USA > Kansas > A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II > Part 16
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Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Commer went to Panola county, Mississ- ippi, where they 'visited three months in the family of one of Mr. Commer's brothers. Thence they went to New Orleans. Louisi- ana, and after a short stop there. to Holland,
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Texas, near which town Mr. Commer was for two years engaged in raising cotton and grain. In December. 1884. they went to Reno county, Kansas, where for a time they were the guests under the roof of Mrs. Commer's grandfather. Minter. Then for two years Mr. Commer was superintendent of the large estate of his father-in-law. Af- ter that he returned to Holland, Texas. where during the ensuing two years he bus- ied himself with growing cotton. For two years after that he was again superintend- ent of the Fair estate and then he removed to South; Hutchinson, where he bought about two blocks of land and a residence on avenue B. He was engaged in railroad work until June 7. 1891. September 20, following, he bought a well improved farm of eighty acres in Center township, Reno county, which is now operated by a tenant, but on which he intends taking up his resi- (lence in the fall of 1902.
Politically Mr. Commer was originally a Democrat, but during recent years he has affiliated with the Republicans, and has been not without influence in the local councils of that body. In the spring of 1891 he was nominated on a citizens' ticket as a member of the common council, of South Hutchin- son, but was defeated by a few votes; in 1892 he was again nominated and elected ; in 1893 he was the second time defeated for the same office : in 1894 he was again elected and by re-election since has served seven successive terms. . He was reared in the faith of the Baptist church, of which his wife is a member. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has been treasurer of the local society of Ton- ties since its organization in South Hutch- inson. He and Mrs. Commer are members of the Odd Fellows auxiliary order of Re- bekahs. Their marriage has been blessed with two daughters-Connie E., who was born in Holland, Texas. February, 1884. and was married March 6. 1901, in the First Methodist church of Hutchinson to Will- iam Skiff, who is employed in the Crescent Produce house, at Newton, Kansas, where they live ; and Callie F., who was born No- vember 14, 1889.
O. P. MITCHELL.
The subject of this notice is 'a prosper- ous farmer of Reno county, Kansas, living on the northeast quarter of section 28, Haven township, and having his postoffice at Haven. He is a descendant of an old and once wealthy family of France, and his fa- ther. Roland N. Mitchell, who was a far- mer, was born in Pennsylvania about 1822. Joseph Mitchell, his grandfather, was born near Paris, France. the youngest of four brothers three of whom gave up their lives for their beloved France while serving un- der Napoleon. Their father was the owner of a line of merchant ships plying between Paris and American ports, and in order ade- quately to supervise the American end of his enterprise he sent the grandfather of the subject of this sketch to be educated in the United States : but the loss of his other sons and of his great fortune through the vicissitudes of war changed his plans, and Joseph abandoned his studies and located in Pennsylvania as a blacksmith. though his previous experience had been as a sailor, and there eventually he married.
From Pensylvania Joseph Mitchell re- moved to Illinois and from Illinois he went to Mission Valley, in Missouri, where he died about 1865. Roland N. Mitchell, fa- ther of O. P. Mitchell, was the first born of his six children. His daughter Ruann mar- ried a Mr. Colman and lives at Canton, Illi- nois, and his brother Joseph, who is a black- smith, lives in Iowa. Roland N. Mitchell removed from his native state to Illinois with his father, and the family lived near Nauvoo when the Mormons were driven from that place and sought a refuge further west. In the spring of 1850 he went to California, where he met with considerable success as a gold-miner, and returning by way of Cape Horn and Cuba went up the Mississippi river to Iowa and located in Fayette county, where he married Mrs. Polly Whiting, a native of the state of New York. She had accompanied her parents to Illinois and settled with them not far from Canton, where she had met and mar- ried Jacob Whiting, with whom she had
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golle to Iowa, where Mr. Whiting had died. By her former marriage she had three chil- lien, two of whom are living: Susie, who married George Seward, a farmer living in Wood county, Oklahoma; and Jennie. who married a Mr. Pettingill, an engineer, and lives at Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Mitch- ell bought a farm in Fayette county, Iowa, which he operated until in 1862, when he enlisted in Company H. Thirty-eighth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which organization he served until the end of the Civil war, for a time under General Fremont in Missouri and Arkansas, where he had some hard experiences, and later under General Grant in the vicinity of Men- phis, Tennessee, where he was some weeks in a hospital. After the war he returned to his farm in Fayette county. Iowa, and re- mained there until 1872, when he removed to Reno county, Kansas.
Mr. Mitchell brought his family and belongings from Iowa to Kansas with three teams and wagons and located where he now lives, on the northeast quarter of section 28. Haven township; and it is worthy of note that his wagons were the first to make their appearance so far west on the ridge. There were many buffaloes, deer and ante- lopes in the vicinity then, and from time to time Mr. Mitchell and companions killed several buffaloes on his claim. In 1873 a buffalo was slain near the present location of Mr. Ash's home and Mr. Mitchell par- ticipated in the chase which, as nearly as his son can remember, was started by a Mr. Schoonover. Before the brute succumbed it was shot by several persons and its body contained no less than twenty-three bullets. O. P. Mitchell has a vivid recollection of a hunt in which he once participated with Hi Day and Charles Davis, near a shallow lake not far from the South Ninescal river. His companions had left him to guard the camp, which was beside the little body of water mentioned. and while he was there alone a buffalo that had been wounded by the hunters dashed into the water of a small pool at the edge of the lake and lay down there to ease the pain of his wound and cool himself after his flight. All the
Iwy's hunting instincts were instantly aroused. The men had left no gun at the camp, but he was not to be deterred by a little omission of that kind. Grasping a tent pole he approached the animal as stealthily as he could and was about to strike it when it saw him, and, springing :. its feet, charged upon him so swiftly that the lad was forced to leap into the lake to save himself. The buffalo did not follow him, but went away a short distance and again lay down in the water, where he was dispatched by the men on their return: and' his hide was one of one hundred and thir- ty that the party brought in from that ex- pedition. At the time of the memorable Indian scare of 1874, when most of the settlers fled to Hutchinson and Wichita. Roland N. Mitchell and his family re- mained on their claim.
During the first few years of the res- dence of the family in Kansas they lived in a little domicile. partly sod-house. party (lug-out, and the first season Mr. Mitchell" broke sixty acres of land and put it under cultivation. In the summer of 1874 he had sixty acres of fine corn advanced to the condition of good roasting ears when the grasshoppers descended upon it and de- stroyed it within three days after their ap- pearance. In 1875 many more appeared, but did no great damage. During the hard times that followed the visitations of the grasshoppers, Mr. Mitchell and his sons gathered buffalo bones on the prairie and sold them at four dollars a ton. He im- proved his claim into a fine farm and died upon it January 5, 1890, aged between six- ty-seven and sixty-eight years. His wife survived him until April 12, 1898. In po- litical affiliation Mr. Mitchell was a Re- publican and he took an active part in pub- lic affairs. Before the Christian people of the township were numerous enough to establish denominational churches, a union organization was maintained, of which Mr. Mitchell was an active supporter, and of the Sunday-school, of which, held at the Sylvan schoolhouse, he was for seven years superintendent.
Roland N. and Polly ( Whiting) Mitch-
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ell had six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth and is the only survivor. William J. was born in Fayette county, Iowa. about 1854, and died in Haven township, of ty- phus fever. in 1887. His widow, formerly Clara E. Hopkins, and four sons survive him. Roland J., born in Fayette county, Iowa, died in the Cherokee nation. Indian Territory, in 1897. leaving a widow and two children. Benjamin, born in Fayette county, Iowa, died at Osawatomie, Miami county, Kansas: O. P. was born in Fay- ette county, Iowa, February 3. 1861. Frank died at the home of the subject of this sketch, of typhus fever, in 1887. George B. died at Fort McClellan in 1887.
O. P. began his education in a public school in Fayette county, Iowa, and after the removal of his family to Kansas con- tinued it in the Sylvan district school in Haven township. All of his brothers ex- cept the youngest having gone away. he remained at home and cared for his parents in their old age. and in 1891 began buying out the other heirs to the estate. He is now the sole owner of the home farm, and for a time owned the northwest quarter of the same section and eighty acres in section 21. On the land last mentioned he erected a barn and granaries, which together with his horses were destroyed by fire in 1898. After that he built a barn on the old home- stead and bought a team and a set of fine new harness, but his ill luck seemed not to have left him, for some thief stole the har- ness the night after he hung it up in his stable. In 1896 Mr. Mitchell bought his pres- ent residence, then located four miles east of where it now stands, and moved it to his homestead. Some years ago he sold all of his land except his original homestead and during the past three years he has rented that, and in order to recuperate, if possible, from the effects of his severe labor in form- er years, he has given himself considerable leisure and has travelled extensively.
Mr. Mitchell is a Woodman and a Se- lect Knight, a Republican and a member of the Baptist church. He is a public-spirited man and as a farmer has been remarkably
successful, notably in 1890, 1891 and 1892. In 1891 he cleared about twenty-six hun- dred dollars and the next year had twenty acres of wheat in one field which yielded an average of forty-five bushels an acre. his wheat averaging the previous year thirty- four bushels an acre. He was one of the original stockholders in the Mount Hope Bank. and at different times has been con- nected with other important interests. He has been deemed especially worthy of a place in this work because of his interesting ancestral record. because he is the sole sur- vivor of his family, and because he has won noteworthy success in life by his own efforts and against so many obstacles.
DANIEL RUTH.
Baiern, near Mingen, Germany, was the scene of the birth of Daniel Ruth, of sec- tion I. Garden township, Harvey county. Kansas, which occurred May 24, 1841. John Ruth, his father, was born in Rhine- : feltz, Germany, and died in Lee county, Iowa, in 1855. He married Elizabeth Dett- weiler about 1832 and they came to the United States in 1852. Mrs. Ruth was born in 1813.
John Ruth owned seventy acres of land in Germany, which he sold to such advan- tage that he brought some little means with him to America. He bought in Lee county, Iowa, a farm of about two hundred acres. which had been improved and some of which was timber land. He had seven children, named as follows, six of whom were born in Germany, one in Iowa: Cath- arine, who married Jacob Krehbiel and lives in St. Clair county, Illinois: Daniel. who is the immediate subject of this sketch: Susan M., who lives in Garden township; Barbara A., who married Daniel Evmann, of Garden township: John A., who is a prosperous farmer of Elmo township: Hen- ry B., a retired merchant and a widower. who lives at Galveston, Texas; and Eliza- beth, who married Jacob Showalter and lives in Harvey county, a mile north of
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Halstead. The mother of these children died at Halstead, Kansas, in 1885.
The subject of this sketch was educated in his native land and assisted in carrying on the work of the home farm until his marriage. In October, 1868, he married Anna Showalter, who was born in Ashland county, Ohio. September 3. 1848, a daugh- ter of Peter and Mary ( Eymann) Sho- walter. natives of Germany, who came to the United States in 1845, making the voy- age in a sailing vessel, which was several months at sea. Mrs. Ruth was reared a typical farmer's daughter, and received a fair education in her native language. She was the only daughter in her father's fam- ily and she had eight brothers, six of whom are living. Her father, who was a large man, but never robust in health, died in 1882. at the age of sixty-three years; her mother died at Mound Ridge. McPherson county, Kansas, in 1890, aged sixty-eight years.
Mr. and Mrs. Ruth began their married life as tenant farmers in St. Clair county, Illinois. At the expiration of three years he and his older brother bought a one-hun- dred-acre-farm, which he operated until 1875. In March, that year, he located at Halstead. Harvey county, Kansas, where for two years he was a furniture dealer. In 1874 he bought a quarter section, where he now lives and another quarter section further west, the two quarter sections cost- ing him only seven hundred dollars. At this time he would not sell for ten thousand dollars. He also owns two other quarter sections, one lving east. the other west, of his home farm. On three of these quarter sections he has reliable tenants. He har- vests an average of six thousand bushels of wheat and two thousand bushels of corn each year and gives considerable attention to stock. keeping eighty head of good cattle. twenty horses and fifty to seventy hogs. He built a portion of his fine residence in 1881. another portion in 1888, and com- pleted it in 1900. It has fourteen rooms, including bath room and pantry. He has four orchards, two of which he planted.
which produce quite a variety of fruit. Each of his farms is provided with a com- plete set of farm buildings. Ile began farming on the Kansas prairie on a com- paratively small scale and for a time en- countered many discouragements, but his perseverance and good management have made him one of the leading farmers in his county. He and his family began housekeeping there among rude environ- ments and with few conveniences, and now live in a large modern residence supplied with running water, which is brought up from the depths of the earth by a large wind- mill. The family are members of the Men- nonite church, in which Mr. Ruth fills the office of deacon.
Daniel and Anna ( Showalter) Ruth have had fifteen children, who are here named in the sequence of their nativity : Otto P., born January. 1870, is in delicate health and a part of the time lives in Los Angeles, California. Mary A. died at the age of eighteen months. Lizzie C., an at- tractive young lady, is a member of her parents' household. Abraham J., a civil engineer. is employed by the American Bridge Company at Trenton, New Jersey. Adolph C. lives in Okeene, Oklahoma. Martha S .. a very popular young woman and very musical, is a member of her par- ents' household. John J. lives at King- fisher, Oklahoma. Mary A. (second) died at the age of sixteen years. Gerhard is a student at Bethel College, Newton, Kansas. Edward S .. who possesses much musical talent, is assisting his father on the farm and attending school. Herman A. was the next in order of birth; he is attending the high school at Mound Ridge, McPherson county, Kansas. Meta F., now fourteen years old, is acquiring an education. B. Alvin is thirteen years old; Roy F., nine : and Oren H. was born June 6. 1894.
Mr. Ruth has long taken a deep interest in public education, and, as a Republican. has been repeatedly elected a member of the township school board, an office which he has filled with much ability and fidelity. He is a man of much public spirit, ready at
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all times to advance to the extent of his ability any movement which in his judg- ment tends to the benefit of his fellow citi- zens.
MARION FOX.
Marion Fox, who is residing on section 8. Hazleton township, Barber county, has been a resident of this portion of the state since 1885 and is a typical representative of the progressive spirit of the west. He was born in Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania. April 26. 1846, and is a son of David Fox, who was of Holland lineage. The family, however, was founded in the Keystone state at an early date and David Fox was there reared to manhood, enjoying the privileges afforded by the common schools and on the home farm, becoming fa- miliar with all the duties incident to the cultivation of the fields. He married Polly Hugh, a lady who possessed many esti- mable qualities of mind and heart. She proved a most faithful wife and devoted mother and enjoyed the warm regard of all who knew her. She was born and reared in Westmoreland county and was also of Pennsylvania-German lineage. Mr. Fox carried on farming and also operated a dis- tillery and manufactured high wines. He was a very successful business man and thus was enabled to provide comfortably for his family. His political support was given the Republican party. His death occurred at the age of sixty-seven years and his wife passed away when sixty-three years of age. In their family were fourteen children, sev- en sons and seven daughters, and five of the former served as soldiers of the Civil war : William, who was for four years a member of the Union army: Edward, who was a wagon-master during the war and is now deceased; Alexander, who likewise wore the nation's uniform in her hour of peril : Samuel, who was in the army and is now living in Caldwell. Sumner county, Kansas: and Marion, who responded to President Lincoln's call for aid to crush out the rebellion. The other members of'
the family were Christopher, of Pennsyl- vania, Gus, Catherine, Louisa, Maria, Mi- nerva, and three who died in childhood.
Marion Fox was early trained to habits of industry and economy. He acquired his knowledge of the common branches of English learning in the public schools and was seventeen years of age when in 1864 he offered his services to the government. joining Company E of the Two Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, under command of Captain Grant and Colonel Brady. He at once went to the front and before he had been in the service ten days participated in the engagement at Port Rock. near Bermuda Hundred. He was on guard and patrol duty in Virginia most of the time and after being honorably discharged from the service at the close of the war, he returned to Pennsylvania.
When twenty-two years of age, in the vear 1868: Mr. Fox was married in the Keystone state to Charlotte Rumbaugh, a lady of intelligence and culture, who has proved a most able helpmate to him. She was born and reared in Pennsylvania, her parents being Michael and Lovinia Rum- baugh, who were well known and worthy people, but both are now deceased. Leav- ing Pennsylvania in the year 1885, Mr. Fox brought his family to Barber county, Kansas, and settled upon a farm near Ha- zelton. There he lived for eighteen months after which he sold that property and became the owner of a quarter section of land nearer town. He is to-day cultivating this property, which is a desirable one. Upon the place is a walnut grove which covers four acres. There is a good residence. a bearing orchard, substantial outbuildings. well tilled fields and good grades of stock. Successful in his undertakings, Mr. Fox is now numbered among the progressive ag- riculturists of his community.
The home of our subject and his wife has been blessed with three sons: Law- rence. who is employed as a saleman in Kiowa, Kansas: James K., who is living in the Cherokee strip of Oklahoma ; and Harry E., of Hazelton township. Barber county. All are married and are doing well. Mr.
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Fox exercises his right of franchise in sup- port of the men and measures of the Re- publican party and for a number of years has served on the school board. He is a member of the Pyramid Society, and he and his wife are Lutherans in religious faith.
GEORGE F. LONG.
For nearly ten years Mr. Long has maintained is home in Kiowa. Barber county, Kansas, while he has been a resident of the state for a quarter of a century, so that he is clearly entitled to be considered one of the pioneers of this commonwealth. To our subject belongs the distinction of being incumbent of the office of mayor of his home city at the time of this writing, and he has given a most able and discrim- inating administration as the chief executive of the municipal affairs, gaining unqualified endorsement without regard to partisan af- filiations, and being held in the highest es- teem as a public-spirited citizen and as one of the representatives business men of Ki- owa.
Mr. Long is one of those whose youth- ful experiences were such as are concomi- tant of life on the farm, since he was born on the parental homestead in Hardin coun- ty. Ohio, on the 14th of March. 1847, the son of Tobias and Sarah ( Haney) Long, the former of whom was born in Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, and the latter in Holmes county. Ohio. Tobias Long was the son of Frederick Long, who was like- wise born in Pennsylvania, a representative of one of the stanch old German families of that state. where he passed his entire life. There his son, Tobias, was reared to agri- cultural pursuits, and as a young man he removed to Holmes county, Ohio, where his marriage was solemnized a few years later. Both parents passed the residue of their lives in the Buckeye state, where the mother of our subject died at the age of forty-eight years, her husband surviving to the age of seventy-seven. Of this marriage were born seven sons and four daughters,
three of the sons having served as Unia soldiers during the war of the Rebellion. The names of the children are here given in order of birth : John, now a resident of Colorado: Jacob, of Staford county, Kan- sas: Tobias A .. of Lima, Ohio: George F., subject of this review; and Frederick. Jerry, Noah, Sarah, Lovina, Mary J. { deceased ) : and Hannah. After the death of his first wife Tobias Long married Mrs. Malissa Fisher ) Stevens, and they became the parents of eight children. The father was a carpenter by trade but devoted the major portion of his life to agricultural pursuits. in which he was very successful. He was a Democrat of the Jacksonian type, and his religious faith was that of the German Re- formed church, of which he was a devoted member, having served as deacon for many years. He was a man of spotless integrity and was honored by all who knew him.
George F. Long, the immediate subject. of this review, was reared on the old home- stead farm in Ohio, and his educational privileges were such as were afforded in the public schools. He continued to make his home in Hardin county, Ohio, anti! 1877. when, at the age of thirty years. he came as a pioneer to Kansas, first locating in Stafford county and thence removing later to Larned. Pawnee county, where he was engaged in the bakery and restaurant business until 1893, when he took up his residence in Kiowa. where he has since been successfully established in the same line of enterprise, catering to a discriminating and representative patronage and being known as one of the progressive and popular busi- ness men of the city. The confidence in which he is held in the community has been clearly manifested. for he was elected a member of the city council in 1895. and in 1901 was chosen to his present important office as mayor, in which he has given a care- ful and business-like administration. en- deavoring in every way to conceive econo- my and yet to forward the interests of the town and people through progressive meth- ms. In politics he is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party, but in his official regime he has had the hearty support of
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all classes and has aimed to insure good gov- cinment. It may be stated that it was in this city that Mrs. Carrie Nation inaugur- ated her great saloon-wrecking career, our subject being mayor at the time of her on- slaught here. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, having passed the various official chairs in his lodge and having represented the same in the grand lodge on two dif- ferent occasions. Mr. Long is a zealous member of the Methodist church, in which he has been called upon to serve in the offices of trustee and steward. He is a man of clearly defined convictions, and is never lacking in the courage of the same, and none can but respect his attitude at any time.
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