USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 60
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When the Civil war broke out, M. N. Joseph cast his lot with the lost cause, and did his duty as he saw it, remaining loyal to his native
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
State, Virginia. He enlisted in Company A, Thirty-first regiment, Vir- ginia infantry, and served under Gen. Robert E. Lee in the army of Vir- ginia until the end of that great struggle, and was in the ranks of that great military chieftain on the final day at Appomatox Court House, April 9, 1865, when the curtain fell on that tragedy, and the Confederate States of America became a matter of history.
Mr. Joseph was married in 1862 to Miss Mary Jones, a daughter of William and Jemima (Smith) Jones, early settlers of Marietta. Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph remained in Virginia after the war, until 1868, when they with their two children, came to Kansas, locating near Tope- ka. In the fall of the same year they went to Osage county where Mr. Joseph bought 320 acres of land. In 1875 they removed to Butler county. and bought 160 acres of land on the Whitewater river in Plum Grove township. Here Mr. Joseph proceeded to make his future home in But- ler county. He built a small log cabin and proceeded to improve his place. Later he bought 320 acres, and soon became one of the prosper- ous farmers and stockmen of that vicinity, and for forty-one years has been an active factor in the development and upbuilding of Butler coun- ty. To Mr. and Mrs. Joseph have been born the following children : Orma S., deceased ; Ida S., deceased ; Abraham; Furby, deceased ; Fran- cis M .; S. R .; Sadie, married Warren Poffinbarger; Maude, married Ozza Ralph, Butler county. Mrs. Joseph died March 12, 1904, and Mr. Joseph resides with his son, S. R., not far from the site of his first log cabin in Butler county. He is a member of the Ancient, Free and Ac- cepted Masons. Whitewater Lodge, No. 280, and is active and well known in Masonic circles. Politically he is a Democrat.
Stephen Anderson, a prominent farmer and stockman of Walnut township, is a native of Ireland, and was born in County Armagh, in the town of Derryscollop, in 1846. He is a son of Thomas A. and Margaret (White) Anderson. They were the parents of seven children, as fol- lows: Jooseph, lives on the home place in Ireland ; Elizabeth and Matil- da, also living in Ireland; Stephen, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Mary Ann Welford. Douglass, Kans .; Thomas resides with Stephen ; Lydia re- sides with Stephen.
Mr. Anderson immigrated to America in 1865 and located in Canada. where he remained two years when he removed to Illinois. Two years later, he went to Arkansas where he remained five years and came to Butler county, Kansas, in 1874. He settled in Walnut township and filed on the claim which is his present home. He bought 160 acres more, ad- joining on the south and now owns 320 acres, all prairie upland ; and he has followed farming and stockraising, and his well-directed efforts have been rewarded by success. When he came to Kansas in 1874, he was practically without money, but he was ambitious and determined to suc- ceed. His first work was shelling 500 bushels of corn by hand. He helped build the first bridge on Eight Mile creek in Douglass township. He broke a few acres of prairie in 1874, and built a dugout and a stable, even before he had any horses. The next year he bought a team for
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$60.00, and rented some land of George Carey. He got a few cows, calves, mares and colts, and thus made his start in Butler county and built his house in 1882. He gradually raised more grain and cattle and today is one of the substantial and well-to-do men of the county. Some of his land is leased for oil and gas operations.
Mr. Anderson was married in 1876, to Miss Celia M. Lewis, of Wal- nut township. She died in 1883 and was buried in Douglass cemetery. Her father, Charles Lewis, came to Butler county in 1873, and died about 1909. Her mother died about 1875. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson: Mrs. Edith M. Rains, lives in Coddo county, near Fort Cobb, Okla., and Joe F. lives at home with his father.
The Andersons feed from two to three cars of cattle a year and a carload of hogs. In the early days Mr. Anderson traded mostly at Wich- ita, twenty-five miles away. He is an industrious and thrifty man and a good citizen and it a representative of that type of men who built up the great West.
Jessie Varner, now deceased, was an early settler in Butler county, and. for a number of years, was a successful farmer and stockman. He was industrious and thrifty, and not only accumulated a competence and left his family in comfortable circumstances, but he was a citizen whose real worth to Butler county was recognized by all who knew him.
Jessie Varner was born in Washington county, Ohio, in 1828, and was a son of Joseph and Martha (Drumm) Varner, natives of Ohio. They were the parents of the following children : David : George ; Mrs. Martha Pugh, all of whom reside in Washington county, Ohio; and John, deceased ; Mrs. Rebecca Seal, Cedar Grove, Ind .; Daniel, died in Oregon ; Mrs. Sarah Dunbar, died in Washington, and Jessie, the sub- ject of this sketch.
Jessie Varner was reared to manhood in Washington county, Ohio, and educated in the public schools. For a time, he was a school teacher in early life in his native county, but later engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1861, he went to Illinois, locating at DeSoto, Jackson county, where he bought a farm and followed farming and stock raising until 1880. He then came to Kansas and located at DeGraff, Butler county, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1892, when he bought 1,190 acres of land in the fertile Walnut river valley in Walnut township. He was an extensive feeder, and made money in this enterprise, and his carcer, all together, was that of a successful business man, who made the most of his opportunities. He died in 1904. He had an extensive acquaintance and many friends in Butler county. He was a member of the Masonic lodge at Augusta.
Jessie Varner and Miss Olive Orr were united in marriage on April 4, 1861, in Wayne county, Illinois. Mrs. Varner was a native of Mahon- ing county, Ohio, where she was born in 1837, a daughter of Russel and Eleanor (Winans) Orr. To this union were born the following chil-
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dren : Ed C., married Ona Carr, Augusta, Kans .; George F., married Mabel Marshall, Burlingame, Kans .; Frank, resides at home; Charles, married Gertrude Long, Augusta, Kans .; Mrs. Ella McDougal, Rock, Kans. : Emma, resides at Augusta, and Mrs. Dora Boss, Denver, Colo- rado. The Varner family is prominent in Butler county, and are known as substantial and representative people.
Ed and Frank Varner own the best oil producing land in Butler county, and, notwithstanding the high financial rating owing to this, they are still the plain, unassuming men of affairs their friends knew before, and their good fortune is a matter of rejoicing among these old time friends.
Fred W. Benson, now deceased, was a Butler county pioneer, and during his lifetime, was a prominent factor in the affairs of this county. He was born in Vermont in 1862, and was a son of Joel and Elvira (Hu- lett) Benson, both also natives of Vermont, and are now deceased. They were the parents of two children : William F., of El Dorado, who is the present State Bank Commissioner of Kansas, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, and Fred W., the subject of this sketch.
The Benson family which consisted of the parents and two sons, removed from Vermont to Oneida, N. Y., in 1867, when Fred W. was five years of age. Here he attended school and when eighteen years of age, or in 1880, the family came to Kansas, locating in Chelsea town- ship, where they bought 320 acres of land. More land was added to the Benson farm, and the estate now consists of 1360 acres, and is jointly owned by Fred W. Benson's widow and his brother, William F. It is located in the Walnut River valley, and consists of the most valuable bottom land in Butler county, and general farming and stock raising is carried on extensively.
Fred W. Benson was married April 14, 1885. to Miss Robie Col- grove, of Terre Haute, Ind., a daughter of William and Mary (Ostrand- er), natives of New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Fred Benson were born three children, as follows : Kenneth, married Carrie Darwin, of El Dora- do, and they reside at El Dorado; Mrs. Inez Gill, of El Dorado, Kans .; and Harold, died at the age of nineteen.
Fred W. Benson took an active part in the political affairs of Butler county, and in 1904, was elected registrar of deeds of Butler county, and at the expiration of his term, was reelected to succeed himself. His term of office expired in 1908. While Mr. Benson held the office of register of deeds, his wife was his deputy. Fred W. Benson had a broad acquain- tance over Butler county, and his kindly manner and many excellent qualities won for him many friends. He was ambitious, and a thorough and capable business man, and belonged to that type of men who suc- ceed in their undertakings by reason of their industry, ability, and defin- iteness of purpose. His untimely death was not only a loss to his fam- ily and friends, but to his county and State. Mrs. Benson resides in El Dorado, where she is well known and has many friends.
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
H. L. Songer, city assessor of El Dorado, is a native son of Butler county and belongs to one of the pioneer families of Rosalia. Mr. Song- er was born October 19, 1881, and is a son of M. L. and Sophronia (Goodnight) Songer. M. L. Songer, the father, settled in Butler county, near Rosalia, in 1871, and his widow now resides at Rosalia. M. L. and Sophronia (Goodnight) Songer were the parents of the following chil- dren : H. A., farmer, Rosalia, Kans .; Mrs. J. M. Withrow, Englewood, Kans .; Mrs. Harry Dilts, El Dorado, Kans .; Frank, student in the El Dorado High School; and H. L., the subject of this sketch.
H. L. Songer was reared in Butler county, and received a good com- mon school education, after which he taught school for three years in South District, No. 35, and was one of Butler county's successful teach- ers. He then engaged in the mercantile business at Pontiac where he was postmaster and for two years, was station agent for the Missouri Paci- fic Railroad at that place. In 1913 he removed to El Dorado, in order that his children might have better educational facilities. Here he en- gaged in the real estate business, and was also interested in the whole- sale hay business. On January 13, 1916, he was appointed assessor for the city of E Dorado, by the county commissioners, and at the present time is serving in that capacity.
Mr. Songer was married April 19, 1903, to Miss Jennie Bishop, of Pontiac, a daughter of Elias and Charlotte (Childers) Bishop, the for- mer a native of Iowa, and the latter of Illinois. Elias Bishop was one of the very early pioneers of Butler county. He came here in 1868, at the age of sixteen years, and clerked in the first store in El Dorado. That was at a time when all the goods for his section of the country were hauled overland, with teams from Emporia. Mr. and Mrs. Songer are the parents of the following children : Karl, Merle, and Marvin.
Mr. Songer is one of the progressive young men of Butler county, and has always proven himself efficient and thoroughly reliable in any trust that has been imposed in him. His genial and courteous manner and straightforward methods, have won for him many friends, and his popularity over a broad scope of Butler county is justly merited.
W. P. Flenner, one of the oldest veterans of the Civil war, living in Butler county, is living in retirement at El Dorado. Mr. Flenner was born in Huntingdon county, Pennslyvania, March 4, 1830, and is there- fore in his eighty-seventh year, and is remarkably hale and hearty, and active both in mind and body, for one of his years. He was the only son born to Daniel and Catherine (Morningstar) Flenner, bath natives of Pennsylvania. The mother had three children by a former marriage to Archie Richardson, as follows: John: Thomas, and Elizabeth.
During the Civil war, W. P. Flenner served in Company G, Seventy- Sixth regiment, Illinois infantry, enlisting in 1862, and served until after the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge, August 6, 1865. He took part in many historic campaigns and important battles. He was at the siege of Vicksburg, and in the campaigns of that vicinity.
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He was also at Jackson, Miss., and with Sherman on his march to the sea, taking part in most of the battles of that campaign, and he also participated in the last battle of the Civil war, which was fought April 9. 1865, at Ft. Blakley, Ala.
After his discharge from the army, he again engaged in the peace- ful pursuits of civil life, like thousands of his comrades in arms, and began to forget about the great conflict that had raged for four long years. In May, 1873. he went to Nebraska and proved up on a claim there in 1875. In 1877, Mr. Flenner came to Butler county, Kansas, and located at El Dorado, where he worked at his trade, which was that of a plasterer, and later engaged in farming in El Dorado township, which he carried on successfully until 1908, when he returned to El Dorado, and since that time has been living practically in retirement.
Mr. Flenner was first married to Miss Susan Hofford, of Berlin. Pa., and the following children were born to that union: Ida. deceased ; Mattie, deceased ; Arizona, Ft. Worth, Texas; Grace, deceased ; Mary, El Dorado, Kans .; Charles, deceased; Walter, Pawhuska, Okla., and John C., deceased. In 1888, Mr. Flenner married Mrs. Jennie Ruddick, who came to Kansas with her former husband, Mr. Ruddick, in 1870. They drove to this county in a covered wagon. Two children were born to Mrs. Flenner by her former marriage: Frank and Elizabeth Ruddick, both deceased. Frank died in El Dorado in May, 1911, and Elizabeth, who for eleven years was a missionary in India, died in June, 1915.
Mrs. Flenner is a deeply religious woman, and since coming to this county, has been active in church, temperance and Sunday school work. She was a teacher of a Sunday school class for over thirty years, and is a woman of unusual mental attainments. Mr. Flenner is a Socialist, and admits without boasting that, in the matter of national politics, since 1856 he has always been on the losing side. He is the oldest Civil war veteran now living in Butler county, except Major Milks, of El Dorado. Mr. Flenner is a great reader, and has always kept himself well in- formed on questions of public importance, and is one of Butler county's grand old men.
John Houser, of El Dorado, came to this county in 1870 and con- ducted one of the first blacksmith shops in Butler county. He was born in Germany in 1849, a son of Jacob H. and Elizabeth Houser, who were the parents of five children, two of whom are living: John, the subject of this sketch, and Jacob, Ann Harbor, Mich. John Houser was three years of age when his parents immigrated to America and settled in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the father died in 1858, and the mother departed this life in 1871.
John Houser came to Butler county in 1870, and located in the old town of Chelsea, where he opened a blacksmith shop. When he came here, he was without funds, but he was a reliable young man, and won the confidence of some of the early settlers with whom he became ac-
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quainted, and with their financial support, he was enabled to engage in business. John M. Rayburn furnished him with a shop, a Mr. McQuar- ter furnished him with an old set of blacksmith tools, J. B. Parsons loaned him $7 in cash, and Mr. Findley, a grocer, stood good for the sup- plies which he needed and which were purchased at Emporia, and Mr. Findley also went to Emporia and hauled the supplies from there to Chelsea, free of charge. Chelsea, at that time, was quite a little settle- ment of perhaps twelve or fifteen buildings. Rollin Lakin was the man- ager of James McQuarter's store. Mr. Beale ran a dry goods and cloth- ing store, and A. M. Farnum conducted a shoe shop. J. B. Shough was the hotel keeper, and Dr. Zimmerman ran the drug store. There was no saloon at first, but later this ever-present frontier industry was repre- sented by Frost and Smith. They also sold groceries and did some gambling as a side line. Mr. Houser tells a story, of a green gawky tenderfoot who rode into the frontier village on a mule one day, and stood around watching some of the local talent who were engaged in a game of poker, and finally asked if they wouldn't let him play. He looked as though he had more money than knowledge of gambling, and was promptly dealt a hand, and bid pretty strong the first time, and the local boys laid down, but the tenderfoot in reality held a poorer hand, but his bluff worked. The next hand, he bid high again, and the fellows didn't propose to be bluffed again, and they stayed. The boy wasn't bluf- fing that time, but held the cards, and raked in the money, went out and got on his mule, and neither the boy, the mule, nor the money has been seen since, so far as the Chelsea gamblers know. Before the fellow left he called the fellows he had fleeced to the bar and asked the barkeeper if he had any "soft drinks, lemonade, or pop," as he thought they couldn't stand anything stronger.
Chelsea was on the old stage route from Cottonwood Falls which was later extended from Emporia to Winfield, and the fare was ten cents a mile. In the spring of 1870, Mr. House and another man started to walk from Emporia to El Dorado, but upon reaching the Cottonwood river, that stream was so high that they were unable to cross. How- ever, they found lodging with a Quaker who lived near the river, and the next day they got a ride with some movers who were on their way to Chelsea.
Mr. Houser was engaged in blacksmithing for twenty years, at Chel- sea. He then bought forty acres of land which he later sold, and bought 320 acres two and a half miles east of Chelsea. He moved his shop to that place, and for thirteen years carried on farming in connection with blacksmithing. He then sold that place and bought 200 acres, a mile south of Chelsea, which he sold in 1909, and removed to El Dorado, where he bought eight and a half acres adjoining the city limits on the northwest, where he has a fancy fruit farm, with several apple trees, peaches, cherries, blackberries, and he is also quite an alfalfa raiser.
Mr. Houser was married in 1881, to Miss Kate Estes, a native of
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Kentucky, born in 1851. She is a daughter of Lewis and Katie (Wis- dom) Estes. Mr. and Mrs. Houser have no children of their own, but they have reared two, Alice Zuell, who was an orphan, and Nettie Rogal- skey. The former married W. J. Case and lives in Chelsea township, and Nettie married Chester Moon, and lives in Oakwood, Okla. Mr. and Mrs. Houser have a cosy home on their place near El Dorado, and are well fixed to enjoy the comforts of life.
C. C. Jamison, a prominent contractor and builder of El Dorado, is a native of Indiana. He was born in White county, in 1859, and is a son of William and Eliza (Gill) Jamison. They were the parents of ten children, three of whom are now living, as follows: Mrs. William Shriver. El Dorado, Kans .: Mrs. Joseph Brown, Braman. Okla., and C. C., the subject of this sketch.
C. C. Jamison was reared in Indiana, and educated at LaFayette, Ind., and in 1875, came to Kansas with his parents, who first located at Hutchinson, They remained there, however, but a short time, and in the spring of 1876, went to Pratt county, where the father home- steaded a claim, and later sold his interest in it and came to Butler county in 1879, locating at Augusta. The father was a mechanic, and worked on the construction of the Augusta opera house and the Ettison building, and several other buildings in Augusta. He died in Hobart, Okla., in 1903, and his wife died at El Dorado, in 1885.
C. C. Jamison began his career as a contractor and builder when he was about twenty-four years of age, his first work being a forty foot stone arch bridge, across Dry Creek, between Bruno and Augusta. Prior to this he had superintended the construction of the electric light building at El Dorado. Among the most important works that Mr. Jamison has done as a contractor and builder are the following: A forty foot stone arch bridge, one mile west of Latham; the piers for the iron bridge across the Walnut at Augusta ; a thirty-six foot stone arch bridge, in Bruno township; a thirty-six foot stone arch bridge, across Hickory creek, near Leon; a thirty-six foot stone arch bridge in Chelsea township, near Chelsea; a thirty foot stone arch bridge at Brainard; and a thirty foot stone arch bridge, across Turkey creek, five miles south of El Dorado. Mr. Jamison has probably built about fifty county bridges in Butler county, and 200 township bridges.
Mr. Jamison was married April 7, 1892, to Miss Lucy Rayburn, of El Dorado, a daughter of William K. and Amanda (Dungan) Rayburn. The Rayburn family came to Butler county in 1885, and settled in El Dorado, remaining here three years when the father bought the Ches- ney ranch of 300 acres, where he lived until his death in 1903. The mother died in 1909. They were the parents of the following children : Calvin, an attorney, Bloomington, Ill .; Edgar, farmer, Towanda, Ill .; James. superintendent of the State asylum farm at Topeka, and has held that position for the past twenty years; Mrs. Ada Crawford, Fair- bury, Ill., and Lucy, wife of C. C. Jamison, the subject of this sketch.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Jamison have been born three children, as follows : Rayburn, associated with his father in the contracting and building business, married Hazel Herron, of Belle Plaine, Kans., December 25, 1915: Mary, a student in the El Dorado schools, and Sarah, also a stu- dent in the El Dorado schools.
Although a young man, Mr. Jamison has seen frontier conditions on the plains of Kansas, which has never been the privilege of many of the present generation to witness. When the Jamison family went to Pratt county, that section of the country was one broad expanse of prairie, with few settlements, and the buffalo was still to be found there, although not in large herds. Mr. Jamison has seen as many as nine in one herd.
William Gilmore, of El Dorado, one of Butler county's largest land owners, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Harrison county, January 26, 1843, and is a son of Nathaniel and Mary (Craig) Gilmore, both na- tives of Ohio, the former born in 1801, and the latter in 1808, near Ca- diz. They were the parents of twelve children, as follows: Samuel, died at the age of twenty-one, of cholera, at New Madrid, Mo .; Eliza Jane, married Alexander M. Shaver in 1865, who died two years after ; she died in 1868; John; resides at Webster City, Iowa, aged eighty-three years ; Rachel, died at the age of three years; Craig, was killed in an automobile accident at Gibson City, Ill., in 1910; Sarah, died near Le- Roy, Ill., in 1852; Albert, living at Gibson City, Ill .; William. the sub- ject of this sketch ; Mary Ann, died in 1857, at Le Roy, Ill., at the age of twelve ; Johnson, died at Le Roy, Ill., in 1861, aged fifteen ; one died in infancy, and Ephraim, resides near Lee, Ind.
William Gilmore was educated in the public schools of Illinois, and attended the Wesleyan University, at Bloomington, Ill., for two years. When he was twenty-two years of age, he was engaged in farming and stock raising in Illinois, and was interested in that business there from 1865 until 1893. The Gilmore family were interested in farming and stock raising together, and had about 3,000 acres of land in Ford, Mc- Lean and Champaign counties, Illinois. In 1893, Mr. Gilmore came to Butler county, Kansas, and bought 1,920 acres of land in Chelsea town- ship, where he engaged in farming and the cattle business. About 500 acres of this ranch are now under cultivation, and he also owns 800 acres of very valuable land in Osceola county, Iowa, and is a very wealthy man. His fine, modern home is located on a six acre tract of land adjoining El Dorado on the west.
Mr. Gilmore was married in Ford county, Illinois, in 1879, to Miss Julia I. Bunch, of Edwards county, Illinois. She is a daughter of William and Mary (Clark) Bunch, pioneers of Edwards county, Illi- nois, both now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have been born four children, all of whom are living, as follows: Mary Etta, unmar- ried, resides with her parents; Walter Ellsworth, resides on the home farm in Chelsea township: Carrie Harrison, and Benjamin Harrison, twins:
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Mr. Gilmore is able to trace his family history back many genera- tions, and has in his possession a family chart of the Craig family, his mother's ancestry, which gives a history of that family, beginning with John Craig, who was born in Ireland in 1775 and died in 1825. His wife bore the maiden name of Betsy Johnson, and was born in 1782, and died in 1864, at the age of eighty-two. Mr. Gilmore is one of Butler county's most substantial men, and the Gilmore family is one of the leading families of Butler county.
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