USA > Kansas > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Kansas > Part 43
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the party organization and served as a delegate at a number of con- ventions. He served as postmaster of Prairie Center six years, or until that office was discontinued on account of the rural delivery. He is a member of the Grange and is a stockholder and a director in the Johnson County Cooperative Association Store at Olathe. Mr. and Mrs. Steed are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are among the well known and highly respected people of Johnson county.
George W. Folmer, steward of the State School for the Deaf at Olathe, Kan., is a native of Iowa. He was born in Page county in 1863, and is a son of Henry and Mary Ann (Speer) Folmer, the former a native of Germany. They were the parents of eight children, two of whom died in infancy and the others are as follows: H. M. resides at Ellinwood, Kan .; C. H., Ellinwood, Kan .; F. C. resides at Laprvai, Idaho; George W., the subject of this sketch; Sarah Ann Brown, San Francisco, Cal., and Lorena Tipton, Kansas City, Mo. Henry Folmer, the father, died in 1873, and his wife survived him a number of years, passing away in 1911. George W: Folmer came to Kansas with his parents in 1870. and they located in Cherokee county where they pur- chased forty acres of land in the lead district and eighty acres of what was known as the Joy land. The father was unable to retain the eighty acres but the forty proved a profitable investment and in 1879 the mother sold it for $100 per acre. The family then removed to Johnson county where they purchased 160 acres known as the W. J. Hollis farm. About the time that they located in Johnson county, George W., who was then about eighteen years of age, met with an accident which resulted in the loss of his left arm. After the loss of his arm it occurred to him that with the physical handicap of having one arm gone, it would be necessary for him to make an extra effort to obtain a good education and from that moment he resolved to make every sacrifice to obtain an education. He then entered the fourth grade of the Olathe public schools and five and one-half years later graduated from the Olathe High School in the class of 1887. He then engaged in teaching and for the next twenty years was one of the successful school teachers of Johnson county. His first school was taught in the Moonlight district, west of Olathe, and for a time he was principal of the Lenexa and Shawnee schools. In 1903-4, Mr. Folmer served as trustee of Shawnee township. In the fall of 1904 he re- ceived the nomination for the office of clerk of the district court and was defeated by the small margin of twenty-two votes. Two years later, however, he was a candidate for that office again and defeated his former opponent by 260 votes, and at the expiration of that term he was reelected by the increased majority of 650. Mr. Folmer was appointed city assessor for the city of Olathe in 1911 and assessed the personal property of Olathe, and the following year made the real estate assessment and made a very satisfactory record in that capacity. In 1913 he was elected steward of the State School for the Deaf and
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still holds that position. His careful and painstaking methods of con- ducting the business of the State, in looking after every detail of the purchase for the school, saves many hundred dollars each year for the State. He is a hard worker and gives his whole time to the duties of his office and his record for the past two and one-half years is without criticism. Mr. Folmer was united in marriage in 1890 to Miss Prudy Huggins at Olathe, Kan. Her parents were pioneers of Johnson county. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Folmer: William Emmet, married Miss Neva Cooper, of Olathe, and they now reside in Los Angeles, Cal. They have one child, George William. Mr. and Mrs. Folmer reside in their pretty home at 567 West Park Street, Olathe, Kan. While Mr. Folmer is a "Hawkeye" by inheritance, he is a "Jayhawker" by education and adoption, and is a loyal Kansan. He is a self-made man and by hard work and determination has overcome great difficulties and made good. His slogan is "to do right," and other minor matters of life will adjust themselves.
Fred Weeks, a leading Johnson county farmer, residing in Olathe township, is a notable example of what can be accomplished by indus- try, guided by a clear head. He began with nothing and today is recognized as one of the substantial men of Johnson county. Mr. Weeks is a native of Indiana, born in Noble county, June 7. 1857. He is a son of William and Rachel (Walburn) Weeks, both natives of Noble county, Indiana. The Weeks family came west in 1865, when Fred was eight years old, and located in Cloud county, seven miles southeast of Concordia where the father bought a claim of 160 acres for $100. Cloud county at that time was in a wild and unbroken part of the frontier. There were lots of Indians still roaming over the plains, and deer. elk, antelope and buffalo were plentiful. The life of young Weeks was spent in the midst of primative pioneer sur- roundings and he has seen Kansas develop from an unbroken prairie to its present greatness, and he is still a young man. Waterville, sixty miles east of Concordia, was the terminus of their nearest rail- road and Fred and his brother were engaged in freighting in the early days between those points. It required five days to make the trip. and later when the railroad was built to Clay Center, they continued to haul freight from that point. The father followed farming all his life ; he cleared up two farms in the wilderness of Indiana before coming to Kansas. He died in 1879, aged fifty-nine years, and the mother passed away in 1888, aged sixty-five years. They were the parents of eight children. Fred Weeks spent his life in Cloud county to the age of twenty, after coming to Kansas. He then went to Colorado and located at Gunnison City where he was engaged in freighting for a time. May 12, 1881, he came to Johnson county and entered the employ of John Shrader and received for his services twelve dollars for the first month. He remained in that position for four years and seven months, and then rented a half section of land in Mission town-
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ship and engaged in raising cattle, hogs and horses and at the same time engaged in buying and selling stock. He raised large quantities. of hay and from year to year rented more land until at one time he was operating nearly 500 acres and raised as high as 500 tons. of hay annually which he sold in the Kansas City market. In 1898 he bought 135 acres of land which was unimproved. This he improved, equipped with fine farm buildings and fenced and has added to his holdings until he now has 257 acres which is one of the finest farms in Johnson county, located one mile southeast of Olathe. He carries on general farming and conducts his farming on a business basis, being one of the most successful farmers in the county. Mr. Weeks. was married March 9, 1886, to Miss Jeanette Park, a native of Pitts- burgh, Pa. She is a daughter of David and Mary (Laird) Park, and was brought to Kansas by her parents when she was three weeks old. They came from Pittsburgh by river boat to Kansas City and settled in Mission township. The father died in the year of 1874, and the mother now resides on the old Homestead in Mission township. To Mr. and Mrs. Weeks have been born two children, as follows: Fred, Jr., who received his preliminary education in the public schools of Johnson county, Olathe High School and Central High School, Kansas City, Mo. He then entered Yale College and was graduated in the civil engineering course in 1911. He then entered the employ of the Great Northern Railroad Company and was engaged in railroad con- struction in North Dakota for two years, and in 1914 he worked in the civil engineering department of the Kansas City Terminal Rail- way Company. Later he received a Government appointment to the valuation department of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and is engaged at that work now. He married Dorcas Magdeleine Thore- son, daughter of Rev. and Mrs. P. A. Thoreson, Hannaford, N. D., in 1913. Mrs. Weeks, Jr., was engaged in teaching school preliminary to her marriage. Jeanette, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Weeks, is a graduate of the Olathe High School and attended Kansas University in the year of 1909, married Willis Barr, a graduate of Manhattan Agricultural College, now engaged in agricultural ex- tension work for the University of Oregon. Mr. Weeks is a member of the A. H. T. A. and the Grangers. Politically he is a Democrat and the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Lafayette De Vault is a representative Johnson county farmer residing in Olathe township on the southeast quarter of section 18, township 14, range 24. His farm bears the official name of "Maple Lane" farm, and was the second place in Johnson county to be named and registered under the Kansas law passed in 1910 which provided for such a pro- cedure. Lafayette De Vault was reared in Johnson county, Iowa, and received his education in the public schools of Johnson county, Iowa, and attended Spaulding's Commercial College of Kansas City, Mo., one term. Lafayette De Vault is one of a family of six children of
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Strawder and Caroline (Stiles) De Vault, natives of Ohio, the former of Scotch-Irish and the latter of German parentage. Strawder De Vault walked from Indiana to Iowa in 1839, where he homesteaded a farm and remained on it until his death in 1908. He was one of the early settlers of Johnson county, Iowa, where he farmed. He went to California during the "gold fever" in early days. Lafayette De Vault came to Kansas in 1888, and located on a farm which was in the Black Bob Indian reservation, where he now resides, and has been engaged in general farming and stock raising and has been successful. He was married May 17, 1893, to Miss Gussie K. Matthews, who was born in Johnson county, lowa, and came to Kansas in 1895, a daughter of O. E. and Lydia J. Matthews. Lafayette De Vault is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons.
Eliphalet D. Newton, now deceased, was a Kansas pioneer and during his lifetime was a prominent and influential citizen. Mr. Newton was a native of Andover, Oxford county, Maine. He was born March 17, 1835, and was a son of Benjamin and Clara Newton, both natives of Maine, of old New England stock. Eliphalet D. Newton spent his boyhood days in the Pine Tree State and was reared in his native town, receiving his education in Andover Academy. In 1856, just after reach- ing his majority, he went west and for a time worked at the carpenter trade in Iowa. In 1859 he went to California and was engaged in gold mining. He worked at various places in the mining industry and for a time was employed in quartz mills, receiving very high wages. He built and operated a stamp mill and for a time was located at Virginia City, Nev. After spending nearly ten years in the mining regions of the Pacific coast and the mountains, he came to Kansas in 1868, locating at Spring Hill. In 1870 he purchased a farm of 220 acres, one mile south of Spring Hill, and the Frisco railroad was later built across this place. When he purchased the place it was unbroken prairie land, but he gradually improved it and finally developed it into a high state of cultivation, and made of it one of the best farms in that section of the State. In 1894 he left the farm on account of failing health and removed to Spring Hill, where he resided until the time of his death, January 18, 1907. Mr. Newton was a man of strong personality and possessed the requisite elements of success. He was a man of clear judgment and decided convictions, and made no attempt to conceal his views on questions of importance. He was a staunch Republican and served as trustee of his township, and at one time was a candidate for county commissioner. While he took a keen interest in public affairs and gave close attention to his private business, his greatest interest was centered in his home and family ; he was typically a home man .: Mr. Newton was married March 17, 1870, at Spring Hill, to Miss Mary Frances Porter. She is a native of Perry county, Ohio, born
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April 10, 1847, and is a daughter of Thomas and Rachel (Evert) Porter, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father died in 1852 and the mother departed this life March 17, 1880. In 1848, when Mary F. Porter was one year old, her parents came west and settled in Monroe county, Iowa, where her father died, and her mother died at Melvern, Kan. In 1866, Mrs. Newton came to Kansas and settled at Spring Hill where she was married. To E. D. and Mary Frances (Porter) Newton were born two children, Ella, wife of Eugene Davis, who is connected with the Southwest National Bank of Com- merce, Kansas City, and they have two children, Elsie and Winifred ; and Millie married Charles Caswell and they have one child, Dorothy. They reside on the home farm. Mrs. Newton resides at Spring Hill where she is well known and has many friends. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is a conscientious Christian woman.
J. B. Todd, a pioner business man of Johnson county, now conduct- ing a creamery business at Gardner, is a native of New York State. He was born in Otsego county in 1848, and is a son of Orange and Anna (Daniels) Todd. J. B. Todd attended the public schools in his native state, and when twenty-one years old came to Kansas, first locating at Atchison. After attending Baker University one year, he came to Gardner where he was engaged as clerk in a general merchan- dise store for three years. He then bought out the business and con- ducted the store for five years when he then sold the stock to Colonel Hayes and accepted a position as traveling salesman for an implement and machine company and was engaged in that business for fourteen years. He then followed farming in Johnson county about four years and on October 1, 1896, he purchased the creamery station at Gardner, where he has built up an extensive business. Mr. Todd manufactures ice cream which is known over a large section of the country for its excellence ; he also has an ice plant and manufactures ice. He buys and ships large quantities of cream and does a business amounting to thousands of dollars, annually. He has a branch station at Edgerton which he established in the spring of 1906 and the business there has greatly exceeded his expectations. In the spring of 1915, he established another branch creamery station at Spring Hill. Mr. Todd married Miss Sarahı C. Cramer and to this union five children have been born, as follows: Nellie, Clarence, Andrew, Annie and Nelson. Mr. Todd is a progressive and public spirited citizen and one of the leading factors in the hustling business town of Gardner.
J. J. Kuhlman, a successful business man of Bonita, is one of John- son county's most progressive citizens. Mr. Kuhlman is a native of Kansas, and was born in Miami county in 1875; his father, John H. Kuhlman, was a native of Hamburg, Germany, and an early settler in Miami county. When J. J. Kuhlman was four years old, the Kuhl- man family removed to Missouri, where the father bought a farm and
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spent the remainder of his life; he died in 1886 and his wife survived him for many years and departed this life in 1914. J. J. Kuhlman was reared on the home farm in Missouri and attended the common schools. As a boy he was of a frugal and industrious nature and in 1902, having saved up a little capital,, he purchased the little store at Bonita, from Price Hendricks, who was at that time sheriff of Johnson county. In connection with his mercantile business, Mr. Kuhlman began buy- ing and shipping hay and this venture proved successful from the start. In 1904 he built an elevator with a capacity of 8,000 bushels of grain, which is one of the modern elevators of Johnson county. During the month of July, 1914, Mr. Kuhlman did $100,000 worth of business, and during that year he handled 68,000 bushels of wheat, 40,000 bushels of corn, and 35,000 bushels of oats, and also about 250 tons of hay. He also handles cement and grit for the manufacture of cement. In addi- tion to his other business Mr. Kuhlman has dealt extensively in land in which he has made some very profitable transactions, and he owns a fine farm of seventy-two acres near Bonita. His career, since locating at Bonita has been marked by unusual success ; when he came here his entire capital was less than $3,000; today he could easily close out his business and walk out of the place with $25,000. Mr. Kuhlman was married to Miss Metta Jones, a native of Missouri and a daughter of F. M. Jones, they have two children, Elbert and Evelyn. Mr. Kuhlman is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a Repub- lican, although inclined to be independent in politics. He is a stock holder in the Morse State Bank and also in the Mijo Telephone Com- pany. During Mr. Kuhlman's business career in Johnson county, he has become well and favorably known and by honesty and square deal- ing, has built up a business reputation which of itself is one of the greatest assets in any business. He is one of the substantial young men of Johnson county.
Miss Alice S. Lott has been a resident of Monticello township for forty-six years. She came to Johnson county when a girl of ten years and has seen many changes here, and may very appropriately be num- bered among the Johnson county pioneers. Miss Lott was born at McClutcheonville, Wyandotte county, Ohio, in 1859, a daughter of Isaac and Mary M. (Kerr) Lott, natives of Pennsylvania who removed to Ohio with their respective parents when quite. young. In 1869 Isaac Lott with his family came to Kansas, locating in Johnson county ; he bought 200 acres of land in Monticello township, one mile east of Monti- cello, for which he paid $10 per acre. Here he engaged in farming and stock raising and prospered, and became one of the substantial and in- fluential citizens of Johnson county. He was a good neighbor, a kind husband and father and a stanch friend. He died October 31, 1890, and his wife survived him nearly a quarter of a century and passed away June I, 1914, at the venerable old age of eighty-eight years and nine months. Their remains are buried in the Monticello Union cemetery. They were
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the parents of five children, two of whom died in infancy and the others, all born in Ohio, are as follows: Alexander, born September 27, 1846, served in the Civil war, lost an arm in the seige of Petersburg, and after the war taught school in Ohio and Illinois and later came to Johnson county, Kansas, where he also taught school, and in 1873 was elected to the office of register of deeds and now resides in Kansas City, Mo .; Gib- son, born October 12, 1851, and is now connected with the Postal Tele- graph Company and resides at Kansas City, Mo., and Alice S., the sub- ject of this sketch. Miss Lott was educated in the public schools of Mon- ticello township, attending school in the old rock school house, near Monticello. Miss Lott is an estimable woman and during her forty-six years' residence in Johnson county has made many friends and has a wide acquaintance. She is well posted on current events and has a broad knowledge of affairs.
Col. Andy James, owner and proprietor of the "Meadow Brook Stock Farm, is perhaps one of the most widely known men of Johnson county. Colonel James is a native of Illinois, born in Hancock county, and came to Kansas in 1864 with his parents, John P. and Hettie (Nichols) James, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were the parents of two children: Col. Andy James, whose name introduces this sketch, and Willard James, who married Ida Staver, of .Johnson county, and resides on the home farm. After coming to Kansas, Andy James attended the public schools in Lawrence and Baker University. He began life as a farmer and later engaged in the mercantile business at Kansas City, Mo., and Dallas, Mo. About fifteen years ago he pur- chased 240 acres of land in Mission township to which he has since added the old Phillips homestead of 160 acres. These two farms com- prise what is known as the "Meadow Brook Farm." He makes a specialty of Short Horn cattle, Poland China hogs and mules. While Colonel James is well known as a farmer and stockman, he is still better known as a high class auctioneer. He began conducting auction sales several years ago and for the past fifteen years has conducted real estate and stock sales of importance over several states. He has been employed by the United States Government and various railroad and construction companies as an auctioneer, in addition to numerous thoroughbred and stock sales of the leading breeders throughout the country. Mr. James was married in 1891 to Miss Minnie Riley, of Johnson county, and to this union three children have been born, John R., now a student in Baker University ; Elizabeth N., a student in the Manhattan Agricultural College and known as one of Johnson county's leading teachers, and Ralph H. graduated from the Olathe High School in 1915.
Harry King, a former county commissioner of Johnson county, now engaged in the mercantile business at Zarah, Kan., is a native of Eng- land. He was born in Buckinghamshire, March 26, 1859, a son of Charles and Rhoda (Smith) King, also natives of the mother country. They were
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the parents of two children, Harry the subject of this sketch, and Fan- nie, who died in 1872. The King family left their native country in the spring of 1870 and immigrated to Canada. After remaining in that coun- try four months they came to the states, locating in Monticello township, Johnson county, Kansas. Here the father worked the first year for a Methodist minister, named Boles, who had been an Indian mis- sionary among the Shawnee Indians before the Civil war. The second year that Mr. King was in Johnson county, he rented forty acres of land from Joseph King, a brother, and followed farming in a small way until his death, which occurred in 1875 and his remains are buried in a private cemetery on the Boles farm, one mile south of Wilder. Harry King attended private school in England and was about eleven years of age when his parents settled in Johnson county. Here he attended the public school and began farming for himself when seventeen years old, and for fifteen years specialized in raising potatoes in the Kaw valley. He was also engaged in buying and shipping potatoes, at the same time and did an extensive business which proved profitable. In 1896 he shipped thirty carloads of potatoes to Trinidad, Colo., besides many other shipments, elsewhere. In 1902 he traded for a stock of goods at Zarah and since that time has been engaged in the general mercantile business there. He has built up a large trade and has a good lively paying busi- ness for a country store. Mr. King has always taken a keen interest in public affairs and an active part in politics. He was elected road over- seer, serving two years, and has also served at township clerk two years and has filled the office of township trustee for five years. In 1908 he was elected county commissioner of Johnson county and served four years in a manner that was satisfactory to his constituents and credit- able to himself. During his term of office as county commissioner he took a special interest in bridge work and during that administration his ideas of bridge construction were largely incorporated in the work done. He had had considerable experience in bridge construction while town- ship trustee and in 1903 in that capacity built the first concrete bridge in Johnson county. It is located two miles north of Zarah. While he was a member of the board of county commissioners about fifteen new bridges were completed in the county, among them the McCoy bridge, a concrete structure across Clear creek and another important structure completed during that time is the Bruton bridge which spans the Big Blue. Mr. King has been twice married. In 1880 he was married to Miss Carrie Haynes, who died in 1882, leaving one child, Carrie. In 1890 Mr. King was united in marriage to Miss Roxie Ballard in Wyandotte county, and five children have been born to this union as follows : Sam- uel, now engaged in business at Bethel ; Rose resides at home ; Harry, Jr .. is in the employ of the Ellet-Kendall Shoe Company, of Kansas City, Mo. ; Benjamin, a student in Central Business College, Kansas City, Mo .. and Teddy lives at home. Mr. King joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Bonner Springs, Kan., in 1890, and has been in good standing
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