USA > Kansas > Barton County > Biographical History of Barton County, Kansas > Part 21
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OF BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS
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and Arnold F., both children making their home with their parents on the farm, although Miss Lillie was united in marriage to Kirby Evers on October 11th, 1906. There is a grandson, Elmer, a sturdy little farmer of eleven years, who assists his grandfather in the manage- ment of the estate. Besides the section men- tioned above Mr. Essmiller is a joint owner with his brother Will in three quarters in Paw- nee County, Kansas, which is well improved, and is known to have other interests and in- vestments in the county.
When Mr. Essmiller settled in Barton Coun- ty he was a comparatively poor man, and what he has has been accumulated by the hardest of work under adverse circumstances. The last few years, however, he has retired from labor- ous work, contenting himself with looking on and directing while his son and son-in-law, who lease the farm, perform the heavier duties. His success is the result of good judgment and hard work, and by being fortunate in selecting a kind of soil which has responded to his con- tinued effort.
HENRY MILLER
T THE subject of this sketch was born May 27th, 1857, near Bremen, Germany, and at this writing is in his fifty-fifth year. He came to America with his parents when seven years old and settled in LaCrosse Coun- ty, Wisconsin. He received his education in the public schools of the neighborhood, and until he was twenty-five worked for his father on the farm. In the spring of 1883 he came to Barton County, and in 1890 bought a part of
Besides the section on which he lives, Mr. Miller owns a quarter out of section 5, near Heizer; one hundred acres of section 2, Buf- falo township, and four hundred and eighty acres in Rush County, one mile south of Ne- coma.
In November, 1883, Henry F. Miller was un- ited in marriage to Miss Sophia Sandman, of LaCrosse County, Wisconsin. The ceremony was performed in Great Bend, Miss Sandman
Farm and Home of Henry Miller
his present holdings from Fred H. Miller, who was an earlier purchaser from the Santa Fe Railway Company. He has since added other parcels until his home place embraces a whole section. His location is six miles west of the court house at Great Bend, and his farm is in the highest state of cultivation. His buildings are new, commodious, substantial and conven- ient, and built to house a growing family and to care for the crops and stock necessary on a large farm. His machinery and farm imple- ments are of the up-to-date Kansas farmer kind, as is everything else on the Miller home- stead.
having journeyed from her northern home to assist her future husband in making his for- tune on what was then considered the Kan- sas plains. The union has been blessed by five children, viz: Georgia N., the wife of W. C. Otte, a farmer, living northeast of Heizer; Edna, wife of Frank Case, farmer, four miles north of Heizer; and Ernie, Robert and Wil- liam who are still single and at home.
The success of Mr. Miller is the result of good judgment, economy and hard work dur- ing the first years of his residence in the coun- ty. He has faced conditions that were trag- edies, which is the usual lot of the man who
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tills the soil and depends on the elements to provide the moisture that makes them grow. During the twenty-eight years which he has resided in Barton County there has been har- vests that were almost complete failures, and
which barely provided seed and feed for the next year. Many crops have been bumper yielders and have made Barton County famous as a wheat producer.
JOHN ALBERT MAUSOLF
T HE beautiful "High Valley Farm," the scene portrayed above is the home of John Albert and Lena Mausolf, twelve and one-half miles west from Great Bend, and it stands on a farm of four hundred acres that cannot be excelled in Barton County. The soil is a rich, brown, dark sandy loam, and every acre of it is tillable. It is well fenced and shows careful cultivation, and the growing crops and well filled granaries proves the man- agement is not lacking. The residence is a story and a half frame, "T" shaped; has an en- closed porch across the front, and contains ten rooms. It is modernly furnished and supplies
John A. Mausolf was born in West Prussia Province, Germany, on December 20th, 1869, and came to America with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John G. Mausolf, in 1873, who first set- tled in New York City, remaining two years; removed to Jersey City where they remained five years, and then removed to Kansas and made a home in Garfield township, Rush Coun- ty. The father died in Great Bend on Feb- ruary 5th. 1911, and the mother occupies a home in Great Bend. The marriage of Mr. Mausolf occurried in April, 1896, and the fol- lowing summer he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, paying there-
.....
Home and Family of John Albert Mausolf
all the conveniences to be had in a city home of the same size and character. Around it are clustered beautifully leaved forest trees, and inside the iron paled lawn is a carpet of grass, and there are shrubs, plants and flowers suffi- cient to make it very inviting. A model cream- ery and wash house, built of concrete blocks, stands back in the yard, and across the drive- way is the garage. To the right of this stand the barns, granary, elevator and other build- ings which house the farm implements and shelter the stock.
for $1,750. In 1899 he purchased eighty acres at a cost of $1,000, and in 1906 he bought one hundred and sixty acres more for $5,500. The four hundred acres cost $8,250 at the time of purchase, and would probably sell for $40,000 today.
John Albert Mausolf was married to Miss Lena Gagelman of Barton County, on April 16th, 1896, and they have six interesting chil- dren-three boys and three girls, Alma, 15; Harry, 11; Erna I .. , 9; Alfred 6; Carl, 4; and Loreine, 1.
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OF BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS
IRA D. BROUGHER
O F the old timers who came to Barton County in the early '70's none is better known than Ira Day Brougher, who ar- rived in this county in 1874. He was born May 14, 1843, in York County, Pennsylvania. He received his early education in the schools of that state and at the beginning of the war he enlisted in the 13th Pennsylvania and was a member of Company F. He began his enlist- ment June 9, 1862, and was honorably dis- charged January 3, 1863. He re-enlisted inl the U. S. Military Railroad Department and saw active service until 1866. He took part in
the battle of South Mountain, Maryland, and later lost his right arm as the result of a wound received at the battle of Antietem. At the close of the war he went to Philadelphia where he took a course in the Bryant-Stratton Business College. He graduated from this in- stitution in 1868. This course of study fitted him for the occupation of book-keeper which he followed for several years in Philadelphia and New York where he held responsible posi- tions with wholesale houses. He remained in New York City for two years and was there when he was seized with the idea to go west and grow up with the country, as was advised by Horace Greeley. He came direct to Barton County, Kansas in 1874 and homesteaded a
claim in what is now South Bend township, about six miles southwest of Great Bend. He helped to organize this township and was the first trustee. He was engaged in the farming business from then on until he retired from active work on the farm in 1889. Mr. Brougher was elected county clerk of Barton County at the fall election of 1877, and held this office for three consecutive terms or six years. In 1889 he was elected to the office of Clerk of the District Court which office he held when Judge Clark was district judge of this judicial district. When Mr. Brougher first came to this section of the state the outlook was anything but bright for the future and although he was handicapped by having but one arm, he plunged into the thick of the development work and from his public service which is mentioned above it can be seen that he had time to take an active part in public matters as well as look after his private affairs. Mr. Brougher was one of those men who made this county one of the best in the State of Kall- sas out of a barren prairie waste. For a time after his arrival here there was a pericd when things looked mighty fine for the early settlers, but this was followed by several years which tried the hearts and souls of the pioneers, when they were compelled to combat not only the uncertainty of moisture but had to con- tend with the grasshoppers and other condi- tions over which they had no control. How- ever it was fortunate that the population of Barton County at that time contained men, who like Mr. Brougher, could see the possibil- ities of the future and in spite of the undesir- able conditions remained and developed the county's resources until it is now one of the most important in the State of Kansas. Mr. Brougher owns nine quarter sections of land in this part of the state; seven of them being in Barton and one each in Stafford and Hodge- man counties. He is also one of the directors of the German-American Bank of Great Bend and was one of the organizers and is still president of the Barton County Fair Associa- tion, an office which he has filled since the as- sociation was formed in 1900. He also has in- terests in the mercantile line in Great Bend and is counted as a progressive, enterprising citizen, and one of the men who blazed the way for others to make of Barton County one of the most productive agricultural sections in the world.
MRS. ISABEL PATTERSON
T HE Patterson family, of which Mrs. Isa- bel Patterson is the head, are probably as well and favorably known as any in county. Settling on home place March, 1876, public attention was directed to this family by the sudden death of Joseph Patterson, the fath- er, and his two young sons on April 13th, 1879. It appears that on that day there was a thun-
der storm, accompanied by the usual rain flurry, and that in the yard was an unprotected ash hopper, which at that period was usually found on the premises of most farm homes and used for the purpose of making the family soap. A large flat rock attracted the atten- tion of the husband as the best and most easily found protection for the hopper, and he re-
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quested his two young sons to assist him in placing the stone over the opening at the top. And, while in this act the three were stricken down in an instant by a flash of lightning with death as the result. During a residence of three years in one community Mr. Patterson and his family had endeared themselves to most of the settlers over a considerable section and the tragic incident caused comment for years fol- lowing. Joseph Patterson was born May 6, 1838, in Virginia.
Mrs. Patterson's maiden name was Millikin, and she was born November 23, 1838, in Osgood County, Indiana. She was left an orphan at an early age and was adopted by a relative and grew to womanhood on a farm in Madison County, Ohio. She married Joseph Patterson at Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio, on No- vember 14th, 1860. She was the mother of ten children. A daughter named Mary Sayler, who
died August , 1909, John and Frank, the two sons mentioned above as being stricken by lightning, and these following: Wm. Patter- son, residing in Los Angeles, California; Jos- eph Patterson, jr., married Katie Tolbert, and resides near Albert; Stanley F. Patterson, mar- ried Anna Gruber, residence, Hutchinson; Sarah Patterson, single, residing with her mother; Orr Patterson, married Clara Goeld- ner, residence, Great Bend; Err Patterson, married Grace Zimmer, residence, home farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Patterson, Sr., came to Barton County on March 8th, 1876, and pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land from the Santa Fe railway company at four dollars and forty cents per acre. Failure of crops caused them to forfeit this contract, and they repurchased a few years later, this time having to pay six dollars. The premises are well improved and grows good crops.
CHARLES E. BUTTON
T THE birth of Charles E. Button autedates that of Barton County by about two years, because he was born Feb. 25, 1869, and was among the first organized body of pioneers assembled on the townsite of Great Bend in the Spring of 1871. Thus it happened that the two lives began almost simultaneously and their histories are practically one and the same. Mr. Button first saw the light in Peoria
that life really began for little Charles, be- cause his blood throbbed with the life of a new country. He saw Indians as they passed and repassed his father's home; saw buffalo as they fed majestically on the range, and saw his father bring them to earth with a trusty gun with popular skill. The cowboy and his bucking broncho were the idols of his imagi- nation and he longed for the day when he could
Charles E. Button's Residence
County, Illinois, and came to Barton County, Kansas, when but five years of age, accompa- nied by his parents, Almon H. and Annie E. Button. They arrived in the county in March, 1875, and settled four miles northwest of the farm described in this sketch, and it was then
be trusted with a pony and gun to roam the prairie and chase the Texas cattle as he saw them do. The stores then told of "Dutch Henry" and his gang of horse thieves are still fresh in his memory, as well as other frontier day yarns. He is a man who had a great deal
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OF BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS
to do with the early day history of his part of the county. He has improved his home place with exceptional skill and made of it one of the most attractive farms in his township. Mr.
Button has always taken an active part in the affairs of his part of the county and is an en- terprising and progressive citizen.
JOSEPH THIES
T HE life history here recorded of Joseph Thies, is the record made by one of the largest renters of land in Barton Coun-
ty. He was born in Belgium on May 15th, 1878, and emigrated to the United States in 1893, when but fifteen years of age, and has imbibed more of American ways than of the Fatherland. He stopped first near Chicago, Illinois, where he hired himself to a farmer to learn how to grow and till the crops of this country; and later he was employed by a transfer company in the city for nine years and came face to face with the business worid in the busiest city on the American continent. Thus he fitted himself for the strenuous life he has pursued since coming to Kansas, which was in September, 1902. He first rented the six hundred and forty acre farm of W. N. Klep- per, six miles southeast of Great Bend, and re- mained there until-1905. Then he tried his fortunes for three years nine miles southeast of Ellinwood, on a section owned by Henry Roetzel. He then returned to the Klepper farm and remained there until the fall of 1911, when he took charge of the Gus. Wer- hahn farm of three hundred and twenty acres, fourteen miles west of Great Bend, and he
now hopes that he has secured the farm where he can put in practice the theories he has for conducting a large farm on an economical basis.
Joe has always had several side lines here- tofore; such as owning and operating a threshing machine, corn sheller and trading in live stock. He has discarded the thresher and sheller, and will sell and breed horses, mules and cattle, and cultivate corn, wheat, oats and alfalfa in the future. He is a great hustler and Mr. Werhahn is fortunate in hav- ing him.
Joseph Thies was married to Miss Anna Frances Grommes, of Aurora, Illinois, on Au- gust 20th, 1902, and they have three interesting children : Elizabeth Cordelia, aged 8 years; John Nicholas, 7, and Frank Henry, 5.
Mrs. Thies was born in Aurora, Ill., on March 16th, 1881, and has adapted herself to farm life in Kansas amazingly well. She is a true helpmate for her hustling husband and is content with her chickens, butter making and the domestic department of a large farm, and much prefers the life to that of a crowded and overrun city.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
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.... Pawnee Rock
F OURTEEN miles southwest of Great Bend, in one of the richest agricultural sec- tions of Barton County is the town of Pawnee Rock. It derives its name from the historic cliff of sand-stone that for countless ages has stood a silent sentinel of the plains, just north of what is now the townsite. It was a stopping place for the hardy men and women who came from their eastern homes to find wealth and fortune in the boundless west, and the entire length of the Santa Fe Trail, noted for its historic points of interest affords no spot that has woven around it more real his- tory of the early days than this old pile of rock.
Before the advent of the white man it mark- ed a way for the Indians in their periodical
witness to the bloody history that was made before civilization claimed it for the abode of the white man.
BEGINNING OF THE TOWN
The first building to be erected on the site in this part of the Great American Desert, of the town of Pawnee Rock was the Rock Hotel which still stands today and has been the stopping place of hundreds of old timers who came to this part of the country in the early days, and it has housed some famous men and women since it was built in 1874.
The town grew in population and area, slowly at first but in 1887 the progressive cit- izens of the town began the work that resulted
Pawnee Rock School Building
migrations from what is now Southern Kan- sas to the valley of the Platte river in Nebras- ka. For years and years Pawnee Rock was a point at which the Comanche, Kiowa, Arap- ahoe and Cheyenne Indians held their coun- cils of war and peace. Within the shadow of Pawnee Rock many famous Indian battles were fought, battles that never found a place in United States history, but were described to the early white settlers, by descendants of tlie noble warriors of the plains who took part in them. Countless bones have been dug out of the soil adjacent to the Rock, and they bear
in the town being incorporated. The first set of officers were elected April 1, 1887. Pre- vious to the election a rather exciting cam- paign was carried on by the two opposing fac- tions, the main issue being pool rooms, and whether or not they should continue in the town. There were two tickets in the field and after the votes had been counted it was found that a part of each ticket had been elected and the first council of Pawnee Rock was com- posed of the following gentlemen, all of them men who had an interest in the town and stood for progress and growth: William Bunting,
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OF BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS
mayor; L. K. Benefield, John Hepler, William McDougal, W. H. Bowman and William Wal- ton, councilmen.
At one of the first meetings of the council the following city officers were named and sworn in to serve: J. D. Welch, city clerk;
At this writing Pawnee Rock has three gell- eral stores, two banks, two furniture stores, two hardware stores, five elevators, a fine elec- tric light and ice plant, owned and operated by home people, three churches, Christian, Methodist, New Jeruselem, fine public schools
Pawnee Rock in 1859
J. W. Ratcliff, city attorney; Alvin Iles, city marshal; Earnest Smith, city treasurer.
This administration laid the foundation for the building of one of the most important small towns on the main line of the A. T. & S. F. Railroad.
The first elevator in the town was built
Pawnee Rock In 1878
in the year 1878 by W. H. Bowman, Aaron Gar- vick and Eli Bowman. They also built a flour mill and operated it until 1899 when it was purchased from them and moved to Garfield, near Larned. The year 1878 was a good one for the town, many new buildings having been erected, some of them fine residences.
and everything and more than is found in many towns of twice its population.
The present officers of Pawnee Rock are: John Bowman, mayor; A. S. Gross, clerk; R. G. McDougal, E. L. Robinson, W. C. Lamb and Grant Lippincott, councilmen.
Pawnee Rock contains some of the nicest and most modern residences in Barton County. It is a supply point for a large territory in Barton, Pawnee and Stafford counties and as a shipping point for grain, cattle and other live stock it ranks well up among the best in This part of the state.
From Inman's Tales of the Trail: "If this sentinel of the plains might speak, what a story it could tell of the events that have hap- pened on the beautiful prairie stretching out for miles at its feet. All over its scarred and weatherbeaten front, carved in quaint and rude letters, are the names of hundreds who is early days made the dangerous and exciting passage of the Santa Fe Trail. Some names are roughly chiseled there, too, who were not ambitious at the time of more enduring fame, and gave no further thought of their effort than was concentrated in the bare idea of re- lief from the ennui of the moment, while their horses and mules were resting, but who will go down to history cursed or praised-as view- ed from varying aspects-long after the storm of centuries shall have obliterated ever mark of this isolated mass of sandstone. Conspicu- ous among these is that of Robert E. Lee, the famous leader of the Confederate armies, who, in 1843, crossed into the borders of Mexico as an officer of the Mounted Rifles. Under the shadow of Pawnee Rock, perhaps Coronado, the celebrated Spanish explorer, and his little band of faithful followers rested on their lone-
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
147
ly march in search of the mythical Quivira. The Rock alone is all that remains, in all prob- ability, upon which the Spaniards looked, for the mighty interval of nearly four hundred years relegated all else-trees, water courses and the entire landscape, that the hardy ad- venturers looked upon, tothe domination of vast modification-and this iron-bound hill-whose
manches, Arrapahoes and Cheyennes made their not infrequent successful raids upon the pack and wagon trains of the freighters across the continent. I well remember, in the earlier geographies, that most exciting and sensation- al of all the illustrations-to my boyish mind at least-which depicted the Santa Fe traders attacked by Indians, but that was long ago,
Bird's Eye View of Pawnee Rock-Half View
unsusceptibility to change is almost as the earth itself-the only witness of their famous march.
"During the half century included between the years 1823-73-which latter date marked the advent of the railroad in this portion of
and such scenes have passed away forever.
"In those primitive days of the border, Kit Carson, Lucien B. Maxwell, John Smith, the Bents and the Boones, with other fron- tiersmen, commenced their eventful lives in the far West-mere boys then-but whose ex-
Bird's Eye View of Pawnee Rock Today-Half View
Kansas-Pawnee Rock was considered the most dangerous place on the central plains for en- counters with the Indians, as at this particular point on the Trail the Pawnees, Kiowas, Co-
ploits have since made for them a world-wide reputation. Kit Carson, Maxwell, Smith and Bents are all dead with the harness on, and on the confines of the civilization which is rap-
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OF BARTON COUNTY, KANSAS
idly closing up the gap at the foot of the mountains, amidst which there would have been nothing congenial-so they passed away while there still remained fresh prairies and quiet streams.
"Kit, one of the most noble men it has been my fortune to know, is sleeping peacefully un- der the gnarled old Cottonwoods at Fort Lyon, on the Arkansas that river he loved so well -- every foot of whose silent margin could tell a story of his daring. It was at Pawnee Rock many, many years ago, that Kit, then a mere boy, had his first experience with the Indians, and it was because of this fight that the Rock received its name.
"In those days the Pawnees were the most formidable tribe on the eastern plains, and the freighters and trappers rarely escaped a skirm- ish with them either at the crossing of the Walnut, Pawnee Fork, or at Little or Big Coon creeks. Today the historic hill looks
in the long years gone by sometimes the bones of the white man, sometimes the bones of the red man were plowed up; and even now where new fields are opened, the Rock thus gradually unfolds the sphinx-like secrets of its dead."
PRESERVING THE ROCK
In the year of 1908, the Women's Kansas Day Club contracted with the owner of Paw- nee Rock, to raise $3,000 to improve Pawnee Rock, and he was to deed about five acres to the state park to be open to the public at all times. The monument was to cost not less than $1,500. The entire expense has been about $4,700 and the citizens of Pawnee Rock have raised $1,500 of this amount.
Pawnee Rock covers about four acres and rises abruptly from the surrounding valley.
Entrance to Pawnee Rock Park
down only upon peaceful homes and fruitful fields where for hundreds of years it could tell of nothing but death; where almost every yard of the brown sod at its base covered a grave; where there was nothing but shadow, now all is sunlight. In place of the horrid yell of the savage, as he wrenched the reeking scalp from his vanquished victim, the whistle of the locomotive and the pleasing whirr of the reap- ing machine is heard; where the death cry of the painted warrior rang mournfully over the silent prairie, the waving grain is singing in beautiful rhythm as it blows to the summer breeze. Almost every day in the opening spring, or before the grain planting in the early fall for several years during the first set- tlement of the country in the vicinity of Paw- nee Rock, the skeletons of those killed there
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