USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 38
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Thomas Wilson James, a prominent farmer of Mission township, has had more experience in various parts of the western country, beginning with the pioneer days, than is usually crowded within the limits of one man's life-time. He was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, August 5, 1851, and is a son of Thomas and Barberie A. (Barrow) James, natives of Ohio. They were married in Coshocton county, March I, 1847, and were the parents of five children, as follows: Charles William, born April 21, 1848, died June 30, 1884; Mary Jane, born July 12, 1849, married Henry Coppock and died April 21, 1895; Thomas W., the subject of this sketch; Howard Marshall, born November 15, 1853, died January 29, 1864; and Ida Belle, born September 28, 1861. They were all born in Ohio except Ida Belle, who was born in Johnson county, Kansas. The family came to Kansas in 1858, located in Shawnee township, Johnson county, where the parents spent their lives. Thomas Wilson James attended the public schools and later attended school at Lawrence, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., and then entered Iva College at Ottumwa, Iowa. In 1867, when he was sixteen years old, he drove a six-yoke ox team across the plain from Kansas City, Mo., to Fort Union, New Mexico, and from there back to Fort Ellsworth, Kan. Lewis Breyfogle was wagon boss and he and Thomas James, Sr., were partners. After he had attended college at Ottumwa he went to Portland, Ore., and spent one winter, when he returned by way of San Francisco and the Great Salt Lake. He then spent three years, from 1871 to 1874, on a ranch near Grenada, Colo. He then returned to Johnson county and followed farming on Indian creek one season. The next year he went to Walla Walla, Wash., and from
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there to southeastern Oregon, From there he went to Deadwood, S. D., and after spending one winter in that State he went to Aubu- querque, N. M. He took up a claim there and established a trading post near the Navajo Indian reservation. After remaining there sev- eral years he disposed of his interests and went to southwestern Okla- homa and bought a ranch. Here he was engaged in the horse and cattle business about fifteen years and after his parents died, he re- turned to the old home in Mission township in 1909. His father died, April 29, 1902, and the mother passed away November 25, 1905. Mr. James follows general farming and stock raising and is one of the progressive farmers of Johnson county. The old James home where he resides is one of the historic landmarks of Johnson county. The residence, a commodious brick structure, was built by the father in 1858 and apparently is in as good condition today as the day it was built. Many trees adorn the old place, some that were set out over fifty years ago. Mr. James was married in 1900 to Mrs. Katie Finch, a widow, residing in Oklahoma.
William M. Sitterman, one of the most extensive farmers and stock- men in Johnson county, resides on his well kept ranch in Shawnee township, where he carries on general farming and also raises horses and cattle on a large scale. He makes a specialty of breeding Percheron horses, and perhaps is the most successful breeder of this excellent type of horses in the county. At this writing he has seventeen head of horses on his place and has sold fourteen during the past year. Mr. Sitterman is also an extensive cattle feeder and this feature of the stock business has been very profitable to him. Besides his Shawnee township farm of 413 acres, he owns 812 acres of fine wheat land in western Kansas and 600 acres in Oklahoma, which is mostly devoted to raising hay. He also owns considerable property in Kansas City, Kan. Mr. Sitterman was born in Franklin county, Missouri, Decem-
ber 30, 1843, a son of Casper and Katrina Sitterman, natives of Ger- many. The parents immigrated to America in 1841 after their marriage. William M. Sitterman spent his boyhood days on the home farm in Missouri. He was a boy, considerably under age, when the Civil war broke out, but he was a strong Union man and even though a boy, his convictions were deep seated and realizing that his first obligation was to his country, he enlisted in October, 1861, and served in the fourth regiment, Missouri infantry, and served in that organiza- tion until the spring of 1864, when he came to Kansas, and after coming to this State served in the Kansas State Militia. Mr. Sitterman first located in Wyandotte county in March, 1864. Hle worked on a farm there for a time and the same year came to Johnson county and worked at the carpenter's trade for a time and during the winter of 1865 he was engaged in cutting timber, hauling logs, etc. He bought his first land in Kansas in 1864, but sold it later and came to his
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present place in 1875. He had his ups and downs like other pioneers of the early days in Kansas. He met with temporary reverses like the effect from grasshoppers, drought and crop failures, but he was made of the kind of material of which the great West is built, and was not to be discouraged by temporary obstacles and finally success came to him and for a number of years he has been one of the leading factors of Johnson county. Mr. Sitterman was married November 12, 1867, to Miss Margaret Legler, a daughter of Adam Legler, a Johnson county pioneer. To Mr. and Mrs. Sitterman have been born three children, as follows: Louis W. and Frank Herbert, successful farmers in Shawnee township, and Ida, married George Benz, of Over- land Park. Mr. Sitterman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is steward and a trustee. Politically he is a Repub- lican and has served as a member of the school board of his district for a number of years.
Henry Wedd, of Lenexa, Kan., is the oldest man in Johnson county and for fifty-eight years has been an important factor in the develop- ment of this section of Kansas. Notwithstanding his ninety-four years, he is still active in the business world, but of course he is not chasing the nimble dollar with the alacrity that he could forty years ago, yet he transacts considerable business and looks after many of the details of his private affairs. Mr. Wedd is a native of England, born in Essex county, September 15, 1821. He is a son of Benjamin Wedd, of Essex county, and Mary Chater, of Lestershire. Mr. Wedd is a direct de- scendant of King Henry VII, of England, and traces his lineage back through the centuries to that royal personage by duly authenticated records, as shown by the following genealogical synopsis: Henry VII, King of England, married Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of King Edward IV. Louis XII, King of France, married Princess Mary Tudor. Henry Clifford, Second Earl of Cumberland, married Lady Eleanor Brandon. Henry Stanley, Fourth Earl of Derby, married Lady Margaret Clifford. Ferdinand Stanley, Fifth Earl of Derby, married Alice, the sixth daughter of Sir John Spencer, of Altoype. Grey Burges, Fifth Lord Chandas, married Lady Anne Stanley. Thomas Pryde, son and heir of Sir Thomas Pryde, married Lady Rebecca Binges. Rev. William Sherwin-Lerpiner, of Braddick, married Pryde, only daughter of Thomas Pryde. Rev. John Cruckanthary, rector of Fordmen, married Margaret Sherman. Nathaniel Cruckanthary mar- ried Miss Roy Marr. Benjamin Cruckenthorpe, married Catherine, daughter of Rev. J. Smith, rector of St. James, Colchester, Essex county. Charles Cruckenthorpe, married Jane, youngest daughter of Henry Churchill, of Churchill, Oxford county. Rev. Charles Churchill Cruckenthorpe, married Maria, daughter of Robert Spencer, of Bridge- water Square. Benjamin Wedd, of Fordmen, married Hester Crucken- thorpe. Benjamin Wedd, Second, of Fordmen, born October 10, 1708,
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married, May 17, 1757, Mary, daughter of Thomas Inkersoler, of Spaulding, County Lincoln. Elizabeth Cruckenthorpe, daughter of Samuel, married Benjamin Wedd, who was born February 27, 1754. Benjamin Wedd, of Latchington, County Essex, born September 25. 1777, died December 3, 1844; married Mary, daughter of Na- than Chater, of Market Harbor, County Lester. She was born May 14, 1784, married Benjamin Wedd Augus 18, 1808, and died February 4, 1852, and the following children, of whom Henry Wedd, the subject of this sketch, were born to this union. Benjamin, of Rochester, N. Y., William, Mathew, John, Mary, Elizabeth, Henry, the subject of this sketch, and Anne. The above mentioned mem- bers of the family were all born in England and came to America in 1833, and the father and mother located at Rochester, N. Y., where their sons, Benjamin and John, were engaged in the hardware busi- ness. Henry Wedd remained in New York State until 1857, when on account of business reverses, he lost everything he had. He then decided to go west and start life over, and in the spring of 1858 came to Kansas and located at Bellevue, Johnson county. He worked for Calvin McCoy for a time, who fitted him out with a team and some farm implements and started him to work on a 700-acre farm. Mr. Wedd operated this on shares for Mr. McCoy for three years. He then went to Douglass county and preempted 100 acres of Government land. He also bought 120 acres of land in Johnson county from a Shawnee Indian and still owns a part of that 120 acres. IIe worked hard and met with a fair degree of success and when some Indian in the neigh- borhood needed money and wanted to sell his land, Mr. Wedd was generally ready to accommodate him and finally bought a 500-acre tract, which was all the Indian land left in that vicinity for which he paid ten dollars per acre. He also bought 160 acres from Robert Moody, the farm upon which his son now lives. Mr. Wedd now owns 560 acres of some of the most valuable land in northeastern Johnson county, and this means that it is very valuable, being located almost within the residence radius of Kansas City. He also owns two fine residence properties in Lenexa and has resided in one of them since 1910, when he left the farm. Mr. Wedd was married July 3, 1846, to Miss Lucy Jane Converse. She was born in Jefferson county, New York, June 21, 1828, and died in Johnson county, Kansas, Decem- ber I, 1908. She was a daughter of Daniel Converse and when she was seven years old her parents removed to Erie county, New York, and four years later to Monroe county, that State. To Henry Wedd and wife were born the following children : Henry, Jr., farmer,
Lenexa, married Inez Evelyn Cowdrick and they have one child, Nettie May. Charles, agent for the Strang line at Lenexa, married Ida A. Armstrong and they have four children, Mable Ethel, Ray Arm- strong, Harold Charles and Eugene Wallace. Lucy Jane, deceased,
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was the wife of Foster Duncan, also deceased, and left three children, Mary Effie, Etta Mabel, Bertha Emma. George resides at Spring Hill, a personal sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mary Marie married Jabez F. Bradshaw, of Lenexa; Ida Maybelle, deceased; Wil- lard James, farmer in Cass county, Missouri; Albert Edward, on his father's farm, married Frances C. Tease and they have two children : Grace and Helen, and Elizabeth married Wesley Tease, of Miami county, and they have one child, William Henry. Mr. Wedd has had a very successful business career and today is one of the wealthy men of Johnson county, besides having reared a large family and assisted them in getting a start in the world. He has four sons, each of whom is worth over $20,000. Mr. Wedd endured the many hardships and uncertainties of life on the border in the early days. He was a strong Union man and was frequently a victim of the bushwhacker devasta- tions. At one time a team of mules was stolen from him by a band of bushwhacker brigands who took them to Lawrence and then Leaven- worth, Kan., but Colonel Lyon of the Ninth Kansas regiment, who was a friend of Mr. Wedd, sent a detail of soldiers to Leavenworth and recovered the mules, after considerable difficulty. His house was raided several times. On one occasion a party of bushwhackers sur- rounded him and demanded his money and this time he was covered by fourteen revolvers when the captain of the band rode up and ordered his release. At another time the bushwhackers called at his house to kill him, but he was fortunate enough to be away from home. Mr. Wedd is a remarkably well preserved man for his age and he attributes his longevity to a temperate life, although living in an age when drink- ing was not unpopular, he never used intoxicants in any form Neither has he ever indulged in the use of tobacco and in this respect his sons are following in his footsteps. None of them use liquor nor tobacco. Mr. Weed is a Republican but has never aspired to hold political office, although in the early days he served as constable for a time. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has lived a straight, upright life and is of that high type of citizenship that insures stability to our form of government. He might very appropriately be called the dean of Johnson county.
W. F. Burke, a successful fruit grower of Mission township, belongs to one of the representative pioneer families of Johnson county. He was born in Dubuque, Iowa, July 17, 1855, and was only two years old when his parents settled in Johnson county. He is a son of M. J. and Catherine (Martin) Burke, both natives of Ireland, the former of the city of Dublin, and the latter of County Antrim. M. J. Burke was a very highly educated man, being a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. He was born about 1810 and his wife was ten years his junior. M. J. Burke came to America in 1848 and located at Dubuque where he met and married Catherine Martin, about 1850. For the next eight
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years!he was in the employ of the Government as a civil engineer in the vicinity of Dubuque, Iowa, and in the fall of 1858 came to Kansas City, Kan., with his family and spent the winter there. In the spring of 1859 he came to Johnson county and shortly afterwards bought a quarter section of school land in Shawnee township for which he paid $II per acre, near where Elmhurst is now located. The Santa Fe Trail passed through the northern part of the place. The father built a log house which was the family residence for about twenty years. The location of the Burke home on the Santa Fe Trail was a convenient stopping place for the many travelers over that famous highway in the early days, and during the stormy days of the Civil war many soldiers, bushwhackers and others sought accommodation at the Burke home. They kept everybody who wanted to stay over night, regard- less of which side of the conflict they were in sympathy with. Many interesting incidents took place during that period of tense excitement. Mrs. Burke, the mother, related that one night, two men came along and, as was the custom, asked if they could get accommodations for the night. She told them they could if they would sleep on the floor. They said that was satisfactory and when bed time came she furnished them pillows upon which to rest their heads and when they proceeded to retire they unbuckled their belts and placed their revolvers under the pillows. At this juncture Mrs. Burke offered to take care of their revolvers, saying that she would place them in a bureau drawer where they would be safe. One of the visitors said, "No, thank you. We will keep them where they will be handy for we may need them before morning." The next morning at daylight a detail of about thirty men rode up to the door and leading with them two saddled horses. The two men mounted the horses and they rode away. Mrs. Burke afterwards learned that one of the men was Quantrill, the famous guerilla chief. At another time some men were about to take their only team of horses and Mrs. Burke remonstrated with them and they finally went their way without taking the horses. The Burke family endured many hardships during their first few years in Kansas but were never discouraged and always maintained their faith in the future of the new country. The father followed his profession a great deal and did much surveying. He surveyed for the Santa Fe railroad from Lawrence to Kansas City via Olathe and also surveyed a State road when the question of its exact location was in doubt. He was one of the pioneer surveyors of Johnson county and was elected county surveyor in 1868. W. F. Burke was one of a family of six children, as follows: W. F., the subject of this sketch; Mary Laura, born in Iowa, married J. W. Buckley, of Mission township, and is now deceased ; Joseph, born in Shawnee township, died at the age of thirty-two, unmar- ried ; Anna, born in Shawnee township, married Albert Nelson in 1904 and now resides on the home place; Veronica, born in Shawnee town-
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ship, married Robert Noll, of Mission township, and now resides in Cali- fornia; and Christina, born in Shawnee township, married Timothy Hare, and lives on a farm adjoining the home place. W. F. Burke attended the public school in district No. 38 at Pleasant Prairie. This was one of the first schools in Johnson county. The Doherty children, Shawnee Indians, attended the same school. Mr. Burke has made farming the principal occupation of his life and in recent years has devoted himself more particularly to fruit culture. He has a farm of forty acres, well adapted to fruit raising, located at Elmhurst and he is quite an extensive peach grower. In 1901 he sold 3,400 pecks of peaches which were the product of 500 trees. He is one of the suc- cessful fruit men of Johnson county and has prospered in that venture. Mr. Burke was married in 1889 at Quincy, Ill., to Miss Mary Hare, of that place. They have six children, as follows: Loretta, a successful Johnson county teacher, Catherine, Edmond, William, James and Mary, all residing at home.
Miss Jennie Rose, the capable and efficient clerk of the district court of Johnson county, is a typical representative of the progressive women of Kansas, who are doing things in the political and industrial world. Miss Rose is a native daughter of Johnson county and her parents, W. M. and Martha L. (Lewellyn) Rose are natives of Illinois. and Iowa, respectively, and early settlers in Johnson county. The mother, Martha L. Lewellyn is a daughter of T. J. Lewellyn, who settled in Johnson county in the early sixties. Mr. and Mrs. Rose now reside in Olathe. Miss Rose was educated in the district schools, attending No. 14, and later attended the Ottawa High School. She then entered Ottawa University and was graduated from that institu- tion, and after completing a general course there took a course in the commercial department. She then engaged in stenographic work in Kansas City, Mo., and from there came to Olathe and engaged in public stenographic work and did mostly law work and some court reporting. She then served as deputy clerk of the district court, and in the fall of 1914 received the nomination for clerk in the district court on the Republican ticket, and was elected by a very satisfac- tory majority. She is a member of the Baptist church and her genial manner and inclination to serve the public faithfully and efficiently has made her many friends.
William P. Haskin, a Johnson county pioneer and a successful farmer now living retired in Olathe township, was born in St. Clair county. Michigan, September 20, 1835. He is a son of Harley and Mary (Pen- nock) Haskin, the former a native of Vermont, born in 1801, and the latter of New York, born May 9, 1811. Harley Haskin was the son of Richard Haskin, native of Londonderry, Ireland, who immigrated to America in 1865 and settled at Middletown, Vt. He died in 1850. Richard Haskin served in the Rovolutionary war and also had a brother,
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Harvey, who served in that war. They were with the "Green Mountain Boys," who were commanded by General Stark, at the battle of Ben- nington. Harley Haskin, the father of William P., went to Michigan when a young man and was married there. In the spring of 1836 he moved to Lake county, Indiana, where he was frozen to death on "Twenty Mile Prairie" while returning to his home after a day's work, December 24, 1836. The mother and William P., then a baby, were left alone in the world and she later married Elkanah Haskins and they moved to Lee county, Iowa, and William P., the subject of this sketch, remembers being where the city of Keokuk, Iowa, now stands, when the Indians were the only inhabitants of that place. The family settled on some Indian land along the bluffs of the Mississippi river. There was some question about the title to the land but the Haskins family remained there for some considerable time. In 1846 they returned to Indiana and located in Porter county. William P. Haskin lived in Porter and Laporte counties, Indiana, until 1865, when he came to Kansas and settled in Olathe township, Johnson county, on the place where he now resides. The following year after coming to Kansas, he went back to Vermont but remained only a few weeks when he returned to Kansas and settled on the 160 acres of land in Olathe town- ship which he bought September 26, 1865, for which he paid only $500, but even at that price Mr. Haskin says that it required more effort to pay for it on account of the scarcity of money than it would to pay for it at its present valuation. Mr. Haskin bought this land from James A. Crawford, of Staunton, Va. Mr. Haskins made a success in general farming and stock raising. He retired a few years ago and divided most of his property between his children. However, he has re- tained enough of the world's goods to easily keep the wolf from the ga- rage. Mr. Haskin was married February 25, 1869, to Miss Diana Brush,. of Laporte county, Indiana. She was born in Clinton township, that county, January 31, 1845, and is a daughter of Samuel R. and Sarah Cora Brush, natives of Pennsylvania and early settlers in Indiana. To William P. and Diana ( Brush) IIaskin have been born the following children : Diana Keyes, a teacher in the Kansas City schools; Samuel Brush, a banker of Shawnee township; and E. H., a personal sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Haskin is a Republican and since. casting his first vote for John C. Fremont in 1856, he has missed only one Presidential election. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Grange. He also joined the I. O. of G. T. in 1859, and was Deputy D. G. W. C. T. in Indiana, and has never violated the obligation. The marriage license of Mr. and Mrs. Ilaskin, issued February 25, 1869, has a prominent place on the wall of the sitting room and is enclosed in a neat frame.
G. P. Smith, a Civil war veteran and now living retired after a suc- cessful career of activity, resides at Spring Hill. He was born in Wash- ington county, Ohio, April 3, 1836, and is a son of C. C. and Orilla.
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(Davis) Smith, natives of Ohio. The father was a son of Stephen and Matilda (Stone) Smith, natives of Massachusetts, the latter being a daughter of Benjamin Franklin Stone, a pioneer surveyor in Illinois, who was an early day horticulturist and was the first man to develop the modern tomato, by a series of experiments. It was generally thought at that time that the tomato was poisonous, but through his efforts it was introduced as a useful article of food. Benjamin Franklin Stone came from Rutland, Mass., to Ohio at an early day with his family and settled near Marietta and was the first county surveyor of Washington county, Ohio, and held that position until he was over eighty years of age. He died at the age of ninety-two, a prominent and highly respected citizen of Washington county. Orilla Davis, the mother of G. P. Smith, was the daughter of F. L. and Lucy Davis, pioneers of Ohio. C. C. Smith, father of G. P., the subject of this sketch, was born in Ohio in 18II and died in Washington county, that State, in 1888. G. P. Smith, whose name introduces this sketch, was the oldest of a family of seven children. He grew to manhood in Washington county, Ohio, and attended the public schools. He was engaged in the peaceful occupa- tion of farming until August II, 1862, when he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-sixth regiment, Ohio infantry, and during his term of service participated in some of the hardest fought battles of the war, including South Mountain, Antietam, Fort Donelson, Missionary Ridge, Mur- freesboro, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga, Rossville, Chattanooga, Brown's Ferry, Lookout Mountain, Salt Pond Mountain and Ceder Creek, where Sheridan turned defeat into victory. At the close of the war he was mustered out of service at Cumberland, Md., June 27. 1865. He returned to his Washington county home and on April 3, 1867, was united in marriage to Miss A. H. Wolcott, a daughter of Elias and Lorena (Stacey) Wolcott, both natives of Massachusetts, of English descent, and early settlers in Ohio. In 1880, G. P. Smith and family removed to Kansas and located in Miami county and now resides at Spring Hill. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born five children, all born in Ohio; Orril, a graduate of the Eclectic School of Medicine, Lincoln, Neb., and the osteopathic school of Wichita, Kan. She is also a talented musician and an artist. She is now practising medicine at Wichita; Grant resides in the State of Washington; Wilbur, Okla- homa; Mary married Will Haeberle, Rosedale, Kan .; and Lucy mar- ried Dean Marks, Morse, Kan. Politically Mr. Smith is a Republican and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Grand Army of the Republic.
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