USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 18
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 18
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Mr. Northrup was married October 25, 1894, to Miss Lettie Bruner. Three children have been born to them, of whom Roswell Bruner Northrup and Laverne Lee Northrup are now living.
W ILLIAM T. DAUGHTERS-One of the most important families in eastern Allen County and admittedly useful and favorably known is that headed by the subject of this mention. Its founder came into the county in 1877 and located upon section 34, town 25, range 21, and, reared trained and educated his large family from there. He is an Indiana emi- grant, having come from Dearborn County, that State, where he was born August 8, 1834. He is a son of James Daughters who settled in Dearborn County in 1824, at a time when the woods were so thick and heavy that he was compelled to blaze his way from his home to the settlements sixteen miles away. James Daughters died in Dearborn County in 1843 at the age of fifty-four years. He was born in Maryland in 1789 and was a sea cap- tain on the Chesapeake and Atlantic in his early life. He was a son of
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Hudson Daughters, born and reared on the eastern shore of Maryland. The latter was a Revolutionary soldier and was of English stock. His sons were: Gilbert Daughters, who reared a family in Ripley County, Indiana; Samuel Daughters, who spent his life in Maryland; Hiram Daughters, who reared a family in Mopport, La., Randolph Daughters, who left a family in Ripley, County, Indiana, and James, father of our subject.
James Daughters married Sarah, daughter of an Englishman, James Philips. Their children were: Kitturah, deceased, who married Joseph Collins and reared a family in Louisville, Kentucky; James Daughters, died in California in 1879; Franklin Daughters, who died in Dearborn County, Indiana; Elizabeth, wife of N. H. Tuck, of Dearborn County, Indiana; Andrew P. Daughters, physician at Moores Hill, Indiana; William T. and Sarah R., wife of John Welch, of California.
William T. Daughters came to manhood in the log cabin country of Indiana and his schooling was limited to about two months in the year. He became one of the sustainers of the family at an early age and there was no opportunity for mental drill after that. He went to work on the Oliio and Mississippi railroad in the shops at Cochran and later at Vincennes, Indiana, and learned the machinists trade. He became an engineer and pulled a train over all parts of the system for twenty years. He left the road in 1877 to come to Kansas.
March 1, 1858, Mr. Daughters was married to Elmira Heaton, daugh- ter of Eben Heaton, who went from Green County, New York, into Dear. born County, Indiana in 1819. The latter was born August 20, 1797, and was a son of a farmer and married to Sarah Streeter, of New Jersey. She was born in May, 1801, and died, with her husband, in Dearborn County, Indiana. Their children were: Mary, deceased, married Reason Hines, William, deceased, married Eliza Dickinson; Thos., deceased, mar- ried Jane Stage; Julia A., widow of Henry Gaston; Philip, deceased, married Elizabeth Graves of Ripley County, Indiana, Eben, deceased, whose wife was Jane Lamberson; Richard, deceased, married Mary Cole; Freeman Heaton, of Seymour, Indiana, is married to Altha Hines; and Mrs. William T. Daughters.
Mr. and Mrs. Daughters' children are: Rosalin, wife of L. A. Stafford, of Bourbon County, Kansas; Eben J., an attorney of Cripple Creek, Colo- rado; Nelson, of Minnesota; Trena, wife of of L. A. Biebinger, of Des Moines, Iowa; Grant, a student in the Kansas City Medical College; Turpen A., rector at Colfax, Washington; Freeman R., rector in Wallace, Idaho; Elmira, wife of Grant Lowe, of Bourbon County, Kansas; Britania, R., student in Nebraska University; Pearl, deceased; and Milo, a student in the University of Nebraska.
One especially good feature in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Daughters is the spirit with which they have left nothing unturned to educate their chil- dren. Neither of them had the advantage of modern educational times and they have moved in the matter on the theory that an education is a resource that one can not be deprived of and that it would be worth more to their children than all things else. As fast as the children were competent they
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engaged in teaching, and their parents look with pardonable pride, upon the fact that nine of them engaged in that useful and laudable calling. What is better still, they were not ordinary teachers but were among the most suc- cessful and intelligent of their county. The sons who are ministers are graduates of the Divinity School in Philadelphia and represent the Episco- pal denomination.
Politics is something that has not disturbed Mr. Daughters greatly. His interest in elections is all that a citizen's should be but he has never seen any advantage to himself in spending his substance in the interest of local politicians. He is a Republican.
JOHN N. SAPP-One of the leading farmers as well as early settlers, of the township of Marinaton is John N. Sapp. He entered the southeast quarter of section 5, town 25, range 21, in the "three mile strip," in 1874, and has created out of it one of the productive and desirable farms in the township. Mr. Sapp came to Allen County from Knox County, Illinois. He had gone there only three years before from Circleville, Ohio, in which county, Pickaway, he was born August 16, 1840. His father, James Sapp, a cooper by trade, carried on his business in Circleville and was succeeded to it by his son, George. He went into Ohio in 1862, when twenty years of age. He was born in Pennsylvania and was a son of John Sapp.
James Sapp married Margaret McAlister, and both died at Circleville. Their children were: George Sapp; John Sapp; Caroline, wife of Joseph Redmond, of Louisville, Kentucky; William Sapp, of Cleveland, Ohio; Edson Sapp, of Circleville, and Mollie Sapp, of Louisville, Kentucky.
John N. Sapp began his life at the tinner's bench. He was sixteen years old when he went to the trade in Circleville. He completed it and was working at it when the war came on. In August 1862 he enlisted in Company B, 114th Ohio Infantry, Col. John Cradlebaugh, and later on Col. Kelley. The first active service of the regiment was at Chickasaw Bluffs from which point it continued south with Sherman's army to Young's Point and Vicksburg. Mr. Sapp participated in the battles of Raymond Big Black and the final capture of Vicksburg. He went with his regiment, then to New Orleans, at which place, and at Algiers, it was in camp some time, eventually embarking on a gulf steamer for Texas. The winter of 1863 was passed in entrenchments at Indianola, Texas, and in the spring the command returned to New Orleans and was shipped up Red River to help Banks' army out of its difficulty. The latter was relieved at Alexan- dria and while this operation was in progress the river lowered and the fleet could not be gotten down. The obstacle was removed by the con- struction of a dam which gathered sufficient water to float the boats over the riffles and thereby get out of the enemy's stronghold. The trip back to Morganza Bend on the Mississippi River was under fire of Rebel batteries. The command rendezvoused at Morganza till the fall of 1864
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when it was ordered to Lake Pontchartrain where it took boat for Ft. Pickens, Florida, and marched on to Pensacola where the work of con- structing a pier was done. The 14th marched back to Ft. Blakely and aided in its reduction. This last act cleared up the Alabama River and the Federal wounded were taken down from Selma. The regiment then re- turned to New Orleans and again went to Texas and was mustered out at Galveston in August 1865. Mr. Sapp was discharged in Columbus, Ohio.
The war over Mr. Sapp located at Oneida, Illinois, where he engaged in the tin and stove business. He prospered there fairly well but the de- sire to go west became too strong to resist and he came to Allen County, Kansas, the year before stated.
In Allen County Mr. Sapp's progress has been steadily upward. His accumulations show themselves in the increased acreage of his farm and in the substantial improvements to be found thereon. He owns a tract of 400 acres well watered and well stocked. It lies on the east side of the Marmaton River and a large part of it was clearly visible from his home site when it was first located.
Mr. Sapp was married in 1867 to Rebecca, a daughter of Andrew Cul- bertson, who came to the United States from County Tyrone, Ireland in .1848 and stopped first in Jersey City, New Jersey. He resided for a time at Galesburg, Illinois, and came to Allen County, Kansas, in 1869. He was the father of thirteen children, seven of whom survive: Elizabeth, Jane and William Culbertson, Mrs. Margaret McGuire, Samuel Culbertson and Mrs. Sapp, all residents of Allen County.
Mr. and Mrs. Sapp's children are: Laura, wife of Ray Smock; May and Ethel.
Mr. Sapp's ancestors were Democrats. The issues of the Civil War made his father a Republican and he, himself, became a Republican and cast his first Presidential vote for Mr. Grant. He is a member of the Bronson Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and a person of high standing in the confidence of his countymen.
A LEXANDER M. WRIGHT, President of the Board of Education of Moran and a self-made and prosperous farner, of Marmaton township, first located in Allen County in 1876. He came from Pike County, Illinois, where he was born September 10, 1852. He was a son of Abiah Wright, a Pennsylvanian, who went into Illinois early and settled a Pike County farm He became one of the well known and highly respected citizens of his county and died in 1884 at the age of seventy-five years. He married a Pennsylvania lady, Catharine Fisher, who died in 1896, aged eighty-three years. Their children were: Elizabeth, wife of David Hester of Barton County, Missouri; Barbara, wife of Ed Bowers, of Pike County, Illinois; John Wright, of Pittsburg, Kansas; Bela Wright, of Barry, Illinois,
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John Wright, a prominent and prosperous farmer, of Carlyle township. Allen County, and Alexander M., our subject
A. M. Wright was educated sparingly in the old log school house of Illinois during and after the war and at about eighteen years of age he abandoned the "academy" to begin life's real battles. Farming is what he undertook then and farming is what he has continued. He was married in Pike County, Illinois, October 1, 1876, to Anna Blake. Jerre Blake, Mrs. Wright's father was an early resident of Pike County and went there from Maine. He married Almira West and was the husband of seven chil- dren.
The first two years Mr. Wright passed in Allen County were spent north of Iola on the Wizner place. His circumstances were most ordinary and it can be truthfully said that he was not far from poverty at times. To begin farming he bought a horse and borrowed another of his brother and his implements he borrowed from his neighbors. He paid $2.50 for a chain harness. His first crop the grasshoppers took and his second one drowned out. The third year was a good season and he started upgrade again. In the fall of '77 he bought a farm of sixty acres in the vicinity of Moran and January 14, 1878, he moved onto it. This he succeeded in paying for, and in 1881 sold, and purchased in 1883 the northwest quarter of section 24, town 24, range 20, his present home. It was a piece of land that had been entered under a soldier's Indian war land warrant by King. There was nothing but the soil there when Alex Wright took possession. How well he has accounted for his time in the past seventeen years his farm will testify. Cattle and horses have supplemented the earnings of his plow and sickle and he has reached that point at which it is a pleasure to live.
Mr. Wright's children are: Bela F., a student in Emporia College, Edwin, a junior in the Moran high school; Mina, who is in the same class, and Eva, a student in the same schools.
It is noticeable that Mr. Wright is interested in advanced education. He feels the need of it in his own case and since circumstances have so conspired to arrange matters favorably he is losing no opportunity to give his children these advantages. He has been a member of the Moran school board three years and his elevation to the chairmanship of the body is a compliment to his warm personal interest in education.
TOHN M. EVANS was one of the early settlers of Allen county. He was one of the leading spirits among a few pioneers who chose the broad and undulating prairies in the valley of the Neosho for their abiding place. In 1857 Thomas P. Killen, Dr. John W. Scott, Peter M. Carnine, Richard V. Ditmars and others from Johnson county, Indiana, formed a colony for the purpose of emigrating to Kansas and asked Mr. Evans to join them. He did so and in October, of that year, they came to the terri- tory in search of new homes. At the time of the removal Mr. Evans was
Jakwith Every
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living in Montgomery county, Indiana. They came without any purpose other than to search out a location where honest tillers of the soil and earnest Christian people could establish themselves, build homes and plant the seed of a moral, intellectual and religious community. After traveling over the country for some time they decided to locate on the high prairie north of Deer creek, which is now the neighborhood of Carlvle. Each member of the colony selected a quarter section and held it as a claim until the land came into market.
Mr. Evans chose the quarter section which is now the Allen county Poor Farm. With the assistance of the company he built a round log cabin on his claim. Carnine and Ditmars remained in the territory that winter and occupied this cabin, which was the first one built in the colony. The other members of the party returned to Indiana. On the 19th of April, 1858, however, with his wife and three children, Mr. Evans started from Waveland, Indiana, for their new home on the Kansas plains. Thomas P. Killen, with his wife and two children, started at the same time and traveled in company with them. The journey from Waveland to Terre Haute was made in wagons, by rail from Terre Haute to St. Louis, from the latter place to Kansas City by steamer, and from Kansas City to Allen county by wagon again, over rough prairie roads and across deep unbridged streams. They reached their new location on the roth of May, at 10 o'clock in the evening. They all camped in Carnine's cabin that night and the next afternoon Mr. Evans removed into his own cabin and began housekeeping in true pioneer style. After supper was over and their beds made ready on the floor Mr. Evans read a chapter in the Bible and they knelt together in prayer the first time since leaving their home in Indiana. It was a happy, restful hour and never had they so fully realized the true meaning of the poet's lines, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home," as they did that night. Samuel C. Richards, a nephew of Mr. Evans, and Miss Sarah P. Newell, a sister of Mrs. Evans, came with them and made their home with them for some time. The colony at this time numbered thirteen, eight adults and five children. The adults were all members of the Presbyterian church and all Republicans. Other mem- bers of the colony arrived later. These settlers proceeded to the business for which they came west at once. The work of supplementing nature with art was carried on as rapidly as their individual capabilities permitted and in a few years a house of worship and a primitive school house were a part of their achievements.
In those days Lawrence was the headquarters of the mail service for that section. Cofachique, an Indian trading post, eight miles south of the new colony, was the nearest post-office. "Little Billy," the mail carrier, on his Indian pony, made the trip once a week from Lawrence, by way of Hyatt, Fort Scott and Humboldt to Cofachique, returning by the same route. It was the only road into the Deer Creek settlement from the north and was a long circuitous route. The new colonists decided to shorten it and about the middle of July, Mr. Evans, Harmon Scott, T. P. Killen and P. M. Carmine surveyed and staked off the route from their new location
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north to Hyatt, a distance of sixteen miles, and thus shortened the way many miles. The next week Mr. Carnine mounted on Mr. Evans' little Kentucky mare, Becky, rode to Hyatt, inet the mail carrier and piloted him over the new route to Cofachique. In passing though the new loca- tion they stopped at Mr. Evans' cabin for water and "Little Billy" said to Mrs. Evans, "I'm mighty glad you folks moved out here and made this new road, for it will save me so much hard riding."
Mr. Evans was reared a Whig. He was a strong opponent of slavery and came to Kansas to help make this a free state. When the war began he was anxious to join the regiment with his neighbors, but his wife being a cripple at that time it was impossible for him to leave home. It was necessary, especially on the frontier, that some measure of protection be accorded to the settlements from inroads of the Confederates and the in- cursions of thieves and marauders, and this protection was extended through the Home Guard. It was made up largely of men who were near the age of exemption from military duty and without the physical require- ments for the arduous campaigning of the regular service, but with the same courageons and patriotic spirit which actuated men of all arms. Mr. Evans belonged to the state militia and endured some hard service. Dur- ing the Price raid he and a comrade were detailed as scouts on the western border of Missouri and were in the saddle from three o'clock in the morning until six in the afternoon without a mouthful of food. In politics Mr. Evans was a pronounced Republican with no political aspirations what- ever, but in the fall of 1863, at the urgent request of his friends he accepted the nomination and was elected state representative. During the session he became one of the substantial and useful members of the house. The Carney fraud was perpetrated during that session and Mr. Evans was a bitter opponent to the movement to elect Carney to the United State senate a year before the proper time, which was done because Carney was sure of his election by that body.
Mr. Evans was not less prominent in spiritual than in temporal mat- ters. He was an elder in the Carlyle and Geneva churches, was one of the committee who organized the Presbyterian churches of Iola, Neosho Falls and Geneva, and his mind was not only a directing force in their organiza- tion, but his substantial aid was fully as potent a factor in their mainten- ance during their early years.
In 1865 Mr. Evans' health failed and he had to give up farm work. He had been engaged in the dry goods business before coming to Kansas and when L. L. Northrup offered him a partnership in his store in Geneva he accepted it and moved there in 1866. Geneva had been located and settled by an eastern colony who came there with the intention of founding an institution of learning at that place. The citizens of the surrounding country united with them and subscribed liberally for the erection of a building for that purpose. In 1867 Mr. Evans, acting on the advice of the Rev. G. S. Northrup, Rev. Austin Warner and Rev. E. K. Lynn, took the contract and erected the Geneva Academy building with his own money, and thus established an institution which they all thought would be per-
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manent, but they were disappointed. Rev. Northrup died just as the work was begun. In less than three years Mr. Evans died, and through mis- management after his death the enterprise proved a failure and the building now stands as a monument to the earnest efforts of those noble, Christian pioneers.
Mr. Evans was born in Owen county, Indiana, May 9, 1825. His father, Jesse Evans, was born in East Tennessee in 1787. He emigrated to Pulaski county, Kentucky, and in 1812 married Esther M. Newell. In 1818 he removed to Owen county, Indiana, living in Owen and Mont- gomery counties until 1868 when he came to Kansas, dying in Iola in 1875. His wife died in Waveland, Indiana, in 1851. His father, Andrew Evans, the grandfather of our subject, was born in North Carolina, re- moved to Tennessee and there married Elizabeth Fain, of French descent. The early settlers of that state were frequently attacked by the Indians and at such times would take refuge in the block-houses. During one of these attacks Mr. Evans' supply of lead gave out and his wife melted their pewter plates and moulded bullets which he shot through the portholes, thus keeping the Indians from setting fire to the block-house. In so doing he saved their lives with their dinner plates. Mr. Evans afterward moved to Kentucky and later to Owen county, Indiana, where he died in 1842. His wife died in the same state in 1846. His ancestors were Welsh people who settled in the south at an early date. Since then, by intermarriage, the blood of the Scotch. Irish and French have been introduced into its own strain. Esther M., the wife of Jesse Evans, was Scotch-Irish. She was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, in 1783. Their children were: Elizabeth F., wife of Rezin Richards; Samuel N .; Jane M., wife of Milam Knox; Andrew H .; Margaret E., wife of Andrew Couchman; Harriet N., wife of Samuel Steele, and John M., the subject of this review.
John M. Evans was married in Owen county, Indiana, May 1, 1851, to Jane Newell, the eldest daughter of William Tell Newell, who was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, in 1803, and in 1830 went to Owen county, Indiana. He married Paulina Fain, a daughter of David Fain, of French descent and whose wife was of English lineage, David Fain was a colonel in the second war with England. He was a man of fine taste, high aspira- tions and a devoted Christian. He died in Owen county, Indiana, in 1857, and his wife died in Monroe county, Iowa, in 1874.
The children of William and Paulina Newell were Jane N., wife of John M. Evans; Harriette A., who died in girlhood; Mary E., wife of Martin Giltner; Samuel A .; Saralı P., wife of William Crawford; Martha E., wife of Whitfield Woods; Clarinda A., wife of Marcus Hennion; Hester L., who died in infancy; William M .; David F .; Alice J., wife of William Hay. Mr. Newell died in 1851 in Monroe county, Iowa, and his wife died in Albia, Iowa, in 1891. His father, Samuel Newell, was of Scotch-Irish descent, was born in West Virginia in 1754 and in 1780 he married Jean Montgomery, a descendant of the poet Montgomery. She was born in West Virginia in 1764 and was of Scotch descent. Samuel Newell was a colonel of the Tennessee cavalry in the Revolutionary war and saw much
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of the arduous service incident to the war. He was in the battle of King's: Mountain, aided in winning the victories of Cowpens and Yorktown, being. present at the surrender of Cornwallis. At the battle of King's Mountain he was wounded in the hip and rode all day without stopping to dress his wound or take any food. Before starting out in the morning he had. roasted a large sweet potato, which he carried in his knapsack for lunch, but when he stopped to eat his potato he found it saturated with his own blood which had dripped into his knapsack from his wound, but be was so hungry he ate it as it was. After the war Colonel Newell located in Kentucky and served two terms in the state legislature. He was a talented man, a devoted Christian and a gentleman in every sense of the word. He was bitterly opposed to slavery and for this reason left Kentucky and removed to Indiana in 1837, there remaining until his death in 1841. His wife died in the Hoosier state in 1843.
John M. Evans married Jane Newell in Owen county, Indiana, May 1, 1851. She was born in Morgan county, Indiana, October 14, 1832. Their children were: Edwin Prescott; Mary Irene, wife of Jolin D. Knowlton; William Jesse; Samuel Henry; Harvey Tell; Annetta Estella,. wife of David R. Beatty; and Louemma. Edwin Prescott Evans died August 3, 1858, soon after the arrival of the family in Kansas and his funeral sermon was the first sermon preached in Carlyle colony and his grave the first one made in Carlyle cemetery, the Rev. G. S. Northrup, of Geneva, Kansas, officiating at the funeral. In July, 1870, the children of Mr. Evans had the smallpox in the worst form, yet with careful nursing they all recovered, but the over-exertion and mental anxiety of the father for the children was too much for the weakened condition of Mr. Evans. As soon as he felt they were safe, he sank down, weary and exhausted, and death came to him in Geneva, Kansas, August 22, 1870, in the forty-sixth year of his age. He passed away honored and respected by all who knew him.
R OBISON LENT, a well known farmer within the vicinity of Bronson, and who resides upon the north-east quarter of section 28, township 24, range 21, Allen county, is a settler from Vernon county, Missouri. His birth occurred in Madison county, Indiana, March 5, 1854. His father, Chester Lent, was a farmer and was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. He left the east in early life and made his way westward through the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and into Vernon county, Missouri, where he died in 1858. He married Susanna Frasier who died in Allen county, Kansas, in 1883 at the age of sixty-seven years. Their children were: Elizabeth, wife of Richard Parmenter, of Fort Scott, Kansas; Nancy J , wife of Alexander Mayfield, of Bourbon county, Kansas; Maria, de- ceased, wife of W. W. Findlay, of Bourbon county Kansas; Robison Lent, and Lewis Lent, who died in Bates county, Missouri, leaving a family.
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