USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 65
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 65
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The mother of our subject was Mary, a daughter of Emanuel Stotler, who settled in western Pennsylvania from Franklin county, that State. They were originally German and were, in the main, devoted to the farm and field. Christian Snively died in 1877 at the age of seventy-nine while his wife died at the age of eighty six-years. Their children were: Joseph Snively, killed at the battle of Antietam; David Snively, of Santa Clara county, California; Elizabeth, widow of Matthew Mitchell, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Henry Snively, of Alleghany county, Pennsylvania; Martha, deceased wife of Alexander Frew; John Snively, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Mary, who died unmarried in 1869; Nancy, wife of Joseph Hallett, of Cali- fornia; Christopher, and Dr. Whitmore Spively, one of the faculty of the Pittsburg Medical College.
Our subject acquired a fair education in the schools common to the country in his day. He remained with his birthplace till he had passed his fortieth milestone when he was married and separated from it to estab- lish a household of his own. He came west searching for cheaper lands with better opportunities for small capital. Allen county had many Penn-
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sylvania families within her borders and it may be that this fact led to his determination, partially, to locate liere. He entered into the business of farming with the same energy and zeal here that was characteristic of the forefathers in the east and his success is due to this fact alone. He has surrounded himself with such herds of stock as are necessary to the profita- ble operation of a Kansas farin and is regarded one of the substantial men of liis community.
Mr. Snively was married in January, 1873. to Mary F. Stoner. whose father, Joseph Stoner, was a resident of Perry township, Alleghany county, Pennsylvania.
During the Civil war Mr. Snively was a member of the Home Guards, of Pennsylvania and had five brothers in the volunteer service. In politics this family is well known in the east as Republican, and in this faith our subject was strong till the year 1890 when the era of political reform in Kansas created havoc with old party lines and he joined hands with the Peoples party.
Emanuel Snively is well known as a gentleman with pronounced opinions. He arrives at conclusions after ample deliberation and takes a position after he is convinced he can hold it. He is a representative citizen in many ways and the "west side" is socially and materially strong- er for his presence there.
C OLMORE L. WHITAKER, the well known broker and insurance man, of Iola, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, April 2, 1855. He is a son of the late Lemuel Whitaker, of Iola, who settled in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1848. The latter removed to Allen county, Kansas, in 1869, and settled on a farm in Carlyle township. He resided there till 1882 when he took up his residence in Iola. He died in April, 1895, at the age of seventy- one years. He was born on a farm in Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of Reuben Whitaker, also a native son of the Buckeye State. Reuben Whita- ker was born in 1800 and died in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1866. He was a son of Lemuel Whitaker and was the father of ten sons: David, who starved to death in. California on his journey with the "forty-niners;" Lemuel, our subject's father; Lewis, who reared a family and died in 1891; George, who left a son at his death; Milton, who died in Libby prison; Annis, who resides iu Fall Brook, California; John, a farmer in Mason cou ity, Illinois, until 1860, when he died leaving a family; Captain Samuel Whitaker, who is buried at Iola and who was an Illinois cavalry officer; a1: 1 Reuben. who resides at Durango, Colorado.
Lemuel Whitaker married Matilda A., a daughter of Grafton Duval, who helped cut the trees where the Zanesville court house stands, in 1809. He was born in the state of Maryland, was a tiller of the soil and reared two sons, Dr. James and Washington Duval, both soldiers of the Civil war. They reared families in Muskingum county, Ohio.
Mrs. Lemuel Whitaker was born in September, 1825, and resides in
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Iola. Her children are: Grafton D., Colony, Kansas; Reuben B., a lawyer of Tacoma, Washington; Colmore L .; Engene M., Clerk of Baco county, Colorado; Myrtie, deceased, married D. D. McDaniel, and Fannie, who died young.
"Col" Whitaker was fifteen years old when he came to Kansas. He obtained his education chiefly in the country schools of Ohio and he re- mained with the old home until his marriage. He taught school some while yet single but took up farming upon becoming the head of a house- hold. He came to Iola in 1880, and went into the mill of Waters & Thayer, as a helper. He engaged next in the restaurant business and, two years later, formed a partnership with Henry Waters and engaged in the loan and brokerage business. They also did a real estate business which has continued in the office of our subject since the dissolution of the old firm. January 1, 1897, Waters & Whitaker ceased as a firm, since which date Mr. Whitaker has continued the business alone.
The Whitakers have all had positive convictions on politics. From first to last they have been either Whigs or Republicans. Their constancy is a matter of family pride; no wobbler has emanated from the household or borne the family name. Col is no exception to the ancient rule. He is among the first to get on the right side of a question and the last to sur- render. He has enjoyed reasonable prosperity in Iola and his home is one of the neat and new residences of the city.
March 30, 1880, Mr. Whitaker married Ella M., a daughter of Henry Waters, one of the well known and successful men of Allen county. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker's children are; Frank E., Herbert E., "the baby" of the 20th Kansas, and the yougest volunteer soldier in Company I; Charles Frederick; Edith, deceased; Ethel and Ella May Whitaker.
D R. WILLIAM H. McDOWELL, M. D., one of the well known1 physicians of Iola, was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, April 12, 1841. His father, John McDowell, was a farmer and the Doctor's youth and early manhood were passed in the pursuits of agriculture. John Mc- Dowell went from North Carolina to Indiana with his father, James Mc- Dowell, in 1818. There they opened up a farm in the woods of Lawrence county. James McDowell died in Lawrence county in 1821 at the age of forty-five years, leaving the care of the family to the two boys, John aged eleven years and William aged thirteen years.
The McDowells are descended from the Highland Scotch McDowells. Just what date this branch of the family emigrated to America is not definitely established but it is known that they were here in the early Colonial days and that they were in the South at that time.
James McDowell married Susan Gainey, an English lady. Their chil- dren were: William; John; Rachel, wife of James Murray; Lydia, who became Mrs. William Crook; Sarah, wife of John Irwin, and Ann, who
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married John Phipps. John McDowell died in 1878 at the age of sixty- eight years. He married Ann Owens, was a man of some means, a Whig and Republican in politics and an active member of the Christian church. His children were: Sarah, who married John Pitt and died in 1890; Eliza- beth, who became the wife of John Byers and died in 1891; Mary, who married Lilburn Owen and died in 1867; Dr. W. H .; James, of Lawrence county, Indiana; Milton P., same place; Jennie, wife of Milton Beatty, of Christian county, Illinois; Nancy A., wife of Horace V. Phipps, Adair county, Missouri, and Lucinda G., who married James H. Lowder, of Bloomington, Indiana.
Until 1861 Dr. McDowell was engaged in farming as a business. He enlisted August 24 of that year in Company H, 31st Indiana Volunteer In- fantry. The regiment was ordered first to Calhoun, Ky., then to South Carolton, and back to Calhoun. They went on to Forts Henry and Donel- son, found Fort Henry captured and then engaged in battle at Fort Don- elson February 13th and 16th, 1862, when the enemy was taken, then continued their march toward Shiloh. They lav in camp there till the 6th of April when the battle opened. On the afternoon of the same day our subject was wounded in the left arm and shoulder. He was sent to the hospital at Evansville, Indiana, from which place he was furloughed home the middle of the same month. In August, following, he returned to Evansville where he was in the marine hospital until the 7th of Feb- ruary, 1863, when he was discharged and sent home. In April following he entered the Indiana State University, remained one term and July 9, the same year, was married. For the next ten years he taught school winters and farmed summers, and the testimony of his old neighbors was that he was one of the most earnest and competent country school educators of his county. In 1873 he began his preparation for medicine. He took a course of reading with Dr. F. W. Beard, Harrodsburg, and attended the medical department of the State University in 1874-5. He went back to his preceptor and opened an office in the same town. He practiced two years there and located then in Jonesboro, Indiana, where he practiced nine years. In 1885 he decided to settle in Kansas, and January 1, 1886, he departed for Iola. From 1886 to 1891 his practice was uninterrupted. The latter year he thought he saw an opportunity to improve his condition and he applied for and was appointed physician to the Mojave Indians on the Colorado River Reservation in Nevada. This position was a disap- pointment to him and in July 1892 he resigned and returned to Iola.
As a Republican Dr. McDowell is well known in Allen county. He dates his fealty to the party from its organization, although he was not a voter. He cast his first presidential vote for Mr. Lincoln and finds as much reason for supporting the candidates of that party now as he did in 1864. In 1890 the Doctor was elected County Coroner and became chair- man of the Pension Board the same year. Since his return from the west his practice has made such demands on him that little else has received his attention.
Dr. McDowell married Martha A., a daughter of Linden and Mary
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(Short) Lowder. The children of this union are: Thomas H., who mar- ried Ella Tozer and has a daughter, Fay; Ralph W., who married Maggie Brogden and has two children, Ruth H. and Grace; Ralph McDowell en- listed in Company Z, Twenty-second Kansas in the Spanish-American war in April 1898, where he served until his regiment was mustered out in No- vember of the same year. He is now one of the partners of the Record Publishing Company, of Iola, Cragie J. McDowell, with the Northrup National Bank of Iola; Miss McDowell graduated from the Iola High School, finished stenography in Topeka and held a position with the State Evangelical Association of the Christian church of that city. She is now president of the Christian Endeavor department of the church for Kansas; John and Lucinda G. McDowell are the two younger children and reside with their parents. Thomas H. McDowell is a blacksmith by trade and is employed by the Lauyon Zinc Company.
G EORGE H. LIST .- When the country was in the thioes of Civil war and from the work-shops, the fields, the stores and the offices men rallied to the support of the flag, George H. List was among the number who put aside personal considerations to aid in the perpetuation of the Union, and to-day he is as true and loyal a citizen as when he followed the stars and stripes on southern battle fields. He was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, October 12, 1834. His father, Jacob List, was a native of Germany, and when four years of age became a resident of the United States, living first in New Jersey, afterward in Pennsylvania, and later in . Ohio. He married Elmira M. Stephens, a native of New Hampshire, and in 1850 removed to Illinois, where he died in 1857, at the age of eighty- four years. His wife survived him until 1897, passing away at the age of ninety-nine years. They were the parents of five children, but only two are now living: Jacob and George H.
In 1847 the subject of this review became a resident of Illinois, and upon the home farm spent his youth. He possesses marked mechancial genius, and though he was reared on the farm he followed both carpenter- ing and blacksmithing and also worked as a machinist, being able to per- forin any kind of mechanical labor. On the 18th of April, 1861, he re- sponded to the president's call for aid to crush out the rebellion in the south, and served until August, 1865. His regiment was sent at once to the front and remained there until the close of the war. He participated in many important engagements, including the battles of Charleston, Mis- souri, and Cape Girardeau, that state. In July, 1862, his regiment was ambushed and several of their number were killed. He also took part in the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, Shiloh and the siege of Corinth, and went with his command to Jackson, Tennessee, the members of his regiment patrolling that portion of the country. In September, 1863, they fought in the battle of Britten Lane, where they were surrounded by an
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overwhelming force, but fought their way out with heavy loss. The Twentieth Illinois went with Grant to Jackson, Mississippi, and served in General Logan's command at the battle of Thompson's Hill and Raymond. At Jackson they were with McPherson when he whipped Johnson's army in the battle of Champion Hills. They were also in the siege of Vicksburg and in the Meridian campaign in eastern Mississippi. With beef cattle the regiment was sent to Sherman, and for thirty days was continually fight- ing, but ultimately reached Sherman at Clifton, Tennessee. Mr. List was present when General McPherson was killed in the battle of Lessels Hill and saw him fall from his horse when he received the fatal shot. On the 22nd of July, 1864, he was captured and sent to Audersonville prison, but after eight months and fourteen days there he succeeded in making his es- cape and working his way back to the Union lines. He was then granted a furlough and returned home on a visit. At Chicago on the 17th of August, 1865, he was honorably discharged and with a military record of which he has every reason to be proud, he returned to his friends and family in Illinois.
On the 17th of February, 1867, Mr. List wedded Miss Mary C. Tuder, a native of Kentucky. To them have been born five children and the family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death. These are Cora, wife of C. J. Barlow; Elizabeth J., wife of John Cation; Rachel F., wife of Albert Lassmann; Anna, wife of John H. Parker, and John E., who as- sists his father in the operation of the home farm.
In 1876 Mr. List came with his family to Kansas, taking up his abode near Leanna, Cottage Grove township, Allen county, where he worked at the blacksmith's trade and farming for three years. He then purchased a little farm of sixty-three acres, two miles north of Leanna, and has since made it his home. Its well developed fields bring to him a good return. Since casting his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont in 1856 lie has been a stalwart Republican in his political affiliations and is in hearty accord with President McKinley's administration.
G EORGE W ELLIS-Among the substantial and honorable citizens of Allen county and at the same time one of its early settlers is George W. Ellis, of Iola township. He is a son of Asa Ellis whose birth occurred in New York State in 1806. The latter's father died in 1807 and soon thereafter the family came westward to Ohio and settled in Athens county. In early life Asa Ellis worked on a ferryboat on the Scioto River and later on owned and operated one himself. He finally abandoned boat- ing and took up farming and continued it in the Buckeye State till 1860, when he came by boat with his family to Kansas City, Missouri. During the first years of the war he lost his crop by fire at the hands of the bush- whackers and he located again in the city. In 1866 he located near Olathe, Kansas, and in 1869 came to Allen county. He homesteaded the south
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half of the northwest quarter of section 14, town 25, range 17, and died thereon in March, 1892.
The mother of our subject was Sarah Franz who was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1812. She was the daughter of Christian Franz, a son of a German emigrant, and one of the early settlers to his part of the State. She was the mother of: Henry Ellis, deceased, Catharine, wife of William Dye, of Humboldt, Kansas; Eliza, deceased, married James McCausland, ·of Humboldt; William Ellis, who resides in Woodson county, Kansas; Frank C. Ellis, of Allen county; George W. Ellis; Sarah, wife of W. H. Willingham; Luia, who married Levi Steeley, of Humboldt, and Sylvester Ellis, of Oklahoma.
George W. Ellis was born July 18, 1852, in Athens county, Ohio. He was eight years old when he left his native State and was a youth of seven- teen when he came into Allen county, Kansas. He began life as a farm hand, working by the month for R. M. Works, Charles Lehmann and for Hand, the Englishman, west of Humboldt. In this way he earned the funds to provide himself with a team and he rented land and engaged in farming. He farmed with Robert M. Works for nine years and in 1883 had accumulated sufficient to warrant him in buying a railroad eighty in Iola township. In 1884 he moved to his new farm and by dint of economy and hard work has made it one of the desirable homes on the west side. He bought anotlier eighty acre tract out of the proceeds of the first farm and both are free and unincumbered.
June 18. 1875, Mr. Ellis was married to Jane, a daughter of Peter Freeman, born in 1816, and Nancy Freeman, born in Kentucky, in 1821, who came to Indiana from Whitley county, Kentucky, in 1874, and came to Kansas in 1876. The Freeman children are: Mark, who resides in Kentucky, is married to Anna Bales; James, who enlisted in the Union army in 1862 and died in the service; Henry, who died in 1861; Solomon who died in Kentucky in 1848; John, who married Nancy McCabe and resides in Kentucky; Josh, who married Jane Steeley and resides in Ken- tucky; Golana, who died in 1896; Jane, the wife of our subject; Benjamin, who married Susan McCabe and resides in Nebraska, and Lucy, wife of Mark Hite, resides in Indiana. The Freemans are Republicans. The result of this union is seven children: Bert Ellis, married to Isa Dix, resides in Allen county; Fred Ellis, married Inez Rush, resides in Iola; George, May, Ethel, Nellie, Frank and Wallace Ellis are all on the homestead.
In early life and until 1890 the Ellis boys were Republicans. That year the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association, took them out of their party, with thousands of other Republicans, and made so formidable the Peoples' party. To this organization do they still hold National and State allegiance but in county matters their support is given to the worthy and honorable rather than to the party nominee.
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L EROY O. LADD, of Logan township, one of the successful and pros- perous farmers of Allen county, is almost a pioneer to Kansas. Tem years before he came to the State the first settlers were pulling into it from the east and nestling themselves down along the timbered streams. Mr .. Ladd was early enough to get desirable land cheap; for he came here in 1868 when settlements in his neighborhood were widely scattered. His. means permitted him to buy only a small tract of thirty-two acres seven miles southwest of Humboldt. In that community he has remained. The little farm has grown and expanded with the elapse of years and in response- to his needs until it contains eight hundred acres. one of the splendid stock and grain farms in the township. Its improvements are in keeping and proportion to its area, commodious residence, roomy barns and extensive sheds. The abundance of open land and free pasture led Mr. Ladd to eu- gage in the cattle business at an early period and his success in this ven- ture has warranted him in its continuance. He has been a large feeder for years and much of his accumulation of years lias come from this source. He is a large consumer of grain other than his own raising and his enter- prise has thus furnished a market for the surplus grain of his neighbors. Aside from the buildings which adorn the farm, and which Mr. Ladd. erected, a small forest sets off his premises and surrounds his edifice. These trees the family planted away back in the early days of Allen county ..
Leroy Ladd originated in New England. He was born in Vermont March 24, 1844. He is a son of John and Caroline (Olds) Ladd, country people and children of the Green Mountain State. In 1849 they crossed over into New York State, settling in Oswego county, where the father died in 1860 at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow died in Vermont in 1885 at the age of seventy-two years. Of their nine children five are yet living, viz .: Urbane, of Bay City, Michigan; Era and Corrin, of Oswego, New York; Cordelia, wife of Richard Rawson, of New Hampshire, and Leroy O. Ladd. John Ladd owned a large grist mill which he operated in connection with his New York farm. His five sons all served in the Union army during the Rebellion and all returned but Lucius H., who died in Richmond, Virginia.
Leroy Ladd's youthful opportunities were only those of the country lad. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Hroth New York Infantry and his regiment was assigned to the department of the Gulf. For two years he was on guard duty on the Island of Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico where the Confederate prisoners were confined. He was dis- charged at the end of his enlistment, September, 1865, and returned to his State. His brothers all enlisted for three years and all served their full time, or until death. This fact, alone, indicated the feeling and opinions entertained by the young men with reference to the preservation of the Union.
Mr. Ladd engaged in farming upon his return home and continued it, with some degree of success, three years. The western fever took a firm hold upon him soon after the war and he definitely decided to
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rmigrate in 1868. His resources were limited but that did not deter him for the frontier was the best place for a man in his circumstances. He came .and saw and conquered.
In 1866 Mr. Ladd was married to Miss Kate Dimick. She died in 1870, leaving a son, Lucius Herman Ladd, of Woodson county, Kansas; Mr. Ladd was married in December, 1873, to Mrs. Philinia (Gibbs) Jack- son1. Nine children have been born to them, viz .: Minnie (Ladd) Camp- bell, who died February 27, 1900, leaving two children, Effie and Cora Ladd; Orlie L. Ladd, who died May 14, 1885; Eddie, Gertie, Ennis, Urbane and Leola. Mrs. Ladd has a son by her first husband, John E. Jackson, of Cottage Grove township. Mrs. Ladd was a daughter of John ·Gibbs, a native of Illinois, whose wife was Ellen J. De Witt.
Mr. Ladd is a Republican. He learned his first lessons in politics in the army helping to suppress treason and he has maintained his political relations with the party that favored a union of states.
C HARLES OTTEN .- The late Charles Otten, of Iola, was among the honorable and substantial citizens of Allen county. He came to Iola in 1876, when this city was little more than a village, and engaged in the bakery and confectionary business. His little store was located on the site of his new building and was one of the small and unpretentious structures of the town. His previous experience enabled him to bring the best of business principles to the conduct of his affairs and he was soon seen to be the one merchant first to be ready to expand. He remained in business in Iola twenty-one years and, upon retirement, was succeeded by his son.
Charley Otten was born in Rhumeln, Rhine Province, Germany, in 1839. He was a son of Arnholdt Otten, a teacher, whose family had been connected with the same school which he taught for one hundred and five years. Arnholdt Otten's children were: Arnold Otten, the last teacher of the family and of that place; Julius Otten, educated by the King, was in the army all his life and died a general; Hugo Otten, who is superintendent of the coal mines supplying coal to the Krupp Gun Works at Essen; Albert Otten, assistant superintendent of above coal mines.
Charley Otten was frail and sickly when a youth. His father put him into a hospital to cook on account of the light work. His education was somewhat neglected but while in the hospital he formed a notion to become a baker: In February 1859 he was married to Louisa Windhoevinl, a daughter of a court officer of the Kingdom, Arnold Windhoevinl. In 1866 Mr. and Mrs. Otten came to the United States. They sailed on the "Ad- miral" from Bremen to Baltimore and engaged in business in that city five years. He located in Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, next, and at both points the young people made money. However, misfortune overtook him and he failed in the panic of 1873. In his last home Mr. Otten was held in high regard. His social intercourse with his fellow townsmen was
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