USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 68
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mer a native of North Carolina and the latter of Ohio. Jacob Hass went from North Carolina to Brown county, Ohio, with his parents when he was about eight years of age. Here he grew to manhood, and was mar- ried and reared a family of six children. At an early day he and his fam- ily removed to Indiana and settled on 160 acres of government land near Marion where the parents spent their lives.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hughes settled on a farm in Owen county, Indiana, and later removed to Howard county, Indiana. and bought a farm near Fairfield. In the fall of 1871, they fitted up an emigrant wagon, and Mr. Hughes, his wife and four children started to Kansas by the overland route. They left their Indiana home September II, 1871, and reached Butler county October 28, 1871. After reaching here they homesteaded 160 acres of land in Milton township, and built a log cabin. 16x16 feet, and this place has been the home of the Hughes family since that time .. When they settled here their claim was covered by a luxurious growth of blue stem and three small cottonwood trees were the only timber growth that broke the monotony of the broad ex- panse of prairie. Mr. Hughes proceeded to break the prairie and began farming and stock raising in a small way, according to the usual custom in a new country. Like the other pioneers, the first few years here were a struggle for existence. He worked for other settlers at times in order to obtain a little money for provisions, his first work being for T. J. Powell for whom he broke prairie near Peabody, twenty-two miles away. Mrs. Hughes was very much afraid of Indians in the early days, as In- dian stragglers were quite frequent in that neighborhood who were roaming back and forth from one reservation to another. One day an Indian called at the house. and asked Mrs. Hughes where her husband was, and she answered that he was over there plowing, indicating the direction, but did not expain that he was twenty-two miles away. On one occasion the chief of the Kaw Indians, Thagainga, remained over night with the Hughes family while on his return trip to the capital at Washington, where he had been to see the "Great White Father." Presi- dent Grant. The chief had a pocket knife which the President had pre- sented him, of which he was very proud. In describing his visit to Wash- ington he said: "Heap white people." When the Hughes family settled here game was plentiful. there being lots of deer and antelope, as well as small game. Their pioneer home was near one of the main traveled trails, which was followed quite extensively by Texas cattlemen. en route to and from Emporia, and they were often called upon to keep strangers over night which they invariably did. regardless of room, which was the general custom of those days.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hughes have been born the following children : Nora, married T. A. Bowyer, Potwin, Kans .; Edward, resides at home with his parents ; Hattie J., married a Mr. Shepard and is now deceased ; George, deputy sheriff of Butler county, El Dorado, Kans .; and Mrs. Charles E. Sheppard.
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Mr. Hughes is a member of the Masonic lodge and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has always taken a commendable interest in local affairs, but is inclined towards indepen- dence in politics. In 1890, he was elected township assessor, and after serving two terms as justice of the peace, declined to accept that office any longer. Mr. Hughes is one of the substantial citizens of Butler county and represents that type of pioneers who laid the foundation for the great civilization, progress and prosperity of the West.
Henry Edd Sehy, editor of The Augusta "Bugle," was born in Spring- field, Ill., in April, 1876, and is a son of Adam and Catherine (Becker) Sehy, the former a native of Germany and the latter a native of Ma- coupin county, Illinois. They were the parents of five children, as fol- lows: Joseph, Ashland, Ill .; Henry Edd, the subject of this sketch; August W., Carlinville, Ill .; Mrs. Clara Kritzberger, Halstead, Minn., and Mary, who died in infancy.
Henry Edd Sehy is a graduate of Ashland (Ill.) High School. At the age of fourteen he began to learn the printing trade in the "Sentinel" office, Ashland, Ill., remaining there two years. He then went with The Illinois "State Journal," at Springfield, remaining there four years. Since then he has been in business for himself. He has started two or three papers and came to Kansas seventeen years ago and managed The "Rural Kansan," at Seneca, Kans., for eighteen months, going from there to Axtell, Kans., to the "Anchor," which he leased for four years. From Axtell he went to South Dakota, where he homesteaded 160 acres of land in Lyman, which he still owns. He went from there to Oklahoma, starting The Buffalo "Bugle," of Buffalo, which he traded for The Augusta "Bugle," in February, 1915.
Mr. Sehy was married to Gertrude Miller at Kelly. Kans., in May, 1900, and they are the parents of six daughters: Hazel, Helen, Edith, Edna, Evelyn and Nellie. Mr. Sehy says he has seven reasons for being a hustler in the business, viz : his wife and six daughters.
George Strasser, of Milton township, is a Butler county pioneer, al- though his appearance and age would not indicate that he was entitled to be classified as a pioneer, however, Mr. Strasser came here when a boy, about fifteen years old, in 1871. He was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 4, 1855. His father, Edward Strasser, was a native of Switzer- and, where he was reared and educated and served three years in the Swiss army. He married Louisa Kurtz, a native of Wurtenberg, Ger- many, and they were the parents of two children: Mrs. M. J. Morgan, and George, the subject of this sketch.
Edward Strasser, the father, was an artist of extraordinary ability. and in connection with his vocation, he did work in the principal cities of the East before coming to Kansas. He painted a number of cele- ed pictures including portraits of Generals Grant and Sherman, Abra- ham Lincoln and a number of other conspicious men of that period of the country's history. When the Civil war broke out, with true loyalty
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to his adopted country, Edward Strasser enlisted in Company B, Ninety- eighth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry, and served three years; he fought under McClellan in the early part of the war, and later served under Grant in the Army of the Potomac. He was severely wounded at the battle of Winchester, which left him a cripple for life. He was a Democrat before the Civil war, but during the latter part of his life his political affiliations were with the Republican party.
In 1871 Edward Strasser and his son George, the subject of this sketch, came to Butler county, Kansas, and homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 12, Milton township, which has been the Strasser home ever since. Here the father engaged in farming and spent the remain- der of his life. George Strasser was about fifteen years old at the time they came to Kansas and had spent his life up to that age in the city of Philadelphia, and the new conditions which he found on the plains, after a life in the congested city, gave him a new vision of the world, and the free open life of the prairie appealed to his spirit of liberty. He found hunting and fishing to be a pastime and that interested him much, and he became so wrapt up in hunting that he soon became a professional, and hunted quail and prairie chickens which he killed by the thousands and shipped to St. Louis markets. He soon became an expert horseman also, and hunted antelope, on horseback. When the Strasser family set- tled here, buffalo meat was a common article of food which was pro- cured periodically by hunting trips, farther west, but Mr. Strasser never hunted buffalo very much.
June 1, 1894, Mr. Strasser was united in marriage to Lizzie Lunen- berger, a native of Switzerland and a daughter of John and Marie(Wit- mer) Lunenberger, natives of Switzerland. Her mother died in her na- tive land, and the father came to America with his children and now resides at Springfield, Mo. To George Strasser and wife have been born the following children : Fred, wire chief for the Lincoln Telephone Com- pany, Davis City, Neb .; Mary, married Earl Furman, Clifford, Kans .; Edward and Elsie, at home. Mr. Strasser is a Republican and is a stanch supporter of that party, and takes a commendable interest in pub- lic affairs.
M. R. Stipe, a Civil war veteran and prominent Fairmount town- ship farmer and stock raiser, has been a resident of Butler county for forty-three years. Mr. Stipe was born in Knox county, Indiana, in No- vember, 1838, and is a son of William and Isabelle (Nicholson) Stipe, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Indiana. William Stipe was a son of George Stipe, a native of Maryland, and very early set- tler in Kentucky. George Stipe was a millwright and miller, and built the first mill of the locality in Kentucky where he settled
M. R. Stipe was reared four miles east of Vincennes, Ind. His op- portunities for an early education were limited. He was the oldest of a large family, and his father's health was poor, and thus more than or- dinary responsibilities fell to the young man at an early age. He re-
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mained at home until President Lincoln issued the second call for vol- unteers to defend the Union, when he enlisted in Company B, Thirty- third regiment, Indiana infantry, and served under Colonel Coburn in the Army of the West. His command joined Sherman's army at Buz- zard's Roost, Tenn., and was at the seige of Atlanta and took part in an engagement at Wildcat, Ky., and also participated in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Chickmauga, Big Shanty, Burnt Hickory and Peach Tree. They were also on a campaign against Morgan in Ken- tucky. During all his years of military experience, he had some very narrow escapes, but fortunately was never wounded, nor taken prison- er. After three years of service he was honorably discharged and re- turned to Knox county, Indiana, where he worked as a farm hand about a year.
In the fall of 1865. Mr. Stipe was married to Miss Mary Jane Don- aldson. She died about a year later, and in 1870 Mr. Stipe was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Mackey, a native of Daviess county, Indiana, and a daughter of Bedford and Sarah Mackey, natives of Indiana. Mrs. Stipe died August 1, 1896, and Mr. Stipe married Clara Isabelle Van Tuyl, a native of Illinois. To Mr. Stipe's first marriage was born one child, to the second, nine children were born, and to the third, five.
In 1873 Mr. Stipe came to Kansas, locating in Fairmount township, Butler county, where he homesteaded 80 acres of government land, which has since been his home. He has added more land to his original holdings and now owns three eighties, which is one of the best farms in Butler county. When he came to Butler county, he was not a capitalist by any means, but was better off than the average pioneer settler. He had about seven hundred dollars in cash and a good team. Two hundred and ten dollars went for his relinquishment, and the following year. 1874, was grasshopper year, and the balance of his little capital melted away in the devastation wrought by the army of hungry hoppers. He practically had to begin over again, and for a few years had a hard strug- gle. It was even a difficult matter for him to obtain seed, but he pos- sessed the spirit of the true Kansas pioneer and was not to be discour- aged. He worked hard and economized and soon the lean years passed, and he began to prosper, and became one of the substantial and well to do citizens of Fairmount township; and in his undertakings in recent years he has met with well merited success. He has won the reputation of never having shirked from a task that fell to his lot, and is one of the substantial citizens of Butler county.
James M. Morgan, one of the very early pioneers of Butler county, comes from an old Southern family, of English descent. Mr. Morgan was born in Moore county, North Carolina, November 14, 1848, and is a son of James and Mary (Holland) Morgan, natives of North Carolina. Mary Holland was a daughter of Edmund Holland, and her mother bore the maiden name of Allen, and both were natives of England, who settled in North Carolina at a very early day, and were among the lead-
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ing families of that State. The Morgans, Hollands and Allens were all very early settlers in the Southern colonies, and prominent people, many of whom were identified with the early movement for the inde- pendence of the Colonies, and later participated in the Revolutionary war and later were prominently identified with the Civil war. James M. Morgan, the subject of this sketch, is a member of the same Morgan family as the well known Confederate general of that name.
In the spring of 1869, James Morgan, the father of James M., whose name introduces this sketch. loaded his goods on the train at Greens- boro, N. C., and came directly to Kansas City, Mo. After remaining there a year, he removed with his family to Junction City, Kans., and in the spring of 1871. drove from that point with a team and prairie schooner to Butler county and filed on a claim in Clifford township, which is now owned by R. J. Morgan. The Morgan family consisted of thirteen children, all of whom came to Kansas with their parents, except the elder. The father, who was well advanced in years when he came to this 'county, died in June, 1892, and the mother died in May, 1912.
James M. Morgan was about twenty-one years of age, when he first came to this State with his older brother, George. He filed on a claim of Government land in the southeast quarter of section 14, Milton town- ship, Butler county, and in due time proved up on it. Mr. Morgan was married in 1877 to Miss Pauline Strasser, a native of New Jersey and daughter of Edward and Louise (Kurtz) Strasser, the former a native of Switzerland, and the latter of Germany. The father served seven years in the Swiss army and came to this country some time before the Civil war, settling in Philadelphia, Pa. He was a painter and worked at his trade in Philadelphia and New York until the Civil war broke out, when he enlisted in a Pennsylvania regiment, serving for three years, and shortly after the close of the war came West and settled on Government land in Milton township, Butler county.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Morgan began life in their cozy stone house of four rooms, which Mr. Morgan had built on his claim in Milton township. This was an unusually spacious and comfortable residence for those days. Mr. Morgan is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Milton township, and he has a fine farm of 160 acres, well adapted to the stock business. There is a quarry on the place from which Mr. Morgan has sold a large quantity of building stone of a very high grade.
To Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have been born the following children : Edward Allen, engaged in business at Topeka. Kans .; Arthur Louis, Harvey Oliver and John Albert, who constitute the firm of Morgan Bros., and are very extensive wheat raisers in Seward county, Kansas. Their farm was once the site of the town of Springfield, now extinct. It was a town of 400 population, with a water works system, and aspired to be the county seat of Seward county, but in the fight, came out second best. Liberal leading; and while Liberal is now a mere
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county seat of the ordinary variety, Springfield is a fine, productive farm with its waving fields of wheat, contributing food to a hungry world. The other children born to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are George Francis : Carl William, and Rose Elizabeth, all of whom reside at home. Mr. Morgan is a Democrat and a member of the Anti Horse Thief As- sociation.
W. J. Thomas, a Butler county pioneer and prominent farmer and stockman of Milton township, was born in Hancock county, near Find- lay, Ohio, January 22, 1858. He is a son of S. S. and Sarah Jane (Huff) Thomas, natives of Ohio. S. S. Thomas was a son of Samuel and Sabella Thomas, natives of Pennsylvania, who were pioneers of Ohio. Sarah Huff, mother of W. J. Thomas, was a daughter of John Huff, a Pennsylvanian who went from that State to Ohio at a very early day. He and his wife walked, carrying their few belongings, when they removed from one State to the other. S. S. Thomas, the father of our subject, was reared in Ohio, and when the Civil war broke out, he en- listed in an Ohio regiment, and served throughout that conflict. Shortly after receiving his discharge from the army, he removed from Ohio to Davis county, Missouri, locating with his family about three miles from Gallaton, the county seat. They lived there when the James boys and other brigands were operating in that section, and were there at the time that the gang murdered Mr. Cox, the president of a bank.
After remaining a short time in Davis county, the Thomas family removed to Platte county, Missouri. When they first located in Platte county, that section was still pretty strongly Southern, and Mr. Thomas, having been a Union soldier and a strong Republican, encountered con- siderable political sentiment against him. Before election day he was notified that if he went to the polls and voted the Republican ticket that he would be killed, but he went to the polls and voted, and the threat resolved itself into a mere unfulfilled promise. He found out later, however, that his life had been saved through the influence of a local constable, who was a friend of his.
In' 1870, S. S. Thomas, with his family, came to Butler county, Kansas, locating in Plum Grove township. Later Mr. Thomas filed on land in section 12, Milton township. Here he built a one room cabin, 12X15 feet, and proceeded to improve his place, and engaged in farming. When he came here he was poor, his entire capital consisting of a team, wagon, a large family and five dollars in cash. The first years on the plains were a continuous struggle for existence. There were crop fail- ures, prairie fires and grasshoppers, and when they did succeed in rais- ing a good crop there was no market for it, and while they had plenty of plain food, and feed for their stock, they were unable to get money to buy the little necessaries of life, and W. J. Thomas says that when he came here with his parents, as a boy ten or twelve years old, and looked over the unlimited, barren plains; that it just appeared to him as though they would starve to death there ; that while game and fish were plenti-
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
ful, the outlook was not very encouraging, with not an ounce of flour in sight, not even any salt. Their nearest trading point where they could buy such provisions, if they had money, was at Cedar Point, thirty miles away, and it required two days and two nights to make the trip there and back. S. S. Thomas and his boys worked hard and soon got a start in life, and he became one of the prosperous farmers and stock men of Butler county. He died in August, 1897, and his wife died, February 18. 1903.
W. J. Thomas was married December 1, 1885, to Miss May A. Corfman, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah C. (Hoover) Corfman, natives of Ohio. Jacob Corfman is a son of Conrad and Mary (Reigle) Corf- man, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter of Pennsylvania, and both of German descent. Jacob Corfman grew to manhood in Hancock county, Ohio, and in 1885, when Mrs. Thomas was eighteen years old, the family came to Butler county and located at Brainerd, which was then a new, booming town, and rented a house there from S. S. Thomas, who was then keeping a hotel at Brainerd. Mr. and Mrs. Corfman were the parents of eleven children, and they now reside at Burns. Kans. After his marriage. W. J. Thomas was foreman on the Stevens cattle ranch for seven years, which was one of the largest in that section of the country, containing twenty-five sections of land. Mr. Thomas later bought forty acres of land, which he afterwards disposed of, and bought the old Thomas homestead, which has since been his home. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are the parents of the following children: Her- man A .; George W .; William J .; Laura N., deceased ; Donald A. ; Dora - J. ; Charles R. ; one who died in infancy ; Harve A. ; Anna M., and Ches- ter C.
Coming to Kansas at the time of life which he did, W. J. Thomas had an opportunity to observe the conditions of frontier days, at a time when they made lasting impressions on his mind. He has vivid recollec- tions of the great prairie fires which swept the plains in those days. He says, sometimes when conditions were right, prairie fires would sweep over the country, burning a section of fifty miles wide, and he is of the impression that many of them were started by the Indians. Prairie chickens were so plentiful that they frequently destroyed crops. Mr. Thomas is a Republican, and takes an active interest in local affairs, and is one of the progressive and public spirited citizens of Milton town- ship.
Joseph M. Satterthwaite, Jr., editor of The "Daily Gazette," Augusta, Kans., is one of the live newspaper men of Butler county, and while a young man, he has had a broad range of experience in the newspaper field. He has been brought up in that line of work. He is a native son of Butler county, having been born at Douglass, September 16, 1886.
Joseph M. Satterthwaite is a son of J. M. and Mattie C. (Dutton) Sat- terthwaite, the former a native of Maryland, and a pioneer newspaper man of Butler county, and the latter a native of Kentucky. J. M. Sat-
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
terthwaite, the father, is the dean of the newspaper fraternity in Butler county, and is now actively engaged in the work, conducting a paper at Douglass. He is also prominent in the political affairs of Butler county, being the present representative from his district in the Kansas State legislature.
There were six children in the Satterthwaite family, of whom Joseph is one, as follows : Ed., Oklahoma City, Okla .; Mrs. Mary Reed, Douglass, Kans .; George, deceased; Ruth, Douglass, Kans .; Mrs. Jennie Kiser, Wichita, Kans., and Joseph M., the subject of this sketch. Joseph M. was reared in Douglass and educated in the high school, and later took a course in journalism at Kansas University, Lawrence, Kans. He then went to work on The Wichita "Eagle," and later was connected with The Hutchinson "Gazette," Kansas City "Post," Denver "Post," and on No- vember 1, 1915, bought The Augusta "Daily Gazette," and has made of it a real live newspaper-the kind that Augusta requires.
Mrs. Emily Payne Ogden is one of the notable pioneer women of Butler county. It would be a difficult matter to do justice to the story of the life and career of this noble pioneer woman in the space allotted in a work of this character. She came to Kansas at a time when the great plains stretched out before her, just as they had been left by the hand of the Creator.
Mrs. Ogden was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, January 4, 1850, and is a daughter of John and Nancy (Zink) Payne. The mother was a native of Indiana and the father was a North Carolinian of Scotch and French extraction, and the mother was of German descent. She died in Indiana in 1858, survived by her husband and eight children. In the spring of 1868, John Payne loaded his goods into a wagon, and with his family, drove to Kansas. They reached Chase county in June, 1868, where the father filed on a homestead, which he improved and spent the greater part of his life there. He died in Indian Territory in 1900. He was a man of strong character and a typical representative of the pion- eers who laid the foundation for the great West. When the Civil war broke out he was intensely loyal to the Union. Although he was too old for military service, he gave his country every possible support, and four of his sons enlisted in the Union army, although one was rejected on account of physical disability. The other three served for nearly four years and were with Sherman on his history-making march to the sea. The Payne family, with the exception of one son, Isaac, came to Kansas.
In 1870 Emeline Payne, the subject of this sketch, was united in marriage with George Ogden, a native of Hancock county, Illinois. He was a son of Joseph and Martha Ogden, natives of Illinois. He came to Chase county, Kansas, in 1869, where he met and married Emeline Payne, as above stated. Shortly after their marriage they came to But- ler county and filed on the northeast quarter of section 12, Milton township, and in the spring of 1871 came here to make their home, per- manently. To Mr. and Mrs. Ogden has been born one child, Minnie,
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
born in Butler county, May 4, 1871. She was married in 1909 to L. C. Peacock, and died in February, 1910. She was her mother's constant companion, through many lonely days on the plains. They endured many hardships together, labored together and were finally rewarded by prosperity. They homesteaded a claim together in New Mexico and re- mained there until they proved up on it, and her death was a severe blow to her mother. In 1906, Mrs. Ogden and her daughter took a claim in Quay county, New Mexico. and Mrs. Ogden spent six years there. She bought two additional quarter sections, and now owns the 480 arces in New Mexico, besides her fine farm of 160 acres in Butler county. They were among the very first settlers in that section of New Mexico and Mrs. Ogden's land there now is considered very valuable. She has a fine fruit orchard there, which is proving to be a profitable investment.
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