USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 76
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There were five children born to Caleb, Sr., and wife, namely : Caleb A., father of Edwin S .; Gilbert M., who came to Kansas at an early day, and served three years in a Kansas regiment during the Civil war, first as cor- poral, then as sergeant, and later was captain of a company of the Fourth Arkansas infantry, and was made lieutenant-colonel of the Twelfth Kansas militia in 1864. He became prominent in political life, and served as State senator in Colorado, and died while marching in the G. A. R. reunion parade in Philadelphia, September 8, 1899; eighty veterans succumbed to the heat. He left one son, Charles G., of Onanga, Okla. ; Ben F., a resident of Downs, Okla , served three years in the Union army, part of the time as bugler of Company A, Fifth regiment, Kansas infantry, and later as captain in the Fourth Kansas regiment ; David G., a graduate of Monroe Institute, a teacher, and a Kansas militiaman. David Woodworth assisted in the survey of Okla- homa, moved to the new State in 1889, and settled at Downs. He was a successful farmer, but is now postmaster at Kingfisher, Okla. The mother accompanied him to Oklahoma, and died there; Sarah Elizabeth, deceased. was the wife of B. A. Colville, and left one son, Dr. Frank Colville, who died in St. Joseph, Mo.
Major Caleb A. Woodworth came to Kansas in 1857, from Virginia, and engaged in farming near Muscotah until 1859, when he entered the Univer- sity of Chicago, and pursued his collegiate education until the outbreak of the Civil war. He then returned to Kansas and offered his services in defense of the Union. His first enlistment was for a period of nine months in Com- pany B, Fourth regiment, Kansas infantry. He then assisted in organizing the Thirteenth Kansas regiment, and was a member of Company F of that
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regiment, which he joined September 20, 1862. He rose rapidly in rank, was commissioned major of his regiment, and served for three years, or until the close of the war. He served directly under Colonel Bowen, and under Gen- erals Blount, Schofield, Steele, and Reynolds. He participated in the battles around Springfield, Mo., and in Arkansas. At the battle of Prairie Grove, in 1862, his horse was shot from under him. Three times his mount was killed in battle, but he seemed to bear a charmed life, and was never wounded. After the close of the war he returned to Atchison, Kan., and engaged in freighting across the plains, making three trips in all with a freighting outfit. He was the first man to telegraph money from Denver, Colo., to Atchison. He operated a livery barn where the union depot now stands in Atchison. About 1868 he again turned his attention to farming, and settled in Kapioma township, where his father had preempted half a section of land. Major Woodworth farmed the home tract, and erected the house where Edwin S. now lives. He became an extensive cattle feeder, and was very successful in his farming operations.
Major Woodworth was married in June, 1867, to Miss Margaret Shaw, of Valley Falls, Kan. Three children were born of this union, namely : Nora, wife of E. M. Wilcox, Kamaloops, British Columbia; Edwin S .; Jennie, living in Wood, S. D. The mother of these children was born in Akron, Ohio, January 21, 1850, a daughter of William and Louise (Fletcher) Shaw, natives of Ohio. She is now residing with her daughter at Wood, S. D.
The civic and political career of Major Woodworth was a distinguished one. He was elected State senator from Atchison county on the Republican ticket in 1876, and served for four years. During his term as senator he wrote the bill and presented the same to the State legislature, organizing the Kansas State Historical Society. In 1892 he was chosen to represent the third district in the lower house of the legislature, this time being elected on the Democratic ticket. In 1895 he removed to Effingham, Kan., and resided in that city until 1897, when he removed to Atchison to take up his duties as superintendent of the State Soldiers' Orphans' Home. He filled the duties of this position until 1900, when he resigned and retired to a home in Mus- cotah, Kan. Major Woodworth died October 24. 1908. His demise marked the passing of one of the most noted of the Kansas pioneers, a distinguished soldier and statesman. He left a heritage of honorable and upright service to the people of the State, of which his descendants can well be proud.
Edwin S. Woodworth was born April 20, 1874, on the farm where he now resides. He was educated in the common schools of his native county, and studied in Holton University. after completing a course in the high school
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at Effingham, Kan. After his marriage, in 1895, he began farming the home place of the Woodworth family. He is the owner of 163 acres of rich farm land, which is well improved. Mr. Woodworth is a well known breeder of registered Shorthorn cattle, and ships the product of his farm in this re- spect to all parts of the country. He is a member of the American Short- horn Breeders' Association. During 1915 he had a herd of fifty thorough- bred Shorthorns, but has sold to buyers at excellent prices until he has de- pleted his herd.
Mr. Woodworth was married May 29, 1895. to Miss Sadie E. Speer, born June 1I, 1875, and reared on a farm three miles east of Muscotah. (See biography of D. Anna Speer for details concerning the Speer family.) Four children have been born to Edwin S. and Sadie E. Woodworth, namely : Mrs. Marguerite Mulligan, of Benton township; Mabel, a student in the county high school at Effingham: Isabelle and Mildred, at home.
Politically, Mr. Woodworth is allied with the Democratic party. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Central Protective Association. There is no doubt in the minds of those who know Mr. Wood- worth and esteem him for his many excellent qualities, that he will keep alive the traditions of the Woodworth family and endeavor to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestors as regards right living and doing his duty to his county and State.
HAL C. LOW.
Hal C. Low, of the firm of Johnson-Low Clothing Company, of Atchison. was born in 1879 in Doniphan county, Kansas. His parents were J. W. and Mary (Collins) Low, natives of the Buckeye State, the father's home having been at West Milton, Ohio. The grandfather of Hal C. was Ansel Low. who was one of the earliest pioneer settlers of Kansas, first coming to Atchi- son in 1852, following which he located in Doniphan, where he kept the first hotel, or tavern, and also operated a general store. To the home of this pioneer came in the fall of 1860, Abraham Lincoln, who was then touring the country in his first campaign for the presidency. Lincoln's visit and stay at the Low hostelry was an event which awakened a great deal of pride with J. W. Low and he was fond of relating the circumstance and describing in detail how Mrs. Low served the simple wants of the greatest of all Americans.
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He was always a stanch supporter of the martyred President and gave direct evidence of his loyalty to the Union by his enlistment in Company I, Seventh regiment, Kansas cavalry, serving under Generals Rosecrans and Grant suc- cessively, and was in active service throughout the entire war.
Hal C. Low was educated in the common and high schools of Atchison, and then entered his father's dry goods store, where he spent several years profitably, absorbing the details of the business and in becoming a proficient salesman and buyer. This experience stood him in good stead, and in 1905 he organized the Johnson-Low Clothing Company and has made an unquali- fied success of the venture. The store is one of the most complete in this section of the State, and carries high grade goods of the best workmanship and design. The ever increasing trade, which flows to this establishment. is the best evidence of its continued success.
Mr. Low was married in 1905 to Miss Jane Pollock, daughter of S. M. Pollock, an early pioneer settler of Iowa, later a resident of Kansas, and now residing in Atchison. Mr. Low is a Republican.
D. ANNA SPEER.
The public owes much to the teachers who have made a life work of their chosen profession. While the teaching profession is used to some extent as a stepping-stone to something supposedly higher and better, or as an oppor- tunity on the part of young people to earn some money in preparation for em- barking in some other vocation, there are in the ranks of the profession a considerable number of efficient and painstaking educators who through a deep and abiding love of the work of teaching the youth of the land and a desire to advance themselves high in their profession, have made themselves indis- pensable members of the community, and have shown by application and actual practice that they are fitted above the rank and file to hold executive positions. D. Anna Speer, county superintendent of schools for Atchison county, is a capable and successful educator whose marked ability has received due recog- nition from the people of the community in which she was reared.
She was born in Atchison county, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Foun- tain) Speer. Her father, Joseph Speer, was born March 4, 1834, in Leesville, Ind .. and was the son of Andrew and Dicie ( Kirby ) Speer, both natives of Kentucky. Miss Speer's mother was a daughter of Stephen Fountain and Mary (Clark) Fountain, natives of North Carolina. The ancestors on the
Miss D. Anna Freer
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side of each parent were pre-Revolutionary colonists of Virginia and the Car- olinas. The Speers were among the earliest settlers of Kentucky and the great-great-grandfather of Miss Speer on the maternal side was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Joseph and Mary Speer were married in Indiana and came west in 1859, settling on a farm near Muscotah in the spring of 1860. Mr. Speer invested in a partly improved farm of 160 acres on which they lived until old age required that they leave the farm for a town home in Muscotah. During the Civil war Mr. Speer served in the Kansas State militia and took part in the expedition against the Price invasion. Joseph Speer died March 5, 1900. His wife was born in September, 1833, and departed this life June 19, 1909. To them were born six sons and three daughters : William F., who resides on the home farm; Mrs. Mary J. Long, of Fowler, Kan .; Andrew, present county commissioner and farmer residing near Mus- cotah; James R., one of the pioneer settlers of Guthrie, Okla .; John W., a farmer of Morrison, Okla .; George T., a resident of Guthrie, Okla., and audi- tor of the Arkansas Lumber Company ; D. Anna : Jesse A., engaged in the liv- ery business at Medford, Okla .; Sadie E., wife of E. S. Woodworth, of Mus- cotah, a son of Major Woodworth. The Speers are a family of pioneers and are found to be leading citizens of their respective communities. Joseph and Mary Speer reared their large family of children to become useful and influ- ential members of society and God-fearing men and women. Before death called them to the eternal rest they had the satisfaction of seeing the county where their earliest and most arduous labors had been accomplished grow to become a prosperous and populous community.
D. Anna Speer was educated in the rural school of her home neighbor- hood and the Muscotah public school. She completed a teachers' course in Campbell College and was graduated, receiving a life diploma from the State Normal College at Emporia, Kan., in 1893. She then taught school for a number of years. During the summer vacations she did post-graduate work in the University of Chicago, Kansas University and Colorado College, at Colorado Springs, Colo., and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 191I.
She entered the University of California at Berkeley and received the degree of Master of Arts in 1913. Miss Speer is self-educated, having worked her way through college and university while teaching school to earn money for tuition and expenses. She began her teaching career with a few years' service in the rural schools and in 1893 became a teacher in the Effingham County High School, where she taught continuously for seventeen years. She was then an instructor for two years in the State Normal School at Emporia, Kan., after which she spent one year as a student in the University of Cali-
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fornia. After receiving her degree from the University of California she served as instructor in Grass Valley, Cal., High School. This was a delight- ful experience in one of the most beautiful spots on the globe, but she returned home, and on July 1, 1915, entered upon her new duties as county superinten- dent of public instruction of her home county. That she will make a success of her work is assured.
Miss Speer is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, the Eastern Star lodge and is a member of the County and State Teachers' associations, and is a member of the National Educational Association. She is a deep and capable student ; a thorough and progressive educator, who is familiar with the most advanced methods of teaching and is destined to achieve marked suc- cess in her present important position.
JOSEPH C. GREENAWALT.
Joseph C. Greenawalt, retired lawyer, Muscotah, Kan., was born April 17, 1840, on a farm in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He comes of old Holland Dutch stock and the progenitors of the Greenawalt family emigrated from Holland to America in 1665. He is a son of George and Sarah (Con- ner) Greenawalt, natives of Pennsylvania. George Greenawalt was a son of John, and his wife's father was John Conner, a native of England. Joseph C. was eighteen months old when his father died, leaving a widow with six children to rear, namely: Mary Amanda, Sarah Ann and Margaret, now de- ceased; Samuel C., deceased, who served as captain in a company in the Sev- enty-third regiment. New York infantry, in the Union army, and was a wan- derer from choice, having gone to sea for several years, his first service in the Union army being as a scout ; Elmina C., deceased, and Joseph C., with whom this review is directly concerned, and who was reared in eastern Ohio at the home of his aunt. He lived at his aunt's home until he attained the age of sixteen years, attended school and learned the trade of carpenter and cabinet maker in a shop operated by his uncle.
As a boy Joseph C. Greenawalt had been ambitious to acquire an education and was not content with the idea of spending his days at the carpenter's bench. Accordingly, at the age of sixteen, we find that he started out to make his own way in the world and to educate himself by partly working his way through college. He entered Mt. Union College, at Alliance, Ohio, and was one of the first students enrolled in this college when it was advanced
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from a seminary to a regular college. He worked during the summer seasons and was thus enabled to pay his way through the college course. When he was eighteen years of age, he also taught one term of school. He studied languages for one year in the Hayesville Institute at Ashland, Ohio. After studying for three years at Mt. Union, he matriculated at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., entering the junior class of this university in 1860. In 1862 he received his bachelor's degree from the University of Mich- igan, but did not acquire his master's degree until five years later, in 1867. In May of 1862 Mr. Greenawalt enlisted in Company I, Eighty-sixth regiment, Ohio infantry, and served for four months, when he was commissioned a lieutenant of the Ohio Sharpshooters, but resigned his commission and took charge of the Canton, Ohio, Union School for the ensuing six months. He then served as deputy clerk of the circuit court, studied law in the meantime and was admitted to the bar at Ravenna, Ohio. In the spring of 1864 Mr. Greenawalt went to Colorado and engaged in mining engineering in the mountains, forty miles west of Denver. After a stay in the West he settled in Platte City, Mo., and practiced law there until 1871, and after a trip to the Pacific coast, he located permanently in the city of Atchison in August of 1871. He practiced law successfully for twenty-five years in Atchison, and held the office of city attorney in 1875.
Mr. Greenawalt has always been a great lover of horses, and more to gratify his love of horse flesh than anything else he established in 1882, the famous Greenview Stock Farm, near Atchison, now owned by B. P. Wag- gener. He erected the residence and several of the buildings now on the farm and engaged in the breeding of fast trotting horses. For some years he made his home on the farm and practiced his profession in the city, going to and fro from his law office and giving the farm work his personal supervision. The Greenview Stock Farm became famous for the many fast horses bred there, one of the most noted of which was Samuel G .. record 2:29, and who made a trial record of 2 :1814 when a four-year-old. He made a practice of breeding two-year-olds for speed and succeeded, shipping horses to buyers in eastern and southern points where racers were desired for the tracks. In 1900 Mr. Greenawalt removed to Muscotah and continued his horse breeding until 1912, when he practically retired from the pursuit of his favorite hobby. He is the owner of a fine farm of 160 acres adjoining Muscotah on the east.
Mr. Greenawalt has been twice married, his first wife being Sophia E. Bowers, of Cleveland, Ohio, and who died May 26, 1870, at the age of twen- ty-seven years, leaving an infant daughter, Maude Mary, born February 1I, 1870, and died August 2, 1870. He married Mary C. Bowers, of Stark
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county, Ohio, in September of 1882. This marriage was blessed with one son, Samuel O., born November 6, 1885, and died March I, 1902. Mrs. Greena- walt was born December 15, 1845, in Stark county, Ohio, a daughter of Elijah and Mary Bowers, natives of Pennsylvania. In politics, Mr. Greenawalt is an independent. Mrs. Greenawalt is a member of the Congregational church of Muscotah. For many years Mr. Greenawalt has been a Mason and served as eminent commander of Washington Commandery, No. I, at Atchison for two years, and also served as worshipful master of Active lodge of Masons, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias.
HENRY NIEMANN.
Wherever members of the German race have settled in the agricultural sections of the Middle West, we find that they have been uniformly success- ful, and it is only natural to find that certain individuals achieve greater suc- cess than others. Henry Niemann, of Center township, Atchison county, is an American citizen of German birth, who came to this country a poor emi- grant lad, and has made a wonderful success since he purchased his first eighty acre tract in this county, nearly forty years ago. He is now one of the larg- est landed proprietors of the county, and one of the best known stockmen of northeast Kansas.
Henry Niemann was born February 14. 1853, in Minden, Germany, a son of Christian and Mary ( Krouse ) Niemann, who lived and died in the Father- land. They were the parents of seven children as follows : Crist, deceased ; Henry, whom this review directly concerns ; Fred, a farmer of Center town- ship; Mrs. Christena Krouse, deceased; Charles, a farmer of Atchison county ; William, living in Germany, and Augustav, deceased. Henry was educated in the schools of his native land and at the age of eighteen years left the Fatherland and immigrated to America in search of his fortune, which he was eventually to find in Kansas. He first settled in Madison county, Illinois, and worked there as a farm hand for five years. He saved his money care- fully while working on the farms of Illinois, and in 1876 came to Kansas and invested in a tract of eighty acres of land in Center township. He erected a small two-room cabin on his land and a barn to house his team of horses. He broke his land gradually and at first was able to farm only a small portion of it. The neighbors tried to discourage him by telling him that the strong winds might wreck his home at any time and advised him to find a better and safet
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location. He failed to find a place which suited him as well as his first choice, and although he has lived for forty years on the farm his buildings have never yet been blown away by the Kansas zephyrs. Mr. Niemann has prospered as he deserved and by the exercise of economy, hard work and good financial judgment, has become the owner of 615 acres of land in several farms, all of which are well improved and highly productive. Mr. Niemann is an extensive feeder of hogs and raises large numbers annually for the mar- ket. He believes in feeding the grain products of his farm to live stock on the place and thus reaps greater benefits than the ordinary methods of farm- ing would yield. He is a stockholder in a prosperous mercantile concern at Nortonville, Kan.
Mr. Niemann was married in 1897 to Louise Frommer, and to this mar- riage have been born ten children, namely: Mrs. Mary Dietrich, a widow, who lives with her parents; Rosa, widow of George Moeck, also living with her parents ; Christena, deceased; Dena, deceased; William, a farmer living in Center township; Mrs. Dora Dietrich, deceased : Harry, Henry and Julius, liv- ing at home, and Mrs. Lillie Poos, Nortonville, Kan. The mother of these children was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1858, a daughter of John and Kathrine (Markley) Frommer, natives of Germany, who were early settlers of Atchison county.
Mr. Niemann is an independent Republican voter, who refuses to wear the collar of any one set of political bosses, and votes as his judgment indi- cates. He and his family are members of the German Lutheran church. Henry Niemann is a fine type of successful German-American farmer and is a tiller of the soil first and last : he lays claim to no ambition beyond tilling his broad acres and making his land yield the maximum of sustenance for man and beast ; his great success lays in the fact that he has confined his energies to the soil and its cultivation and he has managed to get a good slice of the best land obtainable.
FRED W. KAUFMAN.
Fred W. Kaufman, merchant, Cummings, Kan., was born in Nortonville, Kan., February 18, 1879. He is a son of Frank and Louise (Baker) Kauf- man, who were the parents of thirteen children. Frank Kaufman was born in Servia, Germany, in 1833. When a youth, in his native land he learned the shoemaker's trade which he followed there until eighteen years of age, and he then emigrated from Germany to America in 1851. He came to Atchison,
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Kan .. and worked as a cobbler. When the town of Pardee. Kan .. was founded. Mr. Kaufman opened a shoe shop in that town and conducted it for about four years, after which he located in Nortonville and worked at his trade until his demise in 1911. The children of Frank and Louise Kaufman were as follows : Charles, deceased, merchant of Nortonville, born 1866, died 1908; Edward, a merchant, Nortonville; Fred, a merchant of Cummings, Kan., the subject of this review ; Mrs. Anna Coon, of Rock Creek, Kan. : Mrs. Flora Hilderbrand, Independence. Kan .; Walter, a farmer, living near Cleve- land, Okla .; Grace, residing at Nortonville. The mother of these children was born near the city of Atchison, and is now living in Nortonville.
Fred Kaufman was reared in Nortonville and attended the public schools of his native city after which he studied in the Atchison Business College. At the age of fifteen years he was employed as clerk in a general merchandise store in his home city. In 1900 he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was employed in the wholesale department of the Wheeler & Motter Mercantile Company for a period of nine years, and served in the capacity of mail order clerk in this establishment. He was then given a traveling position as sales- man with his firm and for three years sold goods in the surrounding terri- tory with considerable success. His ambitions led him to undertake things in his own behalf, however, and in 1912 Mr. Kaufman located in Colorado, where he was engaged in ranching for three years. Three years' hard work enabled him to develop his Colorado farm into a good piece of salable prop- erty and he then disposed of his holdings and came to Cummings where he invested his cash capital in a general merchandise store which he is conduct- ing with considerable success. His previous commercial experience has proven to be invaluable to him since entering the mercantile field in his own behalf, and he has developed a splendid business in Cummings. Besides his large store in Cummings, Mr. Kaufman has invested in 210 acres of land in Colorado and Oklahoma.
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