USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 64
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Frank P. Wertz was reared on the home farm in Atchison county and educated in the public schools, graduating from the. Atchison County High School. He then took a course in the Atchison Business College, and grad- uated in 1909. He then became assistant cashier of the State Bank of Cum-
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mings, and remained in that position for two years, when he resigned to accept his present position. Frank P. Wertz takes a live interest in the wel- fare of the community. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a popular county official, and his genial manner and obliging nature, coupled with efficiency and close application to the duties of his office, have won for him many stanch friends and supporters.
THOMAS L. CLINE.
For sixty years Thomas L. Cline has lived in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, and he is one of the oldest of Kansas pioneers in point of years of residence in the State. Coming to this county when he was ten years of age with his parents he has lived to see Kansas become prosperous and the vast prairie transformed by the hand of man into a truly good place to live. He, himself, has risen in the course of time to become one of the wealthy farmers of the county, and despite his three score and ten years of age he still oversees the work on his large farm of 320 acres.
Mr. Cline was born October 8, 1845, in Henry county, Iowa, a son of Henry and Eleanor ( Leanord ) Cline, both natives of Ohio. The parents of both Henry and Eleanor moved at a very early day from Ohio to Illinois, where they were married. The parents of T. L. Cline lived but a short time in Illinois and then removed to Henry county, Iowa, where four of the chil- dren were born, of whom T. L. was the youngest. The family lived in Iowa for sixteen years and came to Kansas as early as 1855. Henry settled on a quarter section of land, which is still in the family, and is owned by Thomas L., adjoining the quarter section upon which the home of the subject is located. At the time the Clines located in Atchison county the country was a vast reach of unpeopled prairie broken by belts of timber along the streams. Prairie fires were very common in those days. Henry Cline persuaded a neighbor to preëmpt the adjoining section to his and eventually bought it and increased his acreage to 480 acres in all. An interesting feature of the Cline farm is the stone fencing which is built around a portion of the farm. Stone fences are a rarity in Kansas and are found only in the occasional places where stone is plentiful, and their building required time and plenty of it on the part of men who in the early days made the building of stone fences a vocation and followed it as their method of earning a living. While a portion of the stone work on the farm has been replaced by wire fencing, 300 rods of this
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fence are in excellent condition despite the fact that it was erected over forty- five years ago. T. L. Cline in speaking reminiscently of the old days recalls that the "grasshopper" visitation of 1866 was every whit as bad as in the years of 1874 and 1875, and he also recalls seeing a company of "red shirts" or border ruffians encamped near his father's farm. Henry Cline died in 1875, his widow dying in 1901 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Blodgett. Henry and Eleanor Cline reared the following children : Julia Ann (Jay), de- ceased, at Rock Creek, Kan .; Mary E. Blodgett, Walnut township ; Charles W. died in Union service at Drywood, Mo., and Thomas L., the youngest.
T. L. Cline grew up on his father's farm and has never lived anywhere else since he was ten years of age. He was married in 1874 to Miss Susan Vandiver. The following children were born of this marriage: Ora, wife of Edward Bradley, of Atchison county; Nellie, wife of Martin Decker, living in Leavenworth county, Kansas ; Charles Cline, farming on the home place ; T. L., Jr., better known as Lloyd, at home with his parents and assists in farm work. The mother of these childern was born February 11, 1853, in Green county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Edward and Irene (Holloway) Vandiver, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Providence, R. I. The respec- tive parents of Edward and Irene Vandiver removed from their native states to Illinois, and it was in that State that they were married. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Wisconsin and settled on a farm near Monroe, in Green county. They resided in Wisconsin for sixteen years and then re- turned to Schuyler county, Illinois. After a residence of ten years in Illinois they came to Atchison county, Kansas, to make a permanent home. Edward Vandiver was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and often rode with Lin- coln to and from political gatherings. His political beliefs were the same as Mr. Lincoln's. Mr. Vandiver was also acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas and attended the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates.
For one year after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cline lived at the home of Mr. Cline's parents, when T. L. built a home for himself on a part of the family estate. After his father's demise he bought his mother's interest in the estate and moved to the old home place where he still resides. Mr. Cline has always been a stockman and a large feeder of cattle and hogs. He is now raising sheep and has about 140 head of these animals on his farm. He has always been a stanch Republican, as his father was before him, and has usually taken an active part in political and civic affairs. He served for many years as a member of the school board and was succeeded by his son, Charles, as a member of the board when T. L. refused to serve any longer. He was one
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of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Potter, Kan., and is generally found in the forefront of all good movements tending to promote the welfare of the people in his neighborhood. Mr. Cline carries his years lightly and can be seen almost any day directing the farm work and is very active for his years. Thomas L. Cline is one of Atchison county's grand old men and is a true Kansas pioneer.
ROBERT FORBRIGER.
In the present incumbent of the county assessor's office, the people of Atchison county are extremely fortunate in having a painstaking, faithful and conscientious public servant who believes in doing his duty by the people, taxpayers, and for the people as the law provides. It is probable that no other individual in the county has a wider or more intimate knowledge of values and property ownership in Atchison county than Mr. Forbriger. Born in Atchison county in the pioneer days when the county was in process of early settlement, he has grown up with the city and county and has a speaking ac- quaintance with almost every person within the confines of his native heatlı. Kind and obliging to a high degree, he has made himself invaluable as a citizen and able county official, and is well liked and highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities.
The father of the gentleman named in the foregoing paragraph was Robert Forbriger, a native of Saxony, Germany, born in 1825, immigrated to America in 1848 and died in the city of his adoption in 1886. The senior Forbriger was a man of good education, and came of a family of scholars and educators in his native land. Therefore, he was well equipped to fight a winning battle for success in the land of his adoption. He first located in Elgin, Ill., and after a residence of ten years in that city, came to Atchison in 1858. This thriving and beautiful city was then in its infancy, and Mr. Forbriger had the distinction of being one of its foremost citizens and builders in the eary days. He obtained a job in the J. E. Wagner hardware store, which was situated on the southeast corner of Fourth and Commercial streets. Not long afterward he engaged in the insurance and real estate business and from that drifted into the banking business. He, with George Storch and John Belz, established the German Savings Bank, which was later reorganized as the United States National Bank. This new organization erected the building at the corner of Sixth and Commercial streets. Mr. Forbriger was
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connected with the banking concern until his death, after which the institu- tion was again reorganized. He was active in civic and business affairs in Atchison during his long residence here, and was always a booster for his adopted city, liberal in his donations and support of public enterprises, and a benefactor of churches and charitable enterprises. It is said of him that he always generously responded to calls for assistance in the name of charity, religion or civic betterment of the community. As a citizen he did his duty in an official capacity, serving as a member of the city council and as an active member of the city school board. During the early sixties when Atchison was yet a village he served as a member of the town council. In addition he served three terms as city assessor. While a Democrat in politics, he was a great admirer and warm personal friend of the late Senator Ingalls, and it was the Senator's custom to make his headquarters in Mr. Forbriger's office while at home, on his return from Washington. This pioneer citizen was a charter member and officer of the Turner's Society, a famous athletic organ- ization in the early days. He was reared in the Lutheran faith, but was broadly tolerant of all creeds and religious beliefs. It was only natural that he should have been a charter member of the Atchison Masonic lodge, and the Independent Order of Odd Feows. During the Civil war he was enrolled as a member of the State militia, and responded to the call for volunteers to repel Price's invasion and served in Colonel Quigg's command.
Robert Forbriger, the elder, was married in 1862 to Helen Geier, born in Limbach, Baden, Germany, and died in Atchison. She came from her native land to Philadelphia with a sister and cousin, and from there journeyed to Atchison. To them were born three children as follows: Robert, of this re- view ; Emil, engaged in business in East Atchison ; Bertha, wife of M. Noll, druggist of Atchison.
Robert Forbriger, the son, was educated in the public schools and St. Benedict's College. He then entered his father's bank and also engaged in the insurance business. After his father's death he continued in the insur- ance business for a number of years, until he began his service as postoffice clerk, during Cleveland's administration. After four years in the mercantile business he filled the office of deputy register of deeds for four years ; served three years as deputy county assessor, and was electd to th office of county assessor in 1912, and again elected or appointed to the office by the board of county commissioners in 1914. In his younger days he served several years as a regular fireman under three successive fire chiefs, and two terms as city councilman. While originally a Democrat, he deserted the party in 1896, as many others did, to follow the teachings of William McKinley, and now takes
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an active part in Republican politics, and is sincere and active in his work in behalf of the candidates of his party. Having been born in Atchison, April 4. 1863. it is only natural that he should gather for his sustenance some of the needful in the way of property, and is the owner of a fine fruit farm of twenty-eight acres near the city, and in addition has five residence properties in the city, with properties in Oklahoma and Seattle, Wash.
Mr. Forbriger was married May 21, 1888, to Carrie Wagner, and to them have been born two children: Helen, wife of Leo T. Markey, a banker of Greeley, Kan .; Ralph, a student of electrical engineering in the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College, at Starkville, Miss. The mother of these children was born at Port Washington, near Milwaukee, and is a daughter of Henry and Rosa Wagner, natives of Germany, who removed from Milwaukee to Atchison where Henry Wagner became a bridge contractor and builder. Mr. Wagner for a long period of years did practically all of the bridge con- struction work in Atchison county.
Mr. Forbriger is a member of St. Benedict's Catholic Church, and is broad and toerant in his religious views, taking the staple ground that the manner of life a man lives, regardless of his religious belief, determines his salvation. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Fraternal Citizens, and the Modern Brotherhood of America.
HIRAM H. HACKNEY.
The measure of a man's real worth to a community determines his stand- ing and niche in the local hall of fame. While several things may be summed up in the final reckoning as to what constitutes a really useful citizen, his service to his fellow citizens in furthering institutions which are of the great- est benefit to the greatest number takes precedence over wealth, business ability, political success, or any accomplishments which have a tendency to place the individual ahead of his fellow men. No greater service to a city can be rendered than by the building up of a modern, progressive public school system. He who furthers the cause of education in a practical manner and takes a keen interest in the success of the city's educational systems, as an tin- selfish task, befitting his citizenship, is entitled to an everlasting place in the hearts and minds of his fellow citizens. The public school system of Atchison is a monument to the labors of Hiram H. Hackney, and his fellow members of the board of education during the eight years while Mr. Hackney served as president of the board.
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Hiram H. Hackney is a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, born near Uniontown, November 30, 1859. He is a son of Hiram H. and Elizabeth (Wyley) Hackney, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Hackney family in America came originally from the town of Hackney, England, now a part of the city of London, in the early part of the seventeenth century. Hiram H., the elder, was born in 1822, and died in 1899. He was the son of John Hackney, born in 1776, and lived on the original homestead of the Hackneys. who were Quaker followers of William Penn. Elizabeth Wyley was born in 1830, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah Way Wyley, members of an old colonial family of Irish descent. Hiram H., Sr., was a resident of Uniontown in his old age, and was the last surviving member of the board of directors, chartering the First National Bank of Uniontown. He was well to do and invested some of his funds in the West, becoming one of the original stockholders of the First National Bank of Atchison. He was also a "Forty Niner," going overland to the gold fields of California in 1848, with a train of fortune hunters who outfitted at St. Louis and fought continually with the Indians on the trip across the plains and mountains. He engaged in the mercantile business at Sacremento and Marysville, Cal., for a period of two years. He returned home by way of Cape Horn, but made another trip before settling down to the pursuit of farming and business in his native State. His brother, Samuel, died of mountain fever while engaged in mining in the gold fields of California. Mr. Hackney became an extensive farmer. stockman and banker, and prospered exceedingly. He was known as a solid Quaker citizen "whose word was as good as his note." Of his five children, four are living as follows : Mrs. Edward G. Hudson, of Newton, Kan. ; Edgar S., of Uniontown; Dr. Jacob S., a practitioner in Uniontown, and Francis, who died in Pittsburgh.
Hiram H. Hackney, of Atchison, was educated in the State Normal School at California, Penn., and Duff's Mercantile College, Pittsburgh. He did farm work while a youth, and taught school for two years. His father having purchased an interest in the First National Bank of this city he came here in 1881 and served as assistant cashier and director of the bank until 1910. He then sold his holdings and retired from banking pursuits on ac- count of ill health, due to long years of close confinement to his duties. He then established a real estate, insurance, bond and loan business which he is now conducting with success. Mr. Hackney is interested in Atchison real estate, and coal lands in Pennsylvania, and is vice-president of the Blair Milling Company of Atchison.
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In politics he is a Republican, and the only office he has ever held has been that of member of the board of education, from the presidency of which body he has only recently retired. Of his services on behalf of the public schools during his sixteen years' membership on the board, The Atchison Globe said : "H. H. Hackney retired last night as a member of the school board and that board has lost its most useful member for at least two reasons : Mr. Hackney had the ability to handle the school finances and the time neces- sary to accomplish the things the board laid out. In addition he possessed an ambition to establish a system of schools and equipment that would reflect credit on the city and on the school board. He was a member of the board for sixteen years and its president for eight years, and during the eight years he was president he never had a disagreement with a member and there was never a question came up which was not settled either by an unanimous vote or in a way that left the members friendly. There never was a 'row' in the school board and there never was a session where reporters were barred. In the last eight years and under the management of Mr. Hackney, the school board has spent $300,000 in school betterments and the total indebtedness is but $25,000 greater than it was eight years ago. This includes the new Ingalls Building. Washington Building, accepting the plans and letting all contracts for the new Martin building, now under course of construction, re- building Franklin and building the new Douglas school. In these eight years manual training, mechanical drawing, domestic art and science, a commercial department, normal training, agriculture and physical training have been added to the high school, a school nurse employed, music added to all grades and kindergardens established in two buildings. Since Mr. Hackney became a member of the board the high school enrollment has increased from 66 to 338 and the faculty from three to twenty members."
During the time Mr. Hackney was a member of the school board he missed but one regular meeting. He is president of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian Church and is a member of the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association.
He was married in September of 1888, to Frances Blair, a daughter of E. K. Blair, deceased, formerly of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, founder of the Blair Milling Company of Atchison. Mrs. Hackney's mother was Bar- bara ( Allen ) Blair. She was born and reared in Atchison, in the house lo- cated on the same lot where the Hackneys now live, with the exception of their first two years of married life, during which the new home was erected at 1021 North Third street. To Mr. and Mrs. Hackney have been born two children of whom they are justly proud, Helen Elizabeth, born 1890, a
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graduate of the College Preparatory School of Atchison, and the Bennett School for Girls, located on the Hudson, in New York, carrying honors at both her graduations; Edward Blair Hackney, born in 1893, is a graduate of the city high school and the Kansas University at Lawrence, where he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts. While a student of the university he managed the Jay Hawker, the college annual, and performed his duties so ably and so thoroughly that Chancellor Strong declared that the "Annual" issue under his management was the best ever issued, the cost of which was $4,500, and managed so well that a nice profit was earned. The young man is now a traveling salesman for the Blair Milling Company.
GEORGE EDWIN WHITE.
George Edwin White, leading physician, of Effingham, Kan., was born at Savanna, Andrew county, Missouri, April 18, 1867, a son of Willis and Rachel (Hall) White, natives of Indiana. Willis was the son of Drury White, who was born and reared in Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in Grant county, Indiana, where he hewed a farm and home from the virgin timber at a time when it required men of hardihood and the greatest endurance to withstand the rigors of a life in the unbroken wilderness of the Hoosier State. Willis White was born August 12, 1840, and when he attained young manhood, hearkened to the call of President Lincoln for troops to quell the rebellion of the Southern States, and enlisted at the first call for "thirty thousand." He served for ninety days in the Tenth regiment, Indiana infantry. He migrated to Missouri in 1866 and plied his trade of blacksmith in the town of Savanna until 1880, when he moved to Greenleaf, Kan., and conducted a blacksmith shop, in addition to cultivating his farm, which he purchased near Greenleaf. In the fall of 1907 he moved to Effing- ham, Kan., and is living a retired life. Mrs. White died in 1885, at the age of forty-three years. Twelve children were born to Willis White and wife. four of whom are deceased: John, Henry, and Mary, deceased; Frank, for several years a practicing physician of note in Effingham, and who died in October, 1912, as a result of an accident ; Charles, of Kansas City ; Dr. George Edwin, with whom this narrative is directly concerned; Albert H., a farmer. in Dickinson county ; Mrs. Dora Hill, of Kansas City; William, living in California ; Mrs. Laura Shields, of California: Elmer, a farmer, of Jackson county ; Leroy, a farmer, of Effingham. Willis White was twice married,
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his second wife being Elizabeth Heavenridge, of Indiana, who bore him six children : Julia, employed in the Soldier's Home at Leavenworth, Kan. ; Her- man, a farmer in western Kansas: Earl, of Effingham; Edith, at home; Ralph, also at home, and a child who died in infancy:
George Edward White received his elementary education in the public schools, studied three years in the Kansas Medical College at Topeka, and graduated from the Medical University at Kansas City in 1905. For a period of five and one-half years he practiced medicine in Dickinson county, Kan- sas ; practiced for two years in Brown county, Kansas, and located in Effing- ham in the fall of 1912.
Dr. White was married in 1895 to Sadie A. Phillippi, who died in 191I, leaving five children, namely : Willis, George, Lester, Birdie, and Harold, all of whom are at home and attending the public and high schools. One child, Ralph, died in infancy. Dr. White again married in 1912, to Ada M. Elliot, a capable and talented woman, who is a good and kind mother to the doctor's children.
Dr. White has achieved a reputation as a well read and capable prac- titioner, and his practice in Effingham and the surrounding country is con- stantly growing. He keeps abreast of the times and the latest discoveries in the science of healing, and is associated with various important medical socie- ties, among them being the county, State, and National societies, the Golden Belt, and the Northeast Kansas Medical association, the Aesculapian Society, and the University Medical College of Kansas City Alumni. He is a member of the Church of the Brethren, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Mystic Workers. He is a Republican, but has very little time for political affairs. Dr. White is a genial, whole-souled gentleman, who loves his profession and his fellowmen.
GEORGE W. THOMPSON.
George W. Thompson is one of the oldest pioneers living in the State of Kansas, and is all probability the oldest living pioneer in Atchison county today. His career has been an interesting and even romantic one, and reads like a tale from modern fiction. Homesteader, farmer, statesman, politician and man of wide influence are terms which can well be applied to this aged gentleman who has spent sixty-one years of his four score and eight in assist- ing in the development of the Sunflower State.
George "I. Thompson and Wife One of the Oldest Pioneer Couples in Atchison County
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George W. Thompson was born in Georgetown, Ky., October 18, 1827, a son of Benjamin and Nancy (Baxter) Thompson, natives of Virginia and Maryland, respectively, and descendants of old southern stock. Benjamin Thompson was born in Virginia in 1799, the same year in which George Washington died. He was a son of George Thompson, who removed from Virginia to Kentucky in 1811, walking the entire distance over the Blue Ridge mountains to the new home in the forests of Kentucky, where they lived until 1843, and then joined the influx of settlers who were going into Platte county. Missouri. The Thompsons loaded their entire effects on wagons and drove as far as Frankfort, Ky., and then boarded an Ohio river steamer which carried them to St. Louis. An interesting episode of this trip concerns the passage of the boat over the falls at Louisville, Ky., or five miles below that city. At that time the water was very high in the river, and the captain of the steamer decided to take a chance and go over the falls. During the passage the pilot's steering gear broke and the boat drifted over the falls without guid- ance in safety, but not without expressions of fear on the part of the passen- gers. This boat was the "Meridian," one of the fast steamers of the river, and it frequently raced with other river craft. The trip required about three days from Louisville to St. Louis, which was at that time a city of about 50,- 000 inhabitants. Mr. Thompson recalls that the boats were lined up along the wharfs at St. Louis for over one and one-half miles, and he has never for- gotten the sight. About five days longer were required to make the trip from St. Louis to Parkville, Mo., the trip ending on June 14, having com- menced June 1, 1843. Benjamin plied his trade of bricklayer in Platte county, and built the Green Hotel in Platte City, which is still standing as a monument to his skill and handicraft as a mason. He was the first brick mason in Platte City and he erected the Green Hotel in 1844. Benjamin became prominent in the affairs of Platte county and was a fine orator and public speaker.
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