USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 68
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During his first year in Kansas he broke prairie land for a living; the next year he sold sewing machines, and made good at that avocation; the second year, winter of 1868-69. he taught school in Leavenworth county, and two years after coming to this State he was married. He and his brother. Charles, broke prairie with their two teams in Jefferson county, and for four years after his marriage, Mr. Valentine had great success in farming in that county, raising immense crops of wheat. In the year 1874 he came to Atch- ison county and settled on a farm four miles northwest of Effingham on the south side of the Parrallel road. He at first bought a tract of eighty acres and erected a small house on his land, erecting other buildings as he was able. Mr. Valentine has prospered in the years following his first pur- chase of land in this county, and he and his son now own a total of 200 acres of well improved land. He resided on the farm until January of 1896, then turned over the farm to the management of his son, and came to Effingham.
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For ten years following he traveled as salesman, and in 1905 engaged in the telephone business by the purchase of the cooperative company which formerly owned the lines he is now operating.
Mr. Valentine was married April 7. 1870, to Miss Lena Smith, of John- son county, Kansas, who was born in 1855. The children born to this union are : Albert G., on the home farm, married Alice Frame, and is the father of one son and five daughters ; Mrs. Mattie Stevenson, of near Beloit, Kan .; Ed- ward died at the age of twenty-two years, and Robert died at the age of thirteen years.
Mr. Valentine is a Republican in politics, and has always remained loyal and steadfast to the party of Abraham Lincoln. He has served as city coun- cilman and mayor of Effingham. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Grand Army Post, No. 176, Effingham.
GUSTAVE STUTZ.
Gustave Stutz, farmer and stockman, of Atchison county, Kan., was born April 20, 1867, in Lancaster township, this county, and is the son of Christian and Katherine (Schweitzer) Stutz. Seven children were born to them, as follows: Caroline (Demel), of Central City, Neb. : Katherine (Wilkins), Atchison, Kan .; Frederick, policeman, Atchison, Kan .; Christo- pher W., Center township, Atchison county ; Gustave, subject of this sketch ; John, Center township; and one child died in infancy. The father of Gustave Stutz was born March 25, 1825, in Germany. He left there in 1855, and set- tled in Jackson county, Missouri, and in 1859 came to Atchison county, where he bought eighty acres of land in Lancaster township. The land was timber and prairie country, and he employed a man to break it up with oxen. Mr. Stutz made extensive improvements on his farm, and added more land from time to time. When he died. December 28, 1898, he owned 380 acres of land. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Ger- many, in February, 1829. She died in Lancaster township in December, 1888. She is buried in Maple Grove cemetery.
Gustave Stutz was reared on his father's farm and attended the public schools of Lancaster. In 1893 he rented a farm from his father for a year, and then bought 160 acres in Center township. Five years later he sold that and bought eighty acres near the Madison school house. Having made a
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number of improvements, he sold this farm and bought the present one of 160 acres. When he took this land there were only a few ramshackle build- ings on it, but he has made it one of the most modern farms in the State. He built a large seven-room house at a cost of $4.500, which is fitted with all modern conveniences, including hot and cold water, electric lights, hath, and a basement fitted up as a laundry. The house is lighted by electricity, which is generated from a private plant located on the farm. Mr. Stutz was the first to install one in Atchison county. In 1912 he built a barn, 52x16 feet, for general purposes. Mr. Stutz is a breeder of Shorthorn cat- tle and takes great pride in his herd. He has a herd of thirty fine Shorthorn cattle, including four pure breds, and has been gradually improving his herd for the purpose of embarking in the business of breeding Shorthorns for the trade. He is a stockholder in the Independent Harvester Company, of Plano, Ill. He is a Democrat in politics, and was for a time road supervisor of Lan- caster township.
Mr. Stutz was married October 10, 1893, to Margaret Waltz, who was born April 30, 1875, in Shannon township, Atchison county. She is a daugh- ter of Charles and Margaret (Diesback) Walz, both natives of Germany. The father died February 4, 1890, at the age of sixty-two. He immigrated from Germany in 1847. The mother is living in Atchison county. Mr. and Mrs. Stutz are the parents of three children : Albert, born June 2, 1895; Ed- ward, born January 3. 1898, and Pearl, born June 24, 1899, all living at home. Mr. Stutz attends the Presbyterian church, and is a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows.
THOMAS O. PLUMMER.
There is some distinction in being a pioneer in the State of Kansas, and there is certainly considerable distinction coming to the man who can justly lay claim to being the first white child born of pioneer parents in a component part of a great county like Atchison. Thomas O. Plummer, prosperous farmer and stockman of Grasshopper township, Atchison county, is the first white child born within the borders of his township, and has lived all of his fifty-nine years within the borders of the township.
T. O. Plummer was born December 6, 1857, a son of Leven Vincent and Matilda (Norman) Plummer, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Leven Vincent was a son of Lewis Plummer, a native of Germany, who immigrated
J. O Plummer and wife
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to America when quite young and married a Miss Vincent in Kentucky. She (his wife) was a daughter of English parents and was a large woman. The fact that her descendants are all men of large physique is explanatory of the inheritance of strength and size which predominates in the men of the Plummer family. The mother of Thomas O. was a daughter of Lewis Nor- man, a Kentucky pioneer and expert blacksmith, who was of French-English descent. He (Lewis) was a maker of plows and farming implements which he would manufacture in his shop, load on a river boat and sell in the towns and villages on the banks of the Ohio river. On one of his trading expedi- tions he was shot by the crew of a rival trading boat.
Leven Vincent Plummer was the father of eight children, as follows: Mary Elizabeth Baker, Oklahoma; Dempsey died at the age of sixteen years ; Charles died in 1907; Thomas O. and Benjamin F., (twins), Arrington, Kan. ; Leonidas, Atchison: Commodore, Oklahoma ; Harriet Ratley, Cowley county, Kansas; Lucullus, on old home place.
In the year 1854 he left Kentucky and migrated to Platte county, Mis- souri, where he resided until 1855 and then made a settlement in Grasshopper township, Atchison county. He was the first white settler on Brush creek in the Kickapoo Indian reservation lands. He did his trading at old Kennekuk. It is recalled that the old Mormon trail passed by his home and Mr. Plummer remembers the story of a large party of Mormon immigrants being stricken with the cholera and over 100 of them died as a result of the terrible attack of the dread disease. The dead bodies of the victims were hurriedly buried in shallow graves, but, unfortunately were rooted up by hogs owned by the Indians. Inasmuch as the white settlers were afraid to'bury the bodies again the hogs were permitted to eat the bodies. Leven Plummer was on extremely good terms with the Indians of the neighborhood and several of them worked for him at different times. When the Indians disposed of their land holdings to the Government and moved to a new reservation, he pur- chased of them 100 of their "razorback" hogs and 10,coo fence rails at a cost of ten cents a hundred rails. He hauled the rails to his place in im- mense wagon loads, hauled by two yoke of oxen and a team of horses. He became fairly well to do and was a large feeder of live stock, frequently feed- ing as high as 100 head of cattle, four-year-old steers and 400 head of hogs. He died in 1867, at the age of forty-seven years, leaving eight chil- dren to the care of his widow. Leven Plummer was noted as one of the strongest men of his day and was a man of large stature who could perform feats of strength which would appall the average man.
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Thomas O. Plummer attended the district school of his neighbor- hood and when twenty-one years of age began for himself. His first em- ployment away from home was for six months with Martin W. Ham. He then worked for a bachelor neighbor at ten dollars per month. In 1879 he began renting land on his own account. From boyhood he has always had to hustle for himself and has made good. He made his first purchase of land in 1893 and has accumulated a total of 211 acres of well improved farm lands in Grasshopper township.
In 1884 Mr. Plummer was united in marriage with Mary Ratley, and the union was blessed with one son, James Oliver Plummer, who is now the efficient superintendent of highways in the township. Mary ( Ratley) Plum- mer was the daughter of John and Hannah Ratley, and departed this life in September 15, 1887. In September of 1893, Mr. Plummer was again married to Miss Mary E. Clark, who has borne him one child, Thomas McKin- ley Plummer, who as a youth attended the agricultural college at Manhat- tan, Kan., and is much interested in scientific farming. Mrs. Mary (Clark) Plummer died March 13, 1908. She was a daughter of P. J. Clark, a very early settler of Atchison county, and formerly a member of the Atchison city police force. The third marriage of Thomas O. Plummer occurred March 2, 1909, with Mrs. Bessie May De Bord (Floyd), widow of James Floyd, a native of Kentucky, and to this union have been born two children : Theodore Ole, and Calvin Vincent Plummer. By her first marriage, Mrs. Plummer has one child, Ruby Jewell Floyd, born September 30, 1905.
Mr. Plummer is one of Atchison county's best known and successful self-made men and everything he owns has been earned by hard labor and diligence, combined with good management. Besides his farming interests he is a stockholder in the Farmers Grain Elevator and the Mutual Telephone Company, at Muscotah. He is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Mystic Workers and the Modern Woodmen of America.
HOWARD E. NORTH.
Howard E. North, farmer, of Lancaster township, Atchison county, was born January 25, 1867, in Walnut township, this county, and is a son of Edwin T. and Elizabeth (McCully) North, natives of New Jersey. Of the cight children born to them six are living, as follows: Walter M., AAtchison. Kan .: Joseph H., of Kansas City, Mo .: Percy, of Ottawa, Kan. ; Claude, Lan-
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chester, Kan., and Mrs. Sadie Dunkle, of Los Angeles. Cal. besides Ilon - ard E. North, subject of this sketch. The father was born April 23, 1830, in Burlington county, New Jersey, of English descent. Leaving there about 1865, he came west and settled in Atchison county, Kansas, living one year in Walnut township, and then bought a farm in Lancaster township. He made improvements, and later sold the farm to his son, Howard E., and retired in 1896. In December, 1912, he died, after having lived a long and useful life. The mother was born in New Jersey, as was her husband, and was born in the same year, 1830, of Scotch descent, and died in March1, 1902.
Howard E. North was reared on his father's farm, and attended the public school at Lancaster, and also the Bell district school, No. 59. He was born on the place which he now owns, and it has been his home since boy- hood. It consists of 180 acres, and is exceptionally well improved. Extra attention has been given to stock raising facilities. Mr. North takes a great deal of interest in fine cattle, hogs and horses, and has some excellent Short- horns and some valuable Poland China hogs. Mr. North has a graded stock of horses, some of which are the best in this part of the country. He is a stockholder in the German-American Bank at Atchison, Kan. Politically, he is a Republican, and has always been a loyal citizen, taking keen interest in the welfare of his community and his county. He is a member of the school board of Bell district.
In 1896 Mr. North was married to Alice Guyer, who was born October I, 1866, in Union county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. North was a daughter of Israel and Catharine (Brown) Guyer, natives of Pennsylvania, and who lived and died in the land of their nativity. Mrs. Alice North came to Kansas in August of 1893, and joined her sister, Mrs. Annie Gemberling, who now resides in a home on the Parallel road, near Lancaster, Kan. One child, Em- lin E., has been born to Mr. and Mrs. North. Mr. North is a member of the Methodist church, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Modern Woodmen of America.
NICHOLAS BOOS.
Nicholas Boos, proprietor of one of the best improved farms in Shan- non township, has resided on the land which he now owns for over fifty years, and is widely known as a progressive farmer who has applied his accurate knowledge of the best farming methods to such good account that
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he is now the owner of 250 acres of good land, upon which he erected in 1912 a handsome brick residence, modern throughout, at a cost of $4,500. Mr. Boos installed his own light and water plant, and in the rear of his handsome home he has built a large and commodious bank barn. His residence faces the main highway running northward from Atchison, and presents a sub- stantial evidence of the enterprise of its owner.
Mr. Boos was born November 11, 1862, in Germany, a son of Nicholas and Catharine Boos, who left their native land with their two children and came to Atchison county. Kansas, in July of 1865. After one month's stay in the city they removed to a point in Shannon township, about three miles north of Atchison, and settled upon eighty acres of land which the elder Boos pur- chased. Nicholas Boos and his wife reared their children here, and lived on the farm until death called them away. Nicholas Boos, Sr., was born in 1833, and died in October of 1899. Catharine, his wife, was born in 1833, and died in November of 1898. Their two children are: Nicholas, with whom this narrative is directly concerned, and Catharine, now known as Sister Hilda of the Order of St. Benedict's, Mt. St. Scholastica Academy, Atchison.
Upon the death of their parents, Nicholas Boos and his sister inherited the eighty acre farm upon which they had been reared. Nicholas bought his sister's share of the estate, and by dint of hard, unremitting labor, and the exercise of frugality and good financial judgment, has added 170 acres to the original tract. There are 205 acres in the home farm on the east side of the highway and forty-five acres on the west side, some distance from his home.
Mr. Boos was married May 1, 1889, to Mary Wolters, born in Atchison county, and daughter of Matthew and Catharine Wolters, both of whom were natives of Germany, Matthew being now deceased and his widow residing in Mr. Boos' home. Ten children have been born to this estimable couple, namely: William, aged twenty-five years; Albert, aged twenty-three, em- ployed by Dolan Mercantile Company ; Nicholas, aged seventeen years; Ed- ward, twelve years of age: Harold, aged eight years : Hilda, twenty-three years of age, and a dressmaker; Marie, aged twenty-one, second bookkeeper for John J. Intfen, grocer ; Frances, aged eighteen, bookkeeper for Byrnes' drug store; Bertha, aged fourteen, and Rosa, aged ten years: William, an employe of the Symns Grocer Company, married Marie McGraff. Mr. and Mrs. Boos have endeavored to give all of their children good school and college educations, and have succeeded in rearing a fine and worthy family, of which they have a good and just right to be proud.
Mr. Boos is a member of St. Benedict's Catholic Church and is a liberal
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supporter of Catholic institutions. He is affiliated with the Modern Wood- men lodge. While a Democrat in politics, he endeavors to exercise the right of suffrage in a manner befitting his own ideas, and supports such candidates for office as come the nearest to his ideal of a good man and official regard- less of political prostestations.
JUNE E. MOORE.
June E. Moore, president of the Symns Grocer Company, of Atchison, Kan., is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and a son of Thomas H. and Lydia Ann (Gordon) Moore, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of New Jer- sey. The Moore family came to Kansas in 1865, and the father engaged in the mercantile business at Iowa Point, Doniphan county. He was engaged in business there about ten years, or until 1876, when he sold his business and removed to Kansas City, where he remained until his death, in 1889. His wife died in 1886. June Moore, the subject of this sketch, received a good common school education, and remained at home, at Iowa Point, until 1873. when he came to Atchison and accepted a position as bookkeeper in the grocery house of A. B. Symns. About three months later he went on the road as trav- eling salesman for Mr. Symns, and was the first man to represent Mr. Symns in that capacity. After remaining in Mr. Symns' employ for about three years, he went to Falls City, Neb., and engaged in the mercantile business for himself, and conducted a business there for seven years. He then returned to Atchison, and in 1879 engaged in the grocery business for himself. Mr. Moore continued in the grocery business in Atchison from 1879 to 1887, when he again became connected with the Symns Grocer Company, which had been re-organized in the meantime. Since that time Mr. Moore has been con- nected with the Symns Grocer Company, which is one of the leading institu- tions of the kind in the State. From 1889 until 1907 Mr. Moore had charge of their Topeka branch. During the year of 1907. M. S. Peterson, who had been the buyer of the company for a number of years, died, and Mr. Moore was obliged to return to Atchison to assume the responsibilities in connec- tion with the purchasing department. He looked after the purchasing de- partment of the company for one year, when he became president of the com- pany, and has since capably filled that responsible position. Mr. Moore is a stockholder in the company, and is one of the men who have contributed many
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of the best days of their lives to the upbuilding and development of this great commercial institution, of which the people of Atchison are justly proud.
Mr. Moore was united in marriage July 27, 1871, to Miss Rebecca Arm- strong, a native of North Carolina. Mrs. Moore was a daughter of Francis K. Armstrong, of Virginia, who moved to North Carolina, and there married Jerusha Eliza Belt, and returned to Virginia, and in 1859 migrated to Mis- souri, remaining in St. Joseph until the fall of 1860, and then settled on a farm in Doniphan county, Kansas, where he died in November, 1861. Mr. Moore is a member of the Masonic lodge, and one of the substantial business men of Atchison.
W. PERRY HAM.
The powers of leadership are inherent in some individuals, and there are in every community such men who seem naturally gifted to lead their fellows in political affairs. In reviewing the life career of W. Perry Ham, the official head of the Republican party in Atchison county, the fact is brought out that his natural gifts have tended to lead him to activity in political affairs, and that he is gifted with ability of a high order, which is universally recognized by the men of his party who look to him for leader- ship. Mr. Ham is a thorough American, whose ancestry goes back to the earliest days of the foundation of the Republic.
WV. Perry Ham was born October 11, 1861, at Flemingsburg, Fleming county, Kentucky, a son of James P. and Eliza (Jones) Ham, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky, and were children of pioneer parents. James P. was the son of William and Mary E. Ham, and the great-grand- father of W. Perry was John Ham, better known as "Jackie," a native of Greenbrier county, Virginia, who married a Miss Woods, and migrated to Kentucky in the days of the illustrious Daniel Boone, the famous hunter. These were troublous times in Kentucky, and the Indians fiercely disputed the advent of the white settlers into their favorite hunting grounds. The mother and two sisters of "Jackie" Ham were captured by the Indians, killed and scalped, and their bodies burned in the cabin fireplace by blood-thirsty Indians. The Ham family is of Welsh extraction. James P. Ham, although a southerner by birth and breeding, was a strong Union man, who was op- posed to the institution of slavery. While still residing in Kentucky, in the year 1865, he received a telegram from his brother, Joseph, calling him to
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Buchanan county, Missouri, where his life was in danger from Union men. Joseph kept a general store at DeKalb, and was forced to go in hiding to preserve his life, he being a southern sympathizer. It was his desire that James P. come to Missouri and take charge of his store until times were better, and it was safe for him to appear. James made all haste to comply with his brother's request, and with his wife and family made a hasty trip to Buchanan county, only to find on his arrival that his brother's store at DeKalb had been burned to the ground. The wife of James P. was over- come by the excitement, and her strength overtaxed by the trials of the family. and she died in 1865. This left the father with three children to care for, and he removed to Atchison in 1866. Here he engaged in market gardening, and took more or less interest in political affairs until his demise, November 2, 1894, at the age of sixty-six years, in Rural township. Jefferson county, Kansas, where he removed a few years after coming to Atchison.
W. Perry Ham was reared in Kansas, and attended the common and high schools of Atchison county. From the time he was six years of age he found it necessary to shift for himself, and secured his education mainly through his own efforts. He did chores and worked for farmers in return for his board and schooling, and generally had a hard time of it trying to make his own way in the world. During the famous "grasshopper" years the family lived in Jefferson county, and privation and suffering were pre- dominant among the settlers. Perry was sent twice each week a distance of seven miles, astride his pony, to the nearest relief station for food and cloth- ing. His first position was in the old Grant bakery, operated by Gerber & Hagen, and he was employed there for two years. He afterwards bought the grocery business at Tenth and Laramie streets, and was engaged in business for another period of years until he bought a farm near Atchison and moved upon it. He farmed this land for two years, and in 1895 returned to Atchison, and again entered the grocery business, at Ninth and Parallel streets. In 1898 he disposed of his business and accepted a traveling position in the interest of the Select Knights of the Ancient Order of United Workmen as State man- ager and organizer. He continued in this position until 1901, and then opened a feed and poultry business, in which undertaking he was engaged until 1909, when he sold out. He served as chief of police of Atchison dur- ing 1908 and 1909 under Mayor S. S. King, and has been a member of the city council for three terms during his residence in Atchison. Since 1909 Mr. Ham has been general organizer of the Fraternal Aid Union, and has made a great success of his work, which requires that he oversee the work
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of organizing in the States of Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. His rep- utation as an organizer in the interest of the Fraternal Aid Union is unsur- passed, and it is in this capacity that his remarkable gifts have received full play.
Mr. Ham was married in 1883 to Rosa Frommer, who has borne him children as follows: Lloyd Perry, clerk in the Atchison postoffice; Mable Rose, wife of Roy Castle, of Falls City, Neb .; James Harwi Ham, of Atch- ison : Walter, of Atchison ; Herbert, a jeweler, of Atchison; Myrtle, at home with her parents; and Luther, in the city high school. The mother of these children was born and reared in Germany, near the city of Stuttgart, and was a daughter of John Frommer, who was a stone-cutter by occupation. Mrs. Ham came to this country in 1879.
Mr. Ham is a member of the Odd Fellows, the M. B. A., the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Mystic Workers, the Central Protective Associa- tion, and the Fraternal Aid Union. In political matters, Mr. Ham has been for years a prominent figure in Atchison county and Kansas, and enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance among the political leaders of the Republican party in Kansas. He has been a member of the central executive committee of his party for several years, and is at present the county chairman and vir- tual leader of his party in Atchison county.
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