A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 68

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

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one feature of human character they are sometimes dazzlingly brilliant, while in oth- ers they are conspicuously lacking. But Mr. Westfall's character is roundly developed ; it is the healthy development of the virtues that make strong manhood. Absolutely hon- est and upright, illustrating in his thoughts and life the nobility and reliability of loyal citizenship, and with a clear, strong mind to comprehend existing difficulties and to solve business, social and political problems, he is a pillar to popular government and an in- perial shield to the best interests of the com- munity. The world is none too rich in some men-men of practical judgment, of good intellect properly directed and of untarnished and unwavering patriotism,-in a word, of robust and unbending manhood. As in the case of Mr. Westfall, such men are always successful, either in private business enter- prise or public life. He has, however, never sought advancement save through the legiti- mate channels of his business, wherein his keen discrimination, capable management and well directed energy have brought to him success.

Mr. Westfall was born at Phelps, On- tario county, New York, January 20, 1865. and is a son of Jacob and Amanda ( Swart- hout ) Westfall. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Swarthout, was a pioneer of Orange county, New York, building the first mill within its borders, and was prominently identified with its early history, contribut- ing in a large measure to its improvement and upbuilding. The father of our subject was also a representative of a prominent family. He made farming his life work and always remained in the Empire state, where he took an active part in public affairs.

B. S. Westfall remained upon the home farm until eighteen years of age, during which time he laid the foundation for a good education by attendance at the common schools. He afterward entered the Phelps high school and subsequently completed a commercial course in the Rochester Business College, in which he was graduated. In March, 1883, when eighteen years of age, he started westward, locating in Calhoun county, Michigan, where he engaged in

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farming through the summer months, while in the winter season he followed school teaching for two years. In March, 1885, he took up his abode at Clyde, Kansas, where he accepted the position of bookkeeper in the Bank of Clyde, acting in that capacity until the following September. In December, 1885, in connection with his brother, M. P. Westfall, he established a bank at Glenelder, Kansas, under the name of the Bank of Glen- elder, conducting the institution until June, 1886, when they sold out. The business was carried on by our subject, the brother being only financially interested in the concern. In August, 1886, they organized the Wilson State Bank, at Wilson, of which B. S. West- fall became president,-a position which he still holds. In the fall of 1887 they insti- tuted the Hollyrood Bank, which they sold in December, 1888, and in January, 1889, Mr. Westfall and associates purchased a controlling interest in the Central National Bank, of Ellsworth, of which he is now pres- ident. He also organized the Sylvan State Bank, of Sylvan Grove, Kansas, in 1892, and is still a member of its directorate. He has a record in the banking business and in financial circles which many a man of twice his years might well envy. The banks of which he has had charge have passed through the panics and financial crises of the past decade, when many older institutions were overwhelmed with disaster and sank in the general ruin, but those of which Mr. Westfall had control weathered the financial storms and established a reputation for sta- bility and financial soundness that has gained uniform confidence of their many depositors.

On the 12th of September, 1893, Mr. Westfall was united in marriage to Grace W. Ballon, a daughter of L. M. Ballon, a representative of a Massachusetts family. Her parents removed to Minneapolis, Kan- sas, where the father engaged in the hotel business, and afterward came to Ellsworth, where he conducted the White House. I 1899 Mr. Westfall was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the 9th of December of that year, leaving one child, Pauline. In January, 1901, he married Miss Nellie M. Morton, of Clay Center, Kansas.

Through his well conducted and extensive business interests he has become the possess- or of considerable means, and is enabled to surround his family with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. Nothing affords him greater happiness than to min- ister to them and he cannot do too much to enhance their welfare. He has one of the most elegant homes in the city of Ellsworth, which he remodeled and improved, supply- ing it with all modern conveniences, while its furnishings are all that wealth can secure when guided by good taste and culture.

In his political views Mr. Westfall is a Democrat. Fraternally he is a Knight Tem- plar Mason and has filled various offices in the different Masonic bodies, being now chairman of the committee on credentials in the grand commandery. He also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His has been an eventful record and one which illustrates most forcibly the power of enter- prise, industry and sound judgment in con- quering fate and winning prosperity. At the age of fourteen years he was left an orphan and has since made his own way in the world. He was still in his minority when he first entered the banking business, at Glenelder, and to-day he is recognized as one of the most successful business men and leading financiers of central Kansas.

DAVID M. SHUYLER.

The subject of this review is certainly entitled to be considered not only one of the enterprising farmers of Huntsville township, but is also one of its respected and honored citizens. He was born in Maryland, on the 22d of August, 1828, a son of Michael P. Shuyler, who was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about 1798, and his death oc- curred in Spencer county, Indiana, in 1853. He was a mechanic by trade, as was also the grandfather of our subject. The original ancestor of the family in this country was Philip Shuyler, who came from Germany, and was an American general in the Revo- lutionary war.

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David M. Shuyler, the subject of this review, attended the schools of his locality until twelve years of age, after which he be- came a student in the Chambersburg Acad- emy, where he enjoyed superior educational advantages. After leaving the school-room as a student he entered the teacher's profes- sion, which he followed for three winter terms in Cincinnati, but, preferring the life of an agriculturist to that of instructing the young along lines of mental advancement, he accordingly rented land in Spencer coun- ty, Indiana, on which he remained for one year. He then became the possessor of an eighty-acre tract, on which only five acres had been improved, and immediately began the laborious task of clearing his land. Dur- ing his residence in the Hoosier state he cleared three farms from the native timber, but in 1874 he sold his possessions there and came to Reno county, Kansas, where he has ever since made his home, with the exception of the winter in which the grasshoppers vis- ited this section in such great numbers and caused such terrible havoc. He was at that time residing in Hutchinson, to which place he had removed in order that his children might enjoy better educational facilities. As his means permitted, Mr. Shuyler has in- creased his landed possessions until he now owns two farms, each containing one hun- dred and sixty acres, on which he is engaged in general farming and stock-raising. On the IIth of June, 1901, he was stricken with paralysis, since which time he has been un- able to engage actively in the work of the farm.

While residing in Spencer county, In- diana, on the 7th of November, 1850, Mr. Shuyler was united in marriage to Miss Lo- dema Burdick, a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, her birth having occurred within nine miles of Cincinnati, April 4, 1832. Her par- ents, Squire and Hannah (Lovell) Burdick, were natives of the Empire state, but in an early day removed to Ohio, casting in their lot among the pioneer settlers of that com- monwealth. Her grandfather was a tavern keeper there in a very early day. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Shuyler have been born twelve children, nine of whom grew to years of

maturity, as follows: G. A., who was born August 7, 1851, and is a resident of Hills- dale, Oregon, having one son and two daughters; F. M., who is married and re- sides at Bourbon, Missouri; Jane, the wife of James Wallace; of Dexter, Kansas; Etta, wife of Charles G. Case, of Kansas City, Missouri; Viola, who resides with her par- ents and is engaged in teaching both piano and organ music ; W. G., who is married and resides in Huntsville township, having a son and daughter; Cora, wife of Robert Con- . stant, of Pawnee, Oklahoma, by whom she has five children, three sons and two daugh- ters; Emma, wife of Melvin Cassill, of Langdon, Kansas, and they have a son and daughter; and Alice Pliler, who is deceased, leaving a son and daughter. In political matters Mr. Shuyler gives his support to the Republican party, and for seven years he held the office of justice of the peace. Both he and his wife are worthy and consistent members of the Methodist church, and in the community where they have so long resided they are held in the highest esteem. He is indeed an honored pioneer of Reno county, and one whose close identification with the interests of this section well entitles him to representation in this volume.

TRUSTIMON B. TOTTEN.

The well known resident of Reno county whose name is above was the first postmaster at Huntsville, the postoffice having been es- tablished in his dwelling February 15, 1878, and he was again appointed to the same of- fice in April, 1899. He is also one of the lead- ing farmers of Huntsville township and his farm on section 6, township 23, range 9, is one of the best in its vicinity.

Trustimon B. Totten was born in Oneida county, New York, March 12, 1838, a son of Joseph P. Totten, who was born in that state September 6, 1800. He removed to Indiana in 1842, and died there September 30, 1864. He was a grandson of James Totten, who was born October 11, 1771, and died in Wilmington township, De Kalb

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county, Indiana, September 27, 1857. The American ancestors of the family of Totten came from Holland. James Totten married Joanna Wing, November 10, 1799, and they reared three sons and three daughters, all of whom except two of the daughters had chil- dren and all are dead. Joanna (Wing) Tot- ten died in New York, February 14, 1835, aged nearly sixty-four years. Joseph Totten married Betsy Barnes, January 21, 1822. She was born in 1804 and died June 27, 1880, aged seventy-six years. Joseph Tot- ten died September 30, 1864. They had children as follows: Leverett J., born April 2, 1823, who died in Gratiot county, Michi- gan, leaving five children; Henry J., born December 9, 1824, now living in Toledo, Ohio; Squire Totten, of Natoma, Osborne county, Kansas, who was born May 31, 1827; William B., who was born November 21, 1829, and died at Gatesville, Texas, in December, 1890; Helen P., who was born April 4, 1832, and married E. W. Fosdick, and died May 15, 1856; Jonathan J., who was born May 8, 1835, and is a lawyer and a farmer who lives near Castle Rock, Colorado; Trustimon B., the immediate sub- ject of this sketch; Pamela J., who married David Beggs and died in 1871 leaving a son four years old ; Albert P., who was born in Indiana, September 2, 1844, and died at Evansville, that state, at the age of seventeen years and six months, March 8, 1862, while serving as a private in Company F. Forty- fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infan- try, leaving an enviable record as a good sol- dier won in action at Fort Donelson and in other memorable engagements.

Trustimon B. Totten was reared to farm work and received a primary education in public schools, which he supplemented by attendance at a select school and at an acad- emy. When he was twenty years old he taught one term of school. After that he was a clerk in a store for a year and then he engaged in the grocery and provision trade at Auburn, Indiana. September 7, 1865, he married Hannah A. Davis, who was born at Black Rock, Erie county. New York, January 21, 1840, a daughter of Will- iam and Deborah (White) Dutcher Davis.

The father was born April 6, 1801, and the mother August 15, 1804. They were reared in Cherry Valley, Oneida county, New York, and were there married September 25, 1825. They made their wedding tour by a packet on the Erie Canal to Black Rock, now suburban town of Buffalo, where the father engaged in making soft fur hats, being a hatter by trade. They dwelt there until their family of four sons and two daughters reached mature years. One daughter died at the age of six years and ten months. The parents and children have gone to their final rest, save one, their daughter, Hannah A. Totten. She was a teacher in the district schools in northern Indiana. In 1864 she became a teacher in the contraband schools, in which negroes were instructed under the auspices of the Indiana branch of the freed- men's bureau, and was thus employed at Murphysboro. Mr. and Mrs. Totten have had children as follows: Herbert C., born November 12, 1866, who has a wife and one son and lives in Hutchinson, Kansas ; Hattie D., who married Harry S. Schall and lives in Hutchinson, Kansas ; Marion D., who was born February 14, 1869, and has a wife and three children and is a merchant in Hunts- ville, Kansas ; Dora V., who was born June I, 1870, and died March 5, 1873; Norman R., a teacher and a law student at the State Uni- versity at Lawrence, Kansas, who was born September 23, 1873; Carrie L., who was born April 24. 1875, and is a member of hier parents' household; Jennie, who was born April 6, 1877, and died December 2, 1878; and Mervale E., who was born April 23, 1884, and is now assisting his father and attending school at the State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, Kansas.

In September, 1861, Mr. Totten enlisted in Company F, Forty-fourth Regiment, In- diana Volunteer Infantry, with which he served four years as a drummer and as a corporal. He veteranized at Chattanooga by re-enlistment. He was in action at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Chickamauga and Stone River and in other historic fights. His eyes became affected and he was for a consider- able time under medical treatment for chron- ic ophthalmia. He removed from Indiana to-

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Kansas in 1877, arriving on October 5. November 13, following, he moved to his one hundred and sixty acre homestead farm in Huntsville township, and he and his fam- ily took up their residence in a house sixteen by twenty-four feet in area. Only twenty- five acres of this land had been improved and he paid a previous settler upon it three hundred dollars for his claim. Since then he has improved the place until it is one of the best farms in the county and has built upon it a good residence and adequate barns and outbuildings. Politically he is a strong Republican, and he was once the nominee of his party for the office of register of deeds for Reno county. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the local body of which he has long been an official, and he was instrumental in bringing about the erection of its present fine church edifice. He selected a site for the building ten years before work on it was begun and circulated the first subscription list to raise funds for it and gave his time to it almost entirely until the building was completed and turned over to the trustees in 1894.

Mrs. Totten, who possesses marked lit- erary ability, has for many years been a cor- respondent for the press. Her work long appeared in the Hutchinson News and is now a feature in the Sterling Bulletin. Her son, Marion D. Totten, is now the Hunts- ville correspondent of the Hutchinson Daily News. Both Mrs. Totten and her son evince great capacity for local correspondence and their newsy letters to the journals mentioned compare more than favorably with those of most local correspondents. Marion D. Tot- ten was educated in the schools at Hunts- ville and Hutchinson. He left the farm at the age of seventeen years and for three years attended school and clerked in a store at Hutchinson. The succeeding four years he spent in learning the machinist's trade with the Eagle Manufacturing Company, at Davenport, Iowa. Then, in company with Harry Scholl, he organized the Cedar Trans- fer Company, which built up a very success- ful business. He was married in Septem- ber, 1897, to Miss Mary E. Fleischer, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and they began

their domestic life at Hutchinson, in their own home in a house which Mr. Totten still owns. He removed to Huntsville in 1899 and opened a small general store, upon a capital of less than five hundred dollars, and two years later his establishment invoiced twenty-one hundred dollars. Marion D. and Mary E. (Fleischer) Totten have three daughters: Vera A., aged six years; Vita I., aged three years, and Lucile C., aged one year. Mr. Totten is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Woodmen of the World, He affiliates with the Republican party and while a citizen of Hutchinson was active in political work. Mrs. Totten is a member of the Fraternal Aid Association and of other local organizations. Her parents were born in Germany and emigrated to Penn- sylvania, where they lived out their days, and died leaving two children, herself and a brother, Fred Fleischer, of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania. Her father, who was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was late in life in the real-estate business. For a time Mr. and Mrs. Totten, of this review, lived in Hutchinson, Kansas, where they went to educate their children and where Mr. Totten was in the mercantile business. Norman R. Totten was a snare drummer in the regimental band of the Twenty-first Kansas Regiment during the service of that organization in the Spanish war.

GEORGE H. MINER, D. D. S.

Dr. George H. Miner, who is engaged in the practice of dentistry in Hutchinson, has won a creditable position in the profession because his equipment was good' and be- cause his mechanical skill ably supplements his theoretical knowledge. He now enjoys a large and growing patronage and the suc- cess which crowns his efforts is well merited.

The Doctor is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Brookfield, that state, on the 12th of April, 1852. He is the second of the three children of Joel and Polly ( Bushnell) Miner. His father was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1807, while his

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mother was a native of Trumbull county, Ohio. In 1828, when a young man, Joel Miner removed to Ohio where he was mar- ried and engaged in merchandising, con- ducting a store first in Brookfield and after- ward in Hartford, during an early epoch in the history of the Buckeye state. The coun- try was wild and new and the work of civ- ilization was just being introduced into that portion of the country. Mr. Miner remained in Ohio until 1872 and in connection with his business affairs he also took an active part in public interests, filling for years the offices of justice of the peace and postmaster. He was most loyal to the trust reposed in him and his official service won him high commendation. In his political views he was a Republican. In 1872 he removed to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he lived re- tired until his death in 1898. His children were: Joel, a resident of Ann Arbor ; George H .; and Mary L., a teacher in the public schools of Detroit, Michigan.

The boyhood days of the Doctor were quietly passed in his parents' home, his time being divided between work on the farm and the duties of the school-room. His prelim- inary education was acquired in the public schools of Ann Arbor, Michigan, later he was a student in Wayland Academy, at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and his collegiate work was accomplished in the University of Michigan, where he was graduated with the class of 1876, receiving the degree of Bach- elor of Science.

After his graduation the Doctor went to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where for a period of five years he was the principal of the high school of that city. In 1881 he accepted the position of chemist for the Oxmoor Iron Company, of Birmingham, Alabama, and served in that capacity for three years. In 1884 he entered the dental department of the University at Ann Arbor and after studying for several years established an office at South Lyon, Michigan, where he remained for a year. In 1887 he came to Hutchinson, where he began practice, which he has followed here continuously since. As the years have passed he has demonstrated his ability and his satisfactory workmanship

has gained for him a continually growing patronage. He has kept fully abreast of all the latest improvements in dental work and his skill has gained him prestige, winning him rank among the ablest representatives of the profession in this part of the state. His spacious and elegant apartments in the Ma- sonic Temple building are fully equipped with all the latest devices that facilitate his work and the constantly growing support accorded him by the public is abundant evi- dence of his high standing in public opinion.

The Doctor was happily married August 23, 1882, to Miss Fannie I. Miter, of Ri- pon, Wisconsin, and their home has been blessed with three children, Helen, Harold and Fannie. The Doctor and his wife have a wide acquaintance in Hutchinson and the hospitality of many of the best homes of the city is freely accorded them. He is identi- fied with the Masonic society and is a wor- thy exemplar of the craft. Of the Odd Fel- lows Lodge here he is past noble grand and past chief patriarch of the encampment, while to the grand lodge of the order he has served as delegate. He also has membership relations with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and the Court of Honor. Prominent in politics he is a supporter of the Republican party and has served as a member of the Republican county central committee. He has been a delegate to the various county, congressional and state conventions and his opinions carry weight in their councils. His labor in behalf of the party is purely disin- terested, arising from firm belief in the party platform, for he has never sought or desired office, preferring to give his attention in un- divided manner to his profession, in which ability has gained him honorable distinc- tion.

BERT STRATMANN.

That sturdy element of our population which has come from Germany has long been well represented in Kansas and has been greatly instrumental in the develop- ment of leading interests of this state. One

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of the best known Germans of Ellsworth county is Bert Stratmann, a prominent mer- chant of Hollyrood. Mr. Stratmann was born in Hanover, Germany, May 2, 1859, a son of Christopher and Caroline ( Clop- ner) Stratmann, both of whom were natives of Hanover. Christopher Stratmann be- came a contractor on railway construction, and for nearly forty years was concerned in the building of railways in Germany, France and Russia. In 1877 he came to America and bought five quarter-sections of railroad land in Ellsworth county, Kan- sas, and engaged in farming. He improved his land and developed it into good agricul- tural property. He died February 23, 1898, and his widow lives on his old home- stead with their son Herman.

Bert Stratmann is one of six children born to Christopher and Caroline (Clop- ner) Stratmann. Albert, the eldest, is op- erating one of the Stratmann farms, and Alexander is a farmer in Ellsworth county : Emilie married William Stoltenberg, a farmer of Ellsworth county ; Freda married Ernest Peterman, a farmer of Ellsworth county ; and Herman manages the Strat- mann homestead. The subject of this sketch was eighteen years old when he was brought by his parents to America and to Kansas. He came to this country equipped with a good literary education, gained in the schools of his native land. Until he was twenty-five years old he assisted his father in the management of his business and after that he operated one of his father's farms until 1890, when he bought an interest in the firm of H. C. Frevert & Company, the name of which was changed to Frevert & Stratmann. Nine years later Mr. Strat- mann bought the interest of Mr. Frevert, and he has one of the best equipped and most attractive general stores in his part of the state and carries a large and compre- hensive stock of dry goods, clothing and household necessaries. The erection of his large and sightly store building was begun in 1886, when a one-story building, cover- ing a ground space of thirty by seventy feet. was built. The size of the building

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 68

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