USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 36
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that time on for seventeen consecutive years Mr. Morrow plied his ferry be- tween Atchison and Winthrop. In the fall of 1855 he began operating a side-wheel steam ferry which had been brought here from Brownsville, Pa. In 1857 he became captain of the steam ferry, "Ida," later running the steam ferry, "Pomeroy," after which he went to Brownsville, Pa., where he built the transfer boat, "William Osborne," remaining there eight months while the work was in progress. When he brought the "William Osborne" to Atchi- son it was loaded with 300 tons of rails for the Central Branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad, now the Northern Kansas Division. This boat also con- veyed across the Missouri river the first locomotives used on the road after its construction.
Not long after his arrival in Atchison Captain Morrow began to accumulate land, and in 1869 turned his attention to farming, retiring from the steamboat business entirely in 1871. He accumulated 1,240 acres of rich bottom lands in the Missouri river bottoms near East Atchison which has never failed to produce a crop and is very valuable. He formerly owned a section of land in Osage county, Kansas, near Lebo. He also was the owner of two valuable farms on the Atchison side of the river, 320 acres near Jacks- boro, Texas, and owned considerable real estate in the city, all of which has been left to his widow in trust for his children and heirs. He was very suc- cessful as a wheat grower, and in this way gained the greater part of his work- ing capital. He erected a beautiful home called "Enidan Heights" at Eighth and U streets, on the south side of Atchison, where he spent his declining years in peace and comfort. About 1875 he opened a general store in East Atchison which he conducted until 1883. Those were still pioneer days, and the settlers in the vicinity were poor and sometimes were unable to pay for the goods they needed. The captain's big heart and generous impulses fre- quently led him to extend credit to patrons whom he knew would not be able to pay for their purchases, and it was a favorite expression of his when his clerk would report to him that a poor man wished credit, "Gracious to good- ness, if we don't let him have the stuff he'll starve to death." The captain sold hundreds of dollars' worth of goods which were probably never paid for, but his good heart would not permit him to see a fellow creature in want for the necessities of life. This trait of kindness was the predominating char- acteristic of his life and endeared him to hundreds of people. After quitting the mercantile business Captain Morrow devoted himself entirely to his farm- ing interests and his transfer business which he established in 1888 with his partners, later becoming the sole owner of the business. He retired entirely from active business pursuits and his farming in 1910 and spent the most
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of his time working around the gardens of his fine home in Atchison. For years it was his custom to drive back and forth to his big farm on the Mis- souri side and he was gradually persuaded to abandon this activity. His demise occurred December 2, 1915, after a brief illness, beginning with an attack of la grippe, his great age and depleted vitality militating against his recovery.
James Granville Morrow was married November 26, 1874, to Miss Sarah J. George, and this happy marriage was blessed with the following children : Della, born November 11, 1875, and died in 1904; Mary Etta, born in Mis- souri March 17, 1880, dying October 2, 1880, and who is buried in Orearville cemetery, Saline county, Missouri; James Granville George, born September 16, 1878, married Ethel Worrell, and is the father of four children; James Granville, Jr., John Worrell, Frances and Robert George; Nadine, wife of John Raymond Woodhouse, who lives with Mrs. Morrow, of Atchison, and mother of John Granville, born December 16, 1914; James G. Morrow re- sides in Buchanan county, Missouri, and has charge of the immense Morrow farm in the Missouri bottoms. The children of Captain and Mrs. Morrow have all been well educated and afforded every facility for mind cultivation. Mrs. Nadine Woodhouse was educated in Mount St. Scholastica Academy and the College Preparatory School of Atchison, after which she completed her studies at Central College of Missouri. Miss Della Morrow studied in Mount St. Scholastica Academy, Midland and Central colleges, and Washing- ton University, at St. Louis, and was a bright and talented young lady prior to her demise. James Morrow, the son, studied in the Atchison public schools and Midland College. The mother of these children, Mrs. Sarah J. ( George) Morrow, was born March 30, 1853, near Orearville, Saline county, Missouri, a daughter of Dr. James Jameson George, a native of Prince William county, Virginia. Dr. George was born in Virginia November 25, 1810, a son of William Henry George, a soldier in the War of 1812, who moved from Vir- ginia to Hardin county, Kentucky, in 1816 with his brothers, Moses and Lindsey George, who settled at Shelbyville, Ky. The mother of Dr. George was a member of the Jameson family, an old Virginia family. The ancestry of both the George and Jameson families goes back to the pre-Revolutionary days of the Virginia colony. Dr. J. J. George was a graduate of the Transyl- vania College at Bairdstown, Ky., and also studied at Lexington, Ky. He was married in 1841 at Mt. Sterling, Ky., to Mary (Catlett) Orear, a daugh- ter of Robert Catlett Orear, who was born in Mt. Sterling, Ky., January 30, 1814, and departed this life March 27, 1876, in Johnson county, Missouri. Dr. J. J. and Mary George were the parents of the following children: Rob- ert died in June, 1905, on his ranch in Coffey county, Kansas; Joel S., who
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resides at Peace River Crossing, Alberta, Canada; Mary E., wife of J. H. Russell, died June 28, 1911; Mrs. Malinda Morrison, of Tecumseh, Okla .; Benjamin Franklin, born in Saline county, settled in Coffey county, Kansas, and now resides in Denver, Colo .; Mrs. James Granville Morrow; two who died in infancy : James Nelson contracted fever at Central College, and died October 26, 1875, aged twenty-one years and twenty-nine days; Lee Davis, a ranchuman, of Coffey county, Kansas. Four of these children were born in Kentucky, and the last four were born in Missouri, where the family re- moved in 1850.
Dr. George was a minister of the Gospel and a member of the Methodist Episcopal conference in Kentucky from 1838.10 1839. He came to Missouri to farm and preach the Gospel, but was impressed very early in his western career with the woeful dearth of skilled medical care for the sick and ailing of the backwoods country, and was frequently called to the bedside of people who were supposed to be dying, and whom he realized could be easily saved with some medical attention. Fired with zeal to assist an unfortunate and suffering people, he conceived the worthy idea of studying medicine, so that he could be of material assistance to his people other than in a religious sense, He returned to Kentucky and entered the Medican College at Lexington. After completing his course he returned to Saline county, Missouri, and engaged in the practice of liis profession until old age came upon him. He then re- moved to Cass county, Missouri, and became a local minister. His was a long and useful life, every matured year of which was given in behalf of his fellowmen. unselfishly and devotedly. He was one of the noted missionaries of the early days in Missouri and extended the word of the Gospel to the remotest settlements. He organized churches and Sunday schools where they seemed needed most and his work called him to preach the Word in log houses and the most primitive habitations of man. Dr. George was deeply in love with his great work, and loved the people, and worked tirelessly for their well being in a religious and practical way. He departed this life August 4, 1875. The last public utterance which he made was when he spoke to a Sunday school assemblage in Coffey county, Kansas, in the village of Key West. His end was peaceful and tranquil, and the departure of this good man's soul to the realms beyond mortal kin marked the passing of one of the truly great men of the western country whose work will go on and on forever. Dr. George and Captain Morrow became great friends in the early sixties.
On Thanksgiving day of 1915, just the day before Mr. and Mrs. Mor- row's forty-first wedding anniversary, the captain's last illness began which
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resulted in his passing away. His burial occurred on December 4 from Trin- ity Episcopal Church, Rev. Otis E. Gray officiating, with the Masonic lodge of Atchison conducting burial service at the grave. He was for many years a Mason and was greatly interested in the Masonic fraternity, rarely being absent from the lodge meetings, his last spoken regret having been that he would be unable to attend the ceremonies held at the laying of the corner- stone of the new Masonic Temple in Atchison. The last five years of Captain Morrow's life were perhaps the most satisfactory and the happiest of his ex- istence. His years of retirement, although few as compared with that of most men, were spent almost entirely at his beautiful home, with occasional visits to his farm lands. He was loath to retire, and did so only at the urgent insistence of his devoted wife, and for quite a long time after he was eighty years of age he would insist on driving across the river to his farm. He took the greatest pleasure with his grandchildren, and especially with his namesake. In his later years he became a specialist in gardening and fruit growing merely for his own satisfaction and would frequently surprise his family with some very choice and rare fruits grown in his gardens and orchards. From his orchard of peach trees he gathered over 400 bushels of peaches in one season, and also set out an apple orchard which he attended assiduously. He became a disciple of the famous Luther Burbank and was a member of the Luther Burbank corporation. Through the exercise of his skill as a fruit grower he produced several kinds of rare berries and was continually experimenting in small fruits and vegetable growing. It was fitting that the life of Captain Morrow should close in such a manner and that during his last years he was permitted to indulge himself in his favorite pur- suits, surrounded with the loving and watchful career of his devoted wife, who was always his confidant and adviser, and to whom he went in time of stress or trouble for comfort and advice. His was a life well spent and his memory will live long in the hearts and minds of those who knew him best.
ORLANDO C. SCOVILLE.
In the northeast part of Benton township. in a comfortable farm home on section II, range 18, there resides the oldest pioneer settler of that section of of the county, the review of whose career takes one back to the days of the Civil war when he shouldered a musket in defense of the Union, and to the early days of Kansas history when the long freight trains hauled by oxen and
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mules were leaving Atchison for the far West. We are reminded of the Indian troubles which beset the hardy freighters as they convoyed their treas- ures across the wide reaches of prairie and mountain. In all these things Or- lando C. Scoville, Union veteran, old-time freighter, and pioneer farmer, par- ticipated. and it is meet that the story of his life and adventurous career be recorded for the entertainment of succeeding generations of men and women in order that they might know how a wilderness was redeemed and what manner of men their forefathers were and whence they came.
Orlando C. Scoville was born February 4. 1846, in Cook county, Illinois, on a farm located just twenty-two miles from the city of Chicago. His father was William Scoville, born in 1820, at Watertown, N. Y., a son of Abijah Scoville, a native of Connecticut, and a scion of an old New England family. Abijah Scoville was a carpenter by trade and his art was transmitted to his descendants. William Scoville received a good education in his native State, and taught school in New York when a young man seventeen years old. . As early as 1842 he came west, to Cook county, Illinois, and owned a farm in that county which he cultivated until 1865 when he came to Atchison, Kan., where he first engaged in the handling of live stock. Later he was in the lumber business with a Mr. McCoy, who later sold out to Henry T. Smith, and he and Smith conducted a wagon and lumber business on Utah avenue, just east of the old Episcopal church, between Fourth and Fifth streets. William eventu- ally sold out his business and moved to a farm in Benton township, south of where his son, O. C., lives, and there died in December, 1891. Previous to removing to his farm he was foreman of the Hixon Lumber Company's inter- ests in Atchison. The mother of Orlando C. was Lucinda Lasher, whom William Scoville married in New York, and who removed to Arrington after her husband's death, and there died in November, 1893, at the age of sev- enty-five years. William and Lucinda Scoville were the parents of seven children, two of whom died in infancy ; Imogene, wife of A. W. Mulligan, of Blue Rapids, Kan .; Orlando C .; Eulalie, died in Atchison in 1866, and is buried in Oak Hill cemetery; Freeman, a railroad engineer for many years, and who died at Arrington, in 1911 ; Giles, a successful law practitioner, lo- cated in Chicago, and who studied law under the late Senator John J. Ingalls.
O. C. Scoville was reared to young manhood on the farm in Cook county, Illinois, and when eighteen years of age enlisted ( 1864) in Company B. One Hundred and Thirty-second regiment, Illinois infantry. He served for six months in the Army of the Tennessee, under General Thomas, and took part in the several hard-fought battles, among them being the battle and siege of Atlanta. His command started on the march with Sherman, to the sea, but
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were turned back by department orders. After his war service ospired he came to Atchison and joined the family. His first occupation in Atchison was the operating of a wagon shop, just across the street from the Blair Mill. and it is a matter of history that his shop was used as the first depot of the Central Branch railroad, then building. He ran the wagon shop for two years and then made two trips across the continent in the capacity of freighter and con- voying a herd of cattle. In 1867 he was one of the freighters in charge of the first train sent over the Smoky Hill route for Butterfield to Denver. The live stock was run off by the Indians during this trip, and Butterfield came out and found them after four weeks' search ; his next trip was to Salt Lake City. In 1868, he with others, drove a herd of milch cows which had been sold by McCoy to a man named Murray, and consigned to him in California. This trip required eighteen months to consummate, and they were forced to winter in the Antelope valley on Walker river. After taking the cattle to their destination he returned across the mountains to Reno, Nev., and there boarded the train for the rest of the journey home, Reno at that time being the western terminus of the railway. During 1869 he worked for one year in the engineering corps of the Santa Fe railroad, and in that winter his father bought his present farm in Benton township. In the fall of 1872 he moved to the farm where he has resided continuously for the past forty-three years. In 1893 he bought the farm formerly owned by the family and has increased his acreage until he and his son are the owners of 400 acres of land, the latter owning 180 acres, upon which formerly stood three sets of farm buildings, one of which was destroyed by fire in April, 1915. His present residence was erected in 1893.
Mr. Scoville was married in Atchison May 8, 1873, to Virginia Williams, born in Greenbrier county, Virginia, in 1854, and a daughter of Alexander Williams. Her father died when she was very young and she came with her mother and stepfather to Missouri in the early pioneer days when her mother died and she was adopted by Mrs. Miller, a music teacher, of Atchison, Kan. Three children were born to this union, namely: Katie died in infancy; Will- iam C., born August 10, 1875, married Myrtle Lollar, and has two children. Earl, born December 13, 1911, and Alice, born May 16, 1914. William C. is the only living son of Orlando C. Scoville. Mrs. Scoville died in October, 1913.
This sturdy pioneer has been a Republican ever since he cast his first vote, and is one of the true blue variety who prides himself on being a "stand- patter," who believes thoroughly in the principles of his party and will never desert the standard of Republicanism. He has never held office and has
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never been a seeker after political preferment ; has never been a party to a law suit, never served on a jury, and has been called only once in his lifetime to the witness stand. He has endeavored at all times to live at peace with all mankind and has succeeded to such an extent that at a ripe old age, this pioneer settler of Atchison county is living in peace and comfort in the home which he created out of a wilderness.
Mr. Scoville cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in St. Louis, in 1864.
JOHN JAMES INGALLS.
John James Ingalls, author, lawyer, and United States Senator, was born in Middleton, Mass., December 29. 1833, a son of Elias T. and Eliza ( Chase) Ingalls. He was descended from Edmond Ingalls, who, with his brother, Francis, founded the town of Lynn, Mass., in 1628. His father was a first cousin of Mehitable Ingalls, the grandmother of the late President Garfield. His mother was a descendant of Aquilla Chase, who settled in New Hamp- shire in 1630. Chief Justice Chase was of this family. After going through the public schools Ingalls attended Williams College, at Williamstown, Mass., graduating in 1855. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1857. The next year he came to Kansas and in 1859 was a member of the Wyandotte constitutional convention. In 1860 he was secretary of the ter- ritorial council and was also secretary of the first State senate, in 1861. The next year he was elected State senator from Atchison county. In that year. and again in 1864. he was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the anti- Lane ticket. During the Civil war he served as judge advocate on the staff of Gen. George.W. Deitzler with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1865 Mr. Ingalls married Miss Anna Louisa Chesebrough, a descendant of William Chesebrough, who came to this country with Gov. Winthrop in 1630. Her father. Ellsworth Chesebrough, was a New York importer who came to Atchison. Kan., in 1859, and at the time of his death, in 1860, was an elector on the Lincoln ticket. Of this union eleven children were born, six of whom were living at the time of Mr. Ingalls' death, viz: Ellsworth, Ethel, Ralph, Sheffield. Marion and Muriel.
In 1873, "Opportunity." of which Mr. Ingalls wrote in his declining years, knocked at his door. He was made a candidate for United States senator at a private caucus one night and was elected by the legislature the next day. His career at Washington, covering a period of eighteen years, was one of
John & Ingales
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great brilliancy. He quickly acquired distinction, and Speaker Reed remarked before he had learned the name of the new senator: "Any man who can state a proposition as that senator does is a great man." As a parliamentarians he was unsurpassed. Senator Harris, a Democrat from Tennessee, said: "Mr. Ingalls will go down upon the records as the greatest presiding officer in the history of the senate." His speeches made him famous. He was the master of sarcasm and satire, as well as of eulogistic oratory. Ilis address on John Brown, a speech of blistering satire; the one delivered in Atchison after his vindication in the senate ; and his eulogies of Senator Hill and Sen- ator Wilson are classic masterpieces seldom if ever excelled in oratory. Sen- ator Ingalls was a strict partisan, an invincible champion of any canse, and a bitter and persevering opponent. During his three terms in the senate his greatest efforts were in the advocacy of the constitutional rights of the free- dom of the South and the rights of the veterans of the Civil war. When a wave of Populism came over Kansas it found him practically unprepared. He had given little attention to the money question and the tariff, and it was these things which were clamoring for solution. He was defeated by the Populists for senator in 1891. Mr. Ingalls said many times that he valued a seat in the senate above any other honor in the gift of the American people. As an author Mr. Ingalls won his reputation first by a number of articles appearing in the old Kansas Magasine, among which were "Cat-Fish Aris- tocracy" and "Blue Grass." His poem, "Opportunity." is worthy to be classed with the greatest in the English language, and it may yet outlive his reputation as an orator and statesman and be his lasting monument. After leaving the senate Mr. Ingalls retired from active life, traveled for his health, and died in New Mexico, August 16, 1900. In January, 1905, a statue of him was installed in Statuary Hall at Washington with fitting ceremonies, being the first statue to be contributed by Kansas, although Mr. Ingalls during his lifetime had urged upon the State to place one of John Brown in this hall.
SIDNEY MARTIN.
A publication of this nature exercises its most important function when it takes cognizance of the life and labors of those citizens who attained prom- inence and prosperity through their own well directed efforts and who were of material value in furthering the advancement and development of the commonwealth. Sidney Martin came to Atchison county in 1856
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when a boy of eleven. He endured the hardships common to the resident of Kansas previous to and during the Civil war period. He made several trips between Atchison and Denver as a freighter; drove over some 400 miles of country infested with Indians and narrowly escaped death at their hands. He bought the first section of land that was sold in the Kick- apoo reservation and became one of the most successful farmers and stock breeders in northeastern Kansas. He was actively identified with the develop- ment of this section of the State and attained prominence and influence as a citizen.
Sidney Martin was a native of Kentucky, born in Estill county on Novem- ber 1, 1846, a son of Jackson H. and Polly ( Walters) Martin. His ancestors, paternal and maternal, were among the first to settle in the Virginia colony. coming from England in 1607. His father, Jackson H. Martin, best known to the residents of Atchison county as "Uncle Jack" Martin, was also a Kentuckian, born in Estill county on January 15, 1812, a son of Robert and Mary (Harris) Martin, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Robert Martin served in the War of 1812 and was a commissioned officer. The epaulets from his uniform were in the possession of the family until a few years ago. Subsequent to this service he removed to Kentucky and was one of Daniel Boone's companions and was with him during many Indian fights. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Estill county.
Jackson H. Martin, or "Uncle Jack," as he was commonly called, was reared in Estill county, married there, and in 1855 brought his family to Buchanan county, Missouri, where he lived one year. In the spring of 1856 he came to Kansas and settled at Mormon's Grove. The place derived its name through being a former Mormon emigrant settlement. It was about five miles from Atchison. "Uncle Jack" and his family occupied the Mormon cabin until he could build one of his own. He preëmpted a quarter section of land at this point and engaged in farming. A native of Kentucky, a Dem- ocrat as well, he naturally became involved in the turmoil of events preceding the Civil war. For the protection of himself and family, he built a double wall of stone and earth around his dwelling. This caused it to be called Ft. Martin. The place was attacked one night by Jayhawkers who were after horses. The attacking party were driven off without booty and several of their number were wounded. "Uncle Jack" continued to reside at Ft. Martin until 1878, when he became a resident of Effingham. He built the Martin Hotel and conducted it for a number of years. He was a success as a host, his hotel was famous for its cookery and hospitality and Effingham the gainer by his coming. His death occurred in April, 1902, at the age of
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ninety years. He had lived an eventful life, had watched Kansas grow from a sparsely settled, faction-torn border State to one of the most prosperous agricultural commonwealths of the Union. He had met many of the most famous men of her formative period, and was a personal friend of John A. Martin, Paddy Brown, Governor Glick and Charles Robinson. His wife, Polly Walters, whom he married in Estill Springs, Ky., died in April, 1895. They were the parents of four children: Ann Elizabeth, the wife of William Hight, of Fremont county, Colorado; Sidney, the subject of this review ; Mary W., widow of Gilbert Keithline, of Atchison county, and Sally, widow of Henry Woodard. Twins died in infancy. Martha died at the age of sixteen years. Sally (Martin) Woodard was born in Estill county, Ken- tucky, in 1852, and came with her parents to Kansas in 1856. She was reared on the old Martin farm in Atchison county, and in 1869 married Henry Woodard, who was born in Evansville, Ind., in 1844. He was a son of Philander Henry Woodard, who came to Atchison in the early sixties and engaged in the milling business. After his marriage Henry Woodard settled on a farm in Jackson county, where he remained until 1874, when he located in Effingham and engaged in the mercantile business. He followed this line of occupation until a few years before his death which occurred May 30, 1914. He is survived by his widow and the following children : Philander Henry, Jack Martin, Gilbert Campbell, Dorothy, wife of Elmer Percival, of Sheridan county, Kansas : Helen Lee, wife of Rolla Taliaferro; and Sally Bernice, a student in the Atchison Business College.
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