USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 59
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Frank Sutter was born January 8, 1871, on a pioneer farm in Walnut township, Atchison county, and is a son of Frederick Sutter, deceased. of whom a complete biography is written in this volume. Frank Sut- ter came with the family to Benton township in 1880 and lived on the home place, two miles west of Effingham, and after his father's death he and his brothers, Fred and William, became the owners of the section of land which has since been divided, Frank taking a quarter section as his share when the division of land was made. The sons of Frederick Sutter farmed the family estate in common until 1902, and, after various changes following the division of the estate Frank became the proprietor of 245 acres in one tract, which he is now cultivating.
Mr. Sutter was married in 1909 to Mrs. Kate (Cook) Pitman, a widow,
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who is the mother of eight children by her first marriage, as follows : George. now in Montana ; Ralph, living in Iowa ; Mrs. Elsie Mann, of Nebraska ; Mrs. Vera Blair, a resident of Effingham; Margaret, at home; Mrs. Geneva Per- due, of Huron, Kan .; Helen and Thomas reside at home. Mrs. Sutter was a daughter of E. F. Cook.
While Mr. Sutter is a Republican in politics, he votes independently in county and local matters, and supports the candidate who seems best fitted for the office, in his judgment. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Sutter is of a high type of the successful farmer who has made good in his inherited vocation. The success of each individual member of the Sutter family is die, to a great extent, to their cooperation and ability to work together for the common good of the whole family, collectively and individually, while the family fortunes were in process of building.
BISHOP K. HAM.
Bishop K. Ham, one of the younger successful farmers and stockmen of Grasshopper township, Atchison county, is the last surviving representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of the western part of the county. He resides on the old homestead of the Ham family, consisting of 170 acres of land, upon which his father homesteaded in 1861. B. K. Ham was born on this farm July 23. 1882, a son of Martin W., and Margarette (Black) Ham, natives of Fleming county, Kentucky.
Martin W. Ham was born near the town of Flemingsburg, Ky., April 13. 1834, and was a son of George and Ruth Ham, also reared in Kentucky. The grandfather of Martin W. was John or "Jackie," a native of Greenbrier county, Virginia, and was of Scotch-Irish lineage. The Ham family is a very old one in this country, and the great-grandfather of B. K. Ham was John, better known as "Jackie" Ham, who was one among the earliest pioneer settlers of Kentucky. Martin W. was reared to young manhood in Fleming county, Kentucky, and there married Jane Humphreys. In 1861 the Ham family left Kentucky in search of a home in the West, making the long trip overland to Missouri by wagon. After a short stay in Missouri they came to Atchison county, Kansas, and settled on the farm now owned by Mrs. Mar- garette Ham. All of Martin W. Ham's worldly possessions when he landed in Kansas was his team and wagon and a few household necessities. The land
Hon. Martin W. Ham
Mrs. Martin "W. Ham
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was wild and there were few settlers on the prairies in Grasshopper township. where he made his settlement and eventually developed a fine farm. He be- came an extensive cattle and hog raiser and made considerable money in this manner.
Martin W. Ham was twice married, his first wife, Jane Humphreys Ham, dying May 18, 1879. He married his second wife, Margarette Black, June 28, 1880. One son was born of this second marriage, Bishop K. Mrs. Mar- garette (Black) Ham was born March 29, 1854, a daughter of M. M. and Rebecca (Simms) Black, the former a native of Virginia, and of Irish lineage. He was one of the early pioneer settlers of Kansas. Martin W. Ham died in 1908. From the start of his career in Kansas M. W. Ham took an active and influential part in civic and political affairs of his county and State. During the border ruffian days he was active in affairs and was a Free State man. He was captain of Company G, Kansas Home Guards, during the Civil war. He held various township offices and was elected a member of the Kansas State legislature in 1869, serving one term. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was affiliated with the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges.
Bishop K. Ham, with whom this review is directly concerned, received his education in the district school of his neighborhood and also studied in the college at Hiawatha, Kan., for one year. He then took up farming, and after his marriage lived on a neighboring farm until his father's demise. He then came to the home farm which he has since been cultivating with consider- able success. Mr. Ham has made a record as a breeder of horses and mules second to none in Atchison county. He is the owner of a magnificent, im- ported black stallion, "Illico," six years old, which he purchased from the well known importer, Charles Kirk, of St. Joseph, Mo. He is the owner of a high class jack and is a successful breeder of mules. The pride of his farm is his fine herd of thirty thoroughbred Jerseys, headed by the pedigreed bull. "Loren's Lad," both the sire and dam of which were imported. By means of holding annual sales Mr. Ham will dispose of the surplus stock of his herds of cattle and horses. The Ham farm is well improved in every way with good commodious buildings, silo, etc., a fine modern home, all grouped to- gether on a beautiful location.
Mr. Ham was married October 19. 1905, to Miss Carrie B. McCubbins, and to this union has been born: Marguerite Ham, born April 17. 1907. Mrs. Carrie B. Ham is a daughter of Robert D. and Elizabeth ( Tenry ) McCubbins, who were early settlers in Atchison county. The McCubbins
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family first settled near the city of Atchison, and later came to Grasshopper township.
Mr. Ham is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Muscotah, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Aid societies. He is one of the best known and rising young agriculturists of the county and will undoubtedly make a name for him- self among the breeders of the State of Kansas and middle West.
CHARLES H. LINLEY.
Charles H. Linley, a prominent physician and surgeon, of Atchison, may very appropriately be called the dean of the Atchison county medical pro- fession. Dr. Linley is a Kentuckian. He was born in Livingston county, Kentucky, June 19, 1847, and is a son of Dr. Thomas and Maria (Barker) Linley, natives of Lewis county. Kentucky. Maria Barker, the mother, was a daughter of Admiral Barker of the United States navy. Dr. Thomas Linley, the father, was born in 1806. He was a son of Thomas Linley, a native of England, who settled in Virginia at an early date and later removed to Ken- tucky, and was a pioneer of this State. Thomas Linley, the father of Dr. Charles H. Linley, was a large plantation owner and owned many slaves in Kentucky prior to the Civil war, but was a strong Union man and believed that slavery was wrong, and when the Civil war came on he was pronounced in his anti-slavery views, and notwithstanding the position of many of his neighbors and friends and lifelong associates, he stood firmly by the Union. He was a graduate of the old Transylvania Medical College, at Lexington, Ky. He began the practice of his profession at the early age of nineteen years, and for forty-five years practiced most of the time in the vicinity of Salem, Ky. He came to Atchison, Kan., in 1866, but remained a short time, when he re- turned to Kentucky, where he died March 31, 1880. Dr. Thomas and Maria (Barker) Linley were the parents of thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy, and four are now living, as follows: Dr. Charles H., the subject of this sketch; Isaac resides on the old homestead in Salem, Ky .; Mrs. Laura Hill resides at Liberty, Mo., and Joseph W., now living retired in Atchison, Kan. After receiving a good academic and classical education, Dr. Charles H. Linley entered Miami Medical College, now known as the Ohio Medical Col- lege, at Cincinnati, and was graduated from that institution in 1877 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1880 he located in the city of Atchison
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where he has practiced his profession with uniform success for the past thirty- five years. He is one of the oldest physicians in the number of years in practice in Atchison.
Dr. Linley was married in 1879 to Miss Fannie W. Gregory, a native of Kentucky. She was born in 1854 and is a daughter of James Gregory and a member of a prominent Kentucky family. Her father died when Mrs. Lin- ley was fourteen years of age. Dr. and Mrs. Linley are the parents of the following children : Maria, born in 1880, and died in 1909: Corinne, a teacher in the Atchison high school, and a graduate of Midland College and the State Normal school at Emporia; Ray G., traveling salesman for Blish, Mize & Silliman; Nora B., a graduate of Midland College, now a teacher in Colo- rado: Alice, a graduate of Midland College, now a teacher in the grades at Atchison, and Louis D., traveling salesman for Blish, Mize & Silliman.
Dr. Linley is a Democrat and has taken an active part in the welfare of his city and county. He has served as city health officer for several terms and was police commissioner for Atchison for one year. He served on the board of United States pension examiners for eight years during Cleveland's administrations. He is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, the Fra- ternal Aid, and the Foresters of America. The Linley family are members of the Christian church.
L. C. ARENSBERG.
L. C. Arensberg, one of the younger business men of Atchison, and mem- ber of the enterprising and successful firm of Babcock & Arensberg, shoe merchants, is a Hollander by birth, and a hustling American in every sense the word implies. It has long been a matter of note that the natives of Holland who became American citizens are more apt and take more kindly and quickly to the ways of this nation than the people of any other European country. This country seems to become their natural habitat, and they be- come citizens in both deed and word after a few years' residence here. Mr. Arensberg was born in Holland, September 17, 1880, and is a son of William and Alegunde (Muskens) Arensberg, who immigrated to this country in 1885, actuated by a desire to locate in a land where their children would have more and better opportunities for success than their own little, crowded, native country afforded. They believed rightly and were successful in establishing a home in Atchison where they had relatives who had preceded them to the newer country. The Arensberg family established themselves in reasonably
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comfortable circumstances in Atchison in a short time. There were nine children in the family of William and Alegunde Arensberg.
L. C. Arensberg was educated in the parochial and high schools of Atchison. Then he obtained a position as all round man in Bradley & Oster- tag's shoe store. Here he was employed for ten years and thoroughly learned the ins and outs of the shoe business, becoming a very proficient salesman. In the meantime he carefully saved his money, with a view to eventually en- gaging in business for himself. His ambition was at last realized, and in 1906 he purchased an interest in the Babcock & Stallons shoe store, buying out the interest of Mr. Stallons. He is a full partner in the business and has won a place of merit and honor among the leading merchants of Atchison.
Politically, Mr. Arensberg is a Democrat, and is inclined to be liberal in his views and independent in his voting. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Loyal Order of Moose, and is a member of St. Benedict's Catholic Church. He is active in the affairs of the Atchison Commercial Club, and is recognized as one of the real "live wires" of the business and civic life of his home city.
W. B. COLLETT.
W. B. Collett, district agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wis., is one of the progressive business men of Atchi- son. He was born in Liverpool, England, in 1860. and is a son of John and Mary (Heuston) Collett, the former a native of Wolverhampton, Stafford- shire, England, and the latter of Tipperary, Ireland. John Collett was a prosperous importing provision merchant when the Civil war broke out in this country. The importing business fell off to such an extent in European ports that business was injured to such an extent that the failed, and came to the United States, and in 1862 sent for his family, consisting of his wife and three children. During his youth he served a seven-year apprenticeship in the provision trade. In 1879 he came to Atchison as head salesman for the Fowler Brothers Packing Company, and remained with that company until 1883. He then went with the Armour Packing Company, of Kansas City, in the same capacity, and was with that company for fourteen years, when he was made manager of their branch at St. Paul, Minn., and later he was the European representative for Jacob Dold Packing Company, of Buffalo, N. Y. In 1908 he retired from active business and took up his residence on a farm near Richards, Mo., where he died, in 1911, at the age of seventy-nine years. His wife survives him and resides on the farm where he died.
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John Collett was a man of unusual ability, and had few equals as a salesman. He was a capable executive and thoroughly understood handling large commercial enterprises. He was a master salesman and always com- manded a large salary. He was a money maker, although he died possessed of but a small amount of this world's goods; he was a money maker rather than a horder of dimes.
WV. B. Collett, whose name introduces this sketch, was educated in the public schools, and when a young man went to work in the Elgin watch works, at Elgin, Ill., and in 1879, when the family came to Kansas, he went to work for the Fowler Brothers Packing Company, where he remained about a year. He then entered the employ of Bowman & Kellogg, millers, as book- keeper, and later became a buyer and salesman for that company. In 1888 he engaged in the general insurance business, and three years later entered the employ of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and has been with that company ever since with headquarters at Atchison. Mr. Collett was married in December, 1886, to Miss Annie Heermance, who came to Atchison with her mother in 1883 from Hudson, N. Y. She was one of the old Holland families of New York and taught in the Atchison High School prior to her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Collett have two children as follows : Mary E., educated at Wellesley College, took her master degree at the University of Pennsylvania, then one year of post-graduate work at Brown University, at Providence, R. I., when she became instructor of biology at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa., and W. B .. Jr., who was educated in the Atchison public schools, Culver Military Academy, Culver, Ind., and the State Agriculture College at Man- hattan, Kan.
Mr. Collett is an Episcopalian, a York Rite Mason and a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has been active in the work of these organizations for years.
JAMES DOOLEY.
The late James Dooley, of Shannon township, left behind him a life's record that is well worth recounting, and deserved an hon- ored place in the memoirs of the county, in which he was for over forty years a prominent and well known figure. As a pioneer he did his part well in building up Atchison county. The story of his life is romantic in many ways,
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and he was always imbued with the idea of providing well for his beloved family, and leaving his affairs in such a stable condition that his descendants could carry on the great work which the father and founder of the family had so well begun and brought to such a substantial culmination.
James Dooley, deceased, was born January 6, 1835, in Ireland, a son of Irish parents, James and Catharine Dooley, who left their native land in 1847, and located in Canada, where the father, James Dooley, the elder, became ill and died in the city of Hamilton. Although the young Irish lad was but twelve years of age and immature, it was necessary for him to go to work and gain a livelihood the best way he could. He managed to get a job which paid him one dollar and a half per month with his board. He was knocked about from pillar to post while a youth, and managed to make his way. His adventures in making a struggle for an honest livelihood were similar to those of other poor orphan boys left in a strange land without friends or relatives, other than those who were as poor as himself. One bright rift in the lonely life of this orphan boy is to be noticed when he became a boarder in the Hur- ley home at Harrisburg, Canada. It was here that he met with a genuine kindness and formed an attachment for the noble-hearted girl who later be- came his inspiration, and was his faithful wife during the years in Kansas when he was working his way upward to wealth and affluence, aided and abetted by her wise counsel and assistance. Imbued with a desire to secure capital so that he could come to this new country and realize an inherent am- bition to own a farm, he set out for the gold fields of Colorado during the Civil war years, and there amassed a small fortune of $500 in gold, saved during the months of his hard and unremitting labor in the gold mines of the western State. With this capital he felt able to make the venture which he and his sweetheart had planned, and, accordingly, after his marriage at Paris, Canada, with Catharine Hurley, he and his wife set out for Atchison in March of 1866. During the first few months of their residence in Atchison county they lived with a sister of Mr. Dooley, Mrs. Slattery, in Shannon town- ship, and James worked in the city at any honest labor he could get. Their first investment was for eighty acres of school land in Shannon township, for which they paid cash, and it then became necessary for Mr. Dooley to borrow forty dollars in order to get the deed for the land. During the whole course of Mr. Dooley's career in Atchison county, while the modest eighty acres were growing to the large total of 600 acres of some of the best agricultural land in the county. they never undertook a debt, but each time an additional tract of farm land was purchased, the savings were drawn upon and cash paid for the land. Each of three sons now has a fine farm of
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200 acres. The home place upon which Mrs. Dooley now resides, which consists of 200 acres, cost an even $10,000. This farm is one of the oldest in the county and was originally preempted by a Mr. Collins. who set out a large grove of forty acres or more in walnut and cottonwood trees which have become very valuable, having grown to considerable size.
Catharine (Hurley) Dooley, widow of James Dooley, was born April 28, 1847. in Ireland, a daughter of James and Bridget Hurley, who left their native land in 1847 while Katharine was but an infant, and located in Ham- ilton, Canada, later residing in Harrisburg, Canada. A brother of Mrs. Doo- ley, James Hurley, served three years and three months in the Union army. He was a member of a Pennsylvania reserve regiment of sharpshooters and was wounded during the battle of Richmond, Va. For six months, while the wound in his wrist was healing, he served as sergeant in the quartermaster's department. Some years after the war he became an inmate of the National Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Ohio, and lost his life while aboard an excursion boat which sank in Lake Michigan, near Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Dooley were the parents of fourteen children : Mrs. James Baker, Huron, Kan., and mother of eight children, Celia Baker, a trained nurse in Chicago, Mary, wife of George Perdue, Joseph, William, Bertha, Ruth, Rita and James; Cath- arine, James and Mary, deceased ; Sister Lucy, of Mt. St. Scholastica Acad- emy : Lucy, wife of David Lawless, and mother of two sons, Harold and Clevett : Mrs. Celia Finnegan, wife of Thomas Finnegan, of Houston, Texas, who had two children, Thomas Lillis and Mary; Bertha, Sister Dorothy, of the Order of St. Benedict's in Mt. St. Scholastica Academy; Nora, wife of Roger Finnegan ; William, managing the home farm; John, deceased; James married Bertha Kistler, and has three children: Florence, Bernice, and Francis: Edward married Henrietta Kramer, and has two children, John and Gerard : Joseph, deceased ; Irene, at home with her mother.
It is well to add here that James Dooley was one of the notable army of hardy freighters who crossed the plains with the long mule trains in the late sixties. This was in April of 1866, when he convoyed a train load of goods to Denver, Colo., in company with William Slattery. During his whole life, after attaining his majority, Mr. Dooley was a stanch Democrat and was ever loyal to Democratic principles. While a member of the Catholic church, he was a liberal supporter of all denominations, and took a hroad and tolerant view of all religious matters as becoming a widely traveled and experienced man. His life-long wish to perpetuate his name and keep the family estate in the family was expressed while lying on his death bed. Calling his faith- ful helpmeet to his bedside, he said : "Mother. I am leaving you without hav-
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ing my dearest wish come true." On being asked what it was, he said: "I have always longed for the time to come when I could see my sons settled on this farm of ours, with a Dooley here with his family, a Dooley there, and another son on that part of the farm." He was at once assured by his wife that his wishes would be respected, and after his demise Mrs. Dooley at once took steps to carry out the plans of her husband with the result that within sight of her home the other two sons are comfortably located on 200 acres of land each and have attractive homes of their own.
ABRAHAM HOOPER.
Abraham Hooper, deceased, was one of the pioneer settlers of Atchison county. He was one of the well known and sturdy figures in the early days of the settlement of Kansas when strong and brave men were required, who were able to face the vicissitudes and hardships incident to the settlement of a new country and perform their tasks without succumbing, as weaker mortals were wont to do. Mr. Hooper was born in Platte county, Missouri, November 23, 1839, on a farm, near Parkville. His father was Abraham Hooper, a native of Tennessee and early settler of Missouri, who died in Mexico. Abraham Hooper, the subject of this review, was reared in Platte county and came to Atchison county in 1858, settling on a farm near Pardee. While engaged in farming he followed his trade of plasterer in the neighbor- hood of Pardee. For a distance of ten miles around his own residence he plastered all of the houses then building by the incoming settlers. During the Civil war he was enrolled in the State militia. In his younger days Mr. Hooper was a freighter and crossed the plains in charge of great trains on three different occasions. On one of his trips to Colorado he was placed in charge of a train load of twenty-five wagons, and one of his other trips was to Ft. Union, N. M. His affiliations were with the Christian church, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Knights of Pythias lodges.
Mr. Hooper was married in 1863 to Louisa Campbell, born in Tennessee in 1842, a daughter of Daniel and Nancy Campbell. The Campbell family left Tennessee in 1854, and in 1855 removed to a farm which they preempted near Farmington in Atchison county. This was in a day when things were in a primitive state in Kansas. The Campbells lived in a cabin which was one of the first dwellings built in that section of the county. The mother of
Daniel &. Hooper
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Mrs. Hooper lived and died on their farm, and her father died on the western plains while on a trip to the Black Hills. Mr. and Mrs. Hooper removed from the farm to Atchison in 1887, and here Mr. Hooper died February 18, 1914, at the advanced age of seventy-four years, having been born November 3, 1839. Three children were born to this well respected couple: Addie B. died at the age of six years; Daniel, deceased, and Nellie died at the age of one year. Mrs. Hooper lives all alone in her home, but remembers fondly the days of old and has many sweet memories of her husband and children to solace and comfort her during her declining years. Despite her age she is physically and mentally vigorous and is distinguished in being one of the oldest pioneer women now living in the county.
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