A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 19

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

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WILLIAM H. SMITH.

Although Delaware is one of the small- est states of the Union, it has sent many of its sons unto other portions of the country to become active factors in business affairs and to contribute to the upbuilding and pro- gress of the communities with which they have become connected. William Smith is a native of Delaware and since 1877 has been numbered among the honored pioneer residents and valued citizens of Barber county, Kansas. His birth occurred in Sus- sex county, on the 5th of February, 1834. His father. Chalton Smith. Jr., was also born in Sussex county, as was the grandfa- ther. William Smith, while the great-grand- father. Chalton Smith, Sr., was a native of

Virginia, his birth having occurred in the : Old Dominion when King George III was ruler of this country, while John, his father, came to Virginia in its very earliest history. The father of our subject was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Mack- lin, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of ; Eli and Mary Ann ( Mills) Macklin. They became the parents of seven children : Will- iam: Robert, of Elwood township, Barber county ; Anna: Maria; Michael, of Mary- land: George, who is living in Clark coun- tv, Kansas; and Maggie, of Sussex county, Delaware. The father devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits, gave his political support to the Democracy and was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died in Delaware at the age of eighty-one years and the mother afterward came to Kansas, making her home with her son. George, of Barber county, where she died at the age of seventy-nine. She was an earnest Christian woman who held mem- bership in the Methodist denomination and all who knew her respected her for her many excellent qualities.

Upon the home farm in the state of his nativity, William Smith was reared. Dur- ing the winter months he attended the pub- lic schools and for a short time he engaged in teaching in his native state. On attain- ing his majority he was married there to Miss Mary Ella James, a woman of intelli- gence and good family, who has been to him a faithful assistant on the journey of life. She was born, reared and educated in Sussex county, her parents being Caldwell and Mary (Rogers) James, both of whom died in Sussex county.

In the year 1871 Mr. Smith determined to make his 'home in Kansas, believing that he might have better opportunities in the new state. Accordingly he made his way to Harvey county and pre-empted one hun- dred and sixty acres of land near Newton, residing there until 1877, when he sold that property and came to Barber county, taking up his abode at his present place of resi- dence on section 32, Elwood township. Here he owns an extensive tract of seven " hundred acres that is supplied with all mod-

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ern equipments and improvements. There is good pasture land as well as richly culti- vated fields, and an orchard yields its fruits in season. He has many head of cattle and in all departments of his work is meeting with good success.

The greatest loss that ever came to Mr. Smith was when his wife was called to her final rest in 1891, at the age of fifty-three years. She was a lady of kindly disposi- tion and many excellent traits of character and her life was in consistent harmony with her membership in the Methodist Episco- pal church. Her greatest interest centered in her family and she put forth every effort possible to promote the comfort and happi- ness of her husband and children. There had been ten children born of this union : Orlando: John R .: Mary A., the wife of C. T. McCracken, of this county ; Della. the wife of H. L. Thomas: Ella, the wife of E. L. McCracken, of Barber county ; Irwin ; Frank: Fanny. the wife of William Strana- than, of Barber county; Hiel; and Ed- ward E.

Mr. Smith is an advocate of Democratic principles. For ten years he has served on the school board and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He is firm in his convictions of right and wrong, stead- fast in his advocacy of every principle in which he believes, and in Barber county he has gained the respect and confidence of all with whom he has been associated. He well deserves to be numbered among the honored pioneer settlers, for a quarter of a century has passed since he arrived here. The greater part of the land was still in its primitive condition at that time, awaiting the awakening touch of the agriculturist. He has borne his part in reclaiming the soil for the purposes of civilization, and at all times has been a supporter of all measures for the general good.

BARNETT A. MCADOO.

One of the honored and popular pioneer residents of Barber county. Kansas, is Mr. McAdoo, who is successfully conducting

livery, feed and exchange stables in the thriving little city of Kiowa, and who is well known through this section of the state and also through Woods county, Oklahoma, which lies contiguous to Barber county. That he is one of the representative citi- zens of this county may be inferred when it is recalled to mind that McAdoo town- ship was named in honor of his family, which was one of the first to locate here and of which he is a worthy representative.

Mr. McAdoo was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, on the 3d of February, 1861, being the son of George W. McAdoo, who was one of the early settlers of that county, as was he also at a later date of Barber county, Kansas. He was born and reared in Tennessee, whence he removed to ! Illinois and later to Missouri. He came to Barber county in 1883, and here remained for a number of years, engaged in farming and stock-raising, and he now resides on the Chickasaw Indian lands, in the Indian Ter- ritory. In the state of Illinois he was mar- ried to Miss Amanda Barlow, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who died in Illinois, in 1808, having been a woman of noble character and gentle refinement. Of the four children of this union three are living at the present time, namely : David, a resi- dent of Oklahoma; Sarah C., who resides in Oklahoma: and Barnett A., the subject of this sketch. Elmira died in Illinois. The father of our subject is a Democrat of the Jacksonian type, and is well known to the people of this section of the state.

Barnett A. McAdoo was six years of age when his father removed to Butler county, Missouri, and there he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, securing his educational training in the public school- of the locality. He accompanied his father on the removal to Barber county, Kansas, and after his marriage he located on a farm in McAdoo township, where he was en- gaged in the raising of live stock for several years, becoming one of the prominent men of that locality. In 1893 he disposed . i his property in that township, and remove 1 to a ranch in Elwood township. having pur- chased the land and made good improve-

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ments on the place, where he was success- fully engaged in general farming and the raising of cattle until February, 1902, when he effected the purchase of his pres- ent business, in Kiowa, which he has since conducted with marked ability and success. He has large and eligibly located stables, good feed lots and stock yard, and his equip- ment includes the best of driving horses and vehicles, so that he is enabled to cater satis- factorily to the most exacting demands, gaining a representative patronage from the local and traveling public. In politics Mr. McAdoo originally gave his support to the Democratic party, but he eventually identified himself with the reform move- ment and has since been a stanch advocate of the cause of the Populist party, in which he has been an active and zealous worker in the county. He served as trustee of El- wood township, was a delegate to con- gressional and other conventions of his party, and in 1898 was recognized as the most eligible candidate of his party for the office of sheriff of Barber county, running ahead of his ticket in the ensuing election, but meeting defeat by reason of the general Republican victory of that year. He is a man of strong convictions, marked individ- uality and inflexible integrity, and his frank and genial nature has won him a large cir- cle of friends in this section of the state, his popularity being pronounced.

In the year 1882 Mr. McAdoo was uni- ted in marriage to Miss Amanda Frazier, who was born in Iowa, but who was reared and educated in Kansas, to which state her father. Hiram Frazier, removed in an early clay, being now a resident of Oklahoma. The maiden name of her mother was Mary Elliott. Mr. and Mrs. McAdoo have four sons,-Roy, Theodore. Luther and Harry.

FIELDON TAYLOR.

The subject of this sketch is of good old Virginia stock and the traditions of his forefathers may have had not a little to do with his usefulness and patriotism as a

citizen, which are patent to all his fellow townsmen in Lake township, Harvey coun- ty. Kansas, where he is prominent as a farmer and stockman, with his home farm on section 24 and mail connections by means of the Sedgwick rural delivery No. 2.

Fieldon Taylor was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, May 4, 1835, a son of Isaac Taylor, who was born near White Sulphur Springs, in the Old Dominion, September 21, 1789, and died in Arkansas, in 1853. Jacob Taylor, father of Isaac Tay- lor and grandfather of Fieldon Taylor, was born near London, England, but came to America in 1768 and did patriotic duty in the Revolutionary war. He reared five sons and four daughters, all of whom except the eldest daughter married and had children, and who in the course of events found homes, some in Kentucky and others in Ten- nessee, Missouri and Indiana. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Isaac Tay- lor's second wife, his first wife having been a Miss Cross, whom he married in Vir- ginia. April 29, 1813, and who bore him three sons and four daughters, and died February 5. 1830. Mr. Taylor's mother was Lovina Sackett, of Indiana, whom his father married August II, 1831, and who had children as follows: Martha was mar- ried in 1852 to Josephus Jones and went to Illinois, where she is living at the present time. The immediate subject of this sketch was the next in order of birth. Jonathan died in Indiana at the age of twelve years. Jeremiah died young. Elias D., after two years' service as a soldier in the Civil war. died of disease at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Phoebe Ann, of Kansas City, Missouri, is the widow of Harrison Farris, and has two children living. Richard B. is a farmer in Lee county, Iowa, and has one son and four daughters. The mother of these children died April 30, 1845. The father was an able and successful farmer. The father and mother were both orthodox Christians and the latter was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Fieldon Taylor has been actively con- nected with practical farming as long as he can remember. Before he was twelve

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years old he obtained a meager schooling and after his father's death, which occurred when he was sixteen, he was able to attend school only three months, for being the old- est boy of his father's second set of chil- dren, he was obliged to work, which he did manfully in the hope of keeping the fam- ily together. It was broken up, however, in 1854, and for three years thereafter the boy worked on farms for eight dollars a month and upward. He then became a tenant farmer in Dearborn county, Indiana. After farming there one year he went to Lee county, Iowa, where he rented a farm for five years. He was married March 5. 1857. to Elizabeth Whittaker, of Dearborn county. Indiana, a daughter of William and Hannah ( Vesey ) Whittaker.

In 1862 he enlisted in Company E. Nineteenth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, with which he saw three years' act- ive service in the Civil war. At the battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, he received a gunshot wound in the right leg, which put him in the hospital for twenty days. Sep- tember 29. 1863. at Sterling's Farm, Lou- isiana, he was made a prisoner of war and sent to Camp Tyler, Texas. December 2, following, he made his escape, but when he had reached a point within fifteen miles of the Arkansas line he was recaptured by bushwhackers and he and three companions were sent to Laneport. Williamson county. Arkansas, whence a month later they were sent t Fort Washita, in the Chickasaw nation, where they were kept in a guard house until February 25, 1864. From that time until April 5. 1864, they were kept at Shreveport. Louisiana, and then they were returned to Camp Tyler, where their old companions in captivity greeted them with many manifestations of joy. At Camp Tyler Mr. Taylor was taken sick and he be- lieves that he would have died there had he not been conveyed to the mouth of the Red river, where he was duly exchanged in July, 1864. He states that only a strong call- stitution and the strong stimulants admin- istered to him kept him alive past the danger point.

In politics Mr. Taylor was formerly a

Republican, but during recent years he has affiliated with the Populists and has been active in local political work. For six years he has ably filled the office of justice of the peace and has been a member of the township school board for ten years. He located in Kansas in March. 1871, and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of wild prairie land. Thomas J. Matlock came with him and they had no neighbors within five miles with the exception of Ira Converse, who came from Illinois. To him and Mrs. Taylor have been born ten chil- drew, three sons and four daughters of whom they have reared to manhood and womanhood. The following information concerning them will be of interest in this connection : Their daughter Hannah is a nurse and deaconess in the Methodist hos- pital at Omaha, Nebraska. Mary married L. D. Chamberlain, a farmer, and lives near her parents. Robert Taylor, who operates a farm adjoining his father's, has a son and a daughter. U. S. Taylor died unmarried at Omaha, Nebraska, at the age of thirty- three years. Edith married Frank Simons and they have four sons. They live four miles north of her father's homestead. Charles Taylor lives in Oklahoma and has a wife and a daughter. He is expected soon to return to the old home farm. Alpha Amelia married Charles Carter. of Breeds- port, Oklahoma, and has a son. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor lost three children in infancy. They began housekeeping in Kansas in a box-house eight feet high and covering a ground space of eighteen by fourteen feet. where they lived fifteen years, when they moved into their modern residence, a fine twenty-eight by thirty-two foot, two-story structure. The trees about their house were planted by Mr. and Mrs. Taylor's own hands and Mrs. Taylor took special pride in planting the seed of the catalpas. which flourished so luxuriantly there. Mr. Taylor has given much attention to stick raising en his four-hundred-acre farm and usually has from one hundred and fifty to two hundred head of fine cattle.

Mr. Taylor made the journey from Lec county, Iowa, with his covered wagon and

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arrived October 2, 1871, after having been three weeks on the road, camping out by the way. He and Mr. Matlock had gone out by rail the previous March and selected and secured land. His life has been the ardu- ous one of a pioneer and farmer, but he is well preserved and from now on intends to take life more easly, relinquishing many of the cares of business to his son Charles. A lover of fine horses, he takes a special pride in a noble team which he raised and broke. Mrs. Taylor's two brothers did gallant serv- ice as soldiers in the Civil war. William, stricken by disease, died and fills a lonely grave under a large tree in Tennessee. Rob- ert survived the war and is living in Illi- nois. Mrs. Taylor's mother died in 1854, in her fifty-fifth year, leaving seven chil- dren. In January, 1856, her father was lost while on his way home from England. Mr. Taylor has demonstrated that he is a public spirited man, who may be safely de- pended upon to do his full share for the advancement of any good cause, and he is regarded as a progressive and up-to-date citizen, whose success is the proof of his ability no more than of his sterling in- tegrity.

FRANK H. WEINSCHENK.

"In this country we have no princes or fortunates of royal blood. Every boy, be he of high or lowly parentage, has the same op- portunities and is the architect of his own fortune, the corner-stone of which should be integrity. activity and perseverance."

yours Truly Frank if Heis het 6

pioneers who aided in the development of that commonwealth, one of the greatest in the magnificent sisterhood of states compris- ing the Union. For a time he was success- ful, being a man of sterling habits and strict integrity, with which was combined an in- domitable will and the faculty of doing with all his might whatever he undertook. When the great panic of 1878 came his hard earned possessions were swept away. In 1879, not in the least disheartened, he started for the Sunflower state and located a home in Sedg- wick county. Here he remained one year and then removed to Kingman county, pre- empting a quarter section of land near the present site of Willowdale. Here he was successful in farming and stock raising, and for fifteen years he was accounted one of the most prominent citizens of the south- west part of the county. At the expiration : of that period he retired from active business. locating in Andale, Sedgwick county, where he now maintains his home. Xavier Wein- schenk was united in marriage to Miss Anna Manders, and of this union ten children were born, all of whom at this date are liv- ing, namely: Mrs. Anna Anderson, of Den- ver. Colorado: Mrs. Lewis Hagus, of Brighton. Colorado; Mrs. Mary Kahles, of Denver, Colorado: Mrs. Elizabeth Georges, of Andale, Kansas: A. M., who is engaged in the wholesale and retail grocery business in Wichita, and who beyond question has one of the finest establishments of the kind in that city; John P., who is engaged in farming and stock raising near Coffeyville, Kansas: Mrs. Maggie Smith, of Leadville, Colorado: and Mrs. Barbara Smith. Mrs. Matilda Swope and the subject of this sketch, all of whom reside at Willowdale, Kingman; county. All the children have strong personalities and are a credit to the communities in which they live.,

To do justice to Frank H. Weinschenk, and his sterling character and manhood, is an undertaking that would call for the ac- complishments of the polished historian. His whole life has been one of activity along business lines, with the words "never fail' written in every epoch. His humble, but

Frank H. Wienschenk was born near Bellevue, in Jackson county, Iowa, on the 25th of February, 1861. His father, Xavier Weinschenk, was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. In 1848 he came to America and settled in the state of Iowa being one of the i settled in the state of Iowa, being one of the

I. St. Weins heur

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acteristics and perseverance of the sterling citizens of the fatherland, while his Ameri- can birth and western training gave him the snap and enterprise of the best type of our citizenship. He was educated in the public schools of lowa and was especially efficient along the lines of a business educa- tion. Coming to Kansas at the age of eight- een years, he became imbued with the idea of its future greatness and at once identified himself with its people. Longing for an op- portunity to try for himself, he left home and went to Denver, Colorado, where he secured employment and soon worked him- self up to a handsome salary, but the work and surroundings proved uncongenial, and his mind constantly turned back to Kansas, with her broad prairies and sunny skies.

On March 10. 1884. Mr. Weinschenk was married, in Denver, Colorado, to Miss Mary A. Blessing, formerly of Andrew. Towa. The union was a happy one, and in the years that came. while Mr. Wein- schenk was laying the foundation for his splendid fortune, his wife proved herself all that God himself had intended woman to be. In 1884, with stout hearts and willing hands, they settled on a claim in Peters township, Kingman county. True that the home was at first humble, but, as if touched by the hands of the magician, the surround- ings soon changed. The groves that bend in the breezes over their beautiful home at Willowdale, the orchards that yield their bountiful supply of fruit. the ornamental trees, and. in fact, everything that goes to make home surroundings beautiful and pleasing to the eye, were planted by cur sub- ject's own hands, and long after his body shall return to mother dust they will re- main a monument to his love of nature and nature's gifts.

In 1889 Mr. Weinschenk engaged in the cattle business on an extensive scale. Prices then were at bed-rock, and while many were discouraged and quitting, with that keen foresight and business sagacity that has al- ways marked his every transaction, he turned purchaser. In a short time the change came and everybody wanted cattle : prices went soaring. and this investment 55

brought a golden return. Ilis next venture was purchasing land. At this time it was ridiculously cheap. The opening of Okla- homa left many untenanted farms, some of which he purchased at merely government prices ; better crops and new settlers came. The results were gratifying and immensely profitable. In March. 1900, Mr. Wein- schenk commenced the most stupendous undertaking of his life. by organizing the Kingman County Colonization Company, of which he became manager, and he backed the venture by furnishing the entire capital required. How Columbus felt when he so- licited prominent men to become interested in fitting out his expedition to discover the new world, was experienced by Mr. Wein- schenk. The plan was looked upon as in- practicable and visionary. The country had never been advertised. Its light up to this time had been under a bushel, and it would have remained there but for him. In a few weeks from the inception of the company a five thousand issue of his book, "Out There in Kansas." was sent broadcast all over the nation. This was soon followed by two other issues of the same size, making fifteen thou- sand copies distributed. Of the book it can truthfully be said that it was the finest in style, language and illustration ever issued in description of a county in the state. Many of the county's most progressive and intelli- gent citizens owe their locating here to a perusal of the book "Out There in Kansas." and it can be found in the houses and libra- ries of people all over the Union. Other unique and original methods of advertising were employed. The results were far reach- ing and satisfactory. Emigration com- menced to pour in. More men were em- ployed, until eleven of the most reliable and active assistants that could be secured were kept busy : prices advanced ; new homes and groves dotted the prairies : the business men felt the influx in increased trade. The Santa Fe Railroad Company, recognizing the sterling qualities of the man who con- ceived the plan, rendered every possible courtesy to assist. Public opinion changed and the people realized the great benefactor the manager of the company had been, but

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the most remarkable thing was that every purchaser of real estate of the company at once became a propagandist and brought or sent his friends who were looking for a change of location. This feature was brought about by square dealing and cour- teous treatment, and is one of the things upon which Mr. Weinschenk looks back with great pleasure and pride. In 1901 he closed out his herd of shorthorn cattle, in order to devote more of his time to his in- creasing real estate business. About twenty thousand dollars' worth were disposed of at public sale. The next spring he disposed of his large herd of registered Percheron horses, from the sale of which he realized about fifteen thousand dollars, and he then ceased active operation of his farms. At that time he was the owner of nearly twenty thousand acres of choice land, scattered over the country, but in the main surrounding his Willowdale stock farm, and he was ac- counted the wealthiest man in the county and one of the wealthiest in the state.

In politics Mr. Weinschenk is a Demo- crat, but has never been an aggressive par- tisan. In 1897 he was appointed president of the Kansas Live Stock Sanitary Commis- sion by Governor Leedy. This position he held for more than two years, finally resign- ing the same in order to devote more of his time to his personal business. In 1900 Gov- ernor Stanley appointed him emigration agent for the state. In religion he is a pro- gressive Catholic. liberal in his views and according others the right to believe as they please. His church benefactions, which have been many, have been given without regard to belief or creed, as have also been his many donations to public enterprises and worthy charities. Such, in brief. is the history of a Kansas boy and his success in fifteen years. and he stands as a prominent citizen of not the county alone but also of the state as well-a man who never failed in a business undertaking and whose judgment has been the marvel of all. In the prime of life, rich in this world's goods, kind and sympathetic in nature, loyal to his friends as the needle to the pole, his sterling qualities and good

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 19

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