A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 72

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 72

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Samuel A. Sperry spent his youth on his father's farm and was educated in the com- mon schools and at an academy at Tall- madge, Ohio. He cheerfully underwent all the toil and privation incident to pio- neer life and enjoyed his work for work's sake and his regular and tem- perate habits and out-door life amidst the forest odors tended to strengthen a good constitution, which he afterward found to be of inestimable value. In 1839, when he was twenty years old, having heard that large wages were being paid in Illinois, and anxious to secure money with which to complete his education, he set out with his brothers, Levinas and Ebenezer, with a team for Fulton county, Illinois, where it was his purpose to work a year or two at twenty-

five dollars a month and then return to Ohio and re-enter school.' But when they arrived they found that no such wages were being paid in Fulton county and that nothing be- yond a living was obtainable there by hard work at wages. Levinas had a little money and he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which the three brothers farmed for two or three years. Then leaving his brothers to manage the farm, Levinas went to Bernadotte, where for a year he was in the lumber trade. Meantime the brothers sold the farm and Ebenezer bought a quar- ter section of land near Bushnell, Illinois, and Samuel A. went to Bernadotte and car- ried on a cooperage business there until 1850, when he went overland to California, where he mined successfully for a year and a half. Then the condition of his health be- came such that he was obliged to return to his old home in Illinois.

Previous to moving to Bernadotte and while living on the farm in Fulton county, Mr. Sperry's nearest town and postoffice was Fairview, a settlement of New Jersey peo- ple. Under the leadership of the minister of the Dutch Reformed church at that place, the men of Fairview favored slavery to an extent that was almost fanatical. Mr. Sperry was an outspoken abolitionist and when the Republicans first put a ticket in the field he was the only man at Fairview who voted for it, and that he did in the face of threats that were little short of murderous. Even the reverend gentleman referred to menaced him with tar and feathers and declared his intention to lead a mob against him in case he had the temerity to vote the "black aboli- tion ticket." Mr. Sperry calmly assured him that on election day he would most cer- tainly vote the ticket which the preacher so denominated, and he did so and was not harmed ; but was warned to leave. He re- plied that he would be there to vote at the next election and denounced the minis- ter and the spirit of his teaching, de- claring that the only time the Almighty had ever shown an interest in his church had been on an occasion when during service the building had been struck by lightning and most of the seats and a majority of the mem-

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bers of the congregation had been scattered in all directions and some seats at the rear of the house containing some despised ne- groes had with their occupants been set down uninjured before the altar. He kept his promise to vote at the next election and when he did so several others voted the same ticket. After his removal to Bernadotte he found there a line of the old under-ground railway in full operation and it was not long before he was doing everything in his power to provide for fugitive slaves who should stop there and to send them on their way to freedom. He received the fugitives at his house and place of business and sometimes got them out of town in loads of hay or disguised as sacks of grain.

After his return from California Mr. Sperry ran his cooper business in connection with a general store and a pork-packing en- terprise. During the war there were only five loyal men at Bernadotte and all of them except Mr. Sperry were advanced in years. Mr. Sperry would not smother his honest sentiments for fear of any man, and his life was in constant danger from the so-called Knights of the Golden Circle, a lawless se- cret order which drew its membership from the disloyal copperhead element. There were many plots against the lives of the five abol- itionists and at one time a mob set upon one of them, an old man named Maxon, and after beatng and cutting him terribly, sur- rounded Mr. Sperry's store, where Mr. Sperry was with his son and another lad who were acting as his clerks. The mob dispersed about three o'clock in the morning and Mr. Sperry did not leave the store until later. On another occasion Mr. Sperry's life was saved by a physician, who was his friend, who warned him that he was to be called to his door that night and be shot. When the call was heard Mrs. Sperry, like the heroine that she was, went to the door carrying a lamp, thus foiling the plot be- cause the men outside had not come to murder a woman. After this event Mr. Sperry bought two fine six-shooters and on some pretext called in one of his enemies to show him how they worked. The man went to his comrades and assured them that Mr.

Sperry had the best revolvers in the county and they decided that it would not be best for them to molest him again. When green- backs were first issued Mr. Trickey, a rep- resentative of the disloyal element, who had a large amount of the money, became fearful that it was not on a sound basis and would not be redeemed; and when Mr. Sperry agreed to take two thousand dollars of it and guarantee its redemption, Trickey gladly let him have it; and after that when plots were hatched against Mr. Sperry's life, Trickey interfered in Mr. Sperry's be- half on the ground that if the latter should be killed he might lose his two thousand dol- lars. In 1869 Mr. Sperry located at Ipava, Fulton county, Illinois, where he conducted a general store until 1876, when he retired from active business and for several years lived with his son and gave his attention to a settlement of all his outstanding accounts.

In the fall of 1883 Mr. Sperry removed to McPherson county, Kansas, and bought two hundred and forty acres of land in Groveland township, a part of which was im- proved. He began farming and stock-rais- ing there and introduced many substantial improvements and was prospering when, October 28, 1888, his wife died. After that sad event he lived two years with his daughter Ida, at Lyons, and then removed to Hutchinson, where he has since lived. In 1894 he bought ten acres of ground at . Hutchinson, of Judge Martin. This land, which was originally a part of Glendale park and is located near the state reforma- tory, was covered with large cottonwood stumps to the number of about three hun- dred, which Mr. Sperry grubbed out unaided though he had obtained the advanced age of seventy-seven years. He devoted nine acres of the land to an apple orchard and to other fruits, planting the apple trees thirty feet apart and planting the shorter-lived trees, such as peach, cherry and plum trees between them, and the remaining acre he turned into a fine grape vineyard. In 1900 he gathered fifty bushels of fine peaches and in 1901 his orchard yielded plenty of peaches and cher- ries and began to be valuable as an apple pro- ducer. From his vineyard he gathered

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about a wagon load and a half of grapes each year. The space in his orchard be- tween his trees he made profitable each year in the production of corn and vegetables. Until the time of his death, which occurred January 23, 1902, Mr. Sperry was active and was in full possession of all his faculties. He attributed his remarkable possession of all his powers in his old age to his having led an active out-door life and to his never having used liquor or tobacco in any form. It may be added that he never drank tea or coffee and seldom ate meat. In 1899, when he was eighty years old, he accom- plislied a feat of endurance which seem al- most incredible, but which could be vouched for by all his acquaintances in Hutchinson. A citizen of the town, desirious of having a piece of ground cleared of a number of large cottonwood trees, offered any one half of the wood that could be made from them in pay- ment for cutting them down and work- ing them up for wood. After several per- sons had promised to do the work and had failed to accomplish it, Mr. Sperry undertook it and he cut down the trees and sawed them into stove wood, which measured seventeen cords.

Originally a Whig, Mr. Sperry became an abolitionist, as has been stated, and later a Republican ardently devoted to the princi- ples of his party. He was during all his life an ardent advocate of the cause of tem- perance and active worker its success. He was married, March 25, 1845, at Bernadotte, Fulton county, Illinois, to Madalena Mc- Whirt, daughter of William and Lucy (Sharp) McWhirt, natives of Virginia. Mrs. Sperry bore her husband four children : James A. Sperry, who was born November 2, 1846, and died August 16, 1886; Clara, who was born November 24, 1847, and died

in infancy: Horace L., who was born Au- gust 4, 1852, and is station agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company at Greenfield, Illinois; and Ida May, who was born December 19, 1853, and is the wife of David Heryer, of Hutchinson, Kansas, a biographical sketch of whom will be found on another page of this volume.

GEORGE HUYCKE.

Among the many able newspaper men in central Kansas, George Huycke, editor and proprietor of the Ellsworth Reporter, is con- spicuous for all those qualities which con- tribute to the success of an inland newspa- per, devoted to the interests of the com- munity in which it is published and strictly up-to-date in all its aims and methods.

George Huycke was born at Wellington, Prince Edward county, Canada, December 25, 1842, a son of James and Eliza ( Bu- chanan) Huycke, the former a native of Canada and the latter of the north of Ire- land. Mr. Huycke spent his boyhood days in Canada and his educational facilities were so limited that his entire schooling was com- prised in six months of irregular attendance in the public schools near his home. His father died when he was eight years of age and many serious responsibilities fell on his young shoulders. At nineteen years of age he left his Canadian home and located at Watertown, New York, where for about a year he was employed at railroad work. In January, 1863, when he was not yet twenty- one, he enlisted in Company M, Fifteenth Regiment, New York Cavalry, with which organization lie served in the Civil war until he was honorably discharged, in September, 1865, at Elmira, New York. Enlisting as a private, he rose to the rank of sergeant. He saw service for a time with Duffield's cav- alry and later was in Custer's command in Virginia, scouting and skirmishing.

After the war Mr. Huycke visited his old home in Canada. He then took a posi- tion as teamster and messenger in the quar- termaster's department of the United States army on the frontier and was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, whence he made trips over the Santa Fe trail to Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was employed thus and otherwise in that new country for about five years, and then he bought railroad land near Fort Harker, on which he farmed three years. In 1875 he was elected county treas- urer of Ellsworth county, Kansas. which office he filled so satisfactorily that he was re-elected to it for a second term. In 1882,

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with others, he organized the Ellsworth Su- gar Works, with a view to utilizing home grown sorghum in the manufacture of su- gar. This enterprise was unsuccessful, how- ever, and resulted in considerable financial loss to Mr. Huycke.

While filling the office of county treas- urer of Ellsworth county he bought the Ells- worth Reporter, in the proprietorship of which he associated with himself W. A. Gephardt. In 1886 Mr. Huycke became sole proprietor of the paper, which he has since conducted with signal success. The Reporter, which has always been Republican in poli- tics and which has generally been the official paper of Ellsworth county, has a large cir- culation and is recognized as a valuable local advertising medium. It was established in 1871, and is the oldest newspaper in the county. Under Mr. Huycke's editorial man- agement it is an exceptionally good home newspaper, thoroughly devoted to the up- building of the best interests of Ellsworth city and county.

Mr. Huycke has always been active as a Republican and has been prominent for many years in county, state and congres- sional conventions. He is a Knight Tem- plar Mason, and a member of Ellsworth Post, No. 22, Grand Army of the Republic. He has been a member of the board of edu- cation of the city of Ellsworth for twelve years. He erected his office and printing establishment in 1892. He was appointed postmaster by President Arthur and again by President Harrison and filled the office all together between six and seven years. He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Jennie Folkes, who was a native of the state of New York, and who was living at Ellsworth at the time of their marriage, in 1870. She bore him two children, one of whom died in infancy, while the other, Paul, lives at Topeka, Kansas. In 1876 Mr. Huycke married Miss Cora J. Folkes, half- sister of his deceased wife, and she has borne him nine children, seven of whom are living. Their daughter Beatrice died at the age of seventeen years. Their son, Archi- bald. is private secretary to E. R. Nichols. at Manhattan, Kansas. Vinton is a teacher

in Ellsworth county, Kansas. William, Ed- ward, Ruth, Harold and Clarence are mem- bers of their parents' household. George died in infancy.

ROBERT W. HUGHES.

Robert W. Hughes, one of the early set- tlers of Hoosier township, Kingman coun- ty, is now living retired on the home farm, which he developed from unbroken prairie, and in the evening of life is enjoying a well earned rest. He came to the county in 1881 and since 1878 has been a resident of the state.

A native of Ohio, Mr. Hughes was born October 14, 1828, a son of Jesse Hughes, who was also born in the Buckeye state and served his country in the war of 1812. He married Sallie Herron, whose birth occurred in Ohio, and upon a farm they began their domestic life there, but subsequently re- moved to Indiana, casting in their lot among its early settlers. They had fourteen chil- dren, namely: Mark, Martha, Lucinda, James, Jane, Mary, Martha, Isaac, Robert W., Jesse, John, Mansel, Missouri and Liz- zie. The father was a wheelwright by trade, but during the greater part of his life car- ried on agricultural pursuits. For four years he was a preacher in the New Light church and his son Mark became a minister of the same denomination, but was turned out of the church because he refused to take pay for his services! Politically the father was a representative of the Whig party. His death occurred in Bartholomew county, In- diana, in 1863. After the death of his first wife he was again married, and by the sec- ond union had a daughter, Margaret, who died in early childhood.

Robert W. Hughes was reared in Law- rence county, Indiana, and pursued his edu- cation in an old-time schoolhouse, which was built of logs, had a puncheon floor and im- mense fireplace, together with other prim- itive furnishings. On the 7th of August, 1853. he won as a companion for the journey of life Miss Eliza Ann Browning, their

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wedding being celebrated in Heltonville, Lawrence county, Indiana, in the house in which the lady was born August 2, 1831. Her father, Nathan Browning, was born in east Tennessee July 30, 1785, and married Obedience McPike, whose birth occurred in east Tennessee December 31, 1788, and who was a daughter of a Revolutionary sol- dier. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Browning were born fourteen children: Polly, Amzi, Will- iam, Benjamin, Malinda, James, John, Jesse, Richard, Joseph W., Amanda J., Eliza A., Leonard M. and an infant. The father of this family was a farmer by occupation and died in Lawrence county at an advanced age, while his wife passed away at the age of sixty-five years. In his political views he was a Democrat and belonged to the New Light church.

Reared upon the home farm, Robert W. Hughes early became familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and continued to work upon the home farm until his marriage, when he began cultivating the soil on his own ac- count. He was thus engaged when the Civil war commenced. Feeling that his country needed his services, he bade adieu to his family and in 1861 joined Company F, Fif- teenth Indiana Infantry, with which he served for eighteen months, when he was honorably discharged, owing to disability. He now receives a pension of seventy-two dollars per month. The most important bat- tle in which he participated was that of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Although reared as a farmer and devot- ing some time to agricultural pursuits, while residing in Indiana Mr. Hughes learned the trade of cabinetmaker and followed that and carpentering for several years. In 1878 he left his old home and crossing the Missis- sippi continued on his westward way to Stafford county, Kansas, where he remained for three years, when he removed to King- inan county, where he has since resided. Here he took up a claim on the Osage In- dian Trust land. It was wild and unim- proved, not a furrow having been turned or an improvement made, but with character- istic energy he began its development, and it

is now a valuable and attractive property. He set out a grove and orchard, erected a residence and the necessary outbuildings, and although his health prevented him from doing much of the active work of the farm he directed the labors of his sons, and the place was transformed into a valuable farm.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hughes was blessed with twelve children: Hester, de- ceased ; G. W .; John C., deceased ; Josie, de- ceased ; James W. ; E. E .; Belle; Sallie, who has passed away; Oliver P. Morton, de- ceased ; Ulysses Grant ; Susan F. ; and Will- iam L. All of the living children have started out in life on their own account, leav- ing the parents once more alone,-just as they began their married life. They are still living on the old homestead, where they are quietly passing the evening of life, hav- ing a good residence and many comforts and luxuries. While in Indiana he was a mem- ber of the Baptist church, and his wife be- longed to the Methodist church. He has al- ways been a stanch Republican in politics, having never voted any other ticket, and throughout his career of more than seventy years he has ever been as true and faithful to his duties of citizenship as when he fol- lowed the nation's starry banner upon the battlefields of the south.

EDWARD B. SMITH, A. M.

Edward Birge Smith, the president of Nickerson Normal College, was born in Steuben county, Indiana, April 18, 1857. His father, Birge Smith, was born in New York, on the upper Schuylkill, in 1835. He was a carpenter by trade and was a loyal and patriotic citizen. During the Civil war he helped to organize two military com- panies, Company A, of the Forty-fourth Volunteer Infantry, and Company .1, of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth, being c m- missioned captain of the latter by Governor Morton. However. he saw most of his serv- ice as adjutant on General Hovey's staff. He was with Sherman in his march to the sea, and died of pneumonia contracted on

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the march through the Carolinas. His re- mains rest in the national cemetery on Long Island. He wedded Miss Marietta Bennett, of Angola, Indiana, by whom he had two sons, the subject of this sketch, and Frank E. Smith, now living at Wakefield, Nebras- ka. The maternal grandfather, Malcolmn Bennett, and two of his sons lost their lives in their country's service. One of the sons, George Bennett, was killed at the battle of Lookout Mountain, while serving in the ranks. The other son, Alexander, died in the rebel prison at Belle Isle. Many other relatives, on both the maternal and the pa- ternal sides, served on the Union side in the war, and very few families sacrificed more for the national cause.

Edward Birge Smith, whose name intro- duces this review, received his primary ed- ucation in the country schools of Indiana, usually under his mother's instruction, as she was a teacher both before her marriage and during her early widowhood. He began his life work at a very early age, teaching a district school in Indiana before he was six- teen. He attended the high school at An- gola, Indiana, and Hillsdale College, Mich- igan, frequently teaching country schools to aid in defraying his expenses. In the fall of 1876 he was elected principal of the Fre- mont, Indiana, schools, and held the posi- tion four years. He was next appointed to the chair of mathematics in the normal school at Ladoga, Indiana, where he re- mained two years. He taught five years in West Kentucky College, and served two years as superintendent of the public schools of Paoli, Indiana. In 1888 he came to Kan- sas and became editor of the Daily Chrono- scope, at Larned. In the fall of 1889 he sold his interest in the paper and accepted a position in the Central Normal College at Great Bend. In the fall of 1896 he entered Kansas University for post-graduate work, receiving the degree of Master of Arts from this institution in 1897 ; he was elected presi- dent of the Central Normal College, remain- ing there one year. In the summer of 1898 he became president of Nickerson Normal College, which position he still holds. He is the author of several books, the best known

being a grammar, Smith's Etymology and Syntax.

In 1879 President Smith was married to Miss Helen E. Merwin, of Fremont, Indi- ana, a daughter of C. J. and Emily ( Beach) Merwin, both of whom are still living in Steuben county, Indiana. Mrs. Smith has also been a teacher since her sixteenth year. She has held positions in all the institutions with which her husband has been connected. She has graduate standing at the State Uni- versity of Kansas, her specialties being Latin and English. It is difficult to overestimate the influence for good that these two faith- ful teachers have exerted upon the lives of the hundreds of young people who have been enrolled in their classes. Central and west- , ern Kansas, especially, owes much to them, and cheerfully acknowledges the debt. They have one child, a daughter, Miss Helen Beach Smith, fourteen years of age and a very bright student in the college in which her parents are teaching.

The Smith home is in the northwestern part of the city. This commodious residence with its spacious, well shaded grounds, is one of the most attractive in Nickerson, and is noted for its gracious hospitality, for President Smith and his estimable wife and daughter are widely known and have a large circle of warm friends.

JACOB C. SHIDELER.

One of the extensive land owners of Kingman county is Jacob C. Shideler, who resides in Galesburg township. His resi- dence here covers a period of a quarter of century, which fact indicates that he has been a witness of the pioneer development. In the work of progress he has borne his part, and to-day is accounted one of the valued representatives of his community.

Mr. Shideler is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Montgomery coun- ty, near Dayton, January 19, 1843, the year in which President Mckinley was born. The Shideler family is of German lineage, and the ancestors of our subject came from

anna Shideler.

Jacobleshideler

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Frankfort. Germany, 'settling in Pennsyl- vania. They were people noted for in- dustry, honesty, courage and patriotism. The grandfather of our subject was Henry Shideler, a native of the Keystone state, and his son and namesake, the father of our subject, was born in Washington coun- ty, Pennsylvania. In 1804. the family re- moved to Ohio, casting in their lot with its pioneer settlers. After arriving at years of maturity. Henry Shideler, Jr., married Elizabeth Swartsel, who was born in Ohio and was a daughter of Abraham Swartsel, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to the Buckeye state. Fourteen children were born unto the parents of our subject, namely : Jefferson, Joseph, Abraham, Henry, Allen, Daniel, Jacob, Josiah, Irving. Elizabeth, Margaret, Susanna, Mary E. and Angeline. Three of the sons were valiant soldiers in the Civil war. Daniel who enlisted in the Ninety-third Ohio Infantry, was in the service for thirty-three months, and is now living in Holden, Missouri. Josiah, who was a member of the One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Ohio Infantry, died in the Buckeye state. The parents have both passed away, the mother having died in Ohio at the age of forty-nine, while the father's death occurred when he was eighty- six years of age. For three-quarters of a century he lived upon the farm on which his father located in 1804. He was a Dem- ocrat in his political belief and in religious faith was a Dunkard or German Baptist. His life was upright and honorable and won him high regard.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 72

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