History of Butler County Kansas, Part 55

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


USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 55


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Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes came to Butler county, Kansas, in 1871, and took a government claim. At that time the Government land office was at Humboldt, Kans., and Mr. Rhodes walked from Emporia to Hum- boldt to file on his claim, and from there walked to Augusta. After liv- ing on the claim about six months they removed to Augusta, and Mr. Rhodes was engaged in the real estate business for a time, and was en- gaged in various business enterprises during his life time. He led a very busy life and was uniformly successful in his undertakings. He was city treasurer of Augusta for seven years, and had much to do with the early development of the town. Mrs. Rhodes has a remarkably reten- tative memory and relates many interesting incidents in the early his- . tory of Butler county. She says that Mrs. Augusta James, in whose honor the town of Augusta was named, was the first woman who called on her in her new Augusta home. Mrs. Rhodes was here at a time when Butler county was almost in its primitive state, and is a first-hand au- thority on much of the important history of this section of Kansas.


John T. Wells, now deceased, was one of Butler county's most sub- stantial citizens. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Nancy Wells, a representative of that noble type of Kansas pioneer women, and she now resides at Augusta. John T. Wells was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1830, and was a son of John and Mary (Milson) Wells, natives of Virginia. John T. Wells came west in early life, locating in Mis- souri and, on December 2, 1855, was united in marriage at Boonville, Mo., to Miss Nancy Sifers, a native of Morgan county, Ohio, born in 1833. After their marriage they lived at Boonville, Mo., until 1857, when they came to Kansas, locating at Leavenworth. About two and one-half years later they returned to Boonville and resided in that sec- tion until 1882. They then came to Butler county, Kansas, locating five miles southeast of Augusta, where they bought 320 acres of land from Stephen Lehr, for which. they paid $2,500.


The place was not very well improved, and Mr. and Mrs. Wells proceded to make substantial improvements, and were successfully en- gaged in farming and stock raising on that place for seventeen years, and in 1899 sold it for $8,000, and removed to Augusta, where Mr.


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Wells lived in retirement until his death, September 25, 1914, and his remains now rest in the Elmwood cemetery at Augusta. To Mr. and Mrs. Wells were born four children, as follows: Minnie May, died in infancy ; Ida, who married Homer Freeman, died in 1899; Charles, lives in Wichita ; and Mrs. Emma Bartlett, lives at Augusta.


Mrs. Wells has a vivid recollection of many early day events of the days in Kansas and Butler county when neighbors were a long distance from each other, but it seems that the scarcer neighbors were and the farther they were from each other, the more they neigh- bored. In those early times they took a genuine neighborly interest in each other's welfare. Perhaps, and no doubt, environments created that neighborly spirit, for the carly settlers, possibly, needed the real co-operation and sympathy of one another more than people do in this day of a more perfect social organization, and with better equipped ap- pliances and conveniences for getting along in the world with less sym- pathetic co-operation. At any rate, things seem to have changed and many of us, in reflecting on the past, long for the days of the old fashioned neighbor.


George William Ohmart, a Civil war veteran who has been identi- fied with industrial Augusta for the past sixteen years, is a native of Il- linois, born in Montgomery county in 1846. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and his mother died when he was three years of age, leaving the following children: Rachael Catherine, married a man named Miller, and died in Oklahoma; Samuel died at the age of five; Charles E., Augusta ; and George W., of this review.


George W. Ohmart received his education in the public schools of Logan county, Illinois, and at the age of sixteen enlisted in Company B, Seventy-third Illinois infantry. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Cumberland, and he saw severe service for a period of about three years. He was at the battles of Perryville. Stone River. Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Franklin and Nashville, and during the Atlanta campaign, he was under fire almost continuously for four months. At the battle of Franklin, which history records as one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil war, he received a wound which near-


ly ended his military career. A musket ball penetrated his hat inflict- ing a flesh wound on his right temple and glanced from his skull, and passed through twenty-four thicknesses of his blanket which he was car- rying on his shoulder. Mr. Ohmart was unconscious for an hour or more, from the effect of the wound. He was "clipped" by bullets, as he calls it, on two other occasions, and at another time received a cut on the lip from a sword in a hand to hand conflict.


At the close of the war he returned to Illinois, and learned the blacksmith's trade. In 1880, he went to Nebraska, and settled in Otoe county where he remained twelve years; and then to Valley county, Nebraska, remaining two years. In 1894 he came to Kansas, and after spending one year at Andover went to Benton, remaining there until


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1900. He then came to Augusta where he engaged in farming about two years, when he opened a blacksmith shop which he has since con- ducted.


Mr. Ohmart was united in marriage at Jacksonville, Ill., in 1873, to Miss Oella Robbins, a daughter of Randolph Robbins, an early settler of Mason county, Illinois, who located there in 1854, and later removed to Jacksonville. To Mr. and Mrs. Ohmart have been born eight chil- dren, five of whom are living, as follows: George R., Enid, Okla .; Mrs. Ida May Runion, El Dorado, Kans .; Albert R., Wichita; Charles E., Great Bend. Kans., and Myrtie E., at home. Mr. Ohmart is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, L. E. King Post, No. 105. He is one of the progressive business men of Augusta, and has built up an extensive business in his line.


Christian E. Ohmart, brother of George W., whose sketch appears on a preceding page of this volume, was born in Montgomery county, Illinois, in 1842. He received a common school education in the district schools of Logan county and spent his early life on the home farm. On November 21, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Fourth Illinois cavalry, when he was nineteen years old. He participated in many important battles, and skirmishes without number, as was the common lot of the average cavalryman in the Civil war. He was in the battles of Fort Donelson, Corinth, Shiloh and many others.


Mr. Ohmart was mustered out of service at Natchez, Miss., in 1864, and returned to Logan county, Illinois, where he remained until 1879. He then went to Camden county, Missouri, remaining there until 1909 when he came to Butler county. Mr. Ohmart learned the blacksmith's trade while in the army, and has made that his life work. He came to Butler county in 1909 and since that time has been associated with his brother, George W., a sketch of whom precedes this article.


Christian E. Ohmart was united in marriage in 1884, to Miss Fran- ces Wooley, a native of Missouri, and they had four children, as fol- lows: John. Augusta; Sarah, died at the age of two; Stephen, Augusta, and Frederick, died at the age of four.


S. M. Etnire, a Butler county pioneer, now deceased, was a native of Warren, Ind., born in 1841, a son of Jacob and Mary (Swingler) Etnire, natives of Pennsylvania, and of English descent. S. M. Etnire grew to manhood in his native State, and when the Civil war broke out, he enlisted in Company F. Seventy-second regiment. Indiana infantry, at the age of twenty-one, and was promoted to corporal during his term of service. He participated in many of the important battles of the Civil war and a great many skirmishes, and was mustered out of serv- ice after the close of the war. at Indianapolis. Ind .. August 6, 1865. after having served his country faithfully and well for a period of three years. during the most trying days of its history.


Mr. Etnire married Miss Isabelle Mahaffie at Williamsport, Ind., and in 1878, came to Butler county with his family, and bought


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120 acres of land, four miles west of Augusta. Mrs. Etnire was a native of Ohio, and her parents were pioneers of Indiana, removing from Ohio to that State when she was five years old. After coming to Butler county, Mr. Etnire engaged in farming and stock rais- ing, and was very successful. They left the farm and removed to Au- gusta in 1906, and at that time, owned 200 acres of land, besides a fine home in Augusta, which Mrs. Etnire still owns. To Mr. and Mrs. Et- nire have been born the following children: Harry J., died in infancy ; Effie L., died at the age of twenty years; Mrs. Gertrude L. Dill, died at the age of twenty-five years, leaving two children, Kenneth and Gail ; Mrs. Ladessa Schock, Oxford, Mich: Aetna E. Etnire, Mercedes, Tex .; Mrs. Grace Dill, Leon, Kans .; Mrs. Bertha E. Chase, Frederick, Rice county, Kansas; Benjamin L., Augusta, Kans .; Quincey E., Augusta, Kans., and Maudene, resides at home with her mother.


The Etnire family experienced much of the pioneer life of Butler county, and while Mrs. Etnire has many recollections of the hardships that the pioneers endured, she also has a store of reminiscences of the amusing circumstances, and the little pleasures of frontier life which fully counterbalance the grief of the early days on the plains. When she first came here, she was considerably disappointed when all of her chickens died. That doesn't seem much of a loss, now, but it meant considerable to a pioneer family, who had no income in their little cabin on the plains, and who were confronted with the stern realities of liv- ing without anything to live upon. Another time she felt terribly grieved over the loss of some peach butter which she had laboriously prepared. and spilled through an accident. She looks back with much amusement on these little incidents of early life, which, at the time, she magnified to such an extent that they made lasting impressions on her mind.


Indians frequently visited the Etnire place, but never had any more lofty mission than begging or stealing, and Mrs. Etnire was never im- pressed with the high standard of the Indian character. She says that spring wagons were a rare luxury when they came here, and most everybody went to church, and most every other place. where they went, with a heavy lumber wagon, and only the select few had even spring seats. The Entires had a spring wagon when they first came here, but it was smashed up in a runaway, which would make it seem that the country had not yet reached the stage of civilization where it was safe for a spring wagon. But strange it may seem, Mrs. Entire has lived through the period in which spring wagons have come and almost gone, in Butler county, for they are so universally succeeded by the automobile, and are getting as scarce in this year of 1916, as they were back in the early seventies. Mrs. Etnire is one of the interesting old ladies, who belong to that faithful band of pioneer wives and mothers. whose coming to the great West to homes of an uncertain future, laid the foundation not only of Butler county, but of the West.


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Mr. and Mrs. Etnire were active members of the Methodist Epis- copal church from the first, and attended at the old stone church, built in 1875. Mrs. Etnire is still an active member.


N. A. Yeager, a leading member of the Butler county bar, who has been successfully engaged in the practice of law at Augusta since 1883, is a native of Indiana. He was born in Kosciusko county May 21, 1853, a son of Joel and Rebecca (Pray) Yeager, the former a native of Poco- hontas county, Virginia, and the latter of New York City. They were the parents of the following children: V. C., an optometrist, Marion, Ind .; C. E., retired and living at Warsaw, Ind., and N. A., the subject of this sketch.


N. A. Yeager was educated in the public schools of Indiana, the Springfield Academy. South Whitley, Ind., and the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity, graduating from the latter institution in 1878. He taught school for a time in Indiana and later served in the capacity of teller in a bank at North Manchester, Ind. He came to Kansas in 1881 and on May I, of that year reached the State. It will be remembered that that was the day on which prohibition went into effect in Kansas. In July of that year, Mr. Yeager settled at Augusta, and opened a loan office with T. O. Shinn. He read law and was admitted to the bar in 1883, and he and Mr. Shinn practiced in partnership under the firm name of Shinn & Yeager until 1891, when Mr. Yeager took over the business.


Mr. Yeager has always had an extensive practice and during the first years of his practice here he carried on a general law business, but for the past fifteen years has devoted himself exclusively to the civil side of the courts, refusing to take any criminal business. In the con- duct of his practice today it can be truthfully said that he represents more important interests than any other attorney in the county. He is a close student of the law, well posted in its intricacies, the possessor of a well balanced legal mind, and an able trial lawyer.


In addition to his extensive law practice, Mr. Yeager has figured conspicuously in the politics of Butler county for a number of years. He was a candidate for prosecuting attorney in 1890, and again in 1898, the first time on the Republican ticket and the second time on the Democratic ticket. He was defeated in 1898 by the narrow margin of thirteen votes. In 1900 he was a candidate for the State legislature on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by a majority of sixty-five, and in 1908 he was a candidate for judge of the Thirteenth Judicial District and was defeated by a plurality of only eighteen votes. He carried the counties of Butler and Greenwood, carrying his own county by a ma- jority of 162, but the other two counties, Chautauqua and Elk, turned the scales against him. He was postmaster at Augusta from 1884 to 1888 and served as mayor of Augusta one term. Mr. Yeager affiliated with the Republican organizations for a number of years, but in recent years has acted independently, politically, having cooperated with the Indepen- dent and Democratic parties, largely. He is fearless in his views on


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politics, as well as other matters, and is equally unprejudiced, always giving the opposition credit for being honest and sincere.


H. W. Wilson, a prominent farmer and stockman and Civil war veteran, residing at Augusta, is a Butler county pioneer having been a resident of this county for forty-six years. Mr. Wilson is a native of New Hampshire, born near Fitzwilliam postoffice in 1842. He is a son of Joseph A. and Harriet (Stone) Wilson, both natives of New Hamp- shire. They were the parents of four children, two of whom are now living: H. W., whose name introduces this sketch, and George M., of Abrams, Wis.


H. W. spent his boyhood days in New England, and was educated in the public schools and the Lowell (Mass.) High School. He lived the uneventful life of the average young man of his times, until the Civil war broke out, when he enlisted as a member of Company F, Twelfth Wisconsin infantry. He was mustered into the United States service at Madison, Wis., and joined his regiment at Vicksburg, Miss .. and from that time on saw much active and hazardous service. He was with Sherman on his famous march through Georgia and the Carolinas and participated in a number of engagements. He saw over two years' service and was promoted to corporal. He was at the grand review in Washington, D. C., in 1865. At the close of the war, and after receiving an honorable discharge, he returned to Wisconsin, where he had enlisted, and engaged in farming and lumbering.


In 1870, Mr. Wilson came to Butler county, Kansas, locating at Augusta. When he came to Butler county there were no railroads here, and he came from Manhattan to Augusta in company with a freighter who was driving across the plains with a load of flour. Mr. Wilson en- gaged in farming and stock raising, beginning on the raw, unbroken prairie, and met with the many hardships and discouraging features in. cident to early life in Kansas. He met with many crop failures and endured many hardships during the early years and the grass- hopper scourge which was the common lot of the Kansas pion- eer. However, the time came when Mr. Wilson's persistent efforts have been rewarded by success and he now owns over 800 acres of some of the best land in Butler county, and is one of the successful farmers and cattle men of this section of the State. He feeds cattle extensively and has met with unusual success in that field of endeavor.


When Mr. Wilson first came to Butler county he engaged in break- ing prairie in the summer season and in the winter time followed log- ging, along the Whitewater and Walnut rivers. He has a vivid recol- lection of early events in Butler county and knew well most of the pioneers of the early days. One of his early acquaintances in Butler county was Rev. I. Mooney, to whom he sold a yoke of oxen in 1876. He recalls the days when buffalo meat was one of the staple articles of food among the early pioneers.


Mr. Wilson married Mary (Dix) Buck, a native of Greencastle, Ind.


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She was a pioneer teacher of the county. Her parents were pioneer set- tlers of El Dorado township, Butler county, locating there in 1869. They settled on the west branch of the Walnut river a short distance north of El Dorado. The place is now known as the Peffley place. Her father, C. W. Dix, was a native of Indiana and her mother, Emily Nicholls, was a native of the same State. In 1877 the father removed to Oklahoma where he died. To Mr. and Mrs. Dix were born the following children : Minnie Atkins, resides in Oklahoma; Mrs. Fannie Morley, El Dorado, Kans. ; Viola Coryell, resides in Oklahoma : Charles, whose address is un- known; Benjamin, who resides in Oklahoma, and Alvah, who was a member of the Twentieth Kansas regiment, and was killed in the Phil- ippine Islands during the Spanish-American war.


Mr. Wilson is one of the well known and substantial farmers and stockmen of Butler county and has an extensive acquaintance and many friends throughout the county.


Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are parents of four children : Will L. Wilson, at home; Roy P. Wilson, Benton, Kans .; Chas. W., who died in 1910; Jean H., Detroit, Mich., and Carl F. Buck, a son born to Mrs. Wilson by a former marriage, is a manufacturer of Augusta, Kans.


Harry Hammond, a prosperous and progressive farmer of Augusta township, was born in Hancock county, Illinois, in 1869, and belongs to a Butler county pioneer family. He is a son of Isaac and Rebecca (Isenberger) Hammond, the former a native of England, and the latter of Ohio. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, as fol- lows: Mrs. Jenny Valentine, Greeley, Colo .; Harry, the subject of this sketch : Sydney, Augusta township: Isaac, Augusta township ; and Ray, Towanda township.


Isaac Hammond came to Butler county from Illinois in 1870 and preempted 160 acres of land in Towanda township, five miles north of Augusta. This was an early day in the settlement of this part of the State, and while Towanda township had some permanent . settlers at that time they were few and far between. The Hammond family lived in a tent for the first few months on their claim, but built a small frame house before winter came on, hauling the lumber from Emporia. They gradually improved their claim and soon had a fairly well appointed farm for those early times. The father set out an orchard at an early day, and they soon had plenty of fruit, which was a rare luxury in those days. Isaac Hammond was industrious and thrifty, and became one of the successful and prosperous farmers and stockmen of Butler county. He bought more land from time to time in Towanda and Augusta townships, and at the time of his death, in September, 1909, he owned 1,080 acres of valuable land. He was a very extensive feeder and ship- per of stock during his active career, and that branch of his business, perhaps, was the most profitable to him. His widow now resides in Augusta, and is in her seventy-first year.


Harry Hammond, whose name introduces this sketch, was only


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nine months old, when his parents settled on the unbroken prairie of Butler county. He was reared on his father's farm, and, after receiving a good common school education, he continued farming. He now owns 200 acres of rich, productive land in Augusta township, and is one of the leading farmers of that section. He follows general farming and stock raising, and is quite extensively interested in raising Poland China hogs, and is also a chicken fancier, making a specialty of barred Ply- mouth Rocks. and Rhode Island Reds.


Mr. Hammond was united in marriage, in 1890, to Miss Cora E. Viets, a daughter of J. F. and Lucy A. (Pitkin) Viets, natives of Illi- nois, who settled in Towanda township. Butler county, in 1888, and the parents now reside at Augusta. Mrs. Hammond was a Butler county teacher, prior to her marriage. To J. F. and Lucy A. (Pitkin) Viets were born the following children: Cora, Mrs. Harry Hammond, the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Nellie M. McClure, Augusta : Byron, Au- gusta ; Mrs. Lulu Wilson, El Dorado ; Mrs. Zulu Price, Wichita ; Frank, lives in Colorado ; Mrs. Milla Pratt of Leavenworth, Kans., and Flavel, Augusta. Mr. and Mrs. Hammond have three children, Myrl, resides at home; John Isaac, a senior in Kansas University, and Mildred, at home. Mr. Hammond is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he and Mrs. Hammond are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and well known and prominent in the community.


J. P. Rutherford, a prominent Butler county farmer and stockman, is a native of Virginia. He was born in Augusta county near Staunton, Va., in 1854, and is a son of James W. and Susan (Pitman) Rutherford, the former a native of Frederick county, and the latter of Shenandoah county, and both descendants of old Virginia families. They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living as follows: John, Mrs. Laura Keeler, and Minnie, all of whom reside in Clark county, Virginia, and Mrs. Jennie McIntyre, Wichita, Kans .; J. P., the subject of this sketch; William, farmer, Towanda township; Ashby, farmer, Spring township, and A. H., farmer, Douglass, Kans.


J. P. Rutherford received his education in the public schools of Virginia, and about the time he reached his majority, he went to Ben- ton county, Indiana, where he remained four years. In 1876, he came to Butler county, Kansas, and located on a quarter section of section thirty-six, Towanda township. When he settled there, the place was raw, unbroken prairie. He engaged in farming and stock business, improved the place, and after living there twenty-five years, sold it, and in 1902 bought his present place of 273 acres in Augusta township, three miles northeast of Augusta. Here he has a well improved farm with a commodious and substantial residence and other farm buildings. He is extensively engaged in the stock business, and is a successful feeder. He is also one of the successful alfalfa raisers of Butler county, and has about 150 acres devoted to that crop.


Mr. Rutherford was married, in 1880, at El Dorado, Kans., to Miss


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Izora Warner of Spring township, Butler county. Her parents were John and Filena (Bail) Warner, natives of Ohio, and pioneers of Butler county, who came here in 1866. To Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford have been born seven children, as follows: Fenton, lives at home; Reese, Okla- homa; Mrs. Daisy Carr, Augusta township; Jasper, Oklahoma; Mrs. Nora Collins, St. Louis, Mo. ; Florence, and Charles, reside at home.


Mr. Rutherford has spent just forty years of his life in Butler county, and has seen many changes in that time. Butler county has been transformed from a barren waste to a populous and productive section, and has won a foremost place among the political subdivisions of the great State of Kansas, and the progress and development that has been made has not been brought about without persistent and pa- tient toil on the part of such men as J. P. Rutherford.


S. Y. Curry, a prominent farmer and stockman of Walnut town- ship, belongs to a pioneer Butler county family. He was born in Brad- ley county, Tennessee, and is a son of William H. and Lydia C. (Sim- mons) Curry, who settled in Walnut township in 1879. William H. Curry, the father, was prominent in the early day affairs of Walnut township and Butler county. He was born in Bradley county, Tennes- see. in 1841, and was engaged in farming in his native State in early life. He also served as clerk of the circuit court there, prior to coming to Kansas, and in 1888 he was elected clerk of the District Court of Butler county. Before being elected to that office, he had held a num- ber of township offices, having been trustee of Walnut township two terms, and he was a member of the school board for nine years. After the expiration of his term of office as clerk of the District Court, he continued to reside in El Dorado until 1895, when he returned to his farm in Walnut township, and continued farming and stock raising, in which he was very successful. He died. October 20, 1915. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge at Augusta, and his son, S. Y., is a mem- ber of the same Lodge, and also of the Modern Woodman of America.




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