USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 13
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 13
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Fred J. Horton was reared chiefly on the farm. Before he reached his majority he had some experience in the lumber woods of his native state. The schools of the country district and those of the little clean county seat of Wellsboro gave him his educational equipment. He went into the Ohio oil field about 1885 and remained there eight years, as employe two years and as prospector and driller and in the business of development six years. At times he was associated with a brother or brothers and his efforts were productive of varying degrees of success. His operations were in Wood county and around Lima, Ohio, and it was in that country that he came into contact with the Palmer Oil and Gas Company. The latter firm arranged with him to come into Kansas and develop their field and he reached Allen county in the fall of 1894. On October Ist of that year he began erecting the first rig at the "Northrup ford" and at the end of a fortnight he had uncovered a flow of gas that fairly startled our people.
Mr. Horton is not only a developer of our gas resources but an aid in the promotion of other enterprises as well. He owns an interest in the Brooklyn Park addition to Iola and put in, and is the owner of. the gas plant, or system, in both Highland Place and Brooklyn Park. He is one of the directors of the Kansas Brick Company, with plant at Chanute, Kansas. In 1898 he erected a commodious residence in Iola and the same year made substantial improvements upon his farm in Elm township, Allen county.
March 16, 1889, Mr. Horton was married in Monroe, Michigan, to Minnie E., daughter of James Carroll, of Waterville, Ohio. Their chil- dren are Ethel F. and Ruth Horton.
The Hortons are Republicans in politics. Hector Horton, father of our subject, became a Republican early in the history of that party and his sons found it to their financial well-being to support the principles of the same party. The Knights of Pythias, the Elks and the Masons have each a claim upon the social tendencies of our subject.
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
E LMER C. REMSBERG .- Among the enterprising merchants and progressive and reliable citizens of Iola is Elmer C. Remsberg, who is now conducting an implement store. He was born near Middletown, Maryland, June 7, 186?, and his father, J. P. Remsberg, a native of the same locality, was born April 10, 1836. John Remsberg, the grandfather of our subject, was born in Maryland in 1796, the family homestead being situated about five miles from the battle-field of South Mountain, where occurred one of the sanguinary engagements of the Civil war. J. P. Remsberg was reared upon that place and there followed agricultural pursuits until 1876, when he came with his family to Kansas, locating in Elm township Allen county, where he made his home until the spring of 1900. He then removed to Iola, where he now resides. On the 14th of February, 1861, he was united in marriage to Miss Louisa A. C. Coblentz, who was born in Maryland June 7, 1838. She was a daughter of David Coblentz, also of Maryland, who was a first cousin of George A. Bowlus of the Bank of Allen County, at Iola. Mrs. Remisberg died in Allen county July 19, 1890, leaving five children. Elmer C., Mary C., John D., Aaron T. and Simon, all of whom are living in this county.
Elmer C. Remsberg spent the first fourteen years of his life in Mary- land and was then brought by his parents to Kansas, where he was reared. After completing his education he began teaching in the LaHarpe district in 1882, and followed that profession continuously until 1892, when he secured a position with C. H. DeClute, for whom he acted as clerk, remaining in that establishment until April, 1899. In February of the following year he purchased of A. W. Beck the implement store and stock and has since carried on business along that line, meeting with good success. His business methods are commendable and therefore increase his patronage, and he is now enjoying a large and constantly growing trade.
On the 16th of May, 1894, Mr. Remsberg wedded Miss Effie Lemasters who was born July 10, 1871. in Johnson county, Indiana, and is a daughter of I. H. Lemasters, a native of Indiana. To them have been born two children: Mary L. and Everett L. Mr. Remsberg is a member of the Reformed Church. In politics he is a Republican, takes a very active interest in the growth and success of his party, and has several times served as a member of the central committee. For one term he was a member of the city council, and is now clerk of the board of education, which position he has held for three years. He has been called to office by those who recognize his ability and in the discharge of his duties he has shown that the trust reposed in him is well merited.
E LIAS BRUNER .- Actively identified with the industrial interests of Iola, Mr. Bruner has been until recently engaged in the flouring business in connection with W. E. and G. S. Davis, and in the
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manufacture and sale of lumber. He was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, June 15, 1846, and is a son of Jacob Bruner, who was born in the same county, about the year 1814. The father was a wagon maker, following that trade in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania. He married Louisa White, of Lancaster county, and died in 1849, leaving several children. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Church and took an active part in the work. About 1851 of 1852 his widow married Jacob Bender. By her first marriage her children were Mary, who resides in Annville, Pennsylvania; Elias; Elizabeth, wife of Henry Dissler, of Ephrata, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. There were also three children by the second marriage: Jacob, who was probably killed in the great strike in Chicago in 1886; Anna, who died in Annville, Penn- sylvania, at the age of twenty; and John, a blacksmith of Annville, Pennsylvania. The mother of this family died March 1, 1897, at the ripe old age of seventy-three years.
Elias Bruner began learning the machinist's trade at the age of thirteen years, serving an apprenticeship to his uncle, Peter Bruner, of Brunersville, Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen he went to Canton, Ohio, where he remained for one year in the employ of the Malleable Iron Works. After. visiting Louisville and Indianapolis, he returned home and was again employed by his uncle, but after a short time there passed, he removed to Kokomo, Indiana, and soon afterward came to Kansas, arriving in this state in December, 1865, having traveled the entire distance in a wagon. He settled near Erie, Neosho county, where he engaged in farm- ing and-in working in a saw mill. When a year had passed he came to Allen county and entered the employ of D. R. Hovey, who at that time operated a saw-mill and planing mill near Iola. After Mr. Hovey sold out to G. S. Davis & Company, Mr. Bruner continued as engineer in the mill. In 1871 he purchased an interest in the plant, thus entering into partnership with W. E. and G. S. Davis, continuing at the old place until 1880, when they removed their machinery to the more convenient site and building which they occupied until 1900 when they sold it, with all the water privileges attached, to the city of Iola, and retired temporarily from active business.
On the 13th of January. 1872, Mr. Bruner wedded Miss Drucie Davis, daughter of E. S. and Drucie (Allcock) Davis, the former born in Augusta, Maine, in 1806, the latter in Marietta, Ohio, in 1811. Mrs. Bruner is also a native of Marietta, born May 19, 1848. They now have four children: Lettie, who was born October 8, 1874, and is the wife of L. L. Northrup, of Iola: Clara, born September 13, 1879; Freddie, who was born November 23, 1882, and died at the age of one month, and George, born September 20, 1890. The family is one well known in Iola and the members of the household enjoy the high regard of many friends. Mr. Bruner has been a life-long Republican, and as every true American citizen should be, is well informed upon the issues of the day and does all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of the party which he advocates.
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
E LIAS W. ARNOLD, one of the well known and permanent mechanics of Iola, has passed a quarter of a century in Allen county, having come into it in 1875. He was an Ohio emigrant, from Wayne county, where he was born on the 9th of April, 1851. His father, George Arnold, was a farmer and carpenter, who was brought to Ohio when a child from the state of Maryland. The early residents of Wayne and Stark counties, Ohio, well remember George Arnold as a mechanic for he handled the saw and the hammer in the two municipalities nearly half a century.
Daniel Arnold, our subject's grandfather, was the founder of the family in Ohio for it was he who crossed the Alleghenies from Maryland just after the war of 1812 and began the initial work of opening up a farm in Wayne county. He died and is buried in the Buckeye state. George Arnold was an only child. He was born in 1812 and died in 1898. He married Mary Spake, whose father, John Spake, was from the state of Pennsylvania, and served in the war of 1812. Mary (Spake) Arnold died in 1900 at the age of seventy-six years. She was twice married, her first husband being Jacob Plum. George Arnold was also twice married, his first wife being Mary Bowman. The family of Plum children were: John, deceased, who served in the 120th Ohio Infantry; Elizabeth, who married William Cordray, died in Wayne county, Ohio. The first family of Arnold children is composed of John Arnold, who resides in Wayne county, Ohio; Levi, of Blackwell, Oklahoma; Hiram and David, deceased. Eli and Hiram served in the 4th Ohio regiment, the latter dying in the service. The younger generation, which includes our subject, are: Elias W .; Jennie, wife of Calvin Taggart; Mary; Amanda, wife of Jerre Houk, of Wayne county; Daniel and Charles, of Wayne; Jacob, whose whereabouts are unknown; and Elberta, who married John Trout, of Wayne county, Ohio.
E. W. Arnold practically grew up in a carpenter shop. He had completed his trade by the time he had acquired a fair common school education and at the age of about twenty years he undertook the serious side of life. He made no pretentions to any other calling before he came west and the first few years he was in Allen county he picked up a few dollars here and there as the opportunity occurred, in this way. Twenty years ago mechanics were more numerous in Allen county than jobs and Mr. Arnold found it necessary to employ other means, at times, to supply the wants of his family. Gardening and a little truck patch business here and there and doing odd jobs at anything and for anybody is not an exag- gerated statement of his experiences for a few years in Kansas. When he became able to buy a lot and improve it, and then sell, he struck his first money-making project. The town property he acquired in this way lie finally traded for a farm which he moved onto and cultivated with some degree of profit, a few vears. In the spring of 1900 he erected a couple of residences in Jones' addition to Iola, returned to the city and resumed his trade. Toward the development of Iola he has built, on his own account,
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seven houses not to say aught of the many he has been connected with merely as a mechanic.
January 22, 1874, Mr. Arnold was married to Louisa A., a daughter of Aaron Altland. The latter married Margaret Jones and died in Stark county, Ohio, in December, 1895, at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife died in 1866 at the age of thirty-four years. The Altlands were from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. to Ohio where they settled early. John Altland, Mrs. Arnold's grandfather, was born in 1790 and died in 1871. He was a farmer and was married to Susan Eckroate, who died in 1875 at the age of eighty-one. Aaron Altland's children are: Louisa A., born July 20, 1853; and Andrew and Josiah A. Altland, of Stark county, Ohio.
Mr. and Mrs. Arnold's children are: Clark Warren, born August 11, 1875; Edna, born May 18, 1884; Odella, born April 25, 1888; Almeda, born April 14, 1891. Three children, Aaron, Ethel S. and George S. Arnold, are deceased.
Eli Arnold has been one of the industrious citizens of his community. His sympathies have always been with the struggling. honest toiler for he felt that he was one of them. His life has been in every way honorably spent and he has done his best with the resources at his command.
ASPER S. TURNER-In the early spring of 1885 a new man succeeded Mr. Allaway in charge of the Santa Fe station at Iola. He was an eastern man but had absorbed western ways and western customs in his association with the builders of the Union Pacific Railroad from Junction City to Denver and in his subsequent association with men of the craft on other lines and in other departments of the work. The year 1885 marks his ad- vent to the service of the Southern Kansas Railroad Company, now the Santa Fe Railroad Company, and he was, consequently, in the probationary stage of service when he came to Iola. We refer, in these preliminaries, to the person whose name introduces this review, Jasper S Turner.
Mr. Turner was born in Medina County, Ohio, February 17, 1842, and passed his boyhood there. The country wasall he had an opportunity to familiarize himself with as a boy and youth and his education was obtained amid such surroundings for the time being. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company B, 42nd Ohio Volunteers for three months and upon the ex- piration of his time reenlisted and was assigned to Company I, 103rd Ohio volunteers. His regiment served in the army of the the Tennessee and when his second period of enlistment expired he was in Ten- nessee, and there veteranized. He did not furlough home as was the prac- tice under such circumstances, and as the remainder of his company did, but continued on duty and remained in the field until the last gun had been fired and the last vestige of the Confederacy had been wiped out.
The first year after the war Mr. Turner spent in attendance upon the Mennonite College at Wadsworth, Ohio. His experiences up to this time
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
had been ample to enable him to cope successfully with his pe-rs in the warfare of life and in 1867 he started west "to look for something." The development of the west was at that time in its incipient stages. The first great artery of domestic commerce to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific was then building and our subject drifted toward Kansas, the initial point in its construction. He secured the clerkship with the Superintendent of con- struction and followed the road ont to Denver and observed its completion to that point. He returned to Manhattan, Kansas, next and entered the station service of the same road, the "Kansas Pacific," and while here was injured and forced to retire from the service, going to Wyandotte, Kansas. He secured a clerkship in one of the hotels of the place and there passed a period of six months. Returning again to railroad work he entered the service of the Ft. Scott and Gulf road as clerk for the assistant Superin- tendent of construction. Leaving this position he went into the station de- partment of the North Missouri, now the Wabash Railroad, and remained with that system from the fall of 1869 to April, 188;, when he left their employ at Plattsburg, Missouri. He joined the Southern Kansas company the same year and on the 13th of March following took charge of the station at Iola.
Mr. Turner's is one of the old American families. His great-great- grandfather and his great-grandfather were born in the Fatherland and, on arrival in America, settled somewhere on the Atlantic coast. The great- grandfather served in the Colonial army during the war for Independence. He was probably a recruit from the colony of New Jersey, for some of his posterity went from that State into Pennsylvania in the early part of the 19th century. John Turner, our subject's grandfather, emigrated from 'Jersey" and settled on the Muskingum river in western Pennsylvania when his son, Alexander, was a youth. Some years afterward he moved over into Ohio and passed the remaining years of his life in Medina County. Among his children was Alexander, the father of the subject of this sketch. The latter spent many years teaming between Pittsburg and Wadsworth, Ohio, served with the Ohio troops in the Mexican war and finally settled down to the farm near Wadsworth, where both he and his wife died. He married Betsey French, who died in November, 1870, just eight years be- fore her husband. Their children were Alonzo, of Halley, Idaho; James, deceased; Maria, deceased, who married Chas. Curtis; Chas. Wesley, de- ceased; Quincy A., the Ist, and Quincy A., the 2nd; and Jasper S., Ist and 2nd, the latter being, of course, the subject of this article.
Jasper S. was married while he was in Plattsburg, Missouri, October 23, 1872, to M. Fannie Butler, a Kentucky lady. For many years Mrs. Turner has conducted the leading mnillinery and ladies tailoring establish- ment in Iola and the Turner block on West Madison, is in a great measure, a monument to her skill and industry. In their relations to the social side of Iola Mr. and Mrs. Turner have been most fortunate and happy. They are a popular host and hostess and they hold the confidence of their towns- men in a high and permanent degree.
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TRA E. PATTERSON, of Iola, in the business of plumbing, cornice work and general builders supplies, began his life in Iola in 1882, as a clerk in the grocery of Richards & Lakin. The next year he joined Nimrod Hankins in the same business, which partnership and business existed one year. Being a mechanic, he engaged in building work and followed his trade some ten years, and left it to engage in the lumber business with H. E. Thomas. Upon the dissolution of this firin their tinning and plumbing business was retained and Mr. Patterson succeeded to it. While at first it was a matter of small dimensions the growth of the city has justified its owner in extending and enlarging his business till its importance is second to none in Allen County.
Mr. Patterson was born in Henry County, 111., March 30, 1865. He received a good common school education in the school at Annawan, Il1. At the age of seventeen years he became responsible for his maintenance and support. He went into a carpenter shop with W. K. Brown, of Anna- wan, and became an efficient mechanic in due time. He came to Kansas a youth of eighteen with no capital except his industry and his character. How well he has exercised the former and maintained the latter old resi- dents of Iola will amply testify.
Mr. Patterson was married in Iola October, 1889, to Susie B., a daughter of Henry Waters. Mrs. Patterson was born in Douglas County, Kansas, in 1868. Their children are: Arthur E., Lyford M. and Helen R. Patterson.
Mr. Patterson is known as an active Republican and as a leading member of the Methodist church. He has served the city as a member of her common Council and has served his church in its various departments of church work.
RA D. KELLEY is the proprietor of the only hack and baggage line in I the cily of Iola, and is doing an extensive and profitable business. His salient characteristics are energy and persistency of purpose, aad as these form the foundation of all success his friends feel safe in predicting that he will become one of the prosperous residents of Allen County. He is yet a young man for his birth occurred June 3, 1875, the place of his nativity being Newton County, Arkansas, and he is a son of William D. Kelley, of Iola.
Ira D. Kelley has spent twenty-five years in Allen County. At a very early age he commenced driving for his father in the transfer business and after a few years he purchased the business, which he has since carried on with ever increasing success. He began with only one bus, and since that time has added a new wagon or carriage each year and has the only hack and baggage line of the city.
On the 16th of May, 1896, Mr. Kelley was united in marriage to Miss Grace N. Smith, of Humboldt, Kansas, and their pleasant home in Iola is
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
justly celebrated for its charming hospitality. Mr. Kelley is connected with a number of fraternal and social organization: , including the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent Order of Elks. His genial man- ner and unfailing courtesy render him popular, and in business cir cles he sustains a high reputation.
E LISHA JAY-For more than a third of a century Elisha Jay has been a resident of Allen County and during this period has carried on farm- ing, which Washington said is the most honorable as well as the most use- ful calling which man follows. He was born in Miami County, Ohio, October 23, 1837, his parents being Jonathan and Aun (Jones) Jay, also natives of the Buckeye State. In 1850 the father removed with his family to Indiana, where he made his home upon a farm until his life's labors were ended in death in 1867, when he was sixty-two years of age.
Elisha Jay was the third of six children in his father's family and was seventeen years of age at the time of the removal to Indiana. The comin on schools had afforded him his educational privileges and in his early life he learned the blacksmith's trade, which he followed for some time, but dur- ing the greater part of his business career he has carried on farming and has found it a profitable source of income. He was married in 1861 to Miss Hannah Palmer, a native of Montgomery County, Indiana, and a daughter of Daniel and Mahala Palmer, who were the parents of ten chil- dren. The father died in Fountain County, Indiana, on the 14th of Janu- ary, 1867, at the age of sixty-five years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs, Jay has been blessed with four children, of whom three are now living, namely: Albert, a resident of Galena, Kansas; Jonathan, who is living in Salem township and William B.
Five years after his marriage Mr. Jav came to Kansas. Much of the land was still unclaimed and the government offered homesteads at a nominal price to those who would cultivate and improve the wild prairie. Our subject thus secured a farm five miles east of Humboldt, where he still resides and by his industry, as time has passed, he has developed one of the best farms in Salem township. adding thereto all modern accessories and improvements. He is well known in the county and has a host of warm friends. His political support is given the Republican party and in religious work he has been quite active. He was made one of the trustees of the Maple Grove Methodist Episcopal church when that society was organized and still holds the position. In the interim this has grown to be a prosperous church, strong numerically and in its far-reaching influence. Throughout his life Mr. Jay has been found true to the principles in which he believes, and honesty and integrity are synonymous with his name.
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
W ILLIAM B KELLEY, Iola's leading drayman and a gentleman who has established an enviable reputation for honesty, sobriety and public spirit, is a native of one of the southern states, having been born in Jackson County, Alabama, August 23, 1847. His ancestors were radi- cally southern, having resided in that section for generations and having been introduced therein at so early a date that it is not positively known. Eli. M. Kelley, our subject's father, was born in Walker County, Georgia, in 1823, and is a son of Marvel Kelley who died in that county in 1830. Eli M. Kelley has made the calling of his forefathers his life work. He resides in Butler County, Kansas, where he located in 1872 and is well known as a farmer and substantial citizen. He resided in Arkansas during the Civil war and, although in one of the hottest secession states he sided with the Union and entered the 2nd Arkansas cavalry and served nearly two years in the western army. Circumstances made him a Republican many years ago and he has not had occasion to depart from the faith. He married Elizabeth J. Reynolds in the State of Alabama. She died in But- ler County, Kansas, October 16, 1893, at the age of sixty-six years. She was a daughter of Calvin Reynolds, a southern planter whose family home was in Tennessee. Eli Kelley's children are: William B .; Marvel C., of Butler County, Kansas; John M., of Iola; Pleasant S., of Western Kansas; Palestine, deceased, married John Hall and left a husband and one babe, George M., in Cowley County, Kansas. She died September 15, 1882. at the age of 21.
William B. Kelley came to manhood's estate chiefly in Arkansas. His father resided for a time in Green County, Missouri, and there our subject got his education in the district schools. When lie reached his majority he began the battle of life as a farmer. He maintained himself at this for some years, even doing a little of it after his advent to Iola. He came to this point in 1875 and, although he claimed to be a farmer for fifteen years, he was not at all well known as such. In 1890 he saw an opportunity to en- gage in the dray business, with some promise of return, and he did so. But the dray business at that date in Iola's history was very light. In fact it can hardly be said to have reached the dignity of a business. But some- how Kelley found enough to do to keep the wolf from the door of a fair- sized family. He hauled everything, from junk to baggage and kept in the field so that when his town finally started in her career toward the skies he went with her. In a short time his single team was inadequate and he added another, and another, and finally two more until his yard and stables have something of the appearance of a metropolitan one. His original homestead has kept pace in the march of progress. At the beginning it contained one house and he has added more than one house for each team, on the same block.
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