USA > Kansas > Cherokee County > History of Cherokee County, Kansas and representative citizens > Part 67
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Mr. McMahon's life has been one of activity and frugality. His present possessions did not- come by any special good luck, but rather are the results of years of toil. Still in the prime of life, he may reasonably expect to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor for years to come, and his many friends wish that such may be the case.
OHN C. OGLESBY. One of the solid citizens of Lola township, and a vet- eran of the war which "cemented the State into an indissoluble union," is John C. Oglesby, who resides on a splendid farm of 240 acres in sections 21 and 29, town- ship 33, range 22. Mr. Oglesby was born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, March 12, 1842.
The first event of importance in the life of Mr. Oglesby was the great Civil War. As a boy, he had watched the march of events with absorbing interest, and when the call was made, he was eager for the fray. It was not until August 7, 1862, that he enlisted in Company G, 72nd Reg., Indiana Vol. Inf. He saw serv- ice under Captain Pinkerton and Col. A. O. Miller, and in the Army of the Cumberland under Sherman. After the battle of Stone River he was with Sherman, except at Lookout Mountain, when he was on special duty in Tennessee. He was at the front at the battles of Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga and Atlanta. The close of the war found him still at the front, for, at the time of Lee's surrender he was at Macon, Georgia, in the very heart of the Confederacy.
After his return from the war, Mr. Oglesby spent three years at home in Indiana. At the end of that time he went to Dallas County, Missouri, where he lived for 18 years, or until 1886, when he removed to his present liome in Kansas. Mr. Oglesby's farm comprises 160 acres in section 21, and 80 acres in section 29; 200 acres of the property are under cultivation.
In politics, the subject of this sketch is a Populist. He is very naturally, a member of the G. A. R. With fraternal orders he lias never affiliated, except to become a Mason. In church circles lie is known as a Methodist, that church having always claimed him as a member,
James Oglesby, the father of John C., was a native of Oldtown, Virginia. With his
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widowed mother, he moved to Indiana when a young man and followed the trade of shoe- making all his life. His death occurred at his home in Indiana at the age of 60 years. He be- longed to the old Oglesby family of Virginia, who were well known and honored even be- yond the confines of that State. His wife, Rebecca Conroe, was born in Ohio and re- moved with her parents to Indiana, when a child. She died in that State in 1859. John C. Oglesby is one of eight children, namely : Mrs. Sarah J. Beck, of Neosho township; John C .: Job, deceased in 1904; Mrs. Eliza A. Foster, of Illinois ; Mrs. Susan E. Shiideler, of Cherokee County; Mrs. Alice Campbell. of Indiana; Charles, living in Cherokee ounty ; and Paton, of Sumner County, Kansas.
Mr. Oglesby was married in 1868 to Har- riet Roudebush, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Michael and Mary Roudebush, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter, of Indiana. To them were born the following children, namely : James P., who lives at home and has two children ; Philip of Cherokee Coun- ty, who has one child; Mrs. Alta Lauther, de- ceased; Emma, who died at the age of 10 months; Joseph, who resides in Rocky Ford, Colorado, and has one child ; Mrs. Susan Clev- enger, of Cherokee County : Minnie, living at home ; Mrs. Madge Ward, of Cherokee County ; Mollie and Harry, who are at home; and Richard, who resides in Danville, Illinois.
The subject of this sketch has a good resi- dence, which he built, and to his efforts and good management may be attributed the ac- cumulation of property, and the possession of the comfortable home which the family now occupy. The years which have passed since his settlement in the county have served to estab- lish for Mr. Oglesby an unsurpassed reputa- tion for uprightness and fair dealing. He is a kind neighbor and a patriotic and loyal citi-
zen, and he and his family are held in the highest regard by all classes.
AMES H. ARMSTRONG, formerly a member of the Board of County Com- missioners, is one of the leading far- mers of Cherokee County. where he has resided since January 18, 1883, on a farm of 160 acres,-the southeast quarter of section 4. township 33, range 23, in Salamanca town- ship. Mr. Armstrong was born in Caldwell County, Kentucky, in 1851.
James Armstrong, his father, was also a native of the "Blue Grass State," where he was reared. He was twice married prior to his minion with the mother of the subject of this sketch. His second marriage (to Mrs. Max- well, who died in Kentucky) resulted in a son, William, of Atchison, Kansas. His third wife was Catherine L. Jackson, of Irish descent, and a Kentuckian by birth, her people having been wealthy planters in that State. Her later years were spent for the most part in the home of her son, James H., her death occurring at Co- humbus January 15, 1892. She was born in 1810, and at death was 81 years, 9 months and 27 days old.
Soon after the birth of Mr. Armstrong, his parents removed to Montgomery County, Illi- nois, and settled on a farm near Hillsboro. There they remained three years and then joined the movement to people Kansas with citizens for and against slavery. They settled in Shawnee County, not far from Topeka, where in the following year (1855) James Armstrong was stricken with malarial fever and died. He had many sterling qualities, was an enthusiastic Free State man, a Whig in politics, and a follower, in religious belief, of his Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. He and his
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CAPT. RICHARD H. STOTT
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wife had five children, as follows: Mary, born in 1842, who married Thomas Goodfellow, and died in Missouri in 1898; Logan, born January 13, 1843, who died in infancy ; Samuel J., born February 27, 1846, who is a barber living in Baxter Springs, Kansas; Malinda Jane, born June 21, 1849, who married Imbert Denny, and lives in Bond County, Illinois ; and James H., born July 22, 1851.
After the death of his father, Mr. Arm- strong's mother sold the claim in Shawnee County, and moved to St. Francois County, Missouri. There in 1861, the eldest daughter was married, and as she went to live in Bond County, Illinois, the mother also took up her residence there the following year. In this county and the adjoining one, Montgomery, the family lived until the different members made homes of their own.
The subject of this sketch was married in Bond County December 31, 1877, to Lizzie Lindley (born in Bond County, Illinois, July 22, 1855), a daughter of Ransom and Mary (Bigham) Lindley. Her father was a native of Bond County, and her mother of the State of- Maryland; and both died in Bond County. Their children were: Lizzie; Samuel F., of Pocahontas, Illinois; Alfred R., of Bond County ; Mary A. (Mrs. Peter Mann), of Co- lumbus, who had previously been married to Edward Stephens, and has six children ; Naomi (Mrs. J. C. Williams), of Pocahontas; and Minnie C. (Mrs. W. H. Smith), of St. Louis, Missouri.
To Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong were born the following children: Mamie, born September 23, 1878, in Montgomery County, Illinois, who married A. L. Jewett, and resides near Colum- bus, with one son,-Delbert Leon ; Earl, born in Montgomery County, September 14, 1880; Archie, born July 14, 1882, in Pocahontas, Bond County, who is married and resides in Lola township, Cherokee County; Frank Oli-
ver, born October 6, 1885, in Cherokee County ; and Charles H., born in Cherokee County, July 10, 1889.
As stated, Mr. Armstrong settled on the farm that he now cultivates, in 1883. At that time its improvements were scant indeed, con- sisting of a small house, a few trees, and a few acres broken out. Under the intelligent direc- tion and the hard labor of the subject of this sketch and family, the farm gradually assumed its present appearance, with its comfortable and commodious buildings and hundreds of fruit and shade trees. It is now one of Chero- kee County's model farms.
During the years of his residence in the county, Mr. Armstrong has established an ad- mirable character. His voice has always been for the uplifting of humanity, and he has ever been found ready to promote educational and religious institutions, both in his home neigh- borhood and elsewhere. His superior judg- ment and business qualifications have caused his selection, at different times, for the admin- istration of office, and he has served as town- ship trustee and as a member of the Board of County Commissioners. In matters of politics, he favors the Populists, and he has been active in the work of the A. H. T. A., serving as the secretary of the local lodge. Having joined the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at the age of 15 years, he was for years an elder in that denomination. There being no organiza- tion of the kind near when he came to Kansas, he joined the Presbyterian Church, of which he is now an elder.
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APT. RICHARD H. STOTT. Cher- okee County lost one of her most worthy and honored citizens in the death of Capt. Richard H. Stott, whose life closed at his home in Columbus,
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April 2, 1899. He was born at Vernon, Jen- nings County, Indiana, in 1836, and was a son of Richard and Polly ( Allen) Stott.
Captain Stott's parents were natives of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, but both died at Vernon, Indiana, his father, aged 71 years, and his mother, almost 95 years old. His father was a prominent citizen in Jennings County, which he served as sheriff, and was noted for his honesty and personal integrity. At one time he owned a farm, with a tannery and shoe store attached, as was the case with many of the substantial men of his day and locality. Coming of Scotch ancestry, he in- herited all of the sturdy qualities which have marked the Scotch the world over.
The late Captain Stott was the youngest of six children, all of whom have passed away. His mental training was obtained in the public schools, and was supplemented by a commer- cial course at Bartlett's College, at Cincinnati. He then accepted a clerkship in a mercantile house, married in 1858, and had entered upon a successful career, when the breaking out of the Civil War brought all his plans to a close. Loyalty to his country he put before every other consideration, and he was one of the first to respond to the call for soldiers for three years, enlisting in Company H, 26th Reg., Indiana Vol. Inf., as a private in the ranks. His enlistment in August, 1861, was soon followed by promotion in camp as orderly sergeant, and soon after going to the seat of war, as second lieutenant. At the close of almost four years of most strenuous service, including capture, imprisonment and wounds, he was mustered out with the well earned rank of cap- tain, having been promoted to that position shortly after he was made 2nd lieutenant.
Captain Stott's service was mainly confined to the territory west of the Mississippi River, and he participated in all of the campaigns in that part of the country. After a six-weeks
siege at Vicksburg, where his command had fought behind the levee until all their ammuni- tion was exhausted, he was captured by the enemy, and was incarcerated for six months at Tyler, Texas. The story of the escape of himself and one other officer is one of thrilling interest. Its details are, unfortunately, too long for the limits of the present sketch, but the narrative is filled with incidents of such courage and self-sacrifice as to stir the most sluggish soul to admiration. Of the 15 officers who managed to escape from prison bounds, he and Lieutenant Reynolds were the only ones who were not recaptured. They managed to secretly reach the home of a Union sympathi- zer, who at the risk of his life hid them, pro- vided them with Confederate scrip and gave them civilian clothes. With many hardships and additional adventures, they finally reached General Franklin's headquarters, and were then transported to New Orleans. Captain Stott was given a furlough of 30 days, but returned to his command in time to take part in the capture of Mobile. He was dangerously wounded by a spent ball at Prairie Grove, Ar- kansas. His command was sent as a provost guard to General Polk after the battle of Cor- inth, which duty occupied four months, and was then sent to Batesville, Arkansas, to guard a wagon train of 1,000 oxen. His final dis- charge took place at Selma, Alabama, with a soldier's record of which his family may be justly proud.
Captain Stott returned to his family in In- diana, entering into business at Vernon, where he continued until 1869, when he moved to Kansas and bought a farm in Sheridan town- ship, Cherokee County. For about II years he was engaged in farming and stock-raising, taking much interest in agricultural pursuits, and enjoying its labors and returns. He bought more land, his holdings aggregating 400 acres at the time of his decease, and, al-
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though he moved to Columbus in 1880, he con- tinued to be deeply concerned with his lands and stock. His removal to the city was neces- sitated on account of his election, in the fall of 1879, to the office of county treasurer, which was followed by a reelection.
In 1858 Captain Stott married Mary Z. Johnson, who was born at Niles, Michigan. Captain Stott was one of the strong Republi- cans of this section, and Mrs. Stott earnestly shared his political zeal, having been reared in this party, with which her father was actively identified from the time of its formation.
Captain and Mrs. Stott had five children. four of whom died in infancy. One daugliter, Helene (Mrs. Walter Scott), died August 17, 1902, leaving two little daughters,-Helen and Ethel,-who live with their grandmother. Mrs. Stott capably manages the large estate left by her husband. She is well known in Co- lumbus, where she and Captain Stott were long hospitable hosts, and interested in the city's social life. A portrait of Captain Stott accom- panies this sketch.
L OUIS LAFAYETTE DEAN, post- master and merchant at Neutral, and manager for the branch office for the Long-Bell Lumber Company at this place, was born at Osceola, Clark County, Iowa, July 30, 1868, and is a son of Newton Jasper and Mollie M. (Zink) Dean.
Moses Dean, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was born at Schenectady, New York. At an early day he moved to Ohio and later to Iowa, farming and following his trade of shoemaking. Subsequently he devoted his attention solely to agricultural pursuits. He married Priscilla Suddith, who still survives and resides with her son, Newton Jasper Dean.
Newton Jasper Dean, father of Louis L.,
was born in Newton County, Ohio, where the family lived until he was 12 years of old, when the family home became established in Iowa, and in the "Hawkeye State" he completed his education. Until 1855 he followed farming in Iowa and then removed to Kansas City, Mis- souri, where he successfully engaged in a livery business. Upon leaving that city, he was occu- pied in farming for one year in Leavenworth County, Kansas. After a short stay at Argen- tine, Kansas, he settled at Gardner, where he was engaged in the butcher business until 1899, when the whole family came to Cherokee County. Mr. Dean in association with his sons is now engaged in a mercantile business at Neu- tral, handling a large line of dry goods and gro- ceries. He married Mollie M. Zink, a daughter of Louis Zink, a farmer of Iowa. The two sons of this marriage are Louis Lafayette and James Moses.
Louis L. Dean attended school in Iowa and later spent two years in Kansas City, Missouri, completing a very liberal course of instruction at the age of 19 years. For some time after leaving school, he followed the carpenter's trade in and around Kansas City, but in 1888 removed with his parents to Gardner, Kansas, where he was employed by the G. B. Shaw Lumber Company and continued with that firm for 18 months. At the time of the opening of the Cherokee Strip, he went to Coffeyville and entered into the lumber business for C. S. Pellet at Enid and Pond Creek, Oklahoma, where he remained four months and then engaged with The Long-Bell Lumber Company and in their interest remained one year at Kingfisher, Okla- homa. Since then he has been located at Neu- tral where he has full charge of the branch of The Long-Bell Lumber Company. He is in- terested with his father and brother in merchan- dising at Neutral and since January 1, 1898, has been postmaster at Neutral.
On August 21, 1895, Mr. Dean was mar-
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HISTORY OF CHEROKEE COUNTY
ried to Mary Ida Sizemore, who is a daughter of James C. Sizemore, of Spring Valley township. They have one daughter,-Marjorie Louise.
Politically, Mr. Dean is a strong Republi- can. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is recognized as one of the progressive busi- ness men of this section and one of its represen- tative citizens.
EORGE EWERS, one of the best known men and oldest settlers of Cherokee County, is located on a fine farm in section 33, township 34, range 25, in Garden township. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, December 22, 1834, and is a son of John and Martha (Wood) Ewers. His father, who was a farmer and boatman, plying on the Ohio River, is now de- ceased. One brother of our subject resides in the Indian Territory and one in Galena, Kansas.
George Ewers was reared on a farm and received his educational training in an old hewed-log school house. He did not attend school beyond the age of 14 or 15 years, but worked with his father on the farm and at boat- ing, running on a steamboat between Cincin- nati, Ohio, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He came to Kansas March 28, 1857, and located in Labette County, where the town of Chetopa is now located, being one of a company of three sent to locate a town. It was supposed this was government land, but the town-site proved to be on Osage Indian land. There were but four houses in Chetopa at that time, and Mr. Ewers lived in a little log cabin, rudely built. After the excitement of the Civil War had subsided, in 1865, he located on Shoal Creek, where he has since resided. Game was very plentiful in those days and the country wild, and it was
no uncommon occurrence for him to go out and shoot a deer or a bull buffalo. Wild ducks and turkeys abounded and the streams were plentifully supplied with fish. Many times he has seen the creek rise out of its banks, and in 1875 it rose to a depth of 37 feet. On his present farm he lived in a cabin, 18 by 20 feet in dimensions, until 1900, when he erected a good, substantial residence. He has always en- gaged in general farming and stock-raising, and has been a very successful business man. He has played his part in the development of this section of the State and has always been found in support of such measures as tended to that end. He is a man of wide acquaintance and a representative farmer.
Mr. Ewers was first married to Peggy Ann Field, a quarter-blood Cherokee Indian, by whom he had two children : George and Peggy Ann. The children being 16th-blood Cher- okees received Indian rights in the treaty with the government. Mrs. Ewers died in 1866, and on June 7, 1867, he formed a second union with Ellen Dixon, a daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth (Keel) Dixon, natives of Tennessee. Mr. Dixon and his family removed from Ten- nessee to Missouri in 1866. Mrs. Ewers has one sister and one brother living, namely : Alexander Dixon, of Galena, Kansas, com- mercial traveler for a wholesale grocery, wlio married Alice J. Thatcher, and has had four children, two of them living,-George Alex- ander and Wade; and Mary (Mrs. Samuel Fisher), of Indiana,
Our subject and his wife became the pa- rents of five children, three of whom are living, as follows: Amer, who lives at home; Maud, who married Henry Card of the Indian Terri- tory, and has one son,-Charles Harold; and Charles, who lives at home. The two oldest children died within three hours of each other, Joseph Henry at the age of eight years, and
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Mary Alice at ten years. Their death was very sudden and it was a sad blow for their parents. Mr. Ewers has always interested himself in public affairs but has never sought nor accepted office.
AMUEL H. SMITH, a prominent citi- zen of Baxter Springs and a leading lawyer of Cherokee County, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, was born in Washington County, Pennsyl- vania, July 24, 1859. He is a son of Clark D. and Lydia Rodgers ( Bryce) Smith. His father died in 1878; his mother is still living at the age of 74.
Samuel Smith, the great-grandfather, of our subject and the first of the family of whom we have a definite record, in his early manhood came from "over the mountains" in Eastern Pennsylvania and settled in Washington County, that State, in the latter part of the 18th century and became a large land pro- prietor. Among the children born to him and his wife, Huldah Rush, was Hiram Smith, the grandfather of our subject, who followed the occupation of a millwright and lived his life in honor, prosperity and peace in Washington County. Hiram Smith was married to Huldah Rodgers, who bore him seven children, viz .: Albert ; Edmund; Samuel H .; Clark D .; Alex- ander V .; Benjamin Franklin and Huldah.
Clark D. Smith, our subject's father, was born September 5, 1829. He received a thor- ough common-school education and turned his attention to teaching, an occupation in which he was eminently successful. He was joined in marriage December 10, 1851, to Lydia Rodgers Bryce, daughter, of Andrew and Lydia (Van Nort) Bryce, of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. To this marriage eight chil- dren were born: Charles Andrew, who died in 1877 ; James Hiram, a well-known lawyer of
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, prosecutor of the no- torious "Armor-plate Frauds;" Ada Kate (Markell), of Connellsville, Pennsylvania; Samuel H .; Sarah Helen (Williams), of St. Louis, Missouri; Alexander Vail; William Bryce, who died in January, 1893, while at- tending Harvard; and Thomas Herbert, who died in February, 1904, in the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Andrew Bryce, our subject's maternal grandfather, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he married Jean Gilchrist. They came to this country soon after their marriage and settled in Indiana. For many years Mr. Bryce carried on a profitable business as a trader along the Ohio River. His wife died and soon thereafter he moved into Western Pennsyl- vania and engaged in the milling ("grist mill") business in Fayette County, where he married Lydia Van Nort, daughter of Peter Van Nort and his wife Mary Rodgers, who was of English descent. There were born to Andrew Bryce and his wife Lydia: Lydia Rodgers, mother of the subject of our sketch, born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in November, 1831 ; Andrew Van Nort, of Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania; Sarah Elizabeth (McCormick), de- ceased; and Helen Marr (Phillips), of East End, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Samuel H. Smith received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native county. A student by nature, he made rapid progress in his studies and at the age of 18 years began teaching school, for which work he was ex- ceptionally well qualified and in which he con- tinued for six years ; then for a time he turned his attention to civil engineering, in railroad location and construction work. But for years it had been his fixed purpose to take up the study of law, and to this end he entered the Law Department of the University of Michi- gan, at Ann Arbor, and graduated therefrom in 1885. The following year he accepted the
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principalship of the schools at Jackson, Minne- sota. In 1886 he opened a law office in Win- throp, Minnesota, and in November, 1888, came to Baxter, Springs, Kansas, where he has ever since made his home, with the exception of three years ( 1894-97) spent in Joplin, Missouri.
Mr. Smith possesses an exceptionally thor- ough knowledge of the underlying principles of the law; is noted for his being a "safe" counsellor and one who seeks to keep his clients out of litigation, preferring to be known as a "suit-settler" rather than a "suit-fighter:" but when once entered into a case Mr. Smith brings to his command such skill and pertinacity and such masterful argument that the opposition always knows there has been a "fight."
Ever since his advent into Cherokee County Mr. Smith has been active in its political his- tory. He has never sought political office or favor, but in the year 1900, without his sug- gestion or, initiative, he was presented by his Cherokee County party friends as their candi- date for the Fusion nomination for Congress- man. Mr. Smith is a pioneer Anti-Imperialist and has written several articles that were re- produced in the Eastern press and favorably commented upon. In recognition of his serv- ices. the National Anti-Imperialist League made him an honorary vice-president of that body-a considerable honor. Mr. Smith is a strong and unyielding advocate of the rigid enforcement of law. He has no respect for the political "trimmer" and naught but loath- ing for the public officer who takes his official oath lightly. In 1902 Mr. Smith, having be- come satisfied that economic justice to all can be attained only through the application of the principles of Socialism, announced himself a Socialist.
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