USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 35
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John Seaton was a builder whose vision of a great industrial enterprise in the city of the great bend of the Missouri came true in a material sense, inasmuch as Atchison will continue to benefit through the continued whirring of the industrial wheels which his genius set going. While the evidence of his handiwork is visible, and the smoke of the factory which he built will continue to be seen day after day as time goes on, the greatest reminder of Mr. Seaton's life on this earth will be the lesson which his manner of living and his strict attention to the highest duties of citizenship have left to poster- ity. Atchison suffered a sincere loss when his demise occurred and his de- parture from the realms of mortal ken created a void which could never be filled, although Mr. Seaton's work continues to exist after him.
John Seaton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June II, 1834, a son of John M., and Elizabeth (Jones) Seaton, the former a native of Virginia and the latter having been born in Vermont. John M. Seaton, the father, was a
John Section
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soldier in the Mexican War and was killed in battle at the storming of the heights of Cerro Gordo, Old Mexico. When John was three weeks old his parents removed from Cincinnati to Louisville, Ky., where his boyhood days were spent. He was eleven years of age when his father was killed on the field of battle. He attended school until he was fifteen years of age, and then began learning the trade of a machinist. A few years later finds him working as a journeyman machinist in St. Louis, Mo. In 1856 with a cash capital of two dollars and fifty cents, Jolin Seaton started a foundry at Alton, Ill. A natural aptitude for mechanics and machinery appliances, combined with pluck, energy and perseverance, enabled him to make a success of his first undertaking and the enterprise prospered.
At the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Seaton offered his services in de- fense of the Union, and was commissioned a captain of Company B, Twenty- second regiment, Illinois infantry. His first engagement was the battle of Belmont under General Grant, and Captain Seaton was in command of the skirmish line that opened this engagement. One of the precious possessions of his family at this day is the personal letter he received from the famous commander, commending him for the efficient manner in which he per- formed the task allotted to his command. He served for one year and then resigned his commission and returned to Alton to take charge of his business. After the war Mr. Seaton remained in Alton in charge of his foundry until 1872, when he removed to Atchison with his entire force of fifty employees. He was induced to remove westward by the fact that six months previous to the time of his removal to Atchison, the city had voted $10,000 in bonds to any man who would establish a foundry. He accepted the offer and the result was one of the most beneficial industries ever located in Atchison. The Seaton foundry gave employment to over 200 men, and he built up an industry which today stands without a peer in its line in the West. The secret of Mr. Seaton's success lay in the fact that every detail of his business received his direct supervision, and he insisted that only first class work be turned out by his factories. For over eighteen years this captain of in- dustry carried his dinner pail with him to the foundry and worked side by side with his men. He continued doing this after he had attained to a position of wealth and affluence which enabled him to own a home at the seashore at Orient, L. I., and could have retired from active work at any time he chose. None but the finest finished products were allowed to leave his establishment. and the name of Seaton and the output of his plant are noted over the West for the excellence of the finished manufactured materials and for their abso- lute reliability. In addition to general architectural work, he filled orders
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for the Santa Fe, Missouri Pacific and Ft. Scott and Gulf railroads, such as casting locomotive wheels, smoke stacks, steam cylinders, etc., all known as locomotive finished material products. The business of his large establish- ment in Atchison was built up until it amounted to over $250,000 annually, and the plant covered an area of 7cox400 feet. Mr. Seaton was in busi- ness continually from 1856 until the time of his demise, January 12, 1912.
The activities of this noted citizen of Atchison were not confined en- tirely to his business, but he took an active and influential part in civic and political affairs after his advent in Atchison. His career showed that he possessed statesmanship ability of a high order. For a period of eighteen years Mr. Seaton was a member of the Kansas State legislature, and so great was his influence in the house, and so long and distinguished was his service that he became known throughout the State as the "Father of the House." His name is associated with many of the important measures enacted into law by the State legislature, among them being the binding twine factory law, which act is responsible for the establishment of a plant for the manufacture of binder twine at the State penitentiary. He probably did more for the suc- cess of the "Douglass House," during the legislative trouble of 1893 than any other member of the Republican body. As a citizen and a legislator he en- joyed the respect and esteem of the people of Kansas without regard to political affiliations. He was opposed to the dominance of "trusts and mo- nopoly," and it was his firm conviction that the great corporations were devoid of feeling of a personal nature.
April 9. 1857, Mr. Seaton was married to Miss Charlotte E. Tuthill, of Alton, Ill., and this marriage was blessed with five children: Mrs. Lillie M. Hendrickson, of Atchison; John C., in California ; Mary, wife of Dr. W. H. Condit, of Kansas City : Mrs. Nellie Taber ( Seaton) Byram, deceased, and George L., married Amy Cox, of Weston, Mo., and resides on South Fourth street, Atchison; John C. Seaton married Gertrude Hickman, of Coffey- ville, Kan, and resides in Kansas City and Los Angeles, Cal. ; Mrs. Charlotte E. (Tuthill) Seaton was born in Alton, Ill., November 10, 1840, a daughter of Pardon Taber Tuthill, who was born and reared on Long Island, N. Y., and was a scion of one of the oldest American families. The great-great- grandfather of Mrs. Seaton, John Tuthill, known as Pilgrim John Tuthill, came from England with early settlers to Long Island. The home built by Pilgrim John on Long Island in the early part of the eighteenth century is still standing in a good state of preservation. The ancestral home of the Tuthills is located in the village of Orient, Long Island. On the maternal side an ancestor of Mrs. Seaton, named Capt. Andrew Englis, commanded a
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company in the Revolution and was a great patriot. Pardon Taber Tuthill was a pioneer in Alton, Ill. He was a contractor and builder and in his later years devoted his time and talents to horticulture. He was continually experi- menting and developed several new varieties of fruit. He was blessed with a scientific mind and became famous as a horticulturist.
John Seaton was a member of John A. Martin Post, No. 93, Grand Army of the Republic, the Loyal Legion and the Knights of Pythias lodges. Through him the Enterprise theater was rebuilt and remodeled in Atchison, and he was always found in the forefront of public movements to advance the interests of his home city. Socially Mr. Seaton was a genial, approachable, unassum- ing gentleman, whose pride was manifest concerning his Civil war record and the fact that he had amassed wealth and attained a leading position in the civic life of his adopted State through his own efforts, and built up his for- tunes from the ground. He was a man of undoubted integrity and was a noble character whose demise was sincerely mourned by the whole city of Atchison. He was a kind and indulgent husband and father. In his pass- ing Kansas lost one of her best and most widely known statesmen and Atchi- son one of her most useful citizens. His was a life well spent in behalf of the city and State where his name will long be remembered and revered as one of the honored pioneers of a widely known city and great State which he helped to create.
AARON S. BEST.
It is meet that considerable space in this history of Atchison county be devoted to the stories of the lives of real pioneers of the county. The old pioneers were the salt of the earth, and a stronger or more vigorous race of men, never conquered a wilderness. In the class of the real, old pioneer set- tlers, comes Aaron S. Best, retired farmer, of Effingham, Kan. Captain Best has lived in Atchison county for nearly fifty-five years, and has seen the country transformed from a vast tract of pasture and grazing land to a region of fertile and productive farms, and well built towns and cities. Dur- ing all these years he has taken an active and prominent part in county af- fairs, and in his younger days was a political leader in his own neighborhood.
Aaron S. Best was born June 27, 1839, in Clinton county, Pa., a son of John W. and Catharine (Schaefer) Best, of German descent, and native born and reared in Pennsylvania. John W. Best was born in 1809 and died in 1881. He was the son of Peter Best, a native of Pennsylvania, of German parentage. In the year 1860, John W. Best, accompanied by his wife and
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seven children, crossed the country to find a new home in Kansas. He had made a trip to Atchison county in the previous year, and, after carefully look- ing over the ground, made up his mind that the country had a great future, and he decided to move his family so as to make a permanent home in Kan- sas. The Best family arrived in Atchison in March of 1861, and at once moved to a farm in old Monrovia. In June of the same year, the wife and mother died, at the age of forty-five years. The following children were born to John W. Best and wife : Mary and Elvina, deceased, in Pennsylvania ; Henry, living at Parr, Tex .; Louis, Luther and Reuben, deceased; Mrs. Hen- rietta Lamberson, of Argentry, Ark .; and Michael, deceased.
Aaron Best was twenty-one years of age when the family removed to Atchison county. Being a Free State advocate, it was only natural that he take some part in the struggle which finally made Kansas a free State. When General Price's threatened invasion of Kansas seemed imminent, he assisted in raising a company of militia among his neighbors and was chosen cap- tain. This company marched to Westport, and took part in the famous en- gagement which resulted in Price's retreat to the southward. Captain Best was in command of Company F, Twelfth regiment, Kansas cavalry. Only two companies of the Twelfth regiment were under fire, and Company F was one of these, Capt. Asa Barnes' company being the other actively engaged. Captain Best's horse was shot from under him and badly crippled.
After coming to Kansas, he spent one year assisting his father on the home farm, and then moved to a farm of his own, south of Monrovia, which he developed from raw prairie land to a very productive farm, residing on until 1907, when he rented his land holdings and retired to a comfort- able home in Effingham. The first land which Mr. Best owned was bought by his father for $750, and he farmed this on the share plan for six years, after which he paid his father $2,000 for 140 acres. His next purchase was eighty acres of land nearby, and he continued to add to his land possessions until he was the owner of 275 acres in all. In the spring of 1914 Mr. Best sold his farm land for $21,000. His farm was one of the best improved in Atchison county, and naturally brought a good, round price, because of the good condition of the buildings and of the fertility of the soil.
Mr. Best was married in February, 1860, to Malinda Bricker, and to this union have been born one son and three daughters, as follows : Mrs. Ella Rebecca Sharp, living at Helena, Mo., and mother of two children, Albert and Twila; Mrs. Mary C. Bonnell, living on a farm southeast of Effingham, and who has eight children, Nellie, Edith, Grace, Ruth, Catharine, Lea, Claude, Malinda; Mrs. Emma Wood, of Council Grove, Kan., and mother
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of four children, Clara, Beulah Morris, Ralph, Esther; John a merchant, of Monrovia, Kan., father of three children, Leota, Hazel, and Blanche. The mother of these children was born in Hanover township, Daulphin county, Pennsylvania, December 15, 1837, and was a daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (Lohs) Bricker, both of whom were of Pennsylvania German ancestry, and died in their Pennsylvania home.
Mr. Best has always been allied with the Republican party, and has been a stanch advocate of Republican principles for a long period of years. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and contribute generously to the support of that denomination. He is fraternally affiliated with the Odd Fellows Lodge and Encampment, No. 5, and the Modern Woodmen. Physically and mentally, Mr. Best is a remarkably well pre- served man, when one considers his age and the fact that he endured so many hardships in his first struggles to attain to the position of affluence and comfort which he enjoys at present.
LOUIS C. ORR.
Faithfulness to duty on the part of public officials is always appreciated by the people, and an official who regards his office as other than a sinecure, is recognized as honest, capable and well meaning. In Louis C. Orr, post- master of the city of Atchison, Kan., the patrons and citizens of Atchison have a capable and conscientious public servant, whose sole interest is to see that the affairs of this important Government office are conducted smoothly, and for the convenience of the patrons of the postoffice. Although, in times past, the Atchison postoffice has been looked upon as a sinecure, operated as a well oiled piece of Government machinery with an efficient and well trained force, Mr. Orr, since taking over the duties of his position, has demonstrated that he can work as hard and efficiently as any of the many employees making up the postoffice force. Probably no postoffice in the State of Kansas is better conducted, or the welfare of the patrons more carefully looked after than the Atchison postoffice, and credit is due Mr. Orr for his diligent application to the duties of his office since his appointment.
Louis C. Orr, postmaster of Atchison, was born August 3. 1857, in Mc- Gregor, Iowa, a son of James and Mary Elizabeth ( Underhill) Orr, concern- ing whom further mention will be found in the biography of James W. Orr, brother of Louis C., in this volume. When Louis C. was eight years of age
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the family removed from Iowa to Niles, Mich. Louis C. and his brother James W. knew what poverty was in their youthful days, and shared their hardships in common. Louis C. was ambitious to obtain an education, and at an early age was compelled, by force of circumstances over which he had no control, to practically earn his own living and the wherewithal to obtain an education. For some years he and James W. pooled their earnings and worked together for their mutual benefit, and to this day this trait of brotherly devotion is present. Louis C. attended school until he had attained the age of eighteen years, and he then entered a drug store at Niles, Mich., in the capa- city of clerk. He remained in Michigan until 1885, when he came to Atchi- son, Kan., where his brother, James W., had preceded him in 1881. Mr. Orr entered the Government railroad mail service; and was employed in this capacity on the Santa Fe Railway System, on the run from Atchison to Topeka, during Grover Cleveland's first administration. He then left the railway mail service and was employed as clerk in the drug store of A. W. Stevens for the following period of eight years. For the six years following he was in charge of the paint department of the McPike Drug Company, a wholesale drug firm then operating in Atchison, and since removed to Kansas City, Mo. For four years, from 1907 to 1911, he served as city collector of Atchison. He was engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business until January, 1915. Mr. Orr was appointed postmaster of Atchison Decem- ber 29. 1914. by President Wilson, to take effect January 4, 1915. although Mr. Orr did not begin his duties until January 15, 1915.
Mr. Orr was married in 1886 to Mary Isabelle Smith, of Richmond, Ind .. a daughter of John P. and Mary (Sedgwick) Smith, residents of Richmond, Ind. One son has been born to this marriage. Richard Sedgwick Orr, born in 1888, and at present employed as manager for the Standard Oil Company in Atchison.
Louis C. Orr is a Democrat and is affiliated with the Christian Scientist church. For the past twenty-five years he has been a member of Lodge No. 127, Ancient Order of United Workmen. It can be said of him that he is courteous, efficient and obliging to all with whom he is brought in contact.
CARL LUDWIG BECKMAN.
Successful as an agriculturist, and again achieving success as a live stock buyer and shipper, is a summary of the life and accomplishments of Carl Ludwig Beckman, one of the best known and progressive citizens of Effing-
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ham, Kan. Mr. Beckman's live stock operations involve the buying and shipping of over fifty carloads of live stock yearly. In addition to his busi- ness dealings, he also looks after his fine farm of 200 acres in Benton township.
Mr. Beckman was born April 2, 1861, in Quincy, Ill. . Is the name in- dicates, he is the son of German parents, his father, William Beckman, hay- ing been born in Germany, in 1830, and was unfortunately killed by a stroke of lightning in Burlington, Iowa, in 1863. When a young man, William Beckman left his native land to seek his fortune in this country. He located at Quincy, Ill., where he married Elizabeth Kipp, who bore him four chil- dren, and was also born in Germany in 1824. William Beckman removed his family to Burlington, Iowa, in about 1862. The four children born to this couple were : William, a resident of Parnell, Atchison county, Kansas: Mrs. Hannah Buhrmaster, living on a farm in Benton township; Minnie, and Carl Ludwig, with whom this review is directly concerned. The mother of these children later married Henry Vollmer, a farmer, in Iowa, who gave her and the children a good home and left his widow well provided for. Mrs. Vollmer, mother of C. L., resides at Mediapolis, Iowa.
When Carl was twenty years of age he left the farm in lowa, and came to Kansas in 1881, and in partnership with his brother, William, rented a farm near Effingham for thirteen years, dissolving partnership in 1894. Through purchase and by inheritance, on his wife's part, Mr. Beck- man and his wife came into possession of 200 acres of land in 1894. upon which they resided until 1908. In that year they bought a small farm of thirty-five acres, one mile west of Effingham, upon which they resided for three years, and then made a permanent home in Effingham. Since 1908 Mr. Beckman has been engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock, with Robert M. Thomas as a partner in the enterprise, and has been very successful in this business, being an accurate judge of live stock and keeping abreast of market conditions.
He was married in 1894 to Miss Lebeldine Gersbach, born in Atchison county in 1863, a daughter of Samuel and Catharine Gersbach, both of whom were natives of Germany, and, after emigrating from their native country to America, settled in Atchison county as early as 1854. and were among the earliest pioneers of Kansas. Mr. Gersbach preempted land and built up a fine farm which is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Beckman. Two children were born of this marriage: Rosa, aged twenty years, and a stu- dent in the Atchison county high school, class of 1916; and Pearl, aged seventeen, also a student in the high school, class of 1916.
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Mr. Beckman is a Republican in politics, and takes an interest in the civic and political affairs of his home town and county. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. Mrs. Beckman and daughters are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Beckman is a stock- holder of the Farmers' Mercantile Association of Effingham, and is gen- erally found in the forefront of all undertakings which are intended for the betterment and progress of conditions in his home city.
JAMES GRANVILLE MORROW.
We are taught that life is eternal; that when the course of man has been run upon this earth and his work is done, his spirit returns to his Maker and he is judged according to his deeds while a mortal among his fellow creatures. This thought and belief is comforting alike to the dying and the bereaved ones left behind to mourn their earthly loss for the time being. Longfellow has written: "Life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal; dust thou art, to dust returneth, was not written of the soul." So thought and so lived the late Capt. James Granville Morrow, who at the time of his demise was the oldest living pioneer resident of Atchison, and a man famed for his upright life and beloved for his good and kindly deeds. Life was very "real and earnest" to Captain Morrow and he enjoyed his earthly existence to the fullest extent, the latter years of his residence in Atchison being the fullest and best of all. in the sense that he indulged his taste and talents to doing things which he loved, all the while being surrounded by a loving wife and children whose respect and love he had to comfort him through the greater part of his long and useful life. Captain Morrow lived in such a manner as to endear him to all of his associates and he will long be remembered as one of the noted figures of the pioneer and the present era of Kansas development. It is meet that the life story of this truly noble citizen be recorded in these annals of his county and city for the inspiration and encouragement of the present and coming posterity for all time to come.
James Granville Morrow was born on a farm in Wayne county, Ken- tucky, June 27, 1827, a son of Jeremiah and Lydia (Holder) Morrow, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky. Jeremiah Morrow was the son of Matthew Morrow, a native of Virginia, who was one of the early pioneers of Kentucky, and of Scotch descent, his ancestors having emigrated from
James Glamour
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Scotland to America in the early colonial period of American history. Jere- miah Morrow, father of James G., was born in 1802, and after his removal to Kentucky married Lydia Holder. Six sons and two daughters were born to Jeremiah Morrow and wife, only one of whom survives, Mrs. W. H. Crisp, residing in Kentucky. Their children were as follows: Mahala, wife of Rev. W. H. Crisp, of Kentucky ; Floyd, deceased; James Granville, the sub- ject of this review; Nimrod, deceased; Riley, William, Nancy, deceased wife of John Pennington; Perey, deceased. Granville Morrow spent his boyhood days on the family farm in Wayne county, Kentucky, and at the age of six- teen years was sent to a select school. He made his home with his parents until he attained his majority and then set out to make his own way in the world. He dealt quite extensively in horses which he drove from Kentucky to Georgia. He was also associated with his brothers in raising, purchasing and selling hogs, which they drove 400 miles into Georgia, where they were sold to the Georgia planters. Sometimes a single planter would buy 500 head and the price ranged from eight to nine dollars per 100 pounds, live weight. The Morrow brothers frequently drove as high as 13,000 head, trav- eling only seven miles a day. There were no railroads in those days, but the country was dotted with stations. Hog cholera did not bother swine in those days and it was Captain Morrow's frequent expression that hog cholera was a product of civilization and high breeding, and, although the hogs were driven as far as 400 miles they did not lose weight on the trip. The business of the Morrow brothers was not always profitable, however, and they lost money on some of the trips. Mr. Morrow abandoned the business in 1850. and in 1854 arrived in Atchison en route to California, but he did not go any farther. On April 5. 1854, he arrived at Rushville Landing, now East Atchison. This was shortly before Kansas was opened for settlement, and the only man living at that time on the townsite of Atchison was George Million, who operated a rope ferry acress the Missouri river. Mr. Morrow found on landing at Atchison that the overland train which he expected to join en route to the far West had left, and, as he was ill he decided to wait for the next train. Captain Morrow ate his first dinner in Kansas with Samuel Dixon at Dixon Spring, now included in the city of Atchison. The food was ladled out of a common kettle to which all the diners had access without style or invitation other than "help yourself." A tree trunk sawed off smooth answered the purpose of a table on which the meal was served. While waiting he found a job with Million and decided to remain in Kansas. In the fall of 1854, he, with John Alcorn, bought out Portumous Lamb's ferry boat which was operated by horse power and a tread-mill, and from
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