A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 110

Author: Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York Chicago: The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084

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Solomon Vanmeter, the father of our subject, removed from Ohio to Michigan in the year 1845, locating in Berrien coun- ty, on the St. Joe river, where he cleared a farm from the heavy timber and planted a crop among the stumps, cutting his wheat with a hand sickle. He raised potatoes, split rails and worked at any honorable occupation which he could get to do. In 1882 he disposed of his fall crop of wheat for the princely sumi of ten dollars, and, accompanied by his family, emigrated to Rock Island county, Illinois, locating twen- ty miles from the present site of the city of Rock Island and six miles from the Mississippi river. His wife died while they were living in Michigan, in the year 1847. They were the parents of two sons, and the younger. Llewellyn S., enlsted in the Civil

war. He died at Martinsburg, Virginia, in 1862, in his father's native home. He fell among his old associates, who took hin to their home and nursed and cared for him until his death. Although they were Confederate sympathizers they loved and respected him and buried him in their own cemetery. He was a member of the Sixty- fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with Robert Montgomery as the commanding officer.

On the maternal side Mr. Vanmeter is descended from an honored and distin- guished family. The settlement of the Col- letts in Virginia dates back to 1730, when they removed to that commonwealth from Ohio. A great uncle, Joslina Collett, served as chief justice in the state of Ohio in 1825. His home was in Lebanon, War- ren county. An uncle, John Collett, a resi- dent of Lima, Ohio, held the office of judge of his district. Many members of the fam- ily are still living near Lima at the present tine, and all are prominent in public affairs. The mother of our subject was in her maid- enhood Miss Mary Collett.

After his mother's death William M. Vanmeter, the immediate subject of this review was taken by an aunt, Sarah Ann Collett, where he remained until fourteen years of age. He then went to live with a half-brother, Solomon Vanmeter, he be- ing one of five children born of his fath- er's first marriage, and he resided in Rock Island county, Illinois. William M. re- mained there and assisted in the work of the farm until the 5th of March, 1861. when he went on a visit to relatives in Clin- ton, Ohio, remaining there for several weeks, when he went to Champaign, Ohio. At the last named place he visited his fa- ther's only brother, and while there also attended a commercial college for three months and worked in the harvest fields until the crops were garnered. On the 10th of August, 1861, he became a member of Company A, Second Ohio Volunteer In- fantry, and was mustered into service at Camp Denison, on the 20th of August, of that year, his company being the first Fed- eral troops to enter eastern Kentucky. They then went up the Big Sandy river as far as Piketon, where they had a slight en- gagement and were engaged in scouting for some time. They then returned to Colletts- burg, Ohio, going thence by steamer to Louisville, Kentucky, and his company were the first troops outside of the state troops to go to that city, entering Louisville on Christmas day. The company was escorted from the wharf to the city square by G. D. Prentice, who was then editor of the

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Louisville Journal, where the citizens had a royal banquet prepared for the sol- diers. From that city they went to Paris, Kentucky, thence to Preston, Piketown, Mit. Sterling and many other points in east- ern Kentucky, and at each place they were amply provided with provisions. They next went to Oakland, Elizabethtown and on to Boston Creek camp, at Jefferson, where they remained until the roth of February. 1862, when they started for Bowling Green. They camped eight miles from Mammoth Cave, and while there learned that General Morgan's troops were scouting the country about twenty miles distant. Mr. Vanme- ter's captain secured permission to select twenty-five men to go to Moscow, as Mor- gan was expected there the following night, and our subject was one of the number se- lected. They started in the early morning, reaching Moscow about noon of that day. The place consisted of a few shops and a hotel, from which the rebel flag was float- ing. The twenty-five men marched up in front of the hotel and ordered the proprietor to take down the flag, but he being slow to respond, some of the boys drew it down. stamping it under their feet. They stacked their guns upon it, and over all floated the stars and stripes, which they left a few of the men to guard, while the remainder took possession of the town. They remained there that night but saw nothing of General Mor- gan, and while there were invited to lunch- eon by Judge Mclaughlin, a northern sympathizer living just outside of the town. where his negroes prepared the best the plantation afforded, and they were served in true southern style. From Bowling Green they proceeded to Nashville and thence to Pittsburg Landing, where they joined Bu- ell's army and went on to Murfreesboro. next to Huntsville, Alabama. and then to Bridgeport, arriving at the latter place in July. In the following August they went with Buell's forces to Louisville, to inter- cept Bragg, who was making his way to that city. They marched night and day, tak- ing only a few hours' sleep and obtaining their supplies at night. The last day's march consumed twenty-four hours, with only one

short stop, arriving at Louisville at day- break. During this exciting march the lines of General Bragg's men could often be seen, it being a great race for the occu- pancy of the city. On the 8th of October. 1862, the army engaged in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, which was two days' march from Louisville, and considered the most hotly contested engagement of the war. The army followed General Bragg to Crab Orchard, where they took part in that engagement, and then, on the 31st of De- cember, 1802, participated in the battle of Stone River. Their next encounter was at Hoover's Gap. after which they took part in the battle of Chickamauga, on the 10th of September, 1863, our subject's regiment entering the engagement with four hundred and fifty men, but at its close only eighty- three were left. They next joined General Hond's command, and on the 7th of May, 1864, started for Atlanta. skirmishing and foraging during the entire distance. They took part in the battle of Buzzard's Roost. and while there, on the 14th of May, in com- pany with one hundred men, Mr. Vanmeter became pocketed in a thicket, and they were obliged to remain there from two o'clock in the afternoon until dark, during which time nineteen of the men were killed. They re- mained in Atlanta until the close of hostil- ities, having been mustered out on the 10th of October. 1864. Mr. Vanmeter's army experience covered a period of three years, one month and twenty days, and during all that time he was never in the hospital and was never wounded. At the close of his service he had saved about five hundred dollars from his earnings, and he now draws a small pension.

Returning to Ohio Mr. Vanmeter vis- ited relatives for a short time and then went to Davenport, Iowa, where he attended a commercial college for four months and then engaged in the grain business in that city. He was also proprietor of a livery and feed stable and followed farming there until the fall of 1874. In that year he emi- grated to Kansas, locating on a homestead two miles north and one mile east of Ada. in Ottawa county. He erected a frame

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shanty, and after paying for his house and a few other necessaries he had just one dol- lar left, together with three horses, which he had brought with him. He worked at whatever he could find to do that would yield him an honest living, and in the mean- time succeeded in placing some of his land under cultivation. He soon began to ac- cumulate some stock, and he has since bought one hundred and sixty acres of school land just opposite the original pur- chase. He now has a fine frame house, large barns, a beautiful orchard and all necessary outbuildings. His barns are built across the road, and there he has accom- modations for one hundred head of cattle, and he keeps on hand about ten head of horses for farm work. Aside from his ex- tensive business interests Mr. Vanmeter has also found time to devote to public work, having served his county as commis- sioner for three years, being elected on the Greenback ticket in 1877. For two years he served as chairman of the board of coun- ty commissioners, resigning that position in 1879 to become county clerk at Ottawa county, to which he was elected on the Pop- ulist ticket, receiving a large majority. He has also served as township trustee for two terms and as clerk of his school district for seven years, and in all of these official po- sitions he has discharged his duties with the utmost fidelity and promptness. He is also a charter member of the Fairview Cemetery Association of Ada. He maintains pleas- ant relations with his old army comrades of the blue by his membership in Griffin Post, No. 266, G. A. R., and of the First Baptist church of Ada he is a worthy and consistent member.

In Davenport, Iowa, in 1869, he was united in marriage with Sarah D. Crabbs, who was born in Rock Island county, Illi- nois, November 12, 1848. She received her education in the Moline high school, of Illi- nois, and after completing her studies was engaged in teaching for three terms in that state. She taught the first term of school ever held in Beatrice, Nebraska. Her fa- ther, Abraham Crabbs, was born in Ohio, in 1820, of German and Irish descent, and in

later life he came to Ada, Kansas, where he died in 1886. Her mother, who was in her maidenhood Miss Mary Harrington, was a native of New York, of Irish and English descent, and in 1834 she removed with her parents by team from the Empire state to Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Crabbs were the parents of seven children, namely : Mary L., who is the wife of a minister and is now fifty years of age : Margaret J., who is mar- ried and is forty-eight years of age: Philip, who is now forty-five years of age: Cassie, forty-three years of age; William D., who has reached the age of forty years; and Asa H. and Abraham, aged respectively thirty-eight and thirty-two years. All are residents of Omaha with the exception of the first named, Mary L., who is living in Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Vanmeter are the parents of eight children, as follows: Mary B., who was born on the 30th of Oc- tober. 1871, and died on the 12th of April, 1877: George L., who was born in Rock Island, Illinois, August II, 1873, and died on the 7th of November, 1877; Abraham S., born July 2, 1875; Edward W., born December 15, 1876; Eugene M., born Oc- tuber 2. 1878; Mabel C., born September 29, 1880; William M., born January 30, 1885; and Philip C., born October 20, 1887.

WILSON S. BIGBEE.

About five miles east of Delphos in Sher- idan township, Ottawa county is the home of Wilson S. Bigbee, who there owns a good farm with modern equipments and improvements, indicating the progressive spirit and careful supervision of the owner. He is a native of Richland county, Ohio, born November 10, 1841, his parents being George and Mary (Culp) Bigbee. His fa- ther was born in Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1806, and was of German extraction. He became a farmer and also operated a sawmill prior to his removal westward. In his early married life he removed with his family to Ohio, settling on a farm, where he cut the timber and built a little log

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house of one room. There the family of ten children were born. The mother of our subject was a native of Maryland, born in 1810, and her death occurred in Richland county, Ohio, about 1845. She was one of eight children, each of whom was given one hundred and sixty acres of land in Rich- land county. The members of this family were named John, Abraham, Philip, Jacob, Lawrence. David, Margaret and Mary. Three of the brothers never married.

The mother of our subject died when he was only six years of age and he then went to live with his uncles, Jacob, John and Philip, who were stockmen, and with whom he remained until twenty years of age. He has three brothers now living, namely : John, a blacksmith of Kingman, Kansas ; Jefferson, a farmer of Whitley county, In- diana : and William H., a resident farmer of Richland county, Ohio. The others were Lyman, who died in Williams county, Ohio, leaving a family of seven children : George, who died in Richland county; Matilda, the deceased wife of George Shamlon, of Wood county, Ohio, and Sarah A., the deceased wife of A. Pond, of Story county, Iowa. She left five children at her death.

When twenty years of age Mr. Big- bee of this review offered his services to the government as a defender of the Union, enlisting July 20, 1861, as a mem- ber of Company C. Thirty-second Ohio In- fantry. The regiment went to Camp Den- nison, at Columbus, and from there was sent to Cheat Mountain, Virginia, where they remained until April, 1862, when they proceeded to the Alleghany Mountains and there entered upon their first engagement. Snow was two feet deep. They had to wade the river and climb the mountain, and for three days they lay in camp before the wagon train arrived, subsisting on some flour and a few beans as their only rations. A week later they had a heavy engagement at Strasburg and at Harper's Ferry Mr. Bigbee with his regiment was captured by Lee's army. They were paroled and sent to Chicago and in October. 1861, were sent to Cleveland, Ohio where they were exchanged. They were then ordered to Providence,

Louisiana, where they joined the Seventh Corps under GeneralMcPherson, in March, 1863. At that point they remained in camp until the siege of Vicksburg. Mr. Bigbee participated in the battle of Jackson and Champion Hills. His time had expired when he was at Vicksburg, but he re-en- listed in the same regiment and joined Sher- man's army, participating in the march to the sea. covering forty-seven days. Hle was in twenty-seven battles, but only re- ceived three slight scratches. He suffered from a sunstroke at Vicksburg and lay un- conscious for twenty-four hours. Of the company in which he enlisted only twenty- six returned home,-all of them boys, some of them not twenty-one years of age after four years of service. Mr. Bigbee was on picket duty one night in Virginia when it was so cold that sixteen mules were frozen to death. He was stricken with rheumatism and was unable to walk or help himself for six weeks. He was mustered out August 6. 1865. went to Louisville, and was there discharged.

After returning from the war Wilson S. Bigbee was united in marriage to Miss Han- nah Catherine Avery, a daughter of Adam and Louisa ( Rich) Avery, and a native of Columbus City, Indiana, born March 24, 1849. Her father was born in Ohio of German ancestry. April 16, 1822, and her mother's birth occurred in Pennsylvania, March 16, 1826. In an early day the lat- ter went with her parents to Indiana and by her marriage to Mr. Avery she became the mother of two children-Mrs. Bigbee and Alexander, who was born in November, 1846, and is a resident of Joliet, Illinois. He is married and has one son. Mrs. Avery died March 7, 1854, after which Mr. Avery married Lydia Moreland, and they became the parents of four children: Eliza- beth. Theodore. Nelson and Ella. The sec- ond wife died in 1864, and Mr. Avery wed- ded Henrietta Miser. Mrs. Bigbee's sister Elizabeth, is now matron of the asylum for the blind at Columbus, Ohio. Her brothers are prominent citizens and influential men.

After the war Mr. Bigbee located in Whitley county. Indiana, where he engaged

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in farming until 1885, when he took up his abode near Delphos, Kansas. He rented land for six years and then purchased eighty acres. He had very little capital and the first three years the crops were very poor. The family lived in a dugout for about six years and then built a comfortable house of

five rooms, also good barns and other neces- sary buildings. He has added thirty acres to the original eighty acre tract and is a general farmer and stockraiser. He has made the most of his money by dealing in cattle. Excellent improvements have been made upon his farm and in addition to the buildings there is a fine peach and apple or- chard and much small fruit, which bounti- fully supplies the table in the summer.

One child had been born unto Mr. and Mrs. Bigbee, Ruah, born August 14, 1868. She was married February 12, 1893, to W. H. Bright, who was born in Indiana, in July, 1868, and is of German lineage. He and his wife reside on a farm adjoining her father's place, and they have two chil- dren : Fay, born January 14, 1896, and Eva, born September 13. 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Bigbee are members of the Christian church and are also connected with the Or- der of Pyramids. In politics he is a Republi- can and he maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his member- ship in Wilderness Post, No. 116, G. A. R., of Delphos. He has in his possession a cane made from a part of the tree under which General Pemberton surrendered to General Grant. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bigbee are most highly respected people and as a citizen he is as true to his country today as when he followed the nation's starry banner upon the battlefields of the south.

SAMUEL BOWLES.

If we examine into the secret of success in the lives of most prosperous and promin- ent men we will find that there is no rule for building success but that certain ele- ments dominate the lives of nearly all those who have risen from obscure positions to

the plane of affluence and these are dili- gence, perseverance and strict adherence to honorable business principles. The life history of Samuel Bowles verifies this state- ment and the visible evidence of his useful and active career is seen in the large hard- ware and furniture store which he owns and controls in Formoso, Kansas.

Mr. Bowles is a native of Kentucky, his birth having occurred in Barron county, that state, on the 15th of April, 1842. His paternal grandfather, John Bowles, was a native of Virginia, and when eighteen years of age he ran away from home, from which time forward he never heard anything more of his family. He became one of the early settlers of Kentucky and was identified with its pioneer developments, bearing his part in transforming the "dark and bloody ground" into a state of importance in the galaxy which constitutes the Union. He was of Scotch lineage and his wife was also de- scended from an old Scotch family. He married Miss Akers, who was also a native of Virginia, and both spent their last days in Kentucky, the grandfather dying at the age of seventy-six years, while his wife passed away at the age of forty-five. Their son, William A. Bowles, the father of our subject, was also a native of Barron coun- ty, Kentucky, and throughout his entire life he followed farming. He was quite active in local politics and served as sheriff of his county for four years. His death occurred in 1858, when he was about forty years of age. he being born in 1818. He married Miss Lucinda C. Clark, a native of Ken- tucky and a daughter of Samuel and Nancy J. ( Pace) Clark, both of whom spent their entire lives in that state, where the father followed agricultural pursuits. Both were representatives of old southern families identified with the development of Ken- tucky from early pioneer times to the period of modern improvement. Their daughter, Mrs. Bowles, died in Kentucky, at the age of sixty years. In their family were thir- teen children, of whom eight are yet living.

Samuel Bowles spent his youth upon his father's farm, and, being the eldest of the family, had to take his place in

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the fields at a tender age and assist in the cultivation of the crops and other farm work. His educational privi- leges were meager and yet he improved them and made rapid progress in his stud- ies, so that at the age of eighteen he had fitted himself for teaching, following the profession for twenty-one years. He was living in a district over which the contend- ing armies passed at the time of the Civil war. Learning that Captain McGrinders and his band of guerrillas were in the neigh- borhood, doing considerable damage to property, Mr. Bowles assembled the boys of the neighborhood and they started out upon a little independent warfare. They took horses and chased the guerrillas out of the locality, carrying on the movement without the knowledge of their parents. When our subject returned home and his father learned what he had done he told him that he had better lose no time in get- ting away.

Thus it was that Mr. Bowles was prompted to leave his native state. He went first to the quartermaster and after telling his tale he was given a position as sub-wagon master. After the war closed he was offered a place in the service, but de- clining it he went instead to Chicago, where for a time he worked by the day. While in Kentucky he had learned photography and after saving from his earnings a small sum of money he purchased a little photographic gallery, which he conducted for a year. On account of failing health he then started for Kansas.

While enroute for this state Mr. Bowles stopped at Omaha, Nebraska, in the spring of 1866 and made a contract with the Union Pacific Railroad Company to saw wood. A year later he was married. and after continuing for a while longer in Omaha he came to Jewell county, Kansas. arriving on the 3d of March, 1870. He settled in White Rock valley, where he se- cured a homestead. His first dwelling was a hewed log house, made from cedar logs which he cut himself. The structure was sixteen by twenty feet and two stories in height. To all travelers who visited this

part of Kansas his place was known as the Cedar Ranch. On his first claim Mr. Bowles made a number of substantial im- provements and there remained until May I, 1875, when he sold the property and re- moved to Jewell City. Hle had been through many exciting experiences and had endured many of the hardships incident to pioneer life. He had his horses stolen by the Indians, lived here through the time of the grasshopper scourge and seasons of drought, while other incidents of frontier life fell to his lot and made it difficult to get a start, but with marked perseverance and strong determination he put forth every effort and in due time overcame all the ob- stacles in his path. At Jewell City he en- gaged in conducting a hotel for two years and then went to Mankato, where he built the Commercial House. He also owned the Johns Hotel there and continued in that line of business until 1898, when he sold both hotels and came to Formoso. Here he opened a large and fine hardware and fur- niture store, in which he carries a complete stock of goods in those lines, and in reason of his honorable business methods, his earnest desire to please and his reassemble prices he has secured a 'liberal patr page. which is increasing as the days pass by. He also owns a very pleasant and attractive residence here and one in Mankate.

While in Omaha, on the 4th of May, 1867. Mr. Bowles was united in marriage to Miss Louise Mchatt, who was bra in Syracuse, New York. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Mohatt, were both native- . i Paris, France, and their last days were spent near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Beth Mr. and Mrs. Bowles have many warm friends in Formoso and Jewell county, where they have lived continuously since pioneer times, and they enjoy the high regard of their large circle of acquaintances. Mr. Pourles cast his first presidential vote for General Grant and has since been a stalwart advo- cate of the Republican party. As a citizen he is public-spirited and progressive, with- holding his co-operation from no movement for the general good of town. county, state or nation. He is a man of strong char-

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acter, of honorable purpose and of upright life and deserves great credit for what he has accomplished since the night when he went upon the raid after the guerrillas, which led him to start out for himself and fight life's battles unaided.

JACOB C. ASHCRAFT.

This well known and enterprising stock farmer in section 9, Sedgwick township, Harvey county, Kansas, whose postoffice is at Putnam, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, April 9, 1855, a son of Jesse Ash- craft, who was born in Pike township, Cosh- octon county, Ohio, September 13, 1824. and has lived there continuously to the pres- ent time, and now at the age of seventy- eight years is active mentally and physically. Jacob Ashcraft, father of Jesse Ashcraft, and grandfather of Jacob C. Ashcraft, went with his brother from Fiddler's Green, Pennsylvania, to Pike township, Coshocton county, Ohio, where the two were the orig- inal pioneers and were the first to put the ax to trees within the borders of that town- ship. He was born in Pennsylvania, in about 1800, and died of tumor in 1865. He was a large, athletic man, who took great delight in rough, outdoor sport, and it is a matter of family history that as each of his sons came of age the young man was downed by his father in a friendly wrestle and scuffle. As a business man he was suc- cessful in life, and he was a thoroughgoing farmer and stock-breeder. He married a Miss Fairall, who survived him about four- teen years, a widow to the end of her life, and died of typhus fever.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 110

Author: Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York Chicago: The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York Chicago: The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 1084