History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 33

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 33
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 33

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).

Mr. Nelson's military service began through connection with the Ohio

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State Militia, and with his regiment he was mustered into the United States service May 2, 1864, as a member of Company H, One Hundred Sixty-eighth Ohio Infantry. After assisting in repulsing Morgan on his last raid and engaging in the battle of Cynthiana, Kentucky, the regiment was mostly on guard and patrol duty until mustered out at Camp Dennison, Ohio, September 8, 1864. Socially Mr. Nelson has been connected with the Masonic fraternity since 1880 and with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1893. He has been a life-long member of the Presbyterian church-a man of upright principles and of sterling worth, his character being such as commands respect and admiration in every land and clime.

JAY McCARLEY-The late A. Jay McCarley, of Iola, among the best known cattle men of Iola and ex-County Commissioner of Allen Coun- ty, came to the county in 1860. He had resided in McLean County, Illinois, just prior to his entrance to Kansas, having taken up his resi- dence there in 1853. He was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, and was a son of Samnel and Celia ( Harris) McCarley. He was one of seven children, as follows: Mary, wife of Holman Dean, residing in Kentucky; Sarah, who married J. C. Todd and lived in Iola; Samnel McCarley, re- siding in San Jose, California; James McCarley, of California; Eliza, married Dorus Stevens, of Lexington, Illinois; A. Jay, and LaFayette C. McCarley, deceased.

Jay McCarley received only a passably good education and began his life work as a farmer. He entered into a partnership with his brother, Lafe, at an early date and the two were engaged prominently in dealing in stock until death separated them. They owned farms adjoining, had the fullest confidence in each other and had no differences except in politics. A. J. McCarley was elected Commissioner of Allen County in 1879 and was re- elected in 1882, serving two full terms. He made a most conscientious and efficient official. With county matters lie was as devoted as to liis private matters, and when his services ended it was with a consciousness of having merited the plaudits of his whole county.

Jay McCarley was no ordinary man. Coming here when a young man of twenty-three he was, during all the years that passed, a prominent, respected and influential citizen. He was a fine business man, as his suc- cess in farming and dealing in stock testified, and he was generous and public-spirited to a marked degree. He had no political ambition, but up- on the demand of the people he served his county two terms in one of its most important offices. He brought to the Board of County Commissioners the same energy, zeal and clear-headed sagacity that marked the manage- ment of his personal interests. He had no religions professions but was a friend to the widow and the fatherless. His door stood open for any whose condition made them seek shelter there, and his purse was never closed against the appeal of the distressed. His hand was never withheld when

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its strength was needed to sustain the weak. He never defrauded any man; he never went back on a friend. Many loved him and all his ac- quaintances liked him.

Mr. McCarley was married October 18, 1863, in Neosho Falls, Kansas. by Squire Phillips to Hannah Goff. J. R. Goff, Mrs. ( McCarley) Robert- son's father, was born in Maine, was married to Cynthia Nores and died at Stillwater, Minnesota, in 1884. Their children were: Sidney, Eliflet, Rufus and Horace Goff, of Stillwater, Minnesota; Mrs. Eli Ratliffe. of Iola; Diana, deceased wife of Henry Clark, of Superior, Wisconsin; and Mrs. Robertson. The last named was born in Piscataquis County, Maine, Janu- ary 8, 1839. She was married to C. T. Robertson in 1893.

Jay McCarley died April 9, 1892. He left no heirs but was fond of children and he and his worthy wife reared two children of his sister, Mrs. Todd, viz .: Rice Todd and Mary, widow of John Beggs, of Chicago. Willie Briggs and Emma Lucas were also members of this hospitable house- hold. Alfred, Luther and Ella McCarley, children of Lafe McCarley, make their home with Mrs. Robertson since the death of their parents.

JOSIAH F. and IOLA COLBORN .- The venerable and revered pioneers whose names introduce this review possess a history so closely and peculiarly identified with the county seat of Allen county that it is of in- terest and importance to enter at some length into the circumstances of their settlement, the incidents following, and the substantial facts of their family history. While many other pioneers were intimately connected with the founding of and early history of Iola, and rested their hopes upon its future, we are warranted in asserting that there was not that pe- culiar, sincere and burning attachment existing as really possessed Mr. and Mrs. Colborn, from the very circumstances of the case.

J. F. and Iola Colborn left Lewisville, Illinois, about the 20th of September, 1857, for Allen county, Kansas. An ox team was hitched to their effects and it "polled" its way across Missouri and into Kansas, reaching Iola October 24h, following. In June prior Mr. Colborn had made a trip of exploration and discovery in Kansas and had purchased a claim on the Neosho river, embracing the land occupied by the Otten country home, the fair grounds and a large portion of the city of Iola. His cabin rested in the wood (on the site of the Otten residence) by the river and to this our settlers proceeded upon their arrival at their destina- tion. To prepare the cabin for the proper comfort of his family Mr. Col- born put in a floor, "battened" the door, etc., and when all was done about the house began the task of making the rails with which to fence forty acres of his farm. This tract included about half of what is now the public square and was enclosed eight rails high. He broke it out the next spring, planted it to corn and soon after returned with his family to Illinois

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for a visit. He expected to find a good crop of sod corn on his return but his experience with Kansas was too brief to take into account the prob- ability of a drouth (which ensued) and the sod corn was without ears or fodder.

In 1858 the question of a town for the Neosho River and Rock Creek colony became to be agitated. The old (and first) county seat below the mouth of Elm Creek was not advantageously situated for a town and now that Humboldt had secured legislation which deprived the former of the county seat it was not thought wise to try to revive the old Indian town. An inspection of the country round about Elm Creek and the Neosho dis- closed the fact that the Colborn claim was the ideal one for a townsite and in due time it was selected and purchased for the purpose.

The movement in favor of a town on Elm Creek took substantial form in the organization of a town company, composed of fifty pioneers, of which Dr. John W. Scott was chosen president. The latter resided in Carlyle at that time but became interested in the town proposition and became one of its chief and most powerful promoters. Weekly meetings of the company were held in a little school house out near where the "Horville" school house now stands and, at one of these meetings and when the business of the company had proceeded to the point of choosing a name for the town, an assortment of half a dozen or more were proposed. Noah Lee proposed Caledonia, as he was from Caledonia, Ohio; Mr. Colborn proposed Elgin and other favorite names, none of which seemed to "catch the ear" of the' company. Finally Lyman E. Rhoads in a short and complimentary speech proposed the name of "Iola" in honor of the wife of the former owner of the site of the town. This suggestion prevailed as "a motion be- fore the house", adopted January 1859.

It may interest some student of history to learn the origin of the name "Iola" and while the information is accessible, sufficient for our purpose, it is here asserted that the name is of French origin. George Collins, a great uncle of Mrs. Colborn, married a French lady whose Christian name was Iola. Thomas Friend, Mrs. Colborn's father, married Emily Collins, a neice of George Collins, and their first child was christened "Iola."

Returning to the personal history of Mr. Colborn-he was a farmer but one year in Allen county. After selling his ciaim he opened a shop and followed blacksmithing until some time in 1862 when he began a clerkship with Brinkerhoff Brewster. He continued with him and with Scott Brothers, his successor, till 1865 when, in company with Nimrod Hankins, he opened a general store in Iola. His was a popular place- the corner where Coutant's hardware now stands-and he carried on his business with profit so long as he remained there. Early in the eighties he sold his business corner and conceived the idea of introducing life into the "north side of the squre." He erected the first store-room on that side (the Shannon block) and opened a dry goods business. This venture was disappointing in its results. Trade could not be induced "to leave town," as crossing the square seemed to be doing, but spent its surplus with merchants about their- "old haunts" and left the "north side" to

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dwindle aud decay. Mr. Colborn continued business till 1896 when he closed his doors and retired.

From his earliest advent to the county and for more than thirty-five years Josiah F. Colborn was a conspicuous figure in the affairs of [ola. When the county was first organized it was done under the "township plan." Each township chairman was, by virtue of his office, a member of the Board of County Commissioners. . Mr. Colborn was chairman of Iola township and took part in the business of the first board of County Commis- sioners. Down through the years he filled township and town offices, as called upon to do so by the voters at their annual elections, and all his official acts were performed with that painstaking care and consideration for the public good which characterized his personal intercourse and busi- ness relations with human kind. Quiet, and without show or fuss, he has passed almost across the stage of action in Iola and has maintained, for forty-five years, an unblemished, spotless reputation. In Masonic work he has been a part of the Allen county structure from the beginning. His first work was done in Kansas with Pacific Lodge at Humboldt when there were only eight Masons in the county. The lodge at Iola was instituted in 1863 and he was appointed its first master. By election lie served till 1865, and was called to the chair again in 1870. In this, as in other things. he has done his duty conscientiously and is held in the highest esteem by the brethren of the craft. In politics, while his forefathers and many of his brothers were Democrats, he became a charter member of the Republican party, and is well known as such now.

Josiah F. Colborn was born near Noblesville, Hamilton county, In- diana, February 7, 1829. His father, Robert Colborn, went into that sec- tion about 1825, settled a farm and remained till the latter part of the thirties when he removrd to LaFayette, Indiana, to execute a contract for a piece of work on the Illinois and Michigan canal. This work completed he settled in Clay county, Illinois, where he "took up" land, prospered as a farmer and died in 1855. He was born in Perry, county, Ohio, in 1801 and, in 1821, married Rosanna West who died in Clay county, Illinois, in 1872. Robert Colborn, the ist, was our subject's paternal grandfather. He emigrated from Somerset county, Pennsylvania, to Perry county, Ohio, soon after the close of the war of the Revolution and removed from Ohio to Hamilton county, Indiana, in 1823 and there died. He was the father of five sons, viz: Johathan. Robert, Jesse, Perry and Harrison.

Robert and Rosanna Colborn's children were: Levi, who died in Clay county, Illinoss, in 1899; Samuel, who died fn Richland county, Illi- mois, in 1885, George W., of Clay county, Illinois; Mary Jane, who mar- ried Crawford Lewis, died in Jonesboro, Arkansas, in 1898; Josiah Francis; Elizabeth, who married Jonathan Lewis, died in Texas; Robert, of Rich- land county, Illinois; Martha, who married Mr. Hadden, is believed to reside in Arkansas, and John W., who was one of the early residents of Iola, served on General Logan's staff in the Rebellion, as first lieutenant, went into the southwest from Iola and was never heard of again.

J. F. Colborn was married to Iola Friend on the 12th of September,

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1857. The latter's father was Thomas Friend whose ancestors were Dutch and whose wife's antecedents were Scotch. He married Emily Collins, as elsewhere stated, and their four children to reach maturity were: Iola, born January 13, 1832; Mary B., of Iola; Marshall D., of Chicago, Illinois, and Wellington M., deceased. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Colborn are: Mrs. Alice Scott; Luella, the first child born in Iola, is the wife of William P. Northrup, of Murray, Idaho; Effie J., wife of Edward Moffit, of Wallace, Idaho; Madaline Jo., wife of David M. McKissick, of Wallace, Idaho; Nellie Colborn, of Iola, and George M., of Spokanne, Washington.

G EORGE J. ELDRIDGE-Those who lived in the vicinity of Iola as early as the year 1850 recall the appearance, one July day of a little English- man driving a yoke of oxen across the prairie and into the village. Behind this primitive team was a young wife and son and all the worldly effects of the travelers. That they were settlers was early made known and that they were poor was at ouce apparent. They had made the journey all the way from McHenry County, Illinois, to Iola and were just finishing their trip that 27th of July. Their resources, aside from their team, wagon and camping outfit, amounted to $40. The head of the family was a wagon- maker and the hope of their future welfare lay in his ability to provide life's necessities from his trade. He built a small cabin on the site of the Hart livery barn and took possession. If his wagon shop was not the first in town it was one of the early ones and he plied his trade as the main means of existence from that date till 1868.

The few foregoing facts are sufficient to identify the subject of this review, George J. Eldridge. He was born in East Kent, England, Mary 19, 1833, and was a son of Richard and Mary (Bone) Eldridge. The parents had six children, two of whom survive: Mrs Peter Adams, of Cald- well, Missouri, and the subject of this notice. Although his father was a shoemaker George Eldridge left England without a trade. He went aboard a sailing vessel at London, in company with an uncle and family, and after five weeks of sea life landed in Castle Garden. The little com- pany located in Wayne County, New York, and there, at the age of eighteen years, our subject took his first lessons in wagon-making. In 1856 he came on west to McHenry County, Illinois, residing three years, and while there marrying Miss Martha J. Hopkins, a lady born in Alle- ghany County, New York. She was a daughter of William and Mary Hopkins whose children she and Mrs. Catharine Washburn, deceased, of Elgin, Illinois, are.

Two of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Eldridge survive: Mary, wife of John Cloud, of Allen County, has a son, Glen; and Richard A. Eldridge, still under the parental roof.

George Eldridge had been in America ten years when the Rebellion broke out. He felt the same patriotic zeal for the preservation of the Union

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under the southern sun of Kansas as in the free and invigorating air of the northern clime. When the second call for troops was issued he enlisted for three years or during the war. He entered Company E, 9th Kansas Cavalry. Colonel Lynde and Captain Flesher, on the 19th of October, 1861. The Company joined the regiment at Lawrence, Kansas, and in the course of events was sent south into the Territory. It took part in the battle of Prairie Grove and in many smaller engagements and skirmishes in Mis- souri and Arkansas. Mr. Eldridge was discharged at Duval's Bluff, Ar- kansas, in January, 1855, having served his three years.

In 1867 Mr. Eldridge purchased the tract of land which is his home- stead. It is the northwest quarter of section 36, township 24, range 17, and cost him three and a half dollars per acre. The first years of his career as a farmer was something of a struggle for little more than existence. Like all settlers without means it was a slow process to do more than the natural improvement the first ten years. After this his progress was steady and sure and as the circumstances warranted he extended the area of his farm. As is well known he is one of the substantial men of his community, and a gentleman whose social and political integrity are undoubted and above reproach. He is a Republican pioneer, having joined the party in 1856 as a charter member. His first vote was for John C. Fremont and his last one for William Mckinley. He has aided in an official capacity the conduct of public business in his township and does his part as an in- dividual toward the promotion of Republican principles and Republican success in political campaigns.

JOSEPH P. ROSE, of Elm township, Allen County, was almost a

J pioneer to Woodson County, Kansas. He homesteaded a tract of land there, in section eight of Liberty township, and remained a citizen of Woodson till 1895 when he became a citizen of Allen. His farm is the northeast quarter of section 19, town 25, range 19, and in early days it was the Zike property.

Mr. Rose was born at Kingston, Ontario, October 30, 1847. In 1853 his father, Stephen R. Rose, left Canada and located at Rockford, Illinois. The latter was a hotel man at Kingston, Canada and followed railroad and carpenter work in Rockford, Illinois. He was married to Elizabeth Adget who died in Rockford, while he died in Fredonia, Kansas, in 1897 at the age of eighty-seven years. Their children are: Sarah J., wife of Lorenzo Bissell, of Winnebago County, Illinois; D. W. Rose, of Detroit, Michigan; Annie, wife of Fred L. Horton, of Chicago, Illinois; Joseph P., our subject, and Cyrus Rose, of the Indian Territory.

The Roses were originally from York State. Our subject's father was born in the Empire State and migrated to Canada in early life. In 1866 he came onto the prairies of Kansas and settled in the county of Woodson.

J. P. Rose began life as a newsboy. He carried the News and Times

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in DuBuque, 'Iowa, and later worked in the lead mines at that place. With the exception of the year 1886 he has resided in Kansas, Woodson and Allen Counties. He spent the year 1886 in Pomona, California, where he was toll-keeper in a mill. But he had lived too long in Kansas to be con- tent with a new place, so he came back to Woodson County and took up farm- ing, where he left off, and is today one of the well known citizens of Elm township, Allen County.

In January, 1881, Mr. Rose was married to Emma Crabb, a daughter of Henderson Crabb, who came to Kansas in 1866 and was once the pro- prietor of the Pennsylvania Hotel in Iola. His wife was Mary Beach, who resides in Pomona, California.

Mr. and Mrs. Rose's children are: Albert R., who died in 1897 at the age of sixteen years; Richard; W. Darwin; George Beach; A. Orville and Lillian V.

The Roses are Republicans and Methodists. Our subject is leader of the class in the LaHarpe charge and is otherwise one of the active members.

M ILLARD FILMORE SICKLY was born in Livingston County, New York, January 11, 1852. His father, Robert Sickly, a farmer by occupation, was born in New Jersey, and married Elizabeth Gray. born in the same State. A brother and sister of Mrs. Sickly are still in the Empire State, William T. Gray and Mrs. Mary Morris.

The boyhood days of our subject were spent on the old family home- stead, where he assisted in the labors of field and garden until he was twenty-one years of age. He then went to California, remaining in the Golden State for a year. Subsequently and for a period of five years he en- gaged in merchandising in New York. In 1880 he came to Allen County, Kansas, remaining in Iola while a house was being erected on the farm in Elm township which he had purchased. As soon as the new home was completed he took up his abode therein and as the years have passed his labors have wrought great change in the appearance of the farm through the improvements he has added. His work has annually augmented his income and he now has a very desirable property. Mr. Sickly's brother, Altred, the only other surviving member of the family, is living in the Empire State.

In 1879 Mr. Sickly was united in marriage to Miss Annie L. Bearss, a native of Livingston County, New York, where her people were also born. Her mother belonged to the well known Jerome family of that State, Mr. and Mrs. Sickly have four children: Dumont, Clyde, Bertha and Glenn. Mr. Sickly exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party although his father was a Democrat. He spent his early life on the Atlantic coast, passed one year on the Pacific coast, and is now contentedly living in Kansas, his labors having brought to him creditable success, so that he is now the possessor of a good home here.

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S IMON KLOTZBACH .- Perhaps the history of few men in Allen county exemplifies more forcibly the power of determination, courage and industry in achieving success than does that of Simon Klotzbach. an honored pioneer of Allen county. He was born in Hessen Germany, March 10, 1848, and is a representative of a family that was prominent both in political and military affairs there. His grandfather, Martin Klotzbach, served under Napoleon in the battle of Wagram in 1809, and two of his brothers-in-law went to Moscow under that officer. The younger entered the army at the age of fifteen and served under the Corsican gen- eral for fifteen years. He was a "Tryrom,"-a man that batters down doors,-until that position was abolished by the use of cannon, after which he was a sharpshooter and also served on outer picket duty.

George Klotzbach, the father of our subject, was born in 1802, and in the '6os came to America where he took up farming as an occupation. He followed that pursuit for several years in Pennsylvania, removed to Illinois in 1872, and in 1878 came to Kansas, settling on a farm on which Simon now resides, and which he homesteaded. His widow and daughter Ma- tilda are now living with the subject of this review, and the mother, although ninety years of age, is still enjoying good health. The other sur- viving member of the family is Mrs. Kate Malone, who lives in Iowa.

Simon Klotzbach of this review spent his early youth in the fatherland and accompanied his parents on their emigration to the new world. He came to Kansas in an early period in the development of Allen county, and soon after his arrival here he attempted to purchase his supper at a house by the roadside but on account of the scarcity of food was refused, although he had three hundred dollars in his pocket. He suffered many hardships

and difficulties those first years in Kansas. Twice the grasshoppers de- stroyed all his crops, and he has at several different times lost all his hogs by cholera and once by cockle burrs. His first loss amounted to about twelve hundred dollars, and the next spring and fall he lost at each time about sixty head. In 1897 he lost about one hundred and fifty head of hogs; in 1898 one hundred and forty; and the following winter between forty and fifty, and at one time he lost probably one hundred head of cattle by the Texas fever. Yet in spite of all this he has prospered and he to-day owns five eighty acre tracts of land, of which one hundred acres are planted to orchard products, eighty acres of this being in one plat. He follows progressive methods in his farming, and merits a high degree of success.

On the 7th of October, 1891, Mr. Klotzbach married Miss Dora Strup- hart, whose widowed mother is now living in Chanute, Kansas. Her brother, Joseph, resides in Salem township, Allen county. Unto Mr and Mrs. Klotzbach were born five children, viz: George, Willie, Mary, Mar- garet and Frank, who died at nine months.

During the Civil war Mr. Klotzbach manifested his loyalty to his adopted conntry by enlisting in the Forty-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and with Sherman participated in the celebrated march to the sea. While at the front he suffered a very severe attack of typhoid fever and it was be-

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lieved that he could not recover. To all duties of citizenship in times of peace he is as true and loyal as when he defended the stars and stripes on southern battlefields.

D R. SAMUEL H. KELLAM, who located in LaHarpe about three years ago and who already enjoys a large and lucrative patronage in the line of his profession, was born in Shelby county, Illinois, May 6, 1865. His father, Nathan Kellam, was a farmer and stock raiser of Elk county, Kansas. He, too, is a native of Shelby county, Illinois, his birth having occurred there in 1827. In the place of his nativity he continued to reside until 1885, when he took up his abode in Kansas and has since become a prominent stock raiser and shipper of Elk county. Having acquired a comfortable competence he is now retired. He is a leading representative of the Democracy in that locality and is respected by all who know him. He married Ellen Yantis, a daughter of Isaac Yantis, a farmer of Marion county, Ohio, who at an early day removed to Illinois, carrying all his personal effects in a red handkerchief. In the Prairie state the latter pros- pered, becoming well-to-do. The paternal grandfather of our subject was born in Kentucky in 1790, and he also became a pioneer of Illinois. mak- ing the journey to Shelby county in a two wheeled cart. There he began the arduous task of transforming the wild land into a good farm. He mar- ried Nancy Smith and they became the parents of five sons and two dinghters, namely: Samuel, William, Nathan, Logan, John, Mrs. Leran, James and Mrs Matilda Handerly, the last named being still a resident of Shelby county. The Kellam and Yantis families were united through the marriage of Nathan Kellam and Ellen Yantis. Their union was blessed with six children who are still living: Flora, wife of W. T. Calon, of Elk county, Kansas; Sarah, wife of J. W. Donnell; William J., who died in 1892; Nora Belle, wife of J. G. Yantis, of Elk county; Metta Blanche and Aullendore, who are also residents of Elk county.

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History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 33

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