USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 73
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After having served his country faithfully and well for nearly four years, he was honorably discharged from the army at the close of the war. In 1865 he went to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he served as an ap- prenticeship for three and one-half years at the harness maker's trade. Mr. Dodwell worked as a journeyman in Kalamazoo and became fore- man of one of the leading harness shops of that city in a short time. In 1871, he resigned his position there and came to Butler county, Kansas. Athough he was a first-class harness maker, there was not much demand for that class of work here on the plains in the early days. The coun- try was sparcely settled and even then most of the settlers had oxen in- stead of horses, and the equipment of an ox team created no demand for a harness maker. No one but a blacksmith and a carpenter need apply in equipping an ox team. Therefore Mr. Dodwell was unable to find employment at his trade and proceeded to work at whatever else he could find to do. One of his first jobs in this county was cutting cord wood at 50 cents per cord. He then drove stage for a time on the line between Florence and El Dorado. He found this to be a very unpleas- ant job on account of the cold and frequency of blizzards in the early days. He recalls rescuing J. T. Nye, from freezing to death in a bliz- zard, whom he found in a dazed condition from the extreme . cold, and took him to the stage station and gave him shelter. Mr. Nye afterwards became probate judge of this county.
Mr. Dodwell's first work at his trade in El Dorado was in the em-
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ploy of Bob Roberts. Later he became a partner of Mr. Roberts, and eventually bought Mr. Roberts's interest in the business. Later Mr. Dod- well bought two lots and built his present place of business, where he has since been successfully engaged in the harness business. Mr. Dodwell is one of the old time business men of El Dorado, and for over forty-five years has been an important factor in the commercial life of El Dorado, and Butler county. Mr. Dodwell is well known to William Allen White, and is said to be Watts McCurty in "A Certain Rich Man," of which Mr. White is the author.
Mr. Dodwell was married in 1875 at Plainesville, Michigan, to Miss Rebecca Jane Decon, and to this union three children have been born, as follows: Louis, Carthage, Mo .; Leona, Carthage. Mo .; and Lee, Car- thage, Mo. All of Mr. Dodwell's children have received a good education and are high school graduates, and are prosperous. Mr. Dodwell is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and belongs to the Presbyterian church.
B. F. Allebach, the efficient city clerk of El Dorado is a native of Pennsylvania. He was born in 1848, and is a son of Aaron and Philena (Janes) Allebach, both natives of Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1822, and the mother in 1824. They were the parents of the follow- ing children, who are now living: John R .. DeGraff, Ohio; William I., Maplewood, Ohio; and B. F., the subject of this sketch. The Allebach family removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio where the father followed farming.
B. F. Allebach was reared on his father's farm in Ohio, and edu- cated in the public schools of Logan county, Ohio. When he was about sixteen years of age, the great Civil war was in progress, and January I, 1864, he enlisted as a private and was mustered into United States service at Columbus, Ohio, February 29, 1864, as a member of Company K, Fifty-seventh regiment, Ohio infantry. Capt. John A. Smith com- manded his company, and Col. Americus V. Rice commanded the regi- ment. Mr. Allebach immediately went to the front with his regiment, and was with Sherman on his march to the sea, and participated in the engagements at Atlanta and the campaign in the Carolinas.
He was never wounded, but he experienced what the soldiers of the North feared much more than the enemy's bullets-the famine and filth of a Confederate prison hell. Mr. Allebach was captured, during a charge on the enemy's works at Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1864, and confined in the Confederate military prison, at Andersonville, Ga., for two months, when he was paroled. He returned to his regiment, and at the close of the war, took part in the grand review at Washington, D. C., after which his regiment was sent to Louisvile, Ky., and from there, started to Little Rock on June 25, 1865, and arriving there August 6, after a long, hot, dusty march. They then returned to Camp Chase, Ohio, where the regiment was mustered out of service, August 14, 1865,
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and Mr. Allebach received his honorable discharge. As a soldier he ren- dered faithful and meritorious service.
At the close of the war, he returned to his home in Logan county, and in 1871, was united in marriage to Miss M. J. Epler, a native of Ohio and a daughter of Peter Epler. a farmer of that State. To Mr. and Mrs. Allebach have been born three children, as follows: Mrs. Marian Studebaker, El Dorado, Kans .; E. R., Douglass, Kans .. and O. C., El Dorado, Kans.
Mr. Allebach came to Kansas in 1886 and settled in El Dorado, where he has since made his home. He followed the profession of teaching for a number of years, and then became assistant postmaster at El Dorado, a position which he held for seven years. He has held the office of justice of the peace, and has been city clerk since 1907. Mr. Allebach is a capable and painstaking public official, and his cour- teous and obliging manner has won for him many friends, among the vast number of acquaintances with whom he has come in contact dur- ing his career as a public official. He has always supported the policies and principles of the Republican party, and he is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church.
B. F. Rickey, a prosperous farmer of Little Walnut township, is a Civil war veteran and pioneer of Butler county. He is a native of Ohio, and a son of Jacob and Dorcas (Morbery) Rickey, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. They were married in Ohio in 1830, and two children of this marriage are now living: Bernard, who resides in Ohio, and B. F., the subject of this sketch.
B. F. Rickey was engaged in the peaceful pursuits of'the average youth of his time when the great Civil war broke forth on the country with all its vengeance, and he responded to President Lincoln's call for troops, enlisting in Company I. Twenty-fifth regiment, Ohio infan- try, and served sixteen months and seven days. He participated in the second battle of Bull Run and some minor engagements and skirmishes.
Mr. Rickey came to Kansas in 1867, and located in Little Walnut township, Butler county. Here he preempted a quarter section of land, which he sold in 1879, and bought the place where he now resides. He owns 240 acres of land which is considered one of the best farms in Little Walnut township, where he has successfully carried on general farming and stock raising all these years. Mr. Rickey came to Butler county at a very early date in its settlement, and is one of the real pioneers who laid the foundation for the future greatness of Butler county. When he came here, life was filled with hardships. incident to pioneer life on the plains. Frequent drouths, crop failures and devasta- tion of crops by grasshoppers, and other pests of the plains, confronted the early settler, but he had a brave heart and willing hands, and over- came these difficulties, and finally conquered the plains and converted a portion of the great American desert into fertile fields of productiveness. The first few years after Mr. Rickey located in Butler county, the set-
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tlers did most of their trading at Topeka or Emporia, which required from two to four days to make the trip, but with the rapid development of the country, important towns sprang up within closer proximity, and the question of supplies and market began to be solved.
Mr. Rickey was united in marriage, in 1864, to Miss A. E. Palmer, a daughter of Francis Palmer. They have only one child, Ernest M. Rickey, who is associated with his father in conducting the home place. He married Miss Minnie Gaskell, and one child, Franklin E., has been born to this union. Mr. Rickey is one of the substantial citizens of But- ler county, and belongs to that type of agriculturists who have built up the great West.
Charles R. Noe was born of humble parentage in the hill country of Grant county, Kentucky, March 25, 1843. One of his regular assign- ments, at the age of eight years, was going to mill, six miles up and down hills, mounted on "Old Benter," a badly sway-backed critter of ripe age, carrying a two- bushel bag of corn. At the age of twelve, young Noe was a chauffeur, driving a horseless ve- hicle delivering yellow poplar logs to a saw mill. The motor (three yokes of oxen) went all the time on low gear, and the driver was never ar- rested for speeding.
With his parents and seven other children, Charles R. Noe migrated to southern Illinois in 1856. He entered high school to fit himself for college at Charleston, 111., but left school at the age of eighteen to CHARLES R. NOE answer President Lin- first call for volunteers in April, 1861. He was promoted to sergeant-major of his regiment for gallantry in the assault on the works at Vicksburg, May 22, 1863, and was mustered out as a second lieutenant, August 16, 1865. He came home broken in health and taught school in Fountain county, Indiana. in 1867 and 1868.
Mr. Noe came to Kansas in February, 1869, and to south Butler
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county in April, where he secured a claim and made a farm where, ten years later, the townsite of Leon was surveyed. He raised a crop of corn on the Squire Steward place, one mile south of El Dorado, in 1869. He taught school in district No. 9, on the Whitewater, in the winter of 1869-1870. Mr. Noe was united in marriage to Miss Lana Fisher at El Dorado, Kans., March 24, 1870. He was the first trustee and assessor of Little Walnut township.
When the survey was made for the railroad across his place, Mr. Noe secured the promise of the depot from the president of the construc- tion company, B. F. Hobart, in June, 1879. In November of that year the townsite was surveyed and the subject of this sketch named the Leon "Indicator," secured subscribers and wrote copy for the first issue, be- fore there was a house on the townsite. The first train on the Frisco arrived in April, 1880. Mr. Noe was mayor of the town and commander of Leon Post No. 125, Department of Kansas, Grand Army of the Re- public, in 1883. He was Regent of the Kansas State Agricultural Col- lege in 1895-1898 and treasurer of that institution in 1896-1897.
Mr. Noe united with the Church of Christ at the age of twelve years and is now a trustee and elder of the home congregation.
M. C. Kelley, of Logan township, is a Butler county pioneer who has been identified with this county for forty-four years, and saw much of the development of this county from an unbroken and sparcely set- tled section to a populous and prosperous community. He recalls, with much interest, many of the early day experiences that were of the char- acter to be found only in a new and primitively organized country. M. C. Kelley was born in Georgia in 1850, and is a son of E. M. and Eliza - beth (Reynolds) Kelley, the former a native of Georgia, and the latter of Tennessee.
The Kelley family came to Butler county, June 1, 1872, and located on Government land five miles southeast of where Leon now stands. The parents spent their lives on this place, their first summer being spent in a tent under a tree on Hickory creek. Their remains are buried in a private burial ground on the old homestead.
M. C. Kelley was married, in 1881, to Miss Harriet B. Hayes, a daughter of Jonathan and Emily (Hankins) Hayes. Jonathan Hayes was a fifty years' resident of Illinois, and settled the town of Peru, Ill .. . He and his brother were among the first passengers on the Illinois river, and his sister and family were victims of the Black Hawk Indian Creek massacre, and were buried by General Whiteside and Abraham Lincoln. Congress has recently, it is said, erected a monument to those slain at this massacre. Her father was born in Virginia in 18II, and. the mother was a Kentuckian, born in 1822. Mrs. Kelley is one of the following, surviving children born to Jonathan and Emily (Hankins) Hayes, the others being as follows: Mrs. Mary Machesney. Wellsford, Kans .; Mrs. Frances Allard, Troutdale, Ore .; C. W. Hayes, Grand Junction, Colo., and D. H. Hayes, Kildare, Okla. The Hayes family
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came to Butler county in 1874, and settled in Logan township. Mrs. Kelley is one of the real pioneer women of Butler county, and often during the early days, herded cattle on the plains when she was a girl. Hler father was the first one to use wire for fencing in Butler county. This was in 1881.
Mr. Kelley relates many instances of primitive conditions which prevailed in Butler county in the early days. Their nearest doctor was at El Dorado, a distance of twenty miles, and most of the supplies were obtained from Emporia, which was about fifty miles distant. Prairie fires were one of the dreaded calamities of the early settlers on the plains, and the rule against setting fire on the prairie for any purpose whatever was very strict, and during the season of 1873. while Mr. Kelley and Bill Baxter were cropping in partnership, one day while Mr. Kelley was doing some improving about the place, he started a little fire to burn a bunch of prairie grass. Before he knew it, he had a regular old time prairie fire started, and knowing full well the esteem in which the other settlers would hold him when they discovered that he had set the fire, he mounted his pony in such haste that he lost his hat ; but he tarried not to find it, and rode straight south, and did not return for a year. He hoped that by that time, that it probably had rained and put the fire out, and that his neighbors had forgotten about it. After returning, he found it an easy matter to compromise, by pay- ing those who had met with any loss, on account of his private prairie fire.
The prices which the early settlers received for their produce in many instances were not sufficient to pay for hauling it to market. Money was scarce, and there was practically no demand for what the settlers had to sell. Mr. Kelley relates an instance of hauling a load of hay to El Dorado in 1882 with an ox team, in company with John Holt, and after trying to find a buyer for their hay for some time and being unsuccessful, they finally offered to sell it for enough with which to buy their suppers, but were unable to dispose of it even at that price. However, they even did better than that; they succeeded in getting their supper upon a promise to pay for it later, but there is no record that they ever paid. Mr. Kelley attended the election at which the township of Logan was organized in 1873. It was held at old Tommy Walker's place, and the first trustee of the township was Sam Le- Moines. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley are well known in southeastern Butler county, and are among the substantial and highly respected people of that section.
G. A. Kenoyer, of Leon, Kans., is one of the representative farmers and breeders of Butler county. Mr. Kenoyer was born in Indiana in 1852, and is a son of Elijah and Sarah Kenoyer. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: G. A., the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Mary Mason, Ulysses, Kans .; Mrs. Citney Ballinger, Hutchison, Kans. ; John F., San Francisco, Cal .; W. H., Chehalis, Wash .; Mrs. Ida Blanchard,
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Orwell, Ohio; Charles V., Hutchinson, Kans .; Mrs. Joe Hogue, Mobile, Ala. ; and E. E., Chehalis, Wash. The Kenover family came to Kansas in 1879 and located on a farm near Hutchinson. Here the father died, and the mother died in Washington, in 1913.
G. A. Kenoyer was united in marriage in 1873, to Miss Martha E. Ballinger, and in 1877 came to Kansas and located in Little Walnut township. He taught school and farmed for the first few years. He was one of the men who laid the townsite of Leon, and later became post- master of Leon, serving in that capacity for six years. He then became assistant cashier of the Leon State Bank, and later its cashier.
Soon after coming to Kansas, Mr. Kenoyer became interested in breeding thoroughbred horses, and still has in his possession direct descendants of the strain of horses with which he began in 1885. He is . developing a very fine strain of .Wilkes-McGregor and Wilkes-Nut- wood race horses. He has combined in these breeds most of the fine blooded race horses known to the race-loving public. Mr. Kenover's method of handling his horse business, is to select a colt and develop it to its best. He has never followed racing himself, however, as a pro- fession, but for demonstration purposes. He produces the race horses, and lets the other fellow do the racing.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kenoyer have been born six children, as follows: Mrs. Pearl Royse, Leon, Kans. ; Mrs. Grace La Rue, Salina, Kans. ; Mrs. Luvena Clifford, Wichita, Kans .: G. G., Los Angeles, Cal .; Mrs. Faith Erwin, Cabool, Mo .; and John J., Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Kenoyer is one of Leon's substantial and highly respected citizens.
H. S. Dedrick of Little Walnut township, belongs to a pioneer fam- ilv of Butler county. He was born in Logan township in 1877, and was educated in the district sechools, and the Leon High School, and made Leon his home from 1894 to 1914, when he married Miss Grace Marshall, a daughter of the late H. H. Marshall, of Little Walnut township, and since that time has been engaged in farming and stock raising on the Marshall homestead in Little Walnut township.
H. S. Dedrick is a son of J. J. and Mary (Dow) Dedrick, the former a native of New York and the latter of Illinois. J. J. Dedrick was born in 1842, and is a son of N. J. and Margaret (Dormoth) Dedrick. The father was a captain on a packet on the Erie Canal, and his father was a very early settler in the State of New York, and held a land grant from Queen Anne in the early days. The Dedrick family originally came from Germany. J. J. Dedrick was one of a family of four children born to N. J. and Margaret (Dormoth) Dedrick, as follows: Nelson, Leon, Kans. ; Mrs. Elmira Elmore, South Bend, Ind .; Mrs. Mary Mitchell, South Elgin, Ill. ; and J. J. Mary Dow, wife of J. J. Dedrick is a daugh- ter of Stephen Dow, who was a prosperous Illinois farmer, and her mother bore the maiden name of Arnold and was of English descent. To J. J. Dedrick and wife have been born six children, as follows: Wil- liam C., born in 1873, resides at Leon, Kans .; Nelson A., born in 1875;
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Hiram S., born in 1877; Mrs. Linda L. Marshall, born in 1881; Edwin E., born in 1884, and Margaret A., born in 1887. all residing in the vicin- ity of Leon, Kans.
J. J. Dedrick came to Butler county in 1872 and homesteaded gov- ernment land, and since that time has been one of the successful farm- ers and stock raisers of Logan township. When he came here and be- gan farming many discouraging features confronted him. Like the oth- er pioneers he was a long distance from market, and that meant poor prices for his farm produce. Wichita was the nearest railroad point for a long time. He remembers having sold hogs, as low as two and a half cents per pound, and often hauled corn to market, which he sold for fifteen cents per bushel. He experienced the many discouraging fea- tures of drouth and crop failures in the early days, and when the grass- hoppers came in 1874. they ate every vestige of vegetation on his place. except the sugar cane, and the winter that followed that devastation was a hard one. and one to be remembered by the Kansas pioneers. Al- though Mr. Dedrick says that he always had plenty to eat since he came to Butler county, sometimes in the early days, the variety was not great, but that he never had less than one article of food on the bill of fare, and that cornbread and black molasses were not bad when there was nothing else to be had.
T. H. Fillmore, owner and proprietor of "Little Walnut Stock Farm" in Glencoe township, is one of Butler county's leading farmers and stockmen. Mr. Fillmore is a native of New Brunswick, born in 1862 He is a son of John and Eliza (Ogden) Fillmore, natives of New Brunswick. To John and Eliza (Ogden) Fillmore were born the fol- lowing children: George A., deceased: John, Cushing, Okla .; Mrs. Rebecca Dobson. Coil, Okla .: Greene. Davidson, Okla. ; T. H., the sub- ject of this sketch; Clark, lives in Oklahoma: Mrs. Ellen Niles, lives in Oklahoma ; and Harve F .. Cushing, Okla.
Mr. Fillmore came to Kansas with his parents in 1870, and two years later, settled in Butler county, and has lived on his present place of 720 acres. for the past fifteen years. The place is known as "Little Walnut Stock Farm," and is one of the ideal stock farms, not only of Butler county, but of the State. Mr. Fillmore specializes in Here- fords, of which he has a very fine herd; and also keeps a number of cattle of the ordinary marketable type. and his entire herd usually averages about 300 head. He has also been successful as a feeder. and raises quite a large number of calves each year. "Little Walnut Stock Farm" is an attractive and splendidly equipped stock farm in every particular, with a commodious residence, large and well ar- ranged barn, sheds, silo and garage, and all buildings about the place are kept in good repair and well painted. The residence stands on an eminence. overlooking the broad acres of well kept and highly culti- vated bottom land, which, in the summer season. presents an ideal scene of pastural life with its fields of waving grain and green mantle of
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alfalfa, furnishes mute testimony of its owner's mastery of the art of agriculture. The place is located on the south branch of the Little Walnut, which winds its labyrinthian way like. a silver thread down through the valley, which adds the finishing touch of nature's brush to the landscape. No more beautiful countryside can be found.
Mr. Fillmore was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Blankenbaker, and to this union four children have been born, as follows: Orloff, Addison ; Lloyd, and Leona. Mr. Fillmore is progressive and public spirited, and is always ready and willing to lend his aid to any move- ment or enterprise that has for its object the betterment of the com- munity.
A. F. Wright, one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Butler county, comes from an old American family and traces his ancestry back to Revolutionary days, his great grandfather having been a sol- dier in Washington's army in the struggle for Independence. A. F. Wright was born in Buchanan county, Missouri, in August, 1851, and is a son of Joseph T. and Mary J. (Faubion) Wright. Joseph T. Wright came to Kansas when it was a territory. He was a native of Indiana, born in 1838, and settled in Leavenworth county, Kansas, in 1854. He was an early day freighter across the plains, and after com- ing to Butler county in 1873. followed farming and stock raising, ex- clusively. To Joseph T. and Mary J. (Faubion) Wright were born the following children: A. F., the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Polly E. Rudlof, Howard, Kans. ; F. M., Latham, Kans. ; Mrs. Sarah A. Bren- ton, Latham, Kans .; Mrs. Mary J. Vance, Sedee, Okla .; Mrs. Nancy Harring, Cabool, Mo .: Joseph T., Latham, Kans .. and S. S., Lathan, Kans.
A. F. Wright came to Butler county in 1873. and since that time. has been engaged in farming and stock raising, and is one of the ex- tensive and successful stock raisers of the county. His farm consists of 1,000 acres of valuable land, located just south of Beaumont. Mr. Wright is one of the pioneer stockmen of Butler county whose ef- forts have contributed to giving Butler county the just reputation of being the greatest cattle producing county in the State of Kansas, if not in the entire West.
Mr. Wright was married in 1881 to Miss Mary I. Vanzandt, a daughter of James and Margaret B. (Swain) Vanzandt of Indiana. To Mr. and Mrs. Wright have been born the following children: Mrs. Sadie A. Westfall, was born in 1882, and died in 1910; C. D., born in 1883. resides at Beaumont, Kans .; Mrs. Laura E. Hobkirk, born in 1885, resides at Latham, Kans. : W. F., born in 1891, Beaumont, Kans. ; Mrs. Ella Fillmore, born in 1891, resides at Beaumont; James E., born in 1893; Esther J., born in 1888, died in 1899; Elmer F., born in 1897, resides at Beaumont, and F. R., born in 1901, and died in 1904.
Mr. Wright came to Butler county in the early days of the develop- ment of this section, and experienced all the trials, hardships and un-
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certainties of pioneer life in this county. Deer were plentiful when he came here, and herds of buffalo could still be seen now and then, but they disappeared shortly afterward, going still farther west. Prairie chickens and other small game were in abundance. and Mr. Wright remembers having seen one herd of elk after coming to this county. Wandering bands of Indians frequently passed through Butler county, and Mr. Wright has seen as many as 150 in one band. There were many inconveniences in those days, and Mr. Wright recalls many of the early day misfortunes, including prairie fires, drouths, grasshoppers, etc.
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