USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 25
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
This is the last that is known of the Yeager raid.
BIOGRAPHICAL
John T. Little, of Olathe, a prominent member of the legal profession in Kansas and an ex-attorney-general of the State, was born in Circle- ville, Pickaway county, Ohio, November 18, 1841, and is of German descent on the paternal side. The Little family was established in Amer- ica several generations prior to the birth of John T.'s father, having been of German origin. His father, Rev. Nathan B. Little, a native of Hagers- town, Md., was a minister in the Lutheran church. He removed from Maryland to Ohio prior to the birth of John T., and there engaged in educational work in connection with his ministerial duties. He was a man of excellent educational attainments and for several years was connected with Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. He was a prominent member of the Masonic order in Ohio. He was married in Maryland to Mary A. Fouk, also a native of Hagerstown. To their union were born eight children, two of whom survive: George B., of Spokane, Wash., and John T. These children were the recipients of a splendid classical education under the able tutorage of their father. Both parents are deceased, the father's death having occurred near Me- chanicsburg, Champaign county, Ohio, in 1876, when he was seventy-five years of age. The mother's death occurred in 1856. One brother. Luther Little, who died in Olathe a few years ago, served in the Civil war, as a member of the Twenty-sixth regiment, Ohio infantry, until he was wounded and captured at the battle of Chickamauga. He was then confined thirteen months in Libby and Andersonville prisons, where he suffered untold horrors. Rev. Little removed from Circleville to Oak- land, Ohio, when John T. was ten years of age, and still later removed to a farm which he had purchased in Champaign county, Ohio, and there resided until his death. John T. Little, besides the private tutor- ing received from his father, attended the public school and also the academy at McConnelsville, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1860. In 1863, under the call of President Lincoln for an organi- zation of militia in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois of 85,000 troops, he assisted in raising a company in Champaign county, of which he was elected second lieutenant. While guarding prisoners at Columbus, Ohio, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred Thirty- fourth regiment, Ohio infantry, and was immediately sent to the Army of the Potomac, then encamped at Cumberland, Md. He was taken sick shortly after reaching camp and was sent to the field hospital near Cumberland, where he was discharged in September. 1864. After being mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, he returned to his home in
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Champaign county and in the following spring, of 1865, began reading law at Urbana, Ohio, with Gen. John H. Young, one of the leading law- yers of the State. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio in June, 1868, and in the following month of August came to Olathe, Kan., where he began the practice of his profession and where he has in the intervening years steadily risen into prominence and is recognized as one of the strongest members of the Kansas bar. Shortly after locating at Olathe he became a partner of Hon. John T. Burris, who was for several years prominent in both legal and political circles throughout the State, and is now a resident of California. Mr. Little was elected city attorney of Olathe in 1873 and later served two terms as prosecuting attorney of Johnson county. At the State People's Con- vention, held in Wichita, in 1892, he was nominated attorney-general of the State, was endorsed by the Democratic convention at Topeka, and was elected the following November to the office, in which he served one term. In 1904 he received the Democratic nomination for associate justice of the supreme court of Kansas. Since then he has served one term as mayor of Olathe and during his administration of the city's affairs more improvements were made in the way of street pavement than had been made before or has been made since his in- cumbency. He also served as president of the Olathe board of educa- tion four years. Mr. Little has been twice married. His first mar- riage was in 1870, when Miss Hannah Gregg, of Olathe, became his wife. She died in 1872. In 1875 Mr. Little married Miss Mary W. Bundy, of Olathe, who died July 15, 1913. To this union were born two children, C. B. and John T., Jr. C. B. Little served five years as city attorney of Olathe, and in 1908 was elected county attorney of Johnson county, and in 1910 was re-elected without op- position, and in 1912 and 1914 was the Democratic candidate for attorney-general of Kansas. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and was prepared for the law under the careful guid- ance of his father. John T. Little, Jr., is a hardware merchant at Spokane, Wash. He is a graduate of the Olathe High School, also the University of Kansas where he completed a course in mechanical engi- neering. Fraternally, Mr. Little is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. As a lawyer he ranks among the best in the State, and his extensive practice has included many of the important cases of Missouri, as well as of Kansas, where the supreme court records show Mr. Little to have been one of the attorneys in a very large percentage of the cases. His success did not come without effort. It is but the just reward of years. of indefatigable labor and painstaking care. He is numbered among the most worthy and respected of Olathe citizens. Mr. Little is actively engaged in the practice of law and is the senior member of Little & Little, the junior member being his son, C. B. Little, and the firm is one of the best known in Kansas.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
W. B. Strang, of Overland Park, belongs to that type of present day Americans who have become so accustomed to doing big things that they don't even realize it themselves. Although still a young man, Mr. Strang has had a remarkable career as a railroad builder all over the country, and has promoted, financed and built several railroads in the north, south, east and west. For the last seven years Johnson county has been proud to claim him as one of its most important citizens. W. B. Strang is a native of the Empire State. He was born at Syracuse, N. Y., November 8, 1857. His father, William Strang, was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, and was born in 1833, and in 1853 married Catherine Fleming and they came to America shortly after their mar- riage. To this union eight children were born, as follows: Mary, born in New York in 1855, married T. F. Ryan, and now resides in Kansas City; W. B., the subject of this sketch; Ellen, born in 1860 at Water- town, Wis., married William Kennefick in 1877. Mr. Kennefick was the bulder of the Missouri, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, and also promoted the town of Kennefick, Okla., which was named in his honor. He is still the principal stockholder in that railroad and re- sides at Kansas City, Mo. Catherine was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1864, married John A. Newcomb, a nephew of Simon Newcomb, the well known American astronomer. They reside at Savannah, Ga., Bris- tol, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., owning a large hotel at each place. John, born in Ottumwa, Iowa, 1867, married Nellie Shay, of Binghamton, N. Y., was a railroad contractor, died at Brunswick, N. J., in 1904; Rob- ert, born in Ottumwa, Iowa, 1869, is unmarried and an employe of the auditing department of the Strang railroad line at Overland Park. One child was born in 1871 and died in infancy and Thomas, born in 1874,. died at the age of six years. William B. Strang received his education in the public schools of New York, Wisconsin and Iowa, where the family resided at various times. . When he was fifteen years of age he began his railroad construction career at Sheridan, Iowa. He worked on the building of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad until that line- reached Ft. Kearney, Neb. In 1874, he took part in the building of the Baltimore & Ohio into South Chicago. From 1874 to 1879 he was con- nected with the construction of the Cincinnati Southern, now the Queen & Crescent, from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tenn. In 1879 he returned to Nebraska and built thirty miles of the Missouri Pacific from Omaha to Falls City. In 1880 he went with the Santa Fe, and started the first mile of construction from the Kansas line west into Colorado and to Santa Fe, N. M. He remained with this road until it was completed to Deming, N. M., and El Paso, Texas. He also assisted in the con- struction of the switchback or "Shoo Fly" over the Raton Mountains in New Mexico before the tunnel was built there. In 1885 he came to. Kansas and built the Wellington & Western, twenty miles in the direc- tion of Jasper. In the latter part of the same year he was instructed by
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the Santa Fe officials to prepare for quick action and tear up that track before an injunction could be filed. This road had been built to fight a parallel line which was being built by the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Gulf Railroad. In 1886 he commenced building the Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis through the Ozarks, which was completed to Memphis in 1889. He then returned to Kansas and started the con- struction of a line of his own from Belle Plaine to Conway Springs. He promoted and financed this road and secured township bonds to assist in the building. He also assisted in the construction of the branch line from Newton to Winfield, Kan., in 1891. In the latter part of 1892, Mr. Strang took the contract for building the Sheffield & Birmingham rail- road, which was II0 miles long, and completed that road in the latter part of 1893. In 1894 he took the contract for building the Macon & Birmingham railroad, between Macon and Alabama State line. At the same time he took the contract for building the Macon & Atlantic rail- way, between Macon and Port Carrollton, on the south Atlantic coast near Savannah. The mileage under the last two named contracts totaled 375 miles. This work was completed in 1896 and Mr. Strang then went to New York and took the contract to build the New York, Susquehanna & Western railroad from Strausburg to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. At the time he was building this road, he was also building the Columbus extension of the Mobile & Ohio, between Columbus, Miss., and Montgomery, Ala. Mr. Strang completed the financing, construction and equipping of this road, including all the round-houses, rights of way and terminals, after putting the line in full operation turned it over to the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company for $4,200,000. This line is 210 miles long. The cost of the New York, Susquehanna & Western railroad above men- tioned was $69,000 per mile for grading, alone, and it required four years to complete that road. Before that was completed Mr. Strang began building the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line, between Detroit, Mich., and Toledo, Ohio, and at the same time he was building the Detroit and Lima Northern, a line 200 miles in length. Mr. Strang sold the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line in 1904 to the Grand Trunk Railroad Company of Canada and went to London, England, to consummate the deal and spent a part of 1905 in Europe. Mr. Strang also was a partner in building 175 miles of the Kansas City Southern, from Fort Smith, Ark., south. Alex Monroe, of Lawrence, was a partner in this contract. At the same time Mr. Strang built the Nova Scotia Southern railroad, 120 miles from Yarmouth towards Halifax. While constructing this line he had also taken a $1,000,000 contract from the city of Boston to build the first sec- tion of the Metropolitan water supply, called the Metropolitan water- way, which furnishes the water supply for Boston and its suburbs. He then constructed the Strang line from Kansas City to Olathe, which he now operates. Mr. Strang built the first self-propelled railroad motor car in the world, which was put into service and successfully operated,
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
and it was operated on the Strang Line in Johnson county, Kansas. Mr. Strang was married at Wellington, Kan., in 1892, to Miss Margaret Morrison, of that place. Mr. and Mrs. Strang reside in their beautiful residence at Overland Park, in that ideal surburban town, which Mr. Strang's genius has made possible and his enterprise has developed.
Mr. Strang organized the Strang Gas-Electric Car Company, of Gar- wood, N. J., where the cars were manufactured and he still owns that factory. This was one of the transportation sensations of the time.
Capt. W. H. Zimmerman, of Olathe, has been a resident of Johnson county for forty-five years, and is one of the successful men of the community. Captain Zimmerman was born in Harrison county, Indiana, December 22, 1838, and is a son of John and Abeline (Conrad) Zimmer- man. The father was a native of Maryland and came to Indiana with his parents at a very early day in the history of that State. The mother was a native of Indiana, her parents being pioneers of that State. John and Abeline (Conrad) Zimmerman spent their lives in Indiana. The father died in 1883, at the age of sixty-nine, and the mother died in 1861. They were the parents of eight children and three of the boys served in the Civil war. Captain Zimmerman was educated in the public schools and the Corydon Seminary, and when eighteen years old began teaching school and was engaged in teaching when the Civil war broke out, and he enlisted in April. 1861, at the first call for troops by President Lin- coln. Before he reached Indianapolis, however, the quota was filled, and he returned and finished his term of school. In August, 1862, he enlisted again at New Albany. Ind., in Company F, Eighty-first regi- ment, Indiana infantry, and was mustered in as first sergeant of the company. He was in the following engagements: Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, New Hope Church, Peach Tree and the series of engagements involved in the capture of Atlanta. He was in the cam- paign following Hood and was at the battles of Franklin and Nashville, then he went to Huntsville into winter quarters' and from there to Knox- ville, Tenn., and was at the latter place when the war ended and he was mustered out of service at Indianapolis, Ind., June 26, 1865. Captain Zimmerman was a good soldier and always did his duty well. He pos- sessed courage and the rare combination of coolness, coupled with quick judgment and his ability was readily recognized by his superior officers. He was made second lieutenant the following May after his enlistment and shortly afterward was made first lieutenant, and before the war closed was promoted to captain. During his term of service he was in many hard-fought battles and several tight places, but he always man- aged to get by. He had many narrow escapes and on only one occasion did he fail to escape and that was at the battle of Chickamauga when he was struck by a piece of a shell and severely wounded. At the close of the war he returned to Harrison county, followed farming until 1870 when he came to Kansas, as many of the soldier boys did after the war.
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He located on a place six miles east of Olathe where he bought 160 acres and now owns 230 acres in Johnson county and a good farm in Oklahoma. In 1898, he removed to Olathe where he has since resided. He was married September 19, 1861, to Miss Sarah J. Shreck, a native of Indiana, and the following children were born to this union: W. E. hardware merchant, Olathe; Clara D., married W. S. McIntyre, Victoria, Texas; Emma, died in childhood; Rebecca, teacher in the public schools of Johnson county; Charles E., farmer in Oklahoma; George S. and John, twins. George is operating his father's farm east of Olathe and John is deceased ; Hattie, married Joel H. Tullis, employed in the mail service at Kansas City, Mo., and Oscar A., civil engineer, Leavenworth, Kan. Captain Zimmerman is independent in politics and puts good citi- zenship above any petty political creed. He has served as township trustee, is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Franklin Post No. 68 and the Masonic lodge. He belongs to the Patrons of Husbandry and was one of the organizers of the Johnson county Cooperative Asso- ciation of which he was a director for thirty years. He also helped to organize the Patrons Bank of Olathe, and is a stockholder in both of these institutions. Captain Zimmerman has a record both military and civil of which any man might be justly proud.
William J. Kelly, a well known and prosperous farmer of Olathe township, has been a resident of Johnson county since he was five years old. He was born in Boone county, Illinois, in 1854, and is a son of Alexander and Jane (Robinson) Kelly, natives of County Armah, Ire- land. Both parents came to America when young and settled in Boone county, Illinois, where they were married. They were the parents of thir- teen children, six of whom were born in Illinois, and seven in Johnson county, Kansas. The Kelly family came to Kansas in 1859 and the father, Alexander Kelly, worked at his trade, that of a stone mason, in Olathe for a time and, in 1860, moved onto a rented farm. A short time afterward he and his brother, William, bought a claim of 160 acres where his daughter, Mrs. Belle Shields, now resides. Alexander Kelly was one of the prominent pioneers of Johnson county and was always interested in the advancement and development of his adopted State. He was pub- lic-spirited and always took a prominent part in any movement for the upbuilding of Johnson county. He was one of the organizers and a charter member of the Grange and did a great deal to promote the de- velopment of that organization. He died December 31, 1903. William J. Kelly, whose name introduces this review, was reared and educated in Johnson county and has followed farming all his life and is one of the successful farmers and stock raisers of the county. Mr. Kelly was mar- ried in 1891 to Miss Hattie Millikan, a daughter of Branson Millikan, a native of Indiana and a pioneer of Johnson county. Mr. and Mrs. Kelly have two children, Edith, born January 1I, 1892, a student in the Kansas State Agricultural College, at Manhattan, and Mildred, born
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October 24, 1896. Mr. Kelly is a member of Lone Elm Grange and was initiated in 1883, and is a Republican, which was the political creed of his father.
Frank Ruttinger has been a resident of Johnson county for forty-six years. He is a native of Harrison township, Bedford county, Pennsyl- vania, and was born January 13, 1838. His parents were Michael and Anna Catherine (Wyant) Ruttinger, natives of Germany. They were married in the Fatherland and came to America in 1835. They landed in Baltimore, Md., and drove from there to Bedford county, Pennsylvania ; where they bought a farm and made their home there until the time of their deaths. Frank Ruttinger was one of a family of thirteen. He was one of the oldest of the boys of the family and when young was com- pelled to work out. He helped drovers drive cattle and such other odd jobs as he could get to do in the vicinity of his home. When he was eighteen years old he went to Indiana and worked at blacksmithing and cooperage, and in 1864 enlisted in Company G, Sixty-seventh regiment, Indiana infantry. He had tried to enlist in the early part of the war but was rejected. However, he persisted until he finally broke into the army. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Potomac, he was at the battle of Hatches Run, Siege of Petersburg, Sailors Creek and Farmsville. He was stationed at Richmond and Alexander for a time after Lee's surrender and then marched through to Washington from Richmond. He never was seriously wounded but received a gunshot wound in the arm, which he did not consider of a very serious nature. He was mustered out at Bailey's Crossroads, Va., and four weeks later received his honorable discharge at Philadelphia, Pa., by reason of the general order from the War Department on account of the close of the war. He then returned to Indiana and resumed his work at the cooper's trade. About six months later he went to work in the oil industry and ran an engine in connection with drilling and dressed oil tools. He bought property at Arma, Ind., and lived there until 1869, when he came to Johnson county, Kansas. When he came to this county he went south of Olathe as far as where Ocheltree now is, on the first train that ever went any farther south than Olathe on that road. He got off at a place the trainmen called "Billy Scott's House." This was about where the Ocheltree depot is now located. The conductor told Mr. Ruttinger that that was the first trip and that he would stop at "Billy Scott's house" and let him and another passenger off, because, that was about the best place to get off that there was along the line in that vicinity. After a few months, Mr. Ruttinger bought eighty acres of land on the "Black Bob" about a mile north and three miles east of Ocheltree and engaged in farming and stockraising. He bought additional land, when the opportunity offered and now owns 320 acres and is one of the successful farmers and stock men of Johnson county. He moved to Olathe in 1896, where he has a fine residence and is taking life easy.
7
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He rents his lands and looks after his various interests. Mr. Ruttinger was married, January 7, 1863, to Miss Mary Ann Dill, a native of Indiana county, Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of George and Eliabeth (Con- rad) Dill, both natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Kansas at an early day and spent the remainder of their lives in this State. They died at Clay Center, Kan. To Mr. and Mrs. Ruttinger have been born six children, as follows: Alma Grace, married John Butler. She died, leav- ing two children, Harry and Frank B., and these two boys were reared by their grandparents and are known by the name of Ruttinger. Harry resides in Kansas City and Frank B. is a construction engineer and makes Chicago his home. When sixteen years of age he enlisted in the Navy and served five years and one month, from 1901 to 1906. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Ruttinger are, Cora Ellen, a trained nurse and served as an army nurse in the Spanish-American war; Georgie Ann was the wife of C. H. Schellhammer and is now deceased ; Mary Elizabeth was the wife of Benjamin F. Hakes, now deceased ; Frances Amanda resides in Olathe, and Warren J., Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Ruttinger is a Republican and has taken an active part in political matters for years and in the old days of the political convention he rarely ever missed one. He has served on the school board and was one of the organizers of school district No. 88. He has been justice of the peace and has held various other local offices. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Franklin Post, No. 68. He is a member of the Grange and a stockholder in the Grange store. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
Byron H. Tillotson, a leading real estate dealer of Olathe, Kan., is a native of Indiana, born in Elkhart, October 28, 1850. He is a son of Charles and Eliza Ann (Frink) Tillotson, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio, born in Sandusky. The father was left an orphan when a child and was reared to manhood by an uncle who resided in Toledo, Ohio. He learned the tinner's trade in early life and became an expert workman. When a young man he went to Elkhart, Ind., where he was married and in 1852 removed with his family to Henry county, Illinois, locating at Kewanee where he conducted a tin shop. His wife died there in 1855, and in 1859 he came to Shawnee, Kan .. , with his children, and in 1860 located at Olathe. They made the trip by rail from Kewanee to Quincy, Ill., and then down the Mississippi river as far as Hannibal, Mo., by steamboat, and from there to St. Jo- seph by rail, and then came down the Missouri river by boat to Kansas City. When they reached Kansas City they stopped at the old Gillis House on the levee. Kansas City at that time was a mere boat landing. The father opened a tin shop on the north side of the square in Olathe where the Olathe Hotel now stands, in a two-story frame building which was blown away by a cyclone in 1866. He then erected a stone build- ing on the same corner, the walls of which are still standing and now a
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part of the Olathe Hotel. Here he conducted a hardware store and tin shop until 1870 when the business district seemed to center on the south side of the square and he moved into a store which stood on the present site of Collard & Norris' drug store. In 1876 he went to Graham county and took a homestead, and shortly after the town of Melbrook was built on his farm. The county seat was located there. He prospered and was the owner of seven buildings, and just as everything seemed to be progressing satisfactorily the town was visited by a cyclone and com- pletely destroyed and blown away. However, he remained in that county until his death, in 1901, at the age of seventy-three. Byron H. Tillotson has one sister, Alice F., unmarried, who resides in Chicago. Mr. Tillotson was educated in the public schools of Illinois and Kansas and attended a private school in Olathe, which was conducted by Prof. W. W. Deverell in the old Masonic building on North Cherry Street. He learned the tinner's trade with his father at odd times and when nineteen years old went to northern Missouri where he taught school and clerked in a store about a year and a half. He then went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and worked at his trade there for a time, and later worked at Green River, Wyo. In 1871 he returned to Johnson county and en- gaged in the hardware and tinning business at Gardner. Four years later he removed to Olathe and engaged in the general mercantile busi- ness near the Frisco depot. After being thus engaged for a year he built a store building where the Masonic Temple now stands and con- ducted a hardware store and tinshop there for ten years. In 1887 he en- gaged in the real estate and general insurance business, to which he has devoted his time since and has met with success. Mr. Tillotson was mar- ried, December 31, 1874, at Gardner, to Miss Margaret C. Enyart, a native of Center Prairie, Bureau county, Illinois, who came to Kansas with her parents in 1866. To Mr. and Mrs. Tillotson have been born eight children, seven of whom are living, as follows: Mabel C., married Will J. Stewart, Russell, Kan .; Charles. C., electrical engineer, Butte, Mont .; Clarence B., real estate dealer, Los Angeles, Cal .; Frank H., photog- rapher, Wilcox, Ariz .; Margaret C., teacher, Olathe; Elroy E., student, and Mary L., student. Mr. Tillotson has served two terms as justice of the peace. He is a member of the Court of Honor and has been secretary of his lodge fifteen years. He and his wife are members of the Metho- dist Episcopal church.
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