History of Atchison County, Kansas, Part 51

Author: Ingalls, Sheffield
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1032

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Mrs. Gibson takes a just pride in keeping the place in spick and span condition and she has a beautiful lawn fronting the White Way road which attracts the attention of travelers.

BENJAMIN PATTON CURTIS.

Benjamin Patton Curtis has been for sixty-one years a Kansan. Looking back what wonderful changes do these years present to the onlooker! The privations, vicissitudes and perils of those days in which the State was born; the beginning of her commerce when the ox team and flat-boat were the principal means of transportation ; the five long drawn-out years of civil strife in which the Union was preserved; the era of agricultural development, when the wild prairies were transformed into fruitful fields of golden grain ; the epoch in which railways were keeping pace with the settler, the merchant, the manufacturer, and steam and electricity displaced the ox team and stage coach. Sixty-one years in Kansas, from the days of the prairie schooner, flat-boat and pony express, to the days of the automobile, air-ship and tele- phone ; to have done his share in connection with these great developments ; to have through his unaided efforts and with determination and energy achieved success to have so lived that he is honored by his friends and neigh- bors, entitles the man whose name initiates this review to a prominent place in this publication, the history of the county in which he is passing the sunset years of his life.

Benjamin Patton Curtis, pioneer, successful farmer and Civil war vet- eran, since 1904 a resident of the city of Atchison, was born on the twenty- seventh day of March, 1839, while his parents were encamped in the wilder- ness of Missouri, a terrific snow storm having interrupted their journey to Illinois. His father, John M. Curtis, was a native of southern Tennessee.

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He had married when a young man, Mary Ann Warren, also of that State, and with his young wife had settled in Missouri. They were both of Scotch- Irish ancestry and came from a remarkably long-lived line of forebears, one of whom lived to the age of 104 years. In 1839 the family removed from Missouri and settled in Adams county, Illinois, where they remained until 1854, when they came to Kansas Territory, settling just across the Missouri river from St. Joe. John M. Curtis became a stanch Republican after seeing the abuse of slaves while in Missouri, and he was one of the fearless men who came to Kansas for the purpose of making her a free State. He pre- empted a quarter section of land and then engaged in "following the river," as it was then termed, flat-boating, rafting and steam-boating. His three sons, among whom was our subject, also followed that occupation for a time.

Ben P. Curtis spent the first fifteen years of his life in Adams county, Illinois. His schooling was scant and that little was acquired in the country schools. In his fifteenth year he came to Kansas Territory with his parents, as has been previously stated, and within a short time was employed on the Missouri river. The free life of the plains called him, but as his two brothers had run away from home, and he was the only son left, his longing to become a freighter was unsatisfied, as he preferred to remain with his father. He was one of the first in his section of the State to heed President Lincoln's call for volunteers, and in May, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, First Kansas Volunteer infantry, under Capt. B. P. Chenowith. He was with his regiment in all its engagements, and is Atchison's only survivor of the battle of Wil- son's Creek. After the burning of Holly Springs with $2,000,000 worth of supplies, the First Kansas was compelled to live off the country. During the march to Memphis, and while out foraging, Ben Curtis was captured and taken to Ripley, Miss. He was paroled, and while waiting to be exchanged he and a companion, Alverton Abbey, decided to exchange their uniforms for the rebel grey and join the Union lines as deserters and reënlist in some regi- ment other than their own, knowing full well they would be shot if they were again capturd while serving with the First Kansas. They were successful in securing the rebel uniforms and gained the Union lines, Curtis taking the name of C. F. Barker and his comrade, Abbey, that of William Payne. He enlisted in the Fifth Illinois cavalry, and Ben Curtis, under the name of C. F. Barker. At the time of his capture he was serving as sergeant, and when enlisting under Captain Chandler he showed him his parole as Sergeant B. P. Curtis. The captain assured him he would not lose his rank and he was accordingly made a sergeant and served as such until mustered out in February, 1864.

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On conclusion of his military service he returned to Doniphan county and resumed his old employment of "following the river," remaining in this field of occupation until 1867, when he bought a quarter section of land in Doniphan county and engaged in farming. He made a success as an agri- culturist, was an active and influential factor in the life of his section and reared a family of six daughters, all of whom are women of education, in- tellectuality and refinement. In 1901 Mr. Curtis' health failed and he dis- posed of his farming interests and became a resident of Troy, and in 1904 came to Atchison, where he has since resided.

On July 23, 1865, Mr. Curtis married Mary Eliza Ashcraft, a daughter of Jeddiah Ashcraft. She was born July 23, 1844. in Larue county, Ken- tucky, her marriage being on the twenty-first anniversary of her birth. The first eight years of her life were spent in her native State, the following three in Missouri, and in 1855 her father brought his family to Kansas and took up a claim near Mt. Pleasant, where she lived until her marriage with Mr. Curtis. She was for a time a teacher in the Doniphan school. They are the parents of the following children : Bird, the wife of Judson F. Thayer, of Stormsburg, Neb. ; Anna, the wife of Julian Tait, of St. Joseph, Mo. ; Mable, the wife of William Maynard, of Cologne, S. D. : Maude, the wife of A. W. Toole, of St. Joseph, Mo. : Jessie, the wife of C. H. Allison, of Chicago, Ill .; and Frances, the wife of A. E. Williamson, of Troy, Kan.

On July 23, 1915, their children, sons-in-law, grandchildren, friends and acquaintances gave them signal honor in a fitting observance of their golden wedding anniversary. The Atchison Globe of that date says in part : "Fifty years ago today Miss Mary Eliza Ashcraft and Benjamin Patton Curtis were married in Doniphan." Of their first meeting it states: "The Ashcraft home was on the old Military road, and when Ben Curtis, a soldier in the Civil war, passed there Mary Ashcraft handed him a cup of water which hte drew up from the well. However, that was not the beginning of the love affair which culminated in the marriage of Mary Ashcraft and Ben Curtis. They fell in love with each other in Doniphan, where Miss Mary Ashcraft went to teach school, and Mr. Curtis does not accuse his wife of 'chasing' him. He asked for an introduction to the pretty school teacher. After he received it he never took another girl." Mrs. Curtis is the type of woman everyone admires. Her home is her kingdom and she rules it wisely and well. She has never belonged to a woman's club, but when there is sickness or trouble at her own home. or in the neighborhood, Mrs. Curtis is on hand, capable, gentle and sympathetic. She rules her home with a velvet hand, and her hus- band says that he notices as the years glide by he gets off at the stations for

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which she has bought the tickets, not because he has to, but because he wants to."

Of Mr. Curtis it states : "If you don't know Ben Curtis there is missing from your acquaintance one of the most companionable of men. Friends who have hunted and fished with him say that he is a seventy-seven year old prince. A lover of wild life, he has thoroughly enjoyed his retired life, which has now covered a period of fourteen years. In the summer he hunts the best game and fishing resorts of the North, and the winter is liable to find him down around Corpus Christi, Texas, or some other locality that is attractive when this climate isn't. At Leach Lake, Minn., a famous resort on Leach Lake, if you tell the people that you are from Atchison and a friend of Ben Curtis, the place instantly belongs to you." Without sons of his own, he has naturally taken a great interest in his nephews and is justly proud of the posi- tion attained by the following, all of whom are Doniphan county boys: Ed- ward Franklin, formerly of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. now professor of chemistry at Leland Stanford University; Thomas Franklin, a prominent insurance underwriter, of Chicago; and Professor Will Franklin, of Lehigh University. The latter is also the author of several text books which are in general use.

Mr. Curtis has been a life-long Republican, and during his residence in Doniphan county took an active part in its political affairs. Political office has never appealed to him, and, although often urged by his friends to accept nomination, he refused. He is a member of Severance Post, No. 391, Grand Army of the Republic, and is prominent in Masonic circles. He has attained the Knights Templar degree and is affiliated with Abdallah Temple, Mystic Shrine.

JOHN W. ABNER, M. D.

John W. Abner, M. D., although recently locating in Atchison, his skill and ability as a capable and painstaking physician has met with ready recog- nition and he has a large and growing practice. Dr. Abner is a native of Kentucky. He was born in Clay county, in 1867, a son of John and Matilda (Robinson) Abner, both natives of Kentucky. Dr. John W. Abner was one of a family of three children whose parents died when they were very young and the children were reared by friends and neighbors.

When Dr. Abner was fifteen years old he started out to make his own way in life. He was always of a studious turn of mind and by his own ef-

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forts obtained a very good education. At an early age he determined to be a physician and bent his every effort in that direction. He learned the car- penter and cabinet maker's trade, and after working at his trade for some time he entered the Eclectic Medical College of Kansas City, where he was grad- uated in the class of 1912 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Kansas City, Mo., where he remained until February, 1915, when he located in Atchison, Kan. He has a fine suite of offices at 712 1-2 Commercial street and is meeting with well merited success. Doctor Abner was married in 1902 to Ada Pearl Wade, of Kansas City, Mo., and they have one child, Dorothy, born January 6, 1905. Dr. Abner is a member of the Christian church and takes an active part in the work of his denomination and has served on the board of trustees. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. Dr. Abner is a past noble grand and senior warden of Subor- dinate Lodge, No. 577, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and past chief patriarch of Encampment, No. 27, of Kansas City, Mo., and is a member of the Patriarchs Militant, No. 14, Kansas City, Mo.,

Politically, he is an independent Republican and takes a keen interest in political as well as current events generally. He is a close student of the science of his profession and aims to keep himself thoroughly posted in the rapid advances that are constantly being made in the world of medicine and surgery.

WILLIAM HENDERSON.

William Henderson, one of the most industrious farmers of Benton township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born December 29, 1872, in the locality where he now lives. His parents, George and Amelia (Stockwell) Henderson, had six children, of whom the subject is the oldest. The others are James, Atchison, Kan., in the employ of the International Harvester Com- pany : Josie married Walter Kelsey, and now dead; Ella married Clayton Davidson, of Effingham, Kan .; Etta, wife of Arthur Olinger, Jefferson county, Kansas; Iva, married Elmer Grabiel, Garden City, Kan .; George Henderson was born in Platte county, Missouri, in 1844, and-came to Leaven- worth county, Kansas, with his parents when eleven years of age. Seven years later he came to Atchison county, where he has since lived, and is now retired, making his home in Effingham. The mother of William Hender- son was born in Missouri in 1846.

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William Henderson was reared on the farm and attended the district school near the farm, and the Effingham high school one year. He worked for his father until he was married to Nettie R. Jenkins September 5, 1900. His wife was born in Mitchell county, Kansas, in 1883, and is a daughter of James Q. Jenkins, who came to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1894, from Nebraska, but was born in Illinois. Mr. Henderson owns 180 acres of land which is all well improved, the improvements costing $5,000. Of four chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, three died in infancy. The living child, Floyd, was born May 28, 1904.

Mr. Henderson is a Democrat. He belongs to the Elks lodge of Atchi- son, Kan., and the Masonic lodge at Effingham. Though not a church mem- ber, he attends regularly. Mr. Henderson has made a success by hard work and good management. He is always in favor of movements which benefit the community and is a public-spirited citizen.

LUMAS M. JEWELL.

Potter is one of the coming and enterprising towns of Atchison county and Kansas. During the past few years the town has taken wonderful strides in the matter of public improvements and new buildings. A considerable portion of this push and enterprise is directly due to the energy and influence of Lumas M. Jewell, retired merchant and banker, who can well be called the "father of the present day Potter." Mr. Jewell has been a consistent booster for the town ever since his advent in the town, and has given of his time and money toward its development. Mr. Jewell is a self-made Kansan, who has had an interesting career, and whose rise from a poor boy to a posi- tion of comparative wealth and affluence is well worth recording in the an- nals of Atchison county.

L. M. Jewell was born on a farm in Wayne county, Kentucky. Decem- ber 3. 1861, a son of Heman S. and Susan Mary (Weaver) Jewell. His father was a native of Vermont, who immigrated to Kentucky when a young man, and engaged in farming operations. He followed farming during his life, until a few years before his demise, at the home of his son, G. W. Jewell, at Kidder, Mo., in 1913. L. M. Jewell received a meager education in the . schools of his native State, and his later success in life has been due entirely to his own efforts. His greatest education has been received in the stern school of experience, which is the best after all, and most useful, in develop-

I. M. Jewell, Peller, Kan.

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ing the real attributes of a man. When he was seventeen years of age, he left home and went to the home of an uncle in Michigan, where he attended school for a time. When he had attained his majority in 1882, he went to South Dakota and homesteaded a tract of prairie land. He stayed in South Dakota for two years and developed his homestead to such an extent that he was able to dispose of it for a good round price, and he then moved to Caldwell county. Missouri, and bought another farm, which he cultivated with a fair degree of success. Later, he embarked in the mercantile business in Marvel, Mo., for a period of three years, disposing of his business in 1892, and locating in Pot- ter, Kan. His first employment in Potter was with the general merchandise firin of Paxton & Kemper. Three years after entering the employ of this firm, Mr. Jewell purchased Mr. Paxton's interest for $1,500, paying $400 cash, and borrowing the remaining $1,100 with which to complete his pur- chase. It is remarkabe that he could have so established a reputation for business ability and integrity in that time as to be able to command that amount of capital to swing his first business deal in Kansas. His later suc- cesses date from that time on, and in the short time of three years he was out of debt, and the business had taken on larger proportions. W. T. Kem- per, his partner, then sold his interest in the store to a cousin, Madison Kem- per. from whom Mr. Jewell purchased the remainder of the business and became the sole owner. During this time the stock of the store had been increased, and the business had taken on a wider and a more general scope through Mr. Jewell's enterprise and the exercise of his decided business ability. He became sole owner of the store in 1897, and during the next three years the business was placed upon a permanent and staple footing, which yielded large profits for its owner. In 1900 Mr. Jewell conceived the idea of engag- ing in the real estate business, primarily for the purpose of building up the town of Potter and attracting more residents to the place. He acquired sev- eral business lots and began to erect buildings to such an extent that Potter soon began to take on the airs of a growing city. Where there was but one store building on the side of the street occupied by the Jewell store, he erected five new store buildings, which are occupied by merchants who have moved into the town in the past fifteen years. It is due to Mr. Jewell's enterprise in this regard that the business part of Potter has been developed. Whereas, when he first came to Potter the town boasted but three stores-his own store, a small hardware shop, and a grocery. All the stores were small and the town did not have a bank. At the present time Potter has two banks and every line of business is represented. As Mr. Jewell's business expanded his enterprises included a lumber yard, furniture stock and a grain elevator. See-

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ing the need of a bank, he started a plan of organizing the Potter State Bank in 1899, and after almost a year's effort, he received the assistance of O. A. Simmons in effecting the organization, and Mr. Simmons was the first cashier of the bank. Mr. Jewell later served as cashier, and is now the president of this bank. In 1910 Mr. Jewell disposed of his mercantile interests, and is interested mainly in real estate and farm lands in Jackson county, Mis- souri, and Atchison county, Kansas. He has also made a number of large trades in merchandise stocks.

Mr. Jewell was married in 1897 to Sinnie M. Shaw, a daughter of Henry Shaw, who was an early settler of Kansas. One child was born to them, Edna Fern Jewell, born in 1901. Mr. Jewell is a Democrat in politics, and Mrs. Jewell is a member of the Methodist church.

Mr. Jewell's efforts to advance Potter among the Kansas municipalities have not been confined to commercial activities alone, but he has always had in mind the welfare of the people along other lines. He had not been a citi- zen of the town but a few years when he conceived the idea that a newspaper would be of great benefit to the community in more ways than one. Conse- quently, he used every effort to have a paper established in the town, and the Potter Kansan, one of the best edited small weeklies, and one of the most pros- perous newspaper enterprises in the State, is the result of his dream. He has been foremost in the cause of education, and he worked unremittingly toward the erecting of the present modern school building and the establishment of a graded school system in the town. Such men as Mr. Jewell are the kind of citizens every town needs, and Potter has been the gainer for his civic enter- prise and the fostering of the growth of his adopted city.

WILLIAM R. DONNELLAN.

William R. Donnellan, hardware merchant and postmaster of Lancaster. Atchison county, Kansas, was born June 25, 1868, at Lancaster. He is one of six children of John and Mary J. (Davidson) Donnellan, as follows : Anna A. (Ostertag), of Atchison ; Thomas E., Parsons, Kan. ; William R., the subject of this sketch, Lancaster, Atchison county, Kansas; Emma B .. Atchison, Kan .; Margaret (A. Manglesdorf), Atchison, Kan .; Junia (J. Cleary), Shannon township farmer. John Donnellan, the father, was born in Ireland in 1827. When twenty years of age he left the Emerald Isle to trust his fortunes in America. Landing at Ellis Island, N. Y., he set out

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for the interior of New York State and found employment on a dairy farm. After a few years of hard labor there he went to Crawfordsville, Ind., and worked in a hardware store. In 1856 he left Crawfordsville and came to Kansas, where he preempted 160 acres of land in Lancaster township, Atchi- son county, and built a small, four room house and lived in the most prim- itive way. When he first broke the soil on his farm he used oxen, but later, as he prospered, he used improved methods of farming. He died on his farm in 1893. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and died in 1892, a year preceding the death of her husband.

William R. Donnellan was born and reared on his father's farm in Lan- caster township. He attended the public schools of Lancaster, and at the age of twenty-one went to Kansas City, Mo., and secured employment as a motor- man and conductor in the service of the Street Railway Company there. Three years later he became shipping clerk for the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company of Atchison, Kan., and a year later returned to his home and en- gaged in farming on the home place. He remained on the farm until 1903 when he moved to Lancaster and purchased the hardware stock of H. O. Whittaker. This is a large store, carrying $8,000 worth of stock. In poli- tics Mr. Donnellan is a Republican. He was elected mayor of Lancaster in 1907 and served until 1911. In 1903 he was appointed postmaster.

Mr. Donnellan was married in 1893 to Lillian M. Sanders, who was born February 12, 1870, at Lewisburg, Pa. She is a daughter of George L. and Elizabeth (Harrison) Sanders, both natives of Pennsylvania. They have one child, Eva M. (Carson), living in Lancaster. She is a graduate of the high school and business college. Mr. Donnellan is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, and the Knights and Ladies of Security lodges.

LAFAYETTE T. HAWK.

The biographical annals and the history of Atchison county, Kansas, record three distinct periods of settlement in Kansas and Atchison county. The first was the real pioneer era, when an influx of settlers came, who were the first to break the prairie and lay the foundation for future development. The second was directly after the Civil war, when many people came from all parts of the East and European countries. The later period was in the eighties, when there came from Ohio and Pennsylvania many excellent Amer-

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ican families who have prospered and taken leading places in the civic and agricultural development of the county. The Hawk family, of old Pennsyl- vania German stock, came to this county in the latter era. Lafayette T. Hawk, substantial and well respected, and prominent farmer of Benton township, was among this number, who can be reckoned among the latter-day old settlers of the county, and who has resided here for over thirty-four years, and has worked his way upward from the station of comparatively a poor man to a position of affluence in the county.

L. T. Hawk was born August 22, 1849, in Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of Jonathan and Margaret ( Neede) Hawk, both of whom were born and reared in the Buckeye State. Jonathan Hawk was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1822, and was a son of Leonard Hawk, born in Pennsylvania, of German parents. Leonard Hawk was an early immigrant in Coshocton county, Ohio, and settled in that county when the whole region was a wilder- ness and carved a farm from the dense woods which covered that part of the Buckeye State in the early part of the nineteenth century. He first came to Ohio in 1814. Jonathan Hawk came into possession of the old home place of his parents' in Coshocton county, but sold out in 1883. and came to Kansas, to join lis son, Lafayette T., who had preceded him to Atchison county by one year. During the first year of his residence here, he made his home on his son's farm, and then purchased the Shell property in Effingham, where he made his home until his demise in December, 1889. He was the owner of eighty acres of land which he farmed. Jonathan Hawk was the father of eight children, namely: Sarah died in Ohio; Lafayette T., of whom this re- view is written : Mary Jane Roll, widow of Samuel Roll, and residing in Ef- fingham; Samuel, living in Oklahoma; Mrs. Margaret Denbow, of Great Bend, Kan .; George Leonard, of Oklahoma; Edith Elzina died at the age of four years; John, deceased. The mother died in January, 1891, at the age of sixty-six.

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History of Atchison County, Kansas, Part 51

Author: Ingalls, Sheffield Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Ingalls, Sheffield
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1032