USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 32
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 32
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Charles Freeman, our subject's father, came to Kansas in 1868, from New London, Canada West. He was a carpenter by trade but he deter- mined to secure a free home upon the plains of Allen County and he home- steaded a quarter section in Salem township. He laid aside his trade, as a business, and devoted himself to improving his claim and bringing it grad- ually into the appearance of a farm. He remained with it till 1887, when he came to Iola. Mr. Freeman is a son of George Freeman, who with his wife, Sarah, nee Faulkenburg, emigrated to the new world and located in Canada West. They died there in 1884 leaving their son, Charles, as their sole American heir. He was reared by Mr. Mckenzie. He had learned
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his trade by the time he reached his majority and, during the war he went into the Pennsylvania oil fields and became a small operator, with some pros- pect of success, but unexpected reverses overtook him and left him financially exhausted. He was married in Logan township, Allen County, in 1867 to Nancy E. a daughter of William Bartley. Their children are: Minnie, Arthur W., M. Louise, George, Fred F., Samuel S. and Josie.
George Freeman entered the 7th grade of the Iola schools, and finished the high school course in 1893. He taught his first school in his old Salem district and, with the exception of the year 1896-7 spent in Baker University, he has made teaching his exclusive business. He entered the Iola schools in 1899 as principal of the first ward building where he has finished his second year.
Mr. Freeman was married in Iola in August, 1900, to Zella, a daugh- ter of Marshal M. Hart. He is one of the leading members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church in which he has taken an active part for many years.
RANK NIGH-For almost a third of a century J. Frank Nigh has resided in Allen County, and is today classed among the wide-awake and progressive farmers and stock raisers of Iola township. He was born in Cowden, Shelby Connty, Illinois, October 14, 1859. His father, Isaac Nigh, was born in Garfield County, Ohio, December 2. 1829, and his grandfather was a native of the State of Maryland, born in 1803. In 1846 the last named enlisted in Ohio for service in the Mexican war and his regiment was assigned to General Scott's army. He participated in the campaigns of that victorious army from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, where he was stricken with typhus fever, died and was buried. In civil life he was a frontier farmer and died leaving a family of four children. His wife's maiden name was Mary Beachtel, born in the State of Pennsyl- vania in 1811. She died in Shelby County, Illinois, in 1898.
Isaac Nigh was the first child of his parents and his boyhood and early youth were passed in Franklin, County, Ohio. At the age of seven- teen years he joined the same regiment with his father for service in the Mexican war and followed the army of General Scott to the City of Mexico. He, too, took down with the dread disease, typhus, and was sick near unto death. Upon recovery, and being discharged from the army, he went back to his native county and passed a year upon the farm. The next year he spent in New York City and, upon his return west, he took np his resi- dence in Shelby County, Illinois. He engaged in farming there and con- tinued it until the war of the Rebellion called him to arms. He enlisted in the 115th Illinois Infantry, Colonel Moore, and served three years. From the year of his muster out of the service till 1869 he passed in Illinois on a farm. The latter month and year he journeyed to Kansas and settled in Cottage Grove township, Allen County. He secured a homestead four and a half miles south of Humboldt which he improved and upon which he
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made his home many years. The first year Isaac Nigh spent in Kansas he was engaged much of the time in freighting goods from the nearest rail- road points along the Kaw River, Lawrence and Kansas City, Missouri, to Humboldt. In this way he was able to the better provide for his family while the initial steps toward farm-improvement and farm-cultivation were being taken:
Isaac Nigh was married in 1853 to Ann Phillips. Mrs. Nigh was born January 6, 1835, in Shelby County, Illinois. She was a daughter of Bryant Phillips and is the mother of two sons and a daughter: Sam- utel C. Nigh, who died at Chanute, Kansas, in 1894; Mary J,, wife of E. A. Gleason, of Humboldt, and J. Frank Nigh, our subject.
At ten years of age Frank Nigh came into Allen County. He began contributing toward his own support upon entering his 'teens and learned the lessons of independence and self-confidence long before he saw his twenty-first birthday. He was schooled passably well in the district schools and this, strengthened by the efficient school of experience, has equipped him for a successful career in life. To enter the railroad service was among the first acts of our subject upon reaching man's estate. He learned telegraphy with the L. L. and G. Railway people and was in their employ at stations along their line till 1886. Leaving the road he located upon a farm along the Neosho River and has ever since dubbed himselt a farmer.
In November 1889 Mr. Nigh was elected Register of Deeds of Allen County and was again elected in 1891, each time by a majority largely in excess of the regular Republican ticket. He performed his official duties with fidelity and efficiency and was regarded as one of our reliable and honorable public servants.
November 16, 1884, Mr. Nigh was married to Miss Lou Hubbard, a daughter of the late pioneer, Samuel F. and Parmelia Hubbard. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard were from North Carolina and came into Allen County in 1857. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nigh: Edna L., Claude H., Matilda M. and James P.
Frank Nigh has acquitted himself well wherever he has been tried. He served his employers faithfully when in the railroad service; nothing was left undone by him as a public official, which jeopardized the public, or private welfare of his constituents; as a farmer he is broad-gauged and progressive, practicing industry and honesty before all men, and as a citi- zen he is unassailable and his character stands unimpeached. Being a firm believer in the efficacy of Republican principles he is a loyal and un- swerving supporter of the party of his choice. He is a Knight of Pythias, an Odd Fellow and a laborer in the cause of Father Upchurchi.
R OBERT NELSON .- One of the successful farmers and well known citizens of Deer Creek township is Robert Nelson whose residence in Allen county has spanned a period of almost a score of years. He located
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upon section 16, township 24, range 20, a raw and unimproved piece of school land in 1882, and since that date he has devoted his time and energies, not only to the proper care and support of his family but to the development and improvement of a farmn and to the task of reaching a con- dition of financial independence, both warrantable and creditable. The place of his first settlement he made sale of as did he of the settlement made in section seventeen where he repeated, on a larger scale, his efforts upon the first farm.
Mr. Nelson was born in Adams county, Illinois, September 18, 1846. His father, Zenas B. Nelson, was born near Louisville, Kentucky, in 1819 and, in 1832, left that state and became a citizen ,of Illinois. He accom- panied his father, James Nelson, whose origin, or birth, occurred in Vir- ginia. The latter died in Illinois in 1846 at the age of seventy years. His military experience was gained as a soldier in the war of 18:2 and, as a civilian, he was devoted to agriculture. He married Elizabeth Allen and was the father of fifteen children, fourteen of whom lived to grow up and marry.
Zenas B. Nelson's military service consisted of a connection with the Illinois militia when called out for the purpose of suppressing the disturb- ances with the Mormons at Nauvoo. He was married in 1843 to Delilah Hopson, a daughter of Robert Hopson who was a Scotchman, kidnapped in boyhood by some sailors, while hauling logs in the wood near the seashore. While the ship of his master was in harbor at New York he stole away and made his way to Ohio. He was married in that state to Narcissa Pierce, which union was productive of fourteen children.
The children of Zenas and Deliah Nelson were: Alfred and Robert Nelson, of Allen county; Olive, wife of Martin Cray. of Woodward county, Oklahoma; Harriet, wife of Edward Wade, deceased, of Clark county, Mis- souri, Ann, who married Thomas Lowry, of Adams county, Illinois; Ida, wife of Chauncey Owens, of the same county; Deliah, wife of Sanford Graham; Charles and Philip, all of Illinois. Philip Nelson is one of the leading architects of the state. He is widely known throughout the state and has done much work of a high character and received the plaudits and commendations of architects and builders alike.
Robert Nelson passed his childhood and early manhood with the family home. He left the parental roof at twenty-four years of age and was married and engaged in farming. His wife died soon thereafter and centennial year he was again married and, with scarce an intermission, has continued his connection with the farm.
Mr. Nelson was first married February 3, 1870, to Sarah Seals, who died in 1873, leaving a son, Alpha, who is married to Catherine Mills and resides in Allen county. January 26, 1876, Mr. Nelson was married to Mary O. Treatch, a daughter of George W. Treatch, a German and from Darmstadt. The latter came to America with his family in 1840 and set- tled in Illinois about 1841. He was a miller by trade and was the father of ten children. Those living are: George Treatch, Catherine, wife of George Randolph, both of Illinois, Mrs. Robert Nelson; Kate, wife of Wil-
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liam Crabtree, of Adams county; Matilda, wife of Wilson Jones; Fred Treatch, who married Maggie Seals and resides in the home county; Henry, who married Rosa Hill, residing in Adams county, Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson's children are: Gertrude, who is the wife of George Myers, of Iola; Ona, wife of Lindsey T. Gillenwater, of Allen county, and Cora, Jessie and Clark, about the domestic hearthstone.
In politics the early Nelsons were Whigs. Later on the voters of the family were divided as to parties and our subject became a Greenbacker, then a Union Labor man and finally a supporter of the Peoples Party.
JOHN B. FERGUS, of Deer Creek township, well known in horticulture J
and floriculture in Allen county, settled upon the west half of the north- east quarter of section 29, township 23, range 20, his present home, in January 1889. He was a resident of Anderson county before coming into Allen and prior to that time occupied the old Younger homestead in Jack- son county, Missouri. He was a resident of Missouri from 1879 to 1882 when he took up his residence in Anderson county, Kansas.
Mr. Fergus was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, March 24. 1858, and is a son of Thomas P. Fergus, of the same county and state. The latter was born in 1832, was engaged in the calling of a firmer and in 1879 went into Missouri. His last years were spent in Anderson county, Kansas, where he died in 1888. He married Abigail Bradford, a daughter of John and Annie ( Hamilton) Bradford, lineal descentants of the famous Massachusetts family of Bradfords. John Bradford of this mention was a soldier in the war of 1812, was born in Pennsylvania and died near Dayton, Ohio. The children of Mr. and Mrs. John Bradford are: Elizabeth Friend, of Wyoming, Ohio, aged eighty-two years, still living; Margaret Ser- vice, of Dayton. Ohio, eighty years; Martha Jane Hamilton, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, seventy-eight years; Rev. D. G. Bradford, Springfield, Illinois, seventy six years; James H. Bradford, Bellbrook, Ohio, seventy-three years; Ebenezer E. Bradford, Centerville, Ohio, seventy years; Annie C. Ewing, missionary in Cairo, Egypt, sixty-eight years; Abigail Fergus, Glenlock, Kansas, sixty-six years; Agnes Andrews, Bellbrook, Ohio, sixty-three years.
The Fergus' are of Scotch lineage. Thomas Fergus, our subject's paternal grandfather and a Scotchman, sought the United States about 1803, stopped a season at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but made his permanent home in Washington county, that state. His sons and daughters were: Martha, who married James Taggart; Margaret, wife of Thomas McCall; Sarah, who married Joseph Donaghy; Nancy, who became Mrs. James White; Hugh; John and Thomas P.
The surviving children of Thomas P. and Abigail Fergus are: Anna, wife of Alexander McKitrick, of Anderson county, Kansas; J. Bradford, our subject; Samuel and Hugh, of Anderson county; Sadie, wife of Robert Furneaux, of Allen county, and Thomas, of Reno county, Kansas.
John1 B. Fergus has passed his life a student of the field and farm.
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His first independent enterprise was one calculated to make him a sheep grower and he came into Allen county in 1881 and bought land for the purpose of ranching it with sheep. The year happened to be a dry one and the venture proved a failure. He sold out what remained of his stock and for the next five years "knocked abont." He was married in 1887 and the next year, but one, moved to the farm that is now his attractive home. General farming and horticulture with a recent entry upon the fine cattle business are matters which claim all his time. From a modest be- ginning he has gained on the world steadily and surely and has not only demonstrated his success with the soil but has established and maintained a public confidence that is worthy of emulation.
May 20, 1887, Mr. Fergus was married to Emma Z. Nicholson, a daughter of Cornelius J. Nicholson, who came to Allen county in 1866 and settled in the valley of the Little Osage. He emigrated from Pike county, Illinois, where he was married to Sarah Hoover. Their children were: Scott W., deceased; David and Emma Z .; Robert, and Hattie, wife of Robert Richardson, of Ripley, Oklahoma.
Mr. and Mrs. Fergus' children are: T. Earl; Ruth, deceased; Hugh: Fanny Fern, and Lou J., since deceased. The Ferguses are among the staunch and active Republicans.
T THEODORE THOMPSON ANDERSON, whose residence in Allen County dates from the pioneer settlement of the county and whose personality is among the best known of all her citizens, was born at Ripley, Olio, August 15, 1844. His father, Levi V. Anderson, died in Brown County, Ohio, in 1849. The latter was a son of John Anderson, an old Scotch school teacher who lived to an advanced age and died in Linn County, Missouri, in 1867. He was a most pronounced Abolitionist and was ordered to leave Missouri by Rebel sympathizers, as a rebuke for his attitude, but he took down his rifle and defied the "Secesh" element. He was married to Mary Van Camp. Their children were: Levi V., our sub- ject's father, who died of smallpox; John, who served in the Civil war with a Missouri regiment, and one other.
Levi V. Anderson married Caroline, a daughter of George T. and Hannalı ( Middleswart) Reynolds. George Reynolds is a Pennsylvanian and is buried on the hill north of Iola, near the Robinson home. The Anderson children were: Mary J., who married M. F. Warner and is buried" at Iola; Theodore T .; Lavina A., wife of John McDonald, of Iola; George T., of Baxter Springs, Kansas. Caroline Anderson removed from Ohio to Livingston County, Illinois, with her family and while there she married our well remembered pioneer, Lyman E. Rhoades. Their only child was Rhoda, deceased, wife of the late Lafe McCarley.
Lyman Rhoades was born in Ohio and died in Iola in 1892 at the age of seventy-five years. He had two children by his first marriage and was a
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father to the children orphaned by the death of Levi Anderson. In com- ing to Kansas he put into execution a desire to locate in the west and he started overland on the journey hither in 1855. He meandered across the State of Missouri and stopped in Barton County where he raised a crop in the year 1856. The next spring he drove over into Kansas on a tour of inspection and decided to locate in Allen County. He brought his family immediately and located on the claim where the Iola mineral well is, in 1857. He was a prominent factor in the preliminary steps leading up to the organization of the town and remained one of its substantial and in- fluential citizens for many years. Rhoades' Addition to Iola was laid out by him, the tract where the Northrup homestead is located was once his property. His last residence was on Sycamore street just north of the city limits. As a genuine man he was one to be remembered. His nature was in full sympathy for the needy and distressed and the testimony of the worthy poor of Iola would be to the effect that he divided his substance with them and kept them from want. He served Iola as Justice of the Peace and was one of the prominent local Republicans hereabout.
T. T. Anderson got a smattering of an education attending a subscrip- tion school in Iola. Joel L. Jones was one of the first teachers to visit Iola, and he kept school in a rude building prepared for that purpose and situat- ed on the Delap farm, northeast of town. Mr. Anderson also attended school in Iola's first school house, on lot 7, block 72. In 1860 he went back to Illinois on a visit and while there the war broke out and he decided to enter the Union army. In 1862 he joined the Third Illinois Cavalry. He joined his regiment at Helena, Arkansas, and took part in the Missis- sippi campaign. His first fight was at Chickasaw Bluffs and the number of engagements before the surrender of Vicksburg, in which he participated were twenty-two. The Third cavalry was ordered to aid in the reduction of Arkansas Post, after which it went south to New Orleans, taking part in the battle of Port Hudson. A considerable force of Union troops was sent to Texas in 1863 and Mr. Anderson's was one of the regiments to go. After a few exploits in the west the regiment, with others, went into Ten- nessee and was engaged in the battles of Franklin and Nashville. It re- mained in that vicinity the residne of Mr. Anderson's term of enlistment. He was discharged at St. Louis, Missouri, after serving two years, ten months and eleven days.
When he left the army Mr. Anderson returned to Illinois, and without much delay came back to Allen County, Kansas. He purchased a farmi on Elm Creek which he was deprived of, some time later, through the "securi- ty channel." Being much reduced in circumstances he brought his family to Iola and for many years has maintained his residence here.
For years Mr. Anderson held clerkships with some of Iola's lead- ing merchants and his service was always marked for its faithfulness. His connection with the Ancient Order of United Workinan in Iola has brought him conspicuously into the public view and if there is a youth in Iola who does not know him it would be a new-comer indeed.
I11 1865 Mr. Anderson was married in Livingston County, Illinois, to
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Nancy M. DeMoss, a daughter of John and Mary DeMoss. She died in 1867 and in 1871 Mr. Anderson was married in Iola to Cinderella M., a daughter of William and Adah Green, of Huron County, Ohio. Two daughters were the fruits of this union: Carrie Estella and Pearl Adell. Carrie E. died in the eighth year of her age Miss Pearl, with the Iola Racket, is the only living heir of this union.
Our subject became a Republican when a boy and cast his first vote for the party in 1868. He is proud of the fact that he never voted for but one Democrat in his life. In the fraternal world he is one of the charter members of Iola lodge No. 98, A. O. U. W., of which he has been Financier many years.
G EORGE M. NELSON-Among the most energetic, reliable business men and entesprising, public-spirited citizens of Allen County is numbered George M. Nelson, who now resides in Brooklyn Park, Iola. Since his arrival in Kansas he has taken an active and commendable inter- est in public affairs and his labors have been of valuable benefit to the county.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Nelson was born in Highland County, on the 7th of April, 1846. His father, William A. Nelson, was born in Hillsboro, of the same county, while John M. Nelson, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Stanton, Virginia, whence he emigrated to Ohio in an early day on account of his views on the slavery question. William A. Nelson spent his early life in Hillsboro, and acquired his education in its public schools. After his marriage to Katherine Kibler, a daughter of Joseph Kibler of Hillsboro, he developed and improved a farm in Highland County, the land having been granted to his grandfather, Captain Trimble, in recognition of his valued service in the American army during the war of the Revolution. The farm is still in possession of the family, by whom it has been owned for more than a century. Upon the homestead which he developed, William A. Nelson resided until his death, which occurred in 1883. By his first marriage he became the father of six children, the eldest of whom died in infancy. The others are; Cary L., who died in 1899, at Albia, Iowa; Jennie E., who is the widow of Robert Bishop and resides in Paris, Illinois; Joseph K., of Chelsea, Butler County, Kansas; George M., of this review, and Katherine A., wife of Henry Bishop, a journalist of Kansas City, Missouri. The mother of these children died in 1849, and Mr. Nelson afterward married Miss Margaret Kelley, of Rockbridge Coun- ty, Virginia, daughter of John Kelley. To them were born six children, five of whom reached maturity, namely: William C., a practicing physician of Sycamore Springs, Kansas; Anna V., wife of Marion Meyers of Paris, Illinois, who removed to California where Mrs. Meyers died in 1898; Charles Q., a medical practitioner of Albia, Iowa; Lena. the second wife of Marion Myers, who is now in Pasadena, California, and is the State Secretary of
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the Young Men's Christian Association, and Thomas H., who occupies the old homestead at Hillsboro, Ohio.
George M. Nelson, in whom the citizens in Allen County are especially interested, acquired his preliminary education in the schools of Hillsboro, Ohio, after which he pursued a classical course in the National Normal school in Lebanon, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1868. During the following year he served as deputy postmaster in Lebanon, and later lie purchased and operated a farm in Brown County, that State. He also e11- gaged in teaching in the common schools there. He was for a year a member of the faculty in the Harrisburg Academy at Harrisburg, Kentucky, after which he emigrated to Kansas in 1883, locating in Butler County, where for one year he was engaged in the stock business in connection with his brother, J. K. Nelson. In 1884 he purchased a farm a mile and a half north of Moran, Allen County, and took up his abode thereon in April of that year. For some time he successfully devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits. His fellow townsmen recognizing his ability and trustworthiness have frequently called him to public office, his first service having been the discharge of the duties of trustee of Marmaton township. He remained in that office for a year, and in 1890 he was made census enumerator. In 1891 he was elected county treasurer, and so acceptably discharged his duties that he was re-elected for a second term. On his retirement he entered into partnership with J. M. Mason in the real estate business, in which he is now engaged. The firm has conducted a number of important realty transactions, handling considerable valuable property, and their business methods commend them to the confidence and pratonage of all. Mr. Nelson's fellow citizens, however, are not content that he should retire wholly from public office for his services have ever been of value, and at the present time he is acting as president of the board of education of Iola. He has always supported the Republican party, and for a number of years has been a member of the Republican central committee.
Mr. Nelson was married in 1869 to Miss Clara A. McFadden, of Brown County, Ohio, a daughter of Joseph McFadden, who was a native of Virginia. She was a graduate of the Lebanon Normal School of the class of 1868, and for some time followed teaching with excellent success. Four children were born of their marriage, but only one is now living, Wilfred W., who is now engaged in the furniture business in Iola with A. W. Beck. He enlisted as a private in Company D, Twentieth Kansas In- fantry under Colonel, afterward General, Fred Funston, and served for eighteen months in the Philippines. He was promoted to the position of quartermaster sergeant, and as such was discharged. After the death of his wife in 1881 Mr. Nelson married Miss Phoebe E. Gilbert of Champaign County, Ohio. She died in 1886, survived by one of their two daughters- Grace G. Mr. Nelson's present wife bore the maiden name of Miss Elozia C. Strong, of Moran, Kansas a daughter of the late Dr. Henry Strong. Of four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Nelson two are yet living, Alfred and Lawrence.
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