USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 14
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 14
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In June, 1869, Mr. Kelley was married in Newton County, Arkansas, to Susan A., a daughter of John T. Spears, of South Carolina, a farmer and trader. The children of this union are: John M., Levi S., Ira D., and Agnes J., wife of James Dunfee.
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L EONARD C. THOMAS, one of the well-to-do farmers of Allen county, was born in Quincy, Illinois, March 7, 1859, of German parentage. His father, Philip Thomas, was a native of Germany, and came to America at the age of twelve years. He represented a family widely known for excellent business ability, its members attaining a hig li degree of prosperity. Two of his brothers yet survive. Casper Thomas, who came to America in 1849, located in California. He is now living in luxury in Germany. Tobias, also went to California and is now living in Portland, Oregon.
In early life Philip Thomas began working at the cooper's trade which he followed in this country with excellent success, thereby acquiring a very desirable competence. He married Elizabeth Herleman, who was born in Denmark, and came to America when nine years of age. She was a daughter of Jacob Herleman, a farmer, who died near Quincy, Adams county, Illinois, when in the prime of life. Her brother, Nick Herleman, made his fortune on a farm, and is now living retired in Quincy. Her sister, who married a Mr. Smith, and was widely known as "Aunt Smith," died wealthy. The money making propensity of the family was manifest in Philip Thomas, whose business grew in volume and importance, so that he furnished employment to between one and two hundred men. By his marriage to Miss Herleman the following children were born: Mary, widow of Mr. Messerschmidt, who was a well-to-do saddler; Lysetta, -who died in May, 1898, was the wife of Mr. Winter, who died in May, 1900. He served for four years and seven months in the Civil war, participated in the battle of Bull Run, and was seven times wounded. At the battle of Wilson Creek, General Lyons fell and he aided in carrying him from the field. In other engagements, Mr. Winter also sustained wounds. As soon as it became known that he was a boatman, he was detached from land service and placed on a transport boat, where he served until after the close of hostilities. Albert Thomas, the eldest son of the family, was a sergeant in the Regular army and now is in the Philippine war. Philip C., who was born in June, 1853, has followed the coopering business all his life in partnership with his father. He has a son, a machinist, now in Denver, Colorado. Tobias, the youngest son of the family, is an engineer with the Electric Weaving Company, of Quincy, Illinois.
Leonard C. Thomas acquired a common school education and received a thorough training at the cooper's trade, which he learned under the direction of his father, of whom he afterward became a partner. They took the trees as they were cut down in the forest and did all the work of manufacturing the lumber and making the barrels. Mr. Thomas, of this review, followed the business until November, 1883, when he came to Kansas. He has since carried on agricultural pursuits here. In Novem- ber previous he had wedded Miss Carrie Smith, a sister of Judge J. B. Smith, of the probate court of Allen couuty. Her father, John Smith, was for four years sheriff of Sangamon county, Illinois, and was at one time mayor of Springfield, Illinois. He was elected and served for one term in
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the state legislature, and was afterward appointed warden of the state penitentiary. When the war broke out he was in Springfield and there he formed a company and was appointed captain. He represented an old Kentucky family but possessed strong abolition principles. John Smith, however, was the only Republican in his family, and had brothers in the southern army. He was killed in a railroad accident between Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, while warden of the penitentiary. Two sons and one daughter still survive him. The third being Will Smith, a real estate dealer in Oklahoma.
As before stated Mr. Thomas came to Kansas in 1883. His wife had inherited two hundred and fifty-six acres of land on section 32, Salem township, and this induced him to take up the life of farming. Mr. Thomas broke all of this tract and all of the improvements on the place stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise. Here they have reared their three children: John, who was born June 26, 188 -; Charles, born in November, 1889, and Elmer B., born March 31, 1896. They are being provided with good educational privileges and well fitted for life's practical duties. Mr. Thomas has been a man of marked enterprise and excellent executive ability whose sagacity and energy in business affairs have con- tributed in a large measure to his prosperity.
JOHN H. VANNUYS, cashier of the Northrup National Bank at Iola, an early settler in Allen county and a gentleman widely known and universally esteemed, was born in Johnson county, Indiana, September 20, 1840. He is a son of Isaac Vannuys and passed his boyhood and youth upon the farm. He acquired a good elementary education in the country schools and in Hopewell Academy. Before he had undertaken to battle with the problems of life the Civil war burst upon the country and he attained his majority in the ranks of Co. F, Seventh Indiana Infantry. He enlisted for three years in August and his regiment went at once iuto West Virginia and became a part of the Federal forces fighting the battles for liberty and union in that state. 1 Two weeks after leaving Indianapolis Mr. Vannuys was in the battle of Green Briar. Toward the latter part of the year his service in the field was interrupted by sickness and he spent a part of ths first winter in the hospital at Cumberland, Maryland, before furloughing home. He returned to his command in time for the engage- ment at Port Republic and was in the field with it till after the second battle of Bull Run. His lying out in all kinds of weather brought on an attack of acute rheumatism and he was so crippled by it that he lay in the hospital nearly all the second winter. When the Confederates started north on their second raid and all the men were being pushed to the defense of Washington the hospitals were drawn upon for their convales- cents and our subject was given a gun with the rest. He was sent north with them to Columbia, near Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna river,
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guarding the long bridge, and he reached his regiment again after the battle of Gettysburg had been won. He was able for duty the remainder of his term of enlistment and was in all the engagements of the regiment up to and including the fight in front of Petersburg, Virginia. He received a bullet through the right thigh in that fierce engagement and was ren- dered incapably of further service to the regiment. He was discharged September 20, 1864, and, upon returning home, he took a business college course at Indianapolis the following winter. In the fall of 1865 he was in the national bank at Goshen, Indiana, for a few months but severe illness forced his retirement and the following spring and summer he spent in the Second National Bank ot Franklin, Indiana. In the spring of 1867 he came to Kansas and spent his first two years here upon an Allen county farm. He was associated with James Christian in the cattle business, more or less, in which enterprise Mr. Christian was also a partner. In the spring of 1869 he came to Iola and associated himself with William Davis in the clothing business. Before this firm ceased to exist he went into the bank of L. L. Northrup, where he had had occasional employment, almost from the inception of the bank and was soon a fixture there. He dates his permanency with the bank from April 1873. He has had such an extended connection with the institution that it seems this connection never had a beginning and never should have an ending. His relations have been so close to the guiding spirits of the institution and his attentions so unremitting to the institution itself that it can be said with propriety that he is a part of both. He has thought more about his duty to his fellows and to his Maker than to himself and has not profited by his opportunities as he might. Every charity, every benevolence crosses his path and every progressive movement for the substantial or intellectual improvement of his community is a beneficiary of his purse.
Mr. Vannuys' connection with the Presbyterian church of Iola has been long and constant. As Treasurer of the Board of Trustees his tenure of office runneth not, neither to his predecessor or his successor. His moral code is strict and unbending and his aesthetic nature is well cultivated.
Isaac Vannuys, our subject's father, was born in Kentucky in 1813. His father and our subject's grandfather was probably born in Jersey City, New Jersey, went to Kentucky many years ago and, about 1835, settled in Johnson county, Indiana, where he died in 1846 at about seventy years of age. He married a Miss Demaree and reared a large family. His son, Isaac, who died in 1844, married Elizabeth, a daughter of John Johnson. Elizabeth (Johnson) Vannuys was born in Henry county, Kentucky, in 1815. Her children are: Archibald C., who died in 1861; Charity E., wife of H. C. Winchester, of Carlyle, Kansas; Julia E., widow of Isaac C. LaGrange, of Franklin, Ind .; John Harvey, our subject; and Mary C., widow of Richard T. Overstreet, of Johnson county, Ind. Our subject's grand ancestors on both the paternal and marernal sides were native born English, Scotch, Irish and German respectively.
The political history of Mr. Vannuys can be sumed up in a few words.
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He joined the Republican party as soon as he became a voter and that public safeguard has since been his political refuge.
Mr. Vannuys' first wife was Anna M. Overstreet, who died in Iola November 20, 1871, without leaving issue. In May. 1874, he married Emily A., daughter of the late L. L. Northrup Mrs. Vannuys died in April, 1885, without issne.
A M. BEEMAN-Among the sons of the Empire State who have cast in their lot with the citizens of Kansas and are numbered among the representatives of Allen County is A. M. Beeman, who was born in New York, March 8, 1833. His parents were John S. and Ursula (Crooker) Beeman, the former born in Vermont in 1812, and the latter in Connecticut in 1813. Our subject now has in his possession several mementoes of his wife's grandmother, among other things a ribbon belt which was worn more than a century ago. In 1836 Mr. Beeman's parents removed to Michigan, but after nine years returned to the Empire State, where the father died in 1888,-the mother having passed away in 1839,-leaving three children: Julia, wife of William Cobb; A. M., of this review; and Emily, wife of Ira Allen.
A. M. Beeman was reared in New York with the exception of the nine years spent by the family in Michigan, and in the common schools he acquired his education. In 1867 he came to Kansas,-a young man of 34 years,-full of energy, determination and resolution. He secured a homestead claim of eighty acres, six miles east of Humboldt, and still re- sides upon that property, having made it a highly cultivated and productive tract. In his early life he learned the gunsmith's trade and during the Civil war worked in the gunshops, making Enfield rifles for use by the Union army, thus rendering effective service for his country. He was employed in this way in Canandaigua, New York, where he manufactured many guns used by sharpshooters.
In 1867, the year of his removal to the west, Mr. Beeman was united in marriage to Miss Lydia A. Pomeroy, a native of New York. Her father, Chauncey Pomeroy, was born in that State, August 26, 1813, and married Fannie Eliza Alger, a native of Ontario. Mr. Pomeroy's death occurred in July, 1848, but his wife, who was born in 1817, is still living. They were the parents of six children, as follows: Jane D., William I., Lydia A., Catharine A., George W. and Henry T. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Beeman was blessed with seven children: Emma Ursula, Edwin A., Chas. Wesley, Mary Etta, John S., Martin O. and Benight M. The last named is now deceased.
Mr. Beeman is a popular resident of his community. He has served as justice of the peace of his township, is now its treasurer, and in 1900 re- ceived the nomination of the People's Party for the office of township trustee. He deserves great credit for what he has accomplished in life, for
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he started out to earn his living when only twelve years of age, and since that time has depended entirely on his own resources. Diligence has been the keynote to his success, and his example is one that might be profitably followed by all who have to depend upon their own exertions. His worth is widely recognized and he enjoys the friendship of many of the best peo- ple of Allen County.
I THAMER F. RANDOLPH has won the right to be termed a self-made man and is now classed among the enterprising citizens of Salem town- ship, Allen County. He was born in Shelby County, Indiana, January 9, 1844, and is a son of Reuben F. Randolph, a native of Ohio, who removed to the Hoosier State when a young man and was there married to Miss Amanda Runyon, who was born in Indiana of southern parentage. During the early boyhood of their son Ithamer they removed to Iowa, where both died in November, 1860, there being only about two weeks' difference in the time of their demise. Their children were: Owen F., Reuben F., William F., Ithamar F., Melinda F., wife of Lafayette Shadley, who was killed at Coffeyville by the Daltons; Amanda F., wife of Alexander Breeding and Margaret A. F., wife of Charles Hodgkiss.
Ithamar F. Randolph spent the greater part of his youth in Iowa, and to its public school system is indebted for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. He worked on the home farm until after the country became involved in Civil war, when on the 15th of July, 1863, at the age of 19 years, he offered his services to the government, enlisting in Company C, Ninth Iowa Cavalry, with which he remained until the 20th of March, 1866. During that time he was in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas with the Western Division, engaged in fighting bushwhackers and Texas Rangers. He was never wounded nor taken prisoner, although he saw some very hard service while associated with the boys in blue in establishing the supremacy of the Union.
After receiving an honorable discharge Mr. Randolph returned to Davis County, Iowa, and two years later married Miss Miriam V. Cade, a native of that county. The marriage was celebrated March 12, 1868, and has been blessed with seven children: Louie F., now the wife of W. J. Royer; Mattie F., wife of W. J. Kelso; Mary F., wife of Lewis Anderson, of Kansas City, Missouri; Effie F., Myrtle F., Bessie F., and Jessie F., all at home.
Mr. Randolph continued to reside in Iowa until 1877, when he came with his family to Kansas and for five years was a resident of Wilson County. The spring of 1882 witnessed his arrival in Allen County, and he purchased a farm in the southeastern part of Salem township, where he still resides, having a very comfortable home that stands as a monument to his thrift and enterprise, His life has been one of industry and honesty, and his career has been a useful and commendable one, showing what can be accomplished by determined purpose and serving as an example that is well worthy of emulation.
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F RANK JACKSON, of Carlyle township, is one of Allen County's pioneers. He was born in Iola March 31, 185t, ani, with the excep- tion of four years spent in Cowley County, Kansas, has resided continu- ously in Allen County. His life has been devoted to the farm and the re- wards of his industry have been never-failing and constant. Beginning life as a mere boy and in a modest and unpretentious way he has come to be recognized as one of our most thrifty and successful small farmers.
The Jacksons were among the first settlers of Allen County. Joel Jackson, father of the subject of this review, started west from some point in the State of Wisconsin with a yoke of oxen and a linchpin wagon. His objective point was Kansas and he arrived in lola about 1859. On the journey out one ox died and a cow was substituted for the remainder of the trip. Farming was Mr. Jackson's occupation and he had that vocation in mind when he came to this new State. He entered the army the first year of the Rebellion, enlisting in Company E, 9th Kansas, and was killed at the battle of Stone Lane, Missouri.
Joel Jackson was an Englishman. He was married to Mary Fleek, who died March 25, 1897. Upon the death of Mr. Jackson his widow was left with a family of small children. They were: Niton Jackson, of Okla- homa; William, of Kansas City, Missouri; Joseph, deceased, and Frank The family remained in Iola till 1870 when the mother took a homestead northeast of town and moved her family and effects onto it. With the aid of her sons she opened up a farm there and slowly acquired the means to make them comfortable. All the sons left home, in time, but Frank. He stuck to the farm, through hard times, poor seasons and poor markets and encouraged and took care of his mother, never losing faith in Kansas.
Our subject was married in Cowley County, Kansas, in November, 1879. His wife was Miss Lizzie Sutliff, a daughter of Abe Sutliff. She was born March 31, 1862, and, as a companion, has borne her portion of the family responsibilities. She is really a "better half" and a genuine woman and a genuine man are at the head of their family. Their children are: Niley, Miley, John, Effie, Frankie and Altie.
As a farmer Frank Jackson has been a success. He has proceeded upon the theory that if he provided the labor and managed his affairs with wisdom Providence would do the rest. He never complains or fault-finds over a crop shortage, but takes a hopeful view of all things. He has a surplus when anybody has and often when others have not. From a team and a few cattle he has expanded to a one hundred and twenty acre farm, well stocked. Although he takes a fervent interest in politics he does so for the benefit of his party and not for himself. He has always been a Re- publican, has always practiced honesty and has the confidence and esteem of his fellow countrymen.
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JONATHAN M. MATTOON .- The historic village of Geneva in Allen county is yet rich in the personal presence of pioneers; men whose years had scarcely reached the quarter century mark when they established themselves in that community; men whose forms are now bent with years and awaiting the passing of the spirit to be laid away with the honored dead. When the names of Spicer, Dickey, Esse, Howland and Mattoon have passed into the Great Beyond then will Geneva cease to turn to her first settlers for her "first things" but place her reliance in records instead. J. M. Mattoon has been one of the characters of Allen county for nearly forty-five years. He came to the county in 1857 when the settle- ment at Geneva was being founded and cast his lot with the brethren of the east. He had started west eight years before he reached Kansas but spent the intervening years in Michigan where he was employed as a machinist. His place of birth was in Jefferson county, New York, and the date was December 17, 1813. Gershom Mattoon was his father and Nancy Sayer was his mother, natives of Connecticut and New Jersey, respectively. Of the nine children of these parents only two survive, viz: Our subject and a sister, Harriet Williams, of Warsaw, Michigan.
Mr. Mattoon was married to Tracy Hancock and in 1849 went into Michigan. Eight years later he found himself on the frontier of civiliza- tion and at the gateway to the great American Desert. Choosing mer- chandising as his vocation he engaged in it with little delay and many years passed ere he laid aside the liquid measure, the yard stick and the scissors. In. 1858 he was appointed assistant post-master at Geneva and two years later he was appointed chief of the office. He held this latter position through several administrations-from Lincoln to McKinley-until he had held the office more than forty years and was one of the oldest post-masters in the United States.
In 1860 Mr. Mattoon suffered the loss of his wife. She was the mother of eight children, two sons, both of whom served in the Civil War. and both of whom have since died. The surviving daughters are: Lucy J .; Matilda, wife of Henry Gray; Josena, wife of Louis Davidson; Cecil Carry; May, wife of Frank Campbell, and Adda, who married William Hyde.
J. M. Mattoon has filled a place in the affairs of men. He brought with him to his new western home character and honor and has maintained them both untarnished and unassailed. Honesty and integrity "blazed" his pathway and whether transacting his private business or representing his constituents in a public office his watchword was the same.
R OBERT F. WHITE .- One of the early settlers in Geneva township, Allen county, and a gentleman whose prominence as a farmer and whose influence in public affairs is universally recognized, is Robert F White, of lola, He settled on the H. L. Spencer farm, on the Neosho
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river, in 1866 and from that date till his recent removal to Iola he was one of the central figures of his township. He was born in Washington county, Indiana, November 20, 1834, but his parents removed to Hend- ricks county and there Mr. White was married and from that point he came into Kansas. He is a son of Maximillian White who was born in. North Carolina in March 1801 and whose parents settled in Washington county, Indiana, in 1814. Caleb White, our subject's grandfather, was a shoemaker. He was born in North Carolina, belonged to the Quaker sect and passed his later life as a farmer. He married Parthena White and both are buried in Washington county, Indiana. The children of this pioneer couple were: Josiah, Aun, Sallie, Penelope, Margaret, Jean- ette. Caleb and Maximillian White.
Maximillian White was one of the prominent local Whigs in Indiana and was married in Washington county. to Ruth, a daughter of Lewis and Jane (Thompson) Woody. Jane (Woody) White died in 1841. Their children were: Anna, deceased, wife of Simeon Clayton; Asenas, de- ceased, who married Samuel Nixon; Eliza, deceased, was married to Edwin Pead; Lewis W., deceased; Robert F., our subject; Walter, deceased, and Martha White.
Robert F. White is a typical countryman. His youth and vigorous manhood were passed amidst rural environments and his student days, proper, were confined to the district schools, finishing them with a term or so in an academy. He began life on a farm, when of age, and every other business is a stranger to him. He left Indiana in 1859 and settled on a farm in Lyon county. He was in the state militia during the war and was called out to chase Quantrell, Bill Anderson, and to repel Indian invasion and to defend Kansas against the Price raid.
Mr. White was first married in 1854 to Esther Hadley. She died in 1869 and in 1872 he married Elizabeth Odell. Mrs. White was a daughter of Isaac and Mary Odell, both from Tennessee. Mrs. White was born in Coles county, Illinois, in 1834. The other Odell children are: George W .. of Reno county, Kansas; James H., of Neosho Falls, Kansas; Mollie, wife of John W. Parker, of Coles county, Illinois, and Mattie D., wife of D. M. Smith, of Mattoon, Illinois.
Robert F. White's children are: Jennie, deceased, wife of A. C. Settle; J. R. White, who died at twenty-one; Frank D. White, of Geneva, who married Hester Saferight, and Enos White, who died at twenty-one.
If R. F. White is well known for any one thing it is as a Republican. He was one of the first voters with the party but he did his first hallowing in a political campaign for Gen. Harrison in 1840. He has voted at every presidential election except the one in 1860, when he was not a voter. He has not aspired to serve the people in a public capacity but did so as Trustee of his township, by appointment.
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C HARLES W. HALL has spent his entire life in the Mississippi Valley and the progressive spirit which dominates this section of the country, and has led to its wonderful advancement is manifest in his business career. He was born in Belvidere. Illinois, on the 26th of October, 1852, and is a son of Edward and Helen (Wickes) Hall, the former a native of New York, and the latter of Michigan. From the Wolverine state they removed to Illinois, where the mother died in 1861, at the age of twenty-seven years. She had two children, but Charles W. is the only one now living.
When nine years of age Charles W. Hall went to the Empire state where he resided for a time, afterward living in Illinois and Michigan. He pursned his education in the common schools supplemented by one term's attendance at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. From early yonth he has made his own way in the world, dependent entirely upon liis own resources for a livelihood. At the age of eighteen he began steamboating on the river, learned the work of a marine engineer and suc- cessfully passed the engineer's examination, given by Mr. Cole of Port Huron. He then spent three years as an engineer on the Saginaw river, and on leaving the water returned to Michigan, where he purchased a farm.
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