History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 48

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 48
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 48

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. Miller was married in Delphi, Indiana, February 5, 1870, to Margaret L. Evans, a daughter of James Evans. Mrs. Miller was born in Indiana in 1845. The children of this union are: Bert E. and Rak Miller. The older served with Company I, Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, in the Filipino Insurrection and took part in many of the noted engagements from Manila to the Bag Bag.

The political alliance of the Millers was with the Whig, and then, the Republican parties. Henry M., our subject, has been a Republican voter forty-two years and twenty-three years of that time has been a leader in Allen county politics. His broad information and his positive conviction render him one of the characters of the county. He is prominent in the Blue Lodge and Chapter, A. F. and A. M., at Iola, having passed all the chairs, and belongs to the Valley Consistory at Ft. Scott, Kansas. He has taken all degrees of Masonry, including the thirty-second and is a member of the subordinate lodge and encampment, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. As a citizen he is always a gentleman and has maintained an unblemished record for probity and honor. He is public-spirited to a marked degree and is one of the substantial men of Iola.

W ILLIAM H. RICHARDS, than whom, among the old residents of Iola, scarce a man is better known, came to the city in October 1865. His original home was in Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in Lebanon, that state, December 19, 1833. Samuel Richards was his father and he, too, was born in Lebanon county. His trade was that of a

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weaver but in later life he drifted iuto farming and he died such, in Frank- lin county, Pennsylvania, about 1890. He was born in 1800, wasa Demo- crat, a success in business and one of Jesse Richards' sons. The last named died in Lebanon county about 1837 at near the age of eighty years. The Richards are Pennsylvania German but their remote ancestors were, it is claimed, Scotch and Irish.

The mother of our subject was Margaret Harklerode. She was born in 1805 and died in 1848. Here children were: Joseph, who died and left a son in Ohio; Sarah, deceased, wife of Mr. Harmon. and left a family in Franklin county, Pennsylvania; John Richards, well known to old Iolans; William H .; Elizabeth, wife of Frank Gerhart, resides in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and three other children who died in infancy.

From the age of seven years our subject passed his boyhood and youth in Franklin county, Pennsylvania. His school advantages were quite poor and it can be said that he secured no more than a common country school education. At the age of eighteen years he began life independ- ently by starting an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade. John Stickle was his master and with him he remained to fulfill the conditions of his bond. After completing his trade he traveled over some of the eastern mountain states, in company with his brother, John, and they traveled and worked in the states of Maryland,-at Hagerstown and Clear Springs- Virginia, and, lastly, into the state of Ohio-at Coddington aud Ravenna.

In September, 1865, Mr. Richards was married at Ravenna, Ohio, and Here he continued his trade for a couple of years, came direct to Iola.

He engaged in the restaurant adding to his scant stock of ready cash. business and his wife took up dress-making and millinery. From the restaurant and bakery business Mr. Richards drifted into the grocery busi- ness and, after running some five years he took W. A. Cowan in as a part- ner. A few years later Mr. Cowan went out and Mr. Lakin succeeded him, and still later John E. Ireland joined the two and the firm of Rich- ards, Lakin & Ireland was one of the prominent business houses of Iola, doing a wholesale business. Upon the retirement of Mr. Ireland, Richards & Lakin conducted a retail business for some time. Mr. Richards asso- ciated with him H. L. Henderson some time later, and conducted the same business. About 1897 Mr. Richards disposed of his last business and en- tered retirement with thirty-two years of active service as a merchant and man-of-affairs to his credit.

Mr. Richards brought with him to Iola about three hundred and fifty dollars, all of which he put into a house at once. This property was the two lots facing north at the southwest corner of the square. He invested in other property as his accumulations would warrant, much of which is the most desirable in the city. His improvements include his handsome resi- dence at the head of Madison avenue and four business houses. Misfor- tune, as well as fortune, has befallen Mr. Richards for he has made invest- ments which not only lost him his first outlay but required him to invest an additional sum to meet his legal obligations and to retrieve liis credit and

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maintain his good name. In the Iola carriage works alone, he lost a sum of money equivalent to a modest fortune.

Mr. Richards married Amelia Miester, a daughter of Charles Miester, M. D. Dr. Miester was a surgeon fifteen years under the great Napoleon and was a German by birth. Mr. and Mrs. Richards" children are: Maud, wife of Rev. Leslie F. Potter, of St. Louis, Missouri, and Blanche, wife of Elmer C. Mclain, one of Iola's young clothiers and furnishers.

Mr. Richards is a liberal Democrat. He served once upon the town' council but has seldom permitted himself to enthuse over a political campaign.

D AVIS BROTHERS,-William E. and George S. Davis, are sons of the late Edward S. Davis, who founded the Davis Mills on the Neosho- river, and who will be remembered by old residents of the Neosho Valley. Davis Brothers were the immediate successors to their father's business and conducted it successfully for more than thirty years.

This particular Davis family is not one of the original Colonial fami- fies although it was established in New England near the opening of the nineteenth century. Commodore Davis, graudfather of our subjects, was born in Wales, came to the United States, a boy, grew up in New England and became a sea-faring man. He followed the coast and river trade of New York and New England. He married in Maine and removed his family to the Ohio river country at Marietta, at which place he died. His family consisted of three sons and a daughter, viz: Stephen, William and Edward S. Davis and Patience, who married Mr. Burck and made her home in St. Louis. Stephen reared a family at Marietta, Ohio; William reared a family in Pike county, Illinois, and all three brothers were boat- men in an early day.

Edward S. Davis was born in Maine in 1808 and died in Iola in De- cember, 1870. His early manhood was passed on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and flat boating and steam boating comprised his business. He made twenty-eight trips from Marietta to New Orleans and in the years that he followed the river he amassed considerable property. He gave up the river at forty-two years of age and took his family into the new state of Iowa. He had two aims in going to the prairie state on the north; one was to get himself away from the river, of which he had become tired, and the other was to get his growing sons onto a farm. He bought a three hundred and fifty acre farm, but hardly had he obtained possession when he decided to engage in the milling business. He located in Ottumwa and opened business the next year. He conceived the idea of running a steamboat on the DesMoines river and went back to Marietta and built one. In this venture he made a mistake. He got the boat around to St. Louis and while tied up there a woman came aboard with smallpox. It was contrary to his nature to turn her away from shelter under even such circumstances

Nº 8 Parin

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and it was the cause of his contracting the disease himself. When he finally got through with the authorities and the disease he had lost his boat and effects. A Pike's Peak venture then presented itself to Mr. Davis. He took his first son and crossed the plains in the spring of 1860 and stopped to prospect in Quartz Valley. There was no money to be made there with the pick and pan and they began getting out saw logs. They returned home in the fall of the same year and again the ferry proposition took possession of them. A boat was built at Ottumwa and, in the seven, years it was run by the Davises, it yielded large profits. In 1868 they sold out their Iowa interests and came to Allen county, Kansas.

At Iola D. R. Hovey had built a grist mill on the Neosho river and this plant the Davises purchased for the fabulous sum of $14,250. It con- sisted of two burrs, a saw-mill and thirteen acres of land. The mill was situated on the river bank just above Riverside Park and it was operated there as a steam mill till 1880, when the dam at the bridge was constructed and the mill moved there and rebuilt.

William E. Davis was born September 6th, 1839, and George S., March 8, 1845. The brothers formed a partnership in early life. They were less than thirty years of age when they came to Iola and their busi- ne'ss life has been almost wholly passed here. Their recollection of the early days of the Davis mills reveals the fact that much of its custom came from points far beyond the confines of Allen and Woodson counties. It was no uncommon thing to toll grists from Independence and to wait on trade from Eureka. They have served the public for little less than a third of a cen- tury and their labors have been liberally rewarded.

Edward S. Davis' wife was Drusilla Alcock. Their children are Patience, widow of Joel D. Myers, residing in Tampa, Florida; Martha, who died in 1864, married Oliver Harlan; Francis, deceased, married Don Mitchell, Sarah, deceased, became Mrs. Elmer Marsh; W. E .; George S .; Drusilla, wife of Elias Bruner, and Marietta, the widow of Colonel W. C. Jones

William E. Davis enlisted in Company K, Forty-seventh Iowa Infan- try at Ottumwa, was in the service one hundred days and was stationed at Helena, Arkansas. He received his discharge at Davenport, Iowa, when his enlistment expired and he returned to his business at Ottumwa.

In 1867 Mr. Davis married Sarah Stevenson, a sister of Robert B. Stevenson, of Iola. She died February 28, 1878, leaving one son, Edward S. Davis. A few years later Mr. Davis married Lydia, a daughter of Zadock Vezie. The children of this union are; Bertha, born December 26, 1882; Laura, born March 6, 1888; Drusilla, born December 13, 1900.

George S. Davis was married June 3rd, 1873, to Ada J., a daughter of Joseph Norton, from Maine, who came to Allen county in 1871. Estella, the wife of Harmon Hobart, is the only heir of Mr. and Mrs. George Davis.

The politics of the Davises is no uncertain quantity. On the other hand they are of the positive and outspoken sort. The brothers were rocked in an abolition cradle and fed on Republican doctrine. Tey are not politicians beyond their interest in securing the adoption of such prin-

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ciples of public policy as will insure greatest good to the greatest number. They believe in every man having an opportunity to earn a dollar, good the world over, and have great faith in the efficacy of the United States as a civilizing power.

OHN M. McDONALD-On the county roster of Allen county appears the name of John M. McDonald who has just closed a service of six years as a member of the board of county commissioners. The public trust thus reposed in him is well merited for he is a citizen of pa- triotic spirit and faithful to his duties at all times. He was born in Lexington, McLean county, Illinois, February 22, 1843. His father, James McDonald, came from Kentucky, taking up his abode in Mc- Lean county in 1833, his home being on a farm near Lexington. His birth had occurred in the former State in 1816. He was married at Spencer, Owen county, Indiana, to Miss Sally I. McNaught, daughter of Robert McNaught, one of the pioneers of that county. Three children were born of this union: Mrs. Harriet Todd, wife of J. W. Todd, of Tulare county, California; Emily, deceased wife of Dennis McCarty, who also resides in Tulare county; and John M., of this review. The father con- tinned his residence in Illinois until 1857, when he came to Kansas, bring- ing with him his family. He located upon the farm now occupied by his son and there resided until 1874. The journey to this State consumed a montli for they traveled in the primitive manner of the times, crossing the Missis- sippi river at Louisiana, Missouri.

John M. McDonald spent the first fourteen years of his life in the county of his birth and then accompanied his parents on their emigration to the Sunflower State, arriving in Allen county in the month of October. He well remembers many incidents of the trip and can also relate many stories of pioneer life in this section of the country. He obtained his edu- cation in the country schools, acquiring a good knowledge of those branches of learning which fit one for life's practical duties. At the time of the Civil war the spirit of patriotism was aroused within him and, in October, 1861, he joined the boys in blue of Company E, Ninth Kansas Cavalry, under Colonel Lynde, Henry Flesher being in command of the company. He was mustered in at Iola and with his regiment was sent to Leavenworth in February, 1862. In May of the same year the troops were ordered back through Iola to Grand River, in the Indian Territory, and participated in the battle of Prairie Grove and several minor engagements. Subsequently they returned to Fort Scott where the regiment was detailed to guard the Missouri and Kansas line, being stationed there for one year. Later it was sent to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and to Harrisonville, Missouri, spending the winter of 1863-4 in the latter place, and while there Mr. McDonald and others re-enlisted. After a furlough of thirty days, during which time he visited his home, he rejoined his regiment as a veteran. In the meantime

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the Ninth Kansas Cavalry had been sent to Fort Smith and thence pro- ceeded to Little Rock. In July of that year they participated in several engagements with the bish whackers under Rayburn, and fron the Arkin- sas capital they were sent to Brownsville of that State, on White river, where the winter of 1864-5 was passed. During that winter and the follow- ing spring and summer they again met the bushwhackers in several en- gagements. After four years of faithful service, in which he loyally de- fended the starry banner of the Union, Mr. McDonald was honorably dis- charged in August, 1865, at Brownsville.

Returning to Iola he has continuously resided in Allen county. He was married at the county-seat in August, 1866, to Miss Levina Anderson. who came to Allen county from Cuyahoga county, Ohio. She has two brothers living, T. T. Anderson, of Iola, and George Anderson, a 1esident of Baxter Springs, Kansas. Unto Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have been born four children, Anna, Cora, Lura and Frank, who are all with their parents.

As a means of livelihood Mr. McDonald has followed farm and stock- raising, and during his connection with those pursuits he has, through energetic effort, guided by sound judgment, won a comfortable competence. In politics he has ever been a stalwart Republican. He was twice elected township trustee. In the fall of 1894 he was elected to the office of county commissioner, was re-elected in 1897 and in 1898 he became chairman of the board. During his incumbency many improvements were made in the county buildings and the work of substantial progress has been carried forward in a marked degree, thus winning the commendation of all public-spirited and enterprising citizens. His career, both public and private, has been marked by the strictest integrity and faithfulness to every trust reposed in him. The record of his life is unclouded by a shadow of wrong or a suspicion of evil, and he is today as true to his duties of citizenship as when he followed the starry banner upon the battle-fields of the South.

S IMON P. RUBLE came to Allen county in 1866 from Centre county, Pennsylvania, which is the place of his nativity, his natal day being February 5, 1840. The family is of German lineage and was founded in America by the great-grandfather of our subject, who was born in Germany, but crossed the Atlantic to the new world and participated in the early Indian wars which form an important chapter in the annals of America. His son, Peter Ruble, and grandfather of our subject, was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and served with the American army in the war of 1812. His early political support was given the Whig party, and on its dissolution he joined the Republican party. He read extensively and always kept well informed on the issues and questions of the day, political and otherwise. He was married in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, and unto them were born four sons and two daughters, namely: Mrs.

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Hartswick, Mrs. Basor, John, Peter, Michael and Mathias. The father passed away in 1882.

Of his family, Peter Ruble Jr., became the father of our subject. He was born and reared in Centre county, Pennsylvania, and throughout his life carried on agricultural pursuits. He entered upon his independent business career without capital, save a strong constitution and a willingness to work, yet steadily he advanced on the road to affluence, becoming one of the wealthy farmers of Centre county. He died March 3, 1877, at the age of seventy-three years His wife bore the maiden name of Margaret Meas, and was a daughter of Martin Meas, who was formerly connected with the Valentine Iron Works, of Centre county. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ruble: Simon P .; James, who died leaving a family at State College, Centre county, Pennsylvania; and Margaret, who became the wife of William Love, and at her death left a family in Center county.

Simon P. Ruble was educated in the common schools of his native county, and remained upon his father's farm until twenty three years of age, when he purchased a mill, which he operated for eight years. After traveling for a number of years in different states, he came to Kansas in 1884, locating in Allen county. He purchased what is known as the Weller farm, adjoining Iola, and still resides upon that property, devoting his time to its further cultivation and improvement. He is systematic and methodical in his business and has achieved creditable success.

On Christmas Day, of 1866, in Pennsylvania, Mr. Ruble was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Lee, a daughter of John Lee, who was one of the early settlers of Centre county and who married Miss Jane Livingston. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ruble have been born eight children, five sons and three daughters, namely: Anna, wife of Prof. J. W. Stevens, of the agricul- tural College at Stillwater, Oklahoma; James, who is connected with the smelters at Cherryvale, Kansas; Calvin, who is with the Lanyon Zinc Company, of Iola; Mamie Bertha, Elmer, Ella and Grace, who are still at home. Mr. Ruble always votes the Republican ticket. He has filled the office of justice of the peace and has several times served as a school officer. As the architect of his own fortunes he has builded wisely and well, and his life illustrates what may be accomplished through consecutive effort when guided by practical business judgment.

W ILLIAM J. DONNAN, of LaHarpe, one of Elm township's thorough-going and representative farmers, came into Allen county September 12, 1879. and located upon the north-west quarter of section 11, township 24, range 19. This tract was formerly the property of W. H. Arnett but when it came into the hands of Mr. Donnan it had scarcely the semblance of improvements and might with propriety be termed an unimproved farm. Those who remember it then and who look upon it now will acknowledge the wonderful change which has been wrought in little more than a generation.

Mr. Donnan came from Livingston county, New York, where he was

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born November 7, 1854. - His father, John A. Donnan, was born in the same county in 1819 and died there in 1896. He began life as a farmer and ended it as such and his resources through life were ample to provide for the wants of himself and family. He was descended from the Scotclı of New York and was a son of John Donnan, born at Amsterdam, that state. The latter died in 1870. His early life was passed in the tanning business but he grew out of this and into a farmer. He moved into Liv- ingston county before Rochester was founded.

John A. Donnan married Mary Milroy, a daughter of John Milroy. The father came to the United States from Scotland in 1819. He settled in Livingston county and three generations of the family reside on the old homestead. John A. Donnan's heirs are: William J. ; John M., of York. New York; George A., of York, and Annie, wife of C. H. Hackney, of La Harpe.

Our subject spent his youth on his father's farm. He separated from the old home at twenty-two and began life as a farm hand. This was his chief employment while he remained in the east and for a time after com- ing to Kansas. January 5, 1894, he was married to Eliza D. Brister, a daughter of Thomas Brister, of Elm township. Their only child is Zoe B. Donnan.

The political history of the Donnans is one unbroken record of Repub- licanism. The pioneer Republicans of the family came into the party from the Whigs and they are of the patriotic and public-spirited people of their communities.

T HE RITTER BROTHERS .- In September 1882 two boys, Chris Ritter and John Ritter, came to Kansas from their home in Clark county, Illinois.

The town of Bronson had only been founded a short time and it was here these pioneer representatives of the Ritter family in Kansas, first located. They came from a family of farmers both having been born and raised on a farm in Illinois. Having no relatives in the West they located in Marmaton and Elsmore townships where for some years they made their home with the Welkers and Fords and other Clark county, Illinois, people who had located in Kansas. At that time the Rocklow school was with- out a teacher. A few days after his arrival in the State, Chris was em- ployed as teacher for the winter term of school. Rocklow was then famous for one thing, that was its big bad boys.

John Ritter secured a position with William Davis and Sam Stout to help them run their threshing machine. At that time the millet was not threshed until during the winter for granaries and barns were unknown. Grain was kept stored in the stack until a market was found for it. In the following January while threshing millet on the farm of D. W. Youngs, in Spring Valley, John Ritter accidentally had his right hand torn off by

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getting it caught in the side gear of an old horse power machine. He was then but a boy, six hundred miles from home and among strangers Boys with less pluck and determination would have given up the battle in the West and returned to the parental roof, but not so with John Ritter.

During the next summer and even before his wounded arm had en- tirely healed he secured work on the farm and continued in that capacity for several years. In about 1890 he together with his brother Cliris bought a livery stable in Bronson and he entered into that business which he fol- lowed very successfully for several years, afterwards buying a livery stable in Iola. He moved to that city and has been in the livery business ever since. In 1891 he married Delana Evans, a daughter of Jesse Evans, for years one of the leading men of Bronson.

Chris Ritter taught school in Rocklow and Stony Point, the adjoining district, for four years. He farmed during the summer season and in 1888 quit teaching and devoted himself entirely to farming and stock raising.

When the Alliance and kindred Farmer's organizations were organized in 1889 and 1890 he took an active part and was President of the first County Alliance of Allen county. During the summer of 1890 when the Farmer's Alliance movement began to take shape as a political organiza- tion, he together with "Doc" Aitken issued a call for a mass convention in Iola to organize the Peoples Party in this county. When the party was organized in the Second Congressional District he was the only delegate from Allen county to that convention which was held in Fort Scott. In September, 1890, Chris Ritter sold his farming outfit and stock and moved to Bronson to take up the study of law. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the election that fall and when the town of Bronson was incor- porated as a city of the third class the following spring he was elected Police Judge. In September, 1891, he was admitted to the bar in the Dis- trict Court of Bourbon county of which Hon. S. H. Allen, afterwards Jus- tice of the Supreme Court, was then Judge. During the winter of 1891 he made a trip to Oklahoma to look up a better country to settle in but came back satisfied that Iola and Allen county were good enough. In April, 1892, he moved to Iola and opened up a law office. At that time the Farmer's Friend, the Populist newspaper, was in hard lines and the pub- lishers, Wixon Brothe's, had announced their intention to discontinue the paper. Mr. Ritter at once realized that the Peoples Party in Allen county needed the Farmer's Friend. He had some newspaper experience, having done considerable work on the local paper at Bronson while he lived there. Largely through his efforts others were interested in the Farmer's Friend and its publication continued witli S. D. Bartlett as editor and himself as- sociate editor.

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History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas, Part 48

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