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 59
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Mr. Davidson is a man of keen perception and foresight and this coup- led with his energy has made him prosperous in every undertaking. He en- graged in buying, feeding and selling stock on his farm in Illinois and ac- quired a good start before coming west. In 1874. he emigrated to Cloud county and bought the D. W. Teasley homestead relinquishment, paying $1,000. About one year later he bought eighty acres of the Edwards home- stead and shortly afterward the "Goddard eighty." In 1880. he purchased the Capt. Snyder farm and forty acres of school land on the Solomon river : in 1896. seventy-five acres of the Bond estate: in 1897. he bought a half section of State land from Samnel Beard and the "Samuel Fuller home- stead." one of the best farms on the Solomon river : in 1898, the two hundred and twenty acres of land sold at administrator's sale to settle up the Hos- tetler estate.
Nearly all of his farms are bottom land. Stock raising and feeding cattle and hogs has been Mr. Davidson's strong point. He keeps a herd of about one hundred high grade cattle and one hundred head of hogs. This year ( 1901) he is feeding ground wheat to his cattle as an experiment.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
The proportion is one-third corn, two-thirds wheat ground and mixed. He raises wheat extensively and has never had an entire failure. Several seasons his land has produced forty bushels per acre.
Mr. Davidson was one of the first growers of alfalfa in the neighbor- hood, and sowed it as an experiment. One year he sold $1,000 worth of seed. In 1901, from twenty-two acres there was a yield of one hundred and three bushels of seed and ninety-two tons of hay, and this one of the dryest years ever known in Kansas. The one hundred and three bushels of seed at $5 per bushel netted him $515; the ninety-two tons of hay at $7 per ton netted him $644, a total of $1,159 thus being produced from twenty-two acres of alfalfa. He has a fine producing apple orchard of about two hundred trees and a considerable number of peach trees which yield well.
When Mr. Davidson bought the Teasley homestead there were but few improvements, a small cabin, a shed and corral. In 1875, he built a large stone residence situated in a grove of tall cottonwoods set out by him- self and Mrs. Davidson. The lumber for this residence was hauled from Clay Center via Concordia. In 1892 he built a barn 50x96 feet, the first commodious barn built in the neighborhood.
Mrs. Davidson before her marriage was Catherine Gross, a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Cargy) Gross, of Ohio, near the city of Columbus, where Mrs. Davidson was born and grew to womanhood. Her father died when she was eight years of age and her mother died in 1898, at the age of ninety-three years. Mrs. Davidson is one of ten children, three of whom are living : a sister, Sarah, the wife of Levi Cooper. a farmer of Solomon township, and a brother James, a farmer living in Indiana. Mirs. Davidson had three brothers in the war, who enlisted from their Ohio home. They died from illness contracted during the service. Mrs. Davidson is a true helpmate and is entitled to much of the credit for her husband's prosperity. She is a true patriot of Kansas now, but in the early days would watch the emigrants coming in and weep for her eastern home.
Pohtically Mr. Davidson is a Populist. In 1889, he was elected county commissioner on the Democratic ticket, which showed his popularity. as at that time his district was very strong in its Republican majority.
Mr. Davidson was practically the banking firm of the Glasco community for many years, making it possible for many of his neighbors to buy more land or for some man to increase his business capital by a loan. He never oppressed a debtor. nor forced the payment, allowing all the time required for paying the loan; thus his wealth has made him a public benefactor.
EZEKIAL CALVIN DAVIDSON.
E. C. Davidson, the subject of this sketch, has gained a record in the Solomon valley for the perserverance, pluck and courage with which he bore the hardships incident to building a home on the frontier. But the spirit
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS
which led him to the new West served him through a long seige of tool, disappointments, failures, drones and grasshoppers. Though not the first to pitch his tent m the undeveloped country. F ( Davidson was early on the ground, and Ins land- today bear little resemblance to the government claim he secured m (tm).
The handsome and communion- residence has long since been substi- tuted for the dugout or calm of entre days His heads of fine fred cattle have supplanted the horned Texas steer and the poorly constructed stables have given way to the umore bulk barn that is filed to the masters with the sweet scented alfalfa send golden gram. In fact, everything has been transformed from a mere prawie claim to a well tilled and improved farm.
E. C. Davidsen is a native of Franklin County, Ohio, born m 18 ;. When Sixteen years of age he come with his frother. Garrett, to lumis, and settled on a farm near Bushnell, where he lived seven years. In timp. he come to Kansas and rented Fund in Washington county for one year, in the meantime coming to Cloud and selecting a homestead, his present colliery place.
He was married m 1870, to Anna Frank, whose parents were curly settlers in Kansas. Mr. Davidson started in hie with practically none of this world's goods, but he secured a wife who has very materially assisted in gaining the competency they now enjoy She shared nobly the trying ordeals of the early settlers wives and is his better half in the truest sense of the word. They adapted themselves to circumstances, and their little cabin was polished with content. happy in their dreams of the inture. While their larder was sometimes lacking in variety, there was never a scarcity of ment.
Mr. Davidson was a typical frontiersman, fond of the hunt, and his trusty rifle has been the means of bringing about many a repast fit for the gods. Buffalo and antelope were plentiful, with droves of wild turkey's and flocks of prairie chicken and quail. He brought in game by the wagon load. Ile was also fond of the chase and retains a special weakness in this direction, keeping a kennel of dogs for this pastime. He has quite an interesting collection of coyote. fox and jackrabbit trophies.
However, he is a thorough agricultorist. taking great pride in his crops of wheat and alfalfa. This year ( 1901) he has two hundred tons of hay in his barn. The yield from this alfalfa ground netted him $50 per acre. He has been feeding and shipping cattle for more than fifteen years, which was the beginning of his prosperity. He is a Short Horn breeder and has one hundred and fifty head of fine cattle. He has just completed one of the most perfectly planned feeding barns in this or any other country. Its dimensions are 43x64 feet. with a basement. He constructed another large barn 54x64 feet. in 1889.
To Mr. Davidson belongs the distinction of hauling the first building material that went into the present town of Beloit, which is in all probability
THE NEW YOR! PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOK. LEHE) TILCEN FOUNDATIONS
THE E. C. DAVIDSON COUNTRY HOME.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
a bit of hitherto unwritten history. When making his second trip from Wash- ington county to the Solomon valley, he was accosted by a citizen of Abilene, who asked his destination. Upon being told it was Glasco. he said he had some lumber he wanted hauled to Willow Springs, (now Beloit ) and offered five dollars for the transportation of it to that place. This was May 5. 1870. and the lumber was for a Mr. Elliott, who built the first shanty on the town site.
Mr. Davidson relates many interesting reminisences of pioneer times. buffalo hunts, etc., some of them appearing elsewhere on these pages. It was several years before the Davidsons' began to prosper or even possessed a cow. The new comers were handicapped in so many ways they could not progress rapidly. . Again, after raising the grain there was no market nearer than Clay Center. Ile says on one occasion he hauled a load of rve to that town, which required three days time, receiving but twenty-five cents per bushel
He has always raised hogs and got his start in this industry by deliver- ing fourteen bushels of corn to Matt Wilcox in exchange for two Chester White pigs. It took Mr. Davidson a dozen years or more to put his land under cultivation. His efforts were retarded because he did not have suf- ficient teams or grain to feed them.
Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have an interesting family of three sons and one daughter, who are all useful members of society, viz: William ( see sketch ), Lorean, ( see sketch) : Retta, the only daughter is an accomplished young lady. She is a student of Lindsborg College, where she is taking a special course in music. She is a graduate of the Glasco high school and on her third year of the college course. Joseph N. graduated from the Glasco high school and is a law student in the Kansas State University.
Mr. Davidson is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the order of I. O. O. F., of Glasco lodge.
WILLIAM DAVIDSON.
The subject of this sketch, William Davidson, is the eldest of E. C. David- son's family. He was one of the first white children born in the Solomon valley and is loyal to the place of his nativity. He was born June 3. 1871, on the old homestead, where he grew to manhood. He was educated in district No. 58. He farmed with his father until 1897. when he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land known as the Cal Lawrence home- stead.
Mr. Davidson remembers when the Solomon valley was one vast prairie covered with the big stem blue grass and when there were neither fences nor trees. Born in a dugout, he grew up with the prosperity of his native state. He also recalls "hiding out" from the savages, who fortun- ately turned out to be emigrants in search of homes in the far West.
"Wid." as he is called. is a big hearted fellow who never seems to get
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
tired and is a hustler without limit : another one of those typical hale-fellow- well-met western men, whose hospitality is proverbial. He owns one of the good farms of the Solomon valley, adjoining his father's land, which is rapidly undergoing improvement. Their residence is a neat cottage home.
llis family consists of a wife and two bright little children, a daughter and a son: Vera, aged five, and Bryan R. aged three. Mrs. Davidson was Arvilla Williamson, a daughter of Enoch Williamson, (see sketch. ) She is a women of refined tastes and matron over the domestic affairs of the farm. They were married in 1802.
Mr. Davidson has just finished a large and substantial barn which, standing as it does on a prominence of ground, can be seen for miles around the country. It is a basement bank barn fifty-four by thirty-six feet in di- mensions. In seeking for water Mr. Davidson met with rather a strange phenomenon. He bored down seventy five feet and struck a vein of strong salt water. A few feet to the west of this he bored down with a com- mon post auger and struck water at the depth of eighteen feet, which is of a fine quality and quantity, supplying water sufficient for all his stock.
He keeps about twenty-five head of cattle and raises hogs, but his chief industry is wheat growing. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member of the 1. O. O. F. and .A. O. C. W. lodges at Glasco.
HONORABLE LOREAN FOREST DAVIDSON.
The Davidson Hardware company is not a corporation. It is the style under which E. C. Davidson and his sons L. F. and J. M. conduct business. They represent one of the leading firms of the city of Glasco and have contributed very liberally to the town's prosperity.
L. F. Davidson is at the head of the management. His business sagacity coupled with his pleasing and cordial manner make him as popular as he is prominent. He has been reared in the Solomon valley and inherits the dauntiess spirit of his father. When this company organized in 1897, its assets consisted of $2.000 and its stock was principally farm implements. Their place of business was a basement room.
In the autumn of 1898. they purchased the Geiger stock of hardware, also the building they now occupy, known as the Glasco State Bank build- ing, a large stone structure fifty-two by eighty feet in dimension and two stories in height. The front rooms on the second floor are occupied as of- fices and the rear is fitted up for an opera house. They now have in course of erection another building adjoining the one they already have and occu- pied by their stock of hardware. It is of stone, forty-six by one hundred and fifteen feet. and two stories in height. It is to be used for a wagon, carriage and implement house to their rapidly increasing business. The second floor will have a row of offices in the front. something much needed in Glasco. for there are few available office rooms in the city. Their build- ings are lighted by acetelyne gas from their individual plant.
3
ELLE
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THE BLOCK OCCUPIED BY THE DAVIDSON HARDWARE COMPANY IN GLASCO.
THE NEW YOPA PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOK LEHEY TILBEN FOUNDATIONS
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
In 1899, this firm increased their capital stock to $9,000. Their pres- ent stock wil! invoice about $12,000. Their first year's sales were $11,000, the second year's sales $25.000 and the present year (1901) $80.000. They sold a total of nine threshing outfits the season just ending: of these they sold three in one lay and drove eighty-two miles. In the three years they have been in business they have disposed of one hundred and twenty-one Champion harvesters which netted a total of $17.725. In 1900, they sold two car-loads of buggies and the present year. three car-loads, and one car- load of wagons, with three car-loads of Fuller Lee Havana drills.
They carry in stock a full line of shelf hardware, tinware, cutlery, paints and oils. Being amply supplied with capital this company buys di- rect from the manufacturers in large quantities, and practically controls the sale in the Solomon valley, transacting an enormous business.
Mr. Davidson was one of the fifty-five hardware men of Kansas that were recently so royally entertained by the Avery Manufacturing company of Peoria, Illinois. The keys of the city were given them. they were badged and everything they demanded was forthcoming. Mr. Davidson was born on the old homestead in 1874. He received his early education in district fifty-eight and the graded schools of Glasco, followed by a course in the Ottawa University. After leaving that distinguished seat of learning he taught a few terms of school very successfully, but was destined for a busi- ness career rather than that of an educator.
He was married in 1898, to Sadie Burnett, who was a Cloud county teacher. She is a daughter of L. C. Burnett, dealer in general merchandise and one of Glasco's old residents and highly respected citizens. Mrs. Davidson is a cultured woman of literary tastes and considerable musical talent. The walls of their home resound to the laughter and frolic of two children ; Keith Bruce, a little fellow of two years and Fay Ilma.
Mr. Davidson is a Populist in politics but the kind that counts his friends among the ranks of all parties. He was mayor of the city of Glasco in 1900-01 and performed the duties of that office with dignity and credit. He is prominent in lodge work and is a member of the following orders : Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Woodmen, and Knights of Pythias. He is council in the camp of Wood- men order, and hoids the office of chancellor in the Knights of Pythias. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson are members of the Baptist and Christian churches re- spectively.
MRS. CATHERINE HUBBARD.
Mrs. Catherine Hubbard, widow of the late Thomas Storm Hubbard, who was one of Glasco's most eminent citizens, is a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, born in 1818. She is the daughter of Charles Kessler. a native of Germany, who came to America in about 1800, and settled in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he edited one of the first papers circulated
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY. KANS.AS.
in that city. The Reading Eagle, which is still published by descendants of the Hubbard family.
When Mrs. Hubbard was eighteen years of age she came with a younger sister to Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1837, just after the Black Hawk war. to Dixon county, Illinois, then on the frontier. Here she met and mar- ried Mr. Hubbard, who was born in the city of New York in 1815. and lived there until about twenty-five years of age. In 1837, he emigrated to Dixon county, Illinois, where he took up government land. In 1840, he emigrated further west, beyond the frontier into the wilderness of lowa. among the Indians and buffalo.
In 1879. they came to Cloud county, and bought the Whitebread homestead, where they built one of the best homes in the community. Mr. Hubbard, who died in February. 1899, in his eighty-fifth year, was a very remarkably well preserved man, retaining all his faculties. He was a man thoroughly posted on politics, took an ardent interest in all political affairs and was public spirited and enterprising.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard four children have been born, two sons and two daughters. Catherine, who lives at home with her mother, was editress of the Glasen Sun from 1888 until 1803 : she had previously worked in the office: in her earlier ife she was a school teacher. Victor operates the farm; Florence, wife of John Lawrence, a farmer near Dixon, Ilinois ; Charles, whose wife was Margaret Sutton, a sister of Mrs. Lon Ainsworth. Their residence is Denver, Colorado.
Mrs. Hubbard's farm consists of one hundred and twenty acres. In connection with their residence is a handsome lawn with many beautiful flowers and shrubs, surrounded by a fine avenue of cedars, which they have set out and witnessed the growth of. They have planted and distributed more flowers perhaps than any one in the vicinity of Glasco.
WILLIAM BROWN NEWTON. M. D.
The opportunity which Kansas offers to young men of resolute charac- ter is exemplified in the brief but successful career of Doctor Newton, of Glasco, one of the rising physicians of Cloud county. He was born in the state of Iowa. in 1877, but was reared on a farin near Glasco and received his clememary education in the Bethel district school and the graded schools of Glasco, and entered upon a career of teaching more as a stepping stone to his profession than with an idea of pursuing that vocation.
Doctor Newton is entirely a self made man: he has derived the best possible results from the excellent talents with which nature endowed him and his success is more noticeable and praiseworthy because of the limited opportunities afforded him. for the training and assistance, which are oft- times considered indispensable when entering upon a career in the pro- fessional world. He early learned self reliance. also to be judicious, and these qualities have been leading factors in his character.
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY. KANSAS.
In April 1896, he began the study of medicine in the office of Doctor Priest, of Concordia, and two years later entered upon a course of medicine in the Central Medical college, of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was also 'surgeon in the St. Joseph Sisters Hospital for two years. He graduated in the spring of 1900 and began the practice of medicine in Glasco. In the autumn of 1900 he entered upon a post-graduate course of medicine in the University of Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in March 1901. Doctor Newton then located permanently in Glasco where his practice is steadily increasing, and it may safely be said the future years hold for him profes- sional honors as well as a high rank among the citizens of his town and the universal regard of his friends and acquaintances.
Doctor Newton was married May 22d, 1901. to Miss Emma Delaplain, a cultured and estimable woman : she is a sister of Mrs. Judy and Mrs. Kelley, of Concordia, where Mrs. Newton has practically been reared. Doctor Newton is a Republican in politics; fraternally he is an Odd Fellow : a member of the Maccabees of Concordia: the National Aid Association ; Ancient Order of United Workman: Ancient Order of Pyramids: Modern Woodmen of America, and Royal Neighbors of America.
JOHN H. MOGER.
The subject of this sketch is J. H. Moger, a liveryman of Glasco, an old timer and one of the organizers of Oakland township, which was formerly part of Meredith, where he used his homestead right, and lived on the east branch of Pipe creek until the year 1893. Until this date he had always been a farmer except the three years he worked in the service of "Uncle Sam." He was a member of the First Brigade First Division of the Fifteenth Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, under command of that illustrious of war horse. John A. Logan, or "Black Jack," as he was familiarly known to the soldiers. Mr. Moger enlisted August 2, 1862. in the Thirty-first Iowa Volun- teer Infantry. Company D, under Colonel Smith, who was succeeded by Colonel Jerry Jenkins. They operated in the west and down the Mississippi to Vicksburg and with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. He was a par- ticipant in the historical battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge. Atlanta, siege of Vicksburg and many other important engagements. After the war he settled in Iowa, where he farmed until 1873.
Mr. Moger is a native of Rockford, Illinois. born November 21, 1843. He is a son of J. J. and C. C. (Sheppard) Moger. His father, a farmer by occupation, was born in the state of Pennsylvania in 1812. The Mogers are of French origin and the original name was spelled Mojer. There was a Moger estate in England said to represent several millions of dollars. . \ brother started for England on a tour of investigation and was lost in a ship- wreck at sea. The Mogers originally came from France to England. J. J. Moger moved from Pennsylvania to New York, where his brothers operated a line of boats on the Erie canal. In 1841 he emigrated to Illinois, where he
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANS.I.S.
died in 1888, at the age of seventy-five years. Mr. Moger's mother died at the home of her son James Moger in Ottawa county, in 1897, at the age of eighty-five years. Mr. Moger is one of five children, four sous and one daughter. Sarah Ellen, wife of Jacob Kirby, a farmer of Ottawa county, Kansas: Charles A., whom Mr. Moger had not seen since 1866, died near Bozeman City, Montana : he was a confectioner ; Edward, a farmer and stone mason, of lowa; James F., recently of Ottawa county, Kansas, now a farmer near Spring Water, Oregon.
In 1893 Mr. Moger moved to Minneapolis, Kansas, where he engaged in the livery and hotel business. Though these were hard years-1893-4-5 -- he was fairly successful. At the end of that period he came to Glasco, formed a partnership with Ed. Oakes, his son-in-law, and assumed charge of the Spaulding Hotel, with a livery in connection. In 1900 Mr. Oakes sold his interest in the livery to Dick Wood Mr. Moger retired from the hotel and the following July became sole proprietor of the livery and has built up a pay- ing business.
Mr. Moger was married October 3. 1867, to Susan Rosetta Robinson, a native of Spencer. New York. The Robinsons emigrated to Illinois and set- tled in DeKalb county and subsequently lowa, where she met and married Mr. Moger. Mr. and Mrs. Moger are the parents of six daughters. The two eldest children were born in lowa, and the four younger daughters in Kansas. Hattie, wife of S. A. Barnes, a farmer near Clifton. Washington county. Kansas : Lenora, wife of Ed. Oakes(see sketch ) : Ella, wife of Frank Morey, a liveryman of Clay Center, Kansas: Ama, wife of George Pagan, a farmer of Ottawa county, but for several years a liveryman, located in Min- neapolis, Kansas: Edna Celestia, ou last year's course in the high school of Glasco, and Millie Philancie, aged fourteen.
Mr. Moger votes the straight Republican ticket. He served as deputy sheriff. under Ed. Marshall, two years, has filled various township offices and has been a member of the school board. Ile is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post, of Minneapohs, and the Knights and Ladies of Secur- ity. Minneapolis lodge.
WILLIAM EDWARD OAKES.
The subject of this sketch is W. E. Oakes, who, until the fall of 1901, was for years a resident of Clond county. He began a business career with seventy-five dollars in his pocket and if not mistaken the author believes Mr. Oakes reported having even borrowed that capital; but a more willing pair of hands and a more industrious nature to assist in the struggle for fortune and fame could not present themselves than in the person of Mr. Oakes. Mr. Oakes and his wife were much needed factors in the hotel at Glasco and their removal was severely felt by the residents of that little city. Under their control it was converted into one of the neatest and most desirable hotels in the county. When this property came into their hands it was badly in need
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