USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 46
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 46
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March 22, 1863, Mr. Bartels was married in Allen county to Sidney, a danghter of John B. Tibbetts, who was driven out of Missouri in 1861 by the Rebels and came over into Allen county. Mr. Tibbetts was a shoe- maker and was born in Massachusetts. He married Miss Amy Wood.
Mr. and Mrs. Bartels' children are Ida H., wife of Eli Wharton, of Iola, Kansas; Josie, wife of B. C. Potter, of Iola; Rosie, wife of Edward Langford, of Iola; William Z. Bartels, who married Jessie Webb; Ollie, Maud and Jessie Bartels.
The Democracy of the Bartels' is proverbial. Their adherence to the principles of the ancient and honored faith is constant. William L. has been twice honored with election to the office of Mayor of Iola, first in 1882 when he was chiefly concerned in getting the Missouri Pacific Railway to build into Iola, and second in 1892 when he gave the city a business administration.
J
AMES SIMPSON, who was prominent as a citizen and contractor in
Iola a decade and a half ago and who died there September 6, 1889, was a native born Englishman. He was born near York October 18, 1827, and was one of fifteen children. His father, Robert Simpson, was a farmer
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and young "Jimmy" passed his youth at such work as would aid in main- taining the household. He was apprenticed at an early age and spent six. years at the carpenter and joiner trade. He was some twenty-five years old when he came to the United States. He landed at New York but went direct to Canada. He was in company with his brother, Thomas, but Charles and Mark, brothers also, reared families and died in America. Thomas died in Canada, Charles died in Philadelphia and Mark died in Decatur, Illinois.
James Simpson returned to the United States and found his first em- ployment at his trade in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked in Jacksonville and Decatur, Illinois, going to the latter point about 1867 from the former. He came to Iola in 1879 and was a thorough-going and properous citizen to the end. He adhered to the Democratic faith and was an Episcopalian in spiritual matters. He was well informed, ready and alert and was a genial and companionable gentleman. He was married at Jacksonville, Illinois, September 12, 1852, to Sarah Sprowell, whose father, Robert Sprowell, was also an Englishman. The Sprowells were from Lincolnshire as was Betty Wilson whom Robert Sprowell married. William G. Sprowell and Mrs. Simpson are their surviving heirs.
"Uncle Jimmy" Simpson and Mrs. Simpson manifested a warm per- sonal interest in orphan children. They were childless, themselves, and many of these unfortunates found comfortable homes with them. Those who have enjoyed their hospitality and profited by their friendship are: Charles Dunavan, the late Mrs. Ada Bartlett, Mrs. Jennie Nelson, of Springfield, Illinois, George Simpson, of Decatur, Illinois, Mrs. Eva Rob- inson, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Sarah Metcalf.
For twenty years Mrs. Simpson was engaged in the millinery business in Iola, retiring July 4, 1889. The old Simpson corner she has adorned . with a splendid two story brick business house, and the new Episcopal church edifice owes much to her for its early erection. She and her hus- band seem to have lived for the good they might do and all worthy enter- prises and proper charities participated in their benefactions.
TOSHUA BUTLER, Iola's enterprising and thrifty farmer, feeder and stock shipper, has passed more than thirty years within the limits of Allen county. He entered it early in November of 1869 and, on Sunday morning, the 4th of the month, he drove into town from the east, having arrived at his destination after a drive of several hundred miles. He ended a journey that began in Coshocton county, Ohio, in October, by steam- boat, "Champion," from Cincinnati to St. Louis, and was finished with an overland trip from that city.
Mr. Butler was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, September 17, 1845, and was a son of an early settler there, Harrison Butler. The latter was born and brought up in Culpepper county, Virginia, where he owned
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slaves and was one of the thrifty planters of his community. His birth oc- curred in 1785 and he died in 1868. He was one of the intensely indus- trious men of his time and place and his industry was liberally rewarded. The children by his first wife were: Ann, who married Michael Carrol and died leaving a daughter in Coshocton county; Mary Butler, who died young; Frances, who married Chrispum Foster and died in Allen county, Kansas; Lucinda, who died single; and William Butler, well known to early settlers west of the Neosho river in Allen county, who died in 1879. The mother of our subject was Margaret Nellineer. Her children were: Henry Butler, of Akron, Ohio; Caroline, wife of William Valentine, of Iola: Joshna, our subject; Charlotte, wife of John Porter, resides in Colum- bus, Ohio, and Sarah J., who married Isaac Bible and resides in Coshocton county, Olio.
Joshua Butler has been nothing short of a shrewd, industrious and thrifty farmer from boyhood. He received little in the way of an education and, at the age of thirteen years, he can be said to have "started" in life. He relates that he hadn't clothing fit to wear to Sabbath School for two years at a time and he worked out by the day and month for five years. Although his father was thrifty he did not lavish any of his sub- stance upon Joshua, assuming it to be the better plan to compel him to gain experience by practice while young. Joshua Butler earned many an honest dollar at the. pitiful sum of $11.00 a month. One three months' work he invested in seed wheat, sowed it and lost it by the weevil. An- other sum of money, earned as wages, he bought calves with and doubled his money. He was not more than a youth when he bought a mare which he expected to sell to Dan Rice's show but a shipper came along and offered him $45 more than he paid and she went south. On a Sunday morning he bargained for a hundred head of sheep at $400 and sold them in a short time for $507.50. This sort of speculation and his wages enabled him to pay for three shares of the old home in five years. One of the heirs petitioned to have the place sold and our subject bought it in on Saturday and sold it again, at once, at a profit of $400. Feeling the need of better educational equipment he spent two years in school. In 1868 he was married to Clementine Foster and remained the first year in Roscoe. The first thing he did upon coming to Allen county was to purchase forty-six acres of land west of the river and the next fall he added eighty acres to the west of it, creating a debt of $400.00. As he became able he added another eighty and then one hundred and sixty-five acres, and more re- cently one hundred and fifty-eight acres. He rested, as it were, ten years till he paid out and sent two of his children to Lane University two years. He moved into Iola in 1893 and purchased the southeast corner of block ten upon which he has erected two large houses. He built. one of the handsome store buildings on the south side of the square in 1894 and his income from rentals is one much to be desired. As a feeder Mr. Butler handles one hundred head of cattle and several car loads of fat hogs yearly.
In 1881 Mr. Butler lost his first wife. Her children were: Ebenezer, who married Ada Johnson and resides on the farm; Emma, wife of H. C.
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Williamson, of Iola, and Nellie, who married James B. Ewart, of Verton county, Missouri. In 1883 Mr. Butler married Mary Williams. Their children are: Edna, Stuart. Flossie and Iva Butler.
No man about Iola is better known than Joshua Butler. No man of his age and length of residence in Allen county has produced more sub- stantial results from actual hard work than he. In his youth he learned that it always paid to be honest, and this old adage he has followed to the letter in latter life. As a stock man he possesses excellent judgment and. on all his varied interests he keeps a close tab.
C APTAIN G. DEWITT was born in Gallia county, Ohio, February 28, 1834, where he lived until about fourteen years old when he moved with his parents to Franklin county, Illinois. Here he grew to- manhood, choosing farming and school teaching as his vocation and fitted himself for a civil engineer. In 1860 he enlisted in the Civil war as an Illinois volunteer in the moth Regiment where he served as captain eighteen months, when he was honorably discharged on account of poor health. I11 1863 he moved with his family to Humboldt, Kansas, where he served in the militia about two years. He bought a farm two and a half miles west of Humboldt upon which he lived for thirty-seven years. He was quite a public spirited man, taking a very active part in all public issues. He was ever a true Republican and by this party was elected to the office of County Surveyor which he held almost continuously for thirty- five years. He held the office of County Superintendent one term and rep- resented his county two terms in the State Legislature. These offices he filled with much credit to his constituents. There was hardly a square section in the county which he had not surveyed and knew fully as well as the owner himself.
He was a man of sterling integrity, a deliberate thinker-never jump- ing at conclusions and seldom ever losing his point in an agument. He united with the Missionary Baptist denomination when quite a young man and clung very tenaciously to this belief until his death which occurred April 9th, 1901.
JOSEPH TERRELL RENO, of Iola, was born in Schuyler County, J Illinois, October 5, 1845. £ His father was the Rev. Joseph Reno, United Brethren, whose ministerial work in Linn and Bourbon Counties, Kansas, many years was both important and effectual. He did much to- ward the establishment of that faith in those counties, and at his death in 1876, left the work in a healthy, encouraging condition. He was born in East Tennessee in 1807, and went to Illinois in the early settlement of that
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state. He secured an education that made his life a success, and at the outbreak of the Black Hawk war, 1834, he enlisted and served his State in quelling the disturbance. Although he was a self-made man, few with his opportunities could have done more in the cause of religion as a pioneer preacher than he. In politics he was a Republican, coming into that party from the Whigs.
Jonathan Reno, our subject's paternal grandfather, was a Virginian. He was descended from French stock, was a farmer and was killed in Springfield, Missouri.
Sarah Skyles married Rev. Joseph Reno. She was a daughter of Mr. Skyles, of East Tennessee. Mrs. Reno resides in Allen county, Kansas, and is the mother of Joseph T., Charles, of Piqua, Kansas; William O., of Iola; Adda, wife of Frank Smith, of Allen county and Jeanette, wife of I. Helms, of Bronson, Kansas.
Joseph T. Reno was near twenty-one years old when he came to Kan- sas. He was reared on an Illinois farm and educated in the district schools and before he was eighteen years of age he enlisted in the army. His regi- ment was partially raised in McDonough county, Illinois, and his command was Co. A, 84th Infantry. His regiment was placed first in the 4th corps and later became a part of the 14th corps. He began service at Louisville, Kentucky and was in the fight at Perryville, that state. In their order Mr. · Reno participated in the engagements at Chicamauga, Atlanta campaign, (Ringgold Gap, Buzzards Roost, Kennesaw Mountain,) Jonesboro, Nasli- ville and Franklin. He served as a private and through all these, some of the most bloody battles of the war. he passed without injury. He was dis- charged at Camp Harker June 8, 1865, and cultivated his crops in Illinois that year. He came to Kansas in the fall and located on a farm in Linn county. In 1879 he came into Allen county and located a farm near Bron- son and resided in that vicinity for ten years. In 1889 he located on a farm near Carlyle and four years later he took up his residence in Iola.
Mr. Reno was first married in Linn county, Kansas, in 1868 to Emma Saddler, a daughter of James Saddler, one of the pioneers to Linn county. In 1883 Mrs. Reno died, leaving five daughters: Laura, wife of Andrew Price of Lordsburg, New Mexico; Mary E., wife of Dallas Gillespie, of Missouri; Dora, widow of Simon Brillhart; Cora, who married Charles Cain, of Iola, and Lettie. Mr. Reno was married the second time in 1883. His wife was Sadie Kenady, a daughter of Valentine Brillhart. She died in 1898 and in April 1900 Mr. Reno married Emma L. Prather, a daughter of Randolph B. Tucker, of Clermont county, Ohio.
Mr. Reno added his mite to the expansion era of Iola. In 1899 he platted Reno's addition to Iola, much of which has already been disposed of and improved.
W ILLIAM MORGAN HARTMAN, deceased, was identified with the mercantile and financial interests of Iola during its childhood and early youth. He came to Allen county in 1865 and was first en-
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gaged in the stock business with the pioneer, Jolin McClure, his father-in- law. When the prairies began to settle up and the village became a town "Morg" dropped out of the stock business and entered the field of merchan- dise. He clerked for L. L. Northrup, conducted a furniture business with Norris and a hardware business with Jacob Casmire, and was one of the popular merchants of the city. He prospered as time passed and when he reached middle life the thought of establishing a banking business in Iola took serious hold upon him. He became associated with Geo. A. Bowlus in the loan business and the two formed a partnership and started the Bank of Allen County. To the success of this institution he devoted his few re- maining years, for he died October 6, 1887.
W. M. Hartman was born in Indiana, June 4, 1834. He was a son of William Hartman who established his family at Ridgefield, Ill., and died there. His mother was Agnes Gibson. who is also buried at Ridgefield, Il1. Her children were: David, who was a Union soldier, died during the war; Gibson, at Ridgefield, Il1; W. M., our subject; Isaac, of Chicago; Lem H., who died in Minneapolis, Minn., and was once a resident of Iola; Sophia, wife of Joseph Wayne, of Center Point, Ia., Lizzie, wife of William Morey, of Ridgefield, Ill., and Gussie, who died at Ridgefield.
Morg Hartman acquired a fair education in the district schools, was all his life a great reader, his fine memory enabling him to give quotations from the Bible or Shakespeare to fit every occasion. He was very fond of . poetry, often reciting whole poems which he had learned when a boy. He was a lover of nature-birds and flowers especially.
His father moved to Ridgefield, Ill., about 1834 and Morg grew up 011 a farm. His first wife was Mary McClure, whom he married at Ridgefield. She died in 1862 leaving one child Gertrude, now the wife of Benjamin Throop, of Crystal Lake, Il1. Agnes Throop is the only grandchild. On April 16, 1874 he married Melissie, a daughter of William Buchanan, of Iola.
In politics he was an independent, voting for the man or the principle. He read all sides, forming his opinion and voting as he thought right. He was public spirited, giving liberally to every good enterprise.
He was a member of the Masons and Odd Fellows fraternities and al- though not a religious man in the usual sense of the word he thought deeply on spiritual matters. He did his whole duty toward his fellows. His sym- pathy extended to the poor and he helped men when they knew not the source of their benefaction.
F RANK GAY-The citizens of "the west side" in Iola township recognize no more industrious or worthy farmer than Frank Gay. He has been in Allen County more than thirty years, nearly all of which time has been spent in the vicinity of his present home. He was born near Montgomery Alabama, December 16, 1852, and is a son of
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Jasper N. Gay. Tlie latter left Alabama before the Civil war came on and passed that period in the State of Arkansas. He was born in Georgia in 1815 and was a planter's son. In 1869 he came to Allen County and locat- ed upon the Goforth place, west of Iola. He died there in 1871. His wife was Sarah Gilland who is residing with her son, Frank. Their children are: Frank Gay; Emma, wife of John H. Beahm; John Gay, of Hillsboro, California; George Gay, a soldier in the regular army and now in the Philippines; Jeff Gay of Colorado, and Edward Gay, of Washington.
Frank Gay went to school where school facilities were poor. He deplores the fact that his educational equipment is so scant and has a warmer side for a liberal education on this account. Labor has been his strong card and he has engaged in it persistently and unceasingly since his sixteenth year. For five years lie was a wage earner on the farm and out of these earnings he purchased his first piece of land near the Neost o Valley school house. He purchased and disposed of another farm in the same section before he located in section 5, town 24, range 18. His pres- ent place was, only a few years since, an expanse of wild land fit only for the grazing of roaming herds and attractive to the eye of no man. Under the unyielding pressure of his industrious hand it blooms and blossoms and produces abundantly.
Mr. Gay was married May 18, 1880, to Eliza, a daughter of David Beahm. The issue of this marriage are: Earl. Josie, Willie, Charley, Orby and Ira.
Mı. Gay is a Prohibitionist with Democratic leanings-his ancestors having been Democrats-and is a member of the Advent church.
TOHN C. HOLTZ, of Iola, retired farmer, was, for many years, one of the progressive and successful farmers of Woodson County. He locat- ed just east of Neosho Falls in 1884, where he purchased a farm and where he is yet a large land owner. The business of grain and stock raising he has carried on during his active life most successfully and when he retired, in 1900, it was in the possession of a surplus sufficient to maintain him and his in the years of their decline.
Mr. Holtz was born in Mecklinburg-Schwerin, September 14, 1837, and was a son of Frederick Holtz, a farmer, who left Germany early in the fifties and settled his family in West Virginia. He remained in that State till death in 1875 and is buried in Wood County. His wife was Christina Kruger who died in the same county ten years before her husband. Their children were: Lewis, of Parkersburg, West Virginia; John C; Sophia, wife of William Karnhoff, of Covington, Kentucky, and "Stina," wife of John Moseman, of Parkersburg, West Virginia.
John C. Holtz was a lad of sixteen when he left the Old World and became a Virginia youth. The vessel which brought him was a sailer out of Hamburg, bound to New York. His opportunities were meager for
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educational equipment, but he managed to secure the rudiments or first principles, and was about embarking in an undertaking when the Civil war came on. He enlisted in Company C, West Virginia cavalry, first regiment, Col. Capehard. His regiment was a part of General Sheridan's command and the Rebels were right handy when they were wanted. In all the important field service of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsyl- vania Mr. Holtz took part. He was captured at Winchester, Virginia, but escaped from the Rebel field prison in fourteen days and rejoined his regi- ment. Mr. Holtz witnessed some of the closing scenes of the war and was near the Capitol when Lee surrendered. He was discharged in June, 1865, having served in all the four years of the Civil war.
Almost upon his release from the army Mr. Holtz came to Kansas. He gathered together a small amount of cash and, upon his arrival at Lawrence he purchased a forty acre tract of timber of a Delaware Indian and proceeded to get out ties for the Union Pacific railroad, then building. He spent the first winter around Lawrence at this work, boarding with the Indians, and when spring came he went south into Franklin County and bought a farm eight miles east of Ottawa. He returned to Lawrence in the spring of 1867 and was married to Margaret Lewis, a daughter of James Lewis, from Ohio, who settled at Cherokee, Kansas.
In 1869 Mr. Holtz moved over into Coffey County, near Burlington, and there carried on his farming and stock raising till 1884, as previously explained. With the aid of his sons in operating his large farm and with his own expert management Mr. Holtz's prosperity, as an agriculturist, has been positive and enduring. His sons are: Lewis, of Allen County, is married to Mary Dice; James, of Woodson County; Frank, of Woodson County, and John, of Iola.
In politics Mr. Holtz is a Republican. His first Presidential vote was for Lincoln in 1864, and he has voted for every Republican candi- date since.
H ENRY W. WILLIAMS, of Iola, one of Iola's early Police Judges and for some years a grain and coal dealer in the city, came into Kansas in 1878 and settled on the frontier in Pawnee county. He mi- grated there from Cumberland county, Illinois, where he was born Feb- ruary 1, 1833. He passed his boyhood in Coles and his youth in Cumber- land county and was a son of Harry Williams who went into Illinois in 1830 and settled in Coles county. The latter was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1809, and left the state three years later with his father, Zaben Williams, to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Hardin county, and was reared there almost to manhood. In 1828 he crossed the Ohio river and invaded Crawford county, Indiana, where he married Lucretia Beals and, soon after moved over into Coles county, Illinois. Lucretia was a daughter of David Beals and Philiney Hayes, a niece of ex-President Hayes,
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for her father, Oliver Hayes, was the President's uncle. The Beals were from near Saratoga, New York, from which point they settled first in the Miami country above Cincinnati and afterward in Crawford county, Indiana.
Zaben Williams was born and reared at Williamstown, Massachusetts, and was a son of one of the founders of the town and a nephew of the other. These brothers were men of affluence and their generosity prompted them to found and endow the college at Williamstown. Zaben Williams' three children were: Harris, Constant and Harry, whose forefathers were pat- riots in the American Revolution, in the person of the founders of Wil- liamstown College, both of whom died in the service.
Harry Williams' children were: Mary J., who married Josiah Good- win, of Cumberland county, Illinois; Henry W .; David B., of Sullivan county, Missouri; Lucy £., deceased, wife of W. J. Vinson, of Cumberland county, Illinois; Jesse M., of the same county; Larinda C., wite of J. T. Jones, of Coles county, Illinois, and William F. Williams, of Cumberland county, Illinois.
Our subject spent his early life on his father's farm. He went to school three months in the year and at the age of seventeen bargained with his father for his time. He made and handled saw-logs and rails and from this he dropped into farming. He was married in October, 1850, to Nancy J. Stone who died October 10, 1865, leaving: Frances, wife of William J. Newman, of Mattoon, Illinois; Lewis B. Williams, of Allen county, and Chauncey L. Williams, of Coles county, Illinois. In 1866 he was married to Amanda F. Kelley, who died in Iola July 17, 1899. Her children are: Orville K., one of Allen county's successful teachers; Oscar L .; Charles; Mary E., wite of W. Rutledge; Amanda L., wife of Oscar L. Cowan; Harry, Olive and Fred Williams are with their father. January 21, 1900, Mr. Williams married Mattie Dailey, a daughter of Amos Dailey, one of Iola's early settlers.
In western Kansas Mr. Williams was engaged in both carpenter work and farming. He resided in Pawnee Rock and later in Larned and from that city he came to Iola in 1888. He purchased a half block in the first ward of Iola which he has improved by covering it with residences and has thereby contributed his part in the city's development. In the spring of 1900 he went out of active business and is concerned now only with the proper rearing and education of his younger children.
In political training the early Williams were Whigs. Upon the disso- lution of that party they became "Know Nothing" and when the Repub- lican party was christened they joined it and helped swell Fremont's popular vote. Our subject's first vote was cast for that candidate for the Presidency and he has never missed an election in all these forty-four years. He has great faith today in the ability of that party to do things and to conduct the affairs of our country with wisdom and prudence and to lead our citizens along a high plane of morality, patriotism and civilization.
Mr. Williams enlisted at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, October 1861, for three years and his regiment was McClelland's advance guard along the
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Potomac river in 1861 and 1862. He was discharged at Cumberland .. Maryland, for disability and returned to Illinois, and in February, 1865,. joined the One Hundred and Twenty-third Illinois and was transferred to Sixty-first Illinois, from which he was discharged October 19, 1865. He was detailed on duty to turn over deserters to the army, who returned. under the President's proclamation, during the end of his second enlistment and the close of the war found him so engaged.
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