A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 22

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

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On the old family homestead in Spencer county George Cramm was reared, working in the fields through the summer months. while in the winter season he pursued his education in the public schools, gaining a fair knowledge of the branches of English learning which prepare one for the practical cluties of a business career. At the age of twenty-one he left the farm and engaged in the manufacture of lumber, having a port- alle sawmill. At the end of eighteen months he found himself three thousand dollars in debt, but he persevered and soon the tide turned and prosperity attended his efforts. He purchased and sold large tracts of lumber in the south and carried on a prosperous lumber business for some time.

.At the age of twenty-six years Mr. Cramm married Miss Sophie Suremann, who was a native of Texas but was reared in Spencer county, Indiana, a daughter of Charles Suremann. Her father died in Spencer county, but her mother departed this life in the Lone Star state. After his marriage Mr. Cramm made his home in the county of his nativity until 1886, when he resolved to try his fortune in Kansas and came to Rice county, where he purchased his home farm. As the years have passed he has made judicious investments in real estate and is now the owner of very valu- able realty, embracing twelve hundred and ninety acres of farming lands, on which are good residence and substantial barns, groves, orchards, windmills and all modern improvements. His farms are well divided into fields for cultivation, into pastures and feed lots, and everything is in keeping with the advanced agricultural methods of this progressive age.

After coming to Rice county Mr. Cramm was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died leaving two children : Fred, who resides on a good farm in Farmer township and who married Clara Springer ; and Emil, who wedded Lydia Schmidt and is also one of the enterprising agriculturists of Rice county. Five children of the first marriage are now deceased : August, who died at the age of eleven years ; Minnie, who passed away at the age of four; George, Edwin and Amelia, who died in infancy. For his second wife Mr. Cramm chose Miss Maggie Kiefer who was born in Switzerland but was reared and edu- cated in Perry county, Indiana. She died in Rice county at the age of forty-five and many friends mourned her loss. In 1895 Mr. Cramm was again married. his present wife having been Miss Minnie Frey, who was also a native of Switzerland, but spent her girlhood days in St. Louis, Missouri, and in Indiana.

In connection with his other interests Mr. Cramm is a stockholder and director in the Bushton State Bank. His political adher- ency to the Republican party indicates his belief concerning the governmental policy,

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while his membership in the Methodist church is evidence of his religious faith. His wife is also a member of the same church and he is serving as one of its trustees. Intel- ligent and progressive, straightforward in business, frank and genial in manner, the per- sonal characteristics of George Crammn are such as to win for him the confidence and respect of his fellow men and to-day he is classed among those citizens whose labors have proven of value and benefit. His life record contains many lessons which might be profitably followed by those who are de- pendent upon their own resources for busi- ness advancement and success.

WILLIAM H. STARR.

Of the leading men of Eagle township. Kingman county, Kansas, there is none in higher standing with his fellow citizens than William H. Starr, farmer and stockman. whose homestead of two hundred acres is in Sections 16 and 17, and whose post office address is Belmont.

Mr. Starr, who formerly was a mer- chant, was born in Bellefontaine, Logan county, Ohio, August 8. 1839, a son of James and Sarah ( Barber) Starr. His fa- ther and mother were natives of Virginia. He was brought in his youth to Guernsey county, Ohio, where his parents were pio- neers. The country was heavily timbered and was infested by about every kind of wild animal native to the old forests of the central west, and James Starr and his broth- ers killed no fewer than sixty bears in the vicinity of their primitive home in the Ohio woods! The grandfather of the subject of this sketch served his country as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and James Starr risked his life in defense of the starry ban- ner in the war of 1812-14. as a member of the volunteer company of Captain Kirkwood of the Ohio Volunteers.

James Starr grew to manhood in Ohio. attending such public schools as were taught in log school houses near his home, clear- i

ing land, farming and trading in pelts and wool. Eventually he started a freightage and express business, owning several teams and wagons which he employed in the trans- portation of merchandise to distant points in Ohio and beyond its borders, sometimes into Canada, Mr, Starr being a tinner, ma- king a specialty of taking out tinware and exchanging for hides and furs, and market- ing the same where it would be most profit- able to him. In 1846 he removed to Rich- land county, Illinois, and shortly took up eighty acres of land on a soldier's claim on account of his service in the war of 1812, moving on it soon after the death of his companion. On that tract he lived until his death, which occurred June 4. 1854, when he was sixty-eight years old. His son pos- sesses a land warrant which once belonged to his father, and which is an object of much historic interest. Mr. Starr got his land under improvement as quickly as possi- ble, and soon bought the old stage tavern at Watertown, the seat of justice of Rich- land county, until the courts were removed to Olney, and carried on the hotel business there seven years. He filled the office of justice of the peace for many years, held other public offices and was in every way a man of prominence in the town. Until 1852 he was an old-school Democrat, but he be- came interested in the movement which re- sulted in the organization of the Repub- lican party, was one of the original Re- publicans in his locality and voted for Gen- eral Fremont for the presidency in 1856. In his youth he was trained in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which six of his brothers became ministers. He was one of the pillars of the local organization of his church, and served it as a class-leader and in other official capacities. His broth- ers were especially active as evangelists, and some of them did notable work years ago in Oregon when that was little more than a mission field of the church.

Mr. Starr was twice married. His first wife, who was Margaret Mc Williams, bore him children who will be named here in the order of their birth: George was a soldier

MR. AND MRS. W. H. STARR.

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in the United States army in the Mexican war. He went to Oregon in 1859 and died there in 1899. Nancy married John Nevin and died at Belleromaine. Ohio. Matilda married George Downs in Ohio and died at Olney, Illinois, in 1864. Margaret married John Barnes and removed from Ohin to Illinois, and is living in Richland county, that state. By his second wife Mr. Starr had three children : John Na who went from Olney, Illinois, to Pike's Peak in 1859, and remained there until 1881. when he came east as far as Kingman county, Kansas, where he died that year: Louis, who died in childhood; and William H., who is the immediate subject of this sketch.

William H. Starr was reared to the hard but useful labor of the farm, and secured such an education as was available to him in public schools, which he attended in the in- tervals of work. In 1859, when he was twenty years old, he went with his brother John and others, in a party aggregating sev- enty souls, overland to Pike's Peak. The belongings of the gold-seekers were hauled by a goodly train of oxen. After mining and prospecting there during one season he went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was employed a part of the time in a mill, the rest of the time at feeding stock for Am- er :: Hayes, a well known freighter of that day. Early in 1860 he returned to Illinois. and in the spring of 1861. in response to President Lincoln's first call for troops to put down the insurrection in the slave-hold- ing states, he enlisted for ninety days' serv- ice in Company D. Eighth Regiment, Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, which was com- manded by Colonel R. J. Oglesby, after- ward governor of Illinois: and at the expi- ration of his term of enlistment, he re-en- listed in the same company and regiment for three years' service, and for eighteen months was color-bearer of the regiment. He was in battle at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jack- son, Champion Hills, and Vicksburg, and was present when the last-named rebel stronghold fell, after a remarkable siege on the part of General Grant. During the siege

of Vicksburg he was in General MePher- son's command of the Third Division Sev- enteenth Army Corps, with which he partici- pated in many engagements of more or less note. The gallant services of the Eighth Illinois were thus referred to in a special de- livered to members of the regiment by Gov- erner Dick Yates, the elder: "The Eighth Illinois fought more battles and had more men killed in battle, fewer men died from disease, and fewer desertions made than any other Illinois regiment." Mr. Starr re- ceived wounds at Fort Donelson, at Shiloh and at Vicksburg. At Vicksburg he was disabled by a fragment of a shell, and though obliged to walk on crutches, he would not leave the field, and resumed his active duties at the earliest possible moment ; and at Shiloh, by the concussion of a shell the hearing of one of his ears was destroyed. He was mustered out of the service at Springfield, Illinois, as color-bearer of his regiment, August 8, 1864, after three years' and four months' continued service.

After the war Mr. Starr farmed in Illi- nois until 1868, when, in company with old Captain L. M. Startsman, he bought a chair factory at Olney and manufactured furni- ture until early in 1869. In the spring of that year he went a second time to Colorado and located government land in Jefferson county, on the headwaters of Coal creek, where he engaged in farming and operated a sawmill which was on his claim. There he remained until 1873, when he went to Blackhawk. Gilpin county, and bought the water plant of that town and improved it and served in city council two years in Blackhawk, Colorado. Disposing of all his interests in Colorado he came. in 1880, to Kingman county. Kansas, bringing his horses and household goods from Jefferson county, Colorado, on a car which he char- tered in Denver. He filed a claim on the southeast quarter of Section 17. Eagle town- ship, and erected upon it a twelve-by-six- teen-foot house, and began the work of im- proving his land and putting it under culti- vation. He carried on farming and stock- raising until 1887, when, in company with

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his eldest son. John N. Starr, under the firm name of Starr & Son, he engaged in merchandising at Belmont. Within seven years he had done a business of seventy thousand dollars, selling general merchan- dise in great variety and handling grain and coal, and had bought the two-story store building at Belmont, now occupied by Plush & Son. In 1897 his sons, who had acquired land in Oklahoma, took the stock of gouds of Starr & Son to Dayton, in that terri- tory and sold it out.

Since (lisposing of his mercantile inter- ests Mr. Starr has devoted himself to farm- ing and stock-raising with his younger sons, William J. and Burt E., cultivating about two hundred acres and keeping an average herd of about sixty head of cattle. Be- sides the land mentioned he owns three hun- dred and twenty acres in Section 11, Can- ton township, which has a natural water supply, is well fenced and is otherwise adap- ted to the purposes of pasturage. They have given special attention to therough- bred Hereford cattle, and have pralucci stock of a good grade. They own seven- teen horses and mules, and some of their horses are good roadsters. In 1897 he erected his story-and-a-half nine-room resi- dence, which is one of the most comfortable in its vicinity, and in 1901 he built a fine barn occupying a ground space of thirty- four by forty feet. All in all his farm is one of the richest and best improved in the township or county.

Mr. Starr affiliates with the People's party, of which he was one of the organizers in Kingman county, though formerly he was a Republican : and he has been a dele- gate to conventions and otherwise active in political work. He has been clerk and trus- tee of his township, and for eight years was a member of the school board, representing

district 38, which he helped to organize, and also served as postmaster for Belmont for a like period. Mr. Starr is a charter mem- ber of T. J. Harrison post, No. 24, G. A. R., of which he is a past commander, and is a member of the Bankers' union of Ne- braska. He is a useful and influential citi-

zen who enjoys the respect of his fellow citi- zens and who. in a legitimate way, is de- voted the public interest.

September 22, 1864. in Richland county, Illinois, he married Miss Mary F. Shepherd, a native of Warren county, Indiana, born February 1. 1846, a daughter of Henry L. and Catherine ( Perry ) Shepherd. Her mother was a daughter of Nathan and Han- nah Perry, and she was born March 17. 1822. in Little York, Miami county, Ohio, and died August 17, 1897, at Olney, Illinois. Her father was born in Berkeley county, West Virginia. February 4, 1812, and moved with his parents, George M. and Elenor ( Redburn) Shepherd, when but a youth, to Ohio, and lived there until after his mar- riage. Then, with his wife and three little was, he moved to Warren county, Indiana, and engaged in farming. In 1853 he moved to Richland county, Illinois, and purchased a farm near Olney, and resided there till the Civil war.

In this war, in February 1862, he en- listed for service in Company A. Sixty-third Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and served until September 19, 1863, when he laid down his life on the altar of his con- try and was buried at Memphis, Tennessee. His widow, being now left with six miner children. realized the double responsibility resting upen her and felt that the manage- ment of the farm would be a hard struggle. She, therefore, rented the farm and pur- chased property in Olney, and resided there during the remainder of her life. Her chil- dren were: William P., who was born May 26, 1839, enlisted in Company I, Sixty- third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil war, and is now living in Olney, Illinois ; Thomas G .. born August 20. 1841, enlisted in Company A, same regiment, and died in the service of his country June 29, 1862. of disease : John H., born July 23, 1843, is liv- ing in Olney; Mary F., born February I. 1846. is now Mrs. William H. Starr, and living at Belmont. Kansas: Peter N., born February 22. 1848, died September 9, 1858: George M., born October 27, 1852, was killed by lightning in Olney, Illinois, Au-

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gust 13. 1877: Rebecca E., born April 3. 1854, married first in Denver, Colorado, in 1873. John N. Starr, a brother of W. H. Starr, and died in Kingman county, Kan- sas. in November, 1881, and in the fall of 1882 she married George Rippen, who died in 1888. in Colorado ; and she finally died in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1892: Elmore D .. born April 17. 1856, died in infancy; Cath- arine V., born July 17. 1857. died September 20, 1865 : and Hannah E., born February 28, 1861. is now Mrs. George W. Cunningham, and living in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Richard Shepherd, the father of George M. Shepherd, came to this country from Engkuul about the time of the Revolution- ary war, and was with Washington at Val- ley Forge. August 14, 1781. he married Katherine Merrill, the ceremony being per- formed by Rev. Hugh Vance, and he died January 7. 1813. Mr. Starr has now in his possession a thirty-dollar and a sixty- doCar bill. issued by act of congress on Sep- tember 20. 1778, and January 14, 1779. re- pectively, and received by his grandfather in compensation for his services rendered during the Revolutionary war.

Mrs. Starr, who was born in 1846. has borne her husband eight children, of whom five sons and a daughter are living, and one son and a daughter are deceased, namely : John N., born September 25, 1865. in Ol- ney. Richland county, Illinois, married Belle Elliott, and is living in Kay county, Okla- homa : he has been in a mercantile business. but is now principally engaged in farming ; James H., born also in Olney, September 30, 1867. married Nellie Vance, and is now residing in Kay county, Oklahoma : Tell P .. born in Olney. August 6. 1869, married Florence Wood, and is now a photographer at Hutchinson, Kansas; all these three are pleasantly located with their families: Sa- rah C .. born June 26. 1871. on a farm in Jefferson county, Colorado, died at the age of three years : Corry D .. a son, born June 28. 1873. on the same farm, died at the age of six months: Lillie F .. born April 24. 1876. at Blackhawk. Gilpin county, Colo- rado, and is now Mrs. Lewis M. Reed : Will-

iam J., born August 14, 1879, on the farm in Jefferson county, is unmarried : and Burt E., also single, was born November 6, 1885, at Belmont. Kansas.

Mrs. Starr has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for forty years and has long been prominently connected with religious work, notably as the superin- tendent of the Evergreen Sunday-school in Belmont. She has now entered upon her fifth year as thel president of the south- cast district of the Kingman county Sun- day-school Association, now having under immediate supervision nine Sunday-schools. For a long period she has also been a class- leader of the Clearwater class of the Meth- odist Episcopal church.

O. A. ROSS.

One of the finest farms in Victoria town- ship. Rice county, is the property of O. A. Ross. For fourteen years he has been a prominent factor in the business interests of Rice county and has borne his part in its work of improvement and upbuilding. He was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1834, and is a son of Moses .A. Ross, a native also of Fayette county. His father, Robert Ross, was a member of an old and prominent Highland Scotch family, the owners of Ross Castle. After coming to the United States Robert Ross served with distinction in the war of the Revolution, loy- ally aiding the colonists in their struggle for independence. He was a captain in General Wayne's Legion in the fight with the Indians, and was one of the forlorn hope of twenty men in the capture of Stony Point, July 15. 1779. His death occurred in Pennsylvania. One uncle of our subject, Robert Ross, was a soldier in the war of 1812. He served under General Jackson and was killed at the battle of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The father of our subject, Moses Ross, married Isabella Gillmore, a na- tive of Canada and a daughter of Hugh and a Mrs. ( Coulter ) Gilmore, also natives of

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Canada and of Scotch-Irish descent. Mr. and Mrs. Ross became the parents of eleven children, namely : Alexis, Hugh G., Robert, Moses, James, Lorenzo, Oliver A., Jane, Louisa. Clementina and Clara. The Ross family removed to Iowa in 1853. locating in Allamakee county, where the father fol- lowed the occupation of farming. His death occurred at the age of seventy-four years, honored and respected by all who knew him and his wife departed this life at the age of sixty-eight years.

O. A. Ross. the subject of this review, spent the first eighteen years of his life on a Pennsylvania farm and acquired his edu- cation in the common schools. He then ac- companied his parents on their removal to Iowa. During the war of the Rebellion his patriotic spirit was aroused, and at the call of President Lincoln for seventy-five thou- sand more men he enlisted for service in the Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he served with distinction until hon- orably discharged on account of disability. After his army experience was ended he re- turned to the quiet pursuits of the farm. In 1887 he bought a home in the Sunflower state, purchasing a farm in Victoria town- ship. Rice county, where he now has a pleas- ant home and is surrounded with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. He has always lived in Geneseo. His place comprises two hundred and eighty acres and is situated on section II, near the town of Geneseo. The fields are under a high state of cultivation and a glance at the well improved place will indicate to the passerby the careful supervision of a progressive owner.

In 1864 Mr. Ross was united in marriage with Louisa M. Blum, who was born in Prussia, Germany, near the river Rhine, No- vember 19, 1845, a daughter of Franz Henry and Anna G. ( Essers ) Blum. The father was born, reared and educated in Prussia, but on account of political trouble was obliged to flee from the country and accordingly came to the United States, taking up his abode in Toledo, Ohio. He was a painter by oc- cupation and was a member of the Lutheran !

church. His wife was called to the home beyond in Allamakee county, Iowa, in 1883, at the age of seventy-cne years. They were the parents of five children: Julius, who went overland to California, where he be- came a man of prominence, at one time serving as mayor of Petaluma, but he is now deceased ; Augustus, a resident of Oma- ha, Nebraska: Mrs. Ross; Charles, of Al- lamakee county, Iowa ; Mrs. Augusta Ross, a resident of Geneseo, Kansas. The umion of our subject has been blessed with three children,-Harry, who married Anna Rey- nolds and is engaged in the transfer business at Hutchinson, Kansas: and Gillmore, who married Addie Tyson and is engaged in the the transfer business in Geneseo, Kansas. They have one son, Albert Frank, and the daughter of the family, Emily G., died in her twentieth year. Mr. Ross has erected a good residence in the town of Gen- eseo, which is tastefully . furnished and where hospitality reigns supreme. He owns forty acres adjoining the town on the west, known as Hill's addition. In his social re- lations he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is a Repub- lican, but has neither time nor inclination to seek office. His energies are largely devot- ed to his business interests, and he is a man of excellent business and executive ability, who carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes.

W. B. ROBBINS.

W. B. Robbins, proprietor of the Robbins Elevators. is the pioneer grain merchant of Rice county. He bought and shipped the first carload of grain out of Bushton, Kan- sas, and since 1897, the year of his arrival in the Sunflower state, he has nobly borne his part in the work of improvement and up- building in this section of the state. He was born in Wayne county, Illinois, on the 9th of December, 1861, and is a son of Eph- raim Robbins, a well known carly settler of Rice county. The latter was born in Ohio,

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

and was there married to Ida Clevenger, a native of Pennsylvania. In 1871 they came with ex-teams and wagons to Kansas, bring- ing with them a number of cattle and hogs. se their first lecation was in Chautauqua county. They remained there for three voir's and in 1874 continued the journey to Rice county, where they made their home until 1896, when they removed to Okla- hema. After their arrival in this county the father secured one hundred and sixty acres . i land, and as time passed he added to his property until his landed possessions consisted of four hundred and eighty acres .. Mr. and Mrs. Robbins were the parents of ten children, six sons and four daughters -Mrs. Sarah Buckley, Mrs. Jane Handy. Mrs. Addie Buckles, Mrs. Mollie S. War- ner. William B., Charles, Leonard, Lee. Jesse and Frank.

W. B. Robbins, the subject of this re- view, accompanied his parents on their over- land trip to Rice county, Kansas, in 1871, and since that time he has been a prominent factor in the business interests in this sec- tion of the state. In 1887 he embarked in the grain business, and he non owns two large elevators, which are well equipped with the latest improved machinery for the handling of grain. They have a capacity of ten thousand bushels. and nineteen thou- >and bushels can be handled daily. During the past year the business amounted to three Imdred thousand dollars, and in addition 1. hi- grain trade Mr. Robbins is also in- terested in the stock business, dealing in cat- tle and hogs. He is one of the leading busi- ness men in this locality, and his efforts have contributed not alone to his individual success but have been of material benefit to the locality in which he has resided. He entered upon his business career when six- teen years of age, and since that time he has lahered earnestly and indefatigably for the best interests of his town, county and state. He exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, and is an active and efficient worker in its ranks. In his social relations he is a member of the Masonic and Knights of

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 22

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