USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 66
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MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
Politically, Mr. Wagner is identified with the Republican party and has always taken considerable interest in the civic affairs of the township. He is now serving as township clerk, having been first elected in 1908. He is also a member of the school board of district No. 136 and is treasurer of the board. Both he and his wife have always taken much interest in the edu- cational development of the county, and any movement for better schools always receives their hearty approval. Mr. Wagner has long been an advo- cate of good roads and gives his support to all development in that line. He is an active member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
GEORGE A. KRUSE.
George .\. Kruse, one of the well-known and prominent farmers of Logan township. Marshall county, was born in Saunders county, Nebraska, on March 25, 1878, the son of George and Anna (Jurgens) Kruse.
George and Anna (Jurgens) Kruse were natives of Germany, where the father was born in 1832 and the mother in 1842. They received their education in the public schools and there grew to maturity and were married in 1864. Some time after their marriage they decided to come to America, and after their arrival in this country, they came at once to Illinois, where they established their home on a farm on which they lived for some years. They later moved to Nebraska. where they engaged in general farming for some time, after which they came to Marshall county in 1882. Here Mr. Kruse purchased three hundred and sixty acres of excellent land in Herkimer township. The tract at that time was all wild prairie, but of prime quality. This he developed and improved, and at the time of his death he had a splen- did house, two large barns and other buildings. Mr. Kruse died on July 18, 1914, his wife having died in 1895, both having died on the old homestead.
George Kruse was a man of much business ability and owned at the time of his death eight hundred and forty acres. He took mich interest in local affairs and was progressive in all things. He was identified with the Republican party, but did not aspire to office. He and his wife assisted in the educational and moral development of their home township, and were held in the highest regard. They were the parents of the following chil- dren : Catherine, Margaret, Mary, William, George, Henry, Anna, Chris- tina, Andrew and two that died in infancy. Catherine is the wife of Will- iam Rabe, a farmer and banker of Bremen. Kansas: Margaret Schaefer is
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MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
the wife of a farmer of Herkimer township; Mary Lohse lives in Logan township, where Mr. Lohse is engaged in farming; William and Henry are farmers of Herkimer township: George A., the subject of this sketch, is a farmer of Logan township: Anna Geihsler is a resident of Oklahoma where her husband is engaged in farming; Christina Prelle is the wife of a mer- chant and Andrew is on the home farm. Mr. and Mrs. Kruse were devoted members of the German Lutheran church and were among the most substan- tial supporters of that denomination.
George A. Kruse received his education in the home schools of Mar- shall county and grew to manhood on the home farm, where he assisted his father with the work. After completing his education, and at the age of twenty-two years, he was given one hundred and sixty acres of land in Nebraska by his father, and here he engaged in general farming and stock raising for one year, when he moved to Herkimer township, Marshall county, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres and rented his Nebraska place. After two years on the farm which he had purchased, he sold out, after having made many substantial improvements, and moved to Bremen, where he engaged in the grain and implement business for six years. He then sold his business in Bremen and moved to his present farm of two hundred and eighty acres in Logan township. Here he has one of the desirable farms of the township, and which is substantially improved with a splendid house, large barn, garage, granaries and alfalfa sheds. Here he is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising, and is one of the extensive breeders of cattle and hogs in the county. He believes in up-to-date methods of operating a farm, and now has on his place a tractor that will do more and better work than the horse, thus conserving his time and energy for other purposes.
In 1904 Mr. Kruse was united in marriage to Minnie Brenneke, the daughter of Henry and Mary (Vogel) Brenneke, natives of Germany and prominent residents of Bremen. Minnie (Brenneke) Kruse was born in Bremen on May 23, 1883, and there received her education in the public schools and resided at home until her marriage. She and Mr. Kruse are the parents of the following children : Elmer, born on March 2, 1905; Vera Marie, October 10. 1906; Laverne Arlo, April 26, 1909: George Orbin, July 27, 1911, and Orlinda Leona, July 16, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Kruse are active members of the Lutheran church and have long been prominent in the social life of the community, where their good qualities and Christian spirit have won for them a host of friends. Mr. Kruse has always taken a keen inter- est in local affairs and is one of the representative men of the township.
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MARSIIALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
He is now township clerk and has served as a member of the school board and has always taken a deep concern in the educational development in the county. Progressive in all things, he realizes that the future greatness of any section must largely depend upon the institutions of learning. The good roads movement has always received his earnest support.
JOSEPH ZARYBNICKY.
Bohemia has given to the United States many of her citizens who have become prominent in many of the walks of life in this country. Among the number is Joseph Zarybnicky, the owner of four hundred acres of ex- cellent land and the raiser of high-grade stock, who was born on November 23, 1868, and is the son of Anton and Anna (Soucek ) Zarybnicky.
Anton and Anna Zarybnicky were also natives of Bohemia, where they were educated, grew to maturity and were later married. In that country their children were born and there they spent many years of their early life. In 1881. after their daughter, Anna, the wife of Joe Polnicky, had located in America, the parents and the rest of their children came to this country. After a voyage of nineteen days the family landed in the United States and later established their home near Wilber. Nebraska. There the father worked as a farm hand for a number of years and later made his home with his son, Frank, who was at that time one of the successful farmers of the district. Anton Zarybnicky was born in the year 1832 and is now living with his son, Joseph. The mother was born in 1832 and is now de- ceased, she having died in 1908. They were the parents of the following children : Mary, Anna, Josephine, Frank, Antonia, deceased: Joseph, An- tonia (2), John, Katherine and two that died in infancy. Mary died in Bohemia; Anna died after coming to this country; Josephine Plihal died some ten years ago; Frank is living near Odell. Nebraska, Antonia lives near Latham, Kansas; John died on the way to the United States and was buried at sea: Katherine Iteia is a resident of Table Rock, Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Zarybnicky were active members of the Catholic church and always took great interest in the affairs of the church and were well known in the social life of the community in which they lived and where they were held in the highest regard.
Joseph Zarybnicky received his education in the schools of his native land and in the public schools of Nebraska, he having spent his boyhood
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days in the latter state. At the age of fourteen years he worked as a farm hand for the farmers in the neighborhood of his home. In 1888 he rented one hundred and sixty acres of land in Nebraska, where he was engaged in general farming and stock raising for himself for five years. He then left the rented farm and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in section II, Oketo township, Marshall county. Here he engaged in general farming with success for nine years, when he purchased his present farm in the town- ship. The farm at the time he made the purchase was all unimproved and was for the most part undeveloped. Since establishing himself on his present farm, Mr. Zarybnicky has put the place under the highest state of development. As a raiser of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs he has met with with much success, and is now known as one of the most successful stockmen in the county. He has some splendid horses and his stock is all of the highest grade. The past year he had one hundred and sixteen acres of his farm in corn, which averaged thirty-three bushels per acre. In addition to his large farm interests he is a stockholder in the farmers' elevator and the co-operative store at Oketo.
On January 13, 1892, Mr. Zarybnicky was united in marriage to Katherine Bell, who was born in Bohemia in 1870. She received her edu- cation in the schools of her native land, where she lived until she was fifteen years of age, when she came to the United States and settled at Wilber, Nebraska, where she lived until the time of her marriage. Her parents spent their lives in Bohemia, where they died some years ago. To Mr. and Mrs. Zarybnicky have been born the following children: Anna, Clara, Frank, Abbie, Millie, William, Edward and Wilhelmina, all of whom are at home with the exception of William, who is deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Zarybnicky are active members of the Catholic church and have reared their children in the faith of that denomination. They have ever taken an active interest in the affairs of the county, in which they have made their home for so many years and where they are held in the highest regard. Coming to this country, where they were among strangers and amid new conditions, they have demonstrated their ability to meet the new conditions with success. By hard work and close application to business they are today numbered among the substantial people of the community.
Mr. Zarybnicky has always taken an active interest in the civic life of his home township, and while he has not been an office seeker. his advice has often been sought in matters that pertained to the public welfare. He is
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MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
one of the patriotic and influential men of the district and his life had been one of honor. He is a member of the Bohemian lodge, Z. C. B. J., and was the organizer of the local society. He is a man of much ability and his influence is keenly felt in all matters that pertain to the public welfare, in his home township as well as the county.
JOHN W. SUGGETT.
John Suggett, one of the well-known residents of Marietta, Marshall county, and one of the early pioneers of the district, was born in Detroit on June 11, 1851, the son of John P. and Clinda (Burgess ) Suggett, natives of England.
John P. and Cinda (Burgess ) Suggett were natives of Durhamshire, and Somersetshire, respectively. the former having been born in 1813 and died on June 7. 1874. and the latter was born in 1827, and died on May 6, 1906. Mr. Suggett received his education in the schools of his native land and there he grew to manhood and learned the butcher's trade. At the age of twenty years he decided to seek a home in America and on his arrival in this country he located at Detroit, where he was engaged in butchering for the lake boats. Clinda Burgess spent her early childhood in England, and at the age of ten years came to America with her parents, who located at Detroit, where she completed her education in the public schools and where she was mar- ried in 1847 to Mr. Suggett. They established their home in that city and there they lived until 1856, when they moved to Rock Island, Illinois. There Mr. Suggett engaged in supplying the steamers on the Mississippi river with meat. After a residence of six years in that city, the family decided to locate in Kansas. They made the trip to Hannibal, Missouri, by steam- boat and from there to St. Joseph by rail. Here John P. Suggett purchased a team of oxen and with his family drove to Marysville, Marshall county. He engaged in the butcher business and for two years furnished meat for the soldiers. He remained in the butcher business until 1869, when he homesteaded in Oketo township. There he and his sons cut the logs to build their first home on the claim. They obtained their timber from along the creek, and built a two-story house in which they lived for a number of years. The family always had plenty to eat in their new home, and much of their meat was obtained on the prairie, where they obtained wild prairie chicken, duck, turkey and buffalo. They were provided with fresh buffalo meat until the year 1872 and had dried meat until late the next year.
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MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
John P. Suggett became a successful farmer and in time his farm be- came one of the well-developed and improved places in the township. He raised much stock, with which he had much success. He and Mrs. Suggett were the parents of the following children: Elizabeth, William H., John WV., Nathaniel P., Thomas J., Fannie L., Benjamin F., Nellie, Clinda and Mary D. Elizabeth Champagne. William H., Fannie L. Watson and Mary D. are now deceased, the latter having died on November 7, 1895. Nathaniel P. is a resident of Oketo; Thomas J. is a resident of Marietta : Benjamin F. resides at Beloit, Kansas; Mrs. Nellie Gibson conducts a boarding house at Oketo; Clinda Mayhew lives on a farm four miles west of Marietta, in Oketo townshop where her husband, John Mayhew, is a farmer. John P. and Clinda Suggett were among the prominent residents of the county. Mrs. Suggett was a firm believer in teaching her children household duties. Her boys and girls from childhood were taught the art of cooking and the care of the home, and anyone of them could prepare an excellent meal. Both Mr. and Mrs. Suggett spent their last days on the old homestead.
John W. Suggett received his education in the schools of Marshall county. At the age of ten years he moved with his parents to the home- stead in Oketo township, where he spent his life as a lad and young man. There he assisted in the breaking and the clearing of the home place and later in the cultivation of the crops and in the general work on the farm. At the age of twenty-nine years, in 1880, he homesteaded forty acres of land in Oketo township, this being the last homestead in Oketo. He made many improvements on the place, which he later sold and moved to Marietta, where he has a good home and four acres of land. Here for many years he did general work and operated his mother's farm.
In 1880 Mr. Suggett was united in marriage to Ida Triggs, who was born in Lucas county, Iowa. in 1863 and is the daughter of Thomas M. Triggs and wife, who left their home in Iowa and came to Marshall county in 1869, where they became prominent in the affairs of the community. To Mr. and Mrs. Suggett have been born the following children: Elsie, who died in 1896; Percy, who died in November, 1913, and Victor and Hazel are now residing in Oketo township, the latter being a student in the Oketo high school. Mr. and Mrs. Suggett are active members of the United Evan- gelical church, and have long been prominent in the social life of the com- munity in which they have lived for so many years and where they are held in the highest regard. Mr. Suggett is independent in politics, but has always taken a keen interest in the civic life of his home district, and is an advocate
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of the selection of the best men to administer the affairs of the county and the township.
John W. Suggett has had an active life on the plains of the West, and when he was but fifteen or sixteen years of age he joined with Robert Shibley as a freighter. They left Marysville in April, 1866, and with a consignment of two mills for Ft. Laramie, for the gold mines, they started for St. Joseph. They transported the machinery to Laramie and were gone until winter. On one trip with Mr. Shibley they had thirty-five wagons in the caravan, including two four-horse wagons. The Indians were on the warpath in that section of the country and they had a most difficult time in making their trip. At one place Mr. Suggett and the party found an old couple murdered and they delayed their journey long enough to give them a burial. At another place they found a German settler killed at the door of his house, he having been murdered while endeavoring to gain entrance to his home. Traveling on the plains in those days was dangerous as well as difficult. There were no roads, and the winding trail at times was most difficult to follow.
To such people as the Suggett family, much honor and credit are due for their efforts in blazing the way for civilization in this Indian-ridden country. Their lives were hard ones, and only those with brave hearts and a firm determination to win could possibly succeed in their efforts to estab- lish homes on the fertile plains of Kansas. Much has been said of the trials and the hardships of those people, but only those who experienced the life can realize the struggle.
JOHN STEIG.
John Steig, who is now deceased, was one of the oldest pioneers in Marshall county, and had lived on his farm in Balderson township since 1865. He was born in Belgium on February 9, 1823. the son of John Steig and wife, who were of the farming class in that country, and among the highly respected people of their home district. John Steig received his education in the schools of his native land and remained a resident of that country until he was thirty-two years of age. In 1857 he decided to seek a home in America. After a long voyage he landed at the port of New York and at once proceeded to Chicago, Illinois, where he remained for a time, after which he took up his residence in Milwaukee. In 1865 he left
MR. AND MRS. JOHN STEIG.
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the city life and came to Kansas. Here he homesteaded land in Balderson township. Marshall county, on which he built a small shack, which answered the purpose of a home. Those were hard and trying times for the young man in a strange land and amid new conditions. The country was new and the few neighbors were far apart. Marysville, a long distance away in those days, over the plains, with no roads other than the trail over the prairie, was the nearest trading point, and at that time it could hardly be called a town. He later built a log house, obtaining the material from the timber growing on his own tract of land. He also built a log barn, and today there are walnut logs on the place that were a part of the barn erected forty-nine years ago. Some years later he erected a board house, that is still standing on the farm and in which he lived until 1902, when he built the present neat and substantial residence.
By much hard work and close application Mr. Steig was able to clear and break his land preparatory to the planting of his crops. His progress was slow, but in time he began to prosper and was soon successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising, and left a splendid farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which adjoins eighty acres that is owned by his son, John B. The farm is under a high state of cultivation and well kept. Much of the place is of fine bottom land, where are raised splendid crops of corn and other grain, with fine tracts of pasture and meadow land.
On March 24, 1868, John Steig was united in marriage to Margaret J. Beonack, who was born on September 5, 1847, in Luxemburg, and to this union were born two children, Margaret and John B. Margaret Meybrunn resides in Balderson township, two miles south and one mile west of the home. John B. was born on March 20, 1882, and received his education in the district schools of Balderson township and has always lived on the farm where he was born, and where he assisted his father with the farm work. In addition to the management of his late father's farm he looks after the interest of his own place of eighty acres.
John Steig was an active member of the Catholic church, as is his widow, and they reared their children in that faith. The family have long been prominent in the social life of the community and are held in the highest regard and esteem by all who know them. Mr. Steig was actively identified with the Democratic party, and was recognized as among the substantial and successful men of the township. Mr. Steig cast his first vote for James Buchanan for President, and never missed casting his vote for the Democratic candidate up to the time of his death. He had never been sick, up to his last illness, but once in his life, and that was in
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the fall of 1915, when he had an attack of la grippe, which affected his sight and hearing. Other than that he was both hale and hearty and able to enjoy many of the blessings of life, on his farm, where he spent so many years. During his residence in the county he had witnessed many wonderful changes, and, today, where now stand the fine farm buildings and where grows the golden grain, then stood the few huts of the early settlers and there grew the tall prairie grass, with here and there a patch of timber. All this took place in the life of this worthy man, who did so much for the development of Marshall county. John Steig died in Baldersoń town- ship on February 15. 1917. and was buried at Summerfield, Kansas, at Holy Family cemetery.
WILLIAM H. BROOKS.
William H. Brooks, a well-known and substantial farmer and stock- man of Franklin township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and the proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres there, on which he has one of the best-appointed homes in the county, is a native of the old Hoosier state, but has been a resident of this county practically all the time since 1882 and has thus long been accounted one of the well-established citizens of Marshall county. He was born at Brook- ville, Indiana, on February 20, 1847, son of Joseph M. and AAmelia ( Swan) Brooks, who were the parents of eight children, three of whom are still living.
Joseph M. Brooks was born in April, 1818, and was trained to the trade of carpenter and builder. He moved from Indiana to Peru, Illinois, and there made his home until 1879, when he came to Kansas and settled on the farm in Franklin township, this county, on which his son, the sub- ject of this sketch, is now making his home, and presently became one of the large landowners of the county. Upon coming to this county Joseph M. Brooks bought a farm of four hundred and eighty acres, built a small house on the same and there made his home for four years, at the end of which time he retired and moved to Beattie, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on July 31, 1901. After his retirement, how- ever, he continued to extend his farming operations and land purchases and at the time of his death was the owner of fifteen hundred acres of Marshall county land. Joseph M. Brooks was twice married. Following the death of his first wife he married Margaret A. Porter, who was born
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on October 30, 1823, in Adams county, Ohio, and who died at the home of William H. Brooks in this county on May 7, 1916. That second union was without issue.
William H. Brooks was but a child when his parents moved from Indiana to Peru, Illinois, and he received his schooling in that city. In 1864, he then being but seventeen years of age, he enlisted for service during the Civil War and served as a member of Company B, Fourteenthi Illinois Cavalry, under Captain Dressler, in Sherman's Army, until the close of the war, being a participant in the spirited engagements in which his command took part in the last year of the war. In one of these engage- ments he was captured by the enemy and for four or five months was con- fined in the dreadful prison pen at Andersonville. Mr. Brooks received his discharge in Tennessee at the close of the war and then returned to Peru, Illinois, where he began working as a stationary engineer. a vocation which occupied his time chiefly thereafter for thirty-five years. In 1882 he came to Kansas and for a few years worked with his father on the farm in this county, but later resumed his calling as stationary engineer and was thus engaged, in Nebraska and points farther west, until the death of his father in the summer of 1901, when he came back to this county to settle the estate and has since made his home here. In the settlement of his father's estate he inherited one hundred and forty-six acres of the old home place and he has since added to that tract by purchase until now he is the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of excellent land and has one of the best farm plants in that part of the county. In addition to his gen- eral farming. Mr. Brooks has long given considerable attention to the rais- ing of live stock, now feeding about eighty head of cattle, and has done very well. His farm is situated on section 24 of Franklin township and there he has one of the best-appointed farm houses in Marshall county, an eight-room modern house, equipped with electric lights, furnace, batlı and hot and cold water, and he and his family are very comfortably situated. The house has an admirable location and commands one of the best views in that part of the county.
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