History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 17

Author: Duncan, L. Wallace (Lew Wallace), b. 1861. cn; Scott, Charles F., b. 1860
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Iola, Kan. : Iola Register
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 17
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 17

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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nection he purchased a half interest in a business college in Zanesville, Ohio, and remained with it eight years. Returning to his first love, the farm, he remained four years on the old home and then disposed of his per- sonal effects and came west. Kansas, and especially Allen County, was absolutely strange to him when he entered it. He purchased a farm on the north line of the county and began its successful cultivation and manage- ment. Another farm, adjoining, in Anderson Cou:ity, he owns, and alto- gether his time and energies are in full demand.

Mr. Roll was first married in Ohio, January 16, 1861, to Anna McCor- mick. She died in March two years later. In October, 1865, he was married to Sarah J., a sister of Hon. James Neal, of Hamilton, Ohio. She died before their first anniversary and July 7, 1867, he was united in mar- riage with Susan M. Weatherhead, of Ogdensburg, New York, a daughter of Robert Weatherhead, a government officer. Robert H. Weatherhead, a leading druggist of Cincinnati, and Judson Weatherhead, of Chicago, are brothers of Mrs. Roll and Mrs. Fannie Church, of Chicago, is her sister.

Mr. Roll's children are Samuel A. Roll, with the Electric Appliance Company of Chicago; Bessie, wife of Arthur Paine, of Chicago; Lillie M., head book-keeper for the E. A. Armtrong Manufacturing Company, of Chica- go. and Robert Roll, of Allen County.

The politics of the Rolls has been permanent and unchangeable. Our subject cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont and fol- lowed the Republican party on down to and including its late candidate, William Mckinley.

G EORGE HARRIS, one of the practical and prosperous farmers of Deer Creek township, came to Allen County, Kansas, in company with his fellow countrymen, Busley and Robertshaw, in 1880, and purchased a tract of eighty acres on the broad and untamed prairie in section seventeen, township twenty-four, range twenty. He was a young Englishman with scant means and he came to the State to provide himself, with his labor and his native tenacity, a home for his growing family. He had worked as a farm land in Livingston County, New York, and, at $25 a month, he had laid by sufficient means to pay for his land and to begin the initial work of its cultivation and improvement. His first cottage, 16x12, fur- nished him with a home for eight years and in that time his prosperity enabled him to erect a comfortable and more commodious residence, a mod- est barn, and to add forty acres to his original farm.

Before coming to Kansas Mr. Harris resided in New York seven years, coming there from Lincolnshire, England, where he was born July 31, 1849. His father, Thos. Harris, was a farmer and William and our subject were his ouly heirs. William Harris resides in England still. Thos. Harris married Susanna Hilton, who, after the death of her husband married

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James Hill and reared a second family of four children. George Harris attended school at Keeby, Lincolnshire. In his youth he learned farming by actual experience and worked, also, in the iron mines.

November 13, 1874, Mr. Harris was married at Rochester, New York, to Elizabeth Lyttle, a daughter of Joseph Lyttle, a settler from the north of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs .Harris' children are: Alice, wife of Geo. M. Love, of Kansas City, Missouri; Mary, Clara, Hilton and Nellie.

Mr. Harris became a voter in 1880. · He cast his first presidential ballot for the Republican candidate of that year, but four years later he supported Mr. Cleveland. For ten years he has been identified with the Republicans and his support of their candidate in 1896 and in 1900 was both earnest and enthusiastic.

W ILLIAM T. STOUT, who is recognized as one of the substantial of the moderate farmers of Deer Creek township, has been a citizen of Allen county twenty years. He came to the county in 1880 and first settled upon section 5. township 24, range 20. For seventeen years prior his home was in Linn county, Missouri, to which county he went from Bond county, Illinois, the year following the close of the Civil war.

Mr. Stout was born in Bond county, Illinois, November 29, 1844. His father, Harvey E. Stout, was born in the state of Illinois and was a son of Thomas Stout, whose life was passed as a miller and later as a hotel man in Greenville, that state. He was of German stock and went into Illinois as a pioneer. His son Harvey was born in 1820. The latter was reared in Illinois, learned the carpenter trade, married Minerva Young, a daughter of William Young, and went into Wappelo county, Iowa, some years before the Rebellion. He died in 1865 and is buried at Agency City, Wappelo county. His wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1846. . William Stout is her sole surviving heir. Another son, Richard E. Stout, died in Denver, Colorado, in 1894, leaving a son, William.

Our subject spent his youth upon the farm. The war came on before he reached his majority and he enlisten in 1861 in Company E, 22nd Illinois, Capt. McAdams and Cols. Dougherty and Hart, in their order, and finally Col. Swanrick. He was mustered in at Cairo, Illinois, and left the command for a scout after Jeff. Thompson whose men he met at Bert- rand, Missouri. In the spring of 1862 his regiment was sent across Missouri to New Madrid to aid iu cutting off the rebels. It went down to Fort Pillow and was ordered back to Shiloh to re-enforce Grant. The siege of Corinth followed and the 22nd was in it. Company E was camped near a railroad bridge, guarding this thoroughfare during a- portion of its stay around Corinth. Following Corinth came Stone River, Chicka- mauga, Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga. Mr. Stout was in east Ten- nessee when his term of enlistment expired and he re-enlisted in the 4211d Illinois and furloughed home for thirty days. He joined his regiment-a

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part of the 4th corps-just before the Atlanta campaign and, following close upon the heels of that, his regiment was a part of the army at Scho- field that whipped Hood at Nashville. The 42nd was ordered from east Tennessee and had something to do with the demoralization of the Con- federate troops in that region. Later it was ordered into Texas and was stationed at Port Lavaca, that state, when Mr. Stout was discharged in the winter of 1865.

Notwithstanding the long, continuous and dangerous service Mr. Stout was exposed to he escaped serious injury, He was only one of inany thousand who accomplished this feat but this fact does not detract from the value of his service nor from the spirit of patriotism which prompted it. At all times he fulfilled the requirements of a soldier-he obeyed orders.

On September 19, 1867, Mr. Stout was married to Sarah E. Warren, a daughter of Thomas C. Warren, from Kentucky. Their children are: Mary, wife of Thomas Wollard; James W. Stout, who married Lily Wagner; Ola J., widow of Carl Stickney; Ida, who married Thomas L. Dickerson; Thomas Stout, who married Mattie Trout; Nora E., wife of Ralph Sprague; Lucy Elva, wife of Thomas Jackson; George A., Albert, Leonard, Raymond and Quincey, all residing in Allen county.

William T. Stout came to Kansas with a large family and little means Fifty dollars covered his cash possessions, and with body filled withi industry he rented land and went to work. He bought a forty acre tract in Osage township the second year, or arranged to buy it, and later on another forty (railroad land) and his start uphill dated irom that time. He sold his Osage possessions and located in his present place in 1883. As a citizen he is regarded with confidence by his neighbors and fellow towns- men and in politics, in his somewhat limited sphere, he stands for the principles of Republicanism as expounded in the Philadelphia platform of 1900.

TOHN D. CHRISTIAN is one of the leading farmers of Carlyle town- ship, and one of the reliable citizens of Allen county, on whom have been conferred positions of public trust and responsibility. He was born in Parke county, Indiana, October 15, 1847, his parents being Robert and Mary M. (Gilkerson) Christian, both of whom were natives of Augusta county, Virginia. In 1835 they removed to Indiana, locating on the old homestead farm which is now in possession of their sons, John D. and Gilbert M., who are the only survivors in their family of five children. The latter resides in Rockville, Indiana, The father died in 1855, at the age of sixty-three years, and the mother's death occurred in 1898, when she had attained the advanced age of eighty-two years.

John D. Christian spent his boyhood days on the home farm and was educated in the common schools. He remained with his parents until he had attained his majority, when with the restless spirit of energy he

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resolved to seek a business opening in the west, and made his way to Kansas in 1869. He found employment on a farm in Carlyle township, Allen county, and later was employed to herd cattle, following that pursuit until he had saved some money, when he entered into a partnership for the purpose of buying and selling cattle on his own account. He was thus engaged for eight years, during which time he had acquired through his own exertions a sum sufficient to enable him to purchase a tract of prairie land. This he at once began to improve and from time to time he has added to his first purchase, until now within the boundaries of his farm is comprised a tract of two hundred and forty acres, situated in Carlyle town- ship, eight miles north of Iola. His place is well improved with modern accessories and conveniences, although not an improvement had been made upon the farm when it came into his possession. The entire place is a monument to his enterprise and the buildings stand in material evidence of his energy and diligence.

Mr. Christian was married in 1874 to Miss Rachel Dennis, but after three years of married life she was called to her final rest. In 1887 Mr. Christian wedded Miss Rosa McGurk, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Daniel and Sophia McGurk, who came to Kansas in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Christian have six children: Maggie, Robert, John, Cary, Edwin and Bernice.

In connection with his only brother Mr. Christian now.owns the old home farm in Parke county, Indiana, comprising one hundred acres of valuable land adjoining Rockville, which is one of the wealthiest towns of its size in the Hoosier state. For eighteen years he filled the office of treasurer of Carlyle township, and in 1898 he was nominated and elected by a large majority on the Republican ticket for the office of county com- missioner, which he has filled with satisfaction to his constituents. Over his official record there falls no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, and his has been an honorable and upright career, in which he has gained and retained the warm friendship of many with whom he has been brought in contact.

D R. CICERO S. MARTIN, of Allen county, whose father, the late John Martin, of Deer Creek township, was one of the first settlers on the creek, was born in Lawrence county, Arkansas, February 20, 1857. The following June his father landed in Allen county and made his final stop in the "Martin and Wise" neighborhood on the 14th of the month. The homestead which the head of the family entered is now the property of "Uncle Billy" Merchant, but the place upon which he spent the last years of his active life and where he died is the property of his son, Rufus S. Martin, at the forks of north and south Deer Creek.

John Martin was born in North Carolina June 14. 1815. His father, John Martin, was a state senator of the old "Tar Heel State" and a wealthy

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planter. The latter married a Miss Jones and eight of their sixteen child- ren were sons. Among them were Benjamin, Henry, William, Bartlett, Yancy, Alexander and John. The last named married Sarah Sale who died in Allen county in 1893, while her husband died October 5, 1882. This pioneer couple left North Carolina about 1855 for the west and stopped a year or more in Lawrence county, Arkansas. He drove into Allen county with his thirteen in family, with an ox team and, along with the Days and Wises, was the first permanent settler in his locality. He engaged at once in the stock business and in the cultivation of the soil and was one of the successful and comfortably well-off men of his time. He took a rather conspicuous part in public affairs, was a soldier in the Kansas militia, as were some of his sons, and was called out when the Rebels were threatening our frontier. In politics he was a Democrat, as a citizen he was among the best and as a man he was loyal to his family and to his friends.

The children of this pioneer, our subject's father, were William Yancy, of Wheatland, Oregon; Jane, wife of Nelson Hall, of Blackburn, Indian Territory; John J., a soldier in the 9th Kansas, who died in 1870; Hiram S., who died in 1876; Adeline, deceased, wife of Patrick Moynihan; Susan, wife of James Goodnight, of Dale county, Missouri; James H., deceased; Martha A., wife of R. E. Strickler; Rufus and Dr. Cicero S.

Dr. Martin spent his childhood and youth in the country on Deer creek. He attended school under Prof. David Smith at Carlyle and chose medicine as his calling at about eighteen years of age. He was a student in the office of Dr. J. Morgan at Neosho Falls, following which he attended the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis two years, graduating March 4, 1882. His practice began at once in his home neighborhood and has continued there with success.

January 13, 1887, he was married to Emma L. Benjamin, a daughter of John B. Benjamin, of Hamilton, Missouri. The only child of Dr. and Mrs. Martin, Cicero Ray, died August 8th, 1899, at nearly nine years of age.

H IRAM LIEURANCE .- A well known and prominent representative of agricultural interests in Allen county, Hiram Lieurance, well deserves mention in this volume devoted to recording the history of the leading men of Allen county. He was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on the 8th of March, 1829, a son of Elijah and Cynthia (Wright) Lieurance. The father was a native of North Carolina and when about twenty years of age removed to the Buckeye state, where he met and married Miss Wright, an Ohio lady. In 1836 they started westward and became identi- fied with the farming interests of Illinois, the father continuing the work of the fields throughout his active business career. His wife died in 1844 at the age of forty-two years, and surviving her twenty-four years Mr.

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Lieurance departed this life in 1868, at the age of seventy-eight. They were the parents of twelve children, but three of whom are living. the sisters being Cynthia, a resident of Nebraska, and Mary L. Jane Reynolds, living in Anderson county, Kansas.

Hiram Lieurance, the only surviving son of the family, accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois when he was but seven years of age. There he was reared and in the common school: he acquired his education, pursning his studies through the winter season, while in the summer months he assisted in the work of the home farm, remaining with his father until he was twenty years of age. He then went to Wisconsin where he worked as a farm hand by the month for two years, returning to Illinois on the expiration of that period. In a short time, however, he again left home, his destination being the Pacific coast. It was in 1850 that he crossed the plains to California, reaching the Golden state after a trip of four months. There he began mining, following that pursuit for three years with good success, and with the large sum of money which he had acquired he returned to the east, making the journey by the water route. He sailed to San Juan, crossed the Isthmus to Graytown, and by way of the Nicaragua river reached the Atlantic ocean where he took passage on a vessel bound for New York. From that point he continued on his way as a passenger on the Hudson river boats, and on the great lakes proceeded to Chicago, reaching his home after forty days of travel.

Soon afterward Mr. Lieurance was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Vandiveer, a native of Illinois, in which state they resided until 1868, when they came to Kansas, locating in Allen county upon the farm where they have since resided. Mr. Lieurance first secured a tract of eighty acies, but he has extended the boundaries of his place until it now com- prises three hundred and twenty acres. For some time he engaged in buying and shipping stock, but after a number of years he withdrew from that enterprise and now devotes his attention solely to the cultivation of his land.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Lieurance has been blessed with four children, namely: Eliza, the wife of J. N. Fallis, who is living with her parents; Elvin T .; Herbert Grant and Perry. All are married and reside near the homestead, either in Allen or Anderson counties. That Mr. Lieurance is a popular citizen in the community is indicated by the fact that in 1883 he was elected to the office of county commissioner in his district, on the Democratic ticket, although the district was largely Repub- lican and his opponent was a strong candidate. He served in that capacity for three years and his course was one which showed that the confidence and trust reposed in him was well merited. Faithful to the duties of citi- zenship, he has given his support to measures and movements calculated to prove of public good and is justly numbered among the valued and influential residents of the community.

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P JERRY STOTLER, a leading and influential farmer of Iola township, Allen County, owns the old Bartels homestead in section eighteen, township twenty-five, range eighteen, upon which he has resided since 1880. He came to Kansas from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where he was born in August, 1853, and took up his residence in Allen County.

Mr. Stotler is a son of Emanuel Stotler, born in the same locality with bis son, and a descendant of Pennsylvania German ancestry who came to that locality from over the mountains from the east. He was one of the first settlers of Penn township, Allegheny County, and was a soldier in our second war with Great Britain. He was several times married and reared a large family. Emanuel Stotler passed the greater part of his life in the country about Allegheny and Pittsburg and cleared up a farm in Penn town- ship. Wagon making was also a part of his business. He was married to Barbara Stoner who occupies the old family home.

Emanuel Stotler's children are: Sylvester Stotler, a prominent educat- or in his native county; Nancy Stotler; Elizabeth, deceased wife of David Shepherd; Fannie and Lillie, twins. The former married E. Gillooly, of Humboldt, Kansas, and the latter resides in the Pennsylvania home; F. P. Stotler, Rudolph, deceased, and John Stotler, of California.

F. P. Stotler has passed his forty-seven years of life upon the farm. His first trip to Kansas was in the year 1879 and that year he passed with the family of E. Snively, one of his near neighbors. His busy life in this State has been passed as a farmer and raiser of stock. Of late years he has been engaged in blooded stock breeding and his Jersey cattle and his Durock hogs are the pride of the Onion Creek valley. In this venture he had demonstrated that the breeding of graded stock, when intelligently fol- lowed, is a profitable business, even in Kansas.

Mr. Stotler was married March 23, 1887, to Lena Van Sickle, a daugh- ter of B. D. Van Sickle, a former New Yorker but now of Hudson, Indian Territory. Mrs. Van Sickle was formerly Miss Merinda Latier. Mr. and Mrs. Stotler's children are; Frank E., Benjamin H., William Van and Lillie Verl.

In politics the early Stotlers were Whigs but when the Republican party was formed they entered its ranks and those after them have yielded allegiance to the same political faith. Perry Stotler has been one of the active Republicans of Iola township. Although his township has a majori- ty adverse to his party he has been twice elected treasurer of it and is an efficient public official. (Since this sketch was written the subject of it has passed away, his death occurring March 2, 1901.)

OHN B. HAYS, of Carlyle township, came into Allen County as a J youth in the spring of 1861 from Madison County, Illinois. Be was born in St. Clair County, Illinois, April 4, 1849, and was a son of Thomas Jeff-

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erson Hays, a native Kentuckian, born about 1814. The latter died in 1854. Zachariah Hays, onr subject's grandfather, was born in Scotland and upon migrating to the United States, settled in Kentucky. He was one of the pioneers there and also to Illinois, in which State he died. He was a sol- dier of the war of the American Revolution, was a farmer in civil life and reared a family of seven sons, Norris, Zachariah, Elias, John, Thos. J., "Jack" and Andrew all of whom reared families in Kentucky and Illinois.

Thos. J. Hays married Susan Ann Cox, our subject's mother. She was a daughter of John B. Cox, a Scotchman, who was the father of six children and died in Madison County, Illinois. The children were: Eman- uel, Wesley, Susan, Ann, Phena, Nancy and Mary, all of whom had fami- lies. Susan Ann Hays was the mother of three children, viz: William A., of Miami County, Kansas; John B. and James, deceased. Thos. Hays, a half brother of our subject, resides in Jasper County, Missouri.

John B. Hays really began life when he enlisted in the army. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted at Iola in Company E, 9th cavalry, and mustered in at Leavenworth. He was with the supply-train escort from Ft. Scott south into Arkansas and the regiment was placed along the Missouri and Kansas and Territory lines to watch the frontier. They had some experi-

ence with the guerrilla, Quantrel, in this service. They got him into a house, burned the house down over him and yet he and a companion, got away, wounding a Federal major as they went. The third and last year of his service Mr. Hays spent in Arkansas and the Territory and was mustered out at Duvalls Bluff the "baby of the company." When mus- tered out he weighed, with all accoutrements, two pistols and one hundred cartridges, just one hundred pounds. He saw much hard and exhausting service and suffered from sickness and general physical de- bility, yet he forced himself on and came out of it all and was discharged with his regiment more of a wreck than a man.

Since the war our subject has devoted himself to the farmn. He has resided in Missouri, and in Miami and Allen counties, Kansas; has worked by the month and has farmed on his own account but not until 1889 did he settle down near Carlyle upon his own farm. He was never married and. until his sight failed him, he took a warm personal interest in local public affairs. He is one of the well known Republicans of Carlyle and is de- scended from a long line of Whigs, Free Soilers and Republicans. His first presidential vote was cast for Grant in 1868 and his last one for McKinley.

L EWIS L. NORTHRUP is a native of Iola, having been born June 23, 1864, in the old Northrup home now owned and occupied by Dr. A. J. Fulton. His family history has been already given in the sketch of his father, Levi L. Northrup. After concluding the course of study in the Iola city schools he spent two years in the Poughkeepsie Business

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College, where he received a thorough technical business education. Returning home he joined with his brothers, F. A. and D. P., in the propriet orship of the dry-goods house which is still conducted under the firm name of Northrup Brothers. From the first, however, he gave but little attention to the dry-goods business his assistance being needed by his father in his bank and in looking after his numerous other outside inter- ests. It thus naturally came about that upon the death of his father Lewis L., assumed the active management of the bank and of the general affairs of the estate, although the responsibility of these affairs is shared by his mother and his brothers.

Mr. Northrup not only succeeded to the work his father had done in the management of the large estate of the family, but he inherited also his father's aptitude and liking for business, his public spirit and his pride in Iola. The Northrup business is as large and dominating a factor in the city of Iola as it was in the village of Iola. The Northrup support of any public enterprise is as much relied upon, and is as generous and ready as it ever was. It has given to Iola the finest business building vet erected here, and it has contributed with a lavish hand to every enterprise planned and carried out for the good of the public.

It nearly always happens that the possessor of large wealth, particu- larly in a small town, is personally unpopular, but that rule does not hold good with "Lute" Northrup. His public spirit, his generosity, his un- selfish willingness to serve his friends and the public, his absolute honesty, are so well established that it is not too much to say that he holds not only the good will but the regard of the entire community. This is sufficiently attested by the fact that he has repeatedly been elected-often over his protest and never at his own suggestion-to various city offices, being at the present time the representative of his ward in the city council.

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History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 17

Author: Duncan, L. Wallace (Lew Wallace), b. 1861. cn; Scott, Charles F., b. 1860 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Iola, Kan. : Iola Register Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Duncan, L. Wallace (Lew Wallace), b. 1861. cn; Scott, Charles F., b. 1860
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Iola, Kan. : Iola Register
Number of Pages: 1066