USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 40
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ATTRACTED TO THE WEST.
The story of land in the new territory in the West, attracted him and in 1857 they came to St. Joseph by rail and boat. They purchased an ox team and wagon and coming to Marshall county settled on section 4, township 2, range 9. on June 4, 1857.
A tent served for a dwelling place until a log house was built. The Guittards and Thomann families suffered the privations incident to pioneer life. Settlements were few and far between, and the members of the family spoke mainly the French language.
Roving bands of Indians often molested them and stole from the scanty store. But they were of the sterling French type and by thrift and good management they soon prospered. The father and sons each took up land, making a section in all.
In 1858 a road was opened up from Ash Point in Nemaha county to Marysville, cutting off about fifteen miles of the old military road that ran by Robidoux station, which was situated at the crossing of the main fork of the Black Vermillion. This turned the travel toward Guittard's, and soon the place was named Guittard Station and became a landmark in the territory and throughout the country.
When Ben Holladay assumed control of the Overland stage line, George Guittard was one of his most trusted agents and many times received from Holladay substantial tokens of his esteem.
ACTIVE IN COUNTY ORGANIZATION.
In early organization of the county Mr. Guittard took an active part in advancing the public interest. He assisted when the county was organized into townships and Guittard township was named in honor of her first and best citizen. Mr. Guittard was one of the early county commissioners. He was a man of refined and gentle, but forceful, character and upright in all ways. He lived to be "of old age and full of honor". He died on March 5, 1881, and his devoted wife followed him on June 6, 1892. They are
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buried in the cemetery at Beattie, where a handsome monument has been erected over the resting place of these two worthy pioneers by their son, Xavier. On the monument is inscribed a short and fitting history of their eventful lives.
All of Mr. Guittard's family were born in France. Francis died in Philadelphia : George, Jr., is buried in the same lot with his parents. At last accounts, Joseph was living in St. Louis; Xavier, in St. Joseph. Xavier Guittard was the oldest continuous postmaster in the state, having served from 1861 to 1901, when the office was taken up by a rural mail route.
W. A. CALDERHEAD, OF MARYSVILLE.
William Alexander Calderhead was born in Perry county, Ohio, the eldest son of Rev. E. B. Calderhead and Martha Boyd Wallace. He attended Franklin College, New Athens. Ohio, at the age of sixteen and when eighteen years old, in 1862, he enlisted in Company H. One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio Infantry. He was discharged on June 27, 1865.
Calderhead was admitted to the bar in 1875 and in 1879 came to Marys- ville, where he has since resided. He was elected county attorney in 1888. serving two years and was for several years clerk of the board of education. He was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress by the electors of the fifth congressional district of Kansas in the year 1894. In 1896 he was defeated for election, because of his unwavering stand for the gold standard. being the only member of Congress from Kansas who hell for sound money.
In 1898 he was again elected and continued to serve the district through the Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth and Sixty- first Congresses. Mr. Calderhead was for many years a member of the committee on invalid pensions and assisted largely in the heneficient pension legislation which the veterans now enjoy. He was a member of the ways and means committee which gave the country the Payne-Aldrich Tariff bill. He has always been a sound-money, protective-tariff Republican. . 1 man of earnest conviction, a brilliant lawyer, with great political sagacity, Mr. Calderhead has hosts of friends who enjoy his fine presence and great personal charm.
Marshall county is his home, and he loves the county and her people, who have so many times demonstrated their faith in him, and devotion to his interests.
HON. W. A. CALDERHEAD.
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G. H. ITOLLENBERG.
G. Henry Hollenberg was born in the province of Hanover, Germany, December 19, 1823. In 1849 the discovery of gold in California induced him to sail for this country. He lived three years in California accumulating some money, then sailed for Australia. He was successful in mining ven- tures there and with sixty-five others went to Peru, South America. He suffered great hardships in crossing a branch of the Amazon river and the Andes mountains, and in fighting Indians. The adventure not proving suc- cessful, Mr. Hollenberg went to New York, via the Isthmus of Panama.
In 1854 he came to Marshall county and settled on the Black Vermillion, near what is now the town of Bigelow. There he kept a general store at the ford of the old Independence and California trail, and did a thriving busi- ness besides carrying on farming. On May 15, 1858. he was married to Sophia Brockmeyer and that same year moved to Washington county and established Cottonwood ranch, which became a stopping point for the Over- and stage. Later he assisted largely in the development of Washington county and in founding the city of Hanover, which was named for his native city, and the town of Hollenberg, which bore his name. In politics he was a stanch Republican and in 1857 cast one of the two free-state votes which were cast in Marshall county.
Mr. Hollenberg was a member of the Lutheran church, a man of sterling integrity of character, of great kindness, public-spirited and gen- erous. He served three terms as a member of the Kansas Legislature and several terms as county commissioner.
In 1874 he was appointed emigrant consul and sailed for Hanover on the steamer "Bolivia" from New York on July 1, 1874. He was taken with a severe hemorrhage of the lungs and lived but four hours. He was buried at sea on the following day, the captain reading the burial service. He left a large estate.
Mrs. Hollenberg later married Judge William Kalhoefer, of Hanover. Kansas. Mr. Ernest Thiele. of Hanover, and George W. Thiele, of Wash- ington, Kansas, are nephews of Mr. and Mrs. Hollenberg.
George W. Thiele was the first white child born in Marshall county, and close friendships have always existed between the Hollenberg. Brock- meyer and Thiele families and people of Marshall county.
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L'ENVOI.
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills Himself in many ways."
History must be written and read with the thought that the mind of one is the mind of all. It is not to be regarded as a "shallow tale," but as the record of the motives and deeds of men and women.
The story of human life is quick with interest. The same hopes and fears, ambitions and longings dwell within the hearts of all. Sorrow is a common heritage.
"Never morn wore to eve but some heart did break."
Marshall county, within its circumscribed limits, holds the pregnant story of humanity. On its soil have been enacted scenes of courage and comfort, of fortitude and faith, of life and death. The evolution of the county from prairie and plain to field and farm has been worthy of a people who have so marvelously stood the test of efficiency and virtue.
The historian and the playwright differ. When the actors have spoken their final lines, the curtain falls, the lights are dimmed, the play is over. But the historian-when the last page is written and the book about to close, may cry, with fair Portia,
"Tarry a little: There is something more."
Fradt Bergen -qELL
MRS. F. G . BERGEN!
BIOGRAPHICAL
FRED G. BERGEN.
Fred G. Bergen, one of the well-known and successful business men of Summerfield, Marshall county, and the efficient cashier of the State Bank of that place, was born in Galesburg, Illinois, on June 13, 1865, the son of George I. and Maria S. (Field) Bergen.
The bank of which Mr. Bergen is the cashier, was organized in 1889 with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. The organizers were John Gilchrist, R. M. Schriver, C. J. Schriver and Andrew J. Felt, since which time the personnel of the stockholders has been changed. The bank has been well managed and has met with much success and is today the third largest bank in Marshall county. With a capital stock of twenty-five thou- sand dollars and a surplus of fifteen thousand dollars, the institution is recog- nized as one of the strong banks of this section of the state and one in which the people have great confidence, which is demonstrated by the fact that there is now over three hundred thousand dollars on deposit. The present officers are: President, William F. Orr ; vice-president, George Craven : second vice- president, Andrew Nestor; cashier. Fred G. Bergen, and assistant cashier, James A. Hamler. The bank owns its own banking house, which was erected in 1889 and is one of the substantial structures of the city.
George I. Bergen was born in 1827 and died in 1869; his wife, Maria S. (Field) Bergen, was born in 1824 and died in 1866. Mr. Bergen was a successful manufacturer of army boots and the inventor of the famous Brown's corn planter. He was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and it was Lincoln who joined in marriage his sister and A. L. Scoville. Maria S. (Field) Bergen was a member of the Field family, of which Marshall Field and Cyrus W. Field were representatives.
His parents having died when he was but a child, Fred G. Bergen was reared by James Compton, of Augusta, Illinois. He remained with the
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Compton family until he was nineteen years of age and received the advan- tages of a good common- and high-school education. In 1884, at the age of nineteen years, he came to Seneca. Kansas, and engaged in the study of law with C. C. K. Scoville. He continued his law studies for two years. He and Mr. Scoville later engaged in the banking business. For fifteen years. Mr. Bergen was connected with the Scoville State Bank, when in 1900 he enme to Summerfield as cashier of the State Bank of Summerfield. In addi- tion to his interests in the bank he is the owner of two hundred acres of land in Marshall county. He is identified with the Republican party and has ever taken much interest in local affairs and is a man of much influence in that party's councils. On November 7. 1916, he was elected to represent his dis- trict in the state Senate, by a majority of over one thousand six hundred. While he was yet a resident of the state of Illinois, he was captain of Com- pany I. Seventh Regiment, Illinois National Guards, at Galesburg. Owing, to an accident he was unable to continue service. During the Spanish- American War he raised and drilled a company for Governor Leedy in 1898. Since locating at Summerfield he has served as a member of Governor Bailey's staff. For five years he served as treasurer of the Kansas State Banker's Association and was one of the organizers, and is now vice-president of his congressional district of the Banker's Association.
Fraternally, Mr. Bergen is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a member of the Summerfield Chapter No. 354. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. the Independent Order of Odd Fellow's and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is active in the Sons of the American Revolution, his paternal and maternal grandparents having served in the Revolutionary War. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bergen are active members of the United Presbyterian church, and Mr. Bergen has been a teacher in the Sunday school for over ten years; has served as superintendent for three years and for two years has been president of the County Sunday School Association. He gives his best efforts to the work that he undertakes, and with his commanding personality he meets with much success, both in organ- ization and the accomplishment of results. Few men of the county have assumed greater responsibilities for the development of the moral, social and financial conditions of the district, than has Mr. Bergen.
On August 5. 1889. Fred G. Bergen was united in marriage to May Matthews, the daughter of Mortimer M. Matthews, one of the early pioneers of Seneca and for forty-five years surveyor of Nemaha county, Kansas. Mrs. Bergen is a graduate of the Seneca high school and is a woman of considerable culture. Like her husband. she takes much interest in the
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religious, social and educational development of the city and district. she has always been devoted to the interests of her family, and with Mr. Bergen is held in the highest regard and esteem. They are prominent in the social life of Summerfield and consider it a pleasure to entertain their neighbors and friends. They are the parents of three children, Fredrica G., Mary J. and George I. Fredrica G. is a graduate of the Seneca high school and the State Normal at Emporia and has had a year in Northwestern University. She is now a teacher in the primary department of the Topeka, Kansas, schools. Mary J. is a member of the junior class of the Summerfield high school and George is also an attendant in the schools of their home city.
WILLIAM W. POTTER.
The Hon. William W. Potter, judge of probate for Marshall county and one of the best-known residents of Marysville, the county seat, is a native of the state of Illinois, but has been a resident of Kansas and of Marhsall county since he was fourteen years of age and has consequently been a wit- ness to and a participant in the development of this county almost since the days of the pioneers. He was born on a farm near the city of Olney, in Richland county, Illinois, March 4. 1871, a son of Benjamin F. and Rebecca (Neal) Potter, natives, respectively, of Kentucky and Indiana, who came to Kansas in the early days of the settlement of this part of the state and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Beattie, in this county, where Benjamin F. Potter spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on February 27. 1907, and where his widow is still living.
In 1885 Benjamin F. Potter came into Kansas with his family. He established his home in Guittard township and it was not long until he came to be recognized as one of the progressive and substantial farmers of that part of the county. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the seventh in order of birth, the others being as follow: John F., a farmer, living near Frankfort. this county ; Nancy J., wife of David H. Beaver, of Home City: Kate, wife of J. G. Braxton, a farmer, living in the neighborhood of Frankfort: Thomas A., a farmer, of Blue Mound: Mary M., of Beattie: Emma, wife of Oscar Halsel, of Frankfort ; Lucy, now deceased, was the wife of Daniel S. Thomas, of Grand Junction, Colorado, and Dr. Harry E. Potter, of Fairbury, Nebraska.
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William W. Potter was about fourteen years of age when he came to Marshall county with his parents in 1885 and his schooling was completed in the district school in the neighborhood of his new home and in the high school at Marysville. Shortly after leaving school he became employed in the drug store of E. L. Miller at Marysville and was thus engaged during the years 1890-92, after which he accepted a clerkship in the general store of Arand & Son. In the spring of 1893 he accepted a position as a traveling salesman for a photographers' supply house and was thus engaged for ten years, at the end of which time he took over the management of the home farm for his father and was thus engaged during the years 1903-08. In January, 1908, he became associated with the Bank of Beattie and was thus engaged at the time of his election, in the fall of 1910, to the position of judge of probate for Marshall county. Judge Potter entered upon the duties of his important office in January, 1911, and so satisfactorily has he dis- charged the duties of that office that he was re-elected in the successive elec- tions of 1912-14-16 and is now serving his fourth term as judge of probate. Judge Potter is a member of the Masonic fraternity and his wife is a mem- ber of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.
On January 9, 1908, Judge W. W. Potter was united in marriage to Blanche Burnside, who was born in this county, daughter of Thomas and Jane ( Ruddy ) Burnside, natives, respectively, of Ireland and of the Dominion of Canada, who settled in this county, becoming pioneers of the Beattie neigh- borhood. Mrs. Potter having received her schooling in the Beattie high school. Judge and Mrs. Potter have a very pleasant home at Marysville and take a proper part in the general social activities of the city.
WILLIAM JAMES HOLTHAM.
In the memorial annals of Marshall county there are few names held in 1.etter remembrance than those of the late William J. Holtham, the first rail- way station agent and postmaster at Frankfort and for many years a well- known merchant of that city, and his father-in-law, the late Albert G. Bar- rett, one of Marshall county's very first settlers, founder of the town of Bar- rett and for many years the real outstanding figure in the history of this county, his activities in the way of promoting the various interests of the county in pioneer days having made him a participant in pretty much every serious movement that marked that development in the days when the plains
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were being claimed to civilization. Mr. Holtham's widow, a daughter of Mr. Barrett, is still living at Frankfort, which city she has seen grow from a mere railway station on the bleak plain, to its present substantial state. She has been a resident of Marshall county from the days of her childhood and has thus been a witness to the wonderful development that has been made here during the past generation ; a development to which she has contributed hier part. ever helpful in the promotion of all movements having to do with the advancement of the common welfare and the extension of the social and cultural life of the community of which she has been a member since pioneer days.
William James Holtham was a native of England, born in the city of London on September 5. 1848, and was but two years of age when his par- ents. William and Caroline Rosamond Holtham, came to America and pro- ceeded on out to Indiana, locating at Evanston, in Spencer county, in the southern part of that state, not far from the Ohio river, whence they pres- ently came farther West and located at Atchison, this state, where the elder William Holtham, who was a trained brickmason, became an active building contractor. It was thus that William J. Holtham was reared and educated at Atchison. He early became attracted to the telegraph key and became an expert telegraph operator, at seventeen years of age drawing one hundred and seventy-five dollars a month, and was one of the first of the operators of the Western Union Telegraph Company to be sent across the plains to Denver. During that period of his career as an operator, Mr. Holtham had many thrilling experiences and while accompanying the construction crew of the Western Union while the line was being constructed west to Denver, not infrequently was compelled to tap the line to report evidences of Indian out- rages discovered along the way. He was a sort of a protégé of Charles Stebbins, the magnate of the Western Union Company at that time, and when the railway came through this county in 1868 he was made agent of the rail- way company and telegraph operator at the new station of Frankfort. At the same time he opened a general merchandise store at Frankfort, with the firm name of Holtham & Nelson, and was made the first postmaster of the new town. In 1870 his store was destroyed by fire and he shortly afterward decided to go to the coast. He was married in that year and for a time after the destruction of his store he engaged in farming in the vicinity of Frank- fort, but presently he and his bride went to California, where he was engaged in railway service until 1882, in which year he returned to Frankfort and the next year, 1883, engaged in business there and was thus engaged until his retirement on account of ill health, from active business in 1914, a suc-
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cessful merchant and one of the ablest factors in the upbuilding of his home town. Mr. Holtham was a Republican and ever took an active interest in local politics, but was not included in the office-seeking class. He was a member of the Episcopalian church and his widow is a member of the Presby- terian church. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and was also a member of the local lodges of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of the Knights and Ladies of Security and of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Holtham died on October 28. 1915, and was buried at Frankfort, his funeral being in charge of the Masons.
On January 1, 1870, William J. Holtham was united in marriage to Winifred Barrett, who was born in Harrison county. Ohio, July 24. 1850. daughter of Albert G. and Mary (Mckeever) Barrett, the former of whom was born on July 17, 1816, and the latter, June 14, 1821, and whose last days were spent in this county, for many years among the most prominent and influential pioneers of this section of Kansas. Albert G. Barrett was of Quaker stock and was reared in Ohio in accordance with the rigid tenets of that faith, the uprightness of his life during the years of his residence in this county ever reflecting the lessons of rectitude and faithfulness in man's relation to man he had learned in his youth. He was married at Cadiz. Ohio, in 1843. and continued to make his home in that community until 1856, when he came with his family and a number of other colonists from Ohio to Kan- sas and settled in what afterward became organized as Marshall county. Two years lefore, in 1854. Mr. Barrett had come out here in company with some others and had started a grist- and saw-mill on the banks of the Vermillion in the southwestern part of township 4, range 9, east, the first mill erected in this county and the only one within forty miles of that point ; beginning business there as a company. under the name of the Barrett Milling Company. The other members of the company presently became discouraged at what appeared to le the barrenness of the outlook and Mr. Barrett bought their interests in the mill, determined to operate the mill alone, having become convinced that it could not be long until this section of Kansas would be filling up with settlers. He then returned to Ohio and in 1856 brought out his family and quite a number of others whom he had been able to interest in the subject of homes out here on the plains, and it was thus that he founded the town of Barrett, where he spent the rest of his life.
There were ten families in the Barrett colony, all Abolitionists and anti- slavery folk, and during the troublous days preceding and during the Civil War. Mr. Barrett, who was the acknowledged leader of the anti-slavery movement in this part of the state, often was in serious danger. He was
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elected a member of the territorial Legislature and for many years was an influential factor in Republican politics in this part of the state, one of the earnest factors in the movement which started Kansas out as a free state in 1861. When the Civil War broke out he was determined to enlist liis services and go to the front, but his friends persuaded him that his duty lay at home, where his personal influence ever could be exerted in behalf of the things for which he so notably stood, and he contented himself to remain, a inember of the Home Guards. He later took an active part in the work of organizing Marshall county and served for two terms as treasurer of the county. In 1859 Mr. Barrett built the first hotel at Marysville, the old Amer- ican House, and later erected there the Barrett House, long one of the lead- ing hostelries in northern Kansas. He organized the first school in Mar- shall county, the school in old district I at Barrett, and built the first school house, ever afterward giving much attention to the development of the pub- lic-school system in the county. Upon coming out here Mr. Barrett entered a section of land at the point where the town which bears his name grew up, and ever afterward made his home there. The house which he erected there was the first really substantial house erected in Marshall county. It was built of oak, finished with walnut, and was for years a social center for all that section of the county. That old house is still standing, a beautiful place. and is now occupied by one of Mr. Barrett's daughters, Mrs. Van Vliet. Mr. Barrett was a member of the Masonic fraternity and the first lodge of that ancient order in Marshall county was organized in that house. During the early days the town of Barrett was the center of pioneer activities throughout this part of the country and Mr. Barrett's part in those activities was a most wholesome influence in the formative period of the now well-established and populous community. In connection with his general mill work, he also was a skilled cabinet-maker and for some years after coming here made all the coffins that were necessary in this part of the country. He invested largely in lands and was the owner of several valuable farms, giving to each of his children large farms. Mr. Barrett made considerable money and was a gen- erous contributor to all proper causes hereabout for many years, ever willing to share his bounty in a good cause. He had a sister, Mrs. Winifred Walker, and five brothers, Thomas, William, Uriah. John and Joseph, who joined him after he had become well established in business out here and the Barrett family thus became early one of the most numerous in Marshall county. Albert G. Barrett died at his home in Barrett in April, 1900, a little more than a year after the death of his wife, the death of the latter having occurred on January 20, 1899. They were the parents of five children, of whom Mrs.
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