USA > Kansas > Labette County > History of Labette County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 47
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Mr. Daviss was united in wedlock with Philena L. Taylor, a daughter of Jonathan Taylor, of Winona county, Minnesota, and they became the parents of six children, namely : Royal, who married Jennie Ken- worthy, by whom he has a daughter, Erma; Worthy, who married Ethel Rosenberg, and has five children : Earl, Floyd, Jennie, May, and M. J; Bertha (Shigley), who has four chil- dren,-Irving, Owen, Arthur and Lena; Mima (Stowell) and Ernest, deceased; and Tena, who was graduated from the Labette County High School, and is now teaching. Mr. and Mrs. Daviss and their family belong to the Methodist church.
B ROF. W. M. KYSER, one of the best- known educators of this section of the state, is principal of the Labette County High School, located at Alta- mont, Kansas. He has held this position since 1898, and during that period has wrought much-needed reforms, and elevated the stand- ard of the school. He is a man of high edit- cational attainments, and is possessed of con- siderable executive ability; the manner in which he has discharged the duties of his office has won for him the hearty good will and sup- port of the people of the county.
Prof. Kyser was born in Livingston county, Illinois, July 26, 1862, and is a son of L. W. Kyser, who is a native of Pennsylvania, and now follows the occupation of a farmer in Elk county, Kansas. W. M. Kyser received his primary education in the district schools of Crawford and Neosho counties, Kansas. He then taught for three years in the district schools of Crawford county, and three years in the district schools of Elk county, after
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which, in the fall of 1887, he entered the state normal school at Emporia. He was gradu- ated from this school with the class of 1890, and then taught for one year in Pittsburg, Kansas. The following four years he taught at Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, and then entered the State University of Kansas, at Lawrence. He graduated from this institution with first honors in the class of 1898, and in the fall of the same year became principal of the Labette County High School, in which capacity he has since served. He has worked to strengthen the course of the institution, and at the be- ginning of his second year the grade of the entrance examination was raised from 70 to 80. The faculty for 1900-1901 is as follows : W. M. Kyser, A. B., principal and instructor in sciences and criticism; J. E. McDaniel, A. M., mathematics and literature; J. F. Kaho, A. B., languages and rhetoric ; Mrs. J. E. Mc- Daniel, vocal music and elocution; and Al- meda Mickey, shorthand and typewriting. The enrollment for the year is 180 students.
Prof. Kyser was united in marriage, in 1899, with Anna Rockwood, a daughter of William Rockwood, of Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and Fraternal Aid; and in the Masonic order has risen to the rank of Knight Templar. He is a member of the State Teachers' Association of Kansas.
D R. WILLIAM SMITHSON NEW- LON, a portrait of whom accom- panies this sketch, is widely known as a member of the medical profession of Labette county, Kansas, where he resides in the city of Oswego.
Dr. Newlon was born near Paris, Illinois,
in 1830, and is a son of Hiram Newlon. His great-great-grandfather went from Scotland or England to the North of Ireland, and then came across the ocean to the continent of North America. In 1680, with William
W. S. NEWLON.
Penn, he located at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He returned to Europe, and again came to this country in 1700. The family name has been spelled Newland, Newlin, and Newlon.
John Newlon, grandfather of the subject hereof, was a resident of Liberty, Virginia, and an uncle, or cousin, of Mrs. Dolly Madi- son, wife of President Madison .- she being a niece of the wife of the famous Patrick Henry. John Newlon moved to Salem, Indiana, and was a friend of James Smithson, founder of the Smithsonian Institute, and from whom comes the middle name of Dr. Newlon. John
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Newlon was also related to Elijah Newland, Democratic state treasurer of Indiana, and the latter was a relative of W. De Pauw, founder of De Pauw University, of Indiana.
Hiram Newlon, the Doctor's father, was united in matrimony with Margaret Melissa Field, daughter of John Field, an early set- tler of Louisville, Kentucky, and a relative of General Field, of Virginia, Judge Field, of the supreme court of Louisiana, and of Governor Rector, of Arkansas. She was a niece of Wade Hampton, Sr., who was related to the great John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell. She was also a cousin of Governor Shortridge, of Alabama, and Governor Eli Shortridge, of North Dakota. The ancestors of Dr. Newlon were all Southerners, originally, and were slaveholders.
Dr. W. S. Newlon received a common school and academic education, after which he was engaged in teaching, for four years. He then studied medicine and pharmacy, under his brothers, Doctors J. F. and B. F. Newlon, of Dallas, Illinois, and in 1853 went overland to California and engaged in mining. He as- sisted in the effort to make John C. Fremont president in 1856, and then returned to Dallas, Illinois, where he married Maria Wimp, in 1857. He purchased a large tract of land at Newlon's Grove, Cass county, Iowa, and en- gaged in farming, also taking an active part in politics. He was elected justice of the peace and county superintendent of schools. He was the Republican county central committee- man, and assisted in raising the 4th Reg .. Iowa Vol. Inf., to repel several threatened Rebel invasions. He organized the first Union League in the United States, and was elected lieutenant in a company of Iowa militia. He attended a regular course of lectures and grad- uated from the Iowa University ( Keokuk
branch) of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1863. He practiced medicine and pharmacy four years, at Dallas, Illinois, and served as presi- dent of the city school board. He helped to raise several regiments of Illinois troops and provide them with sanitary supplies. He originated a branch of what is now the C. B. & Q. R. R., running through Dallas, Illinois.
Dr. Newlon moved to Oswego, Kansas, on Indian lands, in 1867, and engaged in the prac- tice of medicine and pharmacy. He became one of the town site company, and was elected its treasurer. He became a charter member of the Congregational church and helped to build a house of worship and a parsonage. He was first secretary, and then president and su- perintendent of the Oswego school board, and helped to build the first schoolhouse. He was a charter member of Adams Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and Oswego Chapter, No. 15, R. A. M., and was elected first warden of the former and high priest of the latter. He was first vice- president, and afterward president, of the La- bette County Medical Society. He helped to perform the first amputation of a thigh in the county, with a bowie knife and butcher's saw, and it was successful. He was for several years chairman of the Prohibition central com- mittee, and was the candidate of that gallant little party for the county treasurership and for congress. He was also a candidate on that ticket for presidential elector. When the great "exodus" began to be felt in Kansas, and the aforetime slaves commenced to come in large numbers, Dr. Newlon was appointed physician and manager of the 1,000 Freedmen newly ar- rived. The work ran through several years, and was a great tax on the pocket and health of the manager. Dr. Newlon made daily meteorological observations, for several years, at Oswego. He collected the indigenous
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plants of Southern Kansas for the Centennial Exposition, in 1876. He made geological and ichthyological reports of the county to the gov- ernment. He observed the flight and habits of birds for several years, and the food and habits of the English sparrow, for the United States Department of Agriculture. He made many geological surveys and tours in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and the Indian Territory. He collected insects, cryptogams, fishes, reptiles, crustaceans, and myriopods for Washburn College, at Topeka, Kansas. He made a biological survey of Kansas, and made many investigations of Southern Kansas arch- æblogy. He found several fossil cephalopods, new to science, and several insects, crustaceans, plants and new fishes. He wrote an early paper for The Medical Journal on the screw fly. He was one of the first to write papers and impute a germ origin to disease: he also traced con- sumption and other maladies to germs. These imputations were published in the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal and the Peoria Medical Journal, at the time. He discovered and published the virtue of, and introduced into medical practice, Sabbatia Camp Elephantopus, Helianthus Org., Grindelia Lan., Symphori- carpus Vulg. and Vesicaria. He was elected entomologist of the Labette County Horticul- tural Society, and gave many lectures on or- chard pests. He has published many papers on scientific and medical subjects, and is in correspondence with the leading scientists of the United States. Health failing him, he has engaged in limited practice in his profes- sion, in addition to which he publishes a little scientific paper known as The Golden Rod. Dr. Newlon has a large library of books and a geological, entomological and conchological collection.
He was united in marriage, in 1857, with
Maria Wimp, who died in 1871, leaving four children: Dr. C. S. Newlon, of Winfield, Kansas; Mrs. Grace Campbell, of Wichita; Mrs. Dr. C. N. Bush, and Mrs. Dr. J. Laws, of Chetopa, Kansas. Dr. C. S. Newlon is su- perintendent of one of the grandest institutions of the state of Kansas, the State Asylum for Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, at Winfield. This institution is in a flourishing condition, and reflects great credit upon the superintendent.
Dr. Newlon formed a second union by wed- ding Mrs. M. L. Stevens. widow of Colonel Samuel Stevens, who fell before Petersburg, Virginia. She had one son by her first mar- riage, Judge F. F. Stevens, of Waukomis, Oklahoma. Dr. and Mrs. Newlon became the parents of two children: W. B., who gradu- ated from the Kansas City ( Kansas) Medical College with high honors ; and John Smithson Newlon, who died November 2, 1899. Mrs. Newlon passed from this life March 20, 1899. She was connected with some well known fan- ilies,-her ancestors having come to this conn- try in the seventeenth century, and some of her family having taken an active part in the War of the Revolution.
H. BREHM, master mechanic for eight divisions of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. with residence at Parsons, Kansas, has been identified with the city's growth and de- velopment for the past seventeen years. Mr. Brehm was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1849.
Mr. Brehm was educated in Piermont. Rockland county, New York, and in 1858 ac- companied his parents to Vincennes, Indiana. Mr. Brehm lived there nine years, and then
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went to St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after, he went east to St. Louis, where he entered the locomotive department of the Ohio & Missis- sippi Railroad Company, which is now the Baltimore & Ohio South-Western Railroad Company. After leaving St. Louis, he spent three years on a farm. He took up his resi- dence in Parsons, Kansas, in 1884, and en- tered the shops of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, as a machinist. Being a care- ful and painstaking worker, and having a de- cided taste for mechanical work, he soon re- ceived a promotion. This promotion was soon followed by others,-his advancement being very rapid .- and today he is master mechanic for eight divisions of the road. He is held in high esteem by his fellow workmen, and his present position shows the confidence placed in him by his employers.
Mr. Brehm was united in marriage with Rebecca Severns, and their union has resulted in the birth of the following children : Charles, Alberta, Oliver, Arthur, Mabel, William, and Pauline. Mr. Brehm is a member of the M. W. of A., A. O. U. W., Fraternal Aid and K. O. T. M. He always assists in all public en- terprises, and is a public spirited and pro- gressive citizen. The subject of this sketch is well known in Parsons and its vicinity.
R. BROWN is president of the Inter- State Mortgage & Trust Company, of Parsons, Labette county, Kansas, and is one of the best known business men of the county.
Mr. Brown was born in Felts Mills, Jeffer- son county, New York, November 14, 1839, and is a son of Remson R. Brown. The latter was born in the Mohawk Valley, New York
State, in 1819. He followed the hotel business during his active business career, and has lived in Parsons, Kansas, since 1900. He joined the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in January, 1901, and is the oldest person known to have been taken into the order in the state of Kansas.
J. R. Brown was reared and schooled in his native county, where he lived until 1863. In that year, he came west, to St. Joseph, Mis- souri, and for two years was engaged in freighting from that city, over the mountains, to Montana and Idaho. He returned to the East, where he remained for a period of three years, and in 1869 located at Nevada, Mis- souri. There he engaged in the cattle busi- ness and bore the distinction of having built the first brick building in that city. In 1871, he settled in Parsons, Kansas, and became one of the proprietors of the old Belmont Hotel, under the style of Brown & Rasbach. This he conducted for about five years. He was then engaged in the real estate business until 1888, when he helped to organize the Inter-State Mortgage & Trust Company, of which he was elected president and manager. The other officers are F. M. Thompson, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, vice-president ; I. F. Adams, formerly of Vermont, treasurer; and W. N. Snow, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, cashier. Since the organization of the company, Mr. Brown has devoted his entire time and energy to it, and has made it a great success. It has a paid up capital of $100,000, and is in a thriv- ing condition.
Mr. Brown was united in marriage, in 1869, with Josephine Roberts, of Jefferson county, New York, and they have one son, Sherman, who is now a resident of San Fran- cisco, California. Fraternally, the subject of this sketch is a Mason, Odd Fellow and a
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member of the B. P. O. E. In Masonry, he has advanced to the thirty-second degree, be- longing to the Consistory at Topeka, Kansas.
E UGENE B. STEVENS, a gentleman widely known in the financial circles of Labette county, Kansas, is cashier and manager of the First National Bank of Parsons. He was born at Sturgeon Bay, Door county, Wisconsin, in 1857, and is a son of Ezra B. and Mary F. (Cahoon) Stevens.
Ezra B. Stevens was born in New Hamp- shire, and came to Kansas in 1868, in charge of bridges and buildings of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company. He niade his home in Parsons until his death in 1874, at the age of sixty-two years. He was the first elected mayor of Parsons, after the city was organized, and was one of the char- ter stockholders of the First National Bank, organized in 1872. He served as a director of the latter until his death. He married Mary F. Cahoon, a native of Vermont, who now resides in Parsons, and they became the parents of three children, as follows: Eugene B., Ida M. (Karr), and Mabel (Black).
Eugene B. Stevens received his primary education in Buffalo, New York, to which place his parents moved in 1865. He journeyed to Kansas in 1868, locating at Junction City, where he continued to live and where he went to school until 1871. In that year, at the age of fourteen, he became a resident of Parsons. After finishing his schooling, he was given a position with the First National Bank in 1877. He was made assistant cashier of the bank in February, 1881, and cashier in July, 1890. He has served in the latter capacity ever since, and
has been very successful in his work. He was also a member and director of the Parsons Town Company.
In 1883 Mr. Stevens was united in mar- riage with Mary Barton, a daughter of James and Susanna Barton, of Parsons, who were formerly residents of Peru, Illinois. They have three children : Mary, Gertrude, and Ida. Fraternally, he is a Mason, having taken the Scottish Rite degree, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a Republican, in politics, and was honored by election to the office of mayor of Parsons, serving from 1895 to 1897.
ON. CHARLES H. KIMBALL, one of the able lawyers of Labette county, Kansas, is widely known throughout this section of the state by reason of the numerous public enterprises which he has founded, fostered and controlled. As a law- yer, he has given evidence of his ability in many important cases of more than local prom- inence.
Mr. Kimball was born at Carthage, Jeffer- son county, New York, January 1, 1846, and is a son of Charles H. and Eleanor ( Planck) Kimball. Charles H. Kimball, Sr., was born in 1812, at Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he was reared, and whence he moved to New York State when a young man. He was a contractor, and followed that line of work all of his life, dying in 1882, in his native town. He was first united in marriage with Susan Vinton, who died, leaving five daughters. as follows: Julia L. (Briggs), of Rome, New York; Augusta B. (Smith ), of Brooklyn, New York; Caroline S. (Wilmot), of Watertown, New York; Mary L., deceased wife of O. M.
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Mason, until her death, in 1900, a resident of Jamestown, New York; and Deborah, wife of T. M. Foster, of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Mr. Kimball's second wife was Eleanor Planck, who died when the subject of this sketch was a child,-he being the sole issue of this union.
Charles H. Kimball was reared at Carthage, New York, and attended the public schools there. He entered the academy at Rome, New York, which he left to join the army, in 1863. He enlisted as a private in Company D, 10th New York Heavy Artillery, but owing to pa- rental objections was not mustered into serv- ice, although he spent some months with the regiment. He was permitted to enter the military academy at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, and in October, 1864, was appointed second lieutenant in the 43d Reg., U. S. Col- ored Troops,-remaining with that command until mustered out in the summer of 1865. He participated in the engagements at Hatch's Run; Petersburg, on the Bermuda Hundred front, between the James and Appomattox rivers; the capture of Fort Harrison; and he was among the first of the troops to enter the city of Richmond, in the spring of 1865. He was, later, quarantine officer in charge of Fort Jackson, near Savannah, several months, and was appointed first lieutenant in the 116th Reg., U. S. Colored Troops, for service on the Rio Grande or Mexican frontier,-being final- ly mustered out in the spring of 1866. He returned home and took a course in law and art in St. Lawrence University at Canton, New York. As the law department of that institu- tion was discontinued, he entered the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in 1871, in a class of 50. He began practice in New York State, after admission to the bar, but soon determined to go west.
Mr. Kimball located in Parsons, in 1872,
and his subsequent career has been one of the greatest activity. He formed a partnership with T. C. Cory, now deceased, which lasted from 1873 until 1877. He was then in part- nership with Judge A. H. Ayers until the lat- ter's death, on June 17, 1882, since which time he has been associated with A. A. Osgood, a very able lawyer. They are engaged in gen- eral practice, and have a large and well es- tablished clientage. Mr. Kimball has been em- ployed at different times by several counties in tax litigation, and, especially, was he prom- inent in the early "seventies," in the contest over the Osage Ceded Lands. He was em- ployed by the county in the prosecution of Marion Ashbell for wife murder,-a case which attracted no little attention. He has oc- cupied his present suite of offices over the First National Bank, since 1874. In 1878, he or- ganized the Memphis, Kansas & Colorado Railway Company, with local capital and built 47 miles of narrow-gauge railroad from Par- sons to the junction with the "Frisco" road, near the east line of the state. This was after- ward sold to the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad Company, and by that company changed to a standard gauge. This gave Par- sons another route through the coal fields to St. Louis, inciting competition and greatly re- ducing the price of coal. In 1884, he organ- ized the Parsons & Pacific R. R., now a branch of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway. In furtherance of this enterprise, he went to New York to interest eastern capital, thus se- curing the construction of the road to Coffey- ville and Paola. The city water works sys- tem,-small originally,-was bought by Mr. Kimball and Edwin H. Edwards, and by them rebuilt in 1892. They have a thirty-years' franchise and give good service to the city. In 1888, Mr. Kimball organized a company
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and built the ice plant, of which L. R. Roter is manager. He also organized a company which operated a telegraph line from Kansas City to Coffeyville, and is now a part of the Western Union system. He was president of all these enterprises at one time, and to him is largely due their growth and present flourish- ing condition. In 1881, he built the Kimball Hotel, which he still owns. He erected the first three-story building in Parsons, and put in the first plate-glass windows used in the city. He owns a large amount of business and resi- dence property in Parsons.
In 1878, Mr. Kimball was united in mar- riage with Helen Webster, of Fort Plain, New York. She was born in 1851, and is a daugh- ter of Hon. Peter G. Webster, a prominent lawyer of Fort Plain. Her grandfather was a cousin of the illustrious Daniel Webster, and her grandmother was a Wagner. Her mother, whose maiden name was McCall, was a daugh- ter of Dr. McCall, a relative of Roscoe Conk- lin. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kimball, namely: Charles W., Eleanor, Paul H., Pierre M., Bruce P., and Webster W. Charles W., who is twenty years of age, is attending Lawrence University. He served one year in the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War, and received fa- vorable mention for his conduct. He is pre- paring for a journalistic career, and has writ- ten several articles relating to his travels, which have been published by the leading papers of the country. He edited the High School Sen- tinel during his senior year in college. Eleanor died in infancy. Paul H., aged fifteen years, attends school; Pierre M. is fourteen years of age; Bruce P. is twelve years of age; and Webster W. is aged ten years. The subject of this sketch is a Republican, in politics, and in early years served as city attorney. In 1884,
he was elected to the state senate, and served from 1885 to 1893. He is a thirty-second-de- gree Mason, and is a member of Topeka Con- sistory, Scottish Rites, and of Abdallah Tem- ple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Leaven- worth, Kansas. He is a member of Antietam Post, G. A. R., of Parsons. Religiously, Mrs. Kimball attends the Episcopal church.
€ DWIN H. EDWARDS, who for many years has been one of the most enter- prising citizens of Parsons, Labette county, Kansas, is president of the Parsons Commercial Bank. He has been identified with many public enterprises, which have inured greatly to the benefit of the citizens of the community.
Mr. Edwards was born in Jefferson county, New York, August 31, 1833, and was reared and educated in DeKalb county, Illinois, whither his parents had moved in 1846. He first attended school in a little log schoolhouse, and subsequently attended Lee Center Acad- emy and Mount Morris Academy. With C. L. Allen, now of Los Angeles, California, and Gen. Smith D. Atkins, now of Freeport, Illi- nois, he went to Savanna, Illinois, and estab- lished a paper, which they conducted for a few years. Mr. Edwards then went to Earlville, Illinois, where he was engaged as a merchant until 1875. On January 1, 1875, he located in Parsons, Kansas, where he was engaged in the hardware and implement business for many years, which he relinquished in 1883. He has been identified with the Commercial Bank since 1878, and since 1883 has served in the capacity of president. He is a man of superior executive ability, and of keen fore- sight in business transactions. and under his
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efficient management the bank has been ex- ceedingly prosperous. He also built the Par- sons Water Works, in 1884, in connection with Charles H. Kimball, who now serves as presi- dent of the company,-Mr. Edwards being vice-president and treasurer. The plant was rebuilt in 1892, at a cost of $226,000. He has also erected many modern buildings in the city. He enjoys the highest esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens not only for his great business ability, but also on account of his many excellent traits of character.
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