USA > Kansas > Cloud County > Biographical history of Cloud County, Kansas: biographies of representative citizens. Illustrated with portraits of prominent people, cuts of homes, stock, etc > Part 32
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
United Workmen, and has been a delegate to the grand lodge for sixteen consecutive years, without missing a session.
In December, 1886, Mr. Pepperell was married to Miss Josephine Par- adis, a popular Concordia young woman. Mrs. Pepperell is receiver for the auxiliary department of the Ancient Order of United Workmen for the state of Kansas. They are the parents of one son, William Earl, aged fourteen. who has a fine school record. Since he began his school career his report cards have ranked first in every instance but two; in these they ranked sec- ond. Mr. Pepperell's parents are both deceased, his father dying in 1897 and his mother in 1884. They died in Grand Junction, where they settled upon coming to America. He has two older brothers, Thomas L. and Andrew, and one sister, Mrs. Sarah Jane Mannering. Mr. Pepperell has continued in the real estate business through his political career and has been exceptionally successful: large sums of money are placed through his agency and he is entrusted to the management of extended interests. He represents several of the leading insurance companies, and whoever gives Mr. Pepperell their patronage is sure of courteous and careful consideration -the key to his success and popularity. No citizen has done more for the upbuilding of Concordia than he. No project is promoted that he is not a conspicuous figure and he has conducted the politics very acceptably to the Democracy of Cloud county.
RAINES & NELSON.
The firm of Raines & Nelson is composed of Dr. T. E. Raines and Dr. George E. Nelson, of the homeopathic school of medicine. Dr. Raines, the senior member of the combination, began his professional work in Concordia in the early 'eighties. His practice has steadily increased since that time until his services are constantly in demand. Dr. Raines is a skilled physician and surgeon and when his attention is not engaged in attending his patients he is delving deeper into the researches of science, thus keeping abreast of the times. Raines & Nelson constitute the health officials of Cloud county. The Raines residence is one of the most comfortable homes in the city; while modest without it is elegant in its interior appointments. He and his family are accorded a conspicuous place in the social ranks of Concordia's citizens.
Dr. George E. Nelson is a native of Republic county. Kansas. He is a son of James Nelson, a prominent farmer and stockman well known through his specialty as a breeder of pure Poland China hogs, having made one of the best records in this line as far west as Republic county. He is a grand- son of the late Reverend Nels Nelson, Sr., of whom an extended account is given in the data of the Jamestown vicinity. James Nelson settled in Grant township, Cloud county, in 1869. but a year or more later traded his home- stead for a team and pre-empted eighty acres of land in Republic county, two miles north of the Cloud county line. Dr. Nelson's mother was Mary
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Hansen before her marriage, and is a sister to John O. Hansen, the popular Jamestown postmaster. Dr. Nelson is the second of four children: Minnie is the widow of C. M. Houghton, who died in 1902, leaving his wife, two sons and two daughters. Charles R., the third child, is a student of the Kan- sas City Homeopathic Medical College, where Dr. Nelson matriculated, and will complete his course in 1903. Dr. Nelson has been given superior educa- tional advantages. After leaving the common school he entered the Man- hattan Agricultural College, where he pursued a scientific course during the sessions of 1804-5. 1895-6 and 1896-7. To further his knowledge of Latin he entered the Emporia State Normal School. Medicine was Dr. Nelson's chosen profession : from boyhood he had dreamed of becoming a physician. In 1898 he entered the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College and grad- nated from that institution in March, 1901 ; came to Concordia directly aft- erward and became associated with Dr. Raines, with whom he had practiced the year prior. on a student's license. Thus it will be seen Dr. Nelson has not had the obstacles to contend with that confront many young men. He seems to be one of fortune's favored ones, reaping the harvest sown by his prosperous father and distinguished grandfather. To many self-made young men his life would seem "a happy song."
Drs. Raines & Nelson have handsome office quarters on the second floor of the Caldwell Bank building.
EDWARD J. ALEXANDER.
The present county clerk of Cloud county, Edward J. Alexander, who was elected to fulfill the requirements of that office by the Republican party in November. 1902. has been a resident of Concordia since the autunm of 1885. when he accepted a clerkship in the Hinman dry goods store and con- tinned in that capacity until, as a candidate, he started on his electioneering tour. Mr. Alexander is a native of Kankakee, Illinois, born in 1860, of French Canadian parentage. His family consists of a wife and the daughter of a brother, whose wife is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander adopted the little girl. who is now thirteen years of age. The family are members of the Catholic church. Mr. Alexander is identified in a prominent way with the Catholic Order of Foresters. He has represented the order as a delegate to different conventions for several years. Mr. Alexander is an accommo- dating official and worthy of the office bestowed upon him by the people of Cloud county.
ARTHUR E. RENARD.
A. E. Renard, of the firm of Choquette & Renard, furniture dealers. and also a member of Renard Brothers' New York Grocery, is a native of France, born near Paris in 1867. He is a son of John B. and Zella (Neveux) Renard, also natives of France. Mr. Renard's father was a telegraph dis-
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patcher; he emigrated to Saline county, Kansas, in 1871, where the family resided until 1895, when they came to Concordia, since which time he has lived a retired life. John B. Renard served seven years in the army of France as a musician, which took him over various parts of Africa, South America and the West India Islands. He visited his native country in 1889 and again, accompanied by his wife, in 1898. The venerable father of the Renard brothers, when a soldier with the French army, was stationed from 1851-4 at St. Pierre, the seaport recently destroyed by the eruption of Mount Pelee. He, together with other soldiers of his company, climbed to the summit and reported finding the ground hot like an oven. Many of the company could not reach the top and fell back overcome with the intense heat. With this experience Mr. Renard naturally feels much interest in the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelee.
A. E. Renard's paternal grandparents came to America in 1851 and were thirty-two days crossing the water. They settled in Indianapolis, Indi- ana, and in 1878 came to Kansas, where they both died in 1885, at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. Renard, the subject of this sketch, was educated at the Salina Normal School, where he took a commercial course and grad- uated in 1891. In his early life he worked on his father's farm (which he still retains), but after finishing school clerked two years in a grocery store and then accepted the position of cashier in the Ellsworth County Bank, where he remained three years. In 1895 he came to Concordia, forming a partnership with his two brothers, Aurore and Jule V., and established the popular grocery known as the New York Grocery. They carry one of the largest stocks in the city and control, in connection with this business, the entire ice trade in the city, doing a business of six thousand dollars annu- ally in the ice trade, and from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand dol- lars in the grocery, and employ nine men.
In 1898 the Renard brothers formed a partnership with N. J. Choquette in the furniture business, with a capital stock of about four thousand dol- lars. They have, in connection, an undertaking department and make a specialty of this line. Mr. Renard is a licensed embalmer of the state of Kansas, a student of the Champion Embalming College of Kansas City. Although a comparatively new firm, they do an annual business of from twenty thousand to thirty thousand dollars and are steadily increasing.
A. E. Renard is one of four sons: Aurore, Jule V. and Emile, the latter living on a farm in Saline county, Kansas. The Renard brothers own eight hundred acres of fine bottom land in the heart of the wheat beit in Saline county and raise on an average eight thousand bushels annually.
Mr. Renard was married in 1895 to Virginia Serrault, who was born and reared on a farm in Saline county, Kansas. To this union three children have been born, viz: Lewis, the eldest child, and a pair of twins, a boy and girl. Marcellus and Marcella, aged two years. Mr. Renard is something of an inventive genius ; he has patented an extensible iron bedstead, which can be changed from three-quarter to full size, and is destined to become a pop-
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
ular piece of furniture adapted to small rooms, etc. Ile has patented it in the United States and has applied for same in Canada and Belgium. He has refused twenty thousand dollars for the right in the United States. Ile is also patenting a buckle and a revolver. Mr. Burger is interested in the lat- ter. The gun will shoot sixteen shots and has no cylinder. A magazine is supplied instead and acts by motion of the trigger throwing the cartridge into the magazine.
Mr. Renard is a member of various lodges and insurance companies, among them the Woodmen of the World, Catholic Foresters, Home Forum, Modern Tontines, has been past commander of the Maccabees and has been through most of the chairs of the orders of which he is a member. Polit- ically he is a Populist, though not radical in politics. Himself and family are members of the Catholic church, of which he is a trustee. Mr. Renard is considered one of the reliable business men of Concordia, being industri- ous, enterprising and public spirited. In the summer of 1902 the Renard Brothers purchased the interest of N. J. Choquette and continue business at the same place.
HONORABLE N. B. BROWN.
The magnificent residence overlooking the Republican valley from its location on the summit of a hill to the westward of Concordia, is the home
COL. BROWN'S RESIDENCE.
of Colonel N. B. Brown, one of Cloud county's distinguished citizens. On a fine summer day the landscape, as seen from this imposing site, is one of rare
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
and picturesque beauty. Looking down upon the city to the east are hand- some homes, public buildings, churches, with their spires gleaming in the sunlight, almost hidden within a forest of trees and shrubbery. To the west and north the productive and fertile valley of the Republican river stretches far beyond, and outlined against the sky is a terraced line of purple hills. marvelous panorama of natural beauty and one of the most enchanting views of the entire valley.
ALBERT R. MOORE.
The subject of this brief sketch is Albert R. Moore, who has, for the past five years, filled the important office of county clerk of Cloud county. He was born March 30, 1860. in the state of Iowa, his parents moving to Ohio while he was yet a babe. Four years later they emigrated to Missouri, where they remained until October, 1883, when they located in Cloud county, Kansas. His father was a farmer, a native of Iowa, a sojourner in Ohio and Missouri, but settled on a farm in Arion township, Cloud county, Kansas, in November, 1883. where he died ten years later. His mother's maiden name was Ken- nedy; she was born and reared in the state of Ohio, where she died when Mr. Moore was but three years of age. From this mar- riage three children were born, Laura B., Albert R. and Alonzo G.
Previous to his élection as county clerk. ALBERT R. MOORE. Mr. Moore's entire life was spent upon the farm, where neither time nor opportunity af- forded the necessary schooling so needful to the youthful mind. During the political whirlwind that swept Kansas in the early 'nineties and caused such transformation of public sentiment, he studied closely the various problems of general interest and was thoroughily conversant with the most intricate ques- tions of national importance and magnitude. Politically Mr. Moore has always been a Republican, and was nominated by that party and elected in 1897, when · his three colleagues were defeated and the opposition party was at its zenithi. During his term of office his cheerful. pleasant and obliging manner won for him many new friends, and he was re-elected in 1899 by a much larger majority, while his three political colleagues were again defeated. In the spring of 1900 he was elected a member of the city council, but resigned in a short time that he might devote himself more fully to other important matters.
In December, 1897, Mr. Moore was united in marriage to Millie, the
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youngest daughter of Alfred and Elizabeth Dotson, who emigrated from West Virginia in 1870 and settled on a homestead in Arion township. Cloud county, Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore three children have been born, viz: Norman. Ross and Lawrence.
Mr. Moore is also an earnest advocate of Christianity and preaches for the Church of Christ at Concordia, as well as other points. Ile is one of the few who assisted in the erection of a house of worship in the city of Concordia, which is neither sectional, factional or denominational. This house was built by worshippers alone, for the purpose of worship alone. In business Mr. Moore is clever, progressive and enterprising. He has acquired more than the average degree of knowledge and is a man of rec- ognized ability and authority on various questions of vital interest and importance. In religion he sees no creed but the Bible, no faith but the Christ. In his official capacity he is competent, courteous, kind and obliging. and those who know him best are his warmest friends.
ERNEST V. KING.
Success in photography more than in almost any other business or pro- fession depends upon the natural endowments and the fitness of the indi- vidual who has chosen that field for his labors. To become even a mediocre in the art, the operator must exercise his faculties incessantly, for, while frequenting picture shops, the author has discerned that even the most pro- ficient are far from being invariably sure of results. Whatever the skill of the photographer may be, however well adapted for his chosen calling, he does not gain prominence without extended and intense application to work. The subject of this sketch, E. V. King, many of whose photographs furnish illustrations for this volume, has made rapid gains toward the goal of his ambitions, since establishing his studio in Concordia in August. 1897. Mr. King "loves art for art's sake," and seemingly does not recognize a limita- tion. He is an indefatigable worker and can be found in his studio from early morn until the lengthening shadows drive him from the work he seems to have an irresistible passion for, and which makes it possible for him to acquire skill. Mr. King is young in years, having been born in 1874, but there is no time in the life of an artist (for a photographer must be an artist to succeed ) when he is not a student. Lincoln. Nebraska. is the place of his nativity. He was reared in his native state and began his present vocation as an apprentice with William Griffin, of Hebron, Nebraska. Mr. . King conducted a gallery for one year prior to his advent in Concordia. He has a commodious and up-to-date studio on the second floor of the Dun- ning block, and has built up a lucrative patronage. He employs W. E. Gates, a practical photographer. Mr. Gates is formerly of Ohio, the state of his birth. but with his parents emigrated to Nebraska, where he and Mr. King were friends in their boyhood days.
Mr. King was married in the spring of 1897 and his family is repre-
"1900"
-1103
Lymaring
THE NEW PUBLIC LIEN.
AITOR, LEHRY TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
sented by a wife and two sons, Lyman and Karl. The illustration on the opposite page shows the growth of Lyman, their first born, and also demon- strates the progress Mr. King has made in art in the intervening space of time. Mr. King is a Republican politically, is a member of the city council and the member-elect of the school board from the Third ward. Mr. and Mrs. King are charter members and active workers of the Christian church, Mr. King being one of the church officials.
NAPOLEON JOSEPH CHOQUETTE.
N. J. Choquette is one of the substantial business men of Concordia. He is a native of Canada and was born in 1863. He is of French extrac- tion on his father's side, but his maternal ancestors were of Scotch origin. He is a son of Napoleon and Theresa (McDuff) Choquette, both natives of Canada.
N. J. Choquette is a graduate of St. Cesaire Commercial College of the class of 1883. He started in life as a clerk in his own town, St. Damase, in a general merchandise store. In 1889 he came to the United States, locat- ing at Fall River, Massachusetts, where he filled the position of bookkeeper for two years. In 1891 he came west and stopped at Concordia. He was penniless and in debt ere he obtained employment. With a five weeks' board bill confronting him he secured a clerkslip in the grocery store of C. A. Betourney, which position he held for nine years. At the expiration of this period he became associated with Mr. Renard in the furniture business and by their thrift, enterprise and close attention to business they built up an extensive and lucrative trade. In 1902 Mr. Choquette sold his interest in the furniture house of Choquette & Renard and after a few months had elapsed he opened a place of business on Main street, between Washington and Broadway. His stock is new and fresh and Mr. Choquette will doubt- less command his share of the patronage.
Mr. Choquette was married in 1890 to Mrs. Minnie Ragsdale, who died in 1894, leaving a child by a former marriage, who now resides with her grandparents in Iowa. In 1897 he was married to Ella Smith, a pop- ular young woman, who had been employed in the primary grades of the Concordia schools for several years. She is a native of Iowa and received her educational training at Monticello. They are the parents of a bright and interesting little daughter four years of age. The Choquettes have a very desirable home near the end of Sixth street. Mr. Choquette is a Repub- lican voter, a member of the Order of Maccabees, Knights of Pythias and the Modern Tonties.
PARK B. PULSIFER.
The legal profession is represented in the city of Concordia by some exceptionally bright talent and among those who have won marked dis- tinction as a leading member of the bar within the space of a comparatively
19
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
few years is Park B. Pulsifer. For five years prior to casting his future with that of Concordia Mr. Pulsifer was associated in the office of the well-known attorneys, Taylor & Pollard, of St. Louis, one of the leading firms of that city. Mr. Pollard, an ex-congressman from the Tenth Missouri district, is an uncle of Mr. Pulsifer. Mr. Pulsifer has come to the front rapidly since he came to Cloud county in 1885 and proven himself especially adapted to the profession. Ile is a popular and logical speaker, has been engaged in many important cases and is regarded as one of the most shrewd attorneys in northwest Kansas.
VIVIAN E. ZIMMERMAN, M. D.
Among the young physicians of the county few have gained more prominence in the same length of time than Dr. Vivian E. Zimmerman, the subject of this sketch. Not far distant from the city of Denver, among the foothills of Weld county, Colorado, he first opened his eyes to the light of day. in the year 1877. lle is a son of A. J. Zimmerman, of Grant township ( see sketch), and with his parents came to Kansas in 1878. He received his rudimentary education in the district schools and by pursuing his studies at home, for, as a boy. he was a stu- (lent, and early in life had dreams and aspirations tending toward a professional career. When a lad about six years of age he sustained a serious loss in the death of his moth- er. a woman of gentle and noble char- acter. After her demise he was taken into the home of his paternal grandparents. His boyhood days were not all sunshine, but he worked his way through the common branch- es, and his determination to gain a profession rendered the undertaking possible. Not at the instigation of family or friends did he choose the career of an M. D., but from youth adopted medicine as his choice and never wavered from his purpose. Prior to studying medicine, however, DR. VIVIAN E. ZIMMERMAN. he entered upon a course of pharmacy at home, more as a means of gaining the desired end, than from a taste for that calling. At the age of seventeen years he secured a position as drug clerk and continued in that capacity between three and four years. In the meantime
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
he read medicine with Dr. C. I. Tidd, of Geneva, Iowa, and later with Dr. G. L. Goss, of Sheffield, Iowa, gaining a credit of one year in the med- ical college of St. Joseph, Missouri. After two years in that institution, his first experience in professional work was at Longford, Kansas, in the autumn of 1900, under a preceptor. Desiring more complete medical knowl- edge he subsequently entered the Nashville Medical College, graduated from there in the spring of 1901 and returned to Longford. In December of the same year hie located in Concordia, where he has since been established. January 16, 1902, he received the appointment of county physician and held that office one year in connection with his private practice, which is steadily increasing. Cramping restrictions incident to financial situations were expe- rienced in Dr. Zimmerman's struggle to gain a profession and he has encountered many obstacles along his career, requiring much energy and courage to tide over these years of anxiety. However, success came as it invariably must to the energetic and faithful. It may safely be predicted that the future years hold for Dr. Zimmerman professional honors. He is a close student, devoted to his profession, and, like hundreds of western young men, is self-educated and self-made, a demonstration which carries with it a recommend.
HONORABLE WILLIAM T. SHORT.
William T. Short, one of the prominent residents of Concordia, ex-rep- resentative and well-known building contractor, was the first white child born in the township where his parents resided in Stark county, Indiana. His birth occurred May 20, 1847. He is a son of Job and Nancy Short, who were both born in Sussex county, Delaware, in the years 1812 and 1810, respectively. They were married in 1830 and eight years later emi- grated to Cass county, Indiana, and thence to Stark county, where they remained thirteen years and then removed to Plymouth, in the same state. When they left their native Delaware there were not many railroads in exist- ence, especially to the westward, and the greater part of their journey was accomplished on flatboats that plied the Ohio river. Their neighbors in the new home consisted largely of wild Indians, but with the industry and per- severance that characterize the pioneer of every country, they cleared a farm in the wilderness and gained a home. Their family consisted of nine children, six sons and three daughters, four of whom are living. Mr. Short's parents were also pioneers of Kansas. They settled in Washington county, five miles east of Clyde in 1867 and subsequently removed to Con- cordia, where they lived until their deaths. The paternal ancestry of Mr. Short were Danish, his forefathers having emigrated to Delaware in the sixteenth century. They are a long lived race, all having lived to a ripe old old age.
Mr. Short received a good common school education at Plymouth, Indi- ana, and pursued an academic course, but ere he had finished lie enlisted his
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
services to sustain the stars and stripes. He was a member of Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Indiana Regiment. After being discharged he re-entered school, but in 1866 he began learning the trade that has brought him good financial returns. That he might more fully complete the require- ments he went to Chicago in 1871, where he resided until 1873, when he came to Concordia, his present home and where probably he has erected more buildings than any other two men who have been engaged in con- tracting.
Mr. Short has always been an uncompromising Republican, voted while in the army for Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and has clung to the "old bark" through evil as well as good repute. Ile was elected to represent Cloud county in the legislature in the autumn of 1898 and re-elected in 1900. In the various orders with which he is associated he has advanced to the highest office in the lodge. He is identified with the Knights of Honor, Knights of Pythias. Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of the Maccabees and Grand Army of the Republic. He has served three terms as member of the city council and two terms on the board of education in Concordia. In sum- ming up his characteristics, social and official career, Mr. Short jocosely remarked, "1 am a full-blooded Methodist, but have not been working at the business much of late."
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