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 36
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Mr. Fell was married in 1883 to Miss Laura Mahaffey, of Washing- ton county, Kansas, but formerly of Ohio. Their family comprises three children : Nina, their only daughter, who finished a course in the Great Western Business College, is a stenographer and bookkeeper and is employed in her father's office. Claud and Ralph are school boys aged fif- teen and ten years respectively. Mr. Fell maintains a modern residence at 521 West Seventh street.
The character of citizenship that marks the career of Mr. Fell is of the highest type. He is a polished, kindly gentleman, public-spirited, generous and progressive, the sort of man that would make friends anywhere.
THE DUDLEY LUMBER COMPANY.
The yards of the Dudley Lumber Company were established in Con- cordia by a Mr. Greene, who was succeeded by H. C. Dudley, and subse- quently incorporated under its present title. Owing to failing health Mr.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
Dudley returned to his eastern home in the state of Maine and was succeeded by C. W. Browning, who in turn vielded the place to its present manager, S. C. Ainsworth, in July, 1902. The company represent a paid-up capi-
YARDS OF THE DUDLEY LUMBER COMPANY.
tal of fifteen thousand dollars and carry a complete line of building lumber, cement and coal. Mr. Ainsworth was reared among the lakes of Wiscon- sin, where he was an expert yatchsman. He has followed the lumber busi- ness from the tree on down the line until he can manufacture any article in woodwork. Mr. Ainsworth settled in eastern Kansas in 1871. but later removed to Missouri. His return to Kansas verifies the statement that all who leave, "no matter where they roam," will return.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ.
A record of any one of the pioneers of Cloud county can not but afford interest to the present generation and furnish material for thought and reflection. They are not only the heirs, but also the debtors to these hardy men and women who left their eastern homes and associates, the friends of their happy youthful days, to traverse the plains to the frontier, where with brave hearts and frugal habits they materially assisted in the development of a truly great state. To this class belongs Michael Schwartz, whose name will be perpetuated as one of the earliest settlers of Sibley township. He located his homestead in the autumn of 1865 and has been a resident of the township a greater length of time than any of its present citizens. Mr. Schwartz is a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, born in 1834. His parents were John and Margaret (Wolfe) Schwartz. Having been deprived by death of a mother's counsels and care. our subject early in life acquired a tendency to wander and when eighteen years of age emigrated to America and settled in Chicago when the "Windy City" was of much less importance than her millions on top of millions represent today. He did various and
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
sundry things for a livelihood until 1860, when, having accumulated a small bank account. he removed to the state of lowa and secured eighty acres of land in Buchanan county, but when the call for volunteers was issued the young German, who had adopted America as his home, rented his land, responded to the first appeal and enlisted in Company A. Fifty-eighth Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, and remained in the service until the last bugle call. Within two weeks from the time of his enlistment his company was sta- tioned in the front rank. He was fortunate enough to participate in the hard-fought battles of Ft. Donelson, Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh, Corinth and many other engagements and skirmishes, where hundreds of brave men fell. a prey to the enemy's bullets, and escape without a wound. During his soldier life Mr. Schwartz was married. He returned home on a furlough and reclaimed the "girl he left behind him"-Miss Rosina Free. a young woman of his native land from the kingdom of Wurtemburg; but whom he first met in America. Mrs. Schwartz came with her parents to the United States, when ten years of age, and settled in Buchanan county, Iowa in 1853. In 1865 our subject fitted up a team, a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and with his wife started in quest of a new country, which they found in all the term implies. When they arrived in the vicinity of Leaven- worth they inet members of the militia, who tokl them of the new settlement at Fort Sibley and directed them thither. They found the fortress on sec- tion 21. just one-half mile east of their present home, and occupied by the families of Byron Cross and Dennis Taylor. The soldiers had departed and Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz also moved into a cabin, all of which were fortified with logs. Mrs. Schwartz was fated to spend all the earlier part of her life on the outskirts of civilization and became almost immune to the usual Indian scares and braved the dangers alone for days at a time and when there were five different tribes of savages in the vicinity of their homestead. It was truly on the frontier in 1865, the hills being covered with herds of buffalo and antelope and the wild turkeys came in droves around the door of their sod-covered cabin.
Mr. Schwartz started from lowa with eleven hundred dollars, but as flour was ten dollars per hundred, corn meal five dollars and with other articles of provision in proportion their little fortune disappeared like mist before the sun. After the Indian uprising in 1867-8 Mr. Schwartz, like most of the set- tlers. left. temporarily, for safer quarters, and not having raised a crop they were in reduced circumstances until 1869, when he had corn to sell. With the year 1871 they began to prosper, and after that period, notwithstanding the grasshopper visitation, they assumed measures for building a comfort- able and permanent home. In 1871 he bought the forty acres where his pres- ent residence now stands and erected a habitable dwelling, which he has remodeled, added to and continues to reside in. Mr. Schwartz's home is , near the new river channel, two miles north of Concordia, in Sibley town- ship. section 20. He now owns two hundred and three acres in this locality and a quarter section in Aurora township. all under a fine state of improve-
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
ments. He has been successful as a stockman and has made the bulk of his estate in raising hogs; he has also prospered in producing cattle and horses.
Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz. all of whom but one are living. They lost their third daughter, Lucy, at the age of nine- teen years. Caroline is the wife of Charles Bealım, a successful farmer of Sibley township. They are the parents of four children. Roy. Edith. Ivy and Ray. Susan is the wife of William Pickering, of Martin. Missouri. They are the parents of one child, Willie, aged five. Delia is the wife of William Finley, a Sibley farmer. The other daughters are unmarried and live at home. They are Eliza, Rosa and Lizzie, prepossessing young women. Mr. Schwartz's daughters being in the majority, they have very substan- tially assisted in the duties pertaining to farm life and are accorded much credit for their share of the prosperity. Their son. Albert. is the second child, a young man of twenty-two years.
Mr. Schwartz is a Republican and takes an interest in political issues. The entire family are indutsrious, enterprising people, who have contributed their quota toward the development of local resources.
CHICAGO LUMBER COMPANY.
The extensive yards of the Chicago Lumber Company were established in Concordia as early as 1872. The principal owners of this vast corporation are S. H. Fullerton. of St. Louis, and Robert Fullerton, of Des Moines, lowa. Their brother and traveling auditor, F. H. Fullerton, is interested and is one of the directors of the enterprise. W. H. Fullerton, another brother who was associated with them for years, and was their western manager, has recent- ly withdrawn. The company represents a capital of two and a half million dollars- one of the most extensive lumber corporations in the - entire United States-and do the largest business. They operate about fifty retail yards. practically speaking. all in Kansas. Their general offices are in St. Louis, with branch offices in Chicago, Louisville, Minneapolis, Ta- coma and Des Moines. The YARDS OF THE CHICAGO LUMBER COMPANY. company was inaugurated in 1866. M. T. Greene, who was drowned in Lake Michigan about four years ago, was the principal stockholder at the time of its organization.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
The Fullertons held but small interests up to the time of locating yards in Kansas. They carry everything in building material and have coal yards in connection. Most of their yellow pine lumber comes from the south and also their cypress. Their spruce and cedar that fifteen years ago was shipped in from the Michigan and Wisconsin pineries is now furnished from the west. J. D. Fell, their present manager, took charge of the Concordia yard October 1. 1891. That this is one of the best retail plants in the state is in no small degree owing to the progressive spirit of Mr. Fell. Their investment in Con- cordia represents about thirty thousand dollars. There are four men employed. The yards comprise nine blocks, the buildings and sheds are modern in character and kept freshly painted, which gives them an air of prosperity.
HONORABLE GOMER TALIESIN DAVIES.
For more than a score of years Gomer T. Davies has been at the head
HONORABLE GOMER T. DAVIES.
of a western newspaper. and notwithstanding the political animosities that have arisen from time to time, he has stood firm and steadfast by the con-
KANSAN PRINTING HOUSE
FIRST HOME OF THE KANSAN- ITS PRESENT QUARTERS.
THE EDITOR'S CORNER.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
victions he deems best for the people and the country. Mr. Davies has been intensely devoted to his chosen field, and the result of his close application is obvious in the well-edited columns of the Kansan and the patronage it receives from the citizens of Cloud county.
In an article contributed to the official report of the seventeenth annual convention of the National Editorial Association, which convened at Hot Springs, Arkansas, April 15-18, 1902. George W. Martin, secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, among other fetching things, with reference to Mr. Davies, says: "The country newspaper publisher is a man unto him- self. There is no other like him. His wrestle for the provender which sup- ports life, his contests with the world and the devil in behalf of all that is good. necessitates a variety of talents, a vigilance and an industry, wholly unnecessary with Mr. Morgan or other mergers, who simply float along with millions and billions accumulated near the mouth of the great river of com- merce and industry. It is the man at the head of the stream, with nothing but what nature has given him, who perforins miracles with this old world of ours, and who gives to the current its direction for usefulness that causes the wheels of production to go round
"The country newspaper publisher is the most important of all the fac- tors at the beginning of things. It is he who gets near the home, who is known and read in every household of his bailiwick. Every line in a coun- try newspaper is read by the grown folks and the children alike in each household where it enters, and not merely skimmed over, or only headlines read. as is the case with the city papers. Hence there is no overestimating the sway of the rural newspaper.
At this convention Mr. Davies was honored by one hundred and sev- enry-seven of the two hundred and seventy-seven votes cast that elected him second vice-president of the association, and, referring to this considera- tion. Mr. Martin further says: "It is a matter of interest to all. and of good judgment upon the part of the National Editorial Association, that, at its late meeting, it came to central Kansas for one of its vice-presidents. The association is to be congratulated that in its selection of Gomer T. Davies, of the Concordia Kansan, it has an all-around bunch of Kansas nerve and inspiration, of editorial and business ability, and of general usefulness to the fraternity and to the public." And the state at the meeting of their last Editorial Association recommended Mr. Davies for the office of first vice- president, to be determined when they meet in Omaha, in July of the pres- ent year (1903). He was president of the Kansas North Central Editorial Association in 1896, and for 1901 was president of the Kansas State Edi- torial Association.
He is prominent in various social orders, has passed through all the chairs of the Odd Fellow's lodge and is one of four candidates for grand master of the order. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Work- men. Knights of Pythias. Woodmen of America and the Order of Elks. Mr. Davies is a significant member of the Concordia Commercial Club and
THE FOREMAN'S CORNER.
1
1
-
1-RING
IN THE BUSINESS OFFICE.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
one of the directors of the Kansas Historical Society, in which he and every loyal citizen of the state takes pardonable pride.
Mr. Davies' success has been phenomenal. He started in the nejys- paper business with but two dollars in his pocket, but he appealed his case to the enterprising people of Kansas, to win or lose his small capital-and won. Ilis standing, socially and financially, indicates the verdict. He owns his office, a two-story brick buikling, ninety feet deep, equipped with the most modern machinery : a farm within a mile of Concordia, and a comfortable home in the city.
The birth of Mr. Davies occurred at Pont-y-pridd, Glanmorganshire,
-------
N
A MODEL PRINTERY.
South Wales. January 25. 1855. Mr. Martin says: "One would not think this of him at all. for he is just as rational as though born in Podunk town- ship. Pennsylvania : Posey county. Indiana, or on the White Rock in Kans is. He emigrated to America in 1863. After a residence of a few years in Pennsylvania he removed to Livingston county, Missouri : but. imbued with the same spirit as many foreign-born people adopting America for their home, he left the scenes of older civilization and moved further westward, into Iowa, where he lived from 1869 until 1882. when he wisely turned his attention towards northwest Kansas and in 1883 purchased the Republic County News, his first newspaper venture. While editor-in-chief of this paper Mr. Davies was twice elected by the Republican party to represent his
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
district, which comprised the north half of Republic county, in the state leg- islature. sessions of 1887 and 1889. November 18, 1896, Mr. Davies bought the Kansan and removed to Concordia. He was married in 1879 and his family consists of a wife and seven children.
The journalistic career of Mr. Davies is characterized by his sense of discrimination between right and wrong, and his acuteness along these lines is evinced by the abiding good will of the people, who demonstrate their approval by a renewal of their subscription annually. There are few homes the Kansan does not reach.
GEORGE E. HIBNER.
One of the old settlers of Cloud county is George E. Hibner. who located three miles west of Concordia in 186 ;. and was the second sheriff of Cloud county, Quincy Honey having preceded him two terms. Mr. Hib- ner served with honor to himself and when his term expired he stepped down and out with the good will and best wishes of the people. He has been engaged in farming since that time ( January, 1872.) has prospered abund- antly and is ranked with the best citizens of Sibley township.
NADEAU'S SHOE STORE.
The above firm, of which the accompanying cut is the interior, is con- posed of the brothers. Joseph D. and H. G. Nadeau. who began business in Concordia in August. 1902. or rather succeeded George Mohr, who estab-
2
INTERIOR OF NADEAU'S SHOE STORE.
lished the store in the early days of Concordia and remained continuously until 1902. Their stock is clean and well selected and they are receiving
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
what they merit-their share of the trade-for they are energetic and relia- ble men.
The Nadeaus came to Cloud county in 1885, and located in Lincoln township on a farm, where they lived until 1900. They are originally from Canada. The senior member of the firm, Joseph D., is a man of family- a wife and four children. The Nadeans are prominent fixtures and rank with the best and most progressive Arms in Concordia
RICHARD COUGHLEN.
The impressive arch observed over the gateway as one advances near the long avenue, lined by trees, announces the approach of "Prairie Lea," the modern country home of Richard Conghlen. Of the prosperity inher- ited by the settlers of the carly 'sixties none are entitled to a more substantial claim than Mr. Coughlen. He came to the vast area of prairie when in its true pioneer state-when on the frontier in the real meaning of the term. He remained all through the strenuous times of its sister- hood and endured years of anxiety ere con- ditions assumed good working order. He came to the state in May. 1862, and pre- empted one hundred and sixty acres of land on Elm creek, built a cabin and lived there seven years. The settlement was comprised of but four families, Hagaman. Thorp. Fenskie and Czapanskiy. In 1870 Mr. Coughlen rented his land on Elm creek, homesteaded on section 26, and later sold the former. Our subject's dreams of broad acres. far reaching in agricultural splendor. herds of cattle and horses, droves of hogs (that when sold upon the market add very materially to his ducats ). vast fields of corn, RICHARD COUGHLEN. huge bins of wheat and a comfortable, happy home are realized. The Coughlen residence is situated in a bend on the bank of Oak creek and is surrounded on three sides, north, east and west, by the timber of this stream-a charming location. This was one of the first good dwellings in the community. built in 1874. The lumber in part was hauled from Waterville, the terminus of the railroad, and a portion was obtained by drawing logs to Concordia and having them sawed at Mr. Lanoue's mill. While engaged in this stage of the work Mr. Coughlen found his labors arduous and met with many reverses : among them he was upset in the river while hauling logs, but a ducking was the least of this misfortune. The external membranous covering of his own body was impervious to the waves of the Republican river, but they were demoralizing to the buckskin 1
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
pantaloons he wore, which shrunk into so small a compass as to necessitate their being cut from his body. But "it is an ill wind that blows nobody good." Mr. Coughlen changed the relative position and value of his con- tracted garments by braiding them into an ox whip.
Mr. Coughlen is a native of county Kings, Ireland, born in 1838. When a small lad he emigrated to America with his parents and settled in Madison county, New York, where his father and mother died. Having been left an orphan he subsequently began to roam and resided temporarily in various parts of the United States. He is the second youngest of a family of seven children. Three sisters survive and live in lowa, Chicago and Streator. Illinois, respectively. Mr. Coughlen came from LaSalle county, Illinois, to Nemaha county, Kansas. in 1859. He and a nephew had started for the famous gold fields of Pike's Peak, but as they encountered the returning crowds, traveling in various modes, walking. wheeling barrows. carts, etc .. the fields elysian seemed less alluring, and discouraged many people en route to the Eldorado. When our subject and his comrade arrived at Ft. Kearney they decided to turn their faces toward the new prairies of Kansas, which, if less illusive, seemed a safer proposition, and they retraced their journey over the Little Blue to Nemaha county. From this point the actual career of Mr. Coughlen found its beginning. With three yoke of oxen he freighted over the plains from the Missouri river to the gold diggings known as "Buck Skin Joe," across South Park, near Hartzell. Colorado, and contin- ued in this intrepid traffic all through and after the war. After coming to Cloud county he made one overland trip; he moved his family to Nehama county to protect them from the Indians and hauled freight from Missouri to Colorado. During this period Mr. Coughlen experienced some hair- breadth escapes. In 1865 two men were massacred within one hundred yards of Mr. Coughlen's camp. They were night-herders; the savages shot and wounded the men and then scalped them while still alive. The second boss of the crew had two arrows fired into his body, but recovered. The two victims survived long enough to give the details of the assault. After firing all the cartridges in the chambers of their revolvers the Indians came so close the wounded men threw their guns at them. The band was pursued by soldiers and many of them were killed.
Their camp, with its government quota of sixty armed men was aroused one starlit night on the Platte river by an attempted attack. The mules on the grounds gave evidence of hearing or scenting danger, as the Indians were seemingly after the stock with the intention of running it off. The entire party was ordered to lie close to the earth. a moment later the outlines of the redskins were sighted against the horizon. the signal was given and when the volley of deadly shot and bullets was turned into the advancing band of savages, from shotguns loaded with buck-shot and long-range rifles in the hands of unerring marksmen. they beat a hasty retreat from what was evidently one of the most complete surprises they had ever been treated to in their thier-
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
ing expeditions. The freighters could not discern their movements through the smoke-laden atmosphere, but hastily reloaded to prepare for the second fusilade if necessary. Many a dead warrior would have been left on the field if he had not been strapped to his pony, as is their custom, that their slain may be carried away. Mr. Coughlen was a member of the Kansas militia and wielded his Springfield musket and Smith's carbine for several years on the frontier. He retains the Remington six-shooter that he car- ried during those days : it is a formidable looking weapon, and he has killed buffalo with it. Mr. Conghlen was one of the fourteen men who were organized to rescue Miss White from captivity among the Indians.
Mr. Coughlen was married to Mary Robertson in 1861. Of their four children, all lived to maturity. William Lincoln was deceased at the age of seventeen years. Jenette is the deceased wife of John Empire; two children survive her. Flo and Clarence. The two living children are a daughter and a son. Lizzie is the widow of William Townsdin, an Oak creek farmer ; she is the parent of one child. a son, William Ira.
Mr. Coughlen at one time owned two sections of land but he deeded to Mrs. Townsdin one hundred and sixty acres in Osborne county, a quarter section in Washington county, another near Aurora and one hundred and sixty acres in the Solomon valley. The son is David R. Coughlen, who was a prosperous Cloud county farmer and stockman, until compelled to leave the farm and seek returning health in the southern clime of California.
In 1884 Mr. Coughlen was married to Miss Eliza Moore, a daughter of William Moore, who emigrated from Vermont to Wisconsin, where Mrs. Coughlen was born. She was visiting a relative in Kansas, where she met and married Mr. Coughlen. She is a refined woman who possesses the admirable trait of making home attractive.
Politically Mr. Coughlen is an out-and-out dyed-in-the-wool Repub- lican. He has been identified with the Odd Fellows for a quarter of a century.
EDGAR MARTIN KENYON.
To the large per cent. of emigrants who came to Kansas without cap- ital and have forged their way to prosperity and prominence, belongs the sub- ject of this sketch, Edgar Martin Kenyon. From the original wilderness of prairie his homestead and possessions have increased until he owns five hun- dred and sixty acres of finely cultivated land, herds of cattle and hogs, a res- idence of modern architecture that would do credit to a city, and barns fashioned after the commodious structures of the east.
Mr. Kenyon continues to live on the homestead that has undergone all these changes since he located his claim in 1870. He came to the new west alone, and after building 'a very unpretentious house and purchasing a sack of flour, for which he paid seven dollars per hundred pounds, the settler, remote from his eastern home and family, was left on the sparsely inhabited
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
prairie with but four dollars in his pocket-his cash capital; but he was not discouraged, felt no reluctance, for he was young, sanguine and ambitious, and believing the future held golden harvests. he spent the summer prepar- ing for the arrival of his wife and son. Orlin ( their only child at that time ), with a light and happy heart. He secured employment hauling freight at $1.25 per hundred. for Sibley's pioneer merchant, J. D. Robertson. Mr. Kenyon had nothing to lose, but prospered from the beginning. notwith- standing reverses brought about from grasshoppers and hot winds. When bountiful harvests began smiling on their little western home, a substantial and imposing residence sprung into existence and the primitive dwelling vanished. In addition to the spade, the scythe and the plow, with which he carried on farming, his estate is abundantly supplied with every implement known to agriculture for planting and garnering the grain with economy and profit.
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