USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 63
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
During the year of 1913 he made over 757 shipments from Atchison to dis- tant railway points. Mr. Intfen is an extensive advertiser and believes in publicity for a healthy, growing concern such as he has built up.
Theo. Intfen was born December 24, 1861, in Weston, Mo., and is a son of William and Mary ( Piekman) Intfen. of Prussia. The Intfen home was just across the Holland-Prussian line. William Intfen and his wife immigrated to America in 1853 and made their first home for a number of years at Weston, Mo. In October, 1862, they crossed the Missouri river by means of a ferry and located on a farm, two and one-half miles north of Atchison. The elder Intfen developed his farm and reared a family. At this time there were not many settlers in Atchison county, and the city was but a village. The first store of the town was then doing business, and Theo Intfen can recall its appearance. Large trees stood on the site of many of the present business blocks. William Intfen became the owner of 180 acres of land, and was a prosperous farmer for those days. Mrs. Intfen died on the home farm in 1885. William Intfen came to Atchison after her death, and died in 1901, at a ripe old age. Five children were born to them, namely : John J., a merchant, of Atchison: Theo, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Minnie Miller, living at 714 Laramie street: Mrs. Anna Falk, of Andale, Kan. ; Henry died at the age of two years.
Theo Intfen was reared on the pioneer farm and attended the dis- trict school in his neighborhood. He assisted his father on the home place until he attained his majority, and then decided to do things for himself. He went to Kanopolis, Eldridge county, Kansas, and opened the first store in the town. He sold sixty-two dollars' worth of merchandise the first day he arrived from boxes in the street before getting into the store. He placed the first stock of goods in Kanopolis, and made the first sale of merchandise in the town. One year after establishing this store he sold out at a nice profit and returned to Atchison, where he engaged in the furniture business, as before stated. His success has been due to pronounced ability as a salesman, and his excellent judgment in financial affairs, and a knowledge of what the people will buy, and the carrying out of his plan to supply patrons on the credit plan, which is optional with the customer.
Mr. Intfen was married in 1893 to Miss Emma Zibold, and to this union has been born a daughter, Louise, born September 29, 1894, educated in Atchison and graduated from the Atchison Business College. From 1912 until her marriage she was her father's bookkeeper. She was married on October 17. 1915. to LeRoy A. Osterbog, in charge of cost department of the Atchison Saddlery Company. Mrs. Intfen is a daughter of Merman Zibold,
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a native of Germany, who first settled in St. Louis, then lived in St. Joseph, and from there came to Atchison.
Mr. Intfen is an independent Democrat, politically, and does his own thinking as to what candidates he will support for office, when it is time for him to cast his ballots. While interested in good government, he does not take an active part in political affairs. He is strictly a business man, who has built up a monument to his own individual enterprise and energy through the development of the large Intfen store. He is likewise interested in his home city and takes a just pride in the fact that he has done his share to assist the development of Atchison, and is proud of the knowledge that he has witnessed the growth of a beautiful and prosperous city from its very beginning. He is a member of St. Benedict's Catholic Church, and is affil- iated with the Modern Woodmen.
THOMAS FINNEGAN.
Thomas Finnegan, an Atchison county pioneer, who came to this county forty-eight years ago, is a successful farmer of Shannon township, and has resided on his present place for forty years. Thomas Finnegan is a native of Ireland, born in 1842, and is a son of Patrick and Hanora Finnegan. The father died when Thomas was less than a year old, and the mother came to this country, and died in Atchison county, at the home of her son, Thomas, in 1899, at the remarkably advanced age of 102 years.
When Thomas Finnegan immigrated to America, he first settled in Con- necticut, where he remained for five years. He then went to Iowa, remain- ing in that State for fifteen years. While living in Iowa he worked out by the month a great deal and often worked for as low as eight dollars per month. In March, 1867, he came to Kansas, and after spending a short time in Atchison county, removed to Doniphan county, and for about two years worked at breaking prairie land with ox teams. He followed farming about two years in Doniphan county, and was also interested in a threshing outfit, which he operated for a time, and in 1870 he returned to Atchison county, and in 1871 bought 160 acres of land in Shannon township, where he has since been engaged in farming and has met with uniform success. He has one of the best farms in Atchison county, under an excellent state of cultivation, with a large producing orchard. Mr. Finnegan is a great lover of trees and timber, and in the early days in Kansas planted a great many trees, and now
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has a fine grove on his place, with many large maple, elm and walnut trees, as well as cottonwood, which adds greatly to the appearance of his place.
During the war Mr. Finnegan was employed as a Government teamster, and in 1863 he drove transfer teams in St. Louis. He was married in 1869 to Miss Anne Morley, a native of Ireland, born in 1850. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Finnegan : Nora married J. J. Slat- tery, Shannon township; John resides in Atchison; Mary married Joseph Schlesbaum, Atchison; Thomas, Houston, Tex .; James resides in California ; Margaret married Joseph Longan, Doniphan county ; Agatha resides at home, and Roger, farmer, Atchison county. Mr. Finnegan leans to independence in politics, and the family are members of the Catholic church.
SAMUEL E. BALLINGER.
Adjoining Atchison, to the westward there are many beautiful and well kept suburban homes. Along the road which borders Forest park on the west are some especially fine homes with well kept grounds, dotted with flowers and shrubbery, in striking contrast to the unkempt con- dition of the park upon which these suburban estates front. These homes make ideal places for people who have spent the greater part of their lives in farming pursuits, and, while wishing to be near the city, yet wish to have a larger space for a home setting than the thickly settled parts of the town would afford. In one of the beautiful homes fronting the highway resides Samuel E. Ballinger and his faithful wife and helpmeet, who have been resi- dents of Atchison county for many years and are both descendants of old eastern families.
Samuel E. Ballinger was born September 7, 18.43, in Salem county, New Jersey, a son of John G. and Sarah Ann (Reeves) Ballinger. His paternal grandfather was also named John G., who married a Quaker lady. His maternal grandfather was Stephen Reeves, a scion of an old eastern family, and in his day a leading ship builder of New Jersey. The father of Samuel E. was born in 1827 and died in 1906. During his life he was a miller and farmer and prominent in the affairs of Salem county, New Jersey. He was twice married, his first wife, Sarah Ann, dying in 1850, leaving three chil- dren : Stephen R., a retired miller of New Jersey, now deceased; Samuel E., and Thomas E., residing in Atchison. John G. Ballinger's second wife was
Alvs. S. C. Ballenger.
S. C. Ballenger.
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
Sarah Austin, who bore him the following children: John, Charles, Walter, Ella, Gertrude, Emma, and Minnie.
Samuel E. received his education in the public schools of his native county and State and early learned to perform his share of the work required in the operation of his father's gristmill and farm. He hauled grist from the mill to town and to the patrons of his father's mill and assisted in cultivat- ing his father's farm when yet a boy in years. When he attained young man- hood he was associated with his father in the livery and feed business at Camden, N. J., for a period of three years. He and his brother. Stephen. then bought the gristmill which they operated in partnership until 1871, fol- lowing which he farmed for one year and then disposed of all of his holdings with the intention of migrating to Kansas. He came to Atchison, Kan., with a capital of $350 which he invested in eighty acres of improved land, cost- ing him $2,400. This land was but partly improved, with a modest home of two rooms and a lean-to at the rear. He and his good wife by dint of economy and perseverance soon managed to pay off their indebtedness and to erect a rather pretentious dwelling, at the same time increasing their land holdings. Their first purchase was an eighty acre tract near the home farm, and they later bought a tract of 160 acres near Huron in Lan- caster township, which they later traded for eighty acres near Shannon. Mr. Ballinger was the possessor at one time of 240 acres of well improved land. As age crept upon this worthy couple they gradually disposed of their land holdings until they retained but forty acres of the home place, and they moved to Atchison in September of 1907. where they invested in a beautiful suburban estate of five acres. Later, when they disposed of the forty acre farm they added ten acres to the suburban tract which has since become very valuable on account of its nearness to the city.
Mr. Ballinger was married September 7, 1870, to Janie Louise Paxson, and to this union have been born children, as follows: Mrs. Evelina Lancas- ter, of Severance, Kan., who is the mother of six children, namely : Samuel E., Sarah Catharine. William Andrew, Fred, Harry and Leonard; Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Yaple, of Atchison, mother of children as follows: Albert, Louise, Ruth, Esther (deceased), John, Edwin, Austin, Raymond, and Ernest, and twin boys, Harold Paxson and Herbert Ballinger. The mother of these children, Jane Louise ( Paxson)' Ballinger, was born December 2, 1844, in the city of Philadelphia, daughter of Samuel W. and Catharine ( Speer) Pax- son. Her father was the son of Irish parents and her mother was born of German parentage. Samuel W. was a carpenter by trade who was married in Camden, N. J., and plied his trade in that vicinity for many years. He
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served in behalf of the Union during the Civil war in a Pennsylvania regiment of volunteers. A brother, Henry, served in the Tenth regiment of New Jersey volunteer infantry.
Mr. Ballinger has always been a Republican in politics, but has never taken an active part in political matters. He is a member of the Central Protective Association. He is essentially a home man and takes a pride in keeping his attractive home in excellent condition, and can be seen most any day working about the grounds surrounding the Ballinger home. Mr. and Mrs. Ballinger are a worthy couple, kind and indulgent with their children whom they have endeavored to rear so that they might lead upright and worthy lives in the community.
CHARLES WILLIAM ROBINSON.
Charles William Robinson, county physician of Atchison county, assistant surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, and one of the prom- inent and successful members of the medical profession in northeastern Kan- sas, is a native son of the Sunflower State and was born on his father's farm in Noble township. Marshall county, March 1, 1890, a son of William F. and Mary ( Critchfield) Robinson. His parents were born in Buchanan county. Missouri, his father in 1853. and his mother in 1857. William F. Robinson became a resident of Kansas in the seventies, locating in Marshall county, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. He is one of the extensive land owners of that county, his properties exceeding 1,200 acres. He has been actively identified with the development of his section, is one of his county's most influential citizens, and has attained a secure position in its commercial, social and political life. Mr. Robinson has been married twice. Two children, James M. Robinson, M. D., of Hiawatha, Kan .; and Lucille, now Mrs. Dr. A. E. Ricks, of Atchison, were born of the first marriage. Our subject, Dr. Charles W. Robinson, is the only child of the second marriage.
Dr. Robinson received his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native county, supplemented by a course in the Hiawatha Academy. He subsequently completed a course in Washburn College, To- peka. and then entered the medical department of Kansas University, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, a member of the class of 1913. Following his graduation, he located for practice in the
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
city of Atchison, where he formed a partnership with Dr. C. A. Lilly. Shortly after engaging in the practice of his profession, he was appointed county physician, an unusual honor for a practitioner to receive during his first year of practice. That he has filled the office with credit is attested by his having been re-appointed in 1914, and again in 1915. Dr. Robinson has built up a very lucrative practice and is recognized as one of the most able of the younger members of the medical profession in his section of the State. The demands of his practice have not caused him to forego his habit of study. He keeps abreast of the advancement in medicine and surgery, and during the winter of 1914-15 completed a post-graduate course in diseases of children at the Nursery and Child's Hospital, New York City. He is a member of the Atchison County Medical Society, the Kansas State, and the American Medi- cal Associations. He is also a member of Orient Lodge, No. 57, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Topeka; Atchison Lodge, No. 647, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Atchison Aerie, No. 173, Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Royal Arcanum, Fraternal Aid, Kansas Fraternal Citizens, Homesteaders, Yeoman of America, and Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Since becoming a citizen of Atchison, Dr. Robinson has taken an active interest in those measures and projects which have had for their object the betterment and development of the city. He also finds time to take an active part in its social life. Dr. Robinson is unmarried.
JOHN McINTEER.
John McInteer was a builder who had an abiding faith in the eventual development of the West. He was a pioneer citizen of Atchison, and a prom- inent figure in the city for over forty-five years, and had an intimate acquaintance with the sturdy characters who had much to do with the develop- ment of the Sunflower State. He came to Atchison in the days when the great wagon trains left in a continuous, and often unbroken, stream for the Far West with their valuable cargoes of freight. So great was his confidence in the ultimate growth of his adopted city that he invested his savings in real property, built of brick and stone, which are still standing in the city. The handsome McInteer block on Commercial street is a monument to his enterprise and faith in the growth of the city. Mr. McInteer was well and
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favorably known among the coterie of famous men who have cast luster upon Atchison and the State of Kansas. He was a consistent and unremitting booster for his home city and State, and the substantial fortune and good name which he left behind prove his judgment and business acumen to have been sound and essentially correct.
Mr. McInteer was born in Donegal, Ireland, in 1827, and immigrated to America alone when a boy. He had heard of the wonders of the new land across the ocean, and dreamed of one day sailing across the waters of the broad Atlantic to the land of the free, there to seek his fortune. How his dream came true is told in the succceding paragraphs. His first employment was in Philadelphia as a laborer. Opportunity did not seem to beckon to him in the "City of Brotherly Love" sufficient to hold him, however, and he turned his face still farther to the westward, going to the newer State of Indi- ana, where he learned the trade of harness maker. He first started a business of his own in Jeffersonville, Ind. While busily engaged in this Ohio river town in plying his trade with a fair modicum of success, he heard of the open- ing up of the vast stretches of land west of the Missouri river. His Celtic imagination was still working and he pictured to himself the possibilities of realizing his ambitions in one of the new cities of Kansas. His decision was - soon made ; he heeded the famous Greeley's advice, "Go West, young man, go West, and grow up with the country." Accordingly, he sold out his little shop and started for Omaha. On the way up the Missouri river his wife was taken ill and he changed his plans to the extent of stopping in Doniphan county, Kansas, and taking up a homestead. One year later he traded his claim for a lot at Eighth and Commercial streets in Atchison. Upon this lot he built a small shop, where he again began the manufacture of harness and saddles. For several years he supplied the great overland trains which passed to the Far West. His trade grew and he was compelled to enlarge his quarters and engaged in the manufacture of harness and saddles on an extensive scale. As he prospered and accumulated capital he erected build- ings and invested in real estate in Atchison and the nearby city of St. Joseph. He also erected a modern brick residence where his widow now lives. He died July 17, 1901.
He was twice married. his first wife being Alice Conley, who died in 1892 without issue. In 1895 he married Mrs. Anna ( Conlon) Donovan, of Montreal, Canada, whose parents, James and Anna Conlon, were well known citizens of Atchison, and whose personal history will be found in the biography of Charles J. Conlon, brother of Mrs. McInteer. Mrs. McInteer was reared
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in Atchison, returned to New York with her parents, and was there married to Peter Donovan, who was a customs officer under the Canadian Govern- ment at Montreal. He died in Montreal in 1891. Three sons were born of this marriage: Peter Donovan, a widely known journalist, of Toronto, now a contributor to the Toronto Saturday Night ; Fred, in the insurance and real estate business in Atchison ; Charles, a farmer and stockman, residing with his mother.
Mr. McInteer was a member of the Catholic church, and a liberal con- tributor to his own and other religious denominations. He was one of those big-hearted, whole-souled gentlemen, who was a friend to all, and who was highly regarded for his many excellent qualities of heart and mind. He was independent in politics. The foregoing brief review is thus contributed to the history of Atchison county in order that it be placed on record for all time, and perchance, prove an inspiration for other young men, poor in purse, whose destiny is yet to be worked out, and who probably dream of accumulat- ing wealth or a competence in their generation.
HENRY HANSON LOUDENBACK.
A review of the educational institutions of Atchison county would be incomplete without mention heing made of the Loudenback School of Music. It is probable that no institution within the borders of the State of Kansas has had a more rapid, substantial and satisfactory growth than has the school under the direct supervision and management of Professor Loudenback. Established in 1912 as a school of piano and theory, enlarged in 1913, and incorporated in 1914, it is now authorized by the State to issue diplomas and certificates. It is rapidly building an enviable reputation for thoroughness of instruction, having graduated pupils who are conceded to be artists of recognized ability, and its importance as an educational institution of the highest grade is appreciated by the residents of its home city.
Henry Hanson Loudenback, founder and principal of the Loudenback School of Music, was born in a log cabin on his father's farm in Hancock county, Indiana (the county seat, Greenfield, being the birthplace of James Whitcomb Riley), March 17, 1879, a son of Daniel and Margaret (McCray) Loudenback. His paternal grandparents were Henry Loudenback, a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Hancock county, Indiana, in 1836, one of the
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early pioneers of that section, and Elizabeth Brown, a native of Virginia, of German ancestry. Daniel Loudenback was born in Hancock county in 1846 and reared in a district which at that time was almost a wilderness. Splitting rails was an occupation which took up a good portion of his time. With his father, he settled on a farm about three miles from Charlottesville. This property they developed into a highly productive farm. Henry Loudenback died in 1905. Daniel engaged in business in Charlottesville in 1882, and in 1883 established a store at Wilkinson, which he conducted until his death, in 1888. He had married, when a young man, Margaret McCray, now a resident . of Wilkinson, who survives him. They were the parents of two children : Henry Hanson, the subject of this review, and Allie Almeda Cook, of Wilkinson, Ind.
Henry Hanson Loudenback received his educational discipline in the public schools of his native State, and in 1898 came to Kansas and joined relatives who resided near Centralia. He became a teacher in the country schools, and later spent one year teaching music, going from place to place on horseback. From early childhood he had given evidence of remarkable musical ability, and had sung in public when only four years of age. After learning harmonies from his sister, he began to improvise his own melodies, and to harmonize them upon the reed organ. His first real lessons were taken when thirteen years of age. In the fall of 1901 he entered Campbell University at Holton, Kan .. and was graduated from that institution, in music, in 1902. Since receiving his degree from Campbell College he has studied piano, harmony and composition with the best teachers of these sub- jects in America, his training being under such noted musicians as Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler, of Chicago, the world's greatest woman pianist: Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Virgil, of New York City ; Peter C. Lutkin and Arne Old- berg. of Northwestern University, at Evanston; and Allen Spencer, of the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago. From 1902 until 1906 he was director of music in the Atchison County High School; from 1906 until 1910, professor of music in South Dakota State College of Agriculture and Mechan- ical Arts; from 1910 until 1912, director of piano, pipe organ, and musical theory at the Dakota Wesleyan University. In 1912 he founded the Louden- back School of Music at Atchison, and since its establishment has devoted his entire time to its management and the teaching of piano and musical theory. He is an accredited teacher of piano and theory by the Kansas State Music Teachers' Association, and was a member of the executive committee of that organization which issued certificates to accredited teachers in Decem-
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ber, 1914, and was appointed a member of the committee on piano standards for 1915, and in December, 1910, was elected vice-president of that associa- tion, and was appointed a member of the special accrediting committee. He has appeared twice as piano soloist with the Minneapolis Symphony Orches- tra, and numbers among his friends many of the great musicians of the present day.
Professor Loudenback married on June 28. 1900, Miss Flora Donald. a daughter of George and Christy ( Black) Donald, of Centralia, Kan. Her father was an early settler and prominent farmer.
Professor and Mrs. Loudenback are the parents of the following chil- dren : George Daniel, born November 23, 1901 ; Allie Mae, born March 12, 1904; Ramona Lolita, born July 25, 1905: Henry, born August 17, 1907; and Donald, born July 19, 1909. The children have inherited their father's love of music and show talent.
FRANK P. WERTZ.
Frank P. Wertz, deputy county clerk of Atchison county, is one of the progressive young men of the county. He was born at Parnell. Atchison county. September 2, 1888, and is a son of David M. and Elizabeth Caroline Wertz, natives of Pennsylvania. They were married in their native State and shortly afterwards came West, and located on a farm in Atchison county, where they have been very successful. David M. Wertz began life with nothing, and by industry and keen foresight has become one of the sub- stantial and well-to-do men of Atchison county. He has always taken a com- mendable interest in the welfare of his community. To David M. Wertz and wife have been born the following children: Frank P., the subject of this sketch ; Eva married H. J. Barber, a banker, of Cummings, Kan .; Abra- ham, a farmer and stockman, Mt. Pleasant, Atchison county; Fredrick, a farmer in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county; Rosetta, the wife of Fred C. Voelker, a farmer, of Shannon township, Atchison county, and Bertha E., who resides at home.
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