A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 94

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

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was sent as a delegate to the state conven- tions of the Republican party in 1896 and also in 1898, and always attends the county conventions. He is a stanch advocate of the Republican party, supporting its men and measures in national and state elections. Socially he is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity and of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is also a member and liberal supporter of the Methodist church, leading a life in consistency with its teachings. His financial success is due to his industry and perseverance, and like all others who have made a name for themselves in insurance circles, he is a man of honor, a prominent and able representative of his business, and a sound and substantial citizen.

WARREN D. JEWELL.

The subject of this sketch, who is one of the leading farmers of Reno county, Kan- sas, is of that old colonial stock which has given vitality to our national existence in every part of our country. Mr. Jewell, who lives on section 7, township 24, range 4, in Valley township, was born in Clinton coun- ty, Ohio, November 13, 1843. His father, Reuben Jewell, was born in Onondaga county, New York, March 3, 1815, and learned the shoemaker's trade. The grand- father of Warren D. Jewell came to the United States from England with two brothers. He settled in New York state, one of his brothers settled in Massachusetts and the other in New Jersey. Reuben Jewell went alone to Ohio in 1838 and located in Hillsboro township, Highland county, where he worked at his trade and married Mary Van Zant, who was born in Ohio in 1818.

When the subject of this sketch was about three years old he accompanied his fa- ther's family to Ripley county, Indiana. After living there for a time the elder Jewell removed to Richmond, Wayne coun- ty, Indiana, where for a number of years he farmed in season and worked at his trade as opportunity afforded. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican and was a stanch

Union man. He enlisted in Company K, Fifty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served under General Buell in his Kentucky campaign until he was hon- orably discharged from service on account of disability incurred in the line of duty. He removed to Butler county, Kansas, in 1870, but the following year went to Sedg- wick county, where he took up a homestead claim, which he improved and sold after a few years in order to return to Butler coun- ty. From Butler county he removed even- tually to Hutchinson, Reno county, where he died at the home of his son, George E. Jewell, June 17, 1899.

Warren D. Jewell was the third in or- der of birth of the eleven children of Reu- ben and Mary (Van Zant) Jewell. The first born was Sarah J., who is dead, and the second born was John William, who is also. dead. The fourth in order of birth was Mary E., the wife of Spencer Stringham, who is a farmer in Texas; Jacob Henry is a painter in Oklahoma Territory; Anna Eliza married Zachariah Hodson, a farmer in Ed- wards county, Kansas ; George Edward, of Hutchinson, is employed at the salt industry at that place ; Margaret L. has been married and widowed and lives in Colorado; Samuel died in infancy ; Willis A. is a farmer in In- dian Territory; and Carrie, the youngest, is the wife of J. L. Moore, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory. Mr. Jewell was reared to farm work in Indiana and was educated in subscription schools, and it is not without considerable just pride that he recalls the fact that he paid for his last term of schooling with money which he earned by working out by the month. He was thus employed for much of the time after he be- came old enough until he entered the army for service in the Civil war. August 20, 1862, when he had passed his eighteenth year, he enlisted in Company I, Eighty- fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer In- fantry. He was in battle at Chickamauga. Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Mis- sionary Ridge and fought under Sherman in the Atlanta campaign. After that he was sent to Alabama and from there to General Thomas' command. He participated in the

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sanguinary battle at Franklin, in the fight- ing at Nashville and in pursuit of Hood's army as far as Decatur, Tennessee. Thence he went to Huntsville, Alabama, whence he started in the spring of 1865 for Richmond by way of Knoxville, Tennessee. He had covered only sixty-five miles of the march, however, when his commander received in- telligence of the surrender of General Lee. He was mustered out of the service at Nash- ville, Tennessee, June 14, 1865, and return- ing to Indiana received his final honorable discharge about July I following.

After the war Mr. Jewell was employed as a farmer and as a shoemaker in Indiana until 1868, when he removed to Tama coun- ty, Iowa, where he worked by the month for farmers until the spring of 1872. Then, in company with a number of relatives and friends, he drove overland to Kansas. The party had several teams and wagons and about twenty head of cattle. They passed through Wichita July 4 of that year, and Mr. Jewell took up as a soldier's claim the northeast one-fourth of section 8 in Albion township, Reno county, which was raw prairie land covered with buffalo grass. During the first two or three years of his stay there buffaloes were numerous in that vicinity and herds often ran through his cornfields. He passed the first summer as an inmate of the house of his brother-in- law, but in the fall built a dugout on his place and entered upon the career there as a bachelor housekeeper. Eventually he erected a house covering a ground space of twelve by fourteen feet, and was obliged to drive fifty-two miles to Wichita for such lumber as entered into its construction. In the spring of 1873 he broke forty acres of land and planted it to corn. He made other improvements there and remained until 1879, when he removed to section 7, town- ship 24, range 4, where he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres. Later he made other purchases of land until he owns six hundred and six acres in sections 7 and 18 in Valley township. As his children began life for themselves he gave them farms until his holdings were reduced to four hundred acres. He has given his attention to gen-

eral farming and stock-raising and at times owns from ninety to one hundred head of cattle. While he has prospered and is now a man of considerable wealth, he has had his ups and downs in Kansas, and some of his downs are impressed on his mind quite vividly. In 1874, while he was living in South Reno township, grasshoppers ate all his crops except some oats which he had cut, leaving him no feed for his team except straw and grass. At one time he invested considerable money in town property at Hutchinson, but later traded that property for farms, which he has sold. In the year 1901 he raised one hundred and sixty acres of corn, seventy acres of wheat and ten acres of oats. He has for many years been a victim of rheumatism and during the past three years has been so seriously crippled that he has been unable to do any active work, and he has sold off most of his stock and given his attention largely to hogs and to corn. He built his present residence in 1892, at a cost of twelve hundred dollars. His place is highly improved and is provided with five large barns, immense corn cribs and good fences, and two fine orchards and many shade trees are monuments to Mr. Jewell's thrift and enterprise. In politics lie is a Republican. He has during all his act- ive life taken a deep interest in public ques- tions, and while not a politician in the ordi- nary sense has exerted himself to the utmost for the success of his party and the preva- lence of its principles. He is a Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic. While a resident of Albion township he was induced to accept the offices of constable of his town and treasurer of his school dis- trict.

Mr. Jewell was married May 6, 1874, in Albion township, Reno county, Kansas, to Miss Sarah Seley, who was born in Cass county, Michigan, February 21, 1844, a daughter of Isaac L. and Sarah Jane (Price) Seley. Mr. Seley was a native of the state of New York and Mrs. Seley was born in Clark county, Ohio. On his father's side Mr. Seley was of English descent and on his mother's side he was of Welsh de- scent. Mrs. Seley was of French-English

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extraction. Jerry Seley, grandfather of Mrs. Jewel, fought for American indepen- dence in the Revolutionary war and some of her relatives fought to maintain it in the war of 1812 and still others took part in the Mexican war. Mrs. Jewell came to Kansas with her parents in 1872, and against her parents' advice took a homestead, on which she paid out all her cash in hand, leaving her nothing with which to make the required improvements. She must make some money in some way and she bought a hunter and trapper's outfit and during the succeeding fall and winter hunted and trapped in all directions within a radius of ten miles of her home. She drove her father's team from trap to trap, going armed with a knife and a large revolver, and killed and skinned such wolves and coyotes as she found in the traps. Sometimes, with a companion, she hunted buffaloes, and seldom failed to kill some, the skins of which brought her a good price. With the proceeds of this daring enterprise this border heroine was able to pay for breaking fifteen acres of land, put up a twelve by fourteen foot sod house and planted an orchard and shade trees. Her fame spread throughout the state and she became known as "the lady trapper of southern Kansas." She also earned con- siderable money by teaming between Wich- ita and a point five miles south of Castleton. Her claim, which covered the northwest quarter of section 8, township 26, range 6, adjoined that of Mr. Jewell, whom she sub- sequently married. Her father and mother sleep in the cemetery in Albion township, five miles south of Castleton, where her sis- ter Angeline was also laid to rest. Her father died in 1875, her mother in 1878.

Mr. Jewell's mother was a member of the Methodist church, of which Mrs. Jew- ell's mother was also a member, and with which Mrs. Jewell has been identified since she was fourteen years old. Mr. and Mrs. Jewell have had seven children, of whom six are living: Lanetta is the wife of Alex- ander Culberson and lives on a farm which was given her by her father; Charles L. formerly mined in the west, but now lives in Oklahoma; James R. died in 1891; Al-

fred W., Alonzo W. and Oscar M. are man- aging farms which were given them by their father; and Sylvia H. is a member of her father's household. Mr. and Mrs. Jewell have given and are giving their children a substantial education.

HENRY SULTZBACH.

Among the stock farmers of Lake town- ship, Harvey county, Kansas, none is more deservedly successful and popular than the subject of this sketch.

Henry Sultzbach, whose homestead is in section 23 of the township mentioned and whose post office is at Patterson, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1835, on the same farm and in the same house in which Joseph Sultzbach, his father, was born in 1807. Joseph, who died at Springfield, Ohio, in 1891, was a son of Henry Sultzbach, who was born on the farm and tanner's yard where his father set- tled under the auspices of William Penn, and the estate which the emigrant acquired at that time is still owned in his family. One brother of the original settler was a tanner and the latter trained three of his sons to the same trade. He had four sons and two daughters.

In 1854 Joseph Sultzbach removed with his family to Clark county, Ohio, and at the age of twenty-one Henry Sultzbach went to Illinois, and before the close of the Civil war he crossed the Mississippi river. Even- tually he returned to Ohio and in August, 1862, he enlisted in the Seventeenth Ohio Light Artillery. After one year of credit- able service in the Civil war his feet were injured while he was getting mules out of a swamp and he was honorably discharged in 1865. He was married in Ohio that year to Martha S. Ellis, a daughter of A. S. Ellis, an eastern man who came to Ohio in 1854 and thence to Kansas twenty-one years ago. For many years Mr. Ellis was a me- chanic at Springfield, Ohio, but after lo- cating in Kansas he gave his attention to farming. Now past eighty-two years old,.

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he is a member of the household of Mr. Sulzbach. Sarah Finch, a native of that part of the state of New York bordering the Hudson river, became his wife and bore him three daughters. She died of cancer in Kan- sas in 1893.

After his return from the war Mr. Sultz- bach worked at Springfield, Ohio, as a car- penter until 1869, when he removed to Bur- lington, Iowa. In 1880 he bought a quarter section of railroad land in Harvey county, Kansas, and in 1881 he bought another quarter section near the first, paying from seven to eleven dollars an acre. He built a fine two-story residence, which was de- stroyed May 1, 1895, by a cyclone, Mr. and Mrs. Sultzbach, their daughter, father Ellis and the housemaid escaping death by seek- ing refuge in the cellar under the house. Some boys employed on the farm sought safety by running and were whirled against the fence and doubled up there, but, miracu- lous as it would seem, escaped with only a few scratches and bruises. The stone wall of the cellar and foundation of the house re- mained, but Mr. Sultzbach's barn was swept away and his present barn was built par- tially of debris saved from the former one. The family lost all their household goods and not a farm implement remained on the place : but as every member of his household remained, while some of his neighbors had been bereft of loved ones, Mr. Sultzbach was thankful that the calamity was not greater.

From one calf, which was spared by the cyclone, Mr. Sultzbach has in succeeding generations raised one hundred head of cat- tle. He keeps eight to fourteen horses, most of which are employed in running his farm. He raises each year two to three hundred acres of corn and one to two hundred acres of wheat, and one year he planted five hun- dred acres with corn and raised fifteen thou- sand bushels, he and another man planting the entire acreage. His annual output of hay is about one hundred tons. After the cyclone he moved to the house of his father- in-law, and the foundations of his former residence are visible to-day practically as they were left by the storm. Mr. Sultzbachı is a neat and thorough farmer and ascribes

his success almost entirely to his close at- tention to the details of his business.

Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Sultzbach only one is now living -- Mrs. . Maud F. Button, whose husband is a lawyer, at Buffalo, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Sultzbach gave their daughter a good literary and musical education and she is a lady of many graces and accomplishments. In 1901 they visited her in Buffalo, where they gave much time to viewing the wonders of the Pan-American exposition. Mr. Sultzbach is a Republican not without in- fluence in the local councils of his party. He has been several times elected to im- portant school offices in his township. Mr. Sultzbach is a public-spirited man, devoted to the good of his fellow citizens, and is lib- eral in the promotion of all measures tend- ing to their benefit. A model husband and father, he is a generous and helpful neigli- bor, in whom many a man in trouble has found such a friend in need as is truly a friend indeed. He is a member and a trus- tee of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which denomination his wife also is a men- ber.

GEORGE Z. REDFIELD.

In examining into the secret of success which has crowned the efforts of George Z. Redfield we find that his diligence and capable management have formed the foun- dation of his prosperity and that moreover his actions have ever been guided by un- faltering honesty, his word being as good as any bond that was ever solemnized by signature or seal. He is now extensively engaged in farming and stock-raising on section 3, Kingman township, where he owns eight hundred acres of valuable land, one-half of which is under cultivation, while the remainder is devoted to pasturage purposes.

Mr. Redfield was born in Caldwell county, Missouri, December 8, 1838, and comes of a family that was founded in America during the earliest period in the development of Massachusetts. Tradition

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says that three brothers of the name of Red- field came from England about the time of the landing of the Mayflower and thus founded the family on the soil of the new world, since which time their descendants have scattered widely over the United States. The parental grandfather of our subject was born in New England and was a tailor by trade, but also followed farming. On leaving New England he took up his abode near Rochester, New York, where ine spent his remaining days. In his family were six children: Caroline, who was the wife of Squire Eggleston and died in Scott county, Kansas, in 1876; Esther, who was the wife of Dexter Griffith and died in Shen- andoah, Iowa; Hiram, an agriculturist, who died in Fremont county, Iowa : William, the father of our subject ; Clarissa, who was the wife of Henry Wilcox and died in Utah; and Barbara, the wife of Dexter Stillman.

William Redfield was a native of either Vermont or Massachusetts, but was reared in New York and from there removed to Ohio, where he was married to Mary Scott, a native of Ohio, with whom he removed about 1837 . to Caldwell county, Missouri. During the early infancy of our subject his parents removed to Hancock county, Illi- nois, settling on a farm near La Harpe, where they remained for two years and then spent a number of years in Indiana, after which they returned to Hancock county, Illinois, coming thence, after two years, to Missouri and eventually locating in Mills county, Iowa, where they remained for eight or nine years. . Their next place of residence was in Page county, that state, where the parents spent their remaining days, the fa- ther dying about 1877, while the mother passed away about two years later. He was a member of the church of Latter Day Saints and gave his political support to the Republican party. In the family of this wor- thy couple were seven children : Rebecca, the wife of Sylvester Whiting, a merchant of Clitherail, Minnesota; George Z., of this review : William, who died in Ogden, Utah ; Mary E., who died in childhood; Joseph Hiram, a barber of Shenandoah, Iowa; John Frank, who follows the same line of

business in Shenandoah ; and Triphena, the wife of David Hall, a barber of Creston, Iowa.

In the district schools of southwestern Iowa George 'Z. Redfield acquired the greater part of his education. He remained with his father until twenty-six years of age, when he was married and established a home of his own. On the 26th of January, 1865, Imogene J. Austin became his wife. She was born in Watertown, New York, April 18, 1846, a daughter of Benjamin and Lois L. ( Baxter) Austin, both of whom were natives of the Empire state. The lat- ter was a daughter of Nathan Baxter, who was a jailor in New York and served his country as a loyal soldier in the war of 1812. The Austin family is of Scotch and English extraction. The parents of Mrs. Redfield removed from New York to Grand Traverse, Michigan, about 1851, and there the father followed the carpenter's trade for several years. His next place of residence was in Butler county, lowa, where he re- mained until 1862, when he removed to Nauvoo, Illinois. In 1867 he went with his family to Page county, Iowa, where his death occurred about 1878. His wife sur- vived him until 1895, and departed this life when living with her son in Independence, Missouri. They were the parents of seven children: Sarah D., the widow of George Rogers, now living in California; Sophia A., who was the wife of E. J. Moore and died in Independence, Missouri; Mary T., who married Eli Steele and died in Shenan- doah, Iowa ; George, who is now in Africa, but makes his home in Calana, Washington ; Wiley W., a retired farmer of Independence, Missouri; Usselus A., a plasterer of Inde- pendence, Missouri ; ; and Mrs. Redfield.

After his marriage Mr. Redfield en- gaged in farming for two years and then re- moved to Decatur county, Iowa, later taking up his residence in Fremont county, whence he went to Page county, Iowa, residing there from 1870 until 1886. At the latter date he removed to Nemaha county, Ne- braska, locating near Brownsville, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty acres, formerly owned by Governor Fur-

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ness, for which our subject paid ten thou- sand dollars. This was one of the finest and best improved farms of the state and upon it had been erected a palatial residence, built of brick and unsurpassed in that part of the country. There Mr. Redfield resided until 1896, when he traded his Nebraska property for his present fine farm of eight hundred acres on sections 3 and 10, Kingman town- ship. It is a splendid body of land, all under fence, and four hundred acres are planted with wheat. He has a herd of two hundred and thirty head of graded shorthorn and Hereford cattle, and he feeds over two car- loads of cattle each year. He has also re- cently begun the breeding of registered Jer- sey Red hogs.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Redfield has been blessed with twelve children: George A., a farmer of Missouri; Eva L., the wife of C. Perry, a farmer living near Zenda, Kingman county ; Oscar A., a farmer and stockman of Kingman county, who is also serving as trustee of his township; William Franklin, who died in Nebraska in 1893; Triphena M., the wife of Homer E. McCue, who follows farming near Zenda, Kingman county; Inez, who died in Nebraska in 1889; and Charles H., Mamie V., Earl. N., Roy R., Carl E. and June F., all under the parental roof.

The parents are both members of the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints and Mr. Redfield has taken an active part in the church work. In politics he was originally a Republican, voting for Abra- ham Lincoln, but of late years has been identified with the People's party move- ment. He has been twice elected justice of the peace, discharging his duties with strict impartiality and thus winning high com- mendation. He is numbered among the solid, substantial citizens of the county, true to his duties of citizenship and never with- holding his support from any movement or measure calculated to advance the general good. In business he is thoroughly reliable is energetic and far-sighted, and his admir- able management of his business interests has brought to him a most gratifying com- petence.

CAREY DE WEESE.

Carey De Weese, who is engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising on section 12, Rural township, was born in Darke county, Ohio, September 5. 1857, and is a son of John De Weese a native of Virginia, born in 1806. On arriving at years of ma- turity he married Lottie Rose and soon af- terward removed to Ohio, locating in Tip- pecanoe, Miami county, during the days of its pioneer development. A few years la- ter he went to Darke county, settling in a region so densely timbered that a path had to be blazed on the trees in order that they might find their way to the settlement. There in the midst of the forest, Mr. De Weese cleared a tract of land and developed a farm, upon which he reared his family of fourteen children, giving to each one of them a farm as they reached mature years. and started out in life for themselves. He had added to his original homestead until his landed possessions aggregated seven hundred acres. He not only became well- to-do, but was a very prominent and influ- ential citizen and he bore an important part in the early progress and development of his region. He was married three times, his second union being with Mrs. Frazier. Af- ter her death he was married, in Darke coun- ty, to Christiana Dorman, the widow of Isaac Dorman, who in her maidenhood bore the name of Houser. She was born in Pennsylvania and at an early age was left an orphan, so that no account of her family history is obtainable. She died December 25, 1892, on the old homestead in Darke county, while living with one of her sons. The father of our subject had passed away several years previously, on the 5th of Sep- tember, 1884, and was laid to rest in what is now Yorkshire cemetery. He was a prominent member of the Christian church and in his political views was a Republican. By his first marriage he had two children: William, who was a soldier of the Civil war, and died in the hospital during the service ; and Barney, who was for three years num- bered among the boys in blue who preserved the Union, and who is now a farmer of Mis-

MR. AND MRS. CAREY DE WEESE.

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souri. There were three children by the second marriage and of these two are liv- ing: Peter, a resident farmer of Darke county, Ohio; and George, an agriculturist of Miami county, Ohio. The daughter, Mary, was the wife of Harrison Swallow and died in Darke county, Ohio, about 1891. Her husband still survives and is living in Indiana. By his third marriage, the father of our subject had eight children, Carey being the seventh in order of birth. The record is as follows: Harvey is a retired farmer of Osgood, Darke county, Ohio; Gordon is a farmer and occupies the old homestead in Darke county; Sarah, who died in Woodland, Ohio, about 1878, was the wife of Levi Davidson; Susan is the wife of John R. Brandon, a retired farmer of Yorkshire, Ohio; Thomas died in Darke county about 1873, when twenty-two years of age; Ladema is the wife of John Coble, a farmer of Michigan; Carey is the subject of this review; and Joseph C. follows agri- cultural pursuits near Osgood, Darke coun- ty, Ohio.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. I, Part 94

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