USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 44
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463
HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Charles Linley was reared in the city of Atchison and received his early education in its public schools. Subsequently, he entered Kansas University, where he completed a course in English. He initiated his commercial career in 1887 when he entered the employ of the First National Bank of Atchison in the capacity of collector. In 1892 he was appointed deputy treasurer of Atchison county. That he filled this position satisfactorily is attested through his having been elected treasurer of the county in 1899 and re-elected to that office in 1902. His second term expired in 1905, but he held over until 1907, as the gentleman elected to the office in the fall of 1904 died before being sworn in. The administration of the affairs of this office under Mr. Linley was marked by efficiency, economy and courtesy. During the last two years of this service he was the junior member of the Antle-Linley Grain Company of Atchison. In 1907 he was actively concerned in organiz- ing the Union Trust Company of Atchison, and was elected secretary and treasurer. He filled this position until 1909, when the Exchange State Bank was organized. This institution took over the Union Trust Company, and Mr. Linley was elected cashier. He remained with the Exchange State Bank until 1911, when he was elected cashier of the First National Bank, the insti- tution in which he had received his first business experience some twenty years previous, and in the organization' of which his father was an active factor. To the banking fraternity Mr. Linley is known as an energetic, able and progressive executive, one who has brought the administrative policy of his bank to a point of high efficiency. He has extensive commercial inter- ests aside from the bank. He is a stockholder in the Globe Publishing Com- pany. the Bailor Plow Company, and the Cain Milling Company. Since attaining his majority, he has been active in the political life of the county. and is one of the influential members of the Progressive party. Mr. Linley is a member and past exalted ruler of Atchison Lodge, No. 647, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a member of Atchison Lodge, No. 404, Loyal Order of Moose.
On June 26, 1890, in Atchison, Mr. Linley married Miss Roberta Wil- son Riddell, a daughter of Mrs. Josephine E. Riddell. They have one child, Robert Wilson Linley, born in Atchison, March 8, 1894. He was educated in the public schools of his native city and graduated from its high school. In 1911 he entered the law department of Kansas University, remaining until 1913, when he entered the University of Wisconsin, where he completed a course in English. In 1915 he entered the employ of the First National Bank of Atchison in the capacity of collector and remittance clerk.
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
WILLIAM H. BUSH.
William H. Bush, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchi- son county, was born January 16, 1856, in Hanover, Pa. He is a son of Elias D. and Sarah (Keithline) Bush, and was one of six children, as fol- lows: William, subject of this sketch; Samuel, deceased; John, deceased; Andrew, foreman of tailoring establishment in St. Louis, Mo .; Charles F., signal man for the Missouri Pacific railway in Colorado; Minnie, Atchison, Kan. Elias D. Bush, the father, was born December 16, 1834, in Penn- sylvania. He was a stationary engineer and also followed farming for a time. During the eighties he came to Atchison county and took up farming in Shannon township. For a few years he rented his land, but later bought 160 acres in section 26, Lancaster township, which is now owned by Amel Markwalt. Elias D. Bush followed farming here until 1904, when he sold his place and removed to Atchison, where he is now living in retirement. William H. Bush's mother was born February 27, 1834, in Hanover, Pa., and died in 1890, and is buried in Lancaster cemetery.
William H. Bush attended the common schools in Hanover, Pa., and later worked in the coal mines. In 1876 he left the East and came to Atchi- son county, Kansas, and for five years worked for his uncle, Andrew Keith- line, and then rented land in Shannon township for eleven years. He was successful in this venture, and in 1890 bought the farm of 160 acres which he now farms, in Lancaster township. When he took the farm it had only the most meager improvements, consisting chiefly of a small house and an old barn, both in a dilapidated condition. Mr. Bush has built a fine eleven-room house and a large barn, 64x60 feet. This barn cost him $3,000, and he is willing to wager that it is one of the best, though perhaps not the largest, in Atchison county. He now owns 320 acres of land in Lancaster township and has a number of head of high grade stock, including Shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. Mr. Bush is a practical farmer, who, with prac- tically no start, has, by hard work and diligent economy, become a man of comfortable circumstances. He holds a position of high esteem among the many acquaintances he has made in Atchison county.
On March 30, 1881, Mr. Bush was united in marriage with Ellen J. Christian, a native of the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish sea lying between Ireland and England. She was born January 24, 1857, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Kneale) Christian, both of whom were natives of the Isle of Man. Mrs. Bush died in February, 1911. They had six children, as follows: Cora, Atchison, Kan .; Harry, Atchison, Kan .; Mary Smithson,
MICHAEL J. HINES
WILLIAM II. BISHI
( IAS. IL. FALK
GEORGE DORSSOM
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Lancaster, Kan .; Ina, deceased; Sarah, Atchison Kan .; Jessie, Atchison, Kan. On October 29, 1913, Mr. Bush married Mary E. Christian, a niece of his first wife, and a daughter of Charles and Ellen J. (Wade) Christian, natives of the Isle of Man. She was born near Pardee, Atchison county, March 21. 1869, and attended the Catholic parochial school of Atchison. They have no children. Mr. Bush is a Republican and attends the Methodist church. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America of Lancaster. He also is a member of the Atchison County Pro- tective Association, of which he was one of the organizers, and served as president of the association for a number of years.
Mr. Bush is one of the most successful farmers in Kansas and is the owner of a highly productive tract of land. As an illustration of his success as a farmer, the records show that from a tract of twenty-one acres there was corn produced at an average of 108 bushels to the acre the first year, ninety-seven bushels to the acre the second year, and eighty-four bushels to the acre the third year, after which the land was sown to wheat in the natural order of crop rotation and the yield was thirty-eight bushels to the acre. Mr. Bush is a firm believer in crop rotation as a means of preserving the fertility of the soil.
MICHAEL J. HINES.
For an individual to come to Atchison county without funds and with practically no influential friends to assist him to achieve success, it is remark- able for him to accomplish in the rather brief period of twenty-six years as much as has been done by Michael J. Hines, of Lancaster township, Atchison county. It is apparent that Kansas presents unusual opportunities for a man to better his condition, if one man can accumulate 480 acres of land, become president of a flourishing banking concern and a stockholder in another im- portant city bank. The main reason for Mr. Hines' wonderful success must lie in the ability of the man himself, and the reviewer must of necessity con clude that the power to achieve was inherent in his mental and physical make- up, which, combined with industry, decided financial ability, honesty and uprightness has made him one of the leading citizens of his adopted county. Mr. Hines is a scion of old southern families, and comes of good old Vir- ginia stock on his mother's side, being descended from the well known Hun- ter family of Virginia, who were among the founders of the Baptist church in the southland. Mr. Hines is a large stockholder and director, and was
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
formerly vice-president of the Antelope Peak copper mines of Arizona. He is the owner of a 320-acre irrigated ranch in the Valier valley of Montana, near Valier.
Michael J. Hines was born July 5. 1863, in Roanoke county, Virginia, and was one of the twelve children of Henry and Katherine (Jeter) Hines, six of whom are living. The father was born in Rockingham county. Vir- ginia, in 1833. He was a Confederate soldier during the Civil war, having enlisted in Virginia but was not in any battles during the war. His life was spent in farming except for a time when he speculated in Confederate money. At the close of the war he had a sack full of Confederate scrip which could not be redeemed. He died at his home in Abington, Va., in 1898. His father, Richard Hines, was of Irish descent and was a plantation owner in Virginia. His mother was Sallie (Howmaker) Hines, and was of German descent. The mother of Michael Hines was also a Virginian, having been born in Bedford county, Virginia, in 1841. She died in 1890. She was a daughter of Allison Jeter. Her mother was a member of the Hunter family, who were among the first members of the Baptist church.
Michael Hines was reared and educated in Virginia and left that State in 1883 when he was twenty years of age. settling in Morgan county, Illinois. where he worked as a farm hand for six years. He then came to Atchison, Kan., and was engaged as foreman'by the Greenleaf & Baker Grain Com- pany. Six years later he bought his present farm of 160 acres. It was un- improved and none of the land was broken. Since buying the land he has made $10,000 worth of improvements on his place and has set out fifteen acres of orchard. This evidence speaks for the thrift and good judgment of Mr. Hines. He also has bought 480 acres of land in Lancaster township. He is a live, progressive farmer and stock raiser and keeps graded stock of all kinds on his farm. Mr. Hines is a shareholder and president of the Lan- caster State Bank, and is also a stockholder in the German-American Bank of Atchison, Kan. In politics Mr. Hines is a Democrat, but votes inde- pendently in county and State affairs, and for the individual.
Mr. Hines was married in 1800 at Alexander, Ill., to Lillie Kaiser, who was born August 27, 1870, and six children have been born to this union, as follows: Samuel, who was graduated from the Atchison business college, and is now farming at home; Frank, Helen, Louise and Lillian, all living at home, and one died in infancy. Mr. Hines is a member of the Methodist church and is a trustee and steward in the Shannon Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows of Lancaster, Kan.
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
CHARLES H. FALK.
Charles H. Falk, of Shannon township, is the owner of the first tract of land which was filed upon in the Atchison county land office in 1854. This farm was preempted by Capt. William Jackson, who was a justice of the peace and a captain of home guards during the Civil war, and died at Ft. Worth, Tex., in 1911. The first house built on the place was made from material taken from the cabin of a river steamer sunk in the Missouri river. Henry Falk, father of Charles, and his son, have made so many excellent improvements on the dwelling that the dining room of the present resi- dence is the only part of the old cabin now in use. This part of the home was built in 1857. The original owner set out a grove of cottonwoods in 1857 which was cut down in the fall of 1892 by the present proprietor, and erected a barn from the lumber sawed, which made over 112,000 feet of good merchantable lumber. Mr. Falk's barn was built from this lumber, with the exception of the shingles. Captain Jackson sold the land to Frank Fisher, who died in 1877, six months after the purchase, and it was bought by Henry Falk, father of Charles H., in 1878. After Henry Falk's death, Charles H. came into possession of the land by inheritance, and by purchase of the inter- ests of the other heirs. He has made very extensive improvements since be- coming the owner and despite that the soil has been in constant cultivation for more than sixty years the yield of crops is greater now than ever before. and the wheat crops in late years have exceeded twenty-two bushels an acre. The farm residence is attractively situated, in the center of the tract of 155 acres and is reached by a splendid driveway, kept in first class condition by Mr. Falk. In fact, the private road to the Falk residence is kept in far better condition than many of the country roads in Atchison county, and is in keep- ing with the general appearance of this fine farm.
Charles H. Falk was born May 23, 1864, in Watertown, Wis., a son of Henry, born in 1815, and died, 1894, and of Wilhelmina (Clout) Falk, born 1819. and died in 1901. Both parents were born on the River Rhine in Ger- many, and married in their native land. Henry Falk was a cabinet-maker and immigrated to Wisconsin in 1857, and worked at his trade until 1866, when he settled on a farm. He came to Atchison county with his family in 1879, and on February 2, of that year, moved on the farm which he had purchased the preceding year.
Charles H. Falk was married in 1885 to Elizabeth Wolters, a daughter of John Wolters, a native of Holland, who was one of the first brickmakers in Atchison and Doniphan counties. John Wolters emigrated from Holland
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
to Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1857, and came to Atchison in 1858. Dur- ing his long residence in Atchison he has been a manufacturer of brick, and the results of his handiwork are seen in the construction of many of the brick buildings in the city. Mr. Wolters was born in May, 1827, and is now over eighty-nine years of age and the oldest Atchison county resident at the pres- ent time. He lives a retired life on South Second street. Mr. and Mrs. Falk have children as follows : John H., a resident of Beattie, Marshall county, married Margaret Gressel, and they have two children, Karl and Pauline; Henry, in the employ of the Symns Grocer Company ; Anna, a seamstress, liv- ing with her parents ; Rose, wife of John McGrath, a traveling salesman for the Symns Grocer Company, and they have one child, Rosemary ; Herbert, aged twenty years, and Irene, aged ten years, both of whom are at home with their parents.
Mr. Falk and his family are members of St. Benedict's Catholic Church, and Mr. Falk is a member of the church committee of four councilors. He is a Democrat, but is inclined to be independent in his voting, having a decided leaning toward the support of those candidates that seem best fitted for the office. He has filled no civic office but that of township trustee. which he held for one year, having been appointed by the county commis- sioners to fill a vacancy in Shannon township. He is affiliated with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and the Central Protective Association and is a member of the St. Joseph society.
GEORGE DORSSOM.
George Dorssom, one of the oldest living pioneer settlers of Lancaster township in point of residence, now living retired at Lancaster, Atchison county, was born August 4, 1864, in Lancaster township, Atchison county. He is a son of George and Sophia (Storm) Dorssom, and was one of thir- teen children, four boys and five girls of whom are still living. The subject of this sketch was the seventh child of the family. The father of George Dorssom, whose name also was George, was born in Germany January 8, 1820. He sailed to America and settled in New Orleans when a young man and worked as a tailor there. He then went to Wayne county, Ohio, where he worked as a tailor for a time, when he engaged in farming. In 1860 he came to Atchison county, Kansas, and bought forty acres of prairie land in section 21, Lancaster township, which he broke with oxen. He farmed on
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
this place until his death in January, 1895. He came to America a stranger and without funds, but by hard work he accumulated considerable means and reared ten out of a family of thirteen children. His wife, Sophia, was a de- voted help-mate, and when they were struggling to make their farm pay, she would load up a small hand wagon with vegetables and garden truck and pull it to Lancaster, where she would sell or exchange the produce for goods. This trip was two miles, and it was a great exertion for Mrs. Dorssom, but she was glad to be able to help her husband in whatever way she could. After the death of her first husband she was married again on February 19, 1896, to Jacob Merkel, a native of Germany. He died March 12, 1908. His wife is still active, despite her age, and lives in Lancaster with a maid. She is able to be about her work and takes a keen interest in life. Her children are: Mrs. Margaret Kleppe, a widow, residing in Brown county, Kansas; Mrs. Katherine Hinz, a widow, Lancaster, Kan .; John, farmer, Lancaster town- ship; Mrs. Caroline Kloepper, deceased; Mrs. Sophia Myer, living in Sol- dier, Jackson county, Kansas ; Adam, Lancaster township; Louisa Henrietta, dead; Mrs. Lizzie Myer, of Lancaster; Dora W., deceased; Adam, of Lan- caster, Kan .; Mrs. Louisa Fridel, Brown county, Kansas; Henry, farmer, and three children who died in infancy. She has forty-five grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren and is very proud of them all. Her descend- ants all carry the idea of an industrious woman with them and the in- fluence of the life of this woman will stay with them all through their lives.
George Dorssom, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm of his father. He attended school in the Bell district and worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-five years of age. He then bought eighty acres of land from his father in section 21, Lancaster township, and followed farm- ing for fifteen years. He has added forty acres to his farm and made exten- sive improvements to the extent of $7,000. He now owns 138 acres of land and a fine residence with about five acres of residence property in Lancas- ter, Kansas. Mr. Dorssom was a breeder of Berkshire hogs, to which he paid special attention. In 1909 he retired and moved to Lancaster, Kan. He is a Republican and was a member of the city council for four years. For a term of seven years he was road supervisor of Lancaster township. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs of his community. He has led a useful life and looks back on one of the longest careers of living citizens who were born in Atchison county. He has traveled in many parts of the United States, but is glad to have settled down in retirement in Atchison county, believing it to be the happiest country he has ever seen.
On December 31, 1890, Mr. Dorssom married Hulda Hinz, who was
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
born in Germany October 1, 1860. She came to America when she was twenty years old. Her father, Edward Hinz, died in Germany in 1895, at the age of fifty-eight years. The mother, Caroline (Lutce) Hinz, came to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1896, and now resides at Leavenworth. Mrs. Dorssom attended school in Germany. She was one of nine children. A brother, Richard, is a florist at Leavenworth, Kan., and two brothers are in the same business, one, Rudolph, at St. Joseph, Mo., and the other, Amiel, at Leavenworth. Mr. and Mrs. Dorssom have no children, but they adopted a child, Gustave Hinz, a nephew of Mrs. Dorssom. They reared and educated him, and he is now farming on the home place. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dorssom are members of the English Lutheran church. He is a char- ter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has been a mem- ber of the Lancaster Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 355, since October, 1891, nearly twenty-five years. Mrs. Dorssom is a charter member of the Daugh- ters of Rebekah Lodge, No. 431.
CYRUS E. DAVIS.
Cyrus E. Davis, founder and proprietor of the firm C. E. Davis & Sons, plumbing and heating contractors, at 509 Kansas avenue, is one of Atchison's leading citizens, and a successful business man who has built up his business from a modest beginning in a few short years. He first started with a small shop on Commercial street, and in October. 1914. moved to his present location. A complete stock of plumbing, heating and steam fitting goods is carried in the shop, exceeding a value of $2.500. The excellence and thor- oughness of the work done by the Davis establishment is marked, and the business is constantly on the increase.
Mr. Davis was born October 10. 1864. in Frederick county, Maryland. son of George W. and Belinda ( Saunders) Davis. The Davis family is a very old one of Welsh extraction in America. The founders of this family were four brothers, who crossed the ocean and left their native land of Wales early in the seventeenth century. George W. Davis was also born in Fred- erick county. Maryland, and became a contractor and builder. He followed his trade in his native State until 1873, when he migrated to Nebraska with his family. Later lie went to Texas, where he died in 1900. He was the father of nine sons, as follows: George W., a contractor and builder, of David City, Neb .; Harry W., a building contactor, of Houston, Texas ; Theo-
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
dore E., a contracting painter, of Columbus, Neb. ; Mahlon, a tailor, located in Norwalk, Ohio; William M., deceased ; Lewis A., a tinner and coppersmith, of San Bernardino, Cal., in the employ of the Santa Fe railroad; Cyrus E., with whom this review is directly concerned: Frank H., business agent for the Carpenters' Union of Oklahoma City, Okla. The mother of these chil- dren was also born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1825, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Saunders, natives of England. Walter Saunders came of a good English family and studied in a boarding school of Southhampton. England, and became a school teacher in Maryland. He had the distinction of having taught for forty years in one school district in Frederick county, Maryland, and became well-to-do. Mrs. Davis died in 1889.
Cyrus E. Davis was educated in the public schools of Columbus, Neb .. learned his father's trade when a young man, and after taking a correspon- dence course in bridge engineering, lie entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company as bridge constructor. He remained with this road for five years and came to Atchison in 1886. He was employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company until 1905 and then entered the plumbing and heating department of the Farwell Heating Company for one and one- half years, and then became foreman for the Thayer Supply Company of Atchison. In the year 1912 he started a shop of his own on Commercial street and was successful from the start. It became necessary for him to seek larger quarters, and in October of 1914 he moved his business and shop to his present location.
Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Ida Mayhood in 1889, and to this union have been born seven children, as follows: Frank M., George E., Reynold, Fred, Norma, Charles, and Verner, deceased. All of Mr. Davis' sons are associated with him in his business, and have learned to become expert plumbers and steamfitters under their father's tutelage. The mother of these children was born November 9, 1869, in Leavenworth county, Kan- sas, a daughter of George and Mary (Carr) Mayhood, natives of Ireland, and Canada, respectively. George Mayhood emigrated from Ireland in an early day and settled in Leavenworth county about 1865, where he engaged in farming. He and his wife were married in Lowell, Mass.
Mr. Davis is a Republican, and has taken an active and influential part in the civic life of his adopted city, having served two terms as a member of the city council. He and his family are members of the Christian church. and he is fraternally connected with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Active Lodge, No. 158, and the Modern Woodinen of America, in both of which lodges he is much interested.
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
HENRY BUTTRON.
The life story of Henry Buttron, late of Lancaster township. Atchison county, Kansas, reveals the accomplishments of a poor German emigrant, who began his career in Kansas with no money, and rose to become the practical leader of the German colony in the township, and to amass considerable wealth. His large farm of 960 acres which he owned at the time of his demise was left intact, to be held in trust for his children and heirs.
Henry Buttron was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, October 12, 1831, and he was one of the five sons of Jacob and Margaret (Zimmer) But- tron, two of whom came to America from their native land. Two brothers of the family, Frederick and Henry, came to America in 1852; Frederick settled in Pittsburgh, as did Henry, and he resided there until 1854, and then came to the West. In his native land, Henry Buttron had learned the trade of blacksmith; he worked at his trade in Pittsburgh, and after he came west, he was employed as a smith at Elgin, Ill., until 1857. He then came to Kansas and preëmpted a claim on section 22, Lancaster township, Atchison county. He brought a small amount of money with him, and was enabled to build a very small house, and then began to improve his farm. The crops failed in 1860, and he found it necessary to resort to the hammer and anvil in order to gain a livelihood for himself and his family. He, accordingly, removed to Atchison and was employed at his trade by Tom Ray, of the firm of Ostertag & Carmichael, and Anthony & Ostertag, consecutively for nine years. He then returned to his claim, redeemed the unpaid taxes, and entered upon a new era of progress and industry which led to his great success in the ensuing years. In 1882 he erected a large, handsome farm house, which at the time was one of the most conspicuous homes in the county. He added to his pos- sessions as he was able, and accumulated a total of six quarter sections of good land, of 960 acres in all, all of which he left to his widow, who resides on the old home place.
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