far as eye could see, and having been told that Rice county afforded protection by law from be- ing overrun by Texas cattle and that there were yet many claims still vacant, we soon decided to go no further.

"While we were camped near the gov- ernment crossing on Plum creek I heard of 'Squire Earl, whom I soon found and who showed me two claims, in section 2, town-

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ship 18, range 10,-one for a pre-emption and the other for a timber entry. Mr. Earl went with me next day to old Atlanta, then the county seat, and there made my filings before the county clerk. As it was now al- ready the beginning of June, I was anxious to inaugurate forthwith the work of break- ing sod, so I hired another team and with the two went thirty miles, to Great Bend, after our household effects and some lumber with which to build a shelter for ourselves. As our quarters were hurriedly arranged, I went to breaking, and the children, with an old ox, planted the newly broken ground with corn, and we thus continued our work until we had twenty acres broken and plant- ed to corn. Though the summer was dry, yet the sod corn grew remarkably well, and on the last day of July, as nearly as I now re- call, there came a good rain, the first plant- ing of corn being then just producing good roasting ears. During the shower the wind changed to the north, and behold it began to rain grasshoppers! Our melons, onions, beets, corn and all, afforded the voracious little creatures hardly a breakfast and din- ner, to say nothing of a supper, and during the several weeks they afterward lay around some of the settlers cut some of their corn and shocked it, but the grasshoppers were not in the least baffled in their efforts to dis- pose of the product as thus protected. This made the settlers feel blue. I sat around with nothing that I could do to relieve the situation, and this enforced apathy made the condition all the worse. Finally a thought was suggested to my mind to make a cave, but the question would come, 'What for? There is nothing to put into it.' But the idea haunted me and I finally began to work. My neighbors would enquire what I wanted of such a thing as the cave, and all I could reply was that I might need it some time. I made the cave twenty by ten feet in dimen- sions and saw to it that it was good and warm. In the month of September there came a three days' rain, which abundantly wet up the earth. I then secured the aid of three or four neighbors and we put up a sod house, with a door opening into the cave which I had previously constructed, the

house being covered with the lumber which had afforded us shelter during the summer. After this I prepared twenty acres to sow in wheat and also rented ten acres to a neigh- bor. I procured the seed from the Union Pacific Railroad Company, who shipped in wheat and sold it to the settlers on time, ex- tending them credit until they were able to harvest the resultant crop. When seeding was over and winter quarters for the stock were prepared, the question was discussed among the settlers as to whence provisions were to be secured for the winter. It was decided by three of us to go out on the buf- falo range to secure some meat. We started late in October, and went sixty miles south- west of Dodge City before we found any buffaloes worth mentioning. For various reasons we were delayed there for more than four weeks, and during a severe storm some of our horses were 'alkalied,' and this and the scantiness of feed so cut them down in flesh that we could haul little meat after we had procured it, while two of our horses died from the effects of the alkali. That winter (1875) was perhaps the severest in the history of the west.

"On the night of January 8, 1875, there cante such a blizzard that a man who has never experienced it can form no idea of its terrific character. When it struck our house it piled our wooden roof on one side of the sod walls, and such a blinding snow bath as came in upon us I can never forget! My exclamation in the excitement of the moment was, 'What in this world will we do?' Our son Charles, then about fourteen years old, said, 'Run into the dug-out.' Of course we did thus take refuge in the cave, and had it not been for the protection there afforded we would have all perished in the storm. From that day to this I have not doubted the providence of God that moved me to build the dug-out. The cold weather kept us in it for six weeks, and then the neighbors came and helped to replace the roof on the sod house. In the meantime aid also came to us from our friends in the east, so that our wants were supplied until the following har- vest, which yielded about twelve and one- half bushels per acre. Yet, notwithstanding

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this seemingly rough experience, I think of our removal to Kansas as very providential, and that it has proven a great blessing to my- self and my family. Truly the great west has made its impression on our minds and lives,-an impression for good which can not be obliterated. Western push, western enterprise and western prosperity, both in state and church, are characteristics not to be valued lightly."

A few additional words from the editor- ial pen may not prove inconsistent in sup- plementing this interesting record given by Mr. Swartz. Both he and his wife were fre- quently called upon in the early days to ad- minister medical aid, assist in sickness, com- fort the sorrowing and distressed, officiate at births, etc. Father Swartz has probably conducted more funerals and preached more funeral sermons than any other clergyman in Rice county. He was an influential fac- tor in the establishing of the first school, which was conducted on the subscription plan, in his locality, and which was taught by Mrs. Alma D. Thompson in her sod house, one and one-half miles south of the present town of Bushton, in 1875. He dis- tributed among his neighbors food and other necessaries which had been sent him by friends in the east during the memorable grasshopper years of 1874-5, and his influ- ence in the community has ever been kindly. generous and helpful, so that he has gained a wide circle of devoted friends. In 1886 he was associated with others in having the Missouri Pacific Railroad run its Colorado Short Line through Farmer township, and was one of the founders of Bushton station, located on this line and on his farm. Before this time the nearest railroad station was Chase, fourteen miles distant, and prior to 1880 the nearest stations were Ellsworth, on the Union Pacific, twenty-five miles dis- tant, and Ellinwood, on the Santa Fe Rail- road, twenty-one miles distant. He was the prime mover in organizing the First Meth- odist Episcopal church in Bushton and in the erection of the present church edifice in 1887. He and his family continued to re- side on his farm, which he developed into one of the best in the county, until the year

1894, when they sold out and removed to a point near Concord, Woods county, Okla- homa, in order to secure a larger tract of land for the children, all of whom are at this time living on farms of their own in the im- mediate neighborhood with their parents, with the exception of the second daughter, Emma, who is the wife of George F. Hau- ser, who purchased the old homestead of Mr. Swartz in 1897, adjoining the town of Bushton. During all these years Mr. Swartz continued to preach the gospel to the pioneer settlers, often being absent for more than six weeks on his itinerant tours. He and his devoted wife occasionally visit their old neighbors, who always accord them a hearty welcome, and Father Swartz is invariably asked to preach, which he always does, in both English and German, having acquired the latter by personal study and reading and speaking it with no little fluency. The lives of him and his wife have proved a benedic- tion to all who have come within the sphere of their influence, and their names are held in grateful memory by those with whom they endured the privations and vicissitudes of the early days in Rice county.

DAVID PLANKENHORN.

David Plankenhorn, a well known and successful farmer residing on section 8, Kingman county, was born near Richmond, Wayne county, Indiana, in 1851. His fa- ther, John Plankenhorn, was a native of Germany, but came to the United States when a boy, and from the age of eleven years was reared in Wayne county, Indiana. He was there married to Margaret Reigles, who was born and reared in the Hoosier. state. He followed the tilling of the soil as a life oc- cupation, and was a Democrat in his politi- cal views. His life's labor's were ended in death when he had reached the age of seven- ty years, and his wife died at the age of sixty years. Unto this worthy couple were born thirteen children, namely: John; Henry; Joseph; Lizzie; Noah; Maria; Da- vid; the subject of this review ;; Malinda;

David blankerhaen Edgar Plankenhow.

ElmerBlankenhorn. Lizzie Blankenhorn

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Jacob; Mary; Lewis, who makes his home at Great Bend, Kansas ; Daniel; and Lydia, who died when young.

David Plankenhorn was reared on an Indiana farm, where he was early taught the value of industry and honesty, and his educational advantages were those afforded by the common schools of his locality. At the age of twenty-two years he removed to Illi- nois, locating in De Witt county, and he was there married to Lizzie Garrett, who was born near Green Castle, Putnam county, In- diana, and in that state and Illinois she was reared and educated. She is a daughter of Elijah and Amanda (Cheneworth) Garrett. The father, who was a native of Kentucky, reached the ripe old age of seventy-eight years and ten days and his wife lived to the age of seventy-three years, two months and fourteen days. In their family were the fol- lowing children : William S., who was a sol- dier during the Civil war; Mary E .; James M., who also wore the blue in defense of his country ; Hester Ann ; Orlando; Carrie; Al- mira; Emsley and Lizzie. The union of our subject and wife has been brightened and blessed by the presence of two sons,-Edgar Ernest, who is now nineteen years of age, and is a student in Nickerson College, and Elmer Wallace, a bright and promising youth of sixteen years.

In 1885 Mr. Plankenhorn cast in his lot among the settlers of Kingman county, Kansas, and on section 8, Galesburg town- ship, he now owns a valuable and highly im- proved farm of two hundred and forty acres, located two miles east of Varner. His po- litical support is given to the Democracy, and both he and his wife are prominent and zeal- ous members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

PAUL REAUME.

Paul Reaume is a self-made man who has achieved splendid success in his business career, yet his prosperity has been so worth- ily won that the most envious could not grudge him his success. Difficulties and ob- stacles have impeded his progress, but he

has persevered in the pursuit of a definite purpose and through his indefatigable en- ergy and self-reliance has worked his way upward until he now occupies a prominent position among the representative farmers and stock-raisers of Ellsworth county. He makes his home on section 28, Garfield town- ship, where he has resided since 1877.

Mr. Reaume was born at Chatham, Can- ada, February 7, 1857, a son of Charles S. and Julia ( Demars) Reaume, both of whom died when our subject was about fifteen years of age. „ He afterward began earning his living with a telegraph company, being engaged on construction work for four years. He then came to Kansas, residing in Junction City for a short time, and in the spring of 1878 he made his way to Ellsworth county, where he began dealing in stock. He herded cattle for a time and gradually se- cured some capital, so that in 1886 he was able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land, on section 16. The drouth and the fall in the price of stock in 1887 was a severe blow to him, entailing heavy losses,-in fact, all that he had accumulated up to that time. His business ability and integrity, however, were well known and secured to him good credit. Not discouraged, he la- bored energetically to retrieve his lost pos- sessions, and soon had made a second start. He has added to his landed estate until he now owns six hundred and forty acres and leases over fifty-five hundred acres in this locality, including the Adams ranches. He has four miles on the Elkhorn creek, giving him excellent bottom land for the raising of corn and at the same time furnishing a splendid water supply for the stock. He cultivates about five hundred acres, raising all of the corn which he feeds, and upon his place he has between five and six hundred head of cattle, which he purchased in Colo- rado, New Mexico and as far south as old Mexico, his experience having proven to him that the southern stock does best in this lo- cality. The range here is so good that by feeding the grass alone he has increased the weight of cattle two hundred and fifty pounds in ninety days. With rough feed, such as Kaffir corn, he carries them through

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the winter with ten or twelve bushels of corn. In all of his pastures there is but one that is not supplied with running water and in it is a well with wind-mill attachment. Most of his pastures are in section lots, com- prising eight hundred acres. Mr. Reaume has broken the greater part of the land which he cultivates, operating all the bottom land, while the other is given to pasturage. At least eiglity acres which he purchased was marshy and considered worthless, but he dug a drain ten feet deep and from twenty to twenty-five feet wide and has made it one of the richest portions of his farm. He is a man of splendid business ability and keen discernment and knows how to utilize his facilities and make the best of his opportuni- ties.

On the 18th of April, 1888, was cele- brated the marriage of Mr. Reaume and Miss Emma L. Gilkeson, a daughter of Ab- ner Gilkeson, of Ellsworth county, born in Ohio. They have four children,-Ina, Earl, Mabel and Fay. In his political views Mr. Reaume is a Democrat, and socially he is a very prominent Mason, belonging to the lodge, chapter and council at Ellsworth and to St. Aldemar Commandery, Knights Tem- plar. He is also a member of Isis Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Salina. His life proves conclusively that success will crown enterprising efforts; that it does not result from genius, fortunate circumstances or the aid of influential friends. Fate has been at times unkind to him and he has received no assistance from wealthy relatives, but he has depended entirely upon his own resources, placing his faith on the foundation of earnest work.

B. S. WESTFALL.

B. S. Westfall is one of the old and highly respected citizens of Ellsworth coun- ty. His character is of such strength and symmetry that it must make an impression upon its surroundings. Men often achieve brilliant success in some special avenue of life, and their victories are permitted to shadow their defeats and defects. In some

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 67

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