History of Butler County Kansas, Part 42

Author: Mooney, Vol. P
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 946

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five children, as follows: Herbert A .; Zella, the subject of this sketch ; Ernest; Belva and Zora, the two last named being deceased.

In 1886 the Lamb family came to Butler county and settled on a farm near Chelsea where the mother died in 1889 and the father died November 8, 1911. He was a man well posted in current events, a great lover of history and a student throughout his life. While serv- ing in the Civil war he kept a complete diary of each day's doings, which is not only interesting and instructive but a masterpiece of narrative composition. He was an active supporter of the policies and principles of the Republican party but never held political office.

Miss 'Lamb was educated in the public schools of Butler county and the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, and for twelve years taught in the public schools of Butler county and is considered one of the successful educators of the county. During the administra- tion of county superintendent W. H. McDaniels, she served as a mem- ber of the county board of examiners. In 1911 Miss Lamb was ap- pointed deputy register of deeds and in 1914 received the republican nomination for that office and was elected by a very satisfactory ma- jority and took charge of the office in January, 1915. Her administra- tion of the affairs of that important office has been very satisfactory as all those who have business with that department of the county's affairs can testify. Miss Lamb is a capable, courteous and obliging public official and conscientious in the performance of her duties. She is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps and the Methodist Episco- pal church, and is a Republican.

Chas. W. Steiger, the present capable county attorney of Butler county, is a native of Kansas. He was born at Hollenberg, Washing- ton county, Kansas, October 14, 1884. He is a son of J. W. and Thursia (Hazlett), the father a native of Germany, and the mother of Iowa. J. W. Steiger, the father, located in Washington county, Kan- sas, when he was a young man, and in 1890, he came to Butler county with his family, and located at Whitewater, where he is engaged in the drug business and is now a leading druggist of that town.

Chas. W. Steiger attended the public schools and the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, and was graduated from the Newton High School in the class of 1902. He then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Mich., and was graduated from that institu- tion in the class of 1905. He then engaged in the practice of law at Topeka, where he was associated with R. B. Welch, and later Galen Nichols. He practiced his profession for four years in Topeka, when he located at Whitewater, and was successfully engaged in practice there until January, 1915, when he came to El Dorado to assume the duties of the office of county attorney, having been elected in November, 1914.

The industrial development of Butler county within the last year has materially added to the duties of the county attorney, and today.

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Mr. Steiger finds himself confronted by the task of prosecuting male- factors in a great industrial county of the State, where hundreds of men of all character and conditions are employed. instead of the peaceful agricultural community that Butler county was when Mr. Steiger took the office. However, he is equal to the occasion, and has ably coped with the new conditions. He is a close student of the science of his profession, and an able lawyer, and as a public prosecutor, he is fair and fearless, and plays no favorites in his policy of law enforcement.

Mr. Steiger was married at Newton, Kans., June 2, 1910, to Miss Lulu Walt, a native of Walton, Kans., and at that time, a resident of Newton. Mrs. Steiger is a daughter of H. M. Walt, who now resides at Kansas City, Mo. To Mr. and Mrs. Steiger has been born one child, Walt A. Mr. Steiger is a thirty-second degree Mason. He be- longs to the A. F. and A. M., Brainard Lodge, No. 280. Whitewater, Kans .; Wichita Consistory, No. 2, and he is also a member of the Mystic Shrine, Midian Temple, Wichita, and he also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, at El Dorado, Kans. Mr. Steiger is a Republican, and has always supported the policies and principles of that party, and he and Mrs. Steiger belong to the Presbyterian church.

· Mr. Steiger is a conscientious public official, and since he has held the office of county attorney, the public business falling within the scope of his official duties, have been given prompt and careful atten- tion, and he is a lawyer well qualified to represent the State of Kansas in court in a way that not only reflects credit upon himself, but upon the people of Butler county.

Hector Sinclair, of El Dorado, is a native of Stamford, Delaware county, New York. He was born April 23, 1846, and is a son of Hector and Anna (More) Sinclair, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Delaware county, New York. Anna More, the mother, was a granddaughter of John More, who was the first settler in the vicinity of Grand Gorge, N. Y. He kept a tavern at that point for a number of years, and the place was known as Moresville for a century. Hector Sinclair's father died when Hector was five weeks old, and shortly afterwards the mother with her five small children went to Walton, N. Y., where they made their home with Mrs. Sinclair's fath- er, David More, for sixteen years.

When sixteen years of age, Hector Sinclair became an apprentice to S. H. White to learn the marble cutter's trade and served three and . one-half years. He received a good common school education in the village schools and was graduated from Walton Academy. He worked at his trade in many of the principal cities of New York State, and in 1883 went to Iowa, locating at Corroll, where he remained one year. He then went to Appleton City, Mo., and remained there three years. In 1887 he came to Kansas and located at El Dorado where he has since been engaged in the marble and monument business, and is the only dealer in granite and marble monuments in El Dorado. He has

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an extensive business which extends over a large territory.

Mr. Sinclair was married at Nunda, N. Y., in 1875, to Miss Carrie M. Page. Two sons and one daughter have been born to this union, as follows: Page, resides at Walton, N. Y .; Hector, Jr .. Oklahoma City ; and Mabel, married George J. Benson, El Dorado, Kans.

Mr. Sinclair is a member of the Masonic lodge and prominent in fraternity circles. He joined the Walton, N. Y. Loage, No. 559, in 1867 and took the capitular degree in Steuben Chapter, No. 101, at Hornell. N. Y., and also the order of knighthood at the same place in De Molay commandery No. 22 and the Scottish Rite degree was conferred upon him in the Corning Consistory in 1874. He joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Dansville, N. Y., in 1872 and the Knights of Pythias at El Dorado. Mr. Sinclair is a progressive citizen and one of the substantial business men of El Dorado.

Orville Holford, the efficient county clerk of Butler county, was born near Leon, this county, July 22, 1888, and is a son of Francis D. and Margaret (Lingenfelter) Holford. The father is a Civil war vet- eran, and he and his wife now reside at Augusta, Kans. Francis D. Holford is a pioneer of Butler county, and came to this county with his father, John Holford, in 1869. They homesteaded in Logan town- ship, upon coming here, and were among the very early settlers of that section. The Holford family comes from Revolutionary ancestry.

Orville Holford spent his early boyhood days in Leon, Kans., where he began his educational career in the public schools. Later his parents removed to Augusta, in 1900, and he attended the public schools there and was graduated from the Augusta High School in the class of 1907. He then took a course in the Jola Business Col- lege, Iola, Kans.

On June I, 1909, he began his duties as deputy county clerk, under county clerk M. L. Arnold, and served in that capacity until January, 1913, when he assumed the duties of the office of county clerk, hav- ing been elected at the preceding election. In the fall of 1914, he was reelected to succeed himself, and his term of office expires in January, 1917.

Mr. Holford was married February 22, 1911, to Miss Minnie A. Clark, of Augusta. She is a daughter of Robert Clark, now deceased. Her mother resides in New York City. To Mr. and Mrs. Holford have been born two children: Robert and Francis.

Mr. Holford is prominent in Lodge circles. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Patmos Lodge, No 97. A. F. and A. M .: El Dora- do Chapter, No. 35; Roval Arch Masons, El Dorado Commandery ; Knights Templar, No. 19; and the Mystic Shrine, Midian Temple, Wichita, and is past master of the El Dorado Lodge, for the year 1915, and is district deputy grand master of the Thirty-fourth District of Kansas. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at El Dorado, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

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Lodge No. 74, El Dorado. He and his wife are members of the Chris- tian church, and he is a Republican.

During his seven years of public service in the county clerk's of- fice, Mr. Holford has won the reputation of being one of Butler coun- ty's courteous, capable and obliging public officials, and his genial man- ner has won for him many friends and stanch supporters throughout Butler county.

Robert H. Hazlett .- Success in any occupation, in any avenue of business, is not a matter of spontaneity, but represents the result of the application of definite subjective forces and the controlling of objec- tive agencies in such a way as to achieve desired ends. Mr. Hazlett has realized a large and substantial success, not only as a banker, farmer and breeder of cattle of pedigree, but as a lawyer ; and his career has well exemplified the truth of the foregoing statements. He occupies a prominent place in the financial circles of Kansas, is the controlling force in one of the leading banks of Butler county, owns and operates one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the State, and is one of the most prominent breeders of Hereford cattle in America. Progressive and energetic in the management of these varied affairs, loyal and pub- lic-spirited as a citizen, he holds a secure position in the confidence and esteem of the community, and is recognized as one of the first citizens of southern Kansas.

Robert H. Hazlett was born on his father's farm in Christian county, Illinois, his paternal ancestry dating from colonial times, with residence in North Carolina. His grandfather, Robert Hazlett, was a native of Virginia, who came to Illinois in 1828, and located near Springfield, where he was one of the pioneer settlers, followed farming as an oc- cupation and became a prominent and influential citizen. The parents of Robert H. Hazlett were William Phe and Zerelda (Haggard) Haz- lett, the father a native of Virginia and the mother of Kentucky. Wil- liam Hazlett was a farmer. He was identified with the early develop- ment of Christian and Sangamon counties and realized a substantial suc- cess in his pursuits. He died at the advanced age of eighty-one.

Robert H. Hazlett was educated in the public schools of his native county, in the Springfield (Ill.) High School, and spent two years, 1868 and 1869, in the literary department of the University of Illinois, at Champaign. He then taught school two winters, in the meantime de- voting his spare moments to the study of law and was graduated in the law department of the University of Michigan with the class of 1872. He was admitted to the bar at Springfield, Ill., in the same year, and practised his profession in that city from 1874 to 1885. As a Democrat he was elected State's attorney of Sangamon county, Illinois, in 1876, and was reelected in 1880. During the early eighties, Mr. Hazlett had purchased lands in Kansas and Nebraska, and when his second term as State's attorney expired, in January, 1885, he came west and located in El Dorado, where he engaged extensively in the real estate business,

ROBERT H. HAZLETT

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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY

buying and selling lands, and also practiced law. In 1887, he associated himself with the Hon. C. L. Harris, under the firm name of Hazlett & Harris, a partnership which continued until 1889, when he removed to Leadville, Colo., where he had important mining interests. He took active charge of these properties, developed them successfully, and in the fall of 1892, sold them for a highly satisfactory figure. He returned to El Dorado in January, 1894, and began investing the comfortable for- tune he had acquired from his Colorado mining properties in adding to his previous holdings in Butler county lands, and also made his initial banking investment. He purchased a large interest in the Merchants State Bank, was elected president, and shortly afterward converted it into a National institution, under the name of Farmers and Merchants National Bank of El Dorado. He was elected president of the new or- ganization and remained at its head, except for one year, until June, 1909, when he disposed of his holdings. On July I, 1909, he was elected president of the El Dorado National Bank, of which he had purchased a majority of the stock, and under his management, it has grown to be one of the strong financial institutions of southern Kansas.

Mr. Hazlett is known to the banking world as an able and discrim- inating financier and has brought the administrative policy of his bank up to the point of highest efficiency. He was the organizer of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of El Dorado, and has served as its president for many years. As an owner of farm lands Mr. Hazlett ranks first in Butler county and among the leaders in the State. His Butler county holdings embrace over 10,000 acres, operated under his personal supervision. "Hazford Place," the summer residence of the family, is situated two miles north of El Dorado, and here he main- tains the large breeding establishment devoted to registered Hereford cattle. A private water system furnishes water for all purposes; electric current is obtained by a private wire from El Dorado and is used for light and power, the residence, tenant houses and barns being equipped with this light. The lands lie along the Walnut river, and the hill slopes contain an abundance of limestone, which gives added strength to the natural grasses and the fertile bottom lands. The silt from the hillsides is not surpassed elsewhere, and doubtless much of the success in the de- velopment of the Herefords is due to the limestone grasses and the aflalfa.

In 1898 Mr. Hazlett made his first purchase of pedigreed Herefords. A lover of fine stock, his purchase was from a desire to have, in a small way, a breeding establishment, where he could, during his spare hours, enjoy the pleasure of ownership and improve his herd. That he has suc- ceeded beyond his expectations is in all probability true. Among those who should know, he is credited with having the best herd of Hereford cattle in America. Beau Brummel 10th, No. 167719, is the sire of most of the females in the herd. Bean Beauty, No. 192235, and Caldo, second. No. 260440, have also added to the strain. The herd numbers some (27)

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200, only those animals being retained which show high class. Mr. Haz- lett is a director of the American Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association, is a member of the executive committee, and served as president of the association, in 1908-09. He is also a director and president of the American Royal Live Stock Show, and has done as much, if not more, to draw attention to Kansas cattle than any other breeder in the State.

On January 7, 1884, Mr. Hazlett married Miss Isabella, daughter of Col. James Bradford, of Springfield, Ill. They have no children, but have reared a nephew of Mrs. Hazlett, Robert Hazlett Bradford, cashier of the El Dorado National Bank. The town house of the family is the largest and most substantial residence in the county. It was built of native limestone, and is finished in hardwoods, grown on the home farm, "Hazford Place."

James H. Sandifer, owner and proprietor of the El Dorado Trans- fer Company, and local agent for the Standard Oil Company, is one of the progressive and enterprising business men of El Dorado. He is a native of Somerset county, Kentucky, born September 6, 1869, and. is a son of George M. Sandifer. (For a more complete history of the Sandifer family see sketch of W. H. Sandifer, which appears in this volume.) James H. Sandifer was about eight years of age when he came to Butler county with his parents and here grew to manhood and was educated in the public schools. He began life in the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, and in that connection also worked for the express company. He was located at Wichita about a year, during which time he was employed in the ticket office of the Missouri Pacific Company and for nine years he was employed in the El Dorado office of that company, during which time he worked under Russell R. Harding, A. II. Webb and William T. Kyle.

After being in the railroad service for ten years Mr. Sandifer re- signed and engaged in the transfer business at El Dorado, and about the same time, he became local agent for the Uncle Sam Oil Com- pany, and after that firm went out of business, he was agent for the Sunflower State Oil Company until 1909 when he became local agent for the Standard Oil Company, and has since capably filled that posi- tion. During all this time he has conducted his transfer business which has had a substantial growth and development and has become one of the important business enterprises of El Dorado. Mr. Sandifer uses six teams and a motor truck in connection with his transfer busi- ness and employs a great many men, never having less than six on his pay roll and frequently several times that many.

Mr. Sandifer was married to Miss Bertha C. AAllen, a daughter of Chris and Ellen B. Allen. Mrs. Sandifer was born in Burlington, Iowa, and came to Butler county, Kansas, with her parents when she was a child. She was reared and educated here and is a graduate of the El Dorado High School. Her father was successfully engaged in the plumbing business here for a number of years, and is now de-

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ceased, and her mother resides in El Dorado. To Mr. and Mrs. Sandifer have been born six children, as follows: James, a student in Kansas University ; Robert, collector for his father, and is a graduate of the El Dorado High School; Ellen, a student in the El Dorado High School; Carrie Ethel, died at the age of two years; Mary Bell and Winifred. James is taking the electrical course and Robert has given special study to wireless telegraphy, and is one of the experts in that line of work in the State. He has constructed a wireless apparatus and sends and receives messages over a large scope of territory.

Mr. Sandifer is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, of which he is local manager and past member of the coun- cil. He is one of the substantial citizens of El Dorado and Butler county.

C. W. Harvey, who is successfully engaged in the real estate and loan business, specializing in oil properties, has spent most of his life in Butler county. Mr. Harvey was born in Appanoose county, Iowa, in 1868, and is a son of Elijah E. and Malla (Flynn) Harvey, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter of Indiana. A sketch of the father. Elijah E. Harvey, appears in this volume. The Harvey fam- ily came to Butler county in 1872 when C. W. was four years old. They settled in Logan township where the father homesteaded a claim. C. W. Harvey was one of a family of seven children, five of whom are now living. He was educated in the public schools of Butler county and Garfield University of Wichita.

After leaving college Mr. Harvey was engaged in the drug busi- ness at Deighton, Lane county, Kansas, for five years. He then en- tered the employ of Charles Selig at El Dorado where he remained one year, and after that was in the employ of W. Y. Miller for six years. In the spring of 1900. he engaged in the drug business for him- self in El Dorado and three years later sold out, and again engaged in the drug business in 1913, and in the spring of 1916 he disposed of the drug business and engaged in the real estate and loan business. The real estate business is not a new venture for Mr. Harvey, as he has been more or less identified with that line of work for years. He makes a specialty of handling oil properties, and in this respect is on the ground floor of the great oil and gas development of Butler county, and has handled some important deals in that line.

Mr. Harvey was united in marriage in June. 1897. to Miss Cora Taylor, of El Dorado. . Mrs. Harvey was one of Butler county's suc- cessful teachers prior to her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have been born two children: Charles Wallace, Jr., aged eighteen, and Alice Carolyn, aged eight years.

Mr. Harvey is. a Republican and takes an active part in the po- litical affairs of Butler county, and has been chairman of the Repub- lican County Central Committee, which position he resigned in 1912

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to become chairman of the Progressive party in Butler county, and still holds that position. He is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and the Fraternal Aid, and he and Mrs. Harvey are mem- bers of the Christian church, and he has been identified with that de- nomination since he was nineteen years of age. Mr. Harvey is one of the progressive business men of El Dorado and one of Butler county's substantial citizens.

Capt. Elijah E. Harvey was a soldier of two wars, the war with Mexico and the great Civil war. In the latter he was captain of Com- pany B, Sixth Kansas cavalry. His company was enlisted in Appa- noose county, Iowa, and they were assigned to the war on the border of Kansas and Missouri through the war, and was honorably dis- charged.

After the war was over, he returned to his home in Appanoose county, Iowa, and engaged in the mercantile business at Bellaire, Iowa, and Unionville, Mo. Following financial losses in these places he decided to go west, and in October, 1872, in company with several other families, we left Numa, Iowa, and came, by wagon train to But- ler county. We were three weeks on the road and, like Abraham of old, brought with us our flocks and our herds, seeking "a land flowing with milk and honey."

We reached our destination in October, and first settled in a two- story, frame house on what was then the Smith claim in Bloomington township. My father began his work, as a pioneer preacher of the Church of Christ, during our stay in this house. Some of his first preaching was done in the home of J. C. Riley. Father went where- ever he was called, and preached in private houses, school houses, halls, churches or groves as time, season and circumstances permitted. The outdoor meetings were held in groves, and were notable gather- ings where the brethren and sisters came from all over the county, and sometimes from adjoining counties, with well filled baskets of fried chicken and other good things, such as could be obtained in those early days, to spend a day of worship, under the whispering trees of the groves, which William Cullen Bryant so fittingly designated as "God's First Temples." "Dunn's Grove," near the mill of that name, at Douglass was one of the most popular places for such gatherings. My father was a pioneer in spirit and loved the broad prairies, the flowing streams, the shady groves and the blue skies of Sunny Kansas.

In the spring of 1873 he moved into his own house, built of native lumber, on his claim in Logan township on Muddy Creek, and started in to wrest from the soil a living for himself and his family. His farm- ing was mostly done by proxy for he was no farmer ; his preaching was the work of his heart.

He was in the truest sense a soldier, and served his country well; he was known in Grand Army and political . circles as Captain Harvey, and his sword and sash have graced the forms of more than one marshall of the day in civic and political parades. He was a good

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citizen and served as registrar of deeds of Butler county through two terms; but the greatest battles of his life were those fought against unrighteousness, under the command of the "Prince of Peace." His work in Butler county resulted in the establishing of Churches of Christ at El Dorado, Augusta, Donglass, Leon, Haverhill, and Benton in Butler county. He did not confine his labors to that locality, but ministered to the churches in Winfield, Udall, Wellington, Belle Plains, and Eureka. In El Dorado, he baptised many people, among whom I recall Mrs. John Betts, Mrs. N. F. Frazier, Mrs. Dan Bron- son, Mrs. Josh Lambdin, Mrs. Donnelly, Mrs. M. I. Morgan, Mrs. John Shelden and Charles Selig. He was held in high esteem by men of affairs of all creeds and shades of faith and by those who accepted no visible church fellowship. Like all men who accomplish good work for humanity, he had at times, heart aches over the unkind acts of false friends and unjust criticisms, from those who did not see from the same view point ; but, through it all he kept himself pure and hon- orable in life and deed, a man generous to those in need, sympathetic with youth, open handed, sincere, hospitable and forgiving.

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History of Butler County Kansas, Part 42

Author: Mooney, Vol. P Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 946

Author: Mooney, Vol. P
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : Standard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 946