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 72
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occupy the bed with Arthur, then a mere lad of nineteen years. About midnight, with the gun that hung on the wall over his bed. the murderer began shooting, Mr. Selleck receiving the bullet in the head over the right eye. Only one shot was fired and fearing his aim had not been a deadly one the fiend attacked his victim with an ax. Arthur reached for his gun to go to his father's assistance but found the murderer had preceded him and se- cured the gun. It was discovered that others had been outside to assist in case he was not equal to the heinous crime, for a hatchet which had been stolen from 11. H. Spaulding was found outside the door. In various ways they had tried to make it appear that the culprits were Indians, having on numerous occasions related stories of the red skins' murderous attacks on the settlers thereby keeping the Sellecks in abject fear of a raid being made upon them. The robbers had been lying in wait for Mr. Selleck for some time and schemed various plans for the robbery. Maxom was caught and taken to Concordia and after a preliminary trial was placed in the jail at Salina, where. through accomplices, he made his escape and was never captured. Mr. Selleck lingered sixteen days and died May 8, 1871, at the age of forty-nine years.
James Selleck was a native of Ashtabula county. Ohio, and came to Illinois in 1850, locating in La Salle county. He had followed various voca- tions, was a carpenter, retail salesman, dairyman, etc. He was married to Eliza Strawn in 1854. Her paterail grandfather came from Germany and settled in Sandusky. Ohio, moving to Illinois when Mrs. Selleck was about three years old. Mrs. Selleck survives her husband and lives with her son Walter on the old homestead in Solomon township where they settled in 1869. Prior to settling in Kansas the Sellecks lived several years in Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. James Selleck three children were born, Arthur (the sub- ject of this sketch) and Walter, twins, and Louise Kate, deceased, wife of W. H. White, who died in 1885. leaving Nellie, an infant nine months old, now living with her grandmother.
Arthur Selleck and his twin brother, Walter, were born on a farm in Harrison county, Iowa. June 30, 1857. The father being killed when the brothers were boys, they early occupied places at the head of the household, giving all the assistance possible to the wife and mother who was rendered well-nigh helpless and has never in fact recovered from the shock of her husband's untimely death; thus their early education was limited.
Mr. Selleck lives on the old home place, his mother decding him her share. He bought out the other heirs about twenty years ago. lle also owns eighty acres of land cornering with the old homestead. just over the line in Mitchell county, and one hundred and sixty acres in Ottawa county. The home farm is among the finest in this region, and Mr. Selleck is one of the most practical and successful farmers and stock raisers in his neighbor- hood. He keeps a herd of about fifty head of finely bred Shorthorn cattle: raises hogs extensively and has made money more easily and rapidly in the
THE NEW YOF ! PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTON, LENEY TILBEN FOUNDATIONA
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THE ATTRACTIVE COUNTRY HOME OF JOHN M. VERNON.
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latter than in any other industry. He has fed hogs that netted him ȘI per bushel for wheat that yielded thirty bushels to the acre.
Mr. Selleck did the most sensible thing of his life when, on April 9. 1882. he married Julia Murphy, who is a refined. estimable and gentle woman. She is a daughter of James Murphy, who has been a farmer and resident of Cloud county since 1880. For the past five years he has made his home with his daughter. Mrs. Selleck is one of five children, all of whom are deceased but herself and one sister, Mrs. W. H. White, who lives on a farm near Beloit. A sister, Mrs. Dora Pendas, who had been failing in health for five years visited Mrs. Selleck with the hope of recovering, but she became hopelessly ill: another sister, Mrs. Rosa Schram, of Denver. was sent for, and arriving on the first Sunday in June was stricken with a stidden illness, dying four weeks later. The sister from Florida died October 12, 1892. A son and two daughters were deceased within the space of a few weeks.
Mr. and Mrs. Selleck have three interesting children, viz: Eva, nine- teen years of age, is learning photography in Minneapolis, Kansas; Dora aged nine and Marie aged seven. Politically Mr. Selleck is a Populist. He is a member of the Sons and Daughters of Justice, Simpson Lodge, No. 131, Knights and Ladies of Security, Asherville Lodge No. 361.
The Selleck home is a pleasant one, a comfortable five-room cottage, standing on an eminence of ground which affords a magnificent view of the fertile lands and cultivated fields of the Solomon valley. The hospitality one receives from these kind-hearted people creates a desire to visit them again. One accessory to this farm seldom or never found in Cloud county is a natural reservoir of clear water fed by a large spring within a few yards of the door. The government stocked this water with carp, but not finding them desirable Mr. Selleck had them exchanged for cat fish which are rapidly growing and doing well.
JOHN M. VERNON.
Among the most prominent farmers and stockmen of Cloud county is J. M. Vernon, the subject of this sketch. A charming sense of rest pervades the atmosphere of the Vernon home, where the comforts of the family, unlike many, are regarded of greater importance than the care of stock, and in accordance he has built one of the best residences in the county. In architecture this house would grace a city avenue: in its appointments it as well furnished as many a fashionable home, and illustrates forcibly that culture, refinement and accomplishments need not be foreign to the sons and daughters of the farin. No higher tribute can be paid Mr. and Mrs. Vernon than a recognition of the fine instinct which distinguish their family. Though reared in the school of industry, their education and accomplishments have not been neglected and they are talented musicians.
Mr. Vernon is a native of Pennsylvania, horn near the city of Brown-
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ville. on a farm in 1842. The Vernons were an old Dutch family, dating back to the early settlement of the state. He is a son of Joel Vernon, who was born and died in the historical county of Fayette, where the body of General Braddock lies buried. Joel Vernon died in 1867. Mrs. Vernon was Eliza Connell. of Virginian birth and Scotch origin. Her maternal ancestors were an old Pennsylvania fannly and descendants of the family are still there on the homesteads they "tomahawked." She came to Kansas with her son where she died at the age of ninety-one years in 1893.
Mr. Vernon is one of six children, five of whom are living, viz: William, a farmer of Mitchell county : George, a miller of Comanche, Texas; Rebecca, wife of J. C. Momver, a retired minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, their residence is Petersburg, Ilinois: Maggie E., widow of J. C. Ulery, of Pueblo, Colorado.
Mr. Vernon was educated in the common schools of his county and attended college for one year at Waynesburg. Pennsylvania. At the age of twenty years he entered upon a career for himself. In 1872, came west and took the homestead where he now lives and soon afterwards bought forty acres of the Teasley homestead. He now owns one thousand five hundred acres of land: three hundred and sixty in Wallace county, seven hundred and twenty in Mitchell county and four hundred and twenty in Cloud county. At the present writing has seven hundred and twenty acres of wheat on his land. In 1894. he had two hundred acres of wheat which yielded thirty-one bushels per acre.
Mr. Vernon was the promoter of alfalfa growing in his neighborhood now one of the best paying industries in Kansas. In 1897 he bought thirteen bushels of seed which sowed thirty-three acres of ground as a trial venture. The third year sold one hundred and sixty bushels of seed from the second crop which netted him $1,025. This was the introduction of alfalfa as a paying proposition.
Mr. Vernon and J. L. Hostetler were the first to bring sheep into the Solomon valley. As a beginning they started with sixty head each in 1873. Their herds increased to more than one thousand head and wool growing became one of the foremost industries of that valley. Mr. Vernon was one of the instigators of the organization known as the Solomon Valley Wool Growing Association, (an account of which is given elsewhere in this volume), and was its first secretary. He shipped the first fine stock into the county and got his best start in Kansas in the sheep raising business.
Mr. Vernon was married in 1874. to Sarah Darrow, who was born in the state of New York, and came to Kansas with her parents in 1870, and settled in Mitchell county where her father took up a homestead one mile from the Cloud county line. Mrs. Darrow died in 1887, and Mr. Darrow one year later. Mrs. Vernon is one of ten children, seven girls and three boys, seven of whom are living: two sisters in California, the others all in the vicinity of Cloud and Mitchell counties.
Mr. Vernon's family consists of a wife and seven children: Edgar,
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a farmer, living two and one-half miles of the old homestead. married Pearl Simpson, whose father the town of Simpson was named for. They are the parents of one child. a little daughter. Mabel. Annie, the eldest daughter is a talented musician on the piano and violin, has taken a course at Lindsborg college and expects to return and complete her studies. George, associated with his father on the farm: Lizzie and Clara. also talented in music ; John, a boy of thirteen, and Albert aged eleven. Jesse. who had been an invalid for a period of six years was deceased July 27. 1901, at the age of nineteen years.
Mr. Vernon has one of the best improved homesteads in the country : built a commodious house of eleven rooms in 1888, and built the first large barn in the Solomon valley.
GEORGE W. TEASLEY.
George W. Teasley, a stockman and farmer of Summit township. is the subject of this sketch. Mr. Teasley is a native of Georgia, born in Murray county. December 5. 18.17. He is a son of James S. and Susan W (Reed) Teasley. His parents were both natives of Elbert county, Georgia. His fa- ther was born November 15, 18ot: his mother September 8. 1805. The Teasleys were of English origin .- our subject's grandfather being the emigrant. The Reeds were of Scotch origin. James S. Teasley died April 12. 1863. In 1884 George W. Teasley visited Georgia and re- turning brought his mother to live in his home where she died March 5, 1892. Mr. Teasley received a limited education in his youth for when he should have been in school the civil war was at its height. and what he gained was for the greater part ac- quired at home, but the roaring of shot and shell from cannon and musketry, detracted GEORGE W. TEASLEY. the scholars' attention, and not knowing what moment they might be "picked off" by some daring sharpshooter, was not conducive to study.
March 23. 1866. Mr. Teasley left his southern home, traveled by rail to Nashville, Tennessee, thence by steamboat to Kansas City. consuming about five days enroute from St. Louis to Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kansas, where they boarded the Union Pacific train for Topeka, the termi- nus of the railroad at that date. Mr. Teasley, with his brother and family who accompanied him, procured an outfit, and via the "prairie schooner" line turned their faces toward the Solomon valley. A. C. Bagwell, one of
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their neighbors in the South, had traveled over the beautiful valley during his army life, and when he returned to Georgia reported its great possi- bilities to Allan Teasley and a Mr. Hayes. After listening to his descrip- tion of its grandeur they concluded it was an opportunity to gain lands- the "opportunity that knocks but once at every man's door," and they hastened to avail themselves of the occasion. A sale was cried and without delay preparations were facilitated to start them on their journey to the chosen spot of the vast wilderness, where they must combat with frontier discomforts, prowling savages, and hungry coyotes. When they reached the terminus of the railroad their real experience began, but with that tenacity, energy and courage that marked the emigrant to the frontier. they pressed on, never losing the point of compass that directed them to the fertile valley of the Solomon.
On the fifteenth of April. 1866, they located the land south of Glasco, now owned by Charles Horn, where they proceeded to dig a trench over which were stretched wagon bows covered with canvas. In this improvised abode eleven people existed until a more commodious house could be built. Mr. Teasley and his brother at once began operations for farming and broke twenty-five or thirty acres of sd in which they planted corn, pumpkins and melons. One peaceful. quiet Sabbath morning our subject took his gun and sauntered forth to the melon patch-as the Southerners' attachment for the luscious, watery fruit almost rivals that of the sable children of that clime. Whatever the day or conditions the pioneer settler usually carried his gun. As Mr. Teasley surveyed the long stretch of country there was not an obstruction or object for miles to break the view-but going a few paces further in the direction of the river he turned and suddenly comfronted two Indians, whereupon they began patting their breasts and exclaiming, "Good Injuns." "Good Injuns." Mr. Teasley was appalled, and raised his rifle to shout, but upon their repeated protestations of being "Good Injuns," lowered his gun and as if to demonstrate his friendship and good feeling offered his unwelcomed guests some melons. But the gorgeous yellow coated pumpkins were more palatable to the depraved tastes of the savages, who ate eagerly of the golden fruit. After this repast the warriors exhibited their prowess and skill in archery. They belonged to a friendly tribe of Pawnees, which numbered from one hundred and fifty to two hundred, who were traveling through the country, and these two braves were simply foraging for something to eat.
During the autumn of 1866. the Union Pacific railroad was extended westward from Topeka, and after having garnered his crops Mr. Teasley worked on the railroad. Had there been more ground broken they would have raised enormous crops, for the yield of corn was heavy that year, but failures ensued in 1867-8. But the fruitful Solomon valley was visited by the raid in 1868. and their home on the frontier shadowed by dangers from Indian warfare. Mr. Teasley rode over to Asher creek to investigate the rumors, and in the meantime the Indians came into the settlement on Fisher
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creek, and with a field glass were seen skulking all over the prairies. The depredations were confirmed and our subject, along with his brother Allan Teasley and family, went to Frankiin and Miami counties where they rail- roaded several months and made good wages. They employed men and sub-contracted work. They returned to Cloud county in 1872. where Allan Teasley died (see sketch of George Washington Teasley) and where G. W. continues to live on the old homestead.
Mr. Teasley was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth E. Jackson. of Osawattomie, Kansas, September 10, 1872. Orangeville, Orange county, Indiana, was the birthplace of Mrs. Teasley. Her father was William Elias Jackson, a farmer and carpenter. The family removed to Missouri in 1867, and the following spring to Osawattomie. Mr. Jackson lived in the home of Mrs. Teasley for eight years prior to his death. December 2.4. 1891. Her mother was deceased one year later.
Mr. and Mrs. Teasley are the parents of four children, namely: Ida May, wife of Amos Musser, a farmer of Summit township: they are the parents of four children. Luella. Stanley. Forest and Tamworth. Susan Alena, wife of Frank Clark, of Concordia: three children brighten their home. Ruth. Dorothy and Bernice. Gerty, is the wife of Frank Mooney, a farmer of Solomon township. James was deceased at the age of eighteen months. Pearl, the youngest daughter, is the wife of David Beesley, a farmer, of Summit township.
In politics Mr. Teasley is a Populist and was elected by that party to the office of County Commissioner. and has just retired from serving his second term. His career as an official was marked for its justness, never swerving from his ideas of duty and honor, oftentimes bringing censure because no favors were shown. He was trustee of Summit township during the year 1894. Socially Mr. Teasley is identified with the Glasco lodge of Ancient. Free and Accepted Masons, and the Fraternal Aid. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Teasley owns a fine farm and raises wheat and corn. He keeps a herd of fifty native cattle and a few Jerseys, Mr. Teasley and his estimable family are among the best citizens of the Solomon valley and have contributed to the promotion of every worthy cause.
HALF WAY, LYON TOWNSHIP.
The old buildings long since deserted. stand as an old landmark of what was once known as Half Way. The store and postoffice were the elements composing this place, the name of which is significant of being about midway between Beloit and Concordia, on the summit of the divide between the Re- publican and Solomon river valleys.
In an early day it was thought best to establish a mail rente with Con- cordia as distributing office. On May 16. 1872. Cransdale was located and Samuel Hannum was appointed postmaster by Judge A. J. Croswell, post-
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master-general, which he held until 1877, when the office was moved to the residence of John C. Orput, who lived half way between Concordia and Beloit. and given the name of Half Way.
Mr. Orput was appointed by D. M. Key, postmaster-general. In April, 1878, he resigned, and John S. AAbbey was appointed and the office moved to his residence, where it remained until the present year ( 1901), when a rural delivery was established and the postoffice abolished.
G. L. SAMIS.
The subject of this sketch, G. L. Sams is one of the most progressive farmers of the Solomon valley. While his land does not consist of extensive acres every available part of it is under a high state of cultivation, and there is a charming sense of rest suggested by this pretty country home with its vine covered cottage, well kept lawn, stately windmill and other out build- ings all freshly and brightly painted : the house a model of heatness and good taste that bespeaks the refinement and culture of its occupants.
Mr. Sams is a native of Missouri, born in Shelby county, in 1842 and reared in Marion county. lle is a son of Joseph and Nancy (Yater ) Sams. Mr. Sams' great-grandfather, with three brothers emi- grated from England to America and upon arriving in the new workl they took diverging paths and their identity was lost to each other. The branch our subject sprang from settled in North Carolina and from that state to Missouri in 1815, when his father was but four years old and in the very earliest settlement of that state. Mr. Sams' father was a farmer and lived in Marion county until his death in April, 1889. His maternal an- cestry were of German origin and settled in Kentucky. His grandfather moved from that state to Indiana, where his mother was born and from Indiana to Missouri in 1832. She died in 1881.
Mr. Sams grew to manhood in Marion county and received his educa- tion in a log school house. He has been a farmer the greater part of his life, rented his farm in 1882 and engaged in the harness business three years, but returned to the homestead. In July of 1901, he became associated with Thomas Shanks in general merchandise in Simpson, Mitch- ell county, just over the line from Cloud. Their capital stock is two thons- and dollars. They are doing a successful business on a cash basis.
Mr. Sams was married in 1871, to Miss Amanda Day. of Marion county, Missouri, and immediately started for Kansas. She is a daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Corder) Day, and was born in 1845. Her father was a farmer and carpenter. The Days were of southern origin and came from Kentucky to Virginia, and thence to Missouri, where lier father died before the war. Her mother died July 5. 1871. To Mr. and Mrs. Sams two sons have been born. Joseph Clyde who has just attained his majority is associated with his father on the farm and gives evidence of becoming like him a practical farmer. Earl. aged seventeen, graduated
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
in the common school at Simpson and was a student of the Beloit commer- cial college one year. He is manager of the general merchandise store of Shanks & Sams, at Simpson. These sons are both intelligent and popular young men.
Mr. Sans lives on the homestead he secured in 1871. Their first place of abode was the primitive dugout and two years later a cellar was dug and walled up with rock with floor and roof of dirt, where they lived several years. Mr. Sams was at one time engaged in sheep raising quite extensively and made it a success. He started on fifty head of ewes to be raised on the share. This was in 1875, and he continued in the sheep raising industry for about a dozen years. He sent three hundred head west which netted him $1,000. He has a herd of forty finely graded Shorthorn cattle and has been a successful hog raiser, although in 1895 he lost about forty head from cholera. Mr. Sams is a Democrat and takes an intelligent interest in political affairs. He has been an efficient member of the school board of district number thirty-nine for twelve years or more. The family are members of the Baptist church at Simpson. Mr. and Mrs. Sanis are very worthy and estimable people and retain that hospitality the Missourians are famous for. They are good citizens, people of integrity and highly esteemed.
GEORGE W. CHAPMAN.
One of the solid, most prosperous and entirely self-made men of Cloud county is G. W. Chapman, of Solomon township, who came to Kansas dur- ing the tide of emigration in 1870. his father preceding him a few months. He is a son of James and Emma ( Harris) Chapman, who, with their family of three children, left their home in old England and came to America in 1867. The Chapmans were from County Kent, near London, and within sight of the Crystal Palace. Mr. Chapman is a farmer and the first two years in this country they lived in McHenry county, Illinois, and in 1869 emigrated to Cloud county, and took up a homestead five and one-half miles south west of Glasco.
G. W. Chapman was born in England in 1854, and began his career herding cattle both in winter and summer for a period of about four years. Hle was married in 1876 and took up a homestead, built a small stone house with a dirt roof. where they lived several years. He now has seven hundred acres of land and a herd of one hundred and seventy fine Hereford bred cattle and one hundred and twenty-five head of hogs; will have seventy head to ship this year. When Mr. Chapman was married he was practically pen- niless ; says "he was like the fellow in the far west who didn't have wearing apparel enough to flag a handcar."
Mrs. Chapman was Elizabeth Bennett. of lowa, who came to Kansas in 1874. The Bennets afterward moved to Oklahoma, where her father, at the age of eighty-nine years still lives. Ifer mother died three years ago.
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Mr. and Mrs. Chapman have four children, two boys and two girls: Ada. wife of Ed Orbaugh, a farmer and stockman of Solomon township. Frank C. and George b., who assist their father with the stock and on the farm, and Lessie, aged thirteen.
Mr. Chapman is a lover of fine stock : cultivated a taste in that direction from boyhood as he drove the cattle over the prairies, building "castles" of how some day he would have herds of his own. For several years the Chap- man- were in very hunted circumstances financially, and in 1881 he decided to speculate, either make or go clear to the wall. With this resolution he mortgaged has farm and bought some cons of Texas breed. As they increased he graded them until he had some very good steck.
He nest invested in ten head of high grade registered Herefords, from which he produced one of the finest herds in the county. He has at the head of his herd at present, one of the best some of "Wild Tom," purchased from the C. S. Cross "Sunny Slope farm." near Emporia, Kansas. Before his death the committed stelle). Mr. Cross refused two thousand five hundred dollars for this annual la parties in Omaha. Mr. Chapman favors the Hereford breeds assuming they are more easily kept, and fatten more quickly -fatten when other breeds continue poor. Mrs. Chapman raises some very fine poultry and has upwards of a dozen handsome peatones.
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