USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 51
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Mr. Moyle was united in marriage in 1870 with Miss Josephine Sanders at Augusta, Kans., and six children have been born to this union, as follows: Grace, married Arthur Skaer, Augusta, Kans .; John, Augusta ; Matthew, married Pearl Purcell, and resides in Walnut - township; Beulah, married R. Y. Alexander, Wichita Falls, Texas, and Harry and Anna, residing at home. Mrs. Moyle belongs to a pioneer Butler county family who came from Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1869.
During Mr. Moyle's business carcer he has found time occasionally to devote himself unselfishly to the cause of public affairs. In 1885 he was elected mayor of Augusta, an office which he filled with credit to himself and entire satisfaction to the electors of the city. Mr. Moyle has seen great changes in the life of Butler county since coming here, and perhaps has as rich a fund of early day reminiscences as any pioneer of the county, and he possesses the faculty of relating the stor- ies of pioneer days in an entertaining way. When he came here there
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was plenty of game such as deer, antelope and wild turkeys, and prairie chickens by the thousands. The great herds of buffalo, however, had drifted a little farther west and were in abundance not far from where Wichita is now located. He remembers, though, of one buffalo being killed in this county on Turkey creek, after he came here. He thinks, though, that that buffalo was just a little unfortunate and failed to heed Horace Greeley's warning to go west and escape the fate that overtook him. Henry Moyle will be long remembered as one of the grand old men of Butler county to whom future generations will ever owe a debt of gratitude for the part that he has played in laying the foundation for the enjoyment of the great institutions of today.
M. A. Palmer, Civil war veteran and one of the earliest settlers in Butler county, bears the distinction of having been one of the found- ers of the town of Leon. Mr. Palmer was born in Washington county, Ohio, July 8, 1837, and is the only living child of a family of five. He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and when the Civil war broke out he was in Kansas, where he enlisted in the Fifth Kansas regiment at Topeka, and participated in many important bat- tles and skirmishes throughout Missouri and Arkansas. He was at the battle of Morristown where the colonel of his regiment, Hampton P. Johnson, was killed. He was also in the engagement at Helena. Little Rock and Pine Bluff, and altogether was under fire seventeen times.
In 1867. Mr. Palmer came to Butler county, and preempted a claim in Little Walnut township, where he was engaged in general farming and stock raising until 1884, meeting with uniform success in his undertak- ing. Ile then removed to Leon, and has lived there practically all of the time since. He assisted in laying out the town of Leon, and opened the first drug store there which he conducted for a number of years. He and two other men organized the Leon Bank and he became the first cashier of that institution and later sold his interest in the bank to J. Benninghof. For eighteen months, he was superintendent of the Leon Creamery, and has been active in the commercial life of the town since it was founded.
NIr. Palmer has always taken a prominent part in local politics and has been an active and influential factor in Butler county, in a political way. He served one term as county commissioner of Butler county by appointment, and was elected to two other terms, and has held various township offices of trust and responsibility. In 1876, he was elected a member of the State legislature, and served in that session with satis- faction to his constituents and credit to himself. In 1892, he was elected register of deeds of Butler county, serving one term. Since boyhood. he has been a Republican and has been a close adherent to the policies and principles of that party, and is not inclined to be led along political byways by false prophets.
Mr. Palmer was united in marriage January 22, 1865, with Miss Susan C. Berry, of Topeka, Kans., a daughter of G. W. and Nancy (Ste-
M. A. PALMER AND WIFE
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wart) Berry. The Berry family came to Kansas from Missouri in 1854, during the territorial days, and settled at Topeka, which was then a small hamlet on the frontier. Mrs. Palmer has two brothers and one sister living, as follows: James Berry, Burlingame, Kans .; G. W. Berry, Topeka; and Mrs. M. A. Fleak, Atchison, Kans. To Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have been born the following children: Mrs. Mary F. Hogue, resides on the old homestead ; Mrs. Susan May Sandford, Rock, Kans .; Charles F., Leon; Mrs. Abigail Carroll, El Dorado, Kans; Mrs. Leola Pearl Rigg, Leon, Kans.
Many changes have taken place since Mr. Palmer first came to Butler county. In the early days, his nearest trading points were Em- poria and Topeka, and the nearest grist mill was at Cottonwood Falls. He was one of the few early settlers who out-generaled the grass- hoppers when they marched across Kansas in 1874. He was at Leon at the time, and hurrying home, cut and shocked his corn and thus saved it from the devastation of the greedy hoppers.
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Grand Army of the Republic and the Christian church.
J. W. Riffe, a Civil war veteran and Butler county pioneer, who has been a factor in the affairs of this section of Kansas for nearly half a century, is a native of Kentucky. He was born in 1844, and is a son of P. B. and Julian (Wadkins) Riffe, also natives of Kentucky. They were the parents of ten children, only two of whom are now living: Mrs. Rowena Tucker of Springfield, Mo., and J. W., the subject of this sketch.
J. W. Riffe was educated in the public schools of Kentucky and St. Mary's College near Lebanon, Ky. When the Civil war broke out. J. W. Riffe, then a boy of only sixteen years, enlisted in the Union army at Lebanon, Ky., and became a member of Company D, First regiment, Kentucky cavalry, serving three years and four months, and was mustered out and discharged at Camp Nelson, Ky., December 24. 1864. He took part in a great many battles and important campaigns, among which were the engagements at Camp Wildcat, Ky .: Mill Springs, Ky .: Kenesaw Mountain: Resaca. Ga .: Cass Station, Ga .; Rocky Ford. Tenn .; siege of Knoxville, Tenn .; Bean Station, Tenn .; Strawberry Plains, Tenn .; General Stoneman's raid, Macon, Ga. An unusual thing concerning the engagement at Macon is that General Stoneman surrendered, but it seems that the First and Eleventh regi- ments, Kentucky cavalry, under the command of Colonel Adams, re- gardless of the commanding general's surrender, cut their way through the rebel lines and succeeded in getting to Marietta, Ga.
After Mr. Riffe was discharged from the service, he settled at Leb- anon, Ky., where he followed farming until 1870, when he came to Butler county, Kansas, locating in Bloomington township. He first located a claim which he lost through the artifice of a "claim jumper," which was a common occurrence in those days. In 1872 he bought a
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farm on Hickory creek. eleven miles southeast of Augusta. He was successfully engaged in farming there until 1883, when he removed to Augusta and engaged in buying and shipping live stock, principally to the St. Louis markets. In 1900 he engaged in the real estate business at Augusta and has successfully conducted that business to the present time. During the past sixteen years Mr. Riffe has handled a great deal of property, and is one of Butler county's extensive real estate dealers.
In 1868 Mr. Riffe was united in marriage at Jeffersonville, Ind., with Miss Sarah (Texas) Withrow, a native of Marion county, and of Kentucky parentage. To Mr. and Mrs. Riffe was born one child, Norma, who died at the age of twenty, and Mrs. Riffe died in 1891. She was a high type of Christian woman and she and her husband were very much devoted to each other. Mr. Riffe married Mrs. Mattie McRoberts, of Liberty, Ky., in 1904, while at the world's fair at St. Louis, Mo.
Mr. Riffe is a Democrat, and since coming to Butler county has been an active factor in the fight for Democary in nearly every po- litical campaign. He is not what might be termed a fair weather Dem- ocrat, but has stayed with his party in defeat as well as in victory. He bears the distinction of having been chairman of the first Democratic convention ever held in Butler county, which was held at El Dorado in 1872. At that time the numerical strength of the Democratic party in Buttler county was only four or five hundred voters, while the Republi- cans numbered fully three times that many. In 1876, Mr. Riffe was his party's candidate for the legislature against L. C. Palmer, Republican, and was defeated by only eighty votes. In 1889 he was elected trustee of Augusta township over John Middleton, Republican, and re-elected to that office, defeating Charles Hawes. Mr. Riffe relates many interesting and amusing incidents concerning the history of early Butler county politics at a time when political feeling was bitter. He still takes an act- ive part in politics and is one of the influential men of Butler county.
J. C. Walker, a Kansas pioneer, who was one of that great army of patroits who defended the Union in the early sixties, and whose ranks are now rapidly thinning, is living retired at his comfortable home at Augusta. J. C. Walker was born at Nelson, Shelby county, Illinois, in April, 1844, and is a son of Isaac and Mary (Elder) Walker, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. J. C. Walker was one of a family of three children, and is the only one known to be living now. He received his education in the common schools of Shelby county, Il- linois, and when seventeen years of age enlisted in Company B. Forty- first regiment Illinois infantry, and served until after the close of the war. He was discharged at Louisville, Ky., in July, 1865. During his term of service he participated in many hard fought battles and skirm- ishes. He was at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth and was at the siege of Vicksburg, being present when the city was surrendered. He was with Sherman on his memorable march to the sea and after the surrender
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of Lee marched to Washington and was later mustered out of the service and discharged as above stated.
At the close of the war he located in Moultrie county, Illinois, re- maining there until the fall of 1872, when he came to Butler county, Kan- sas, and after spending about two years at El Dorado, he returned to Illinois. After remaining in that State until 1882, he came to Butler county again, this time locating at Leon, where he lived three years on a farm. He then went to St. Joseph, Mo., and shortly afterwards came to Augusta, where he engaged in farming. When he first came to Butler county, the country was one broad, unfenced range that stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see, without an object in view but plain prairie everywhere. The roads, or trails as they were then called, were laid out on the principle that "a nearly straight line is about the shortest distance between two points." Mr. Walker has been thrice married, his first wife being Sarah Cornwell, of Sullivan, Ill., and to this union four children were born, three of whom are living: W. S., Kansas City, Mo .; Mrs. Zoda Suits, Augusta, and C. A., a grocer at Wichita, Kan. The wife, and mother of these children, died in March, 1884. He was married a second time to Mrs. Margaret Reeder, October 8, 1891. She died in March, 1901. In 1903 Mr. Walker married Mrs. Louisa Pay- ton, widow of Thomas Payton. She bore the maiden name of Louisa Old- berry and was a daughter of George and Matilda (Venard) Oldberry, the former a native of England, and the latter of Indiana. The Old- berry family were very early settlers in Kansas, locating in Chase county about a mile east of Cottonwood Falls, in the fall of 1858. Prior to coming to Kansas they had lived in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Mis- souri, and when they came to Chase county they drove through from Missouri with ox teams. Mrs. Walker was a real pioneer girl of the plains, and says when her people located in Chase county that there were only five girls in the county, and she relates, with much amusement, many of the early day social events. She says it was not an uncommon occurrence to drive ten miles to a dance with ox teams, and that they often had to start in the middle of the day to get there on time, and then, after dancing until about midnight, that they usually reached home after daylight the next morning. When her people came to Kansas, they wanted to stop at Emporia for some purpose or other, and as they were driving along the trail, they were on the lookout for the town. After driv- ing by a house that stood by the wayside, they inquired of someone, whom they met, where Emporia was, and he told them that the house that they had just passed was "it," that being the postoffice and only house in town.
Mrs. Walker was first married September 21, 1862, to Thomas Pay- ton at Cottonwood Falls, the marriage ceremony taking place in a primi- tive cabin, with a dirt floor, that her father had built in 1859. To this union were born ten children, five of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. Lucy Pennybaker, Strawn, Kan .; Mrs. Mary Lowe, Seton, Col .; Mrs.
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Jennie Cochran, Hartford, Kan .; Edward Payton, Augusta, Kan., and Weaver Payton, near Augusta. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are among the honored pioneers of Butler county, and are highly respected by their friends and acquaintances.
T. J. Fell, a Butler county pioneer, residing at Augusta, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Trumbull county in 1843, and is a son of John R. and Sarah (Rathburn) Fell, the former of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. They were the parents of ten children, four of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. Winnie Howe lives in Alabama ; Jasper, a mer- chant. at Linneus, Mo. ; Allen, a farmer in Livingston county, Missouri, and T. J., the subject of this sketch.
T. J. Fell received a common school education in the State of Ohio and in 1864 removed to Missouri with his parents and the family settled in Livingston county. While there Mr. Fell served in the Forty-third regiment, Missouri State militia, from October, 1864, until the close of the war, in April. 1865. After the war he followed farming in Living- ston county until 1870, when he came to Kansas and settled near Osage Mission. Neosho county. After remaining there about two years, he returned to Missouri. In 1874, he went to Harvey county, Kansas, and from there he came to Butler county and took a claim six miles south- east of Augusta, near Pine Grove postoffice, and also rented a farm in that vicinity. When he first visited Augusta it was a very small settle- ment, there being but two stores there. In 1885, he sold his Butler county claim and went to western Kansas, where he bought a half sec- tion of land, but the bottom soon fell out of the boom and he lost his investment. He then came back to Butler county, and after renting land a few years, bought 160 acres, seven miles east of Douglass, where he lived for seventeen years, and in 1912 removed to Augusta, where he has since lived practically in retirement.
Mr. Fell has been twice married. In 1867 he was united in mar- riage in Lynn county, Missouri, to Miss Sarah Shifflet. Mrs. Fell died at Linneus, Mo., in 1872, leaving three children, as follows: Mrs. Ida Smith, of Montgomery county, Kansas; Walter, a ranchman near Beau- mont, Kans .. and Mrs. Katy Leavis, Seattle, Wash. In 1876 Mr. Fell married Miss Mary Primm, of Bradford Mills, Butler county, and to this union have been born four children: Cora, Rose, Mabel and Leah, all living at home except Mabel, who is now Mrs. Powell, and resides at Enid, Okla.
Mr. Fell is one of the Kansas pioneers who has experienced many incidents in the early day life of this State. He vividly recalls the year of the great grasshopper plague, when many of the early settlers left their claims, and returned to their former homes in the east and elsewhere. He says that in 1876. Butler county had a frog year, that deserves honorable mention in connection with the grasshopper carni- val which preceded it by two years. When he speaks of the epidemic of frogs, he doesn't mean, just a few, or any ordinary aggregation of
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frogs, but says that they were here by the millions, and that on one occasion, he drove for a distance of twenty-five miles through a verita- ble sea of hopping frogs.
W. W. Chisman, of Augusta, Kans., is a Civil war veteran and an carly pioneer of Butler county. Mr. Chisman was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, a son of W. P. and Ann ( Williams) Chisman, the for- mer a native of Virginia and the latter of England. The Chisman fam- ily consisted of eight children, five of whom are living, as follows: W. W., whose name introduces this review ; Mrs. Elmira Brewington, Col- orado Springs, Colo .; Scott, resides in Dearborn county, Indiana : Mrs. Elda Ross, Colorado Springs, Colo .; and James N., Indianapolis, Ind.
When the Civil war broke out W. W. Chisman was still a mere boy of eighteen. Notwithstanding his youth, he enlisted at Lawrenceburg, Ind., in Company I, Eighty-third regiment, Indiana infantry, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out of service and discharged at Washington, D. C. in June. 1865. He saw much hard service and par- ticipated in many battles and skirmishes. He was at the siege of Vicks- burg under Grant. the battle of Arkansas Post, Jackson, Miss .; Cham- pion Hills. After the siege of Vicksburg his command marched to Mem- phis. Tenn. and from there to Chattanooga and was at the battle of Mis- sionary Ridge. He was with Sherman on his march to the sea and participated in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Ezra Church, Jonesboro, Atlanta and the storming of Fort McAllister. From Savannah, he went to South Carolina, participating in the battle of North Edistow river. Here the Union troops waded the river, running with ice, and marched through the swamps for days. Mr. Chisman says that when the soldiers wanted drinking water, they would brush the scum aside and fill their canteens, and in drinking the water nothing smaller than a lizard was considered unpalatable. From the swamps of Georgia they marched through to Columbia, S. C., and from there to Bentonville, N. C., thence to Raleigh, N. C., Petersburg, Va., Richmond. Va., and finally to Washington, D. C. where he was mustered out of service June 12, 1865.
At the close of the war Mr. Chisman returned to Indiana and en- gaged in farming, near Aurora, where he remained until 1872, when he came to Butler county, Kansas, and settled on a claim, three and one- half miles south of Augusta. Later he added eighty acres to his original 160, and still owns the place. This is one of the best farms in Butler county, and in addition to its normal value as farm property it is con- sidered valuable oil and gas land, in view of the recent developments of the Augusta field, and Mr. Chisman has leased his farm for develop- ment.
Mr. Chisman was united in marriage in 1884, to Miss Mary Clouse. of Augusta, and three children have been born to this union, as follows: Mrs. Lottie Bruce, Dearborn county, Indiana ; Roy and Myra, both of whom live at home. By a former marriage to Louisa Bruce at Aurora,
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Indiana. May, 1867, the following children were born : Alla Miller, now of Oklahoma City; Sherman, Feslton, Okla .; Sumner, Hanover, Colo .; Seymour, who was killed in April, 1892, by the horse he was riding fall- ing on him.
Mr. Chisman is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Au- gusta Post, No. 105, and is post commander. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been identified with that lodge for twenty-five years. Mr. Chisman is one of the substantial citizens of Butler county, and has ever been ready to do his part in furthering any cause for the betterment of his county or State.
Prof. C. W. Thomas, principal of the Augusta city schools, ranks as one of the foremost educators, not only of Butler county, but of Kansas. Mr. Thomas is a native of New York, born in Wayne county, his parents being Warren and Mary E. (Bullock) Thomas, both na- tives of New York. Prof. Thomas was reared in his native State, re- ceiving his early education in the public schools and at Williamson Union School. Later he took additional work in various educational in- stitutions and, in fact, has been a hard student all his life. At the age of eighteen, he began his career at a teacher at Williamson, N. Y., and in 1883 came to Kansas, locating at Douglass, Butler county. He taught school in that vicinity for three years, and for seven years was a teacher in the grammar school at Douglass, and for three years following. he was principal of the Douglass schools. He was then forced to give up teach- ing on account of his health and after a vacation of three years, he ac- cepted the assistant principalship of the Douglass schools, and for eighteen years he was connected with the Douglass schools in one ca- pacity or another.
In 1903 Prof. Thomas was elected superintendent of public instruc- tion of Butler county, and in 1905 re-elected to that office, serving four years in all. During his administration, the public schools of Butler county were efficiently conducted and very satisfactory results ob- tained, and Prof. Thomas won the reputation of being a very capable administrative school officer. He brought the school system up to a high state of efficiency and kept them fully up to the standard of mod- ern day educational methods. At the close of his term of office he en- gaged in the mercantile business at Douglass which he conducted for three years when he traded his business for a farm, and came to Au- gusta to complete an unexpired term of school. In 1911 he was elected principal of the Augusta city schools, and since that time has conducted the schools of that city in a way that has reflected great credit on him as an educator. Prof. Thomas has been active in institute work, and for ten years has been an instructor in that department of educotional work. He has assisted at institutes in Arkansas City, Ashland and El Dorado. He is president of the Butler County Teachers' Association, a position which he has held for three years. He has taken an active part in all matters tending to the advancement of education, and helped establish
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the first consolidated high school in Butler county. He is a persistent worker, and is not an advocate of any "royal road to learning." In whatever capacity he has served in the great field of education, he has done his part conscientiously and well.
T. A. Fenton, a Butler county pioneer stockman and dairy farmer, now living retired at Augusta, is a native of New York. He was born at Hamburg, N. Y., in 1848, and is a son of Cephas and Juliet (Austin) Fenton, natives of New York. They were the parents of three children, of whom T. A. Fenton, the subject of this sketch, is the only one living. Mr. Fenton received his education in the public schools of Buffalo, N. Y., and Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1873 came to Kansas, locating in Bruno township, Butler county. When he settled there, that part of the country was all open range, and unbroken prairie, but within a few years afterwards settlers came in rapidly and section lines were soon es- tablished and regular highways laid out.
Mr. Fenton first bought 205 acres in 1873, and has added to his original holdings, and now owns 1100 acres of good fertile land in one body, located on Dry creek. Soon after locating in Butler county, Mr. Fenton engaged in the stock and dairy business, which he conducted for thirty-four years, and in 1907 removed to Augusta where he has since made his home. He is now taking life easy and says that he does not want to make any more money, and in fact he really does not need any more, and is one of the few men who in the wild scramble of modern day money-madness, knows when he has enough.
Mr. Fenton was one of the pioneer scientific dairy men of Butler county. He brought the first cream separator into southwestern Kan- sas. It was a DeLavel and came from Stockholm, Sweden. He made butter, which he delivered once a week, to special customers in Wichita. He ran his dairy in connection with the general stock business, and is a strong advocate of combining the dairy and stock business, and his suc- cessful experience in the practical application of that theory bears out his position.
On December 26, 1872 Mr. Fenton was united in marriage at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, with Miss Alice M. Hall, a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, and of English parentage. Five children have been born to this union, one of whom is now living, Mrs. Nellie E. Smith, who resides with her parents at Augusta. One son, Allen S., died from the result of an operation for appendicitis in 1910 and his widow, Mrs. Daisy Dwight Fenton, now lives in Augusta.
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