USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 36
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the exception of four years which he spent on his farm. He was one of the first settlers of Lexington township. The settlement at Olathe was only a few weeks old when he came. He was here during all the stirring days of the border war and succeeded in remaining as nearly neutral as possible. However, he served in the Kansas militia during the Civil war. Mr. Delahunt was married September 27, 1859, to Miss Martha Rector, in Lexington township. She was a daughter of John and Eliza (Oliver) Rector, natives of Virginia. Mrs. Delahunt was born near Warrington, Fauquier county, Virginia, in 1841, and when she was eleven years old her family removed to Platte City, Platte county, Missouri, and in 1858 came to Lexington township, Johnson county, where they remained a year or two, when they went to Texas, locating near Dennison, where they both spent their lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Delahunt have been born eight children, three of whom are living, as follows: Anna, married C. D. Campbell, Garden City, Kan .; Charles, Jr., a personal sketch of whom appears in this volume, and A. L. resides in Lexington township. Mr. Delahunt is a member of the Masonic lodge and is a Democrat. His wife is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
E. G. Carroll, sheriff of Johnson county, is perhaps the youngest man holding a similar position in the State. Sheriff Carroll is a native of the Sunflower State, born at Atchison, August II, 1879, and is a son of George and Nellie (Cline) Carroll, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Iowa. The parents were married in Iowa and shortly after- wards came to Kansas, locating in Atchison, where they remained about a year and a half, when they removed to Olathe. This was about 1880. George and Nellie (Cline) Carroll are the parents of five children, as follows: Gardner, married Nellie Gilbert and resides in Des Moines, Iowa; Bert, married Ella Crowder and resides at Boulder, Colo .; Charles, lives in Des Moines, Iowa; Catherine, resides with her parents in Des Moines, Iowa, and E. G., the subject of this sketch. E. G. Carroll was reared in Olathe and received his education in the public schools of that place. When fifteen years of age he began work at the painter's trade with Henry Mitchell and later worked with his father, who was engaged in contracting, and while associated with his father as a contractor Sheriff Carroll worked in Chicago, Omaha, Des Moines, Kansas City, Mo., and various other places. In 1908 he entered the employ of the Strang Line and for two and a half years was in the service of that com- pany. He then was appointed deputy sheriff by Sheriff Lon Cave, in January, 1910. After serving four years in that capacity, he received the Democratic nomination for sheriff and at the following election car- ried every precinct in the county, except Merriam, and was elected by a very satisfactory majority. There were two other candidates in the field and Mr. Carroll received more votes than both the other candidates combined. He bears the distinction of being the first deputy sheriff in
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Johnson county elected to the office of sheriff while serving in that capacity. Mr. Carroll was married in 1908 at Earlham, Iowa, to Miss Margaret Fritsen. Mr. Carroll is one of the popular and efficient public officers of Johnson county.
Thomas Riley, manager of the Strang Line, Overland Park, is a native of Missouri. He was born November 30, 1869, and is a son of Thomas M. and Margaret (Narey) Riley. The father was a native of Ireland and after coming to America followed river navagation in an early day on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. He died in the early seventies and his wife, now aged seventy-nine, resides at Marietta, Ohio. To Thomas M. and Margaret (Narey) Riley were born three children: Thomas, the subject of this sketch; William F., a passenger conductor on the old Marietta, Columbus & Cleveland railroad, having held that position for twenty-six years, and John H., who has been a locomotive engineer on that railroad for eighteen years, and is now running a passenger train. Thomas Riley has been engaged in railroad work all his life, and posi- tions of responsibility in that line of work are nothing new to him. In 1884, when he was only sixteen years old, he began with a construic- tion gang on the Marietta & Mineral railroad, and four years later he became foreman of construction work. From the Marietta & Mineral railroad he accepted a position with the Ohio River road, from Wheeling to Huntington, W. Va., and had charge of track laying and ballasting there for two years. He was then foreman on bridge and construction work for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company on the Columbus & Midland for two years. He then went with the A. S. Kerr Construc- tion Company, of Middleport, Ohio, for three years, as superintendent of bridge and trestle construction. During that time he constructed the bridges and trestles on the Ohio Central, and did work on the Cleve- land, Lorain & Wheeling, and also superintended the construction of a dock at Conneaut, Ohio. He then entered the train service on the M. C. & C. railroad, and after being promoted to locomotive engineer, worked in that capacity about one year, when he ac- cepted a position as conductor on the same road. A year later he was appointed general roadmaster and superintendent of bridges on that road, and after one year's service in that capacity resigned and engaged in the oil business at Marietta, Ohio. He was thus engaged about two years, when in 1900 he entered the employ of W. B. Strang as general superintendent of construction. At that time Mr. Strang was building the Detroit & Toledo Shore Line, a double track road. Four years later Mr. Riley went with the Quigley Construction Company, who were operating in Arkansas and Louisiana. After completing their work in those states Mr. Riley went to Canada and had charge of a mining proposition for Mr. Strang when he came to Johnson county, and took charge of the construction of the Missouri, Kansas & Interurban rail- road, known as the Strang Line, which Mr. Strang was building. This road was completed in 1907 and operated between Kansas City, Mo.,
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and Olathe, Kan. It was completed as far as Lenexa in 1906, and began to operate that year between Kansas City, Mo., and Lenexa. At first it was operated by a gasoline motor, but soon was equipped with elec- tricity and today is one of the best electric lines in the country. Mr. Riley is one of the practical railroad men of the country who has become accustomed to doing big things without even knowing it.
Scott Rudy, a prominent farmer and stock man of Johnson county, resides on the old Rudy homestead in Spring Hill township. He and his sister, Nannie, and brother, Taylor, are unmarried and reside together on the old home place. Scott Rudy was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1849. His parents were Andrew and Elvira (Ross) Rudy, natives of Pennsylvania, the former of German and the latter of Scotch-Irish de- scent. Both the Ross and the Rudy families were pioneers of Ohio and were neighbors in Holmes county, and therefore Andrew Rudy and El- vira Ross knew each other in early childhood. They were married in Ohio in the early forties, and began life on a farm near Millersburg, that State, where they remained until 1860, when they came to Kansas, locating at Spring Hill. They had eight children. They made the trip west, from Wheeling, Va., on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, and from there to Kansas City up the Missouri river and drove by wagon from Kansas City to Spring Hill. In the spring of 1860, Andrew Rudy bought 160 acres of land from Ben- jamin Pancoast. This property has remained in the Rudy family since, and they have added to it from time to time, until they now own 480 acres. Andrew Rudy and his wife were real pioneers of Kansas. They endured all the early-day hardships on the plains, and it is to the courage, foresight and endurance of such people that Kansas owes its greatness. When the Rudy family came to Johnson county they were poor and had a large family, but they had strong hearts and faith in the future possibilities of the new country, and they went to work with a will, and won. The border war was raging when they located here in the heart of that conflict and the following year the Civil war came on, and the father had his young family to protect and at the same time had to help defend his country and served in the Kansas militia, participating in various engagements along the border. Mr. Rudy was a public-spirited and progressive man, and took a keen interest in all local matters tending to the development and welfare of the com- munity. He was one of the organizers and a stockholder in the Grange store at Olathe, and also the one at Spring Hill. He was also one of the organizers and a stockholder of the Patrons Bank of Olathe. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the early days he was a Whig, but in 1856 when the Republican party. was organized he became a Republican and that was his political creed the remainder of his life. He took an active interest in politics and was one of the reliables of his party in his home town and county. He died in 1903
ANDREW RUDY
MRS, ELVIRA RUDY
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and his wife departed this life in 1912. They were the parents of eight children, as follows : Priscilla, married R. H. Craine; Taylor, resides on the old homestead; Scott, the subject of this sketch; James G .; Wayne; Isaac; Nannie resides on the old homestead and Katie, married B. L. Hibbard, and lives at Colorado Springs, Colo. In politics Scott and Taylor Rudy and their sister, Nannie, are stanch Republicans, and are numbered among the leading people of Johnson county. When the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge, of Spring Hill, Kan., was organized, Priscilla Rudy made the wardrobe and regalias for the members, making no charge for their work. As a mark of appreciation for her kindness the lodge was named "Priscilla."
Frank D. Hedrick, registrar of deeds of Johnson county, was born in Olathe, August 26, 1888. He is a son of Thomas D. and Jennie (Keeler) Hedrick. The father was born in Macon City, Mo. He was a son of Daniel M. Hedrick, who came from Corning, Iowa, to Johnson county, Kansas, in 1885, and now resides in Olathe and is still hale and hearty at the advanced age of eighty-one years. He was a strong anti-slavery man before the Civil war and he left Virginia and went to lowa because he differed in political sentiment with the slaveholders of his native State. He served in an Iowa regiment in the Civil war and had four brothers who served in the same company, one of whom was killed in the service. Daniel M. Hedrick was the son of Joseph Hedrick, who set- tled in Johnson county, Kansas, in 1867. He spent his later years near De Soto, where he died at the age of eighty years. Thomas D. Hedrick, the father of Frank D. Hedrick, whose name introduces this sketch, was reared to manhood in Iowa. He was an expert penman and in 1885 came to Johnson county to accept a position as recording clerk in the recorder's office under J. A. Stephenson. At that time Johnson county was rapidly developing and he also engaged in the title and abstract business, and was the pioneer in that field in Johnson county. After coming to this county he continually held the office of deputy registrar until he was elected registrar in 1902. He was a prominent Republican and active in the local organization of his party. He died April 8, 1911. His wife, Jennie Keeler, was born in Olathe, a daughter of Col. J. A. Keeler, an early settler of Johnson county, and prominent in the affairs of this section of the State for a number of years. He came to Olathe during the Civil war in the capacity of quartermaster, and at the close of the war located here permanently, where he resided for many years. He was justice of the peace several terms, and now resides at Garden City, Kan., where he is interested in a large ranch with his two sons, Lewis and B. Mrs. Hedrick, Frank D.'s mother, now resides in Olathe, and is deputy county registrar. Frank D. Hedrick is one of a family of six children, Fred M., Cherryvale, Kan .; Margaret, married E. U. Pelham, a contractor, Olathe, Kan .; Frank D., the subject of this sketch ; Joseph J .; Mary J .; Alice Ruth, student in the Olathe public schools. Frank D. Hedrick was reared in Olathe and graduated from the Olathe
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High School in the class of 1907. He then engaged in the abstract busi- ness, being associated with his father, whom he succeeded at the latter's death, and later became associated in that business with Frank Norman, of Norman & Robinson, abstractors of Kansas City, and they have the only complete set of abstract books in Johnson county. Mr. Hedrick served two terms as deputy county registrar and in 1912 was elected to the office of county registrar and in 1914 was reelected to that office. He was reelected by a majority of 1,710, which is the largest majority ever given a candidate in Johnson county. Mr. Hedrick was united in marriage April I, 1912, to Miss Edda Irene, daughter of H. U. Stewart, of Olathe, Kan. They have one child, Frank D., Jr. Notwithstanding that Mr. Hedrick's life is a busy one in both his official and business capacities, he has found time to devote to the study of law, and is now a member of the class of 1916 Kansas City School of Law. He is a Republican, a member of the Masonic lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.
I. H. Hershey, of Olathe, in partnership with T. H. Garbo, constitutes the Olathe Packing Company. The products of this company, and especially the famous Olathe sausage, is well known throughout several states in the middle West and Southwest, and patrons of the Harvey House, from Chicago to the Pacific coast are familiar with the superior qualities of the Olathe sausage, which is considered by epicures to be the finest on the market. The Olathe Packing Company is an extensive manufacturer of high-grade hams and bacon, and has the only exclusive retail meat market in Olathe. In order to give an idea of the scope and extent of this Olathe industry, it might be mentioned that it is the exclu- sive business of one Government inspector to inspect the output of this institution. The Olathe Packing Company has about a dozen employees on its pay roll, and is one of the important industries of Olathe. This business was founded by F. V. Ostrander, and later Jesse Nichols be- came a partner, and it was conducted for eight years by Mr. Ostrander and Jesse Nichols. In 1901 Mr. Hershey became a member of the firm, and the firm became known as Ostrander. Nichols & Hershey. Mr. Hershey, being a practical meat man, assumed the general management of the business. Later Mr. Ostrander sold his interest to Mr. Hershey and the firm was Nichols & Hershey for two years when Mr. Nichols sold his interest to S. T. McCoy and Hershey & McCoy conducted the business two years when Mr. McCoy sold out to Mr. Garbo and the busi- ness is now owned by Hershey & Garbo and does business under the firm name and style of the Olathe Packing Company, with Mr. Hershey as manager. Their plant is equipped with all modern methods of handling and storing meats and they have continued improving until it is a model of neatness and convenience. I. H. Hersey was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1865, and is a son of Jacob R. and Fannie (Huber) Hershey, both natives of Pennsylvania, who trace their ances- try back to 270 years' residence in Pennsylvania. The parents of Mr.
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Hershey reside at Lititz, Pa. The father was a successful farmer and is now living retired. They were the parents of six children, as follows : Sabilla, married Frank Martzall, and is now a widow, residing at Lititz, Pa .; Jacob H., a contractor, Lititz, Pa .; I. H., the subject of this sketch ; Susan, now deceased, was the wife of Nathan Killer; Henry, a farmer, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and Amos, a farmer and dealer in leaf tobacco, Lancaster, Pa. I. H. Hershey was educated in the public schools of Lancaster county and Huntington Normal College, at Hunt- ington, Pa. In 1887 he came west and located at Olathe, Kan. He had learned the meat business when a boy and upon reaching Olathe opened a meat market in partnership with John Martin, under the firm name of Martin & Hershey. This arrangement continued for two years when Mr. Hershey sold his interest and entered the employ of Adair, Cos- grove & Company, who conducted a meat market and grocery store. He worked for them a short time when he engaged in farming, which he followed about a year and then worked for Mr. Adair about a vear when he took charge of the meat department of the Grange store, where he remained until he went with the Olathe Packing Company. Mr. Hershey was married April 13, 1893, to Miss Dora Huston, a native of Benton county, Missouri. She is a daughter of T. C. Huston, who now resides in Johnson county, twelve miles north of Olathe. To Mr. and Mrs. Hershey have been born four children: Howard, married Eleanor Welsh, of York, Neb., is in the employ of the Olathe Packing Company ; Gladys; Lloyd and Mary. Mr. Hershey is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Grand Council. He is a Republican and is a mem- ber of the Olathe school board, having served in that capacity for the past twelve years.
William H. H. Chamberlin, a Civil war veteran, and successful farmer and stock raiser of Spring Hill, has been a resident of Johnson county for over forty-six years. He was born in Chautauqua county, New York, December 23, 1840, and is a son of Hesacurah and Elizabeth Chamberlin. The Chamberlin family went from Chautauqua county, New York, to Warren county, Ohio, in 1841. Here the father followed farming until his death, and the mother also passed away in Warren county, Ohio. William H. H. Chamberlin was reared to manhood on his father's farm in Ohio and received a common school education. In the spring of 1864, he enlisted as a private in Company B, One hundred and forty-sixth regiment, Ohio infantry, and served in the army of the Po- tomac until the fall of 1864, when he was honorably discharged and returned to Warren county, Ohio. He followed farming there until 1869, when he decided to go west, where greater opportunities were offered to an industrious young man. Accordingly he came to Kansas, and located near Spring Hill in Johnson county. His capital was lim- ited and he bought forty acres of land for twelve hundred dollars, partly cash, and started in farming with three or four head of cattle. While Mr. Chamberlin has met with some slight reverses incident to agricul-
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ture as a business, he has been, as a whole, unusually successful, and is one of the prosperous and influential citizens of Johnson county today. He owns 240 acres of land in Spring Hill township and 160 acres in Sheridan county, Kansas, and has various other interests in addition to his real estate holdings. He is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Spring Hill, and a stockholder in the Kansas Life Insurance Company, and the Mijo Telephone Company. He has been very successful as a stock raiser and has been a very extensive cattle feeder, in which he has perhaps met with more success than in any other single field of endeavor. Mr. Chamberlin was married in February, 1870, to Miss Frances Wheeler, a native of Ohio, and daughter of David Wheeler. To Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlin have been born three children, two of them are living, as follows: Wheeler, resides at Roosevelt, Okla., and Alta mar- ried Thomas Davis, Ralph died at fourteen years of age. Mr. Cham- berlin is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and is indepen- dent in politics. He is public spirited and always ready and willing to support any worthy enterprise for the improvement of his town or county.
W. A. Nance, postor of the First Christian Church of Olathe, be longs to that type of men who do things. He is a force in the ministry, who makes himself felt and if you have never heard of W. A. Nance, you do not live in Olathe. He is a self-made man and has won his way and reached his present position by his own unaided efforts. Born in a log house in Webster county, Kentucky, he conceived the idea in early boyhood that he wanted to be a minister. He was the youngest of seven children and his parents were poor. All of the other children re- mained at home until they were of age, and when they reached their majority each received a horse, saddle and bridle from their father and started out in the world to battle with life alone. That was the custom in some districts of Kentucky then and perhaps is now. W. A. did not wait until he was of age, but began to struggle with the great problems of life long before that time. When eighteen years of age he bought his time from his father, and began to prepare himself for his life work. He attended the district school and took a correspondence course, and from the time he was eighteen until he was twenty-four he was a student in the Johnson Bible College, of Kimberland Heights, Tenn. He was a close student and worked hard, and in 1907 marticulated in the College of the Bible at Lexington, Ky., and after completing the course there entered the South Kentucky College at Hopkinsville, Ky., where he was graduated in the class of 1911, and ordained at Hopkins- ville, the same year. His first charge consisted of two country churches, one at Sinking Fork and the other at Old Liberty, Christian county, Kentucky. He preached there for three years and on December I, 1913, came to Olathe and took charge of the First Christian Church there. Mr. Nance was born October 1, 1881, and is a son of Isom and Linna (Jones) Nance. They were both natives of North Carolina and
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settled in Kentucky after the close of the war. The father was a soldier in the Confederate army and served with the troops of his native State, North Carolina. After removing to Kentucky he followed farming. He died in July, 1908, and his wife passed away November 21, 1907. W. A. Nance was united in marriage March 14, 1901, to Miss Lizzie, daughter of Gen. Thomas W. Trice, of Webster county, Kentucky. General Trice now resides with his eldest son at Dixon, Ky. To Mr. and Mrs. Nance have been born two children: Isom and Stella. Mr. Nance enters into his work with the spirit that gets results ; it is of the modern day kind of preaching. His sermons smack of the harvest field, the shop and the factory. He believes that the man in overalls has a soul to save as well as the silk stocking variety of Christians. Mr. Nance is an organizer, and has promoted several live organizations within his con- gregation since coming to Olathe that have given the work new life there. He organized the "Timothy Club," which has a membership of about 100. He has the largest young men's Bible class in the State of Kansas, and he has a normal or teachers' training class composed of thirty-seven young men and women. All the organizations of his church get the Nance spirit and do something. His work never ceases ; he works. in the church, in the home and on the street. Mr. Nance is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
George H. Howell, of the firm of Howell & Wilson, general black- smiths, Overland Park, has been in business here since the town was. started. He opened his shop here in March, 1908, where he is still lo- cated. The firm of Howell & Wilson have a large trade which ex- tends for a radius of several miles around Overland Park. They are expert horseshoers and have many customers who come for miles for this class of work. Mr. Howell was born in Laporte county, Indiana, October 4, 1861. He is a son of F. M. and Mary Susan (Worden) Howell. The father was a native of Kentucky, born near Irvin, Estill county. George H. Howell is one of a family of six children, the others being as follows: Eliza Jane, born December 8, 1865, married William A. Webber, a conductor on the Grand Trunk railway, resides at Battle Creek, Mich,; Emma Genevia, born January 3, 1867, married Anson Klies, who has been an employe of the Monon railroad for thirty-five years, resides at Westville, Ind .; Mary Iola, born June 18, 1871, married William Mann, farmer, Walters, Okla .; Elma J., born July 4, 1875, mar- ried Frank Hanscome, farmer, Howell county, Missouri, and Samuel Foster, born August 19, 1877, married Beulah Doty, Blurcoe, Iowa.
George H. Howell attended the public schools in his native State and learned the blacksmith's trade, serving his apprenticeship at Westville, Ind. In 1884 he went to Independence, Mo., where he worked at his trade until 1907 when he came to Overland Park and engaged in business as above mentioned. Mr. Howell was united in marriage June
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