USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 86
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Mr. Cain was married September 4, 1874, to Miss Nancy N. Went- worth, a native of Ross county, Ohio, and a daughter of George Went- worth. The Wentworth family removed from Ohio to Jackson county, Missouri, at an early day, and located near the Clay county line, in the neighborhood of where the James and Younger boys lived. George Wentworth was unable to serve in the army during the Civil war, but was a strong Union man, and was a member of the Missouri State mili- tia. The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cain: Estella V., married E. McCarty, Lincoln township, Butler county, and Lou R., married Mark H. Johnson, Princeton, Wis. Mrs. Cain died February 17. 1896. In 1913 Mr. Cain went to Choteau county, Montana. and homesteaded 160 acres of Government land which he proved up on, and received his final title October 16, 1914. He has improved his Montana
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place some and has a good comfortable house on it. Thus it will be seen that he has practically been a pioneer all his life, as the border line of the frontier moved westward, he has followed it.
Mr. Cain is a stanch Republican and has taken an active part in Butler county politics. He has served two terms as township trustee and was postmaster of Potwin for six years. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and a charter member of the Knights and Ladies of Security of El Do- rado, Kans., Lodge. He has always been interested in the welfare of the community, as well as the State and Nation and is a progressive citi- zen who heartily supports any worthy enterprise.
E. D. Stratford, one of the pioneer lawyers, of Butler county, was born in Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, October 15, 1852. He is a son of John and Sarah (Lewis) Stratford who were natives of Penn- sylvania and Kentucky, respectively. They were the parents of three children : J. L. Stratford, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, now living at Creswell. Ore .; J. C., a photographer, also a resident of Creswell, Ore., and E. D., the subject of this sketch. E. D. Stratford at- tended the public schools in Indiana, and later took a course at Howard College, Kokomo, Ind., and after coming to Kansas he attended for a time the State Normal School at Emporia, Kans. He came to Butler county in 1873. and after teaching school a number of terms, read law with Judge A. L. L. Hamilton at El Dorado, and was admitted to the bar in 1878.
Since coming to Butler county, Judge Stratford has been actively identified with the Republican party. Shortly after being admitted to the bar, he was elected probate judge, and at the expiration of his first term, was reelected and served a second term. In 1887, he was elected to the legislature from the northern district of Butler county, and repre- sented his district in the session which followed.
Mr. Stratford has always taken an active interest in educational matters, having served three years as one of the regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, and seven years as a member of the El Dorado board of education. Mr. Stratford was appointed a special agent of the United States General Land Office, in 1899, and served in that capacity four years, during which time he performed serv- ice, in Oregon, California, Oklahoma, Missouri and Alaska. He spent more than a year in Alaska, with headquarters at Sitka, during which time he became thoroughly acquainted with the geography and re- sources of that far off country.
In 1903, Judge Stratford returned to El Dorado and resumed the practice of law, associating himself with Vol. P. Mooney. This partner- ship continued for twelve years, or until Mr. Mooney was appointed probate judge by Governor Capper in September, 1915, to serve out the unexpired term of that office made vacant by the death of Judge Mc- Cluggage. Judge Stratford is now serving his second term as a mem- ber of the El Dorado city council.
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Mr. Stratford was married, February 27, 1883, to Miss Jennie Long, who was born in Livingston county, Illinois, January 1, 1875. She was the daughter of Robert and Mary Long. Her father died when she was a child, and the mother brought the family to Butler county in 1876, and settled in El Dorado, where she became postmaster, holding that office for a number of years. To Mr. and Mrs. Stratford have been born six children, as follows: Charles W., married Elsie Howe, who was born, educated and resided in El Dorado until her marriage; "Charley" has been for eight years connected with oil supply houses in Drumright and other points in Oklahoma. Oscar E., married Jessie Perry, well known in Kansas as a newspaper writer of unusual ability, who prior to her mar- riage was for some time editor of the El Dorado "Republican," and later a writer on the staff of the Wichita "Eagle :" Gussie, the only daughter, is a teacher in the El Dorado public schools ; John R., a farmer in eastern Colorado; Ray A., a student at the State Agricultural College at Man- hattan, and Clark, a student in the El Dorado High School. All the chil- dren have graduated from the El Dorado High School, except Clark, who is yet a student.
Judge Stratford has always been a progressive and public spirited citizen. No man in El Dorado has given more of his time and energy, for the material, and educational advancement than Mr. Stratford.
George M. Showalter, one of Butler county's successful farmers and stockman, is a native of Iowa, born in 1869. He is a son of Samuel and Belle Showalter : the father was born in West Virginia, and Belle Greenland Showalter, the mother, was born near Mt. Carroll, Ill. The Showalter family came to Sedgwick county, Kansas, in 1876, and lo- cated on a farm in Gypsum township, where the father bought 320 acres of land, which is still in the family. Samuel Showalter died in 1904 in Wichita, and his wife now resides there in the home he bought prior to his death. . This home is modern and commodious, very much in contrast to the one built on the old homestead in 1876, which was 12×16 feet. and in which they lived eight years.
George Showalter, the subject of this sketch. was educated in the country schools of Sedgwick county. His parents were very desirious that he should have a college education, and then take up the profession of law, but he chose farming and stock raising instead, in which he has made an unqualified success. He owns 1,200 acres in Pleasant town- ship, which is one of the best farms in the county. It is well improved with a modern home. large barn 44x80 feet, silo 14x30 feet, with ten foot basement.
Mr. Showalter was married, in 1894, at Wichita, to Loretta Estella Swindell, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Joshua Swindell. who came to Kansas in 1880, and settled in Pleasant township. Her mother was Gula Wilson, prior to her marriage. She was a native. of North Carolina. Mrs. Showalter has three brothers living, as follows : Roscoe, Adolphus and Ernest. Mrs. Showalter's father came from Indiana to
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
Arkansas, and from Arkansas, he came to Butler county with an ox team, and had twenty-five cents when he got here. He used oxen for several years after he came. Their first home was 14x16 feet, in which they lived ten years. Mrs. Showalter's father came with a mule team, as he thought horses could not live here then.
Mr. and Mrs. Showalter are the parents of nine children, all of whom are living at home, as follows: Floyd C., William E., Gracie L .. Gula B .. Roy E., Earl L., Worth L., Edna A. and Leburn G. Mr. and Mrs. Showalter have worked hard, and their efforts rave been crowned with success. Mr. Showalter has three sisters, all graduates from Kansas State Normal, and all of whom were very successful school teachers in Butler and Sedgwick counties.
James H. Church was an early settler in Butler county, and is now a prominent farmer and stockman. and has contributed his share to the stock business which has made Butler county famous. Mr. Church was born in Champaign county, Ohio, in 1848, a son of R. W. and Mary (Reece) Church, natives of New York. There were seven children in the Church family, only one of whom, besides James H., is now living. Mrs. Nancy Long.
James H. Church was only three years old when the family removed to Iowa. This was in 1851. He grew to manhood in that State and was educated in the public schools. In 1870, he came to Kansas and settled in Bloomington township. Butler county. He was engaged in farming and stock raising here about eighteen years, when he returned to Iowa. and after remaining here ten years he came back to Butler county in 1899. This time he settled in Walnut township, where he bought a quar- ter section of land, five miles southeast of Augusta, and has since been successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising and is one of Butler county's most substantial citizens. Although still undeveloped, Mr. Church's land lies in the rich oil and gas field in the vicinity of Au- gusta, and the mineral value of his property, at the present time, baffles the knowledge of the most skilled expert, as there are some large pro- ducing gas wells in the immediate vicinity or adjoining Mr. Church's place.
Mr. Church was married in 1877, to Miss Mary E. Sherwood, a resident of Bloomington township. She is a daughter of Martin Van Buren Sherwood, who now resides in Noble county, Indiana. Three chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Church, only one of whom is living : Alva Reuben, born in Iowa, and now lives on the home place with his parents.
Mr. Church is familiar with pioneer methods and the real pioneer days of Butler county. When he came to this county he came by rail- road to Junction City. Kans. He drove from Junction City, Kans., bring- ing with him three ox teams, and one team of horses. After settling in this county, he took an active part in the political organization of the county, and the promotion of its institutions. He took part in the or-
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ganization of Bloomington township, and also of the Webster school dis- trict in that township, and assisted in building the first school house, which was constructed of native timber. This building was blown down by the storm in 1876, and another was built in its place, which has since been discarded and replaced by still another building. He was here when the grasshoppers came in 1874, but says that the grasshoppers did very little damage to his crops as they were grasshopper proof that year, having been already burned up by the prolonged drouth. Mr. Church has a distinct recollection of how the hungry hopper horde swept over the plains and devoured every green vestige of vegetation, and says that the approach of the millions of these insects sounded like the coming of a great storm, and at first he thought that it was a stormn.
Mr. Church is a member of the Fraternal Union, at Augusta, and is one of the substantial citizens of the community, who by his industry and thrift has accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods.
George F. Hayman, chief engineer of the El Dorado waterworks, belongs to a Butler county pioneer family. He was born in Meigs coun- ty, Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio river, in 1858, and is a son of H. H. and Emeline (Casten) Hayman, natives of Maryland. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary R. Hudson, who came to Kansas with her parents, and died here in 1875, and has a son, C. F., now living in Chicago; R. H., Middleport, Ohio; Thomas, died in Ohio; Mrs. Rosa A. Fountain, died in Butler county ; C. A., night watchman at the Boston Store, Wichita, Kans .; George F., the subject of this sketch ; H. C., resides on the old homestead in Fairview township.
George F. Hayman was about twelve years of age when he came to Butler county with his parents, in 1870. They settled on the northwest quarter of section 34. Fairview township, where the father homesteaded a claim. One of the daughters, Mrs. Hudson, and the eldest son, R. H., also homesteaded claims. The father died in 1873, and the mother passed away in 1883. George F. grew to manhood on the old homestead in Butler county, remaining there until 1890, when he went to Ohio, and remained in that State and in Chicago, Ill., until 1894. He then returned to Butler county, and on March 1, 1894, he entered the employ of the city of El Dorado in the waterworks department, as engineer, and has had charge of that department of the system for twenty-two years. .
Mr. Hayman was married January 10, 1916, to Miss Millie Barker. of Eureka. Kans., a daughter of James Barker, who died in California in 1915, and the mother now resides at Pomona, Cal. Mr. and Mrs. Hayman have no children, and reside in their cosy home, 211 Griffith street.
Although, comparatively a young man, Mr. Hayman is an old set- tler in Butler county. In fact, he is an older settler than he is a man, for the reason that he came here when he was a boy, and had an oppor- tunity to observe many of the early day incidents and doings when they made a greater impression on his mind than they would a more mature
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person. He recalls the scarcity of food and the hardships of the pion- eers, during the winter which followed the devastation of this section of the country by the grasshoppers, in 1874. During that time he recalls that a ray of hope came through the gloom of despondency to him, in the shape of a barrel of pork and a barrel or beans which were sent to him by an uncle who lived in Kentucky. The pioneers had other troubles in those days besides grasshoppers and scarcity of food. Ague was prevalent, and one thing that the early pioneers could always depend upon, no matter how uncertain the crops and the weather, and that, the chill was always sure to come at the regularly appointed time. However, the Hayman family, after suffering with the ague for several months, wrote to a doctor who was a relative of theirs, at Pocomoke City, Md., who prescribed "Fowler's Solution," which in a short time gave relief.
The early pioneers' lives were not all made up of grief, grasshoppers and ague ; they had their amusements and pastimes which they enjoyed, perhaps fully as much as people enjoy what they call good times now days. They had their dances, the literaries, and other pastimes which have left bright spots in their memories.
W. B. Poston, a successful farmer and stockman of Butler county, was born in Wayne county. Indiana, in 1859. He is a son of Archibald and Martha Poston, natives of Indiana. The former died in Wayne county, Indiana in 1871, and the latter died at Halstead, Kans., Decem- ber 4, 1915. They were the parents of seven children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are as follows : Jacob, lives near Kinsley, Kans .; Mrs. Amy Hall, Castleton, Kans. She and her husband have fourteen sections of land near Jetmore, Kans., and are extensive stock raisers ; John, unmarried, is in the mining business at Joplin, Mo .; Aurelius was a railroad man and was accidentally killed at Dodge City, Kans., in 1903; Angie died at the age of twenty-six at Halstead, Kans.
WV. B. Poston was educated in the common schools of Indiana and has followed farming and stock raising all his life. He came to Sedgwick county, Kansas, March 1, 1878, with his mother, who was a widow. She had bought 160 acres there prior to coming, and the family located on this land. W. B. was the mainstay of the family and made the living. He came to Butler county in 1890 and took charge of the Jonathan Thomas farm at Rose Hill. Mr. Poston says he owed Thomas $520.00 when he came, and he paid eight per cent. on it. He had a hard time to make both ends meet, but he paid it off by hard work and good manage- ment. He bought hogs and cattle and fed them for the market. He bought the farm of Thomas Widar, in 1912, which consists of 140 acres, adjoining the townsite of Rose Hill. He paid $10,400 for the place, and has since improved it considerably, adding a silo and fencing the main farm, hog tight with cross fences. He buys cattle and feeds two cars each year and raises a great many hogs. He has fifty acres of alfalfa, and he says that alfalfa is the best crop grown on the farm. He fills his silos usually with kafir corn, but says Indian corn is the best for that
MR. AND MRS. W. B. POSTON
MORRIS B. POSTON
EDITH J. POSTON
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
purpose. "The main thing in any line of business is to know the de- tails of it, and hustle," says Mr. Poston, and he thoroughly understands his line.
Mr. Poston was married November 24, 1887 to Lydia Morris, of Valley Center, Kans. Her parents are both deceased. Her father, David Morris, was a native of Kentucky and died in Missouri. Her mother, Rebecca Kemper, was born in Indiana and died in Marion county, that State.
Mr. and Mrs. Poston have two children, as follows: Morris, a gradu- ate of Emporia College. He also attended Chicago University one term, taught at Bucklin, Kans., one year and one year at Ft. Madson, Iowa. At present he is attending Ames Agricultural College, and also teaching, and Edith, a graduate of Emporia College, class of 1915, and teaches Latin and English in LeRoy High School, LeRoy, Kans.
Mr. and Mrs. Poston are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Rose Hill, Kans., and are well known and highly respected in the community.
W. F. Benson of El Dorado, the present Bank Commissioner of the State of Kansas, was born in North Dorset, Vt., August 12, 1859, and came to Kansas with his father, mother and brother, Fred W. Benson, in November, 1878. From 1878 to 1892 Mr. Benson was engaged in farming and stock raising with his father and brother. From 1892 to 1894 he was county treasurer of Butler county. In July, 1897 he was elected assistant cashier of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank at El Dorado, Kans., which position he held until January, 1898, when he was elected to the cashiership on the death of H. H. Gardner. He held this position until January, 1905, when he resigned and was elected active vice-president of the Citizens State Bank, which position he re- signed on his appointment to the position of bank commissioner. All these years he has been engaged in farming and stock raising on an ex- tensive scale, and at the present time, he with his son, Frank A. Benson, have one of the largest and best herds of registered Galloway cattle in the State of Kansas.
Mr. Benson was married to Miss Margaret Farley of Rome, New York, in 1880; their family of children consists of Frank A. Benson, George J. Benson, Florence Benson and Bernice Benson.
When the "Farmers Alliance" was organized, he joined this move- ment and was nominated by the Peoples party for county treasurer in 1892 and elected. In 1894 he was renominated by his party, but was defeated. In 1806 he was nominated by his party and endorsed by the Democrats for the office of State senator, his opponent being the late T. B. Murdock. In 1905 he was nominated by his party for State sen- ator from that district and was again successful.
For a quarter of a century he has been identified with the Democra- tic party of this State. Governor Hodges appointed Mr. Benson on the Panama-Pacific Exposition Commission, representing Kansas at the
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Expositions, held in 1915, at San Francisco and San Diego, California. In November, 1915, Governor Hodges appointed him State Bank Com- missioner, his term expiring March 1, 1917. Mr. Benson belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of Pythias, and he also is a member of the Masons. Knights Templar and a Shriner.
L. N. Blood, a well known and prosperous broker of St. Louis, Mo., was closely identified with the early day settlement of Butler county. In fact, Mr. Blood was here at the beginning. He was a pio- neer school teacher and merchant, and while his business activities have taken him away from Butler county for a number of years, he is not only interested in Butler county, in a sentimental way, but has always maintained important financial interests here.
L. N. Blood is a native of Michigan. He was born in Lenawee county, September 25, 1844. His parents. Leonard P. and Lucinda Polly (Williams) Blood, were both born in New York, the former, April 5, 1823, and the latter in 1824. The mother died in Iola. Kans., in 1900, and the father now resides there, at the ripe old age of ninety- three. Twelve children were born to this pioneer couple, four of whom are living. as follows: L. N., the subject of this sketch : D. P., presi- dent of the Exchange State Bank, Douglass, Kans. ; Mrs. Anna Victors Rogers, Iola, Kans. and Clarence P., Kansas City, Mo.
L. N. Blood received a good common school education in the public schools at Morenci, Mich., and in early manhood, he taught school, during the winters, and followed farming in the summers. In 1868, he left his Michigan home, and came to Kansas. He obtained employment on the Sante Fe railroad, which was then being con- structed out of Topeka to the west. Mr. Blood had charge of the iron car, laying the track from Topeka to Carbondale, and remained in the employ of that company until August, 1869, when the road was com- pleted as far west as Carbondale. He then came to Butler county, and located at Augusta, which was then a small village of only a few houses. Here, Mr. Blood was engaged to teach the first school in that town. The building where the school was held is still standing, and was the first store building in Augusta, a mercantile establishment being on the first floor, and the school on the second. The school room was furnished in the most primitive fashion. A slab with the smooth side upward, attached to the wall by wooden brackets, served as a desk for the pupils, and the seat consisted of long wooden benches. and thus when the pupils were at work, they faced the walls, with their backs to the center of the room. The same room, in which the school was held, also answered for the purpose of a church and lodge room. Mr. Blood had about forty pupils enrolled, and an average attendance of about thirty. The postoffice was kept in the storeroom below, and Mr. Blood was also assistant postmaster, and helped in the store in dealing out salt pork at fifteen cents per pound, corn at $2.50 per bushel, and salt at $10 a barrel, when he was not dispensing knowledge on the second
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floor. In the broad range of its commodities, this institution equalled the modern department store, or a mail order house. During that time, the stage was scheduled to reach Augusta at 2 a. m. The stage driver would blow his horn at the bend of the river, as he approached the town, and Mr. Blood, as assistant postmaster, would have to hustle out and sort the mail, and turn over to the stage driver, the outgoing mail, and then return to dreamland.
In the spring of 1871, Mr. Blood engaged in the mercantile busi- ness for himself at Augusta. His store was located on State street, about opposite where the Edison store now stands. He was engaged in business here for twelve years, and in 1883, went to St. Louis, Mo., where he has since been engaged in the brokerage business, his opera- tions being confined, principally, to municipal bonds. In 1874 Mr. Blood bought 480 acres of land in the Walnut river valley, near Gor- don, which he still owns. This is very valuable land, the character of the soil in that locality being very rich and productive, and in addition to its agricultural value, it is in the recently developing Augusta oil and gas field, and is underlaid with rich deposits of oil and gas. At this writing there are six flowing oil wells, and eight more being drilled on Mr. Blood's place.
Mr. Blood was united in marriage. July 2, 1871, to Miss Leonora M. Bellamy, of Augusta, Kans. Mrs. Blood was a pioneer milliner of Augusta. She was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1849, a daugh- ter of James and Lucy P. (Judd) Bellamy, natives of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Blood have no children.
Mr. Blood was in Butler county and in the vicinity of Augusta dur- ing the most interesting pioneer period of Butler county, and saw much of this section of the country during these pioneer days. Since he removed from Butler county and located in St. Louis, scarcely a year has passed but what he has visited Butler county on one or more occa- sions. He will always have a tender spot in his heart for the memory of the early days here, and he takes a pride in the development of this county, and the rank that it holds among its sister counties of the State.
Clark Haskins, of Augusta, is a venerable old gentleman who bears the distinction of having been a pioneer of two States. He is a native of Vermont, and is a descendant of New England stock. He possesses the liberty loving spirit of his New England ancestors, the same spirit that actuated the early settlers of New England to seek a home in a new country, where limitations of conscience were not known. Clark Haskins was born in Loveland county, Vermont, in 1831. a son of Ezra and Phoebe (Grandy) Haskins, natives of Vermont. They were the parents of the following children: Weltha ; Sarah ; Charity ; Elizabeth ; Clark, the subject of this sketch: Edward, who died while serving in the Union army, during the Civil war; John ; Edwin, who was a soldier in the Union army, during the Civil war; Edmond, was a Christian minister, and served in the United States Navy during the Civil war, and Edgar, served in the Union army during the Civil war.
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