USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 88
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El Dorado, Kans .; K. S., El Dorado, Kans. ; W. S., DeGraff, Kans., and Margaret, El Dorado.
Mr. Becker came to Butler county, Kansas, in 1884, and settled in Chelsea township, where he bought 160 acres of land, and engaged in farming and stock raising in which he was successful, and has become one of the prosperous and substantial citizens of the county. His son, K. S., owns 240 acres of land, and lives with his father, and supervises the operation of both farms.
For a number of years. Mr. Becker was one of the best posted men on local political conditions to be found in Butler county. He gave his allegiance to the Republican party, and was a tireless worker in its be- half. For years he never missed attending a Republican county con- vention, and was generally a delegate. He was one of the four Repub- licans of Chelsea township who could always be depended upon to maintain the organization in that township. They were the old guard. Mr. Becker had the distinction of being the best local political fore- caster in northern Butler county, and for years, was able to forecast the outcome of local elections with great accuracy. He is one of Butler county's substantial citizens and a highly respected gentleman of the old school.
L. N. Brooks, a progressive farmer and stockman of Prospect town- ship, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Harrison county of that State, September 15, 1883, and is a son of G. W. and Jane (Willis) Brooks, both natives of Harrison county, Missouri. In 1884, when L. N. Brooks was one year old, the family came to Kansas, locating in Greenwood county, where they remained three years, when they went to Colorado, where the father was engaged about eighteen months in farming and stock raising. He then returned to Greenwood county and two years later, went back to Colorado. After spending two and a half years in Colorado, he went to Sedgwick county, Kansas, remaining there until 1907, when he came to Butler county, locating in Douglass township where he now has 320 acres of land, and is successfully en- gaged in farming and stock raising.
G. W. and Jane (Willis) Brooks were the parents of the following children : L. N., the subject of this sketch ; Laura Ellen, resides at home ; Arthur, Mulvane, Kans .: Jay, at home; Ervin, Ida and Wilbur, all at home.
L. N. Brooks remained at home and assisted his father until he was twenty-one years of age, when he engaged in farming on his own ac- count in Sedgwick county, Kansas, and was thus engaged for three years when he went to Cowley county, remaining there two years, when he returned to Sedgwick and, after remaining there three years, went to Elk county. He remained there but a short time, however, when he went to Greenwood county and spent one season. He then came to But- ler county and for a time lived southeast of Augusta, and in September, 1914, bought a 320 acre farm in Prospect township, where he is exten-
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sively engaged in raising grain and alfalfa, and is also quite extensively interested in the cattle business. Besides his farm in Prospect town- ship, he owns 240 acres in Greenwood county.
Mr. Brooks was married in 1906 to Miss May Winters, a native of Sedgwick county, Kansas, and a daughter of J. W. Winters who now re- sides in that county. The Winters family came from Illinois to Kansas and settled in Sedgwick county several years ago. To Mr. and Mrs. Brooks have been born five children, as follows: William Lloyd, Ernest Clyde, Neva Mildred, Everett Harold and Gerald Winters.
Mr. Brooks belongs to that type of young men who are destined to succeed in their undertakings. When he sees an opportunity, he recog- nizes it.
G. H. Ryan, a successful farmer of El Dorado township, is a native of Indiana. He was born in LaFayette, Ind., in March, 1861, a son of IV. A. B. and Malinda (Williams) Ryan. G. H. Ryan received a good education in the public schools of Indiana, and in 1883, came to Kansas, locating in Butler county, where he has since been successfully engaged in farming and stock raising.
In 1906, he bought 300 acres of land in El Dorado township, five miles southwest of El Dorado. Nearly all his farm is composed of rich. productive bottom land, and is one of the valuable farms of Butler county. Mr. Ryan is one of the extensive alfalfa growers of Butler county, and has been very successful in the production of that crop, and now has about 100 acres devoted to alfalfa, and he also raises about 100 acres of corn annually, and has gone quite extensively into the pro- duction of sweet clover.
Mr. Ryan was married in 1884 to Miss Nina Mendenhall, a daugh- ter of W. J. Mendenhall, of Butler county. To Mr. and Mrs. Ryan six children have been born, as follows: I. W., Columbus, Kans. : Bertha, Philip W., Helen, Marian and Grace, all residing at home. The Ryan family is well known in Butler county and prominent in the community where they reside. Mr. Ryan is one of Butler county's substantial cit- izens who has made a success of his undertaking, and is justly entitled to recognition among the leading men of this county.
N. W. Wilcox, of Glencoe township, belongs to that type of sturdy pioneers whose courage, foresight and industry built up the great West of today. He was born in New York in 1856, and is a son of William W. and Cordelia A. (Merritt) Wilcox. The father was a native of New York and spent his life in that State. engaged in horticultural pursuits. The Wilcox family is of English descent. The mother, Cordelia .1. Merritt, was also a native of New York, and was one of a family of nineteen children, fifteen boys and four girls.
N. W. Wilcox is one of a family of five children, as follows: Eu- gene H., De Kalb, Ill. ; Mrs. Harry A. Wilburger, De Kalb, Ill. : Ben- jamin, South Bend. Ind .; Norman W., the subject of this sketch. and C. A .. Leon, Kans. Norman W. Wilcox and two brothers, Charles and
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Eugene, came to Kansas from Illinois in 1878, driving the entire dis- tance with a team and wagon, and N. W. pre-empted a claim in Glencoe township, Butler county. The country was new at that time, and there was not even a wagon track across this claim when he came here. Mr. Wilcox had his household goods shipped to El Dorado by rail, and after erecting a little one room shack on his claim, he went to El Dorado and got his furniture, which consisted of one old fashioned bedstead, which had been. in the family for over a hundred years, and three chairs. He made the table, which he says, was a masterpiece of cabinet workmanship, and began life in his one room cottage. There was not so very much room in the house but he had the consolation of knowing that out of doors was not crowded in the least, in those days. There was plenty of room on the broad plains, in fact more room than anything else.
Mr. Wilcox was married in 1880 to Miss Nellie Weast, a daughter of William Weast, who came to Butler county, Kansas, in 1870, and prempted a claim near Quito. They were early settlers in that section and when they located there, there was but one house between Quito and El Dorado. Mr. Wilcox says, when he met his future wife that it was a case of love at first sight. They were married at the bride's home, a pioneer cabin on the plains, and are still sweethearts. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have been borne the following children : F. E., Ralph C., Evaline, Mrs. Grace Hemianover, J. B. W. and Emma H., all of whom reside in Leon.
When Mr. Wilcox came to Butler county. he started with very little capital. After he had succeeded in getting a team of horses, lie had the misfortune to lose one of them and had but one blind horse left. If he proposed to remain in Butler county and work his claim, he must have another horse, for he couldn't break prairie without a team. He succeeded in trading a cow, a hog and thirteen chickens for another horse, and thus was equipped to proceed with his pioneer farming, and in spite of prairie fires, droughts and hot winds of the early days, he has met with uniform success as a farmer and stock raiser, and is now one of the substantial and influential farmers of Glencoe township. Hc takes quite an interest in local political affairs, and has served as clerk and treasurer of his school district. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
W. C. Ward, a successful farmer and stockman of Butler county, is a native of Indiana. He was born in 1864, and is a son of James F. and Narcisus (Timmons) Ward. The father is a native of Indiana and the mother of Maryland. James F. Ward came to Kansas in 1869 and set- tled in Butler county. He. was one of the very earliest settlers of this section of the State, and when he came here El Dorado was only a small hamlet with two or three stores.
W. C. Ward has spent practically all his life in Butler county, and has seen this section of the State develop from a broad, unbounded waste
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of unbroken prairie to its present high standard among the counties of the State of Kansas. Mr. Ward has made general farming and stock raising the chief occupation of his life and has been very successful in this line of endeavor.
Mr. Ward was married in 1907, to Miss Lulu Oxford, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of William Oxford who now resides in that State. Mr. and Mrs. Ward have one child, Charles.
A mere boy when he came to Kansas, W. C. Ward has seen much of the pioneer life on the plains. He has seen devastation wrought by prai- rie fires, storms and floods and passed through all the lean and uncertain years of the early days in Butler county, and while he received a good common school education in the public schools, his greatest schooling has been, like many other successful men, in the hard school of exper- ience. He is a practical man, a close observer and has ever been a stu- dent of men and affairs, and is one of the substantial citizens of Butler county.
Fred H. Young, of Rosalia township, is one of the substantial and well-to-do farmers and stockmen of this county, who has contributed his part to making Butler county the far famed agricultural district that it is. The Young family were early settlers in Rosalia township where the father was a successful farmer and stockman for many years. prior to his death. The mother now resides on the home place with Fred H., the subject of this sketch.
Fred H. Young is one of a family of seven children, born to his parents, as follows: George, served as sheriff of Butler county and was marshal of El Dorado for a time, now resides at Harrisonville, Mo .; Charles S., conducted a blacksmith shop in El Dorado and was su- perintendent of Butler county's poor farm for a number of years, now resides in El Dorado; W. L., lives at Beaumont, Kans .; Fred H., the subject of this sketch: A. G., resides on the home farm with Fred H .; Mrs. Mary C. Pyle, Towanda, Kans., and Mrs. Carrie R. Brickley, Leon, Kans.
Fred H. Young and his brother, A. G., own and operate 460 acres of land in Rosalia township. They are extensive stock raisers, as well as successful and representative farmers. They produce large quan- tities of corn, alfalfa and kafir corn, and rank among the leading farm- ers of that section of Butler county. The Young family are among the very early pioneers of eastern Butler county, and are all good sub- stantial citizens.
H. K. Chesebro, a leading farmer and stockman of Glencoe town- ship, is a New Englander. He was born in Connecticut in 1844, and is a son of Jesse and Abby (Davis) Chesebro, both of whom were born and reared in Connecticut. The Chesebro family is of English descent, and was founded in this country by William Chesebro during the Colonial days. H. K. Chesebro was the only child born to his father's first mar- riage. After the death of his first wife, the father married Mary Pinker-
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ton and to this marriage were born the following children : Eugene H., Decatur, Ill. ; Andrew C .. Taylorsville, Ill., and Jesse, Kincaid, Il1.
Mr. Chesebro was married in 1870, to Miss Rebecca Smith who died in 1907. leaving five children, as follows: Ray, Decatur, Ill .; Mrs. Abbie Baldridge. Storington, Ill .; Joseph. Leon, Kans .; Floyd and Wayne. Mr. Chesebro came to Butler county in 1899 and bought 160 acres of land in Glencoe township and is one of the successful farmers and stock- men of that part of Butler county. He has one of the up to date and well equipped farms of the county, having a water system installed with a gasoline engine which furnishes power for not only pumping the water, but for various other purposes around the place. Mr. Chesebro is a natural mechanic and has a well appointed carpenter shop where he works out many of his ingenious ideas that find practical application about the farm.
While Mr. Chesebro did not settle in Butler county early enough to be classed among the real old pioneers, he has been a resident of this county for nearly twenty years, and has become identified with it in a way that the interests of Butler county are his interests, and he is a prominent factor in the development of this section of Kansas and is one of the substantial men of Butler county.
Samuel Waldorf, a well-known successful farmer and stockman of Prospect township, is a Butler county pioneer who for over forty-five years has been an active factor in the agricultural development and the cattle industry of Butler county. Mr. Waldorf is a native of Ohio, born in Holmes county in 1839. His father was William Waldorf and his mother bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Hensley. William Waldorf was a native of Vermont and of German descent, and his wife was a native of Harding county. Ohio, and a descendant of a sturdy Pennsyl- vania Dutch family. The surviving children born to William Waldorf and wife are as follows: Samuel, the subject of this sketch : Mrs. Mary J. Cramer, Mansfield, Ohio; Mrs. Anna N. Appleman, Corsica, Ohio: Mrs. Sarah E. Wrenn, Boston, Mass. ; William C., El Dorado, Kans., and Mrs. Elvira E. Gilbert, Hutchinson, Kans.
Since coming to Butler county in 1872. Mr. Waldorf has been en- gaged in farming and stock raising, and is still operating his fine farm of 200 acres in the southern part of Prospect township. The location of his place is ideal, and it is about equal distance to El Dorado or Au- gusta, and about four miles from Leon. Mr. Waldorf is one of the old time cattlemen who appreciated the days of open range, and while he is one of the successful stockmen of today, he says that the good old days before the advent of fences and the settlement of the country were the halcyon days of the cattle man, which is true, for it is really a hard mat- rer for the cattle man of the old school who rode the open range to feel comfortable and at ease when he is confined within the limitation of wire fence from Pittsburg, Pa.
Mr. Waldorf was married in 1866 to Miss Martha L. Mitchell, of
MR. AND MRS. SAMUEL WALDORF
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
Ohio, who was born in Marrow county. She is a daughter of Andrew and Martha Nixon (Kilgore) Mitchell, natives of Pennsylvania, and of Scotch-Irish descent. The late President Mckinley was a second cousin of Mrs. Waldorf. To Samuel Waldorf and wife have been born the fol- lowing children : Mrs. Ida C. Hildreth, Wichita, Kans .; Mrs. Mary A. Conkling, Salina, Okla .; Mrs. Millie L. Patterson, El Dorado Kans .; Mrs. Martha I. Marshall, Leon, Kans .; Mrs. Musie T. Lightwine, deceased ; Mrs. Georgia E. Madill, Newton, Kans .; William J., Lebo, Kans .; John M., Mulvane, Kans .; Harvey K., Harper, Kans .; Mrs. Hattie O. Moss- man, Rosalia, Kans .; Samuel E., Corbin, Kans., and Barney B. M., Leon, Kans.
Mr. Waldorf is a Butler county pioneer who well remembers the early days of inconvenience and hardship incident to the settlement and development of a new country. When he came to Butler county there were no improvements. Money was scarce and there was hardly any market for what little produce the early settlers had to sell, and it was rarely they needed a market, for, in fact, they had very little to sell. There were no railroads in Butler county and supplies were mostly hauled from Emporia, and even from more distant places. Mr. Waldorf hauled the first wheat that was ever ground at the old mill on the Big Walnut river, near El Dorado, and this wheat was raised from seed which he bought with money from the sale of his only wagon, and during that winter he lived chiefly on corn bread and water. He is a typical rep- resentative of that class of hardy pioneers, who by self-sacrifice, courage and industry, not only laid the foundation for Butler county, but estab- lished the great empire of the West and in so doing, established per- manent homes for themselves and their posterity, and laid the founda- tion for the world's highest civilzation.
M. M. Elliott, a prominent farmer of Glencoe township, is a native of Indiana, born in 1864. He is a son of James and Florida (Hills) El- liott, natives of Pennsylvania, the former of Scotch Irish descent and the latter of English lineage. They were the parents of the following chil- dren : Mrs. Sarah A. Crissep, La Mont, Okla .; W. A., Augusta, Kans .; J. R., Wichita, Kans., and M. M., the subject of this sketch.
M. M. Elliott is practically a pioneer of three States. He went to Iowa when very young, settling in a wild section of that State, and then came to Kansas, settling in Butler county, and about the time Oklahoma was opened up for settlement, he carried his pioneering to that State, where he took up Government land in that section of Oklahoma which later became Payne county, upon the organization of the State. He was an active factor in the organization of Payne county, and it was largely through his efforts that the name Payne was adopted for that county. There was a great fight on, to name it Stillwater county, and Mr. El- liott was one of the leaders in favor of calling it Payne, and after a hard fight Payne won. While holding down his claim in Oklahoma. Mr. El- liott frequently returned to Arkansas City, Kans., for a time, where he
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worked to obtain supplies and then returned to his cabin. He endured many hardships and privations incident to life in a new country, but he was accustomed to it, having been a pioneer all his life and was not a pampered youth in his early childhood days. He says, he remembers of being put to bed on many occasions in order that his clothes might be washed. He received his training in the hard school of experience, the kind of training that develops strong character. It's the school which has graduated the men who have been the bone and sinew of this nation since its beginning. Mr. Elliott belongs to that type of men who by their thrift and industry have built up the great West and who have ac- customed themselves to overcome obstacles. He is now engaged in farming and stock raising in Glencoe township, and is one of the suc- cessful men of his community.
Mr. Elliott was married in 1888. to Miss Sarah G. Blance, a native of France who came to this country with her parents, Lorrence and Cle- mentine (Coutin) Blance. in 1876. They came to this country by way of Liverpool, England, and encountered very severe weather on the voyage, the trip requiring fourteen days from Liverpool to New York. Mrs. Elliott tells what a narrow escape her father had from losing all his money while en route to this country. He carried all his money in a belt, and while sleeping in his berth. his wife detected a thief endeavor- ing to take the money from the belt. She gave the alarm in time to pre- vent the robbery. The Blance family upon coming to this country lo- cated at Emporia, Kans., and the father suffered a sun stroke and died shortly after locating there. When he died there was no hearse in the locality of the Blance home and his remains were brought to the ceme- tery in a wagon for burial.
Mr. and Mrs. Elliott's only child is an accomplished musician and resides with her parents and is engaged in teaching music. Mr. Elliott is well known and prominent in the community.
Fremont Leidy, former United States internal revenue collector foi the district of Kansas, who has been one of the forceful men of the State for years, was born in Jefferson county, Kansas. April 4. 1863. the son of Abram and Martha (Stith) Leidy, the former born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Kentucky. They both left their native States when young and . were as loyal to the State of Kansas as if native to the soil. Abram Leidy was reared on a farm in the Keystone State, learned the practical branches of the vocation, and when only sixteen years of age determined to cross the mountains to the broad plains of the West and make his fortune in the new country. He first went to Texas, then to Jasper county, Missouri, and finally, about 1860, came to Jefferson county. Kansas. After his son was born, Mr. Leidy returned to Mis- souri for a short time, but found that the broad plains of Kansas called him and he returned there in 1870, taking up land in Butler county. Dur- ing the Price raid, in the fall of 1864. he served in the State militia in defense of his adopted State.
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The Leidy family passed through the first hard years in Kansas when many settlers were discouraged by drought, grasshoppers and winter frosts that reduced so many to almost a state of starvation. But they were confident in the future of the State, and time has proved that their faith was not in vain. Fremont was one of the three children born to Abram and Martha Leidy, and is a thorough Kansan, reared on his father's farm in Butler county, attended the country schools and learned farming by practical experience. He was an ambitious boy and as his father wished to give him every advantage, he entered the Fort Scott Normal School, where he graduated with the class of 1887, after attend- ing the high schools at Augusta and El Dorado. He then accepted the principalship of the Severy schools, where he remained two years. He then took the superintendency of the Augusta schools, which he held for three years. He then entered the law department of Kansas Univer- sity, Lawrence, Kans .. read law in an able attorney's office at El Dorado and was admitted to practice in 1893. He at once opened an office at El Dorado, where he practiced a short time, when his health failed and the doctors advised a change. Mr. Leidy at once determined to live out doors and started to farm, which he has followed since. He has always taken an active part in local affairs and is held in high esteem by the peo- ple among whom he has lived, and who showed their appreciation of his worthy qualities by electing him to the State senate in 1900. In 1908 he was reelected to the same important office. Governor Stanley se- lected him as a member of the text-book commission, where he served with credit to himself and for the benefit of all the school children of the State.
On June 27, 1910, Mr. Leidy was appointed United States revenue collector for the district of Kansas, a position which he held in an able manner until the National administration changed, when his successor was appointed. In politics he has always been a loyal Republican. never wavering from the great fundamental principles of that party, and has ever been an earnest worker in its interests. He made some thirty-eight speeches in Butler county on the sound money doctrine when it was said there were only two men in the county who believed in that theory. When only a lad of twelve Mr. Leidy attended his first county conven- tion in the company of his father, and has missed but one since that time, due to the fact that he was confined to his home by illness. He has decided views on the tariff question, is an ardent supporter of pro- tection and many other principles of the Republican party.
Mr. Leidy is a gifted orator and an effective and forceful political speaker, clear, logical, and with an ever ready supply of statistics, to verify his position on every question and policy he supports. During his service in the State senate, no man made his influence felt more keenly or to better effect. All his life Mr. Leidy has been a student, not alone of books, but also of men, and each year sees him expanding along all lines. He is one of the native sons of Kansas of whom she should be
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most proud. In July, 1893, Mr. Leidy was united in marriage with Myrtle Jenkins, of Angusta, Kans. She was born in Tennessee but came as a child of two years to Kansas with her parents. She died on July 22, 1906, leaving three children : Pauline, Richard J., and Roger. Mr. Leidy is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, but has no oth- er fraternal affiliations.
C. B. Dillenbeck, proprietor of the "City Dairy Farm," El Dorado, is known not only in Butler county, but throughout the country as a breeder of thoroughbred standard trotting horses of national reputa- tion.
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