A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 75

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

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Kansas, Treating in Jeanen count. on the Shawnee reserve. in 1857. He located on one hundred and si.

built a pole cabin. in which to reikia" two years. At that time the gold excite-

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ment at Pike's Peak. Colorado, had broken out and he started west with others, who hoped that through mining ventures they might win fortunes. In 1859 he located at Central City, then known as Mountain City, and opened up Missouri Flats. In 1861 he opened up Gray Lock Gulch, where he operated for a time and then sold the prop- erty. In the fall of 1861 he went to Can- yon City, where he received a letter from his aged father telling him that he was placed between two great armies and need- ed his help. Having already been very suc- cessful in his mining operations, and hav- ing considerable money to take home with him, he started across the country with a government train of one hundred mules. East of Bent's Fort the train was surround- ed by a very large band of Kiowa Indians. In 1859 Judge Victor had been one in camp to give lodging and food to their chief. When the chief recognized Judge Victor he not only allowed the party to pass, but see- i ing that the men had very little provisions, he divided his own food supplies with them. Had it not been for this fortunate circum- stance the whole troop would have been massacred.

Not long after his return home Judge Victor became a sufferer from rheumatism and for two years was unable to do his work. He then purchased the old Fountain Pow- der Mills, at Powder Mills, Kentucky, which had manufactured all the powder used by General Jackson at New Orleans. There Judge Victor engaged in the conduct of the mills until 1884. when he sold his property and removed to Cowley county, Kansas. He purchased a farm, which after two years. he sold at good advantage, and in 1886 he came to Pawnee county, where he purchased the farm now owned by Gustofson, on sec- tion 27. township 20, range 16, which had been settled by a Mr. Scanlon. Here he resided for five years, and on the expiration of that period he was elected probate judge. Being re-elected he served for three terms, or six years, and then retired from office, but in JOOI he was re-elected, on the Peo- ple's or fusion ticket. That he has been so long continued in the office stands in un-

mistakable evidence of his ability and his fidelity in the discharge of his duties.

The judge was married to Miss Mary V. Garrett, a daughter of James A. Gar- rett, of Hart county Kentucky, who died in 1887, at the age of forty-two years. Of their children we enter record as follows: Mattie is deceased : Louise is a teacher : Vic- turia is the wife of J. L. Hodge, of Okla- homa, by whom she has three children .- Clarissa, Elmer and Louise: Lillian also is engaged in teaching: John is a farmer of Oklahoma; and Robert Lee and Valotta are both students. The family is one of promi- nence and influence in the community, the members of the household occupying envia- ble positions in the social circles. The judge has served as trustee of his town- ship. He is a member of Fountain Pow- der Mills Lodge, No. 578. F. & A. M., of which he served as worshipful master. He has also taken the Royal Arch degree in the Masonic order and is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, being past grand of the same. In manner kind, unaf- fected and approachable, every one has a claim upon his courteous attention. En- dowed by nature with sound judgment and an active, discriminating mind, he has no fear that laborious attention to business will fail to achieve success, and he has ever licen guided by a sense of the moral right which would tolerate the employment only of the means that would bear the most rigid ex- amination, and by a fairness of intention that has neither sought nor required dis- guise.

W. PIERCE NOSSAMAN.

He who is successfully identified with the noble and basic art of agriculture may well consider himself fortunate among men. His is a position of definite inde- pendence and the rewards of his thought and toil are not denied in due season. The broad acres give of their generous stores and herds and flocks may add their quota to his success. The life of the farmer need never be prosaic in these days, and he has

MR. AND MRS. W. P. NOSSAMAN.

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no cause to envy the busy toilers in the nie mans di trade or those who thương with the "madding crowd." Among the representative farmers and stock-growers of King county is Mr. Nossaman, whose fine inemstal is located in Rural township. where he owns the southeast quarter ci section 31. Success is his in a marked de- gree, and : him is given the esteem of these trong when his It has been cast. As one of the worthy citizens of the county we are gr sified in being able to here enter a brief ree rd concerning his career.

The state of Iowa figures as the place of Mr. Nossaman's nativity, since he was born in Marion county, on the 6th of Sep- tember. 1852, the son of Louis and Mary ( Springer) Nossaman, whose marriage was solemnized on the 13th of January, 18449. in: Indiana. Louis Nossaman was born in Virginia, and when a youth accom- panied his parents on their removal from that state to Marion county, Indiana, where he grew t man's estate. The mother of our subject was born in Hamilton county. Ohi on the 18th of February, 1826, and thence. when eight years of age. she re- movel with her parents to Marion county, Indiana, Her father having been a native of Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Ohio in his youth and then to Indiana, in 1834. tous leing a pioneer of each of these great

movel from Marion county. Indiana. to Marion county, Iowa. In the latter he en- tered claim ! a tract of government land, which he duly improved, being one of the first settlers in that locality, where he gave his attention to farming and stock-raising for a period of nine years. He then sold out and removed to Harrison county, Mis- souri, where he purchased land anl c ::- tinued in the same vocation as before. In the spring of 1884 he disposed of his Mis- souri property and came to Kingman coun- ty. Kansas, where he purchased a claim on section 3. Kural township, a property which he still owns. He and his wife. now veneralje in years, are the parents of six sons, ail of whom are living. Of them we give brief record, as follows: Almnzo is

a successful farmer of Oklahoma Terri- Hogy ; W. Pierce is the immediate salat of this sketch; Oscar is engaged in farm- ing in Oklahoma; L. D. ngia- . ale successful farmers and stock gr . er- Rural township; Francis MI. is located in Oklahoma : and David A. retain is- me in Rural township.

W. Pierce Nessaman, the subject . i tivi- sketch, was a lad of seven years at the time of the family's removal to Missenti, and he grew to manhel under the start ali- cipline of the farm, with whose work he early became familiar, assisting in the culti - vation of the homestead as a boy and at- tending the district schools during the win- ter month-, thereby laying an excellent foundation for the broader education which was to o me to him through a - ding math the practical affairs of life. On the 201 of September, 1872, when twenty years of age, he was united in marriage to Mi- Nancy Rice, who was born in Jari- : county, Missouri. the Laughter of Hong F. and Catherine (Tavir) Bis Ait." his marriage Mr. Mussman engaged ill farming on rented land in Harris . com. Missouri, where he continued operations until the spring of i8;9, when he came to Kansas and took up a claim of government land in Lane county, where he leased a tract land in Lane county.

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In August, 1883. Mr. Nossamas fiel pre-emption entry de la present fine farm. where he forthwith t & po 'is abede. 10- first dwelling being a c of rialle frame house, sixteen by twenty fect in dimen- ns, which continued to be the family home for about nine years. The fi- son he pieced al ont t'

claim under the plow, and he has been ener- gelir and far-sighted in his

has made his success cumulative in char- acer. T . riginal claim he has until he mo wenns a Milf serti land as is to be i und in this post . state, while the excellent improvement

IZIS

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

general air of thrift to be noted indicate the prosperity which has attended his well di- rected efforts. For several years past he has devoted his attention almost exclusive- ly to the raising of grain and the growing of a high grade of live stock keeping an average of about seventy-five head of cat- the. In 1892 Mr. Nossaman erected his present attractive and commodious resi- dence, the same having eight rooms and being two stories in height, while in the preceding years he had completed another permanent improvement in the erection of an excellent barn, thirty by forty feet in dimensions. The farm is under a high state of cultivation and our subject has proved himself one of the successful and representative farmers of the county. He takes a proper interest in local affairs of a public nature, giving his support to the Republican party, and in 1900 he was elect- ed to the office of township treasurer, in which he gave a careful and economical ad- ministration. He was one of the organizers of the first school board in his district, in 1883, being one of its original members, and he has been incumbent of this position the greater portion of the time since. Both Mr. and Mrs. Nossaman are active in re- ligious work, being charter members of the Lawndale Methodist Episcopal church, of whose official board our subject has served as treasurer from the time of organization. while he has also held the offices of superin- tendent and secretary of the Sunday-school. His character is above reproach and to him is accorded the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact in the various walks of life. Fraternally he is identified with Cunningham Lodge, No. 431, I. O. O. F., of which he is past noble grand, while he has also represented this body in the grand lodge of the state, and is a men- ber of the auxiliary or Rebekah chapter of the order.

In regard to the family of Mrs. Nossa- man we may state that her father. Henry Rice, came to Kingman county and locat- ed in Rural township in the spring of 1883. here retaining his residence until his death, on May 18. 1889. His wife. Kathrine

(Taylor) Rice, entered into eternal rest on October 3, 1900. They became the par- ents of eight children, namely : Jasper, who was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion and who died in Harrison county, Missouri, in 1870; Richard, a resident of Worth county, that state : James A., of Cincinnati, Appanoose county, Iowa: Calvin Grant, of Pratt county, Kansas; Nancy, wife of our subject : Phœbe, wife of William Gage, of Pratt county; Lucinda, who became the wife of Sylvester Barker, of Brown county, Illinois, where she died in 1890; and Cath- erine, who died in her girlhood. Mr. and Mrs. Nossaman have eight children: Dr. Silas W., who was graduated in the med- ical college of Kansas City, was married in 1001. to Miss Jessie Doty and they now re- side in Cunningham, Kansas, where he is en- gaged in the drug business, and also in the practice of his profession: Arthur H. is a graduate of the normal school at Salina and is now a medical student in Kansas City ; Mary C .. is the wife of Allen Washburn, of Pratt county, Kansas; Earl A. is like- wise a graduate of the normal school and is now pursuing a scientific course: Maud is one of Kingman county's successful and popular teachers; Walter L. is a student in the high school; and Owen D. and Vevie L. are at the parental home. Our sub- ject and his wife may well take pride in their children, and the home is one in which culture and refinement are in distinctive evidence, thus encouraging the children to renewed efforts and making them valuable members of Society when they go forth to assume individual responsibilities.

THOMAS H. SHEDDEN.

The well known resident of Formoso, Jewell county, Kansas, whose name is the title of this article, was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, December 19, 1850, a son of John and Margaret (McCall) Shedden, both na- tives of Ayrshire. In 1869 John Shedden came with his family to the United States at:1 1 cated at Newport, Rhode Island,

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where the elder Shedden followed his pro- fession of gardener and florist until his death, at the age of seventy-eight years and where the mother of the subject of this sketch is still living, aged about seventy-five

Thomas H. Sheden's grandparents in the paternal line were Anthony and Mar- garet & Huggy Mccall. John and Margaret (Mecallo Shedden bad six children. Their son, Thomas H .. at the age of fourteen years, entered upon a four years' apprentice- ship to the drug trade, and he was thus sery- ing in 1860 when his parents and brothers and sisters left for the United States. . Is time passed he became so anxious to see his loved ones that he sought and obtained from his master a leave of absence in order to visit them in far away America. He accord- ingly came over to the United States. but. true to his promise, he returned to Scotland and completed his apprenticeship, after which he rejoined his parents in Riode Island and remained with them until his marriage, on March 12. 1880. to Miss Emma G. Stubbs. a daughter of James M. and Elizabeth J. (Fletcher ) Stubbs, the fermer of whom was born in Tennessee, the latter in the state of Missouri. They are now living in Galveston, Texas, and at the time of the memorable inundation there Mrs. Stulbs saved her life only by crawling on her hands and knees a long distance to a place of safety. Mrs. Shedden's grand- parents in the maternal line were William L. and Emily (Burke) Fletcher. Her grandmother lived to be more than one hun- dred years old, and her grandfather, who is a giant in stature, was in his day a noted character of the frontier. Once when at- tacked by two Indians he promptly shot one ri his assailants and then threw down his gun and said to the other: "Now we are man against man." Then, in a brief hand- to-hand conflict with his remaining adver- sary, who was a big, brawny and powerful chief. the borderman literally crushed the life out: of the Indian! This historic meet- ing of his with the two Indians was. curiously enough, the result of a dream. While taking an afternoon nap he dremed

that two Indians were about to capture his children, word the right the Ghan

he thought linde of it. Turning over, he wem to sleep again immediately and the dream was repeated in ever then sprang to his feet and ran 1

in-t intime to see the the lostin stealthily approaching in- children, who

in his little clearing, and he threw himself between them and their intended prey with the decisive result above recorded. He is now living at Kirksville. Mi ata patriarchial age.

Mrs. Shedden's father, who was a mem- ber of a regiment of Iowa volunteer in- fantry, was at the time of her bir die soldier's duty in the Civil war, and he never saw her until she was about three per- Mr. and Mrs. Shedden have had seven chil- dren, one of whom died in infancy, and the six who still survive are as follows: John D .. Thomas H. Nora, George Bush an! Maggie M. George, wie is years old. told the writer another interest- ing story of his grandfather Fletcher, which was later verified by the boy's in ther. It seems that this noted pioneer was not !! Texas, where yellow fever was at the time prevalent, and to escape that Here We walked into Louisiana, a distance of two hundred miles, with one hundred decar- carefully secreted in each of his l of the children of Mr. Shedden le lien or are being educated in the last: chal

in the borders of the great comm weili of Kansas, is self-educated except for the primary education which she received in the compren scris, yet there is pracy i -siject upemwhich she is unalde : intelligently and instructiver.

In ISSO Air. Shelden clerked in a drug stre in Scala. Kan opened a drug store at Omi . K.s. a.l when the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific Railway was constructed through Jewell county he moved his ring strax Omio to the new town . ; F he was the first merchant. Omic, which was mented three miles south of I

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and had a population of several hundred people, has in the course of events been so completely taken off of the earth that not a vestige of it remains. Mr. Shedden has been engaged in the drug business continu- ously to the present time and is recognized as one of the most successful and scientific druggists in his part of the state. He owns two fine farms near Formoso, one of which he rents and the other of which is man- aged as a stock farm by his son, who has come to be known as an intelligent and pro- gressive young business man. Politically Mr. Shedden is a Democrat. and he has voted for all the later presidential candi- dates, including the Hon. Grover Cleveland and William Jennings Bryan, and for six years he served his fellow townsmen as clerk of the township school board. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and has been for many years secretary of his lodge. Mr. and Mrs. Shedden are widely known for their refinement, their accom- ilishments and their generous hospitality. In religious affiliation the members of the family are Adventists.

Mr. Shedden's ancestors in the mater- na! line, the old family of McCall, were for- esters in Scotland, where some of the pres- ent generation of McCalls are living now. His grandfather McCall died in the house in which he was born. The business es- tablished by Mr. Shedden's father at Paw- tucket. Rhode Island, where the latter died. is still continued, under the firm name of J. Shedden & Son. Mr. Shedden was edu- cated in an academy at Airdia. Scotland, and served his apprenticeship at the drug business in the city of Glasgow.

J. B. NEAL.

One of the honored veterans of that greatest of internecine conflicts known in the annals of history. the war of the Re- bellion. the subject of this review has been as stanch and true in all other relations of life as he was when he followed the old flag over the battlefields of the south and

made for himself an enviable record as a valiant soldier of the republic, which he aided in perpetuating. He is now one of the representative citizens and prosperous farmers and stock growers of Barber coun- ty. his finely improved estate being eligi- bly located on section 4, Cedar township, at a point about three and one-half miles south of the village of Sharon, and com- prising three hundred and twenty acres. He is held in the highest esteem in the com- munity and is eminently entitled to consider- ation in a standard work of this nature.

Mr. Neal is a native of the fair old state of Kentucky, having been born in Critten- den county, on the 9th of April, 1843, the year of the birth of the late lamented Pres- ident Mckinley. His father, Samuel Neal. was born and reared in Kentucky, and upon attaining maturity he took unto himself a wife in the person of Miss Bernecia Strick- land, who was born in Tennessee, a mem- ber of one of the old and honored families of that state. Of this union were born thirteen children, five sons and three daugh- ters growing to years of maturity, namely : Martha. J. B .. William T., John, Willis A., H. Brown, Sarah and Pruella. William T. died while serving in the war of the Re- bellion, his death being due to an attack of smallpox. The mother of this family died at the age of sixty-seven and the father lived to attain the age of eighty-four. He was a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife were devoted members of the Presbyterian church. When our subject was a child his parents removed from Ken- tucky to Gallatin county, Illinois, and later to Saline county, that state, where he was reared to agricultural pursuits and secured his educational discipline in the common schools.

At the outbreak of the Civil war the intrinsic loyalty of our subject was quick- ened to responsive protest, and he re- spunded to President Lincoln's first call, by enlisting in September, 1861, as a private in Company B. Thirty-first Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, the regiment being com- manded by General John A. Logan, who then held commission as colonel. Mr. Neal proceeded to the front with his command

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

and during his three years of service proved hun a gallant and faithful soldier. He par- ticipated in many of the important battles of the war, among which may be mentioned the engagement- at Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Memphis, Holly Springs, the entire siege of Vicksburg, and the con- fict- at Copeland and Raymond, Mississ ippi. He was for a time confined in Ben- ton Barracks, at St. Louis, Missouri, by lesn . f an attack of fever, but soon re- joined his regiment, which was then at Vicksburg, later coming to Cairo, Illinois. and thereafter participating in the battles of Nashville, Kenesaw Mountain. the At- lanta campaign, including the battle of .It- lanta and that of Resaca, and being under Fre during the greater portion of the time i : the long peri dei eighty days. He was in the engagement on the 22d of July, 1864, when General McPherson was killed, that able officer having been only a few feet distant from our subiect when he thus gave his life in his country's cause.

At Atlanta, after the expiration of his term, Mr. Neal received his honorable dis- charge, and then returned to his home in Illinois, where, in February, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Weaver. who was born in Saline county, Illinois, the daughter of Talbert and Charity Weav- er. Of this union were born four children : Adaline, who was formerly a successful teacher. but who is now the wife of F. Freeman, of Harper county, Kansas: Oscar J., who was educated in Gem City College, at Quincy, Illinois, and who is now a pop- vlar and able teacher in the schools of Blackwell, Oklahoma: Lawrence, who is a resident of the city of Seattle, Washington ; and Laura, who also is teaching in Okla- ima. Mrs. Sarah Neal died in Saline county. Illinois, at the age of twenty-nine years, having been a woman of gentle and 17. 1le character and a consistent member of the Methodist church. In Saline county, in the year 1883. Mr. Neal was married to Miss Eliza Blake, who was born in that county, where she was reared and educated. Leing the daughter of William and Mar- tha Blake, both of whom died in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Neal are the parents of five

ses and three daughters, namely : U. Della, Hope, Jog. Dwight. Mas CET tis and Hartwell B. Mrs. Neal i- a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, in whose work she takes a deep interest. . and she is a woman of gracious refinement, making the home life ideal in concier. while a generous hospitality is extended is a very wide circle of friends in the commun ity. Mr. Neal has made the best of perma- nent improvements on his farm and devotes his attention to general agriculture and to the raising of high grade stock. having .. directed his efforts as to attain the maxi- mum degree of success in both department- of his enterprise, while he commands the unqualified confidence and esteem of the people of the community by ready of in- sterling attributes of character and his un- failing courtesy in all the relations i ffe. In politics Mr. Ned give- hi- allegiance to the Republican party, but he has never de- sired the honors of political office. Fatter- nally he vitalizes his interest in those who were his comrades in the war of the Re- Pellien by bis identification with the Grand Army of the Republic, being a apoiar member of Bernard Post, No. 450, at Sharon.

JOHN H. DANIEL.

All those qualities which characterie the self-made man have been utilicen :.. the subject of this sketch in the making of his career thus far. John H. Daniel was born in Whiteside county, Illinois, May 17. I811. a son of Henry and Lydia ( Iding- head ) Daniel. His father was been to ling- land and died in Illinois: his mother was born in Canada and died in Illinois, at the age of thirty-five years. They had five chil- dren, fear of whom are living. John H. Was the tears and when his father del sol twelve years old when his mother died. After that, with a little help. he i col va for himself. At the age of fifteen would be began a business career in Arkansa ... | - a year he carried mail between Fort Saith and Fort Gibson.

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Returning to Illinois Mr. Daniel worked treasurer, and he and Mrs. Daniel have for some years been members of the township before her marriage Mrs. Daniel was a successful teacher in Carroll and Stephenson counties, Illinois. They are both devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, being active in church and Sunday-school work, and they assisted very materially to- ward the erection of the house of worship of that denomination at Formoso. by the month until his marriage, which was celebrated November 22, 1870. His bride school board. For a considerable period was Miss Ada Bellows, daughter of Will- iam and Jane ( Manning) Bellows, and a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. Bellows was born in New York state and his wife in Pennsylvania. The latter is still living. They located in Kansas in 1872 and secured government land, which was developed into a good farm. Mr. Bellows died at the age of sixty-seven years, at their home near Formoso. Jewell county, Kansas. Mrs. Daniel's grandfather, in the paternal line. was Thomas Bellows, who married Lydia GEORGE H. BAILEY. Lyman. They were both born in New York state and both died in Pennsylvania, where members of the Bellows family became known as farmers and millwrights. Mrs. Daniel has borne her husband six children, one of whom married and has four chil- dren.

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A biographical history of central Kansas, Vol. II, Part 75

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