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 94
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educated in the high school of Muscatine, lowa, and finished a teacher's course in Otterlane College of Inn county, Iowa, and was a successful teacher four years. In the pioneer days of lowa. Mrs. Hardesty attended school in a primitive building erected for that purpose with puncheon floor and slabs converted into seats by inserting pegs for legs. Here she learned to read, write and spell, and add "1 and 1 1- 2." etc. She was twelve years of age when she could claim the ownership of a slate and fifteen years old when she became the processor of a lead pencil.
Her father was Nich&s 1. Me Nummer. He was born in 1803. and died in his hity third year. He care to lowa in 18th. and settled m Loms conny, where his brother l'help hold preceded lom four years. Her mother was Margaret Barnet, bom a 1812, and died at the age of eighty six years, in Davenport, low. The parents were married in Pickaway county, Ohio. Her father engrated in bagges to leva and purchased five hundred acres of land in Louise county, which he put under a fare state of improvement and de alt in cattle and fire fred hauses He became a wealthy and miluential farmer and stock breeder
Mrs Hardesty's paternal grandfather was Philip MeNamer. Ile with his family, consisting of a wie and three children, moved on fost, drove the con - and carried their che thing in belticks, over the Alleghany mountains, a distance of three days travel. Her father was one of sixteen children. Mrs. Hardesty's maternal grandmother lived to be one hundred and eight years old. She with her innl settled in Michigan in 1803, and at the age of ninety-five visited her daughter in lowa. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church one hundred years. The Earnests were a religious and God-fearing people. Mrs. Hardesty's maternal great-grandfather Breece was a colonel in the Revolutionary war, and was killed in battle at Old Reading, Pennsylvania. Her youngest brother. Nicholas, was killed at Atlanta, while serving in the United States army, and another brother, Nehemiah B. Philip, was wounded the same day. Her eldest brother and a comrade walked and carried their satchels from lowa to St. Louis during the winter of 1849, where they found the river open and took passage for California via the Isthmus of Panama. He worked in the mines there during the gold excitement of that period until 1865, when he was injured by a stone falling on him, and died several years later from the effect.
Mr. and Mrs. Hardesty are the parents of eight children, one son and seven daughters: Florence, the eldest daughter, is a stenographer employed in the Cloud County Bank of Concordia. She was a teacher for several years, a graduate of the Delphos high school and in 1899 graduated from the Salina ( Kansas) Wesleyan Business College. She has held her present position three years. Frances E. is a graduate in the common branches from District No. 3 and of the Delphos high school. She has taught school successfully and held the position of deputy clerk in the county clerk's office. She is now interested with her two sisters. Florence and Carolyn, in the millinery business at Clyde. Otis E., their only son, graduated from the Delphos high school
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and in 1898 graduated from the Wesleyan Business College of Salina. In 1899 he was employed at the head of the commercial department of the Kan- sas Normal College at Fort Scott. He was married in 1901 to Sybyl Crawford, a daughter of C. H. Crawford, of Ottawa county. He takes an active part in politics, is a staunch Republican and is one of the rising young politicians of the county. Carolyn, now of Clyde, is a graduate of the Delphos high school and was a teacher in Cloud county for two years. The younger daughters are Marion, Dorothy, Josephine and Mildred. Mr. Hardesty was a Democrat until seventeen years of age. He then departed from that faith and has since affili- ated with the Republican party. The family are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, Bethel congregation. Mr. Hardesty is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Post of Delphos.
Mr. Hardesty has given considerable attention to horticulture and his orchard produces especially fine peaches and cherries. His farm consists of three hundred and sixty acres. He raises wheat principally and keeps a herd of about fifty head of cattle, which are chiefly milch cows. In corn years he raises from one to two hundred head of hogs. Mr. Hardesty and his family are people of admirable qualities. Their home is a pleasant one and his wife and daughters are intelligent, refined and useful women, possessed of good business qualifications that go far toward making life a success.
MARGARET ACKERMAN.
Margaret Ackerman, widow of the late John Ackerman, an industrious and frugal German farmer of Meredith township, is a native of Germany, born June 13, 1834. She came when a young woman to America with her parents and located in the German settlement of Guttenburg. Iowa. They afterwards moved to Grant county, Wisconsin, where she was married to Mr. Ackerman and resided until 1883.
That year they came to Kansas and bought land which they put under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Ackerman was an extensive traveler. He spent two years in England, one year in France, one year in Algiers and one year in Africa. He had followed the occupation of mining until after his marriage, never having plowed a furrow or harnessed a horse. His wife had been reared on a farin in Germany and she assisted him very materially. Mr. Ackerman was one of the group of eighty-four relatives who came to America on the same vessel : all young Germans who prospered and are rep- resentative people. Mr. Ackerman died September 30, 1898.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman four children have been born, viz: Annie Mary, who lives on a farm in Ottawa county. Peter, unmarried, lives with his mother, controls her business interests and operates the farm. Gertrude, wife of Patrick O'Reily. Rosa, the youngest child, deceased in 1895.
Mrs. Ackerman and her son own a tract of four hundred and eighty acres of land all under cultivation. They have been raising corn extensively until the present year ( 1901) when they have sowed one hundred and seventy
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acres of wheat. They rused one thousand five hundred inthels of corn on two hundred and seventy acres of ground in 1001, when the crop was almost a failure. They keep from seventy five to one hundred head of Shorthorn cattle : have raised and fed as high as five hundred bogs, and keep on an aver age two hundred head. They owe their financial success to cattle and hogs.
Their land is situated on Pipe creek and no more fertile soil can be found in the country. In 1868, this farm produced fourteen thousand bushels of corn: two rows eighty rods in length chucked out twenty-eight bushels. They have had ground that produced one hundred bushels to the acre. The Ackermans are members of the catholic church, St Peter's congregation.
ADEL.BIRI D CORNING
e One of the genial and typical western pioneer of the Pipe Creek com- try is \ \ Corning, the subject of this sketch, who settled on his present farm m 1808. Upon meeting Mr Corning for the first time the writer re- marked that he was meluded among the first settlers of the community. Whereupon he replied in pioneer parlance with a majestic wave of his hand Howard a range of hills across the creek to the westward. "Do you see them hills vonder? Well, when I came here those hills were holes in the ground." Mr. Corning's farm was not the traditional, but the real Indian camping ground in the days of the redmm. They were attracted there by a large spring on Pipe creek, which runs through his land. This desirable claim had been secured by some roaming buffalo hunters who had built a dugout and turned the sed on twenty-seven acres of ground. Mr. Corning traded a joke of oxen for the relinquishment of this homestead. In 1869. from a twelve acre wheat field cultivated with a joke of steers and a single-tooth harrow, he threshed four hundred bushels of wheat. He also raised three hundred bush- els of corn that year and rejoiced in the belief that he had discovered the Ar cadia of the "new world."
Mr. Corning is a native of Boone county, Illinois, Born in 1848. He received his early education in the graded school of Caledonia, Illinois, and took a two years' course in the Beloit. Wisconsin, High school. At the age of seventeen years he drove a team from Illinois to Denver, a distance of one thousand two hundred miles. This gave him a taste for pioneer life and in the spring of 1867 he came to Solomon City. where his father had preceded him one year and operated a portable saw mill as far up the Solomon river as the town of Delphos. A. D. Corning was active during Indian uprisings. Upon one of these occasions John Jones was sent to deliver a message of warning to the settlers. His horse gave out and the errand was carried out by Mr. Corning, who says he raced over the prairies and warned them "good and plenty."
Mr. Corning is a son of Wilham and Lydia ( Ingersol) Corning. From his mother's maternal ancestry he is a lineal descendant of the Hamlius. who were a distinguished old English family. William Corning was a
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
wagonmaker by trade, born in Columbia, New York, in 1824, and as before stated came to Solomon City, Kansas, in an early day. He now lives in Minneapolis, Ottawa county, at the age of seventy-seven years. This ven- crable couple celebrated their golden wedding in 1896. The Corning family came to America from England, among whom was Samuel Corning, our subject's grandfather, of Albany, New York, who was born in 1616, and all the Cornings in this country are supposed to be from one or the other of these branches.
.A. D. Corning is one of six children, five of whom are living: Rosal- tha. deceased wife of William Chappel, a farmer of Ottawa county, Kansas. Mrs. Chappel died in 1900, leaving two daughters, Alice and Edna. Clara, wife of Al Johnson, an elevator engineer of Enid, Oklahoma. Elva, wife of Jerome Hollingsworth, of Minneapolis, Kansas. Fred. a ship carpenter of Stockton, California. Myrtle, wife of Will Fann, a cabinetmaker and ship builder of San Francisco, California.
Mr. Corning was married on the first day of the new year, 1875. to Nettie Coffin, a daughter of Abner Coffin, originally from a Quaker set- tlement in New York. Mrs. Corning enjoys the distinction of having taught the first school in Meredith township. The Coffins emigrated to Illinois in 1866, removed to Kansas two years later and homesteaded the farm in Meredith township, now owned by Ezekial Jones. In 1891 he went to Okla- homa. where he died in 1896, and where the wife and mother still resides. The Coffin family were New Englanders. Mrs. Corning was the oldest of ten children, five of whom are living . Orrin. a farmer living near Puyallup. Washington: Frances, wife of Henry Yount, a farmer near Dover, Okla- homa : Jesse and Lewis, the two youngest sons, are farmers, also living near Dover, Oklahoma.
To Mr. and Mrs. Corning have been born five children, three of whom are living : Bessie married to Earl Holph, a farmer of Meredith township; Dicie, deceased in 1885, at the age of seven years; Hazel, a very bright and promising girl, died in 1897, at the age of fifteen years: Burt, a school-boy of fourteen years, and Leah, aged thirteen.
Mr. Corning now owns three hundred and ninety acres of land, with two hundred and thirty acres under cultivation, and is one of the most desir- able farms in Cloud county. fle has thirty acres of timber, which is superior to that generally found in this part of the state. He fur- nished the first bridge timber at Concordia, and considerable that has been used for the various bridges throughout the country. His farm is in a high state of cultivation with an abundance of fruit. Mr. Corning has been very successful in hog raising. Since 1875 he has sold twenty-five thousand dol- lars worth of hogs. He keeps a herd of from forty to fifty head of native cattle. He built the first frame house (of cottonwoods) on Pike creek in 1870. and the first frame barn in 1873. In 1882 he added on to and remodeled the house, and they now have one of the finest residences in Mere-
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dith township, a commodious eight-room house, beautifully situated in one of the bends of Pipe creek.
Mr. Corning's farm was in the line of the hail storm which came in ISSn, and chopped through the shingles of the roof, tore through the screens and broke the window glass, killed twenty two hogs and many chickens that were sheltered by the trees. He had one hundred acres of corn in hard roasting car, from which not one ear was saved. Grass was pounded into the ground and a scene of desolation presented. Mr. Corning is a Democrat in politics. He served three terme as trustee of Meredith town ship and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Del- phos Lodge No. 110 Mr. Corning is one of those hale fellows well-met, whose friends are legion.
AURORA TOWNSHIP
Through W. M. Durkee we are enabled to give an accurate, as well as an interesting history, of Aurora and Aurora township. The first settler of the township was F. A. Thompson, who homesteaded the first quarter of land, section four, in the spring of 1869. He was then a single man and began housekeeping in a little dugout located on the banks of Elm creek, near where his pleasant, comfortable home now stands. After having lived this lonely life for about one year. in the meantime keeping a sharp lookout for the wily savage, Mr. Thompson took unto himself a wife and helpmate, in the person of Miss Mary Thomas. With this event life became worth living and he rejoiced in the fact that he possessed the same stick- to-itiveness so characteristic of Kansas pioneers. He had many times prior to this change in his bachelor life contemplated pulling up stakes and seek- ing a more congenial clime. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have long since passed their pioneer days and are enjoying a substantial fortune which admits of all the comforts of life.
In the year 1870, when the great tide of emigration rolled over Kan- sas, about a dozen or fifteen families settled in Aurora township. Among them were Jeremiah Burns, who later moved to Concordia, where he died in .the latter part of the 'seventies. The Richards, Sam and William were sons-in-law of "Uncle Jerry." The former removed from the town- ship several years later, while the latter remained a citizen a brief time only. The first white child in the township was born to Mr. and Mrs. Sam Rich- ards in the autumn of 1870 and is now a resident of Concordia, where he owns and operates a dray.
In that same year William Wilkerson came, a man of somewhat peculiar characteristics. Ed. and George Grilley, and Theodore Healey, the latter filing on the southeast quarter of section two, the Grilleys taking the east half of section eleven. With Wilkerson came a man by the name of John Gibson; each were men of families. An amusing incident transpired over the securing of a claim. Gibson owned a team of horses, Wilkerson an ox team. After camping and resting over night on the claim of O. C. Currier, they sallied out the next morning, which was Sunday, to recon- noitre for land. A few minutes later each conceded to himself section
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
there was a destrable quarter; neither expressed himself, but set about to serie a claim consequently, the next morning Mr. Gibson saddled his borse and started for Function (r. However, prior to starting a look " Wilkerson's tent revealed the absence of that individual, and suspecting he was enroute to tre on the coveted quarter, Calson started in hot pursuit. Gelin was : maislow movements, but in this instance got a hustle on him- self. Int although Wilkerson was on fost he made the best time, arrived in Junction City and received his papers just as Gilson rode m. The inci- dent is similar to the bertone and the hard fallson then secured the north erst quarter of section fourteen Neither of these men are now citizens of the township, having removed ma vens ago.
In the autumn of 1550 Henry Demers, Han (deceased). Charles and Frank Leoprean cuneoto the township Demars and the surviving Letourneu brothers are now residents of Autora Demars and Eleor were married men and left their families near Waterville, the terminus of the railroad. While preparing a place of habitation to shelter their families. their stock of proteins was reduced to trips. The high water made d. ngere us fording of the Republican river at Chde, and they were beginning to comecture as to ther probable fate. When Mr. Wilkerson came along with a wild turkey They bought the trophy. cooked the turnips and the wild inal together and had a feast fit for a king; but were compelled to draw their rations out and make them last for several days in order to sustain hie. The house they were handling was of stone and still stands. It has been remodeled added on to and is the dwelling place of H. F. Rodgers.
Those who settled in 18; are too numerous to mention in detail. Early in this year were E. L. Prince, of Concordia. Sam Mover ( deceased in 1878). I. J. Smith deceased in 18201, D. F. Con, who is still a resident and lives on his old homestead: J. D. Springsted and A. B. l'ennock also came into the locality; others came later and by the time the year closed there were nearly or quite fifty families in the township.
Early in IS;t the Princeville postoffice was established with E. L. Prince as postmaster. The mail was carried to and from Shirley alternately by the neighbors. J. H. Springsted. W. M. Durkee and M. C. Pearson came in November, 1871. The two former are citizens of the town of Aurora, while the latter emigrated to Oregon. . At this time there were but five houses in the township that could boast of shingled roofs and they were very inferior in point of material and architecture. Mr. Durkee says the first piece of lumber he bought in Kansas was a board to be used in the manu- facture of a table. Ile bought it of "Uncle" Jim Hagaman, who was then a lumber dealer in Concordia, and paid seven cents per foot. The old table of thirty-two years still stands on its rudely, but substantially, built legs, and sometimes even now does duty as a table.
In August. 1871. the prairie in this locality was swept by a fire and burned nearly all the hay in the township, leaving the homestead settler
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HISTORY OF CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS.
in a sorry condition. And as if to add to their misfortune a very severe winter followed. The last Sunday in November and the first Sunday in December of 18 ;! are remembered by Mr. Durkee as the worst in the his- tory of Kansas during his residence of thirty-two years. However, no one froze to death, but were even happy and contented. They spent most of their time that winter visiting and getting acquainted with their neighbors.
In the springtime of 18;2 the people began to rustle in earnest. as what money the settlers had brought with them to the country was fast disappearing and about the only means they had of bread winning was to haul freight for the Concordia and Clyde merchants from Waterville. This was the salvation of the poor settler, but everything was exceedingly high and no one acquired a fortune; it was the sustenance of life rather than riches that the homesteader sought.
In September, 18:1, a child was born in the home of Elzeor Letour- neau, which died sixteen days later. This was the first death of any white person that occurred in the township.
In 1872 there was but one voting precinct for Nelson and Aurora townships and that was located in the former. E. L. Prince was the first justice of the peace. The two townships were assessed by William Bris- bine. Early in the springtime of this year school district No. 20 was formed. The first school board consisted of E. L. Prince, G. M. Grilley and David Evens. After several meetings and considerable discussion they voted a six hundred dollar school bond and erected a school building that year 16x22 feet in dimensions. The contract was given to Jake Short, of Con- cordia. Miss Minnie Burleigh taught the first school in this first school house in the township at a salary of eighteen dollars per month. Miss Bur- leigh married later and removed to the southern part of the state. The peo- ple of this locality began to feel as if they were coming out of the wilderness and were becoming a civilized community, for they had a place to hold Sun- day school, occasional divine services, lyceums and social gatherings. Upon each of these various occasions the house would be full to overflowing with settlers full of good feelings and fellowship for each other.
In the autumn of 18:2 the township was organized, and at the sug- gestion of E. L. Prince the name of Aurora was adopted. The citizens of that locality now knew where they were located and began to assume importance. They did not gain in population this year as rapidly as in 1871, but there were several newcomers. What little small grain there was sown yiekled well: corn was a light crop.
The first marriage ceremony performed in the township was in 1872 by E. L. Prince. The contracting parties, Charley Beebe and Jennette Names. were both of Nelson township. The first resident couple of Aurora township to be joined in wedlock were Ed. Law and Miss Grilley (a sister of G. M. Grilley), in the spring of 1873. The second couple to be married were A. B. Pennock and Lizzie Prince, a daughter of E. L. Prince. For some of the disgruntled citizens of the present time Mr. Durkee mentioned
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some of the prices they had to pay in the early Seventies. The first four he brought was three dollars and fifty cents per hundred and that a second griddle article ; pork, fifteen cents per poi 1; one dollar for seven pounds of brown sugar; one dollar and twenty five cents per pound for tea ; cornmeal two dollars per hundred pounds; twenty five to thirty cents per pound for rome, an article much in demand in that day, when in the absence of hedges and fences the stock must either be herded of lariated. J. H. Springsted, who now live in Autora relates how he went down near the Republican river and paid one dollar per bushel for corn the first winter he was in the county and helped shuck it to get feed for hus horses, but m all probability fed them sparingly. Ed. Grilley, now a resident of Michigan, traded his farm and returned to that state in is ;. where he could be nearer his wife's people. He built the sixth house in the townshup and also the best one at that time. The first blacksmith shop was that of M. M. Rockwell, who filed on section twenty-four m 18-3 and established a shop there.
In the spring of 1873 the first election was held in the township in the Princeville school house and something over fifty votes were cast. W. M. Durkee was elected trustee. F. A. Thompson derk, and D. F. Cox treasurer. By this time there were one thousand one hundred and twenty eight acres of land to assess, seven and one fourth sections having been proved upon. the total value of which was one thousand four hundred and sixteen dollars. The total value of the personal property was eight thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven dollars; total, thirteen thousand two hundred and ninety- three dollars. Most of the assessable land was in district No. 20. So the reader can readily see that taxes were somewhat higher than now, but the small gram was good. ind corn fair, and some of the settlers had both. Fhere were frequent showers up to July 23. At this date the locality was visited by one of the biggest pour-downs the author's informant ever remembers having seen in Kansas. It drove many out of their dugouts, washed away horses, cattle and farm tools that lay in low places. Many draws that were ordinarily dry were converted into streams of water fifteen to twenty feet deep.
The season of 1873 will long be remembered by Mr. Durkee and his wife. They were awakened about midnight, arose from their peaceful couch and found themselves wading in water too deep for comfort and more coming. While enroute for quarters more safe they were trying to cross the stream and got into deep water, when wagon and all were carried down with the current until they struck shallow water several rods below. Mr. Durkee reached over the dash board and by holding on to the running gears held the vehicle together until they could reach the shore, which they did without a scratch. but were somewhat excited. . \ young man who was visiting them from Michigan had expressed himself as not liking Kansas because it never rained. When they were disturbed from their slumbers their guest gathered a quilt and wrapped around himself as a protection from the flood that was pouring in over his head. In this forlorn condition Mr. Durkee could not
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