History of Butler County Kansas, Part 84

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


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James O. Robinson was one of the sturdy pioneers who, although stricken by the hand of death at the age when he had just passed the prime of manhood, contributed his part in laying the foundation for the future development of this county. His unfinished work as a pio- neer was taken up by his faithful wife when his task of life was ended. She now resides in her cozy home at Whitewater and is recognized as one of the pioneer mothers of Butler county.


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


James O. Robinson was born in Belfast, Ireland, May 18, 1829, and was a son of Robert Robinson, a native of Scotland, who went to Ire- land when a young man, where he married an Irish girl and remained in Ireland the balance of his days. James O. Robinson was the young- est of a family of eleven children. When he was fourteen years of age he went to sea, and was a sailor on the Atlantic ocean until he was twenty-five years old, when he came to America. He remained in New York City a short time, when he went to Buffalo. His natural inclina- tion to life on the water soon led him into employment as a sailor on the Great Lakes. His early training and natural ability were readily recognized. and rapid promotion followed. He soon became first mate and later captain, and sailed between Chicago and Buffalo until 1871. In the meantime he and his wife were living in Cook county, Illinois, near Chicago. In 1871 they came to Butler county, Kansas, and home- steaded a quarter section of land in section 34, Milton township, where Mr. Robinson was engaged in farming until his death, December 17. 1886.


On July 17, 1854. James O. Robinson and Miss Harriet Raymond were united in marriage at Chicago. Il1. She was born in Copenhagen. Denmark, December 12, 1837, a daughter of John and Louisa Raymond. The Raymond family immigrated to America when Mrs. Robinson was six years old. A short time after landing in New York, they went to Illinois, the father buying eighty acres of school land in Will county, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives. The father died in 1853 and the mother passed away in 1887. To James O. Robinson and wife were born the following children : Emily, married John Miller and resides in Butler county; Elizabeth, married Edward Balter and resides in Texas; Jennie and Robert, twins, the former now being the wife of George Johnson, both residing in Butler county; James, resides in Texas ; Mrs. Marha Smith, of Wichita, and Lucinda, who resides with her mother at Whitewater.


Lucinda Robinson is a woman of unusual qualities, and much credit is due her for the part that she has taken in the development of Butler county, and her co-operation with her mother. She is a prom- inent member of the Rebekah lodge and at present is treasurer of the local organization, also past noble grand. She was a representative of her lodge at the assembly of the grand lodge at Topeka in 1915. She is a capable woman of high business ability. After the death of the father she and her mother practically took charge of the place, under great disadvantages and discouraging conditions.


The life and the lot of the Robinson family in the early days were not unlike the experiences of the average pioneer. When they came here they had very little capital, and their first years were a struggle with crop failures, grasshoppers and all the other obstacles incident to the early years in Kansas, and they were not by any means started on the road to prosperity when the great calamity of the father's death fell


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on the family. Undaunted by these discouraging conditions the mother and daughter set to work with brave hearts and a determination to win, and they did. By industry and self-denial they succeeded in paying off the mortgage and prosperty followed until, by their accumulation, they rank among the well-to-do people of western Butler county. In 1909 the mother and her daughter, Lucinda, removed to Whitewater, where they have a comfortable home and rank among the leading families of Butler county.


A. C. Ramsey, one of the extensive cattlemen of Butler county at one time, and now one of the large land owners of the county, has had an unusual career. Mr. Ramsey is a native of Ohio, and was born in Coshocton county, June 7, 1837, of Scotch-Irish descent, his parents being natives of the northern part of Ireland. A. C. was one of a large family, and his parents were poor, and thus his opportunities to obtain an education were limited. When he was quite young his father died and his mother removed from Coshocton county to Guern- sey county, Ohio, and A. C. went to western Ohio, where he was em- ployed by a fur trader for one year, receiving for his services for the year $100, and at the end of that time he had saved $80 out of his earn- ings, after which time he was engaged in the merchandise trade. He was a keen, close observer when a boy. a faculty which he has not only retained throughout life, but developed to a marked degree, and during the time he was employed by the fur dealer, there were few details in connection with that business but what he learned thoroughly. A. C. and his brother opened a general merchandise store at Belle Center, Ohio, and in connection with the mercantile business engaged in buy- ing furs. A. C. Ramsey rode through the wilderness of western Ohio and eastern Indiana buying furs from hunters and trappers and estah- lishing agencies, and for fifteen years did a large and profitable busi- ness in the fur trade. while his brother looked after the management of their store at Belle Center, which had developed into a large mercantile institution. They also bought and sold grain, seeds, wools, etc., on a large scale.


Mr. Ramsey disposed of his interests in Ohio in 1883, with several thousand dollars to the good, and then began to seek fields of invest- ment with greater possibilities. He saw an opportunity in the West. and became interested in Butler county. He and four other gentlemen organized the Buckeye Land and Cattle Company. This company ac- quired something like 7,000 acres of land, most of which was located in Lincoln township. Butler county, and it extended into Sycamore and Chelsea townships. The land cost from $3 to $8 an acre. The principal idea of the company was to pasture Texas cattle here. The price for pasturing cattle in those days ranged from $1.25 to $2 per head for the season, beginning April 20 and ending on the middle of October. The company did a large business, but after a time unforseen obstacles de- veloped, and the company was discontinued as an organized unit. and


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


since that time Mr. Ramsey has been operating in the cattle business independently, after having been manager and a heavy stockholder in the Buckeye Land and Cattle Company for several years.


A. C. Ramsey married Margaret Clark, a native of Ohio, and seven children, five boys and two girls, were born to this union. Mr. Ramsey has divided a part of his place among his sons, who are now conducting the stock business on an extensive scale. A. C. and George A. operated in partnership from 1905 to 1912, but are now carrying on business in- dependently. The Ramsey ranch consists of twelve sections in Lincoln township, and is one of the large ranches remaining in Butler county. A. C. Ramsey has retired from the cattle business.


W. H. Cain .- It is almost impossible for even the student of history to conceive of the great work that has been accomplished in the last half century by the pioneers who opened up and developed the West, much less for the casual observer to have any understanding of this great work of founding, building and bettering a new country. It is possible that these pioneers of the plains "builded better than they knew." At any rate, it is hoped that a review of the careers of some of them, whose experiences were similar to the career of W. H. Cain- men and women who paid the "Price of the Prairie," and who were factors in the "Winning of the West"-will not only give the present and future generations. much valuable information, but furnish an in- spiration for better citizenship.


W. H. Cain. a Civil war veteran and a Butler county pioneer. was born in Elmira, Chemung county, New York, February 10, 1839, a son of William and Lucinda (Valleau) Cain, the former a native of Herki- mer county, New York, and the latter of Chemung county. Lucinda Valleau was a daughter of Theodore and Elizabeth (Linderman) Val- leau. The Linderman family is of German descent and the Valleaus came from France, and the orginal spelling of the name was De Valleau.


When W. H. Cain was a small boy his father died at the age of thirty-five, leaving a widow and four children. The mother and the children lived in Elmira, N. Y. When W. H. was growing up he was something of a turbulent youth, and was much given to running the streets, and it was a problem for his mother to know what to do with him. A relative in northern Illinois offered him a home if he would come there and stay. He willingly accepted and when he was nine years of age he was shipped West and remained there for four years, when he returned to New York, and after remaining three years, went to Rockford, Ill. He was nearly seventeen by this time and obtained em -. ployment in a reaper factory at Rockford. In the meantime his mother had also moved there, in 1856.


At the outbreak of the Civil war, Mr. Cain was one of the first to offer his services in response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers. However, Mr. Cain received an injury which prevented him from en- tering the service at that time, but in the fall of 1862, he enlisted in


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


Company K. Seventy-fourth regiment, Illinois infantry, under Captain Ward and Colonel March. Mr. Cain's regiment was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. under General Thomas, and participated in the battles of Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Perryville, Stone River and the campaign against Atlanta, and Mr. Cain was under fire with his regiment for a hundred days during the Atlanta campaign. On June 10, 1865, he was mustered out of service and honorably discharged, after having obtained the rank of second lieutenant.


At the close of the war Mr. Cain returned to his home at Rockford, Ill., and on February 1, 1866, was married to Miss Lucy Marsh, a native of Winnebago county, Illinois. Mrs. Cain is a daughter of Russell and Mary Ann ( Hayes) Marsh, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Canada, of Vermont parentage. Mr. and Mrs. Cain lived near Rockford, Ill., after their marriage until 1869, when they went to Iowa, locating near Fort Dodge, where they farmed rented land for fifteen years. In 1884 they removed to western Nebraska, and the same year came to Butler county, Kansas, settling in Lincoln township, were they bought the northwestern quarter of section 5. Mr. Cain borrowed $200 to make his first payment. The place was unimproved, and Mr. Cain built a stable. 14x32 feet, which they used as a residence during the first summer and in the fall built a home and turned the stable over to the horses. When the Cain family settled in Lincoln township it was a wild, unbroken country, covered by a luxuriant growth of blue stem. Mr. Cain says that people told him that he would starve to death out there on the plains, and he also adds that there were times in the early days when it looked as though the guess would come true. He engaged in general farming and stock raising, making the stock business the principal feature, and has prospered and made money. He bought ad- ditional land, adding three quarter sections to his first purchase, and now owns 640 acres and is one of Butler county's well-to-do citizens. and is, perhaps, one of the best known men in the county. He says he always managed to get along pretty well, even from the start, although during the first few years dollars were not as numerous as the "leaves of the forest." He has an ideal stock farm, well watered, fenced and improved, with two good windmills.


To Mr. and Mrs. Cain have been born the following children: H. E., 'Lincoln township: Mary L., married E. S. Rogers. Pueblo, Colo. ; W. R., on the homestead ; Carrie E., married E. D. Stalnaker, Peabody, Kans. ; Dora V., resides at home ; Lula J., married Preston L. Beard, and they are both deceased ; Nina E. married G. V. Beard, Douglass, Kans. ; Charles R. Lincoln township, and George M., resides at home with his parents.


Mr. and Mrs. Cain are representative pioneers of Butler county, and they have a broad acquaintance and many friends. Their golden wedding anniversary was celebrated February 1, 1916, and their many friends and relatives joined to make of this an eventful occasion. Among


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


the many presents which they received was a set of spoons from Mrs. Carolina P. Brazee, of Rockland, Ill., from whom Mr. Cain purchased 480 acres of his Lincoln township farm.


Mr. Cain is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, J. Y. Smith Post, No. 377. Potwin, Kans., and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a stanch Republican and bears the distinction of hay- ing cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln for President of the United States.


Silas Magill, a Butler county pioneer and prosperous farmer and stockman of Bruno township, is a native of Pennsylvania, born January 16, 1841. He is a son of Charles and Sarah (Courson) Magill, the former a native of Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, and the latter of German de- scent. and a native of Pennsylvania. Charles Magill was born in Ven- ango county, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1806, and died in Illinois, Octo- ber 21, 1888. In the early days Charles Magill was engaged in the lumber business in Pennsylvania and followed that vocation for thirty years. At that time it was the custom of lumbermen to raft their lum- ber down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers to market at Pittsburg or Cin- cinnati. Charles Magill was a son of Arthur Magill, a native of Belfast, Ireland, who immigrated to America when a young man. Charles Ma- gill was a deeply religious man and a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church.


Silas Magill was one of a family of eleven children. He grew to manhood in Pennsylvania, and was educated in the public schools. On April 2, 1868, he was united in marriage with Miss Olive Morrison, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of G. W. and Mary Ann (Jacobs) Morrison. The mother, Mary Jacobs, was a native of Penn- sylvania, and of German descent. Mrs. Magill was born November 6, 1848, and was one of a family of two children born to her parents.


To Silas Magill and wife have been born the following children : George, Vaughn, N. M .: Charles M., deceased; W. E., Eads, Colo .; Arthur, at home; J. V., Canton, Ohio; Clyde, Clearwater, Kans., and Ollie O., at home.


A few days after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Magill left their Pennsylvania home and went to Illinois, where he rented land from his father, remaining there until 1871. They then came to Kansas, at first going to Neosho Falls, and Mrs. Magill and her four months' old baby remained at a hotel there while Mr. Magill came to Butler county and filed on a claim in Bruno township. Here he pre-empted the southwest quarter of section 21, and returned to Neosho Falls for his wife and child. They came to Butler county by stage, a distance of about 100 miles. The roads were bad and the trip required two days. After coming to Butler county the family made their home temporarily with a sister of Mr. Magill's until a little cabin. 12x16 feet, was built, when they moved into it and began life on the plains of Butler county in a very humble way. Like many others of the early settlers, Mr. Magill says that


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while he was getting on fairly well in the world, he would have left Butler county during the first year, but that he was too poor to get away. and that after he became financially able to go if he wished, neither he nor Mrs. Magill wanted to go. On the whole, they have prospered and made money and today are among the substantial citizens of Butler county. Their first farming in Butler county was done with a yoke of oxen, which they frequently drove to Augusta, a distance of eight miles, but now when they go to Augusta it is only a matter of a few minutes with their Overland automobile instead of an all day's drive with the oxen of the early seventies.


S. P. Carnahan, of Douglass, Kans., is a Civil war veteran and one of the substantial old pioneers of Butler county, who comes from a line of revolutionary ancestors, and a representative of that family has served in every war of importance in which this country has been engaged since the foundation of the republic.


S. P. Carnahan is a native of Pennsylvania and was born in 1837. His parents were Robert C. and Jane (Berry) Carnahan, natives of Pennsylvania ; the father was a soldier in the War of 1812 and took part in most of the important engagements of that conflict. He was a son of John Carnahan, who served as a captain in Washington army during the Revolutionary war. He was a native of Ireland, coming here before the Revolutionary war, and served, at that time, with the Pennsylvania troops.


S. P. Carnahan was reared in Pennsylvania, educated in the public schools and was engaged in farming until the Civil war broke out, when he responded to President Lincoln's call and served throughout the war. In 1870, he was united in marriage with Miss Josephine S. Huff, a daughter of Dr. John Huff, who was a pioneer physician in Illinois, and the following children were born to this union: August B., George A., resides on the home farm in Douglass township, and Jerome R., resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.


Mr. Carnahan came to Kansas in 1871 and settled on 160 acres of fand in Douglass township, Butler county. He later added eighty acres to his original homestead, where he successfully carried on farming and stock raising for a number of years and accumulated a competency of this world's goods. Recently he has deeded all his land to his son except 100 acres which he has reserved as a sort of a rainy day emer- gency place.


Since locating in Butler county, Mr. Carnahan has taken a prom- inent part in local affairs and has held a number of local offices of trust and responsibility. He served as clerk of his district for four years and has been township trustee and township clerk for a number of terms. He is prominent in fraternal circles, being a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.


Mr. Carnahan has seen Butler county develop from an unimproved State where the blue stem waved and the buffalo roamed to one of the


MR. AND MRS. S. P. CARNAHAN


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most prosperous and highly developed counties in the great common- wealth of Kansas. To such men as he who paved the way for this great development and higher civilization, the present and future gen- erations owe a debt of gratitude which can never be paid.


Mrs. J. H. Carnahar is a woman of rare literary ability and has written many poems of real merit, among which is the following beau- tiful little poem, a striking example of the style of her verse:


OCTOBER.


The sun flings over thee a veil, mellow and lambent! For thee the earth is arrayed in vivid colors !


Plant, leaf and flower are sun-kissed and radiant ; All in beauties race tawny leaves and lovely flowers.


Thine own maid-of-honor, the Goldenrod greets thee, By brook-side and by-path, in orchard, meadow and lane, Tall Canna lilies are flaunting their beauty-


All sweet in the sunshine, the dew and the rain.


The Harvest is here ! and the Corn King is waiting- With titled cereals, to crown thee Queen of the feast. The Banquet is spread ; there is nothing more wanting- Save to ask the Great Giver our harvest to bless.


To thee. Queen of Harvest ! lovely October !


We bring all our treasures, and fruits of the land ; Prince Wheat, and his kinsman, the wonderful Kafir, Place the strong "Staff of Life" in thy beautiful hand. J. H. C.


Aaron Monroe Wolf, a Butler county pioneer and prominent citizen of Bruno township, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, near the town of New Lisbon, June II, 1846. He is a son of George and Lydia (Fetterhoff) Wolf. The mother was a native of Pennsylvania, of Ger- man descent, and the father was born in Columbiana county, Ohio. He was a son of Jacob Wolf, who was a son of Henry Wolf, a native of Germany, who immigrated to America and settled in Virginia during Colonial times. He was a soldier in the American army during the Rev- olutionary war, and served throughout the seven years of that long and tedious struggle which ended in independence. After the Revolutionary war, Henry Wolf with his family traveled 300 miles northwest from their Virginia home and settled in the wilderness of the Northwest Ter- ritory, a part of which later became the State of Ohio, and when that State was organized and divided into counties, the Wolf family was in Columbiana county.


When Aaron M. Wolf was nine years old, in 1855, he removed with (49)


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


his parents to Steuben county, Indiana, and here he grew to manhood and received a good education. After attending the district school he attended an academy at Angola, and in early life was engaged in teach- ing, and in all he taught eight terms. During the Civil war Mr. Wolf served for two years, 1864 and 1865.


In 1870 Mr. Wolf came to Butler county, Kansas, in company with a friend from Indiana, Freeman James. After coming here each pre- empted a quarter section of land, Mr. Wolf taking the northwest quar- ter of section 5, Bruno township. He immediately began improving his claim. He first built a small cabin, 14x16 feet. He broke some prairie and remained on his claim until 1873, when he returned to Indiana, re- maining until 1878, when he came back to his Butler county farm.


Mr. Wolf was first married in 1876 to Miss Mary Elliott, a native of Ohio. She died December 1. 1879, leaving one child. On February 23, 1883, Mr. Wolf was married to Miss Jennie Gray, a daughter of John Gray. a Butler county pioneer who emigrated from Ireland in 1869, and settled in Hancock county, Illinois, where he remained until 1879. when he came to Butler county with his family, settling in Bruno township. He was a very successful man in a financial way and accumulated con- siderable property. He died May 12, 1915, and his wife died January 24, 1901. They were the parents of four children, of whom Mrs. Wolf was the third in order of birth. She was born on February 22, 1862. The following children were born to Aaron Monroe and Jennie (Gray) Wolf: Tina, married A. E. Gilbert, Chillicothe, Mo .; Emerson, Bruno township: Lyell, Bruno township: E. W., Augusta, Kans .; Norman G., at home ; Milton, at home ; Floyd, at home, and Edna, at home.


Mr. Wolf came to Butler county with very little capital, and by his own unaided efforts, in the face of adversities which confronted the early settlers of the plains, he has raised a large family in a way that is a credit to both himself and his county, and accumulated a competence. and is today one of the substantial and prosperous citizens of his county. He struggled through the lean and uncertain years of the early days in Butler county, but was never discouraged. His ancestors were men of resolute character, before whose determination the wilderness of Ohio vanished, and was succeeded by civilization and its institutions, and he emulated their example in the part that he has played in reclaiming the West. Mr. Wolf freighted between Emporia and Wichita, in 1870 and 1871, and after coming here, dug wells, cut wood, and, in fact, did any- thing to earn an honest dollar, and his industry and thrift of former days have been rewarded.


Mr. Wolf is a stanch Republican, and takes a keen interest in political affairs. For years he was a member of the school board, and served as director and treasurer for four terms. He has been justice of the peace since 1901 and notary public since 1905, receiving his first commission from Governor Hoch, and since that time, has been recom- missioned a notary public by Governor Stubbs. He represents the


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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY


Butler County Fire and Tornado Insurance Company, and the many details in connection with his various responsibilities makes a very busy man of Mr. Wolf. He is a member of the Anti Horse Thief Associa- tion and one of Butler county's substantial citizens.


Herman T. Foskett, a pioneer of Butler county and prominent farmer and stockman of Fairview township, was born in Medina county, Ohio, October 31, 1854, and is a son of Fordyce and Lydia (Phillips) Foskett. The father died in 1860, leaving the widowed mother and four children. Fordyce Foskett, the father, was born in Charlestown, Mass., December 16, 1816. He was the son of Hosea, who was also a native of Massachusetts, and a prosperous and well-to-do man for his time. He migrated from Massachusetts to Ohio with his family in the thirties, and Fordyce D. Foskett here met Lydia Phillips and they were married October 21, 1847. She was born in Bristol township, Ontario county, New York, July 6, 1827, a daughter of Daniel and Achsah (Simmons) Phillips, the former a native of Massachusetts, and the latter of Ver- mont. Daniel Phillips was a son of Zebulon Phillips, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and aid-de-camp to General Washington. In 1831 Daniel Phillips left New York State with his family and went by boat from Buffalo, N. Y., to Cleveland, Ohio, and from there to Huron county, where the family settled. and the parents spent the remainder of their lives.




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