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 43
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
W. E. Gray is head miller. At the expiration of six months the capacity of the mill was increased from one hundred to three hundred barrels. The cor- poration has a paid up capital of twenty-nine thousand dollars. The present value of the property is about seventy thousand dollars.
The mill is equipped with the latest Nordyke machinery and their trade extends as far east as Cleveland, Ohio, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, as far south as Chattanooga and Nashville, and west to Denver. The milling
Clyde Jill - 300 BbL.
ONE OF CLYDE'S GROWING INDUSTRIES.
company also operates an elevator in connection, with a storing capacity of thirty thousand bushels. When running full force this corporation gives employment to fifteen men.
The main building of the Clyde Roller Mill is eighty by sixty feet in dimensions, three stories and a basement with engine and boiler room thirty by forty feet. The mill basement contains two line shafts, elevator boots and conveyer, taking wheat from three dumps. The first floor contains eight double stands of Nordyke & Marmon Company rollers. One stand 9x36 first and second break; one stand 9x30, third and fourth break; one stand 9×18, first middlings; one stand 9x18, second middlings; one stand 9x24, fourth middlings and first sizings; one stand 9x18, third middlings; one stand 9×8, tailings and second sizings; one stand 9x18, fifth and sixth mid- dlings; one three pair high 9x18 feed mill; one bran packer, one shorts packer, one flour cylinder, two flour packers, one hopper scale, and three platform scales. From this floor on the west is the flour storage room
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
120x60 feet. The second floor contains two single purifiers, one double purifier, three dust collectors, one bran duster, one shorts duster, four wheat scourers, one suction fan for feed exhaust, one separator. This floor also contains two wheat tempering bins and one bin over each packer. The third floor contains three large swing sifters, four large dust collectors, one corn cleaner, one receiving separator, one milling separator, one reel for bolting corn meal, and one reel for rye flour. Four flour dressers, also elevator heads, shafting, etc. The driveway on the north of mill contains three dumps, above which is storage for one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of wheat. The engine is a one hundred and fifty horse power Twin City Corliss and boiler capacity of two hundred horse power. Also in the engine room there is a dynamo which furnishes electric light for the mill. All the machinery in the mill is of the Nordyke & Marmon make and is all of the latest pattern. The machinery was installed by Theodore Ponsar, one of Nordyke & Mar- mon Company's expert millwrights.
The following personal sketches of the management who have brought this enterprise up to its present standard will be of interest to the public gen- erally. They are all highly successful business men who have spared no expense in fitting and making this mili come up to the requirements of the trade.
A. Wangerien, the president of the company, is a thorough business man and came to Kansas from Cleveland, Ohio, about twenty-five years ago, locating near the little town of Vining, where he established a general merchandising business, and later bought a half interest in an elevator which has a storing capacity of thirty-five thousand bushels. He owns about two thousand acres of fine land lying east of Clyde and north and south of Vin- ing, and has a herd of about four hundred Hereford cattle.
R. B. Miller, vice president and general manager, was a successful grain buyer and elevator man for several years. In the latter part of the 'eighties he became interested in the. milling business and has made a success i? both lines. He is one of the directors of the Flk State Bank. He is president of the Effingham & Muskotah Telephone Company and is recognized as one of Clyde's most capable business men. Mr. Miller, with his family, reside in Clyde.
James Sager, secretary. came to Vining about the same time Mr. W.an- gerien did and engaged in the implement business; also invested in land. He now owns about two thousand acres and five hundred head of fine Here ford cattle. He is a native of Canada and was practically a poor man wh he came, another illustration of what energy can do in Kansas.
John Woodruff is a farmer living cast of Clyde. He came to Kansa a poor man with an ox team a quarter of a century ago. He now owns : model stock farm of four hundred acres. These men all exhibit keen inter- est in the development of agriculture and stock raising.
James B. Sager, bookkeeper and assistant manager, graduated from the Ottawa, Canada, Normal and is an expert in his profession. He has been
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
connected with the firm since they began operations in 1900. He is also sec- retary and one of the stockholders of the Effingham & Muskotah Telephone Company. He is a resident of Clyde.
The Clyde Milling Company have one of the best equipped mills west of Atchison and one of the best millers in W. E. Gray that money or skill can secure. Mr. Gray has a reputation of being one of the best millers in the state of Nebraska, where he was connected with some of the largest mills for years, until the Clyde Milling Company were fortunate enough to secure his services a year ago. The mill turns out the following brands : "Clyde's Best," "Clyde's Golden Gate" and "Hard to Beat." Mr. Gray has developed a specialty in the way of health flour, which is in every way equal (and by many thought superior )to Ralston's Health Flour, retain- ing the digestive qualities, that white flour lacks, and is a most nutritious and palatable food product. No expense has been spared in bringing this mill up to its present standard. It is strictly up-to-date and it is the inten- tion to make it a lasting advertisment of the company's reliability and practical knowledge of the milling business. The magnitude of this enter- prise financially reaches two hundred thousand dollars annually. The past six months it was eighty-six thousand dollars, and the season was con- sidered below the average, showing their trade to be on the increase, as it justly deserves.
HONORABLE JOHN B. RUPE.
One of the highest tributes that could be paid Mr. Rupe, and one in which the writer feels assured all his friends and fellow citizens would acquiesce, is that no one would associate with him a thought unworthy of a true Christian gentleman. He is the very soul of honor. unselfish gen- erosity and integrity.
John B. Rupe is a son of the Reverend Samuel Rupe, who was a resident of Sumptions Prairie, St. Joseph county, Indiana, for over forty years, and was one of St. Joseph county's sturdy pioneers. He died in June, 1885, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He had been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since his boyhood and was a preacher of local note. He was an honest, upright, Christian man. greatly esteemed by his fellow citi- zens. Samuel Rupe was born in Ashe county, North Carolina, April 4, 1808. He emigrated with his parents to the state of Indiana and settled in Wayne county in 1812. When he had attained his majority he located in St. Joseph county, where he lived and labored all the eventful years of his life. Reverend Rupe was converted at the age of eighteen years and re- ceived his first license to preach from the distinguished preacher. Reverend James Armstrong, at a quarterly meeting held in a barn near the town of Goshen, Indiana.
Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Rupe have been interested witnesses to the develop- ment of Cloud county since its early settlement, and are a part of its history,
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
both pioneer and modern. They are editors and proprietors of the Clyde Herald, which entered upon its first volume in the city of Clyde, Thurs- day. May 9, 1879. and, since the consolidation of the Empire and Blade, is the oldest newspaper in Cloud county. J. B. Rupe & Company assumed the proprietorship of the Herald in November, 1883, and under their manage- ment it has developed into one of the best and most reliable papers issued in Cloud county. It advocates the politics of the Republican party and the principles of prohibition. It makes a boll and fearless stand for the prin- ciples of right and vigorously defends them. It is a clean paper and receives as it > justly deserves a large share of the public patronage.
The American Economist. a paper devoted to the protection of Amer- ican labor and industries, often publishes clippings from the Clyde Herald. In its issue of May 3, 1901, the following is noted : "Since the Dingley tariff has been built, our exports have so enormously increased as to become alarming to foreign nations." And again, "Europe had the new scare about getting its share of trade under Cleveland, but it is Mckinley that is playing hob with her." "Oh, some say hogs were seven cents once under Cleveland, but will you please remember that this was under his first admin- istration. See?"
Mrs. Rupe is a woman of fine business qualifications and one of the main spokes in the wheel that runs the Herald office, and the paper owes much of its success to her energy and ability, Mr. and Mrs. Rupe are among the earliest and most historical characters of the county. The author uses the word character, for that suits the action to the word and Dickens would have reveled in some of their distinguished qualities as material for one of his famous novels. He would have immortalized them.
The following biographical sketch accompanied with the pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Rupe appeared in an issue of The Kansan September 28. 1899. and is well worthy of space in these columns :
"TWO MIGHTY NICE PEOPLE.
"Two of the quaintest characters in the newspaper work of Kansas are the subiects of this sketch. They are Mr. and Mrs. John B. Rupe, editors and proprietors of the Clyde Herald. Why do we say quaint? Because there is no other paper in the state like the Clyde Herald. So we are going to say something about them in connection with the splendid pictures of them which we print. They will be surprised, we are sure, to see this, and it will take them some time to guess where we got their excellent photographs.
"John B. Rupe was born April 27. 1834, in St. Joseph county, Indiana. near South Bend. In his youth he taught school a spell and studied law at odd times and was admitted to the bar of that state some time in the early 'fifties. The Pike's Peak fever got a good grip on him and took him across the plains, and he was mining in a Colorado gold camp when the war of the Rebellion broke out. He enlisted in Company L. Second Colorado. He
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
was first sergeant of his company. At the close of the war Mr. Rupe came to Kansas with his brother, Frank, and settled on a claim on Elk creek, and has lived on the farm and at Clyde ever since. In the fall of 1866 he was chosen to represent the county (then Shirley) in the state legislature. During this session it was Mr. Rupe who had the name of the county changed to Cloud, in honor of Colonel W. F. Cloud, of the Second Kansas Regiment. Mr. Rupe contended then, and always has since, that the county was first named after a woman of unsavory character -- Jane Shirley. Mr. Rupe was the first representative the county had in the legislature.
"He was married to Mrs. Mary L. Smith, May 27. 1867. Mrs. Rupe's name was Mary L. Morley. She was born at Bristolville, Ashtabula county, Ohio. September 8, 1844. She came to Kansas with her parents in the spring of 1864. The family settled on a claim about three miles east of the present site of Clyde. She mar- HOx. JOHN B. RUPE. ried Andrew W. Smith, December 4, 1864. Mr. Smith was killed by Indians, on White Rock creek, near the Jewell county line, in the fall of 1866. Only one child came to bless this union-Owen C. Smith, who is in the employ of C. F. Armstrong. the creamery man. As before stated, she was married to Mr. Rupe, May 27. 1867. and it seems to us a more happily wedded pair never lived to bless each other. To Mr. and Mrs. Rupe four children have been born, three of whom are living: Louella V., wife of William McCarty, a farmer of Elk township; they are the parents of seven children, viz: Winnie, Dessie, Leo, Auberon, Ivan, Lauren and Gerald. The second daughter, Aldaretta .A., is the wife of William Wellman, a rural route mail carrier of Gallatin, Missouri; they are the parents of four daughters: Zella, Opal, Crystal and India. Frank, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Rupe, is a rural mail carrier and assists in the office very materially. He is married to Norva, a daughter of Marion Winter, of Clyde. Isetta died in infancy.
"Mr. and Mrs. Rupe lived on a farm, within a half mile of Clyde until 188.1, when the Herald was bought from J. S. Paradis, who had established it in 1878. Since MRS. MARY L. RUPE. the Rupes have owned it, it has never missed an issue or been a day late-it is as sure to come out on Wednesday as the sun to rise that day, so long as they are responsible for its publication and physically able to get it out. For be it known that no outsiders are permitted to touch their vile hands to such a sacred family affair as the Ilerald. Mrs. Rupe, diminutive little body that she is, does all the type-setting, making up and locking the forms ready for press. She is a rapid type-setter and accurate.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
Of course she learned the trade in the Herald office. The office is located in the rear rooms of their cozy but unpretentious residence, some little distance from the rush and bustle of the business houses, so that the Herald is a part and parcel of the Rupe household and home. Mrs. Rupe is so small of stature that she must needs stand on a box or sit on a high stool to put the types to clicking in her printer's stick; but she is a nervous, energetic little woman and seems never to be tired, and we have never yet seen her cross. The editor, our friend, John B., is of phlegmatic mould. He takes life easy and philosophically. He has one corner devoted to the sanctum, and in that corner, or, in summer time, out in front of the office door in the shade of a friendly box-elder, you'll surely find him, reading, writing or perhaps doz- ing a bit.
"Both are earnest and enthusiastic members of the State Editorial Association and the North-Central Kansas Editorial Association, and Mrs. Rupe is the treasurer of the Woman's Press Association of Kansas. None are more welcome at the association meetings, none would be more missed were they to stay away. The Herald, it is true, is not what one might term a great newspaper. It has a monotonous, uneventful, placid existence, pro- viding a sustenance to its owners that might be better, yet they are content with what they have and thankful it is no worse. The editorial tone can not well be charged with being sensational-yet fireworks can be easily set in motion thereabouts if anything should be said to John B. in derogation of Mckinley, the Republican party, or the Methodist Episcopal church. If Mckinley should take a fit to set a match to the White House, or plow up the lawn in front of it. Rupe would weave a story in praise of his foresight in forestalling some evil design of the Populist party. Floods, cyclones, or earthquakes have no terrors for John Rupe, so long as the Republican party doesn't burst up and the conference sends a good Methodist preacher to the church at Clyde. Drouths do not derange Rupe's happiness near so much as the defeat of a Republican candidate on the day of election. It makes no difference what the planks in the platform say, nor whom the convention designates to stand on the platform, they can bank for a certainty on one vote in Elk township for the Republican ticket. Aside from the extreme radicalism of our friend on these few points, the Herald is a strong sup- porter of good morals, adopts no subterfuge for policy sake and is out- spoken at all times. Their printing office is a bit out of date, as good coun- try printing offices go these days, but they do not whine because it is no bet- ter. The financial returns from their investment and their labor is not what one would desire. but they do not complain. Keeping well abreast of the times by much reading, enjoying fairly good health because of plenty of work to do, and blessed with contentment as a crowning glory for all. they are enjoying life's sunset midst the scenes that bring memories of sanguin- ary hopes and more youthful days. May they live long to bless mankind with their living lesson of contentment and loving devotion as husband and wife, is the wish of the Kansan."
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
FRANK B. RUPE.
The subject of this sketch belongs to that band of noble men and women called pioneers; who left their eastern homes to brave the dangers and hard- ships of the frontier. Mr. Rupe was born in St. Joseph county, Indiana, and emigrated to Cloud county March 26, 1866. He is a brother of John B. Rupe, the veteran editor of the "Clyde Herald."
Frank B. Rupe is justly proud of the distinction that he was the pro- moter of the first movement towards the organization of the present town- site of Clyde, the oldest town in Cloud county; and was an important factor in the financial engineering of the enterprise. In the annals of the Elk creek settlement Mr. Rupe's name will always occupy a place of prominence for he has been conspicuous in every worthy cause and one of the leaders in Christian and church work.
Mr. Rupe has attained a fair success in life: owns two hundred and forty acres of land that is par-excellent in quality. The dugout and log cabin of early days have been supplanted by a commodious and handsome resi- dence which stands near the center of his estate and is charmingly located on the banks of Elk creek. The east and west branches of the Elk find their confluence on his farm. Mr. Rupe is known and appreciated as a gentleman of high integrity and public spirit. He is entitled to these eulogiums be- cause of his upright character and sincerity of purpose.
DAVID TURNER, SR.
In March, 1866, David Turner, Sr., the subject of this memoir, with his son James, while on a prospecting tour visited Kansas. After retracing their journey and making the necessary preparations at their home in Nebraska, they returned to the new country in the month of May, joined the Elk creek settlement and secured government claims. During their early residence in Kansas they endured many of the incidents of frontier life- and endured them bravely as one who dips into the future and is rewarded by visions of victory and prosperity. The beautiful suburban home they now occupy is the original homestead and proves the rare good judgment David Turner, Sr., possessed.
The Irishman said: "Taking up land in Kansas is like betting $14.50 with 'Uncle Sam' against one hundred and sixty acres of land, that they could not live on it five years." But the Turners won out on this proposi- tion. From the date of their arrival on Elk creek they have been prominent factors of Clyde and vicinity, figuring largely in every good enterprise. David Turner, Sr., was one of the original town company and helped lay out the city of Clyde. He was the first township trustee of Elk township, one of the early county assessors and once elected county commissioner; though a staunch Democrat politically he received his first nomination through the Republican party. He was conceeded to be one of the best
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
commissioners Cloud county ever had. He maintained a potent interest in all enterprises originated in behalf of the people: especially was his in- fluence given to the promotion of the public schools. For years he was a leading man in all matters pertaining to the schools of Clyde, serving several years as member of the school board.
David Turner, Sr., descended from an ancient and honored Scottish family. Ile left Edinburg in 1840 to make a home in America. He first settled in Dodge county, Wisconsin, where he farmed with the zeal and energy of true Scotch yeomanry for fifteen years. Next they located in Minnesota, but twelve months later we find him with his son forging their way to the new west where as a result of earnest effort he accumulated a modest fortune and power for good, having left an influence with the locality where he was identified for so many years-a name above reproach. David Turner, Sr .. was deceased August 19, 1807. Mrs. Turner, who survived him was Jean Law before her marriage and is also of Scotch birth.
To Mr. and Mrs. Turner eight children were born and all arrived at manhood and womanhood and were useful men and women. James Tur- ner, the oldest son, is Clyde's enterprising furniture dealer, conducting the only business in that line in the city. He established this enterprise in 1883 and in the meantime purchased the stock of three different stores. James Turner is one of Clyde's most representative citizens and like his father is active in educational interests. He served thirteen years by election and an unexpired term by appointment as a member of the school board. No man is more interested in the developement and progress of Clyde or more loyal to the general welfare of the community. John, who was a prosperous farmer, died in 1882. David. Jr., a furniture dealer of Anadarko, Okla- homa. was for many years a farmer and esteemed business man of Clyde. William and Alexander are farmers, living on the okl homestead. Jean Margaret, is the widow of William E. Reid and the mother of Albert T. Reid. the distinguished artist, (see sketch elsewhere. ) George S., Frank .1., I.lewellyn Arthur and Jean Lucile. Mary E., who died in 1882, taught in the public schools. Elizabeth. the youngest daughter, also taught school at Clyde, before her marriage to Thos. Owen. Her death occurred in 1891.
The Turners are all Democrats politically. James Turner says the first time he voted in Cloud county there were but six Democratic votes in Elk township and three of those were accredited to the Turner family. In religion they are connected with and regular attendants of the Presbyterian church.
URIAH J. SMITH.
To the early settlers of Kansas, all honor is due. To the pioneer who bore the hardship and overcame the obstacles of frontier life, the present generation should take off their hats. The subject of this sketch, U. J. Smith came into the country when the territory was designated as the Great
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
American Desert, when destitute of law and order, and when the settlers were in constant fear and terror on account of the threatening perils that surrounded them incident to border ruffianism, and Indian depredations. He is not only one of the pioneers of Cloud county, but among the oldest settlers in the state. He, with his father Andrew Smith, emigrated west in 1855, and located in the town of Topeka, then a mere trading post. The following year, 1856 they removed to Cottonwood Falls, where they met with a serious misfortune-the death of our subject's mother. Mr. Smith had not attained his fifteenth year when he returned to hus native state and enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry and partici- pated in some of the hardest fought battles in the history of the Civil War. His regiment took part in the battle of Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg, Ream's Station, Appomattox Court House. Cold Harbor. The Wilderness. Peters- burg, and in the pursuit of Lee until the surrender. When this event took place the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth was a depleted regiment ; both officers and -privates came near being annihilated. Though constantly in the midst of shot and shell. Mr. Smith escaped without a wound, but was made prisoner under the surrender of Colonel Miles. He was immediately paroled but only to be captured the second time by the cele- brated guerilla chieftain, Mosby, and confined in the noted Libby prison. He was subsequently carried to Belle Isle, where he witnessed many appaling sights that corroborate the fame of this rebel prison; but owing to his ex- treme youth Mr. Smith received better treatment than many of his comrades. Immediately after the close of hostilities Mr. Smith joined his father in Kansas, landing in the vicinity of Clyde on the last day of the year 1865, where he has been a prominent citizen for thirty-eight years; where he mar- ried, built up a home, and reared a family of useful men and women. Though a tall, slim boy but eighteen years of age. he had served three years under Uncle Sam; and this had in all likelihood stimulated his tastes for life on the frontier, for no sooner had he become one of them, and a scouting party was being selected to reconnoitre over the Indian hunting grounds than he would be one of the first to respond to the call. Mr. Smith, with Jack Billings, his comrade of pioneer times, have perhaps killed more buf- falo than any two men in the county. In the chapter of buffalo stories some of their experiences are given.
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