A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 89

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 89

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Fred Yust was for five years a student at schools in Germany, and in 1855 was brought to America by his parents. They made the voyage in a sailing vessel, which consumed nine weeks' time between Bremen and New Orleans. The family located at Canton, Missouri, where Frederick Yust's brother Charles had settled in 1851. Fred- erick Yust, who had been a weaver in Ger- many, did not readily find employment at his trade in America,' and became a stone- mason, in which capacity he worked until 1874, when he removed to Hayes township, Reno county, Kansas, here homesteading one hundred and sixty acres of land and taking up a tree claim of one hundred and sixty acres. He began the work of improve- ment and soon had so much of his land under profitable cultivation that he was able to buy another quarter section. With his sons, Fred. Charles and Henry, he arrived in Hayes township in the fall of 1874. They brought with them two mules and a horse and during the winter they erected three houses to accommodate the others of their families, who arrived in the township in April, 1875. The subject of this sketch had received a three months' schooling in Eng- lish in Missouri and he and his father and his brother Charles had had a valuable army experience. Before he was yet seventeen years old and when his brother Charles was only fourteen, the three enlisted in Company A. Twenty-first Regiment, Missouri Volun- teer Infantry, Frederick and Fred Yust as private soldiers, while Charles, who was not old enough for such service, was accepted as a drummer. The eldest Yust was dis- charged for disability after about two years' faithful service, and after taking a month's furlough Fred re-enlisted in January, 1864. and when he was mustered out of the ser- vice as a corporal he had experienced the vicissitudes of four years and nine months almost constant fighting. He took part in numerous engagements, including the bat- tles at Shiloh, Corinth, Tupelo, Nashville, Spanish Fort, and Mobile Bay, and was never wounded or sick in the hospital, was

never made a prisoner of war and was al- ways ready to undertake any duty to which he was called, and during the last year and a half of his service he did a first sergeant's work as company clerk.

September 24, 1868, Mr. Yust married Miss Dora Krey, a native of St. Louis, Mis- souri, who was born in January, 1850, a daughter of Conrad and Henrietta ( Hart- man) Krey. Mrs. Yust's parents were both natives of Germany and her father was eighteen weeks in making the journey from Germany to New Orleans on an old-fashi- ioned sailing vessel and was shipwrecked and came near being lost. After their mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Yust settled on a farm in the woods, where they soon established a home, which, however, was too small for their needs as their family increased, and they took Horace Greeley's advice and went west. They have prospered so well in Kan- sas that they now own ten quarter sections besides eiglity acres in another tract, their holdings aggregating sixteen hundred and eighty acres. Mr. Yust is farming on a quar- ter section where he took his original tree claim, on which he set out about forty acres of timber, mostly cottonwood, and has ten acres of beautiful black walnut trees, some of which are twelve inches in diameter, and many others, including maples, box-elders and mulberry trees. He grows about equal quantities of corn and wheat and during the past year he has harvested and sold about two thousand bushels of wheat. He has made considerable money also in logs and cattle. His first house was a frame building, twelve by fourteen feet in size, the walls of which were filled with sun-dried brick of his own manufacture. That building is a part of his present commodious, modern resi- dence. During the earlier years of his resi- dence in Hayes township his house was noted for its hospitality and it was usually filled with travelers, none of whom he would turn away, the public having come to regard it somewhat in the light of a hotel. They have always been known for their progressiveness and in many ways have been leaders in their township. As an evidence of this fact it may be stated that the organ now owned by

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their daughter was the first instrument of the kind brought into the township. Mr. Yust is a stanch Republican, but for two years affiliated with the Farmers' Alliance. He filled the office of township trustee sev- eral years and for five years has been a jus- tice of the peace. He is a member and has been chaplain of Sylvia Post, No. 386, Grand Army of the Republic. He and his wife and children are members of the Ger- man Methodist church and he and Mrs. Yust were two of its six organizers twenty-four years ago and were influential in securing the erection seventeen years ago of its house of worship, which is one of the finest in the county.

The following facts concerning the chil- dren of Fred and Dora ( Krey ) Yust will be of interest in this connection. Their son, William F. Yust, born in Missouri, Novem- ber 10, 1869, has all his life been a diligent student. He was graduated in the college at Warrenton, Missouri, and after teaching school two years entered the University of Chicago, where he was graduated in lan- guages and where for three years he was assistant librarian. For the past two years he has been connected with the Albany, New York, Library School, and at present is as- sistant inspector of the state libraries of New York, at Albany. Their daughter, Kate E., who was born July 2, 1872, mar- ried Samuel Smowberger, and has four chil- dren. Mr. and Mrs .. Smowberger live on a farm adjoining the Yust homestead. George H. Yust, who was born January 31, 1876, is married and lives on the homestead farm1. Edward P. Yust, born November 12, 1877, is a member of his parents' household. Clara M., born August 14, 1880, married George Smowberger and lives on a farm near her father's. Lydia R. was born January 5, 1883, and married Melvin McEllroy, a farmer of Hayes township, and has one son. Emma D. was born October 5, 1886, and is acquiring an education. Anna L. was born October 28, 1887, while Benjamin Harrison Yust was born December 29, 1891, and they are both at school.

Mrs. Yust's parents are able farmers of Hayes township and are well preserved for

their years. Conrad Krey, her father, was born May 31, 1822, in Germany, a son of Peter Krey, who died in 1830, aged about fifty-five years, leaving his widow with four sons and three daughters of the nine chil- dren who had been born to them. Conrad Krey was married in St. Louis, Missouri, April 11, 1849, to Henrietta Hartman, who was born in the place of his own nativity in Germany in 1832. Mr. Krey, now eighty years old, is living a life of retirement. His wife, who is still vigorous and does her own housework, has borne him twelve children, of whom eleven grew to manhood and wo- manhood. They have now ten children, fifty grandchildren and about twenty great- grandchildren. In early life Mr. Krey was a shoemaker, and by working at his trade on the bench he earned four hundred dollars, which was his original payment on his first farm purchased after he came to America. Frederick and Amelia Yust, the parents of our subject, celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary January 1, 1891. At that time they had seven children, forty-eight grand- children and nineteen great-grandchildren.

CICERO WILLIAMSON.

The biographer has had from time to time to refer to the important part taken by Kentuckians in the settlement and develop- ment of Kansas. One of the most influen- tial citizens of Reno county of Kentucky birth is Cicero Williamson, a farmer of Syl- via township, who lives on the north half of section 26, and whose postoffice address is Sylvia.

Cicero Williamson was born in Louis- ville, Kentucky, November 29, 1850, a son of Benjamin and Mary ( Marshall) Will- iamson. His father, who was born in Ken- tucky in 1828, died at Stillwell, Hancock county, Illinois, in 1896. The father of Benjamin and grandfather of Cicero Will- iamson was an early emigrant from Ken- tucky to northern Illinois, where he died about 1855 at the age of one hundred and four years. Benjamin and Mary ( Mar-

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shall) Williamson were married in Ken- tucky and removed to Illinois with their five children about 1855. They located on a quarter-section of land in Hancock county, where they lived out the remainder of their lives, Mrs. Williamson dying about 1891. They had five daughters and five sons, all of whom except one daughter grew to years of maturity, and of those who survived all ex- cept one son, Hector M. Williamson, mar- ried. That son, who was the youngest, has not been heard from by his relatives for a long time. Another brother, Oscar Will- iamson, cannot be located by his brothers and sisters, who are unable to communicate also with their brother, Merritt Williamson. The Rev. Benjamin Williamson of this family lives at West Point, Illinois, where he is a Christian minister and a mechanic.

Cicero Williamson came to Kansas in 1873 and settled in Langdon township, Reno county, ten miles southeast of his present location. He came to the state with a pair of mules and one horse, but had little money and had an unfortunate experience in trying to gain ownership to a quarter sec- tion of homestead land. He was obliged to mortgage the land and after paying interest and taxes on it for about two years deemed it best to relinquish all claim upon it. Dur- ing the succeeding two years he lived on his father-in-law's farm. In 1881 he located on his present farm, which consists of a half section of good land and which he devotes to the purposes of general farming. He plants from one to two hundred acres of corn and secures an average yield of from twenty-five to thirty bushels an acre and sows from fifty to seventy-five acres to wheat, the average yield of which amounts to eighteen or twenty bushels an acre. He has fifteen acres planted with thrifty young trees, many of which he has grown from the seed, including locust, catalpa, box elder, ash, soft maple, cottonwood and mulberry trees. He usually has about twenty head of cattle of mixed breed and from eight to twelve horses and mules, including a stallion and a jack. He and his family live in a comfortable one and one-half story farm house, which was erected in 1899; and his

barn, which occupies a ground space of thirty-two feet by thirty-two feet, was built in 1900.

Mr. Williamson is an independent voter, and has escaped holding public office only by the most tactful management. He and his wife are members of the Christian church. An intelligent man and a neat and thorough farmer, he possesses much good taste, as is apparent to a stranger who drives from the highway to his residence through an attractive shaded avenue bordered with and overhung by thrifty box-elders, ash trees and catalpas. Mr. and Mrs. William- son have waged the battle of life with much energy and are still persevering with a view to the material future of their children.

Mr. Williamson was married in January, 1880, to Miss Julia Gagnebin, a daughter of James Gagnebin, and they have had three children: James, who is a member of his father's household; Dollie, who was married April 1, 1901, to Thomas Piper ; and Pearly, who is five years old.

DAVID WYMAN.

A representative farmer of Reno coun- ty, Kansas, and the fortunate owner of one of the best farms in Langdon township, lo- cated on section 17, is David Wyman, who has been a resident of this state since 1884. His first visit to Kansas was in 1877, but it was in the former year that he became iden- tified with the interests of Langdon town- ship.

The birth of Mr. Wyman was in Wash- ington county, Indiana, on August 6, 1829, and many interesting and romantic episodes are connected with a number of his ances- tors. His parents were Leonard and Anna (Baker) Wyman. The paternal grandfather was Henry Wyman, who was born in Hesse, Germany, and was a member of the British army of invasion during the Revolutionary war, but he was dissatisfied with his work and one day, when he and comrades were sent to a spring for water, left his kettle and escaped into the Patriot lines. Later he be-

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came a farmer in North Carolina and after the close of the war was a pioneer settler in Indiana, where he entered a tract of govern- ment land. He ded in Washington county, Indiana, in 1845, in old age. His children consisted of three sons and four daughters by his first marriage, his second union being to a widow with two daughters. The ma- ternal grandfather of our subject was John Baptist Cheshire, who was born in Cheshire Parish, England, was there married and later came to America. During the Revolution- ary war he was a prominent leader, spending seven years in the service of his adopted country, separated from his family.

Leonard Wyman, the father of our sub- ject, was born in North Carolina, in 1790, and he died in Washington county, Indiana, in 1862. In the latter state, in 1825, he was married to Anna Baker, who was born in Virginia. She had four children, three daughters and one son, and her death oc- curred when David and his twin sister were eight months old. The second marriage of the father was to Eliza Leach, and they had a family of two sons and four daughters. She survived her husband some twenty years, dying in New Albany, Indiana, and both were buried in the old family burial lot on the farm in Washington county, In- diana.

Our subject had but few educational ad- vantages afforded him, the equipments of the old log school house, with its puncheon floor and other primitive accompaniments, not providing anything but perfect ventilation, one log being left out to afford light. How- ever, here Mr. Wyman learned to read, spell and "cipher" and all the rest of his knowl- edge has come to him through reading and association with the world. When he had attained his majority he left home and en- gaged in farm work by the month, continu- ing to provide for himself and lay by some money in this way for some years. On the 13th of July, 1861, at New Albany, Indi- ana, he enlisted as a private in the Civil war. and was assigned to Company K, Twenty- third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Sanderson and Captain Vin- cent Kirk. After three years of service he

was honorably discharged at Chattanooga, Tennessee. On March 8, 1855, Mr. Wyman was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Fountain, and she was born in Harrison county, Indiana, on July 20, 1834, a daugh- ter of Julius W. and Susanna ( Barns) Fountain. The grandfather of Mrs. Wy- man was Edma Henry Fountain, who was born in Paris, France, and came to America with General Lafayette at the age of eight- een years, and became one of the stanch supporters of the struggling colonies. He also erected the first house in Louisville, Kentucky. He had a very unusual early life. His parents were wealthy and influ- ential people, his mother belonging to a so- cial circle which made the care of many in- fants almost an impossibility. Mr. Fountain was the second babe, and a healthy and irre- proachable peasant woman was found to take charge of him, and with her he re- mained until the death of his older brother, when he became the heir, he was taken home by his mother. According to custom he was early betrothed, and after the close of the Revolutionary war returned to France and claimed his bride.

The father of Mrs. Wyman was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1809, and he was married on September 21, 1832, in Floyd county, Indiana, to Susanna Barns, who was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, on January II, 1815. By trade Mr. Fountain was a shoemaker, but he was also an excel- lent farmer and at one time worked in a foundry: Mrs. Wyman belonged to a fam- ily of five children, its members being: An infant which died at the age of six weeks; Hannah, who is the wife of Mr. Wyman; Elizabeth became the wife of Henry Clay Ellis and died in Indiana, leaving six chil- dren; Barbara Catherine, who first married William H. Phillips, and afterward James Boyce, and at her death she left two chil- dren by the second marriage; and Sarah Jane, who died at the age of three years. Mrs. Fountain died in 1863, at Martinsburg, Indiana, and Mr. Fountain died in the fol- lowing year, at Covington. Kentucky, where he was a wholesale boot and shoe merchant and one of the substantial men of the city.

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The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wy- man numbered six, their names being as fol- lows : William C., who died when an infant of eight months; Laura Ellen, who died at the age of three and one-half years; Oliver L., who is a farmer in Nodaway county, Missouri, unmarried ; Anna, who became the wife of George W. Neal and died at the age of thirty-seven years, leaving two daugh- ters ; Carrie E., who died at the age of four and one-half years; and Frances E., who is a young lady at home. Mrs. Wyman has one of her two granddaughters with her also.

It was in 1877 that Mr. Wyman first came to this state, but nine days later he went to Atchison county, Missouri, and lived there until 1884, when he sold out his inter- ests there and came to his present farm. This was a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres and Mr. Wyman paid twelve hundred dollars to its owner. - During the seventeen years of his residence here he engaged in general farming, and has been very prosper- ous.

In politics Mr. Wyman has always been a Republican and has taken an active inter- est in public matters. For a considerable period he has served as school director in his district and he has endeavored to ad- vance all educational enterprises. He is a member of Perryville Post. G. A. R., No. I42, and is a consistent member of the Chris- tian church, while Mrs. Wyman is connected with the Methodist church. Mr. and Mrs. Wyman are representative farmers of this county, and they are well known for their hospitality and neighborly kindness.

HENRY Z. HISSEM, M. D.

In the subject of this review we have one who has attained distinction in the line of his profession, who has been an earnest and discriminating student and who holds a position of due relative precedence among the medical practitioners of Kansas. He is also mayor of Ellsworth and is honored in social circles and in professional and public life.

Dr. Hissem is a native of the state of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Ashland county on the Ioth of September, 1857, his parents being Abner and Katherine A. ( Zeigler) Hissem. The father was a na- tive of Pennsylvania and followed agricul- tural pursuits. In early life he married and removed to the Buckeye state, becoming one of the pioneer residents there. He was very prominent in Christian work and for many years served as an elder in the Presbyterian church. He is now living retired in Lou- donville at the age of eighty-five years, but his wife passed away in 1897. Dr. Hissem, subject of this review, was the sixth in or- der of birth in a family of twelve children. He pursued his education in Vermilion In- stitute, in Hayesville, Ohio, taking a course in languages on account of the benefit it would be to him in his professional career as a representative of the medical fraternity for in his boyhood he had determined to engage in the practice of the healing art as a life work. The family were in quite moderate circumstances and it became nec- essary that he should provide the means necessary to continue his studies. He aided in the farm work during the summer months and in the winter season engaged in teaching school. In the meantime he read medical text-books under the direction of a local physician and later he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, in New York city, where he was graduated with the class of 1883. He had excellent oppor- tunities in the hospital to see and assist in all kinds of operations and thus gained practical experience as well as theoretical knowledge. He had to borrow money in order to complete his college course, and was thus somewhat handicapped financially when he entered upon his professional ca- reer ; but true merit always wins success, and such has been the case with Dr. Hissem. He first located at Chicago Junction, Ohio, where he remained for three years, and dur- ing that time he was surgeon for the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad Company.

In July, 1886, the Doctor came to Ells- worth, where he opened an office and soon built up a fine practice, for his success in

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the care of several difficult cases established his reputation as a skilled physician. In May, 1896, he entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, Dr. H. O'Donnell, and since that time they have been located in their fine suite of rooms over the Central National Bank. They have a large and lu- crative practice, extending all over the county and to some distance along the line to build a hospital of their own, and in 1900 they opened a hospital at the Bigerdyke Home, but as their practice began to exceed their accommodations there they decided to build a hospital of their own, and in 1900 began the erection and equipment of their present hospital, in which Dr. Perkins, of Kansas City, is also interested. It is a fine building containing seventeen rooms and is thoroughly fitted up for the treat- ment of medical and surgical cases. The operating room is one of the finest in the state, the entire roof being of glass, while the room is finished in white enamel, and patients from all parts of the state come here for treatment, some of the most diffi- cult surgical operations known to the sci- ence having been successfully performed. In 1889 Dr. Hissem went to New York to pursue a post-graduate course in the New York Polyclinic, giving special attention to surgery and the diseases of the throat, nose and ear. In 1898 he took a course in the same line in a Chicago post-graduate school.

On the 27th of March, 1884, the Doctor was married, in Toledo, Ohio, to Ella R., daughter of Joseph Kininger, a merchant of that city and they now have three chil- dren-Ralph W., Jessie and Frank. The Doctor has a beautiful residence, the home being one of the most pleasant in the city of Ellsworth. Politically he has always been a Republican, stanch in his advocacy of the principles of the party. In former years he took a very active interest in its work, but at the present time his profes- sional duties claim too much of his time to allow him to remain an active factor in po- litical circles. In 1896 he was chairman of the county central committee, and he has served as county coroner and county physi- 35

cian. He lias also been a member of the board of pension examiners since 1887, and has been surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad Company since 1894. In 1900 he was elected mayor of the city, was re- elected in 1901 and 1902, and in his rul- ings has established an economical yet pro- gressive policy. Socially he is identified with Ellsworth Lodge, No. 146, F. & A. M., in which he has filled all the offices; Ellsworth Council, No. 9, R. & S. M .; St. Aldemar Commandery No. 33, K. T .; and Isis Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Salina. In the line of his profession he is examiner for nearly all the old-line insurance com- panies, is a member of the Missouri Valley Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Associ- ation. The success which attends his efforts is but in natural sequence, for his position soon became assured as an able physician, a man of sterling integrity and one devoted to his profession and to the interest and welfare of those to whom he ministered. He possesses marked judgment and discern- ment in the diagnosing of disease and is peculiarly successful in anticipating the is- sue of complications, seldom making a mis- take and never exaggerating or minifying the disease in rendering his decisions in regard thereto. He is a physician of great fraternal delicacy, and no man ever ob- served more closely the ethics of the tin- written professional code or showed more careful courtesy to his fellow practitioners. than does Dr. Hissem.

REV. SOLON P. PRESBY.

The founder of the Presby family in America was Deacon William Presby, who came to this country soon after the Revo- lutionary war and located near what is now Bradford, New Hampshire, at a period when that flourishing city was but a forest. His son, George Presby, was the grandfather of our subject, Solon P. Presby, and he was twice married, both times to sisters by the name of Upton, rearing seventeen children.

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Gilmore Presby, who was the father of our subject, was born in Bradford, New Hampshire, on October 8, 1805, and died in Nashua, New Hampshire, about 1865. His marriage was to Priscilla Sawyer, who was born in New Hampshire, but was reared by an aunt in Massachusetts. She was a daughter of Captain William Sawyer, an old-time drover, and belonged to a family noted for its longevity, one of her brothers, Ebenezer, a drover by trade, having lived in Nashua to the unusual age of one hun- dred years and seven months.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 89

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