USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 31
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 31
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The subject of this sketch is indebted to the public school system for his educational privileges, and in his youth he became familiar with the hardware trade in his father's store. At the age of nineteen he entered upon an independent business career in Blaine, Washington, as a dealer in hardware, since which time he has been connected with that line of com- merce. In the spring of 1897 he disposed of his store in Blaine and came to Iola, where he entered into partnership with Frank M. Horville under the firm name of Shannon & Horville. This connection was maintained until September 1898, when Mr. Shannon purchased his partner's interest and has since carried on business alone. During the summer of 1900 lie remodeled and added to his store building and now occupies both floors and an eighty foot basement with his large stock of shelf and heavy hard- ware. He carries everything found in a first-class establishment of the kind, and in the rear of the store he has a tin and plumbing shop. doing all kinds of work in those trades. He deals in buggies, wagons and farm- ing implements in addition to hardware, stoves and ranges, tinware, paints and oils, guns and cutlery, and his patronage is constantly increasing.
On the 30th of November, 1892, Mr. Shannon married Miss Lulu Brewer, of Greenwood county, Kansas. She was born in Colorado, Janu- ary 8, 1873, a dangliter of E. J. Brewer, a native of Massachusetts. Their only child died October 25, 1894, and the mother passed away on the 12th of December, following. On the ist of February, 1899, Mr. Shannon was again married, his second union being with Miss Agnes Mitchell, who was born in Franklin county, Kansas, February 12, 1872, and is a daughter of David H. Mitchell, a native of Missouri. Their home is now blessed with
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the presence of a little daughter, Winifred, born July 31, 1900. Mr. Shannon is connected with the Knights of Pythias fraternity and the B. P. O. Elks, and he and his wife are well known and highly respected resi- dents of Iola, the hospitality of many of its best homes being freely ex- tended to them.
JAMES W. DRAKE .- Among the substantial farmers of Iola township is James W. Drake, who was born near Louisville, Kentucky, January 26, 1831. His father, James Drake, was born in that state in 1781, while the red men still roamed the forest. In the early days he was more than once called to leave his work on the farm to defend himself or his friends against the attacks of these wild neighbors. He related many stories of . engagements with the Indians, of the captures they made and of the res- cues performed within the limits of the "dark and bloody ground." In 1832 he removed to southern Indiana, locating on Whitewater river, not far from Cincinnati, where he resided until 1834, when he removed to Kosciusko county, Indiana, still following his occupation of farming. There he died in 1845. He served his country as a volunteer soldier in the war of 1812. While in Kentucky he married Elizabeth Dickerson, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1787 and died in Indiana in 1842. Her father was John Dickerson, a native of Scotland who emigrated to the new world in the latter part of the eighteenth century. To Mr. and Mrs. Drake were born twelve children, eight of whom reached maturity, while three survive. Those who attained adult age were William, now deceased, whose family lives in Linn county, Kansas; Martha, deceased, wife of Isaac Masters, of Kosciusko, Indiana; Kelley, who died near Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Nathan, who died in Kosciusko, Indiana; Mrs. Jane Carter; Ira, who resides in Kosciusko, Indiana; James W., of Iola, Kansas; and Homer, who resides in Champaign county, Illinois.
Mr. Drake, of this review, accompanied his parents to Indiana, and remained with them until they died. In 1854 he went to Illinois, but re- turned to the Hoosier state, and in 1856 removed to Iowa where he resided two years. The year 1858 witnessed his arrival in Allen county, and he secured a claim in Iola township, upon which he has since lived. He has followed farming throughout his entire life, and is now numbered among Allen county's best known and prosperous pioneer agriculturists. At the time of the Civil war he put aside personal considerations, enlisting as a private of Company E, Ninth Kansas Cavalry, under command of Captain Henry Fletcher and Colonel Lynde. He participated in the battles of Prairie Grove, Johnstown, Stone Lane and Westport, besides numerous sınaller engagements, and was honorably discharged in November, 1865, at Duvall's Bluff, having served for three years and three months.
When the country no longer needed his services, Mr. Drake gladly returned to his family. He had been married in 1861 to Miss Mary A.
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Mckenzie, who was born in Pennsylvania, and is a daughter of Joseph Mckenzie, of Irish lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Drake have become the parents of seven children, namely: Elizabeth, wife of Frank Bliss; Minerva, wife of Nicholas Burton; Viola, wife of John Harris; Dora, wife of George Strawderman; Nora, wife of Fred Baker; Cora, who resides with her parents, and Frank, at home.
Since 1866 Mr. Drake has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and in his life exemplifies its principles of mutual helpfulness and kind- ness. He supported the Republican party until 1867, since which time he has been an advocate of the Democracy. His attention has been closely given to its interests, though he has never sought public office, but he is as true to his duties of citizenship today as when he followed the stars and stripes on southern battle fields.
C YONRAD HEIM has spent his entire life in the Mississippi valley, and the true western spirit of progress and enterprise has colored his career. He was born in Quincy, Illinois, on the first of August, 1850, and is a son of Adam and Barbara (Stumpf) Heim, natives of Baden Baden, Germany. The father was a brewer by trade, and after emigrating to America in 1836 he carried on that business in Quincy, Illinois, where he died in 1872, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife survived him for some time and died in Quincy in 1893, at the ripe old age of eighty-three years. They were the parents of four children, the subject of this review being the eldest. The others are Anton, a resident of Quincy, Cararma, who is married and lives in Southern California, and Auna, who makes her home in Portsmith, Ohio.
During his boyhood Conrad Heim learned the butcher's trade and after reaching adult age he went to the west where he was employed for a time. Subsequently, however, he returned to Quincy and there was united in marriage to Miss Anna Enghouser. Four children were born unto them, of whom three are living, namely: Mrs. Anna Nelson, a resident of Parsons, Kansas; Maggie, wife of William Hess, a druggist of Humboldt, and Mrs. Emma Kelley, of Humboldt.
After our subject's arrival in the Sunflower State he purchased a farm in Salem township and there resided for several years, devoting his atten- tion to the cultivation of the fields and to the raising of stock. He then came to Humboldt, where he embarked in the butchering business and also began buying and shipping horses and cattle. He feeds considerable stock during the winter and his business efforts have been attended with a very gratifying degree of success, for when he came to the county he had 110 capital and now he is in possession of a profitable business, which annually increases his bank account. He today owns a good farm and some business property, together with three residences in Humboldt and three in Chanute. His identification with the Democracy dates from the attainment of his
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majority, while of two civic orders he is a representative, being connected with the Knights of the Maccabees and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Asso- ciation. He has a wide acquaintance in Humboldt, where he is held in uniform regard as a reliable business man and public-spirited citizen.
F RANKLIN RICHARDS, M. D .- Although one of the youngest mem- bers of the medical fraternity of Kansas, Dr. Richards' years seem 110 bar to his success, and in LaHarpe, where he is located, he lias gained a liberal patronage that indicates confidence reposed by the public in his skill and ability.
The Doctor is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Canton, on the 17th of March, 1874. He belongs to one of the old families of that place, his ancestors for several generations having resided in that city. His father removed to Nebraska in 1887, and engaged in the drug business with his eldest son in Shadron, where he is still located. He was a man of practical common sense and sound judgment who believed in preparing his children for the responsible duties of life and thus Dr. Richards was trained to habits of industry in his youth. He completed his literary edu- cation in the high school of Milford, Nebraska, after which he began the study of medicine with the intention of making its practice his life work. This resolution probably had its beginning with him when he was very young. When a little lad of four years he was crippled through an acci- dent and the old family physician who attended him told him that he must become a doctor. Franklin never forgot the advice of this worthy man and after completing the high school course he began the study of medi- cine in the fall of 1893 as a student in the Eclectic Medical College of Lincoln, where he remained for two years. Subsequently he entered the Williams Medical College of Kansas City, Missouri, but was graduated in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1897. He is now a member of the State Eclectic Society of Nebraska.
After his graduation Dr. Richards located in Centerville, Linn County, Kansas, remaining two years, when he removed to LaHarpe, Allen County, in 1899. He has since gained a large and lucrative patronage and the profession and the public acknowledge his worthiness. He is a close and discriminating student and by perusal of medical journals he keeps in touch with the progress that is being continually made in the medical fraternity.
On the 23rd of December, 1893 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Dr. Richards was united in marriage to Miss Emma Bowman, of Magnolia, Ohio. She is a daughter of L. D. Bowman, a leading stockholder in the Magnolia Oil & Gas Company, which controls one of the principal industries of that sec- tion of the country. Another member of the Bowman family is a promi- nent attorney of Canton, Ohio, and is now mayor of that city. Dr. Rich- ards and his family have always been staunch Republicans, unswerving in their advocacy of the party. They have always been earnest adhierents of
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Christian principles and belong to that class of representative Americans who labor for the advancement of County, State and Nation along the lines of greatest good.
T. B. HARRISS, who is numbered among the veterans of the Civil war, and is now one of the esteemed residents of Allen County, was born on the 12th of October, 1826, near Nashville, in Holmes County. Ohio. He is a son of Jonathan Harriss, who was born in Brooks County, Virginia, in 1801. His great grandfather, John Harriss Sr., was of Eng- lish birth, and came to America during the war of the Revolution. He then joined the American army and valiantly aided in the struggle for inde- pendence. His wife was a native of Scotland. Their son, John Harriss Jr., was born in Maryland, and became a farmer by occupation. He aided his country in the war of 1812, mainly acting as scout and guide. He, too, married a Scotch lady, who became a resident of Maryland during her girlhood. They removed to Brooks County, Virginia, where the father of our subject was born. spending his boyhood days on a farm in the Old Dominion. The latter acquired an education such as the common schools of that diy afforded and at an eirly period in the development of Ohio re- moved thereto where he worked at the carpenter's and shoemaker's trades for about thirty years. In early life he voted with the Whig party, but joined the Republican party upon its organization He married Sarah Birden, who was born in Rhode Island, in 1805, a daughter of Thomas Birden, who was also a native of Rhode Island and was a sea captain. Jonathan Harriss passed away at his home in Ohio in 1877. In his family were the following named: T. B., of this review; Bradford and John W., who died during the Civil war; Allen, of Mansfield, Ohio; Henry, who is living in Nashville, Ohio; Mrs. Lucy A. Gill, who died leaving a family in Nashville, Ohio, (one of her sons being a banker in Millersburg, that State); and Mrs. Abby Remington, of Nashville, Ohio.
On a farm in Holmes County, Ohio, T. B. Harriss spent his boyhood and youth and conned his lessons in an old log school house, where the curriculum was limited aud the method of instruction was of primitive char- acter. He entered upon his business career at the age of twenty-two upon a farm in his native county, and later he engaged in business as a railroad contractor. Next he purchased a sawmill, which he operated for five years, after which he sold that property and engaged in the stock business until after the inauguration of the Civil war.
When the country was calling for the support of her loyal citizens to aid in the preservation of the Union, he enlisted in Company H, Twenty- third Ohio Infantry, and with that command served during the years 1861-2. In the latter year he was wounded, and in consequence was discharged, but after his recovery, in the fall of 1863, he re-enlisted, joining the boys in blue of Company G, of the One Hundred Second Ohio Infantry, with
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which he was connected nutil After the stars and stripes were planted in the capital of the Confederacy. His regiment took part in the engagement at Murfreesboro and was afterwards stationed at Nashville, Tennessee. He received an honorable discharge in Louisville, Kentucky, in November, 1865.
On the first of February, 1849 Mr. Harriss had been united in marriage to Sabrina Gray, who was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, August 8, 1824, and is a sister of Hiram P. Gray, of Iola, Kansas. Her people were natives of Connecticut. To Mr. and Mrs. Harriss have been born ten chil- dren, but only three are now living: Jonathan E., an engineer on the Santa Fe railroad, now residing in Winfield, Kansas; Mrs. Laura Kirkland, of Wichita, Kansas, and Mrs. Lovie E. Hill, who is living in Iola.
Mr. Harriss cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Har- rison, and was a supporter of the Whig party until he joined the ranks of the Republican party, of which he has since been an earnest advocate. Since 1857 he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity and in his life has exemplified its beneficent principles. He has passed the seventy- fourth milestone on life's journey, but still maintains an active interest in affairs of general importance, and is a valued citizen of Allen County.
JOHN M. BROWN .- The prairies of Kansas are dotted here and there J with pioneers who have passed through the discouragements and ad- versities incident to life on the frontier and a few of this class, the more resolute and industrious, have exemplified the adage, "time is money," in making the years roll up each a new and larger balance on the credit side of the ledger. One of the early settlers on the prairies of eastern Allen county whose circumstances place him with the exceptional but thrifty class above referred to is John M. Brown. The pioneer days of eastern1 Allen were about ten years later than those days along the Neosho, and while the settlements along the river were thickening up the expanse to the east of it was still barren and unbroken with the cabins of home-seekers. Mr. Brown's first trip to the county was made in 1871 when he came to learn whether he could eke out an existence upon a tract of land he had bought here in 1864, "sight unseen." He decided that he could make the land provide a living for one and in 1872 he brought his effects out from the east, permanently to remain. He turned the sod with his oxen and got things to appearing, to him, somewhat homelike so that in twelve months he felt warranted in having his family venture ont. His land was one of the prime quarters of the section. It is situated in the "Golden1 Valley" belt of Allen county and now approaches, in fertility and improve- mient, a well-conducted Illinois or Indiana farm. The proceeds of his early years' efforts Mr. Brown turned into land and his farm comprises five hundred and twenty acres of this rich and productive region. His first
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ahiding place was a shanty 13×15 feet and in this he resided from 1873 till 1882 when he built extensively and permanently.
Mr Brown was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1843. His father was Alexander Brown, a farmer, who died at the home of our subject in June 1900. The latter was born in County Derry, Ireland, town of Kilwray, in 1819. He emigrated to the United States in 1827, with his father, William Brown, and settled in Pennsylvania. In 1852 Alexander Brown went to Grundy county, Illinois, and there his father died.
Alexander Brown married Sophronia Murphy who was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1819 and died in Allen county. Kansas, in 1897. Their children were: John M .; William, of Little Rock, Arkansas; Charles, of Polk county, Nebraska; James and Daniel, of Portland, Oregon; Her- bert, who died in Texas in July 1899.
John M. Brown was married in Woodford county, Illinois. He mar- ried Amy A. Phillips, a daughter of James Phillips, who went into Illinois from Tennessee. The Phillips children were: William F .; Margaret, de- ceased, who married James Brown; Paulina, deceased, married Mr. Dan- iels, of Neodesha, Kansas; Elizabeth, wife of John Grim, of Ford county, Illinois; Almyra, wife of Mr. Snyder, of Pasadena. California; Manala, who imarried A. C. Brown, of Champaign county, Illinois; Eli Phillips, who died in McLean county, Illinois, in 1900; Mrs. E. Brown, of Pasadena, California, and Albert Phillips, of the same point.
The heirs of John M. Brown and wife are: Edgar A. Brown, with the Swift Packing Company, Kansas City, Missouri, who is married to Alice Woodward; Hannah; J. Oscar; Albert, and Herbert Brown. Four of the children are common school graduates and, in addition, Albert and Oscar are graduates of the Moran High School. These young men are especially gifted with bright and active intellects and, with their industrious habits and energetic composition, are admirably equipped for a successful and useful career.
The Republican proclivities of John M. Brown are well known. He has taken some active interest in Elm township politics for many years and has served as its Treasurer. His educational equipment is not of the highest order but it is ample for the efficient conduct of all business per- taining to his community or his farin. He enjoys the unalloyed confidence of those of his acquaintanceship and permits no man to outdo him in matters pertaining to the moral or educational wellbeing of his county.
H OWARD B. ADAMS, of Iola, whose business interests are at Moran, Kansas, and who has spent nearly thirty years in Allen county, was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, January 12, 1845. He is a son of Charles K. Adams, M. D., who was a native of Keene, New Hampshire, born 1812, and died in Maries county, Missouri, in 1870. He received his pro- fessional training in New York state and went from school to Ohio and
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began practice. In 1847 he went to Green county, Wisconsin, and after some years spent there, went to Stephenson county, Illinois, and from there to Missouri where he died. He was a strong sympathiser with pub- lic education, took an active interest in politics, as a Republican, and be- lieved firmly in the efficacy of the church. He died a Methodist. He married Jerusha B. Swain, a daughter of William Barrett Swain and grand- daughter of Joseph Swain whose ancestors were among the passengers aboard the "Mayflower." John Tilley and wife and Elizabeth, daughter of John Howland, came to America in that historic little craft. The mother of Joseph Swain was a Chipman, a daughter of John Chipman and Hope. a daughter of John Howland. John Howland married Elizabeth Howland.
The mother of our subject was born in Athens, Pennsylvania, April 8, 1820. She died in Dane county, Wisconsin. She was the mother of: Charles E. Adams, who died in 1861, leaving a family; Ellen L., wife of William B. Payne, of Jefferson City, Missouri; Olive J., widow of Elijah L. Weston, of Shenandoah, Iowa, and Howard B. Adams.
Green county, Wisconsin. was the scene of our subject's boyhood. He attended the city schools till eighteen years of age when he entered the Federal army, enlisting in Company B, Eighth United States Infantry. He was mustered in on Governor's Island, New York, and joined his regi- ment just after the battle of Antietam. His regiment remained a part of the Army of the Potomac and he participated in the great battles of Gettys- burg, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, Wilderness, and Spottsylvania Court House. The last year of his service he was on detail and was discharged in Baltimore in June 1865.
Upon his return to Illinois, where his people had removed, Mr. Adams engaged in teaching school in the country and made it a part of his busi- ness for a time. He came to Allen county in 1872 and located upon a farm east of Humboldt and here engaged in farming as well as teaching. In 1880 he went to the Paola Normal College, an efficient educational insti- tution and teachers' training school under the leadership of Professor Whirrell, to better prepare himself for the work of higher education and, in 1883, he received a certificate of graduation. He taught in Geneva and completed his educational work with four years of service as principal of the Moran schools.
Mr. Adams turned his attention to merchandising in 1888, succeeding W. J. Steele in the hardware business in Moran, with Charles Mendell as partner. Disposing of this business he established himself in the lumber business and the firm of Adams & Merrill is one of the prominent and pop- ular ones of the city. Mr. Adams has served Moran as Mayor, on its Council, as City Treasurer and on her Board of Education.
Mr. Adams was first married in Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1867 to Ruth A. Harris. The Harris's were from near Lake Champlain, New York, and Ruth was born in 1840. She died in 1892. She was educated in Plattsburg, New York, taught in Stephenson county, Illinois, and many years in Allen county, Kansas. Her surviving child is George I. Adams,
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who was born in their Illinois home August 17, 1870. After leaving the common schools George spent four years in the Kansas State Norural and after his graduation there he took the Bachelor's degree in the State Uni- versity and later the Master's degree, in the same institution. He entered, next, Princeton College took the degree of Master of Science. During his career as a student he did some teaching, at Emporia and in normal insti- tutes in Kansas. Leaving Princeton Mr. Adams spent a year in Germany, at Munich, taking lectures and perfecting the German language. Soon after his return to the United States he was appointed to a position upon the geological survey of Kansas. He spent two years at this and the fol- lowing two years as assistant geologist upon the United States Geological survey. In May 1900 he successfully passed the examination for perma- nent appointment with the United States Geological Survey and is stationed at Washington, D. C.
H. B. Adams' second marriage was to Emma E. a daughter of James R. McNaught, of Allen county. Mr. McNaught was born in Morgan county, Indiana, in 1828 and came to Kansas in 1870. He married Rebecca Adams and Emma E. is their fourth child. Mr. McNaught died in March 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Adams' children are: Charles H., born in 1894; Scott Mc- Kinley, born in 1895; Grace E., born in 1897, and Ruth Eddy, born in 1900. Mr. Adams erected, in 1900, one of the handsome cottages of Iola, located upon the north eminence overlooking the city and here he is resting from an active and well-spent life.
G EORGE FREEMAN-Among the young educators of Allen County who have endeared themselves to the school patrons and who have established a reputation for efficiency and honesty of purpose is the subject of this personal reference, George Freeman, principal of the first ward school in Iola. Mr. Freeman is distinctly of Allen County. His birth oc- curred here, he was educated here and his entrance upon the serious phase of life has occurred here. He was born in Salem township April 8, 1875, and his first years of school age were passed in the country. At the age of twelve years his parents moved into Iola and almost since that date George Freeman has been more or less known to the citizens of this town.
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