A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 137

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

USA > Kansas > A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II > Part 137

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erson Lodge, I. O. O. F .. and is a mem- ber of the order of Rebekah and is past chief patriarch of the encampment. His social relations also connect him with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

S. C. COOK.

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 po- sition of due relative precedence among the medical practitioners of Lyons. He came to Kansas a number of years ago, locating at Hollyrood, but is now numbered among the successful practitioners of Lyons.

The Doctor was born in Mahoning coun- ty. Ohio, near Youngtown, May 23, 1854, and is a son of Andrew and Martha ( Tid- ville) Cook. The father was a native of

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Somersetshire. England, where he was reared to manhood, and there he was mar- ried, the lady of his choice being a native of Wales, in which country she spent her girl- hood days. Soon after their marriage they came to the United States, first taking up their abode in Youngstown, Ohio, while later they resided upon a farm in Mahoning county. In 1855 they emigrated westward to Iowa, settling upon a farm in Jefferson county, where they made their home until 1864, when they went to Union county, Iowa. Near Creston, that county, the father is still living, at the age of seventy-six years. Throughout his active business career he has devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits. He holds membership in the Evangelical church and his religious faith has permeated1 his life, making him a man of honor, and at all times he is found true to principle and to duty. His wife passed away in 1860, at the age of thirty years, leaving six children, four of whom are yet living, namely : Mrs. Anna White, of Oklahoma: Mrs. Eliza Trover, of Creston, Iowa: Mrs. Sarah Vin- cent. of Afton, Iowa; S. C., of this review : and Mrs. Harriet Pugh, of Lamar. Mis- souri : and one who died in infancy.

Dr. Cook was quite young when his par- ents went to Iowa, and there upon a farm he spent the days of his boyhood and youth, finding in the rural life excellent opportunity for the development of a strong constitution. He was also taught the value of honesty in the affairs of life, and in the public schools of Afton he acquired a good literary educa- tion, completing the high school course. He afterward engaged in teaching for two years and then took up the study of medicine un- der the direction of Dr. D. C. Baldwin. a well known and capable physician of Cedarvale. Kansas. His later studies were pursued in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in St. Louis, where he was graduated with the class of 1884. In 1879, however, he began practice in Moline, Kansas, where he re- mained for seven months, and in 1880 he lo- : cated in Hollyrood, Ellsworth county, Kan- sas, where he remained until 1882. when he went to Warren county, Missouri. After his graduation he opened an office in Mc-

Cracken, Rush county, Kansas, and after four years there passed removed to Bush- ton, Rice county, where he remained for seven years. On the expiration of that period he came to Lyons, and from the be- ginning has occupied an enviable place as a representative of the medical fraternity of this city.

Dr. Cook was married in St. Charles county, Missouri, at Wentzville, in August. 1880. to Elizabeth Darnell, a daughter of Jesse and Susan ( Sullivan ) Darnell. Her father is now deceased, but her mother is living in Adams, Oregon. They had nine children, of whom seven yet survive, name- iy: J. C., of Kalama, Washington: Mrs. Susan Baldwin, who is living in Independ- ence. Oregon; R. E., who makes his home in Toledo, Oregon; C. B., a resident of Adams, that state : Mrs. Hattie Holdman, of Pendleton, Oregon ; Mrs. Mettie Brewer, of Adams, Oregon; Jesse, who is living in Kelso. Washington; and two who have passed away. The marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Cook has been blessed with two chil- dren, -- Madie and Jessie.

The Doctor votes with the Democracy and is now serving as president of the board of health of Lyons. He belongs to the Christian church and his wife to the Meth- odist Episcopal church. He is an advocate of temperance movements, and is a friend of education, religion and all general im- provement and progress. His life work has been a benefit to his fellow men and un- doubtedly there is still before him a success- ful future, wherein his influence and labor will prove of value to the community with which he is associated.

ZENAS S. SPORE.

Zenas S. Spore, of section 26. Halstead township. Harvey county, Kansas, widely known as an enterprising and successful farmer and fruit grower, was born in Zanes- ville, Muskingum county, Ohio, August 14. 1841. Zenas Spore, his father, who was a vessel owner and sailor on the lakes, was

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born in Canada and lived there until 1831. He then went to Chicago, Illinois, then a little wooden village in the midst of a broad and apparently bottomless swamp. After a time, having lost his vessel, he decided to seek another occupation, and he went west on a prospecting expedition as far as the present site of St. Joseph, Missouri. Thence he returned to Cleveland, Ohio, where he did his last work on the lakes. After that he lived at Zanesville, Ohio, and later in Coshocton county, in the same state. E 1852 he settled in Effingham county, Illinois, and remained there until 1876, when he re- moved to Kansas, and from that time until his death, July 21, 1881, at the age of sev- enty-five years, he lived with his son, Zenas S. Spore. He was married about 1826 to Mary N. Dunham, of Rochester, New York, who was born in 1807, and they had four daughters and nine sons, all but one of whom lived to maturity and ten of whom are liv- ing at this time. Franklin died at the age of two years in Coshocton county, Ohio, and during the past thirty-six years the nun- ber of brothers and sisters of this family has not been reduced by death. The mother died in Effingham county, Illinois, in 1873.

Zenas S. Spore was brought up to the arduous but useful labor of the farm. He had but few educational advantages, but such as he had he availed himself to the utmost. July 3, 1861, when he was not yet quite twenty years old, he enlisted in Company K. Thirty-fifth Regiment. Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which organization he served continuously until October 28, 1864, rising from the ranks to the honorable distinction of color bearer. At the battle of Resaca. where he fought under Sherman, he re- ceived a gunshot wound in the left foot and at Missionary Ridge he was the victim of a shell wound which resulted in an injury to eye and ear. Some idea of the peril of the service in which he participated is afforded by the statement that out of an original com- pany of one hundred and one men only sev- enteen. of whom he was one, remained to be discharged in 1864. His company com- mander was Captain Thomas Dobbs, a vet- eran of the Mexican war.

From Effingham county, Illinois, Mr. Spore removed to Macon county, in the same state, in the fall of 1866, and three years later he went to Cameron, Missouri. After a year's residence at the latter place he proceeded to Kansas and homesteaded on hundred and sixty acres in section 30. Macon township, Harvey county. Novem- ber 28, 1867, he married Elizabeth Allsop, a native of Ohio, who was taken to Illinois and reared in that state from the age of ten years. At the time of her marriage she had two children by a former husband, viz. : Mary E. Allsop, born in Illinois July 31. 1857, now the wife of F. P. Hinkle, of New- ton. Kansas, and the mother of two chil- dren, one twenty years older than the other : and Jennie Allsop, born May 28, 1861, who married George Conant and died at Arcadia, Kansas, her son Frank dying in infancy. To Mr. and Mrs. Spore have been born chil- dren as follows: Ella E .. horn October 7. 1868, died January 12, 1869. Susie E. mar- ried Adrain Wright, a stock farmer near Valley Centre, Kansas. L. E., born Feb- ruary 22, 1880, assists his father in the management of his business.

In 1886 Mr. Spore engaged in the fur- niture and real-estate business. That same year he bought his present farm of eighty acres, on which he located in 1892. In 1879 on his old homestead he engaged in the nur- sery business and after that for eight years he had an interest in the business of B. B. Jordan, nurseryman, of Fort Scott, Kansas. He has been successful as a fruit grower and since locating in Halstead township has cul- tivated a small nursery and a ten-acre fruit orchard of apple, peach, pear, plum, cherry and apricot trees and a considerable vineyard of grapes. He is known throughout his section of the state as a prominent horti- culturist and was one of the originators and promoters of the Harvey county fair. He is widely popular as a member of the uni- formed rank of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and no less so as a stanch Re- publican, who has voted the ticket of his party undeviatingly since he cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln for president of the United States in 1864. He served as town-

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ship trustee of Macon township, by election and re-election, through seven successive terms and for six years in the responsible office of justice of the peace, and during nearly the whole period of his residence there he was a member of the township school board and it is a matter of local history that he was one of the organizers of school dis- trict number fifteen. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has always been a liberal supporter of its various inter- ests. Under the direction of Prof. William A. Carlton, of Washington, District of Co- lumbia, he has charge of the government experiment cereal station at Halstead, a five- acre experiment farm for the cultivation of wheat, rye, barley and oats, which was es- tablished in 1899. Mr. Spore keeps a herd of from twenty to twenty-five pure blooded Jersey cattle and every year markets from forty to one hundred Poland-China hogs; and Adrain Wright, his son-in-law, who lives near Valley Centre, Kansas, is a breeder of pure blooded Hereford cattle and Poland-China hogs.

Mr. and Mrs. Spore have given their children substantial educations, and one of their daughters was graduated in shorthand at Wichita; the other was graduated at the Halstead high school and the son was educated at Bethel College.

WILLARD R. BROWN.

Willard R. Brown, clerk of the township board of Concord township, Ottawa county. Kansas, is one of the most enterprising, suc- cessful and popular citizens of his part of the county. He was born in Preble county, Ohio, in 1868, a son of John I. Brown, who lives six and one-half miles south from Del- phos and is one of the most honored citi- zens of Ottawa county. The elder Brown served his country as a soldier in the Civil war as a member of an Ohio regiment. He was married in Preble county to Maria Burns, a native of that county and removed with his wife and child to Ottawa county, Kansas, in 1869. Taking up government land. he improved a good farm and became

an influential man in his vicinity. In pol- itics he is a Prohibitionist and he is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. Besides Willard R. Brown, the sub- ject of this sketch, he has another son, Ray- mond Brown, who is a well known citizen of Concord township.

Willard R. Brown, who was brought to Kansas a child in arms, was reared on his father's farm and early instructed in every- thing pertaining to good farming. He was educated in the common school near his . home and in the Minneapolis high school and received a practical business training in a prominent business house in Kansas City, Missouri, where for a time he was employed as a bookkeeper. Eventually he returned to Ottawa county and engaged in farming. He owns a fine farm of four hundred and forty acres in Concord township and has a good residence and adequate barns and other outbuildings. His farm contains a fine grove and an orchard, and is devoted to grain and stock-raising. He is a man of public spirit whose views on all important questions are broad and comprehensive, and he has come to be widely known as a good business man and as a patriotic citizen.

Mr. Brown was married in 1898 at Ben- nington, Kansas, to Miss Clabie Schilling, a native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, and a daughter of the late Colonel Alfred Schil- ling, who was a soldier in the Civil war and whose wife was Mary J. Fleming, of Min- neapolis, Kansas. Other children of Col- onel and Mrs. Schilling are Jane A., of Ben- nington, Kansas; Percy, of Harrington, Kansas : Louise, who become Mrs. Hudson and lives at Minneapolis, Kansas ; and Rob- ert C. Two others have died. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have three children, Margaret Maria, Irwin Schilling and Mary Louise.

PETER BERGER.

Peter Berger, who has won success as a farmer in Halstead township. Harvey county, Kansas, and whose postoffice is at Halstead, was born in Germany May II, 1846. In 1855, when he was nine years old,

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he was brought by his father, Samuel Ber- ger, with others of their family to the United States, making the voyage on board of a sailing vessel which reached New York six- ty-five days after it left its German port and after a distressing experience on stormy seas. In the year last mentioned the family located in Saint Clair county, Illinois, where Mr. Berger's mother died August 1, about one month after their arrival. She was at that time about forty years old and she left four sons and five daughters, all of whom married and four of whom are now living : John, in Halstead township, Harvey county, Kansas: Henry, in Saint Clair county, Illi- nois ; Katie, now Mrs. Baer and also of that county ; and Peter, who was his parents' eighth child in order of birth and who is the immediate subject of this sketch.

Samuel Berger acquired a farm of eighty acres in Saint Clair county, Illinois, and died there in 1873. aged eighty-two years. Peter remained under his father's roof until he . was fourteen years old. During the succeed- ing four years he worked for farmers. .It the age of eighteen he entered upon a three years' apprenticeship to the harnessmaker's trade at Summerfield, Saint Clair county, Illinois. At the end of that time. though his prospects were good but having a dislike for indoor work, he again turned his atten- tion to farming and for about six years worked by the month for farmers at an average salary of twenty dollars a month and board. In the fall of 1871 he bought sixty acres of land in Clinton county, Illi- nois, for three thousand dollars, going in debt for fifteen hundred dollars of the amount.

In 1872 Mr. Berger married Christina Zinc, and after his marriage he remained on his farm in Illinois for seven years, during which time three of his children were born. In the fall of 1878 he sold his farm at a loss and went to Washington township, Doni- phan county, Kansas, where he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land for tweu- ty-two hundred dollars-a new prairie brushland farm-on which he lived five years, during which time he built a house. He sold that place in the fall of 1883 for 101

thirty-four hundred dollars, after having im- proved twenty acres of it. In the spring of 1884 he located in Halstead township, Har- vey county, Kansas, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land for four thousand dollars, a portion of which amount he was obliged to owe. There were fair im- provements on the farm and he made more. and in 1901 soll his half section there for ten thousand dollars, a sum which good judges of land in that locality assert was scarcely the full value of the property. His residence was burned in January, 1887, bringing upon him a loss of twelve hundred dollars after all insurance had been paid him. and he at once replaced it with a larger and finer one. Mrs. Berger died in Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1882, leaving four chil- dren, who are here mentioned in the order of their nativity : Barbara, who lives with 1 an uncle in Illinois : Amelia, who married a Mr. Rothman, of Arkansas City, Kansas, i and has three children : Henry, who lives on his father's farm; and Ida, who is also a member of her father's household. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Berger married Barbara | Zinc. a sister of his first wife, who has borne him seven children-Arthur. Samuel. Ru- dolph. Nora, Tillie, Lydia and Mary-the eldest of whom is seventeen years old, the youngest seven.

Mr. Berger had but limited educational opportunities in his youth, but being a close observer and a diligent reader he has be- come a well informed man. While nom- mally a Republican in politics, he is an in- dependent voter. While a resident of Doni. phan county he was elected a member of the board of his school township and he has been elected to the same office since he located in Harvey county. His good judgment in all important affairs and his public spirit, which impells him to aid all good movements to the extent of his ability, render him a useful citizen. Formerly a Mennonite, he has for the past eight years been a member of the Presbyterian church. He identified himself with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 111 1873, has passed all the chairs in his sub- ordinate lodge, and is a member of the uni- formed rank and of the auxiliary order of

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Rebekah. As a farmer he is very progres- sive and is deservedly successful. He has planted a fine three-acre orchard and made his farm an up-to-date one in every respect. and has in contemplation the purchase of a large grazing farm, with a view to going into stock-raising on quite a large scale.

ELIZABETH Z. ISAAC. M. D.

Dr. Elizabeth Z. Isaac. a practicing physician of Pretty Prairie. is among the recent accessions to the medical fraternity of Reno county, but already has won an enviable place in the profession and in public regard, her ability having been manifest in the successful conduct of some very dif- ficult cases. The Doctor is a native of south- ern Russia and during her childhood was brought to the United States by her par- ents, who located first in the state of Min- nesota and in 1884 came to Kansas, settling upon a farm. The father was a man of high scholarly attainments and was a teacher by profession, following that calling in his na- tive land. He died in Lehigh, Kansas, in 1886, two years after taking up his resi- dence in this state. He left a family of ten children. three of whom have entered pro- fessional life, two of the daughters being members of the medical fraternity. Dr. Susie Isaac. the elder sister. is a practicing physician of McPherson county. Kansas. while the brother. J. P. Isaac, is now a stti- dent in a medical college at Chicago, Illi- nois.

Dr. Isaac, of this review. obtained her preliminary education in the public schools of Marion county and the normal school of Salina, Kansas, and began the study of med- icine under the direction of her sister, Dr. Susie Isane, who directed her reading for two years. She then entered the Hahne- mann Medical College of Kansas City, in which she pursued the regular course and in due time was graduated. During the three years spent in mastering the work of her college course she was with her sister in the months of summer, assisting her in her prac-

tice at Altona. Manitoba, and thus adding practical experience to her theoretical knowl- edge. After winning her degree of M. D. she became associated with her sister in prac- tice in Moundridge, McPherson county, Kansas. Later she took a post-graduate course in Herring Medical College, of Chi- cago, and at the same time was engaged in hospital practice, thus adding much valuable and varied experience to the learning that she was acquiring within the college walls. She has since done a great deal of hospital practice under eminent physicians, who at- test her ability. On the Ist of June, 1901, Dr. Isaac established an office at Pretty Prai- rie, one of the most enterprising and flour- ishing towns in central Kansas. Since com- ing to this field of labor she has met with decided success that is all that could be de- sired by both doctor and patient. Her pat- ronage has already increased to such an ex- tent that her office work and outside prac- tice claim all her attention. She is a mem- her of the Hahnemann Medical Association, and she is continually broadening her knowl- edge and thereby promoting her proficiency by reading and investigation. Although she has resided in Pretty Prairie for only a brief perio I she has already made a host of warm friends.

SIMON M. SPANGLER.

The subject of this sketch is one of the leading farmers of Harvey county, Kansas. whose homestead is in section 5 of Darling- ton township and whose postoffice address is Newton. Mr. Spangler is a native of Center county, Pennsylvania, and was born Jan- uary 31. 1840. a son of Jonathan Spangler, whose birth occurred on the same farm on which Simon M. was born. March 2. 1801. Christopher Spangler, father of Jonathan and grandfather of Simon M. Spangler, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, May 17. 1766, and died on the old Spangler farm in Center county, February 21. 1855. Christopher Spangler was a son of George Christopher Spangler. who was born in Prussia and died in Center county, Pennsyl-

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vania, in 1802. nearly ninety years old. Simon M. Spangler's father attained the age of eighty-seven years and he himself bids fair to live to a ripe old age.

Jonathan Spangler married Catharine Mece, who was born in Union county, Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Adam Mece. Their marriage was celebrated about 1828 and they prospered as farmers on the Spangler es- tate in Center county, Pennsylvania, where all of their ten children were born: Ruben. a farmer. died in Sephenson county, Illi- nois, leaving a wife and two children. Ma- tilda married George Deuberman and died in Kane county, Illinois, leaving a wife and two children. Ira, who never married, died in Center county, Pennsylvania, aged about twenty years. Margaret, who married Ben- jamin Granby, died in Kane county, Illi- nois, leaving seven of the eight children born to her. Charles D., who is not married, lives at the old home in Pennsylvania. Simon M. is the immediate subject of this sketch. Jonathan, who lives at the family home in Center county, Pennsylvania. has 'six chil- dren. Barbara is the widow of Perry Condo and lives in Center county, Pennsylvania, and has two children. Edward has a wife, but no children, and lives in Kane county, Illinois. Uriah, of Emma township, Har- vey county, Kansas, where he is prominent as a farmer, has a wife, a son and a daugh- ter. He came to Kansas in 1873.

Simon M. Spangler was brought up on his father's farm, so long the home of his family, in Center county, Pennsylvania, and acquired his education in the district schools near by. In April, 1861, he enlisted in Com- pany B. Tenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Vol- unteer Infantry, for the three months' serv- ice. August 26, 1862, he re-enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with which he served as a non-commissioned of- ficer until November 30, 1864, when he was promoted from first sergeant to first lieu- tenant. May 12, 1864, at Spottsylvania Court House. Virginia, a minie ball passed through his neck and shoulder and he was confined in hospital at Philadelphia until No-

vember following. When he was mustered out of the service June 1. 1865, i was first lieutenant in command of his company. having superceded his captain, who had been wounded at the battle of Cold Harbor. Mr. Spangler has framel his lieutenant's com- mission, which is dated November 22. 1864, and bears the signature of Andrew G. Cur- tin, Pennsylvania's great war governor. His promotion, which was recommended by the colonel of his regiment on the ground that he had won it by gallantry as a soldier, came to him wholly as a pleasant surprise.

After the war Mr. Spangler returned to his old home in Center county, Pennsyl- vania, and after studying some time at the New Berlin Seminary he taught schonj three or four winters, giving his attention to farm work during the remainder of the year. In February, 1869, he married Miss Mary Tar- Ir. i Center county, Pennsylvania, cargh- ter of John and Annie ( Weaver ) Taylor, and for fourteen years they were farmers on a part of the old Spangler homestead. They made their advent in Harvey county, Kan- sas. February 22, 1884, and located on a quarter section of land which Mr. Spangler purchased quite advantageously of Edward Marks, an early homesteader. Here they have been successful even beyond their ex- pectations and their homestead, which has become to be popularly known as the Key- stone farm, is one of the most valuable in its vicinity and is provided with a good resi- dence and numerous large outbuildings. in- cluding a barn, covering a ground space of ninety-four by fifty feet, with eighteen-foot walls, which is one of the best in Harvey county.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 137

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