USA > Kansas > Woodson County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 73
USA > Kansas > Allen County > History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas > Part 73
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Dr. Parker was one of the birds of passage who came in about 1870. He and his family aspired to be social leaders in a pioneer town but his experience proved only a labor of love and after a few months "he folded
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his tent and quietly stole away" to a more appreciative community.
Dr. B. D. Williams was the first homeopathist to locate in the country. His learning professionally was not of the highest order. nor did he have must respect for the English language, as taught from Kirkham to the latest edition of grammer. It was he who, on July 4, 1874, when the fantastic paraders removed their masks, remarked. "they ought to have gone to some obseure place to do that." In 1875 he went west and was lost in the flood of emigration to the Rockies during the decade which followed.
Dr. John T. Warner was probably the most active and enjoyed the most extensive practice of any of his colleagues at the Falls. He was a pleasant and agreeable gentleman, competent and well liked by the people, but was too timid for a good physician. He died in 1875 from opium poisoning. He suffered from some ailment and had taken a large dose of opium. Not getting better he summoned another doctor who, without know- ing his patient had already taken the drug, administered another large dose. and with fatal results.
Dr. Will E. Turner, who married a daughter of Major Snow. was a competent man in his profession, but paid more attention to holding down a homestead, and other outside matters. than medicine. He moved to Mon- tana, made money there, but was accidentally drowned in the Missouri river about 1880.
Dr. J. W. Turner came to the county in 1872 and located northeast of Yates Center on a homestead. The doctor was a true scion of the Blue Grass state; was a Kentuckian in all that "a son of Kentucky" means. He did in his day, probably. more surgical work than any of the profession of the county. He was somewhat irascible in temper, slightly inclined to haughtiness, yet a gentleman of the old school, one of the type which is too rapidly disappearing in this age of rush and "every fellow for himself." The first laparotomy ever attempted in the county was conducted by him. He had a busy practice for some years. served as county treasurer one term, was a director in the First National Bank of Yates Center and died from hemorrhage of the stomach in 1885.
Dr. O. J. Skinner came to this county in 1872 and located on a claim adjoining Dr. Turner's. He was a Vermonter by birth and a Kentnekian by adoption and instinet. Among all the workers of the profession none were or will be more studious and observing than he .. He loved books and a late light; was possibly the best clinician of his fellows and the safest counsellor of all the coterie of workers of his time. None more patient and none more desirous of knowing all of a case than he. After years of hard work and kindly admonition to the younger brood of doctors he fell asleep, with his sack for a pillow. Among the old fellows who
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came here in early days few were his peer as a careful, painstaking watcher and observer at the bedside of the sick, and none his superior.
About 1873 Dr. W. F. Girdener came to Kalida and, in conjunction with Dr. Jones. composed the medical staff of that village for a time. In 1877 he removed to Yates Center where he died a year or two following, a victim of tuberculosis.
The writer, Dr. E. V. Wharton, came to Yates Center, August 20, 1876. and was the first medical man to fan the breezes of the county seat with his shingle. July 1901 finds him here still. In 1877 his other col- leagues in the practice were Doctors Skinner, Turner and Girdener, at the county seat.
Dr. S. J. Bacon came to Yates Center in 1880 and purchased the Wolfer drug store. He has been in the drug business continuously since. The doctor is not a Kentuckian nor does he endorse the theories of the total abstainers. He did much work in the professional field, was a horse fancier for some years, a sport and an all round good fellow.
Dr. H. W. West came to the county as a protege of Dr. Turner in 1880. He has had a lucrative practice. married a most estimable woman, reared a splendid family and is going down to a glorious sunset of old age. He is one of the Board of Pension Examiners of the Mckinley administration.
In 1882 Dr. George H. Phillips emigrated from Jacksonville, Illinois, to Yates Center, entered the practice of medicine, bought an interest in a drug store and assisted in conducting the Sunday school. He is a man of brilliant parts, a hard worker and careful observer, and left Kansas to assume the position of physician to the Indian school at Chilocco, I. T. He is now a resident of Pawnee, Oklahoma, and has been appointed. re- cently, as teacher and medical advisor at Chilocco.
Dr. George Rutlege, a playmate and boy chum of Dr. Phillips, came to Yates Center in 1881. remained a few brief months and removed to Missouri. The politics of that state, his practice and the climate, were not congenial and he returned to Kansas for a short period and finally took up his residence in Illinois.
Dr. G. W. Lee another of the good man from the "Old Sucker State" spawned on Kansas. came in 1889, and practiced a short time in Yates ('enter. He then took up his residence in Toronto where he has an enviable business.
Dr. T. A. Jones became a resident of Toronto about 1888. did an active practice, was generally loved by the public, dabbled somewhat in politics and social studies and died in 1894 or 1895. His work was thorough and bore the ear-marks of a plodding. painstaking student.
Dr. Otes Orendorff came to Yates Center in 1893 fresh from medical college, was associated some years with Dr. Kellenberger, moved then to southern Missouri where he did some work. Tiring of Missouri practice
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and Missouri hospitality he returned to his first love, metaphorically speak- ing, and re-entered the practice alone. He bears the impress of the seal of work which is the characteristic of a Kansan and in the years to come will materially aid in completing the structure planned by the early ar- gonauts. He is one of the Board of Pension Examiners of the Mckinley administration.
Dr. B. F. Browning, after trying several locations in Kansas, in 1893 concluded that Yates Center would suit and he located here. He rushed into a lucrative practice and, notwithstanding his Virginian idiosyncrasies, has become completely westernized and does things according to the Kan- sas rule. Bright affable young and energetic he has the elements necessary to continue pushing the profession in Kansas to the front rank with the best of the other states.
Dr. A. J. Lieurance came to Neosho Falls in 1886 and has done some practice but pays more attention to the legitimate drug trade. He has dabbled some in politics as a Democratic leader, is financially independent and takes the world easy.
Dr. O. S. Spaulding who came to Toronto in the late eighties or carly nineties is the only homeopathic in the county. He has the distinc- tion of enjoying the confidence of the people, was a member of the Board of Pension Examiners, is closely intouch with the more advanced thinkers of sociology. is a student and all that a thinker in Kansas parlance means.
During the years of developing the territory known as Woodson county a number of doctors, like the wild duck, have come and gone. Their stay was too short and their work too ephemeral to notice as a part of the hive of workers. Some were adventurers, some simply "doing the country," and some of the "make-fat" variety. Probably this county has had, as the years go by to make decades, a class of medical men as bright, as worthy, and who, in their humble way, have contributed as much toward commonwealth building as the average county of the state. While peans of praise are suug to the memory of the child of politics and occasionally a tablet is reared to commemorate the work of some special scientific discoverer, the country and pioneer doctor patiently plods his weary way, doing his best to relieve suffering and to bring back the flush of health. Nowhere is there a hall of fame for the humble medical worker.
"To cure their ills, to guard the people's health
Brings little fame and scarcely more of wealth.
'Tis rare indeed upon the roll of fame
To find inscribed the busy doctor's name;
Nor is it wrought in gold or carved in stone.
Few poets have writ the things by doctors done.
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"To worship heroes and to sing their praise, To tell of love in many different ways, Of human happiness and human grief, All this has been of poetry the chief ; And yet. methinks the greatest theme of all Has been neglected, or scarce sung at all."
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND'
JBiographies
DANIEL W. MAXSON.
DANIEL W. MAXSON is the leading physician in his section of Woodson county. No other medical practitioner of the county has so- long resided within its borders and none more highly deserves success- and prominence than Dr. Maxson. He was born in Alleghany county, N'w. York, in January, 1836. and is a son of John Maxson, a farmer by oc- cupation , who was born in Massachusetts and married Miss Ann Ruth Langworthy, a native of Rhode Island. They died in the Empire state, leaving two children, but the doctor is now the only surviving representative. of the family.
The subject of this review spent the days of his boyhood and youth upon the home farm and acquired his education in the common schools. He afterward took up the study of medicine, which he pursued at intervals, in the meantime providing for his support by teaming and by other such work as he could get to do. In his early manhood he left for the west, going first to Wisconsin, whence he afterward went to Missouri, and later came to Kansas, arriving in the year 1856. He first located at Fort Scott, which at that time was only a military garrison, and subsequently he went to Mapleton. Bourbon county, where he was living when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted in response to the call for men to serve for ninety days, and later enlisted for three years as a memebr of the Ninth Kansas cavalry, serving in the Western Department. The first two years of that time were passed as a steward in the general hospital at Fort Smith. He was with his regiment on White river, Arkansas, when the war ended and was discharged at Fort Leavenworth in the year 1865.
The war ended, Dr. Maxson returned to Mapleton, Kansas. In the meantime he had resumed the study of medicine and had prepared for its practice. He had read to some extent under the direction of Dr. Norman D. Winans at Iola, Kansas, and for two years was associated with him in practice. He then took up his abode on the Verdigris river, where he has since remained, his home being now in Toronto. His practice comes
D. H.Maison
J. J. Reid
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WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
not only from this town but also from Coyville and Buffalo and is quite extensive. He is the oldest physician in years of continuous practice in Woodson county, and as time has pased he has easily maintained his rank among the foremost physicians of this section of the state. He has kept abreast with the progress made by the medical fraternity, is a discriminat- ing student, most careful in diagnosing disease and correct in prescril nig the medicines which will best supplement nature in her efforts to restore a healthful and normal condition. Although he attended two courses of medical lectures, the last one in the Ohio Medical College. at Cincinnati, he did not consider his studies ended and constant reading has kept him in touch with the onward march of progress made in the medical science.
Dr. Maxson was married in Mapleton, in 1860, to Miss Louise E. Myrick, whose father came to Kansas from Tennessee. Mrs. Maxson died March 27. 1901. Unto them have been born the following children: W. E., who is superintendent of the terminals of the railroad and steamship lines at Galveston, Texas; Frank; Henrietta, wife of Charles Chambers, of Purcell, Indian Territory ; Ralph, of Toronto, and Lillie A., of Toronto.
From the date of the organization of the Republican party Dr. Max- son has been in hearty sympathy with its principles and gives his support to its men and measures. He keeps well informed on the issues of the day and does all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of the party. He is chairman of the Pension Examining Board of Woodson county, and is a loyal and patriotic citizen, who believes in upholding the starry banner of the nation wherever the courage and loyalty of the Amer- ican soldier has planted it. The doctor has a very wide acquaintance throughout Woodson county where he has so long made his home and his many sterling traits of character as well. as his splendid work in the line of his profession have gained for him the confidence, good will and high regards of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
THOMAS L. REID.
For twenty-five years connected with the business interests of Wood- son county and with its public affairs, Mr. Reid is regarded as one of the valued and representative citizens of Yates Center and this entire section of the state. He is classed among the men whose energy, determination and business ability are leaving an impress upon the rapidly-developing civilization of the west. To-day he is at head of the leading livery and transfer business of Woodson county. and for many years he was widely known as the popular host of some of the best hotels of this portion of the state.
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
A native of the province of Nova Scotia, Mr. Reid was born on the 2d of November. 1850, a son of Ezra and Tabitha (Ells) Reid, whose family numbered five children. Theodore H., of South Farmington, Massa- chusetts ; Albert B., of Maine; Thomas L., and a son Wm. D., and daughter Mary S. Eaton, living in Nova Scotia, are the survivors of the family, the parents having passed away.
Mr. Reid of this review received very meager educational privileges m his youth, but reading, experience and observation in later years have made him a well informed man. In 1868 he went to Massachusetts and se- cured employment in a shoe shop and later in a grain store. Afterward he entered npon a clerkship in a hotel, where he gradually worked his way upward, enjoying the unqualified confidence and regard of his employer. On the 3d of November, 1873. he returned to Nova Scotia and was mar- ried at Bridgetown, Annapolis county, on that day to Bessie Willett. daughter of Captain John R. Willett.
At the time of the financial panic of 1873 Mr. Reid was chief clerk in the Marlborough Hotel. With the sudden and extensive reductions in working forces along all lines came his own forced retirement in the early part of. 1875 and he left New England in search of work in other parts of the country. Believing that the west would afford him better opportuni- ties he came to Kansas. March, 1875, arriving in Neosho Falls with only thirty-five cents in his pocket, but he possessed a determined spirit and un- faltering energy and these stood him instead of capital. He found a friend in the proprietor of the Falls Honse, a New England man who aided him until he could get work. Here for the first time he engaged in farm work, entering the service of W. P. Sharp, an agriculturist. who gave him fifteen dollars a month in compensation for his services. Within six months he had arranged to take charge of the hotel at Neosho Falls and then sent for his wife. From the fall of 1875 until 1882 he conducted that hostelry and thus gained some capital. He afterward spent a few months in the Leland Hotel, in Iola, but returned to the Falls Honse, which le conducted until 1887 ,when he transferred all his interests to Yates Center and became the proprietor of the Hotel Woodson. with which he was connected as proprietor at different times for twelve years, retiring from its management in September, 1899. For nearly twenty years he has been engaged in the livery and transfer business and is the leader in his line in Woodson county.
Mr. Reid has been called to a number of positions of public trust by his fellow townsmen who recognize his worth and ability. He was ap- pointed by Abe Smith to the position of deputy sheriff for Woodson county and was marshal of Neosho Falls from 1876 until 1880. In 1891 he was nominated and elected sheriff of Woodson county, and re-elected in 1893, thereby holding the office the limit, a fact which indicates his
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popularity in the ranks of his party. In 1888 he was a strong competitor for the office of United States marshal, and in 1896 he was a leading can- didate for the nomination for representative to the general assembly. In 1901 he was elected mayor of Yates Center by a large majority. In politics he has ever been a Republican, unswerving in support of the principles of the party. He cast his first presidential vote for Governor Tilden, but since 1876 has been a firm advocate of the Grand Old Party. His record as an officer of the law cannot be successfully attacked and his reputation a: a citizen grows brighter with the lapse of years.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Reid have been born the following named: Edith, wife of L. F. Samuels, of Coffeyville, Kansas; Maude, wife of C. W. Lockard, of Will Springs, Missouri; Walter L .; Harry H .; Edwin C., and Mary E. The family occupies a leading position in social circles. Mr. Reid to-day stands among the most prominent men of his adopted county. He is public-spirited in an eminent degree, local advancement and na- tional progress both being subjects dear to his heart. He commands the unqualified confidence and respect of his fellow men by reason of his sterling worth, his fidelity to duty and his unquestioned probity, and such a record is well worthy of emulation.
AUGUST LAUBER.
AUGUST LAUBER is familiar with pioneer experiences and en- vironments in Kansas for he came to Woodson county forty-three years ago when the work of improvement and progress seemed scarcely begun. He was born June 30, 1827, in Westphalia, Germany, a son of Otto and Amelia ( Maier) Lauber. The father was a farmer whose people had resided in that locality for many generations and the mother's family were also farmers. By her marriage she had the following children : Henry ; Minnie, deceased wife of Frederick Mischer, of La Grange, Texas, and August.
When our subject was young he worked upon the home farm and pursued his education in the common schools. Thinking to benefit his financial condition in the New World he bade adieu to friends and native land, and on the 12th. of September, 1853, took passage at Bremen on the sailing vessel, Jule, which on that voyage was six weeks in reaching New York. Having friends in Illinois, Mr. Lauber at once made his way to Stephenson county, in that state, where he engaged in farming, in teaming and in other labor that would yield to him an honest living. With capital he acquired through his own efforts he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land. The year 1857 witnessed his removal from Freeport, Illinois, to Kansas. He was in hearty sympathy with the free state movement and
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HISTORY OF ALLEN AND
gave his support to the efforts being made to keep slavery out of the terri- tory. He became identified with farming interests here, securing one hundred and sixty acres of land on section1, Yates Center township. It was then covered with wild prairie grass and native timber, but his labors have wrought a great change in its appearance. It has continuously been his home for forty-three years and is now a very valuable property, improved with all modern accessories and conveniences. The boundaries of the place, however, have been greatly extended, and to-day Mr. Lauber is the owner of eleven hundred acres of the rich farming land of Kansas. At the time of the Civil war he served in the state militia and while in Ger- many he had served in the war in Schleswig.
On the 23d of November, 1860, Mr. Lauber was united in marriage to Louisa Stockebrand, who came to the United States in 1859. She was born July 5, 1830 and their marriage has been blessed with six children : William, who married Augusta Harder and is now living in Yates Center : August ; Herman ; Henry ; Matilda, wife of John Ropp, of Harper county, Kansas, and John E. Mr. Lauber and his family are all members of the German Evangelical Church and he and his sons are stalwart Republicans, his support having been given to the party since he cast his first presi- dential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. In a land where are no class conditions and opportunity is open to all Mr. Lauber has steadily worked his way upward, winning a high measure of success, having a handsome competence for the evening of life. He is well known and is popular with his many friends and in the history of his adopted county he well de- serves representation.
GEORGE W. COX.
GEORGE W. COX, one of the leading and influential citizens of Wood- son county, is now serving as chairman of the board of county commis- sioners acquitting himself in a most creditable manner as the incumbent of that important position. He is a firm advocate of Republican principles, having always supported the party, and his opinions carry weight in its conneils in this section of the state. He is likewise prominent as a repre- sentative of agricultural interests, having devoted most of his time to farming since coming to the county in November, 1885. He now owns a valuable tract of land of two hundred and forty acres in Eminence town- ship, where he is successfully engaged in the cultivation of the crops best adapted to the soil and climate.
Mr. Cox was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1855, and is a son of George W. Cox, and a grandson of Joseph H. Cox, the
WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS.
datter a millwright by trade. His wife died young leaving a family of four sons and two daughters. One of the sons, William Cox. served his country in the war of 1812. George W. Cox, the father of our subjeet, was born in the Keystone state, near Chambersburg, August 14. 1812, and in 1815 his parents removed to western Pennsylvania, where he was reared. He married Elizabeth A. Cope. whose parents went from the vicinity of Philadelphia to the western part of the state. Mr. Cox followed farming in Fayette county through his active business eareer but he and his wife are now living retired in Green county, Pennsylvania, the former at the age of eighty-nine years, the latter seventy-seven years of age. Their children are: James F., who died at the age of three months: Joseph H., of Dickinson county, Kansas: Eli C .. of Miami county. this state: Elma. wife of Finley Woodward, of Fayette county. Pennsylvania : Sarah J., who died at the age of twelve years: Mary E .. wife of George Frost. of Green county. Pennsylvania. and George W.
The opportunities which George W. Cox had in his youth were sueh as most boys of the period enjoyed. He pursued his education in the com- monschools. and after putting aside his text hooks he became familiar with the practical work of the farm in all its departments. following that pur- suit throughout his residence in the state of his nativity. He first visited this state in 1877. spending the summer at Wellsville. and being well pleased with the country and the future prospects of the state he ultimately decided to locate here, coming to Woodson County in November, 1885. He made the journey direet from Fayette county, Pennsylvania and loeated upon section eighteen, township twenty-six. range sixteen, on a partially improved farm. He now owns two hundred and forty acres of valuable property. The latest improved machinery facilitates the work of cultivation, and substantial buildings add to the value and attractive appearance of the place. In 1893 Mr. Cox began merchandising at Rose, where he carried on his store for six years and then sold out to Al Troyer, resuming his work upon the farm.
On the 3d of October, 1878, Mr. Cox was united in marriage in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. to Miss Agnes C. Leighty, a daughter of Stephen S. Leighty, a farmer of Fayette connty, where he was born in 1814. He mar- ried Eliza Hutson, and his death occurred August 10. 1892, while his wife passed away in 1863, leaving the following ehildren: William, of Stafford county, Kansas; Henry, of Macomb. Illinois: Kate, wife of Milton Blair, of Oklahoma; Taylor, of Fayette county, Pennsylvania; Rebecca, wife of Joseph Piersol, of Ohio; Anna, wife of Robert Rankin, of Stafford county, Kansas ; Stephen S., of Reno county, Kansas: Eliza, wife of Davis D. Woodward. of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Cox. After the death of his first wife Mr. Leighty married Mary Hair, and their children were: Emma, wife of Chester F. Gween, of Fayette county. Pennsylvania ;
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worthy of their regard. His bu iness career is alike, free from tarnish, as he is always straightforward in his dealing, living in touch with the bighest ethies of commercial life.
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