USA > Kansas > Leavenworth County > History of Leavenworth County Kansas > Part 32
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Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Babcock are the parents of seven children: Edward, a farmer in Platte County, Missouri; Jesse, a farmer near Tong- anoxie; Alza Eugene, a farmer near Tonganoxie; Matthew, who follows the tiling business near Tonganoxie; Olie, a farmer in Sherman Town-
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ship; Madaline, the wife of Roy Allison, a farmer of Tonganoxie; and Mabel Eunice, who lives at home. Mr. and Mrs. Babcock have the fol- lowing grandchildren: Wilma, Lawrence, Cecil Jane, Letha, Samuel, Violet, Leona, Eunice, Lloyd, Mary Alice, Norman Babcock, and Dorothy May Allison.
Joseph Kowalewski, who is a successful farmer and grocer of Delaware Township, and who lives one-fourth mile from the city limits of Leaven- worth on the Lawrence road, is a native of Leavenworth, born July 15, 1885 the son of Sevirean and Mary (Parkerovitz) Kowalewski. His father and mother are now living in Leavenworth. Sevirean Kowalewski was formerly superintendent of the county farm, and also conducted a grocery store in Leavenworth for three years. Later, he followed dairying until he retired from business.
Mr. and Mrs. S. Kowalewski are the parents of the following children: Mrs. Lottie Kern, of High Prairie Township; Tony, of Leavenworth, and Joseph, the subject of this sketch.
Joseph Kowalewski was educated in the public schools of Leaven- worth, and has been engaged in farming practically all his life. He owns five acres where he lives and 160 acres nearby. In April, 1920, he started a grocery, and has done a good business. Mr. Kowalewski is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of Boling, Kansas. He is an enterprising, substantial citizen.
Mr. Kowalewski was married August 30, 1910, to Mary Martens of High Prairie Township, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. Martens, the latter being deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Kowalewski have four children: Elinor Gertrude, Joseph William, Dorothy Louise and Mary Alice.
J. F. Brune, an exceptionally successful farmer of Jarbalo, Kansas, was born in Indiana, February 1, 1875, the son of Fred and Catherine (Meinkein) Brune, who came from Indiana and settled in Alexandria Township in 1889. Fred Brune died about the year 1905. His widow lives in Alexandria Township.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Brune were the parents of the following children: Anna Hilderbrandt, of San Antonio, Texas; Mary Benne; William, who
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lives on the home place; J. F., of this sketch; Louis and Henry, of Alex- andria Township; Fred, of High Prairie Township; August, who died at the age of twenty-three years; and Harry, of High Prairie Township.
J. F. Brune was educated in the district schools of this county. He lived at home until he was twenty-three years old when he rented land. Mr. Brune's first land was 160 acres which he purchased in 1903, two miles north of Jarbalo, and on which he now resides. He continued to buy land until at present he owns 800 acres in High Prairie and Alexandria town- ships. He also owns several acres in Tonganoxie Township. Mr. Brune farms the entire estate, and raises stock. Four hundred acres that he owns is bottom land. He has eighty acres of alfalfa on his farm, which he uses for pasture. He raises Poland-China hogs, and feeds cattle. Mr. Brune has four sets of improvements on his farm, which are provided for the help who assist him with the work. For ten years, Mr. Brune was in the grain business in Jarbalo, buying and shipping. He also handled live stock. He has always been a hustler, and has made a success, depend- ing on his own business judgment. Mr. Brune is a member of the Grange at Jarbalo.
Mr. Brune was married July 4, 1901 to Hattie Trackwell, of Tong- anoxie Township, a daughter of Frank and Mina (Worland) Trackwell, both deceased. Mrs. Brune was born in this county. Her father died No- vember 20, 1918 and her mother December 9, 1895. They are buried at Eagle Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Brune have five children; Stella, who is in her third year of high school; Blanche, Mabel, Agnes and Francis.
Max Flinner, a leading farmer and stock man and the proprietor of Flinner stock farm in High Prairie Township, which is located three miles southwest of Boling and three miles northeast of Jarbalo on the Perryville road, was born on the farm where he now lives, and where his father and mother, John and Emma (Somers) Flinner were married in 1883. Max Flinner bought the farm in 1919. It consists of 200 acres and is one of the best stock farms in the township. It has excellent running water the year around. The improvements are a modern two- story, nine-room residence; barn, forty by eighty feet, with ten foot base- ment, also running water in the barn, and other buildings.
John Flinner put the improvements on the place, and was the first man in the county to have a telephone, which he made himself, and which
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connected his residence with that of his son, Louis Flinner. The tele- phone used had a sheep head drum and a knock on the button attracted the attention of one at the other end of the line. Mr. Flinner also in- vented the Flinner automatic gate, upon which he has five patents. This gate is used all over the United States. Another invention of Mr. Flin- ner's is a patent conductor check holder and a fence weaving machine. When he lived on the farm, he raised Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs. Mr. Flinner served two terms as township treasurer and served twelve years on the school board. Mr. and Mrs. Flinner are the parents of the following children: Louis, who died at the age of thirty-six years, and whose widow, Emma (Cavaner) Flinner, lives on the home place; William, who is in the oil business in Tulsa, Oklahoma ; John, a merchant of Tulsa, Oklahoma ; Mrs. Herbert Kihm, of Leavenworth, and Max Flinner, the subject of this sketch.
Max Flinner was educated in the public schools and for six years lived in Leavenworth, where he attended the high school and worked in his father's gate factory. He came to the farm, where he now lives, in 1911; rented the place for eight years, and then bought it. In 1918 a well was drilled for oil at a depth of 800 feet on this farm, but turned out non- productive. Mr. Flinner feeds cattle and hogs. He raises Duroc Jersey hogs, Barred Plymouth Rock poultry and does general farming, having forty acres of alfalfa and eighty acres of wheat.
Mr. Flinner was married March 15, 1911, to Florence Hampel, a native of Leavenworth, and daughter of George and Louise (Meyer) Hampel, the latter now living in Leavenworth, the former being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Flinner have had four children as follows: Ruth, Charles, Howard and Roy; the last two being dead. Mr. and Mrs. Flinner are members of the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Leavenworth, Kansas. The family is of high standing in the community.
Samuel H. Hill is one of the leading and progressive citizens of Acker- land, Kansas. He is a merchant, postmaster and station agent for the L. & T. Railroad. He was born in Grant County, Indiana September 16, 1856, the son of Benoni and Aseneath (Newby) Hill; both came to Kansas in 1878 and settled at Wilson. Benoni Hill was born in Randolph County, North Carolina and his wife was born in Gulford County, North Carolina. Major General Greene of Revolutionary fame was a great uncle of Mrs.
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Hill. She died at Seneca, Kansas in 1912 at the age of ninety-one years, and Benoni Hill died at Lawrence, Kansas, in 1912 at the age of eighty- six years. Both are buried in Fall Creek Cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. Benoni Hill were the parents of the following chil- dren: Jesse W. Hill of Lawrence, Kansas; Samuel H. Hill, of this sketch; Lydia N. Auspaugh of Ness City, Kansas ; Nancy Bloom of Seneca, Kansas.
Samuel H. Hill received his education in the schools of Grant County, Indiana. He attended Back Creek High School, and also took a course at South Wabash Academy near Wabash City, Indiana. He came to Kansas in October, 1878 and located near Great Bend, following carpentering for a year. In 1879 he went to Jarbalo, Kansas where he operated a saw mill on Stranger Creek for six and one-half years. In 1887, he bought the Ackerland store, taking charge on March 1st, of that year. He was appointed postmaster by John Wannamaker April 8, 1889, under President Harrison's administration, and has held this position continuously since that time, with the exception of the years 1895 to 1896, when he repre- sented the Sixth District in the Legislature. His wife worked in the postoffice for five years. Mr. Hill stands second in length of service of postmasters in the state, the oldest being the postmaster at Oak Mills, Atchison County. In 1898, Mr. Hill was appointed station agent and has held this position since that time. Mr. Hill has made a success of every line of work in which he is engaged, and has many friends throughout the township. He carries a general line of merchandise in his store, and also buys and sells country produce.
December 20, 1883, Mr. Hill was married to Sarah E. Ecton, who died July 4, 1888. He married his present wife, Mary F. Kinkaid of Acker- land, a daughter of Benjamin D. and Elizabeth Kinkaid, November 15, 1889. Benjamin Kinkaid is deceased and buried at Eagle Cemetery and his wife lives in Tonganoxie Township.
Louis Brune, a well known farmer, a member of one of the leading families of Alexandria Township, was born in Indiana February 15, 1878, the son of Frederick and Catherine (Meinken) Brune. His father is dead and his mother lives on the home place in Alexandria Township.
Louis Brune received his education in the district schools of Alex- andria Township, and stayed on the home place until twenty-one years of age, as did his brothers, who are: William, now living on the home
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place; John of High Prairie Township; Henry of Alexandria Township; Fred and Harry of High Prairie Township. He has two sisters : Mrs. Anna Hildebrandt of San Antonio, Texas, and Mary Benne of High Prairie Township.
Louis Brune bought his present home of sixty-four acres in 1911 from his brother, Fred Brune. He is now farming 157 acres and does general farming and stock raising. Mr. Brune has placed many permanent im- provements on his farm. Among them are a two-story residence, a large barn, and other buildings for farm use. Mr. Brune is a practical farmer, and has good ideas based upon his experience.
In February, 1903, Mr. Brune was married to Edith Sample, a daughter of Robert and Julia Sample, both now deceased. Mrs. Brune was born in Tonganoxie Township and educated at Jarbalo, Kansas. Her father died when she was quite young.
Mr. and Mrs. Brune have six children: Julia, who attends Jarbalo High School; Myrtle, also a student in high school; Thelma, Rowena, Floyd and Carl.
Mr. Brune is a member of the Yeoman Lodge. He receives his mail on Rounte One, out of Jarbalo.
Thomas Wosser, a highly respected farmer of Kickapoo Township, is a member of a pioneer family of this county, and was born in this town- ship January 7, 1860. He is the son of Richard and Ann (Donnely) Wosser, who were the parents of ten children, as follows: Mary, the wife of Joseph Hentzelman, of Mt. Olivet, Kansas; Thomas, the subject of this sketch; Johanna Cahill, of Mt. Olivet, Kansas; Victoria, who lives at home with her brother, John; Catherine, married Victor Heintzelman, of Mt. Olivet, Kansas; John, on the old home place in Kickapoo Township; James and Edward, both of whom are deceased; Anna, a Sister of Charity at St. John's Hospital in Leavenworth, Kansas, and who has been in this hospital for twenty-five years and is known as Sister Frances Marie; and Nellie, at home. Anna and Edward are twins.
Richard Wosser was born in County Meath, Ireland about 1809 and died in 1884. He came to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1854 and engaged in carpenter work, and conducted the first carpenter shop in that city. In 1858 he began farming, but was called out in the militia during Price's Raid in the Civil War. He returned to farming and engaged in this occu-
THOMAS WOSSER AND GRANDSONS, OWEN AND FRANCIS BUCHANAN
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pation until his death. His wife was born in County Kerry, Ireland, March 17, 1827 and died in 1919. She came to the United States in 1854 and worked for Col. Bill Cody's uncle at Weston, Missouri. She was well acquainted with the late Col. William Cody. She was a hard working and industrious woman.
Thomas Wosser was reared on the farm and only received three months' schooling out of the year. He worked for a while as a farm hand, then rented land for twelve years, and, in 1899, bought his present farm of eighty acres, on which he has made some improvements. When he was twenty-one years old, he served three terms as township clerk and four terms as township trustee of Kickapoo Township.
February 18, 1885, he married Mary Kennedy, who was born in this township in 1859, the daughter of Lawrence and Eliza A. (Dunn) Ken- nedy. She died March 6, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Wosser had eight children, as follows: Frances, the wife of Frank P. Goddard, of Kickapoo Township; Anna, the wife of Owen Buchanan, of Twin Falls, Idaho; Catherine and James, deceased; Sarah, of Leavenworth, Kansas; the last two named being twins; Margaret, of Leavenworth; Edward, at home; and a child who died in infancy.
Mr. Wosser is a Democrat, a member of the Catholic Church and be- longs to the Modern Woodmen of America Lodge.
Mr. Wosser has served four terms as township trustee and three terms as township clerk. He was elected five terms without opposition.
Henry J. Brune, a well informed and prosperous farmer of Alexandria Township, living one and one-half miles northwest of Jarbalo, Kansas, was born in Tonganoxie Township January 26, 1880, the son of Frederick and Catherine (Meinken) Brune; the latter now living on the home place in Alexandria Township.
Henry Brune attended the public schools of his district, and worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-three years of age. In 1910, he bought his present home place of one hundred acres from Fred and Nancy Mason. He has a good residence and a barn, which is thirty-two by thirty- six feet; also other buildings including a tool shed, corn crib, granary, etc. He has an excellent well, and Big Stranger Creek runs through his farm. Fifty acres of his farm is bottom land, and on seven acres, Mr.
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Burne raises alfalfa. He raises pure blood Duroc Jersey hogs, as well as other stock.
In 1902, Mr. Brune was married to Nettie Buchheister of Tonganoxie, Kansas, a daughter of Albert and Amanda Buchheister, both deceased. They were natives of Iowa, first locating in western Kansas, then later moving to Tonganoxie, where they both died. Mr. and Mrs. Brune have four children; Edythe, Albert, Erma and Glenn.
Mr. Brune is a member of the Yeoman Lodge, the Modern Woodmen of America Lodge, and of the Farmer's Grange. He receives his mail at Jarbalo, Kansas, Route Number One.
John Schmidt, well known and popular Buick taxi service man, was born in Germany November 25, 1870, the son of Charles and Mary Schmidt, both now deceased.
John Schmidt came to America when a boy, in 1884, and joined the United States Army in New York City. During the year 1890 and 1891 he was in the Sioux campaign in Montana. In 1894 he came to Fort Leavenworth with the Twentieth United States Infantry, and was dis- charged from he army in 1896. During the Cuban war, in 1898, he reenlisted with Company H, Twentieth Infantry, and was in service in Cuba. He participated in the battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill. He returned to Fort Leavenworth the second time and was discharged, but joined the Sixth United States Cavalry and went to the Philippine Islands, and was in he campaign there with Generals Funston, Bell, Weedon and Otis. Mr. Schmidt served eleven years in the United States Army in all, and made an excellent record. His discharges show the clean, efficient work he did in all the different places where he served.
In 1906 Mr. Schmidt came to Leavenworth and settled on a farm in Kickapoo Township which he had purchased in 1898. He still owns this place of ten acres and makes it his home. In 1916 Mr. Schmidt opened the Buick taxi service and operates four cars. He has made a success of this business. Mr. Schmidt also takes an interest in the affairs of his township and has served on the school board in his district for three years.
In 1893 Mr. Schmidt was married to Mary Boedettes of Leavenworth, Kansas. They have one son, Harry, born May 11, 1897, who assists his father in the taxi business.
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Robert B. and Walter C. Yoakum, leading contractors of Leaven- worth, came from a pioneer family. They are grandsons of Washington C. Yoakum, who was born in Tazewell, Tennessee, near Cumberland Gap, and was reared in eastern Tennessee. When a young man he went to Alabama and learned the contracting business. He was married in Ala- bama to Elizabeth (Tunstall). From that state he went to Atlanta, Georgia, where he spent several years. In 1857 he located in Leaven- worth, Kansas, at Broadway and Ottawa streets. He died in this county about 1870 and is buried near Fairmont, Kansas, of this county.
William T. Yoakum, a son of Washington Yoakum and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Huntsville, Alabama, in 1840 and came with his father to Leavenworth in 1857. He followed contracting and building until his death in November, 1918. He was a member of the Kansas State Militia.
Robert B. Yoakum was born in Leavenworth June 19, 1869 and Walter C. Yoakum was born October 10, 1875. Both were educated at Leavenworth, and Robert Yoakum was graduated from the Michigan Military Academy, near Detroit. The two comprise the firm known as "R. B. Yoakum, Contractor." This firm has been under this name since 1894. They are experts in their line of work and do a large business in the city, but the majority of their work is confined to Fort Leaven- worth. They own their building at 515 Delaware street. Among the buildings they have erected are: New Leavenworth High School building; Presbyterian Church adjoining the high school; St. John's Hospital, Luth- eran Church; the main building of the Great Western Stove Company, also their building at Oklahoma City; the library building at Fort Leaven- worth, and many of the fine residences of the city, including those of E. D. Lyle, Hiram R. Wilson and Samuel Wilson. The Yoakum Brothers are live business men and have an extensive acquaintance throughout the county.
R. B. Yoakum was married October 28, 1909 to Alice M. Forrester of Leavenworth, a daughter of P. E. and Mary Forrester, both deceased. They had a daughter Florence, who died at the age of six years. They reside at 220 Second avenue.
Walter C. Yoakum was married June 26, 1911, to Wilma P. McCreary of Leavenworth, a daughter of M. B. and Clara McCreary. They have three children: Ruth Vickery, Wilma Caroline and Clara Elizabeth. The
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family reside at 932 South Broadway. Mr. Yoakum is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
The Yoakum family have been identified with the Presbyterian Church for a number of years, Washington C. Yoakum building the first Presbyterian Church here in 1858, which was a frame building on Seneca street. William Yoakum built the second church in 1870 on Delaware street, between Sixth and Seventh streets, and the two sons now in busi- ness built the third Presbyterian Church on Fourth and Walnut streets in 1907.
Miller B. McCreary, who for more than thirty-five years has been a leading business man of Leavenworth, was born in Wabash County, In- diana November 20, 1850, the son of Rev. Lewis and Martha Ann (Shack- leford) McCreary. His father was born in Knox County, Ohio, in 1829, and was a pioneer Baptist minister for more than fifty years in Indiana, Illinois and Kansas. He came to Leavenworth in 1886 and died in 1893 and is buried at Mt. Muncie Cemetery. His wife died in 1865 and is buried in Rensselaer, Indiana.
Rev. and Mrs. McCreary had the following children: Miller B., of this sketch; Rev. Davis L., a Methodist minister at Kansas City, Mis- souri; William L., agent for Monon railroad at Rossville, Indiana, and Mrs. Gussie McCreary of Vancouver, Washington.
Miller B. McCreary was educated in the public schools of Indiana and came to Kansas in 1872, where he engaged in farming for a few years. He then learned the bridge building trade and was in Utah during the summers of 1874 and 1875. He came to Leavenworth in May, 1883 and in 1885 became an ice dealer, and for fourteen years secured natural ice from the Missouri River and surrounding lakes or ponds in this vi- cinity. When ice manufacturing machines came into use, he sold their products exclusively. When he first began business he had an office on the site of the Axa building. His plant is now located at Fifth and Oak streets. Twenty-two years ago Mr. McCreary began handling coal, and he now is a dealer for both ice and coal, and is considered a reliable and dependable business man.
In May, 1883, Mr. McCreary was married to Clarissa H. Mann, a daughter of Aaron and Mary E. Mann, the latter now eighty-seven years of age, and who resides with her daughter, Mrs. McCreary. Aaron Mann
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was formerly a shoe merchant of Kansas City, Missouri. He is now deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. McCreary have two children living: Miller A., an esti- mating engineer for the Hadley Refining Company of Danville, Illinois, and Wilma Pearl, the wife of Walter Yoakum of Leavenworth, Kansas, the latter being a contractor of the firm of Yoakum Brothers of this city. One daughter Ruth, deceased, was the wife of Lieut. Glenn E. Wood of Kansas City, Missouri. She died June 30, 1918 and is buried in Leaven- worth. Her husband, Glenn E. Wood, was in the aviation service of the United States during the war and stationed in Michigan. He was one of the 1,500 volunteers to answer to Pershing's call for volunteers, and was commissioned to go overseas two days before the armistice was signed. He was mustered out in December, 1920. Mr. and Mrs. McCreary have five grandchildren: Ruth V. Yoakum, Wilma Caroline, Clarissa Elizabeth, Mary E. McCreary and Robert McCreary.
The McCreary family is recognized as one of the substantial ones of the city, well liked and highly respected.
William Henderson, deceased, was a well known pioneer of Alexandria Township, and a native of Virginia, born in 1834. His parents first settled in Missouri, but came to Leavenworth County before the Civil War and homesteaded land in Alexandria Township, two miles northwest of Jarbalo. The Henderson farm was one of the first settled in Alex- andria Township, and a cabin is still standing that was used for a tenant house. The cabin, which was built by John Henderson, the father of William Henderson, is forty-eight by thirty-two feet, and was the best house in this vicinity at the time it was built. Hewed walnut logs forty- eight feet long were used in the construction. A hand made loom used by Mrs. John Henderson is in the old building. John Henderson was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He died at the age of seventy-five years and is buried at Fall Creek Cemetery.
William Henderson was married in Platte County, Missouri, in 1864 to Sarah Lutes, a native of Georgia, and the same year they moved to Kansas and located on the farm where Mrs. Henderson now lives. Wil- liam Henderson owned 204 acre's at the time of his death, and did general farming and stock raising and was very successful. He was a member of the school board of this district, his father having helped organize
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the district. William Henderson was one of the fifty-four men who en-' listed in the State Militia from Alexandria Township during the Civil War.
Mr. and Mrs. William Henderson were the parents of three children: William, who lives on the home place; Sarah, the wife of Ralph Hutchin- son of Boling, Kansas; and May, at home. The parents of Mrs. Hender- son, Joseph and Sarah (Steele) Lutes, were of English descent. The Henderson children were all educated at Star school house in District No. 62.
William Henderson, Jr., together with his mother and sister, lives on the home place. He left home when thirty years of age and was a carpenter for fifteen years, returning home in 1919. He is now in charge of the farm. For the past three years he has made a specialty of raising pure bred Duroc Jersey hogs, and has about fifty head on hands. His sister is interested in Buff Orpington poultry and has a nice flock.
William M. Brune is the energetic proprietor of a large stock and grain farm near Jarbalo, Kansas, in Alexandria Township, and was born December 25, 1872 in Indiana, the son of Fred and Catherine (Meinken) Brune, the former deceased and the latter living on the home farm. Fred Brune was a stockman and farmed and owned 410 acres of land, formerly owned by C. P. Dewey of Chicago. Mrs. Brune was born in Germany November 21, 1843, and still leads an active life. She does the house work and last year made more than 1,000 pounds of butter, using the old fashioned dash churn.
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