USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 31
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settlement. There were more Indians in that section then than white people and Mr. Moon may well be called one of the pioneers of Kansas. Although now well past the four score mark in the journey of life, he is a man of remarkable vigor and appears to be twenty years younger than he is. His wife departed this life in August 1896. She was one of the noble pioneer women of Kansas who lived a consistent christian life. She bore the suffering of her last days with fortitude and was recon- ciled to pass to the great beyond. Johnson county is unusually fortu- nate in having a man of Mr. Moon's experience and capabilities to man- age that particular branch of its affairs of which he has charge. He was reared in Lyon county and remained in the parental home until he was twenty years old. He then came to Johnson county and located in Lex- ington township where he remained until 1893. Ile then returned to Lyon county to care for his mother, whose health was failing and remained with her until she died and in 1899 returned to Johnson county. He operated a creamery at Pioneer for eighteen months. He then entered the employ of E. H. L. Thompson, as manager of his 220 acre farm, north of Olathe. This place is known at the "Model Farm" and Mr. Moon had much to do with its ideal development, having had charge of it for nine years and three months. In 1913 he accepted his present position and immediately upon assuming the duties of that office he introduced the innovation of separating the county hospital from the county farm and operating them as distinct institutions, although appar- ently as one. The plan is to keep distinct accounts of the expenses and income of both departments and for the profits of the farm to main- tain the hospital. This was put into effect in 1914, and during that year the profits of the farm not only maintained the hospital but produced a surplus of $525.00 the second year. The county farm consists of 182 acres, and Mr. Moon aims to conduct general farming on a profitable basis. During the year of 1914 he sold $1,800 worth of produce from the place in addition to maintaining about fourteen inmates. Mr. Moon not only takes a deep interest in the profit producing part of his work, but looks carefully after the welfare of the unfortunates who come within his care. The hospital is in charge of a trained nurse, Miss Helen Mills, and the helpless are constantly made as comfortable as possible. Mr. Moon was united in marriage November 15, 1892, to Miss Rodena White, a daughter of Roland and Caroline (Lindlay) White, pioneers of Johnson county. Mrs. Moon was born March 25, 1871, in Lexington township and died July 26, 1913, leaving three chil- dren, as follows: Ione, matron of the Johnson county hospital; Edna and Josephine reside with their father. Mr. Moon is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He belongs to the Friends church at Prairie Center and politically is a Republican.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
F. M. Lorimer, manager of the M. G. Miller estate, is a native son of Johnson county .. He was born in Oxford township, May 27, 1878, and is a son of J. C. and Sadie (Walker) Lorimer. J. C. Lorimer was a native of Ireland, born October 20, 1846, and died in Olathe, Kan., Octo- ber 20, 1914. His wife was a native of Ohio and they were married in Olathe in 1873. They were the parents of seven boys, all of whom were born in Oxford township, Johnson county, as follows: J. B., mar- ried May Marvin and resides in Johnson county, four miles east of Olathe; Charles U., is married; Dean, married Madge Milligan, of Olathe, and lives each of Olathe; Claud, married Allie Wood; George George married Bessie Douglas, of Olathe, and resides on the home farm in Oxford township; Lee is unmarried and lives with his mother in Olathe, and is in the employ of Willis C. Keefer; and F. M., the sub- ject of this sketch. F. M. Lorimer was reared on the home farm in Johnson county, and was educated in the district schools and the Olathe High School. His business career began at the time he finished high school. As he was passing M. G. Miller's place of business, on his way to school one morning, Mr. Miller called him into his office and asked him what he was doing. The boy told him that he was going to high school, and Mr. Miller told him what he wanted in these words: "I want you to work for me just as soon as school is out," and from that day he began working for Mr. Miller, evenings and Saturdays, and from that time he has been in his employ. This was in 1897 and Mr. Lorimer remained in the employ of Mr. Miller until his death in 1909, and, since that time, has been in the employ of the estate as manager, and in that capacity is at the head of one of the important com- mercial enterprises of Johnson county. When he entered the employ of Mr. Miller, the latter was interested in various enterprises in Olathe and Johnson county. He owned a bank, a grocery store and a fourth interest in the Hadley Mill and considerable business and farm property. Later Mr. Miller acquired the Olathe Citizens Telephone Company which is still owned by his estate and comes within the scope of Mr. Lorimer's management. Mr. Lorimer has developed this telephone sys- tem and has installed modern telephone apparatus and it is now one of the extensive local telephone systems of the State. Mr. Lorimer has the management of the farm properties of the Miller estate also, which con- sist of five farms in Johnson county and has an aggregate of 1,331 acres. The management of these vast acres together with the telephone and other interests of the Miller estate puts Mr. Lorimer in a class almost by himself, and it is a safe guess that he is about the busiest man in Johnson county, but with it all he has a noiseless way of doing things that gives the casual observer the impression that he always has plenty of time to attend to whatever matter is then before him. Mr. Lorimer was married in 1900 to Miss Maude Smith, of Olathe, and they have one child, Nelle, born August 14, 1903. Mrs. Lorimer was born in
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Gardner and was a daughter of W. Lee Smith. Her father died when Mrs. Lorimer was a child and left her widowed mother in meager circumstances to face the problem of life with five small children. Not- withstanding the fact that she was a frail woman, she possessed the will and determination to win, and did. She kept her little family together and brought them up well and gave them all exceptional educational op- portunities. The other memrebers of the family beside Mrs. Lorimer are as follows: Mrs. Bertha Wilkerson, of Spring Hill; Mrs. Nelle Akers, who resides in Oklahoma; Eleanor, bookkeeper for the Burnap Station- ery Company, Kansas City, Mo .; and Ed., a veteran of the Spanish- American war, serving in the Twenty-third Kansas regiment in the Philippine Islands, and for a number of years was an employe of the Bell Telephone Company in Colorado, and now resides in Kansas City, Mo.
George Huff, a Civil war veteran and representative of that type of pioneers who settled and developed Johnson county, is now living retired at Olathe, after a successful career. George Huff is a native of Illinois, born in Pike county, October 2, 1843, and is a son of John and Mary (Bruner) Huff, the father a native of Prussia and the mother of Pennsyl- vania. They came to Illinois at a very early date, first locating in Pike county and when George, the subject of this sketch, was a child, they removed to Adams county, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives. The father died at the age of sixty-two and the mother at seventy-five. They were the parents of the following children: Aaron, who served three years in the Civil war, now deceased ; George, the sub- ject of this sketch; John resides in Olathe; Lydia, married Nathan Barnes, both deceased; Mary, deceased ; Rachael, married John Pursell, Winfield, Kan .; Frank, Sugar City, Colo .; Jacob resides in Adams county, Illinois ; James, Pike county, Illinois ; Martha, married Clarence Her- ron and they reside in Oklahoma; Alice, married James Richardson, Pike county, Illinois ; Emma married a Mr. Cummings, Oklahoma, and William, resides in Reno county, Kansas. George Huff was reared on a farm, acquired a good common school education in the pioneer schools of the times, and had just about reached manhood when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted at Quincy, Ill., in Company D, Seventh regiment, Illinois infantry. They were sent to Camp Butler and a few days later to New York City ; thence to Newbern, N. C., on a transport, and shortly after that joined Sherman's army in South Carolina and was in that local- ity when Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, was captured. At the close of the war his regiment was returned to Washington and took part in the Grand Review and was then sent to Louisville, Ky., where he was discharged and later, in July, 1865, was mustered out at Camp Butler, near Springfield, Il1. He then returned to Adams county and farmed for a short time, and in 1866 came to Kansas, locating in Jolin- son county, where he worked as a farm laborer about three years, when
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he returned to Illinois and was married and brought his bride back to Johnson county and bought a farm ten miles east of Olathe which he still owns. He added to his original farm from time to time until he now owns 360 acres of land. He was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising and has become one of the substantial men of the county. He removed to Olathe in 1897 and since that time has rented his farms. Mr. Huff was married September 12, 1869, to Miss Mary Ellen Chaplin, a native of Pike county, Illinois, and a daughter of one of the pioneer families of Illinois. Her parents were Simeon F. Chap- lin and Polela J. Farmer and they were both natives of Tennessee. They died in Pike county, Illinois. Mr. Huff is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Franklin Post No. 68, and he belongs to the Grange, the Anti Horse Thief Association, and he and Mrs. Huff are members of the Church of Christ.
E. D. Warner, a veteran of the Civil war and Kansas pioneer, now liv- ing retired at Olathe, is a native of the Empire State. He was born at Schoharie, Schoharie county, New York, September 16, 1834, a son of Peter and Amanda (Smith) Warner, natives of New York, the former a descendant of German ancestors and the latter of New England stock. The family removed to Delaware county in the thirties, when E. D. was a child. In 1847 they removed to Bradford county, Pennsylvania, set- tling near Rome, where they both died. The father was ninety-two years old, and the mother eighty-four, and their remains are buried in a private cemetery at Litchfield, Pa. They were the parents of five children, as follows : Mathias, served in the United States navy during the Civil war. He was a machinist and spent his life at Susquehanna, Pa. ; Betsey, mar- ried John Hubbell, of Waverly, N. Y., and they are both deceased ; John spent his life in Windham township, Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He served in a Pennsylvania regiment in the Civil war; Oscar served in the Fourth regiment, New York infantry, in the Civil war, and was a member of the Seventh United States cavalry and was killed in the Cus- ter massacre at Little Big Horn, Mont., and E. D., the subject of this sketch. E. D. Warner received a common school education, attending school in Delaware county, New York, and Bradford county, Pennsyl- vania, and later attended the Nichols Academy, Nichols, N. Y., and was working at the carpenter's trade when the Civil war broke out. He re- sponded to the first call for volunteers and on April 1, 1861, enlisted at Montrose, Pa., to serve three months and was mustered into the United States service at Harrisburg, Pa., April 23, 1861. He was assigned to Company K, Sixth Pennsylvania Reserves, and that organization later became the Thirty-fifth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry, and was com- manded by Col. Wallace Ricketts. The organization was completed at Camp Curtain, near Harrisburg, June 22, 1861, however, they remained there for drill purposes, guard duty, etc., until July 12, 1861, when they were fully equipped and marched to Greencastle, Pa., and resumed drill
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at Camp Biddle. On the twenty-second day of July they marched to Washington, D. C., and were engaged for a time in performing guard duty in the vicinity of the capitol. Mr. Warner was discharged on account of disability at Washington, August 2, 1861. He was very sick and the surgeon did not expect him to live. He returned to his Pennsyl- vania home and in the next few months recovered his health, and on November 1, 1861, enlisted at Elmira, N. Y., in Company H, Tenth regi- ment, New York cavalry. He left Elmira, December 24, 1861, and was sent to Gettysburg, Pa., and was in that vicinity until March, 1862, and was later transferred to the Twenty-second army corps on the defense of Washington. His regiment was attached to Kilpatrick's brigade. They were at the battle of Leesburg, Germantown, Rappahannock Sta- tion, Stoneman's raid, Louisa Court House, Beverly Ford, Brandy Sta- tion, Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville, Gettysburg, Shepherdstown, Sulphur Springs, Auburn, Breatal Station, Mine Run, Ely's Ford, Morrisonville, Tod's Tavern, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Sheridan's Raid near Rich- mond; Howe's Shop, Trevillion Station, King and Queen Court House, Siege of Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Lee's Mills, Ream's Station, Weldon railroad, Stony Creek, Hatch's Run, Dinwiddie Court House, Sailor's Creek, Farmville and Appomattox Court House, and a number of minor engagements, skirmishes, raids and expeditions. During its ser- vice Mr. Warner's regiment lost 595 officers and men, killed, wounded and missing. Mr. Warner was captured at Second Bull Run, August 30, 1862, and paroled on the field and sent to the parole camp at Annapolis. Md., where he was later exchanged and returned to his regiment. He had many narrow escapes but was never seriously wounded. A bullet grazed his hand in the engagement at Louisa Court House. When he was taken prisoner he was on detail scout duty, and ambushed in the night near Sulphur Springs. The curb chain broke on his bridle and he was unable to control his horse, which went straight through between the two lines of battle but Mr. Warner succeeded in making his escape and took a prisoner back to the Union lines. The Confederate prisoner whom he captured was a major in a Virginia regiment. After the prison- er was disarmed a Union sergeant made an attempt to kill him, his bul- let just grazing the prisoner's neck. Mr. Warner protected his prisoner and came within an ace of killing the sergeant. Mr. Warner reported the affair to General Kilpatrick later and the General told him he should have killed the sergeant, but the sergeant was drowned later. Mr. Warner was discharged November 28, 1864, by reason of the expiration of his term of enlistment. He returned to Bradford county and joined his wife who had resided there while he was in the army. He then went to Rochester, Minn., and that fall bought a farm in Steel county and engaged in farming and remained there about seven years, when he re- moved to Nevada, Mo., and later to Lacygne, Linn county, Kansas, where he remained five years, when he went to Bates county, Missouri,
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and operated a coal mine. After operating there for twelve years he sold his mines and 183 acres of coal land to the railroad company, and in December, 1889, came to Olathe and conducted a coal and feed business. until 1900 when he sold out, and since that time has not been actively engaged in any business. He is a stockholder in the Grange store and the Patrons Bank and owns considerable property in Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Warner was married February 6, 1856, to Miss Nancy M. Kenyon, at Owego, N. Y. She is a native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and was born at Kenyon Hill, her parents being very early settlers in that locality. To Mr. and Mrs. Warner have been born two children, Elnora, married James Oldfield, of Lacygne, Kan., and she is now deceased, and Eugene, an employe of the Union Pacific railroad, at Argentine, Kan. Mr. Warner is a Republican, and for years was active in the councils of his party. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Frank- lin Post No. 68, and his wife is a member of the Women's Relief Corps. Mr. Warner is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Mr. and Mrs. Warner are members of the Presbyterian church. They reside in a cosy home at No. 317 North Cherry Street, where they are highly respected and have many friends. Mrs. Warner has been a true helpmate and partner in every particular, and did her part nobly and well in times of war as well as peace. During the Civil war, when Mr. War- ner was in the army, she was serving her country by maintaining the home. She conducted the home farm in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and cared for their two children. Women of that type are no less patri- otic than their husbands, fathers or sons, who were in the line of action during the days when the clouds of war hung low over the land.
Abraham N. Edgington, a Civil war veteran and early Johnson county settler, has, perhaps, seen more frontier life than any other man in John- son county. He was born on the treeless plains of Illinois, at Pontiac, Livingston county, July 5, 1839. This was an early day in that section of the West, and the Edgington family, in taking up their home in that section, were crowding very closely on the border of the frontier. A. N. Edgington is a son of Miric D. and Margaret W. (Breckenridge) Edg- ington, both natives of Brown county, Ohio. The Edgingtons are old American stock of Scotch and Irish descent. Miric D. Edgington was born February 22, 1810, and was a son of Abraham Edgington, who was a native of Maryland, born April 19, 1780. He first removed from his native State to Virginia, and then to Ohio where he died. He settled in Brown county sometime between 1800 and 1810. His wife bore the maid- en name of Jane Kincaid, and she was also a Marylander. Margaret. Breckenridge, the mother of Abraham N. Edgington, was born in Brown county, Ohio, April 6, 1812. She was a daughter of Robert Breckenridge and Mary Wright, the former born in Maryland, born September 27, 1774, and the latter was also a native of Maryland, born September 24, 1773. Robert Breckenridge, his wife and family were early settlers in
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS
Illinois, locating in that State in 1833. Miric D. Edgington, the father of A. N., located in Livingston county, Illinois, in 1834. He drove from Ohio and when he reached the vicinity of Pontiac his team and wagon and a fifty cent piece constituted all his earthly possessions, and when he died he owned 400 acres of land, which is said to be so valuable now that it is not safe to leave it out of doors over night. He paid for his land by haul- ing wheat to Chicago, receiving fifty cents a bushel for hauling. The story goes that one time while he was in Chicago, or where Chicago now is, he was offered forty acres of land, which would be in the heart of the city now, for a little pony worth about $40. He refused the offer saying, that he wouldn't give that pony for all the land in sight around there. When the Edgington family located in Livingston county, there were lots of Indians in the vicinity, and all kinds of game were plentiful for a number of years after they came. A. N. Edgington says when he was a boy that the neighbors were ten miles apart there, and he remembers on one occasion of counting 160 deer in one herd, and he says that prairie chickens were there by the millions and lots of wild turkeys, but there were no quails nor rabbits. He claims that he reached Illinois before the quail or rabbits got there, and it is said to be a fact that these birds and animals never precede the settling up of a country. Mi- ric D. Edgington died in Livingston county, Illinois, September 6, 1859, and his wife died June 23, 1875. They were married November 23, 1832, and five children were born to this union as follows : Robert P., Ashland, Ore .; A. N., the subject of this sketch ; Mary Ann, married J. E. Young, both now deceased : William K., and Eliza Ellen, married Frank Dowing. A. N. Edgington spent his boyhood days on the plains of Illinois and grew to manhood, surrounded by pioneer conditions and he recalls many of the early-day crude methods in farming. He has not only used the old- fashioned grain cradle, but goes back still farther and has had experience in cutting grain with the sickle and he has mowed acres and acres of grass with a scythe, and notes with pleasure the great progress that has been made in the improvement of agricultural implements. He says that the present day generation is absolutely ignorant of real grief on the farm. Mr. Edgington remained on the home farm until August 8, 1862. when he enlisted at Pontiac, Ill., in Company C. One Hundred and Twenty-ninth regiment, Illinois infantry. His command immediately proceeded to Louisville, Ky., and then went on a campaign from Louis- ville to Crab Orchard, and guarded the railroad to Nashville until May 2, 1864. He was with Sherman on his march to the sea, took part in the fighting all along the line, was in the engagement at Perryville and Resaca, the fighting around Atlanta, and after Lee surrendered he went to Washington, and was in the Grand Review at the close of the war. After receiving his discharge, he returned to Illinois and was engaged in farming there until 1867, when he went to Saline county, Missouri. He remained there until December, 1869, when he came to Johnson county
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on the "Black Bob" one and one-half miles south and one mile east of Morse. In 1871 he went to Butler county, Kansas, where he took up a Government homestead. After proving up on his claim, he traded his Butler county farm and has resided in this county ever since. Mr. Edgington was married July 22, 1865, to Miss Catherine E. Durflinger, of Noblesville, Hamilton county, Indiana. Eight children were born to this union, two of whom are now living. W. T. resides at Prescott, Linn county, Kansas, and Floy, now the wife of M. S. Gilliham, of Len- exa, Kan. Mr. Edgington's wife and the mother of these children died September 8, 1908. Mr. Edgington has been a lifelong Republican, but in later years, like many others, he is inclined towards independence in politics. In 1891 he was elected county commissioner of Johnson county. He served one term, but refused to accept a second nomination. He was a member of the board of county commissioners, when the present splen- did court house of Johnson county was erected, and one of the unusual circumstances about the building of this court house, which many people in Johnson county do not know at the present time, is that it was built without issuing any bonds, or incurring any obligation for taxpayers to pay in the future. The county commissioners adopted the "pay as you go" plan and when the court house was completed, it was paid for. Mr. Edgington was the father of the plan by which this was accom- plished, and that was to raise a two and one-half mill tax, which pro- duced sufficient funds for the purpose. Mr. Edgington is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is now commander of Franklin Post No. 68. He is a Methodist and has been a member of that church since 1876.
David Taggart, a prominent Johnson county farmer, and veteran of the Civil war, has for over fifty years been a factor in the development of Johnson county. He was born at Cannonsburg, Pa., February 12, 1843, and is a son of John and Jane M. (McCool) Taggart, the former a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and the latter of Washington county, Pa. The father was a weaver, but also was interested in farming to some extent. Both he and his wife died at Cannonsburg, Pa. They were the parents of the following children: Alexander McCool, who came to Johnson county in 1865, but later returned to Pennsylvania where he died ; James died at Cannonsburg, Pa .; Samuel B. was a Pres- byterian preacher, and died at Alton, Ill. ; John, died at Beaver Falls, Pa .; Moses R., a Civil war veteran, resides at Wilkinsburg, Pa .; Rachael married Henry McKee, of Indiana, and is now a widow, residing in Olathe, and David, the subject of this sketch. David Taggart was reared to manhood in Cannonsburg, Pa., and received his education in the public schools there. When the Civil war broke out, he was still under age, but on August 13, 1862, he enlisted at Cannonsburg, Pa., in Company G, One Hundred and Fortieth regiment, Pennsylvania infan- try, which was attached to the first brigade, first division, second army
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