USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 47
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Mr. Neal was united in marriage December 3, 1895, to Miss Etta Freeman. an estimable lady of Douglass, Kans. She was born in Bloomington township, Butler county, June 19. 1876. Her parents were early settlers in Butler county, her father dying when she was a child and her mother now resides at Augusta. Mrs. Neal died July 6, 1913, leaving one child, Neva Bell, who resides with her father at Benton.
Mr. Neal is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and belongs to the Christian church.
A. Whitecotton, now living retired at Benton. Kans., is a Kansas pioneer, who has spent forty-six years of his life in this State, and is typical of that class of men of whom it may be said that they were especially qualified for the great work of opening up the West to civilization. This noble band of pioneers who went forth in the early days to conquer the wilderness and subdue the plains, knew not fear, and to overcome obstacles seemed to be their specialty. They had a mission to perform in the eternal fitness of things, and it can be said of them that they did their duty.
Mr. Whitecotton is a native of Indiana and was born June 28, 1840, a son of George and Angeline Whitecotton of that State, where the
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father was a successful farmer in the early days. They were the parents of the following children : Mrs. Lydia Jones, Lapell, Ind .; Oliver W .. Lapell. Ind .; Sidney, Mt. Comfort, Ind .; George W., Terre Haute, Ind .; Mrs. Mary Cotton, Indianapolis, Ind .; Benton, Indianapolis, and A., the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Whitecotton was married in 1864 to Miss S. M. Stouder, a daughter of William and Rebecca Stouder, natives of Indiana. Mrs. Whitecotton is one of a family of three children, as follows: Davis, Madison, Kans .; William, Nocona, Texas, and Mrs. Whitecotton. To Mr. and Mrs. Whitecotton have been born two children: Mrs. Eva Gordon, Augusta, Kans., and Howard W., Benton, Kans.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitecotton came to Kansas in 1870 and home- steaded 160 acres of land in the eastern part of Sedgwick county and immediately began to improve their home and follow farming in a small way. Money was scarce and the Whitecotton family like the other early pioneers had limited means, and Mr. Whitecotton resorted to every honorable method to earn a dollar. He worked on the streets of Wichita for $1.50 per day and slept in his wagon at night, while Mrs. Whitecotton remained at home on the claim. They felt that they were just getting a start when in 1874 the grasshoppers swept down and destroyed everything that they had, in the way of crops, and left them with nothing with which to subsist during the coming winter. Mr. Whitecotton then took his team and found employment hauling buffalo bones from the Ninescah valley to Wichita. He found these bones in great quantities along the Ninescah river and after hauling them to Wichita found a ready market at $6 per ton. After this he engaged in freighting which he followed until the spring of 1875 when he proved up on his claim and after securing the title was able to borrow $200 for which he paid sixteen per cent. The same year he borrowed seed wheat and gave one-third of the crop to the man who furnished the seed. From that time on he met with success in farming and stock- raising and accumulated a competence. A few years ago he sold his farm and bought a place in the town of Benton. He has one acre of land and a very comfortable home where he and his wife are spending their declining years in peace and comfort, after an active and success- ful career of enterprise and industry.
Mr. Whitecotton is a veteran of the Civil war. He enlisted at the first call of President Lincoln in Company K, Eighth regiment Indiana infantry and served until the close of the war, four years and two months. He served under Fremont in Missouri, and from this to the siege of Vicksburg, and after the fall of Vicksburg, he went to New Orleans, and was then transferred to the Army of the Potomac and served under Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley; later to Savannah, and did garrison duty. Later they went to Augusta and guarded Jeff Davis on his trip to Savannah. From there went to Hawkinville on detached duty. He was discharged at Darian, Ga., in August, 1865, and returned to Indiana.
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Newt Purcell, the popular and efficient sheriff of Butler county, stands for the conscientious performance of his duty at all times. He received much of his education in the hard school of experience, and largely through his own efforts, has made good. He was born in James county, Tennessee, December 25, 1876, and is a son of Samuel G. and Mary (Kimbrough) Purcell, both natives of Tennessee.
The Purcell family left their Tennessee home in 1881, and came to Kansas, locating in Butler county, south of Augusta. They remained there about two years when they returned to Tennessee, and in 1885, again set out for Kansas. The second time they made the trip across the country with a prairie schooner and a team of mules, with western Kansas as their objective point. After failing to find a suitable location in that section of the state, and after traveling many miles with their primitive outfit. many incidences of which are still fresh in Sheriff Pur- cell's mind, they returned to Butler county, and located near Augusta, again. The first few years in Kansas was a struggle for existence. The second time that they located in Butler county, the mother was sick, and $6 was the limit of the family fund. The father engaged in farming and after persistence and hard work met with a reasonable degree of success.
Newt Purcell was reared on the farm near Augusta, and obtained his education in the district schools. When he was eighteen years of age, he entered the employ of the Sante Fe Railroad Company, in a bridge construction gang, and shortly afterwards became a locomotive fireman on that road, between Newton and Dodge City, and served in that capacity for three years. While he was engaged in railroading he had bought land from time to time, near Augusta, which, by the way, is now (1916) valuable oil producing property. In 1904 he re- signed his position with the railroad company and engaged in farming and stock raising on his farm, which he followed until 1910, when he was appointed under-sheriff by Sheriff Moss, and served in that ca- pacity until 1914 when he was elected sheriff.
Mr. Purcell was first married March 28, 1895, to Miss Birdie Case of Augusta, who died January 19, 1896, leaving one child : Henry Newton Purcell, who met with an accidental death, August 12, 1901, by falling from a window. On September 16, 1900, Mr. Purcell was united in marriage with Miss Marian La Vanche Forgy, a native of El Dorado, whose parents were early settlers in this county and came from Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Purcell have been born two children; Icy Irene and Garland Newton, both of whom are students in the El Dorado schools.
Sheriff Purcell is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and belongs to the Mystic Shrine; he is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America, and Anti-Horse Thief Association. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Christian church. He is a Republican, and since he became
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NEWT PURCELL
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a voter has taken an active part in local politics. During his six years' experience in the sheriff's office, he has won the reputation of doing his duty faithfully and fearlessly. During the recent rapid industrial development of Butler county, due to the rapid development of the oil and gas fields, much additional work, both of a civil and criminal nature, has devolved upon the sheriff's office, and Sheriff Purcell has been found equal to every emergency.
Anthony G. Davis, a Civil war veteran and one of the earliest set- tlers of Butler county, now living retired at Benton, is a native of Ten- nessee. He was born May 26, 1838, in McMinn county and is a son of Anthony and Peachy Davis, both natives of Tennessee. The Davis fam- ily migrated from Tennessee to Missouri in 1848, settling in Neosho, where the parents spent their lives.
Anthony G. Davis grew to manhood on the Missouri farm, and in 1859 came to Butler county and homesteaded 160 acres in Benton town- ship. Here he built a primitive log hut, broke prairie and began farm- ing in a small way at first, and later became an extensive farmer and stock man. It must be borne in mind that 1859 was a very early date in the settlement of Butler county and this section of Kansas. He who penetrated the wild and unexplored frontier as far west as this at that time was truly a pioneer plainsman. There were scarcely any settle- ments west of Emporia then, and few inhabitants with the exception of Indians, soldiers and a few Indian traders. The nearest postoffice was Emporia, and the principal part of the supplies were obtained from that point. Mr. Davis has often made the trip to Emporia with oxen in the early days, camping by the side of the trail at night, whenever darkness closed his day's journey.
The first year in which he was engaged in farming was the dry year of 1860, of which we hear so much, and the settlers raised absolutely nothing that year and Mr. Davis split rails the following winter for a mere pittance, in order to buy a little corn to sustain life during the win- ter. Had it not been for the fact that game of all kinds was plentiful, early settlers like Mr. Davis would have been unable to obtain any meat whatever. After coming here he killed buffalo in Butler county and at one time he and a neighbor named Wilson went a little farther west and killed two wagon loads of buffalo on the ground where the city of Wichita now stands and he has killed hundreds of wild turkeys, prairie chickens, antelope and deer. He had many experiences of a thrilling nature such as the pioneer encounters. He had some experiences with the early day prairie fires which swept the plains periodically, and at one time lost several horses in the devastating flames that swept the prairie. There was a great variety of entertainment that kept the early settlers of Butler county busy. Perhaps, before they had time to fully remove the ashes and cinders of the prairie fire from their eyes, a bliz- zard would sweep down from the northwest and Mr. Davis lias exper- ienced several of those freaks of the weather, and at one time nearly lost
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his life in a blizzard. He and his father-in-law and two brothers-in-law became lost in a blizzard and after wandering aimlessly around the prairie for eight or ten miles during the storm, they fortunately ran into some timber and built a great fire and thus escaped freezing to death.
Mr. Davis was an unerring shot with a rifle which stood him in good hand in keeping the family supplied with meat. Any time Mrs. Davis would report "out of meat" Mr. Davis would take his gun and go to his "blind," which he had prepared about 150 yards from the cabin, and at the same time Mrs. Davis would put a kettle of water on the fire place and he always brought back a turkey, and never disappointed Mrs. Davis but once, and that time he came back to get Mrs. Davis to help him drag a large buck deer which he had killed, to the house, instead of a turkey.
March 8, 1862, Mr. Davis enlisted at Ft. Scott, Kans., in the Sixth regiment, Kansas cavalry, and after three years of service he was mus- tered out at Devall Bluff, Ark. He was united in marriage December 30, 1858, with Miss Amelia Vann, a daughter of William and Susan Vann. The Vann family were pioneers of Kansas, and the father was a native of England. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis five children were born, one of whom, Mrs. Susan L. Hall, of Benton, Kans., is living. Mrs. Davis died February 25, 1913, aged seventy years three months and eleven days.
For years Mr. Davis was prominent in the political affairs of Butler county and the State of Kansas, and he is one of the well known men of Butler county, and is frequently referred to as the "grand old man of the sixties."
L. C. Hill, a representative merchant of Benton, is one of the pro- gressive and wide-awake business men of Butler county. He was born in in Pennsylvania, August 2, 1869, and is a son of A. S. and Elizabeth Hill, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Hill family consisted of three children, as follows: Mrs. Letta Greenwood, Pittsburgh, Pa .; Bert, Cus- ter City, Okla .; L. C., the subject of this sketch, and Lula and Nona, de- ceased. The family came to Kansas in 1871. locating one and one-half miles east of 'Towanda, where the father homesteaded a quarter-section of land, where he was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising for fifteen years. He then retired, and for a time lived in Towanda, El Dorado and Cleveland, Okla., and died in 1893. His wife died in 1891, while on a visit in Pennsylvania.
Although L. C. Hill was a very young man when the family came to Butler county, he has a very distinct recollection of many events that transpired in the early days. Anything out of the ordinary made a last- ing impression on his youthful mind. He was only five years old at the time of the visitation of the grasshoppers, in 1874, yet he remembers very clearly how they came in great clouds and turned daylight into darkness, and devastated everything in the nature of vegetation before
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them. He has seen prairie chickens by the thousands, and killed a great many of them in the early days, they being a common article of food . with the early settlers. He says that while there were many inconven- iences in the early days that social conditions were not bad. Neighbors frequently met on various occasions and had good times and enjoyed themselves.
A. S. Hill, the father of L. C., was a stone mason, and after coming to Kansas worked at his trade occasionally. He assisted in building the dam 'at Towanda, and the Lyttle Mill on the west branch of the White- water. He built his own house after settling on his claim, which was a combination stone and log house, and was plastered with mud. It was comfortable but not elegant and made a good substantial home, and much better than the average pioneer of that locality possessed.
L. C. Hill began making his own way in the world at the early age of fifteen, his first work being that of a cow-boy, and he herded cattle on the plains for $3 per month for two years. When eighteen years of age he entered the employ of Sam Fulton and remained with him for eight years. He then entered the employ of Gust Loncer; a general mer- chant at Towanda, remaining with him as clerk for nine years. In 1905 he formed a partnership with his brother Bert and they engaged in the general mercantile business at Benton, Kans. under the firm name of Hill Brothers. On December 1, 1910 his brother disposed of his interest in the business to Henry Enoch and the firm became Hill & Enoch and about a year later Mr. Hill bought Mr. Enoch's interest and since that time he has conducted the business alone. His business occupies the best store building in Benton which Mr. Hill built in 1913. He carries a complete line of general merchandise and has built up a large business in and around Benton. He has built up a reputation for square dealing and won the confidence of the buying public which is the greatest asset that any commercial institution can have. Mr. Hill has met with well merited success in the mercantile world.
November 1, 1900, Mr. Hill was married to Miss Minne May Doyle, a daughter of John and Eliza Doyle, natives of Missouri and to this mar- riage three children were born: Marvin, aged 13: Edith, aged 9. and Merton. aged 5. The wife and mother of these children died September 17, 1912. Mr. Hill's second wife, to whom he was married October I. 1913, bore the maiden name of Miss Glena Opal Mallicoat, and was a successful and popular teacher in the Benton public schools prior to her marriage.
Mr. Hill since reaching maturity has taken a keen interest in local affairs, and while living in Towanda township held the office of town- ship clerk for four years, and has been a member of the city council of Benton for a number of years. He is a member of the Knights of Py- thias and the Methodist Episcopal church, having been superintendent of the Sunday school of that denomination for four years.
Notwithstanding the rapid development of his mercantile business
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at Benton, which would seem to take all the time and attention of any one man, Mr. Hill has taken on additional business responsibility and on March 6, 1914, he opened a branch store at Towanda, where he is doing a very satisfactory business and building up a large commercial institu- tion, WV. G. Turner, being his local manager at Towanda while A. C. Wallace assists Mr. Hill in the Benton establishment.
Harley I. French, the popular county superintendent of public in- struction of Butler county, is one of the successful educators of the State. Mr. French was born in Franklin county, Ohio, January 19, 1874, and is a son of George D. and Melissa (Rickets) French, natives of Ohio, the former of Franklin county and the latter of Fairfield.
The French family was founded in America by Captain French, a native of France, who was a sea captain and settled in Virginia at an early date. He was the great-grandfather of Harley I. French and his son, Harley French's grandfather, migrated from Virginia to Ohio and was a pioneer of that State. Melissa Rickets, Mr. French's mother, was a granddaughter of Col. John C. Rickets, who was a colonel in the War of 1812. He was a civil engineer by profession and did considerable work for the Government. He surveyed across the continent. His son, Ira Rickets, the father of Melissa Rickets, was a civil engineer and also a lawyer, being a member of the bar of Fairfield county, Ohio.
Harley I. French was the only child born to his parents. He came to Butler county with his parents in 1891 and the father engaged in farming and stock raising in Hickory township where he died June 21, 1908. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and an ex- emplary citizen. His widow now resides in El Dorado.
Harley I. French attended the public schools in Madison township, Franklin county. Ohio, and later took a course in Reynoldsburg Union Academy, and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1890. He then entered the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio, remain- ing until his junior year, when he came west with his parents and reached El Dorado July 9, 1891. He attended the Normal Institute here that year and after receiving a teacher's certificate, taught for two years in the southeastern part of the county, at Plainview District No. 144. He then taught two years at District No. 130 and two years at Beau- mont. He was then principal of the Latham schools for three years and held a similiar position at Severy for three years. He then served as principal of the Douglass schools for two years, when he accepted the principalship of the Howard schools at Howard, Kans., and after holding this position for six years he resigned to accept the principalship of the Leon schools. From Leon he went to Rosehill as principal of the schools, serving one year. He was then elected superintendent of public instruction. This was in 1912. In 1914 he was re-elected to succeed himself, and at that time received a majority of nearly 4,000 votes, which was the highest majority ever given a candidate in Butler county.
Mr. French is a progressive educator, and his methods and influence
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are clearly apparent in Butler county by the progress which the schools have made under his administration. He is capable of devising and en- couraging methods of maintaing interest in educational work. He pos- sesses the rare capability of keeping both the teachers and pupils inter- ested in their work. He has inaugurated the spelling contests in Butler county and has organized community welfare clubs. He keeps in close touch with the progress of the students of the public schools, and if a student fails, Mr. French investigates the cause and frequently is able to find an effectual remedy, and altogether, is one of the thoroughly cap- able and conscientious educators of the State.
Mr. French was united in marriage August 24, 1904, with Miss Cora Fuller, a native of Afton, Iowa, and a daughter of Henry Woodruff and Sarah Ann (Grandfield) Fuller, the former a native of Birkshire, Dela- ware county, Ohio, and the latter a native of Bristol, England. The Fuller family came to Kansas in 1877 and located in Reno county, and in 1879 removed to Greenwood county and now reside at Eureka. Mrs. French was educated in the rural schools of Greenwood county and graduated from the Southern Kansas Academy at Eureka in the class of 1894, and when a girl taught district school in the flint hills of Green- wood county for one term, and the following year entered Kansas Uni- versity and was graduated in the class of 1899 with a degree of Bache- lor of Arts. She then taught in the Eureka schools and after that, taught the sciences in the Parsons High School for three years prior to her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. French have been born three children : Zelia J., Harriet M., and Lephia M.
Mrs. French is a member of the Women's Mutual Benefit Club of El Dorado and the W. C. T. U. and is assistant superintendent of schools of Butler county. Mr. and Mrs. French are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. French is prominent in organized educational work, and has been president of the Southern Kansas Teachers' Associa- tion. He is a capable man in the great field of educational work which he has chosen, and it can be truthfully said of him that he gives his work the best that is in him.
J. H. Price, senior member of the firm J. H. Price & Company, one of the leading real estate, loan and insurance firms of El Dorado, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Price was born in Belmont county, August I, 1839, and is a son of Samuel and Ruanna (Lady) Price, the former a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. They spent their lives in Ohio.
J. H. Price was reared and educated in his native State and had reached the age of manhood when the Civil war broke out, and in answer to the President's call for volunteers, he enlisted at Chillicothe. Ohio, August 30, 1861 in Company B, Second Battalion, Eighteenth United States infantry. Four brothers of J. H. Price enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war and two of them were killed in action and the other two were wounded. The father also offered his services
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but was rejected on account of being past the military age. His com- mand was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, joining General Thomas at Mill Springs, Ky., from which point they made a forced march in time to be at the battle of Shiloh, and they also participated in the battle of Corinth and the battle of Perryville, and in a fight with Morgan at Lenan, Ky. It fell to Mr. Price's lot to do a great deal of detached duty in the way of scouting in Kentucky and he was in a num- ber of skirmishes. He was at the battle of Stone River and Murfrees- boro, where his regiment suffered very severe losses. In that engage- ment six of the color bearers had been shot down, and Mr. Price was the seventh to pick up the fallen colors and fortunately escaped with- out injury. He was at the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Moun- tain, Missionary Ridge, and Resaca, and numerous other battles and skirmishes, and in the campaign against Atlanta. He was at the bat- tles of Jonesboro and Nashville. Mr. Price was wounded three times during his service. He was struck on the neck with a fragment of a shell at the battle of Stone River and was struck on one of his fingers by a gun shot at Lebanon, Ky., and in an attack by guerillas between Nashville and Chattanooga he was struck in the neck by several small shot. Mr. Price was promoted, step by step, until he became first sergeant of his company, and at the battle of Stone River, both the captain and first lieutenant of his company were killed, and, by virtue of his rank as first sergeant, Mr. Price became first lieutenant during the remainder of that battle. At the close of a brilliant military career he was discharged near Jonesboro, Ga., August 30, 1864, by reason of the expiration of his term of service, although he remained with his regi- ment for some time after his discharge.
At the close of the war Mr. Price returned to Ohio where he was engaged in the marble business until 1873, when he went to Iowa and located in Taylor county, and for a number of years, was a minister in the United Brethren church. In 1880, he came to Kansas and for a time lived in Lincoln county, where he was engaged in the ministry for two or three years, and also preached in various other places in Kansas and Colorado. In 1904 he came to Butler county and engaged in farming, and in 1912 located in El Dorado, where he has since been engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business. In 1916, his son, William S., became the junior member of the firm.
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