USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 78
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In 1903 he married Jane Ernst, who was born November 6, 1871, in Kapioma township, Atchison county. She is a daughter of John and Eliza (Lewis) Ernst. The father is a native of Germany and the mother of Nor- way, and both came to Atchison county, Kansas, in the early days. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have two children : Alice E. and Mary E., twins, who are living at home. Mr. Miller is a Democrat and has been treasurer of Kapioma township. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
CHARLES CARLTON HART.
For a Kansas citizen and pioneer settler to spend the better part of a life- time in building up a fine and highly productive farm, and then to enter the banking business at a time when most men are ready to retire and live a life of ease, is rather out of the ordinary, but such has been the experience of C. C. Hart, banker, of Muscotah, Kan. Mr. Hart has lived in Kansas for forty- seven years and has been successively farmer and banker during that time. He is a descendant of one of the old families in America and comes of a family of ministers and teachers.
C. C. Hart was born December 6, 1842, in Sandusky, Ohio, and was a son of Rev. Ichabod and Harriet ( Whitcomb) Hart, the former a native of New York, and the latter was born in Templeton, Mass., April 22, 1819, and died in Chicago, Ill., April 30, 1889. The Hart family is a very old one in America and is descended from two English immigrants who settled in Con-
C. C. Hart
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necticut in the colonial period of our Nation's history, and from whom the city of Hartford took its name in the seventeenth century. Several descend- ants of these early pioneers fought for the cause of American independence in the American Revolution and also in the War of 1812. Two brothers of C. C. Hart served in. the Union army in the late Civil war. The father of C. C. Hart was educated for the Presbyterian ministry and later became a Congregational minister. He received his college training in Princeton Uni- versity and migrated to Ohio in 18440; resided at Sandusky until 1843, and then took charge of a church at Medina, Ohio, until 1844, when he removed to Kenosha, Wis. After several years' ministerial work in Wisconsin he located in Illinois, and died at Wheaton, that State, in 1870, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. Rev. Hart was the father of eight children : Edwin R. received a college education and served in the Union army ; Rev. Walter O. Hart, a Union veteran, now located in North Carolina; Eliza F., born in Kenosha, Wis., January 23, 1847, married George W. Phillips, and died Sep- tember 15, 1875, at Llano, Texas, one and one-half years after her marriage. While carrying on his ministerial work the Rev. Ichabod Hart also conducted a farm in the neighborhood of his work. Edwin R. Hart was educated in Oberlin College, Ohio, and Walter O. received a college and theological insti- tute education and is now living in retirement with his son who also is a minister.
C. C. Hart, with whom this review is directly concerned, was reared to young manhood on his father's farm and attended the schools of Genoa, Wis. During the Civil war he remained at home and assisted his father in the farm work. In 1868 he decided to strike out for himself and try his fortunes in the West. He came to Kansas and located in Jackson county, on the western border of Atchison county, where he purchased 160 acres of railroad owned land, at a cost of five dollars and forty cents per acre. He at once began im- proving this tract which was raw prairie at the time of purchase and in the course of time developed it into a fine and highly productive farm. The Hart farm is one of the most productive and best improved in the State of Kansas and is widely known for the excellent shape in which the grounds and improvements are kept. Mr. Hart added eighty acres adjoining in Atchison county to the original quarter section and now has 240 acres in all. He re- mained on the farm until 1905, in the meantime having become interested in the Muscotah State Bank as a stockholder and director. In that year he removed to the town of Muscotah, where he has since made his residence in an attractive home. Mr. Hart was elected cashier of the bank January 1, 1910. and served in this capacity until August 1, 1915. While cashier he also served
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as vice-president of the institution and is now connected with the bank in that capacity.
Mr. Hart was married in 1867 to Miss Emma A. Olden, who has borne him the following children: Arthur C., born in 1873, married Bertie Stock- ton, and has one child, Dorothy, residing in Bakersfield, Cal .; Dwight Hart died in youth. Mrs. Emma A. (Olden) Hart, the mother, was born in Wis- consin in 1846, and is a daughter of Enos Olden, a native of New York State, and a descendant of an old eastern family.
The Republican party has always claimed the allegiance of Mr. Hart, and he has taken an active part in political affairs during his long residence in Grasshopper township and Muscotah. While living on the farm he held various township offices, and was always found in the forefront of civic move- ments which had for their intention the ultimate good of all the people. He filled the post of mayor of Muscotah for four years and was a good official. In church work he has been very active and is at present the treasurer of the Congregational church. His work in the interest of the young people of Mus- cotah has endeared him to all of the residents and for twenty-five years he has served as the superintendent of the Sunday school of his church. Mr. Hart was secretary of the Atchison County Sunday School Association for ten years. Although this grand old pioneer has passed the allotted three score and ten years of age, he is still active, mentally and physically, and rarely a day passes which does not find him at his desk attending to his duties in the bank or working about the grounds of his attractive, well kept home. Mr. Hart is a courteous and kindly gentleman of the old school whom one can not help but admire for his many sterling qualities.
WILLIAM YOUNG.
A native born Kansan, who became a successful agriculturist and banker, and left an indelible imprint upon the business and social life of Atchison county, was the late William Young, of Arrington, Kan. The Young family was one of the real pioneer families of the county, and the late Mr. Young was born on a pioneer farm in Mt. Pleasant township May 20, 1858. He was a son of William Johnson Young, whose wife was Mrs. Martha (Wamach) Snowden, widow, born in Virginia, a daughter of Abraham Wamach, an early pioneer settler of Atchison county, who came to this county in 1854 and settled on adjoining homesteads with W. J. Young. W. J. Young, the
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father of William, was born in Tennessee in 1815, and was the first judge of Atchison county. He settled on a farm in Walnut township, two and one- half miles northeast of Potter, Kan., which farm is now owned by Peter C. Griner. The elder Young was a natural born leader of men, and took an active and influential part in the political affairs of the county in the early days. He was a religious man, whose home was a meeting place for the politicians and ministers of the Gospel, and he was very hospitable. His father was the Rev. Duke Young, a native of Tennessee, who came to Kan- sas in 1854, and preached the first sermon in the county, on the doctrine of the Christian denomination. The Rev. Mr. Young was about sixty years of age when he came to Atchison county, and he had been preaching the Gospel for many years in Tennessee. J. W. Young became a member of the Chris- tian church when sixteen years of age. The Young family was of Scotch- Irish ancestry.
William Young, with whom this review is directly concerned, was one of a family of fourteen children reared by his parents. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, and after his marriage, in 1880, he and his wife located on a farm in Mt. Pleasant township, near the town of Potter, and developed it into a fine and productive tract. He continued in agricultural pursuits until 1908, when he went to Arrington, Kan., and purchased the Arrington State Bank, which he operated until his demise, January 12, 1910. After Mr. Young's death, his widow disposed of the bank and the Arrington property, and removed to Atchison, where she has since made her home at 419 Kearney street.
William Young was married February 5, 1880, to Miss Angie Cooley, and to this union were born the following children: Maude, wife of Earl Stapler, Atchison; Duff D. Young, born April 8, 1901. The mother of these children was born November 9, 1861, a daughter of James and Cassendania (Waddle) Cooley, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky. James Cooley, her father, migrated to Kansas in 1854 and settled on a homestead south of Potter, in Leavenworth county. His wife, Cassendania, came to Kansas to reside with her sister, Mrs. Masterson, who lived in Mt. Pleasant township, and she was married in 1860 to James Cooley. Eight children were born to them, of whom Mrs. Young was the fifth in order of birth. James Cooley took an active and prominent part in political affairs in Kan- sas in the early days, and served as the representative to the State legislature from Leavenworth county for two terms, from 1868 to 1872, inclusive. He died in 1876.
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William Young was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Odd Fellows, and the Fraternal Aid Union. He was a man who lived his life according to Christian precepts, and was a regular attendant at church and Sunday school of the Christian denomination. His start in life was at the foot of the ladder, and he was successful in his undertakings, build- ing for himself and his family, and leaving behind him on this earth the memory of a life well spent, and to his family a heritage of industry, honesty, straightforwardness and right living which will long be remembered by those who knew him best.
JAMES E. BEHEN.
In the compilation of the biographical department of this history of Atchison county, Kansas, the fact is frequently brought to the mind of the reviewer that the really successful men of this county are essentially self- made, and began at the foot of the ladder of success, working their way up- ward by various means, all of which were honest and based upon hard and painstaking labor at the outset of their careers. Very few were well edu- cated, or had been blessed with opportunities in their youth such as are the heritage of the youth of the present day. James Edward Behen, successful farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, is one of those citizens who are deserving of credit for what they have accomplished. Starting out as a boy of twelve, he has made his own way in the world, and after he attained manhood, with the assistance of a good and faithful helpmeet, he has ac- complished results which are really creditable. Starting with a tract of eighty acres of land in 1900, which he found necessary to improve, he soon added another eighty, then another eighty, and now has a fine farm of 240 acres, which is one of the most fertile tracts of land in the county, practically all of which is in cultivation. Mr. Behen has the right idea of farming, inasmuch as he sells the product of his farm "on the hoof," and has become an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs. This plan insures the fertility of the soil, and his farm is steadily improving as the result of a wise method of cultivation.
Mr. Behen is a native son of Kansas, who was born and brought up on Kansas soil, and will not admit that there is any better place under the sun for a man to acquire a fortune than right here in Atchison county, and, judging by what he has done in Kansas, the writer is prone to agree with him. James E. Behen was born March 28, 1864, at Leavenworth, and is a
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son of Michael and Mary Behen, who had six children. The father was of Trish descent. He followed bridge building. Jame-, the subject of this sketch, started out to make his own way at the age of twelve years, and went to work on the farm of Edward Whalen, in Doniphan county, Kansas, and stayed there eight years. Meanwhile, he attended the district school, receiv- ing a rudimentary education. He then worked as a farm hand until he was twenty-two years old. For several years following he rented land in Atchi- son and Doniphan counties. In 1900 he bought eighty acres in Center township, and five years later bought the eighty acres adjoining, his farm on the west. Now he owns 240 acres, which he has improved considerably. He built a modern barn, 32x35 feet in size, and also built a fine cattle barn, forty feet square. He does a large feeding business, handling a carload of cattle each year. He keeps graded stock of all kinds on his farm.
In 1888 he was married to Lizzie Pauly, who was born March 30. 1862, in Doniphan county, Kansas. She is the daughter of John and Anna (Hartzinger) Pauly, natives of Germany. The parents were early settlers in Illinois, and moved to Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Belen have eight children: Mrs. Agnes McCibben, Atchison, Kan. ; Alice, deceased : Mary, graduate of Atchison High School, living at home ; Thomas, living at home : Joseph, at home ; John, whereabouts unknown ; Roy and Fred. living at home. Mr. Behen is a Democrat. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church.
FRED HARTMAN.
It is meet that considerable space be devoted to the valiant old pioneers of Kansas who assisted in the settlement of the country, and had much to do with its development. Not all of them figured prominently, and it was given to a very few to be honored above their fellows. In the latter class the re- viewer must of necessity and choice place the late Fred Hartman, pioneer, successful farmer, Union veteran and well known public official, who for more than two decades was a well known and highly esteemed citizen of Atchison county.
Fred Hartman was born in Franklin county, Indiana, December 7, 1844, a son of Jonathan and Christina ( Wolking) Hartman. His paternal grand- father was Henry Hartman, a native of Pennsylvania, of German extraction, and his wife, Alice Case, whom he married in Pennsylvania, migrated to In- diana in the early days of the settlement of the Hoosier State. Jonathan
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Hartman, father of the subject, was born in Franklin county, Indiana, Jan- uary 22, 1822, and was reared to young manhood among the rugged hills of his native county, learning the carpenter's trade, and then moving to Platte county, Missouri, with his family in 1846. Nine years after settling in Platte county, he removed to Port William, at that time a thriving settlement on the banks of the Missouri river in Atchison county. Here he erected one of the first sawmills in Atchison county and the State of Kansas, and fur- nished all the sawed lumber for the settlers for many miles around. The year 1856 saw the beginning of the struggle between the Free State and pro-slav- ery men for possession of Kansas, and the summer of that year witnessed some lively times. History records the fact that a man named Bob Gibson, leader of the Kickapoo Rangers, came from the headquarters of the gang with a squad of men for the purpose of mobbing Jonathan Hartman on account of his opposition to slavery. Mr. Hartman was a man of high courage and assumed a defiant attitude toward the Rangers who finally left without doing the damage which they had boasted was their intent. About this time the noted Pardee Butler was set afloat on a raft down the Missouri river by the pro-slavery men of Atchison, and Butler appealed to Hartman for aid after landing, near Port William. Mr. Hartman gave Butler every assistance possible, in getting him to his home. In 1857 Jonathan Hartman sold his sawmill and settled on a farm in Mt. Pleasant township, near the old military road which ran from Ft. Leavenworth to Denver, and the Far Western points. Great trains of thirty or more heavily laden wagons drawn by six and twelve yoke of oxen were constantly passing the home of the Hartmans. Mrs. Hartman recalls the great drought of 1860 and the great snows of the fol- lowing winter. During the year of the great drought the settlers did not raise any crops and were forced to journey to Atchison for provisions, on the return trip stopping at the Andrew Parnell farm for assistance in their dire need. Two of the drivers on a wagon train that terrible winter had their feet frozen, one of the men afterwards losing both feet as a result of the hard- ships undergone. The Parnell home was a welcome and hospitable place of refuge for the starving and suffering settlers, during that winter. Mrs. Hartman also recalls the beautiful and inspiring sights made by the troops of United States cavalry which were frequently seen from her home in those days.
Fred Hartman hearkened to the call of the Union in the second year of the great civil conflict and enlisted in Company F, of the famous Thirteenth Kansas volunteer regiment, under Captain Hayes, Major Woodworth and Colonels Bowen and Speck. He was engaged chiefly in scout duty, and was stationed at Ft. Smith and other points in the Southwest during his
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term of service, which lasted for three years, and was finally mustered out at Ft. Leavenworth in 1865. He then came home and resumed the farm work on his father's farm. He was married January 21, 1866, to Cynthia Parnell. To this union were born the following children : Henrietta, wife of R. H. Ripple, died in 1896; Hannah Ann, wife of James Iddings, both of whom are deceased, and who left one child, Geneva Iddings, of Topeka, Kan. ; Dora, wife of Joseph Speck, died in 1896, leaving one daughter, Dora, who lives with her grandmother; Jonathan, a salesman of Kansas City; Josephine, wife of John Putman, of Atchison ; May Florence, wife of Roy Trimble, sheriff of Atchison county, has four children ; Birdie, wife of Henry Barr, died in 1906; Frederick, died in 1911, was married to Blanche Baker, daughter of Captain Baker. The mother of these children was born January 14, 1849, in Buch- anan county, Missouri, a daughter of Andrew and Mirah ( Wilson ) Parnell natives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. Andrew and Mirah Parnell began their wedded life in Franklin county, Indiana, where they were reared and then migrated to Arkansas, and from there to Missouri in the early forties. In 1859 the family left Buchanan county and settled in Mt. Pleasant town- ship, Atchison county, where they figured prominently in the early history of the county. The little Parnell was named after Andrew Parnell and the old town of the same name took its appellation from the family which settled in the neighborhood. Mr. Parnell spent his last days in Jefferson county, Kansas, where he died in 1872. He became very well-to-do and prospered. He was one of the original Free State men and suffered considerable loss at the hands of the Jayhawkers and border ruffians. Andrew Parnell was the father of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, and sent three of his sons to serve their country in the Thirteenth Kansas regiment, one son being killed. Mrs. Hartman is the youngest child of this large family.
When Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hartman were married they settled on a farm near Parnell, which Mrs. Hartman still owns. They developed this farm and cultivated it successfully until 1896, when they removed to Atchison, where Mr. Hartman died October 25, 1909. Mr. Hartman was a life-long Republican and began taking an active part in political and civic affairs when he had attained his majority. He was elected sheriff of the county in the fall of 1895, and served four years in all, in this important office. Previous to his removal to Atchison, he had capably filled the office of trustee of Mt. Pleasant township. He became identified with the civic life of Atchison and served as a member of the city council and was held in high esteem for his ability and capabilities as a citizen. Mr. Hartman was prominent in Odd Fellow and Masonic circles during his long life in the county.
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Fred Hartman was one of those pioneer citizens of Atchison county which are distinguished for their qualities of leadership, and his descendants are proud of his record as a citizen and public official. He was, during his whole life, a reader and student who believed in keeping abreast of the times and made a hobby of gathering historical data, being mich interested in the history of his adopted State. His mind remained keen to the end of his days and he will always be fondly remembered by those who knew him. To him and his comrades who laid the foundation of the prosperous and happy com- munity of Atchison, this volume is respectfully dedicated.
OSCAR A. SIMMONS.
Successful banking calls for qualifications somewhat different from those required in other pursuits or professions. It calls for a keen mind, decisive action, ability to pass judgment upon a proposition and its merits, and the power to judge and gauge human nature, and determine upon the honesty or sincerity of those with whom the banker is constantly doing business. Oscar A. Simmons, active vice-president and manager of the First National Bank of Atchison, possesses the qualifications of a successful banker to a considerable degree. He is unquestionably one of the rising financiers of Kansas with an ever increasing prestige in financial circles. He is one of those broad-minded men who keep abreast of progress and have the faculty of adapting their capabilities to the advanced needs of the times. Although a comparatively young man, as years measure a man's age, his experience in banking has been such as to eminently fit him for the important position which he holds.
O. A. Simmons is a native of Kansas, and was born in Jefferson county February 11, 1874. His father was Joshua Simmons, a native of Indiana, and his mother was Susan Pitcher Simmons, born and partly reared in Mis- souri. The parents of both Joshua and Susan Simmons were among the pioneer settlers in Jefferson county, and it is probable that they located there in about 1855. Both the Simmons and Pitcher families were prominent in the affairs of Jefferson county in the early days of the county's growth, and were highly respected. Joshua Simmons and Susan Pitcher were married in Jefferson county. At the outbreak of the Civil war, Joshua Simmons offered his services in behalf of the Union, and enlisted in Company A, Eleventh reg- iment, Kansas infantry, at the age of seventeen years, and was under the
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command of Colonels Moonlight and Plumb. Mr. Simmons took part in some hard campaigns during his enlistment, the Eleventh regiment being a part of the division which fought General Price's army of invasion through- out Missouri and Arkansas. On a number of occasions he showed his per- sonal bravery in volunteering for scout duty in the Southwest. He was mus tered out at the close of the war, returned home, and was married shortly afterward. After a long and successful career as a farmer and merchant, lie is now living a retired life at Brondon, Colo., at the ripe age of seventy- one years. Eight children were born to Joshua and Susan Simmons, five of whom are living, as follows : Mrs. J. W. Faubion, of Anthony, Kan. ; Os- car A. ; Mrs. P. H. Scales, of Birmingham, Ala. ; W. C. and C. T. Simmons, of Los Angeles, Cal. The mother of these children departed this life in 1886. She was a good wife and a kind and loving mother.
O. A. Simmons attended the common and high schools of his native county and town, after which he was employed in a general store at Win- chester, Jefferson county, until 1899. He was then employed in charge of the gents' furnishing department of a large department store at Leavenworth for one year. His ambitions had always been headed toward entering the field of banking, inasmuch as he believed that he could make a success as a banker. Opportunity naturally beckoned: he saw the need of a bank in the town of Potter, Atchison county. Taking what funds he could muster he went to Potter and organized the Potter State Bank, serving as the cashier of this institution for two years. He then sold his holdings in the Potter bank and organized the Exchange State Bank at Nortonville. For a period of five years he was in charge of this flourishing bank, and here had the oppor- tunity of demonstrating his inherent ability as a financier. A wider and larger field beckoned to him and he came to Atchison in 1906. Here his genius as an organizer has had full opportunity for exercise and he organ- ized the Commercial State Bank, which later bought control of, and was con- solidated with, the First National of Atchison. Mr. Simmons was elected vice-president of the bank at the time of the re-organization and was in- stalled as the bank manager. He has since taken an active part in the organ- ization of other banking concerns, having organized the Farmers State Bank of Anthony, Kan., in 1910, of which his brother-in-law, J. W. Faubion, is the cashier. In 1901 he organized the Jarbalo State Bank at Jarbalo, Kan .. of which T. J. Mains is cashier. Mr. Simmons disposed of his interests in the Jarbalo bank in 1911, and bought the Farmers State Bank at Effingham. selling control of this bank in 1912. His next venture was the purchase of
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