USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 75
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William Arnast was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Mateba, and to this union two children were born, William and Albert. By his second wife, Wilhelmena (Messall) Arnast four children were born as follow: Mrs. Endrulat, a widow of Marysville, Kansas; Louis and Lucy, twins, are now deceased, and Emma M., the wife of John W. Stromer. Mr. Arnast was born in Germany on February 28, 1837, and was there educated in the public schools and there he resided until he was twenty-eight years of age, when he came to the United States. As a young man in his native , country he served in the army and saw some active service. On his arrival in the United States he at once came to Kansas and located in Marshall county. In 1868 he purchased land in section 28, Franklin township, and at once built a cabin, in which all his children were born. This farm he devel- oped and improved and he engaged in general farming and stock raising with success, until the time of his death in 1907. His wife, Wilhelmena ( Messall)
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Arnast was born in Germany on March 25, 1850, and there received her edu- cation in the public schools and resided until she was seventeen years of age, when she came to the United States and settled in Wisconsin, where she was later married. Her death occurred on March 4, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Arnast were active members of the German Lutheran church and were among the organizers of the church in the township in which they lived.
William Arnast was a man of much ability and met with much success in his chosen work. At the time of his death he was the owner of six hun- (red and eighty acres of the best land, all of which was under the highest state of cultivation and well improved. When he first located on his pioneer farm, which was at that time a wild prairie, he broke the tough sod and pre- pared the soil for planting with a yoke of oxen. The nearest place where he could get groceries for the family use was at Atchison, and he had to go to Beatrice, Nebraska, to do his milling. On the road home with his groceries and flour he was often met by a band of Indians, with whom he had to share his provisions. During his early life on the plains, he and his family experienced many of the hardships of pioneer life. The breaking of the soil, the life in the rude cabin and the destruction of the crops by the grasshoppers were among the many tribulations that they had to encounter.
To John and Emma M. Stromer have been born two children, Minnie, whose birth occurred on January 26, 1903, and Edna, who was born on August 4, 1906. They are active members of the German Lutheran church and have long been identified with the moral and social development of the township in which they have lived for so many years, and where they are held in the highest regard. Mr. and Mrs. Stromer have spent active lives and they have accomplished much that is worthy of emulation. They retired from the more active duties of life in 1914, but still maintain their residence on the home farm.
RICHARD H. HAWKINS.
Richard H. Hawkins, a substantial farmer of Center township, this county, was born on the farm he now owns and on which he is living and has lived there all his life. He was born on April 22, 1877. son of Thomas and Jane ( Jackson) Hawkins, both natives of Ireland, who came to Kansas after their marriage in New York state and became pioneers of Marshall county, being among the very first settlers of Center township.
Thomas Hawkins was born in Ireland on January 6, 1846, son of Rich-
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ard Francis Hawkins and wife, farming people, both natives of the Emerald Isle, who spent all their lives there, the former dying in 1850 at the age of fifty years. When twenty-one years of age, in 1867, Thomas Hawkins came to the United States, stopping in New York and later taking a trip to Canada. He then returned to New York, where, in the spring of 1870, he married and he and his bride straightway came out to Kansas and settled in Marshall county. Upon his arrival here Mr. Hawkins homesteaded a tract of eighty acres in section 8 of Center township, and there established his home. He put up a small frame house, sixteen by twenty-two feet, and dug the first well put down in that township. He broke up his land with oxen and pres- ently had his farm under cultivation. As he prospered he added adjoining land and became the owner of a well-kept farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He set out a grove of cottonwood trees, transplanting slips he gath- ered along the banks of the Blue river, and in due time had a good looking farm. In common with other early settlers he suffered discouraging losses during the time of the grasshopper visitation, but "stuck it out" and in time succeeded, becoming accounted one of the substantial pioneers of that sec- tion of the county. Both Mr. Hawkins and his wife had been reared in the faith of the Episcopal church and helped to organize a church of that denom- ination in Center township and Mr. Hawkins set in place the first stone that went into the foundation of the church. His early wheat crops were hauled to the Hutchinson mill at Marysville, where he received twenty-five cents a bushel for the same. He hauled his fuel from Blue Rapids, paying from one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents a cord for the same.
On April 18, 1870, in New York State, Thomas Hawkins was united in marriage to Jane Jackson, who also was born in Ireland, September 13, 1835, daughter of Henry and Amelia (Hawkins) Jackson, natives of Ire- land. Mrs. Hawkins left her native land in 1859, going to Canada and later to New York, where she was married. To that union four children were born, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Amelia, who married George Brown, a farmer, of Franklin township, this county, and has four children ; Mary E., who married W. D. Miller, of Marysville, and has five children, and Rebecca F., who married Edward Hawkins, of Franklin township, to which union three children were born, one of whom is now dead.
Richard H. Hawkins grew to manhood on the pioneer farm on which he was born and has lived there all his life. In his boyhood and young man- hood he was an able assistant to his father in the labors of developing and improving the home place and is now farming the same, a well-developed
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tract of three hundred and twenty acres on which he is doing very well. Mr. Hawkins is independent in his political views. He is a member of the Episcopal church and takes a proper interest in church work. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the same.
WILLIAM E. SMITH.
William E. Smith, one of the progressive and well-known farmers and stockmen of Balderson township, Marshall county, was born in Creston, Ogle county, Illinois, on June 22, 1863, being the son of Thomson and Rebecca (Rowe) Smith.
Thomson Smith was a native of London, Canada, where he was born on November 29. 1836, and was the son of Thomas Smith, who was born in Yorkshire. England. Rebecca (Rowe) Smith was born on November 7. 1836, in Devonshire. England, being the daughter of John H. Rowe and wife, who were also natives of that country. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe received their education in the best English schools and continued to live in that country for some years after their marriage. when they decided to come to America. On their arrival in this country, they remained for a time in the state of New York and later emigrated to Illinois, where they established their home on a farm, where they lived and engaged in general farming for many years. They were ever loyal to their adopted country, and took much interest in the general social and physical development of the district in which they lived, and where they were held in high regard.
Thomson Smith received his education in the schools of Canada and there grew to manhood, having spent his early life on a farm in that country. As a young man he came to Illinois. His father became a well-known farmer in this state and a successful breeder of Shorthorn cattle. While a resident of Ogle county, Illinois. Thomson Smith was united in marriage on January 3, 1860, to Rebecca Rowe. After their marriage they continued to reside in the state until 1876, when they moved to Cedar county, Iowa. There he con- tinued his work as a farmer and a breeder of stock, in which he had met with much success in Illinois. The family remained in Iowa for five years and in 1881 they came to Kansas, locating in section 21. Balderson township. Marshall county. Here he obtained a fine farm, on which he erected a beautiful house and some good and substantial barns and other outbuildings.
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He continued his work as a farmer and breeder of Shorthorn cattle until his death on May 11, 1916. He was a well-known member of the Masonic order, and a man who took the deepest interest in all local affairs and did much for the development of the district in which he lived. William E. Smith lives east of Oketo, on his farm and is one of the men who have had much to do with the introduction of the Shorthorn cattle into Marshall county, and has shipped many of these fine animals out of the state of Kansas.
Thomson and Rebecca Smith were the parents of the following children : Ezra, William E., Ella J., Walter J., Minnie and Nellie. Ezra is a success- ful farmer in section 16, Balderson township; Ella J. is the wife of Clarence White and they are residents of Marysville; Walter J. is a resident of Esbon, Kansas; Minnie R. is at home and Nellie Potter is a resident of Balderson township, where her husband was engaged as a successful farmer and stockman. He died in 1916.
William E. Smith received his education in the public schools of Illi- nois. Iowa and Kansas. He was but a lad when he came to Kansas and here he spent the first few years of his life on the home farm. For five years after his marriage he lived in section 21 Balderson township, Marshall county. and was there engaged in general farming and stock raising until 1894, when he moved to his present location.
On December 19, 1888, William E. Smith was united in marriage to Effie M. Delair, who was born on November 29, 1869, in Oketo township, Marshall county. She was the daughter of Edmund and Dilena (King) Delair, the former born on April 11, 1829, and died on July 13. 1893, and the latter was born in 1830 and died on June 6, 1886. As a young man Edmund Delair enlisted in Company K, Ninety-second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry and served his country in the Civil War in a most accept- able way. He saw much active service and demonstrated his ability as a soldier of force and ability. Both Mr. and Mrs. Delair were active in the moral and social life of the community in which they lived and where they were held in the highest regard and esteem by all who knew them. Edmund Delair was born in Canada and Mrs. Delair was a native of the state of New York. They received their education in the schools of their respective locali- ties and later located in the state of Illinois, where they were married and where they lived until 1868. when they came to Kansas. Here they estab- lished their home on a farm in section 13 Oketo township, Marshall county, which they later developed and improved. Mr. and Mrs. Delair were actively engaged in general farming and stock raising until the time of their deaths.
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During their residence in the county they were active in all the enterprises that would tend to the better growth and development of the district. As a general farmer and stockman, Mr. Delair was recognized as one of the successful ones of the township. He took much interest in local affairs and became well known throughout the county. Mr. and Mrs. Delair were the parents of the following children : Oscar, a resident of Oketo; Ida Smith, a resident of ldaho where her husband is a farmer; Dora Patterson and her husband are living in the state of Washington; Etta Tatman and her husband are residents of Kansas, and Effie M. is the wife of William E. Smith.
To William and Effie Smith have been born the following children : Myrtle D. Taylor, who lives one mile south and three miles east of Home City, where they are living on a farm; Howard J. and Ellwood Earl are at home and Marvel M. died on November 5, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have always taken an active interest in all the affairs of the township that would tend to the uplift of the community in which they live, and where they are held in the highest regard and esteem. They are the owners of one of the best farms in the township, located in section 16, Balderson township. The house, a most substantial structure. is located on a hillside and presents a pleasing view from the road. The barn, thirty by forty feet, with its sheds, one of which is nineteen by forty feet and the other fourteen by forty feet, is among the substantial farm structures in the township. Mr. Smith is one of the most successful general farmers and stockmen in the community. and is particularly interested in the breeding and raising of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs.
Politically, Mr. Smith is identified with the Republican party and has always taken much interest in local affairs. After having served two terms as trustee of his township, he was again elected against his wishes in Novem- ber, 1916, for another term. He is a member of the Masonic order and he and his wife are active members of the Christian church. In addition to his membership in the Masonic order and the church, Mr. Smith is also a men- ber of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Knights and Ladies of Security, in all of which he takes a most active interest and in which he is one of the prominent workers.
Mr. Smith has always taken an active interest in the moral and educa- tional development of the community and has long been one of the strongest advocates of the better country school, believing that in the common schools of the township and the county rests the future of the district. By his efforts in conjunction with others in the community. the standard of the schools has
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been raised to their present high standard of efficiency. He is president of the Farmers' Co-operative Store at Oketo and assisted in the organization of Farmers Elevator Company and is a member of the Fair Association. By his activity and interest in all these undertakings, they have met with much success and are among the permanent organizations of the county. Mr. Smith is recognized by the residents of the county as one of the most progressive and influential men in the district.
JOHN GUSTAVE NELSON.
Among the many successful and well-to-do farmers and stockmen of Cottage Hill township, it is well to mention John Gustave Nelson, who was born in Sweden on February 14, 1863, and is the son of Nels Payson and wife. who were highly respected residents of their home community, where they spent their lives, the father dying in 1914.
John Gustave Nelson received his education in the public schools of Sweden and there he grew to manhood on the farm. On March 1. 1889. he was united in marriage to Eva Caroline Nelson, who was born on October 27, 1861. and was educated in the schools of Sweden. In May, 1889, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson left the land of their nativity and sailed for the United States and later reached Winklers Mill, Kansas, on June 12, 1889. When they arrived at their destination, Mr. Nelson had but five dollars in cash, and at once engaged as a farm hand, at which work he continued for three years. He then rented the Alexander Johnson farm, which he operated for ten years, after which he purchased his present farm in Cottage Hill township. Marshall county, in 1902. His original farm consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, to which he has since added two hundred and forty acres, mak- ing him a splendid farm of four hundred acres, all of which is under a high state of cultivation and well improved, and is today worth at least sixty-five dollars per acre. He has improved the place with substantial buildings, and the house has been enlarged and modernized. His cow barn, twenty-four by fifty-four feet. which is mostly stone, is one of the excellent structures of the kind in the county. He has a fine horse barn of cement and stone, thirty- six by thirty-four feet ; the poultry house and garage are of stone and are substantial structures. In fact. he has on the place a small village of good and well-built structures, the stone being quarried from the place. The farm is most attractive, and the buildings as well as the different divisions of the
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tract are all arranged in a most attractive manner, and is recognized as one of the desirable farm homes in the district. Mr. Nelson is engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising with the greatest success, and he is considered one of the most substantial men of the county.
To John Gustave and Eva Caroline Nelson have been born the follow- ing children, Hattie, who lives in Kansas City: Hugo, of Wyoming : Harokl, William, Elmer, Alice, Ruby, Lillie and Carl, who are at home. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are active workers for the general and social development of the community and are held in the highest regard and esteem. Mr. Nelson is identified with the Republican party and has always taken much interest in the local affairs of the township, and is considered one of the progressive and influential men of the county.
PATRICK W. CAIN.
Patrick W. Cain, one of the best-known, progressive and substantial farmers and stockmen of Franklin township and the proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres on rural route No. I out of Beattie, is a native son of Kansas and has lived in this state all his life, a continuous resident of Marshall county since the days of his early childhood, and has thus been a witness to and a participant in the development of this region since pioneer days. He well remembers many of the trying incidents of those pioneer days and believes that the historian will pay proper tribute to those hardy men and women who persevered in establishing homes in Mar- shall county and in extending the lines of civilization in those early days and will refer to them as the Kansas "heroes of peace." .Mr. Cain was born at Atchison, this state, October 6, 1862, son of Edward and Johanna ( Fitz- Gerakl) Cain, natives of Ireland, who became pioneers of Marshall county and here spent their last days, honored and respected residents of the conl- munity in the development of which they proved potent factors.
Edward Cain was born in County Meath, Ireland, in 1826, and there grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-six years he came to the United States and settled in Massachusetts, where he remained for five years and where he became a citizen of the United States. In 1857 he came West and remained in Illinois until the spring of 1858, when he came to Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, whence. the next year, in 1859, he came up into Marshall county and pre-empted a quarter of a section of land in section 17,
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township 2 south, range 9 east, later organized as Guittard township, and thus became one of the earliest landholders of Marshall county. At Atchison, in 1861, he married and during the Civil War was engaged in the govern- ment employ in the steamboat service between St. Joseph and Kansas City. Mr. Cain had learned the hard lessons of economy in his native land and while steamboating saved his wages for the purpose of improving his farm in Marshall county. In August, 1865, he came to this county with his family and established his permanent home on his claim, building a log house on the place and working early and late to bring the farm under cultivation and improve it according to the high standard he had set.
Fate was kind to Edward Cain in his new home on what then was the frontier of civilization in the West and he prospered, his brave heart and willing hands standing the test. Times became better and he enjoyed a large measure of success as a farmer and stockman, in due time coming to own four hundred and forty acres of excellent land in this county. In 1892 he built a fine frame house and then, apparently, when his life's dreams became realities, his busy life came to a close. April 20, 1894, on the old homestead, where he had baffled the terrors of pioneers days and had won. Mr. Cain was a Democrat and was always public spirited. . He assisted in the organ- ization of Guittard township and in the organization of school district No. 29, the school house in that district having been built on his farm. He was closely identified with the activities of the Catholic church in that neighbor- hood and saw the parish grow from its original number of eight families to fifty families.
On December 22, 1861, at Atchison, this state, Edward Cain was united in marriage to Johanna FitzGerald, who was born in County Limerick, Ire- land, in 1832, and who came to the United States in 1851, locating at Balti- more, Maryland, where she remained six years. She then spent two years in Chicago and then, in 1858, came to Kansas, locating at Atchison, where she met and married Edward Cain, and to that union were born four sons and one daughter, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being as follow: James H., who married Mary A. Cook and resides at Beattie, where he is engaged in the live-stock business; Mary E., who mar- ried Henry G. Frisch and lives near Billings, Oklahoma; John F., a railroad conductor, who married Mary A. Scanlon and resides at Lincoln, Nebraska, and Peter S., a farmer and stockman, who married Kathryn J. Scanlon and resides on the old Cain homestead just north of Beattie. Mrs. Johanna Cain was of a retiring disposition, yet kind and generous to her neighbors. The
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land of time rested lightly on her and she lived to see her grandchildren to the number of seventeen. Having assumed the cares and performed the labors of pioneer life in Marshall county, and having done her duty as she saw it, it may well be said that Mrs. Cain did her full share of the world's work. On November 12, 1911, at the old homestead, the scene of her cares and labors for well nigh fifty years, she died at the ripe old age of eighty years.
Patrick W. Cain was not yet three years of age when his parents set- tled in Marshall county in August, 1865, and he grew to manhood on the homestead farm in Guittard township. His first school days were spent in the little old log school house located on his father's farm. When the school- house site was changed to Beattie and the stone school house was erected there, he attended school in the village and acquired a common-school edu- cation. Being the eldest son, he was from the days of his boyhood an invalu- able aid to his father in the labors of developing and improving the home place. In the spring of 1894 he was married and he and his wife made their home on a farm five miles northeast of Beattie. In the autumn of 1899 Mr. and Mrs. Cain jointly purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres in section I of Franklin township and in the spring of 1900 moved to their new home. On October I of that same year, rural free-delivery route No. I, out of Beattie, was established, bringing the daily mail almost to their door, and the telephone followed in quick succession ; and in 1905 a new frame house, with some of the modern conveniences, added another chapter to the develop- ment of home life on the Cain farm. Mr. Cain has given much thought to farm problems and, owing to the uncertainty of grain crops, and as a factor in the upkeep of soil fertility, advocates the keeping of cattle on the farm, and usually twenty-five or thirty head are kept on the Cain farm. In the autumn of 1915 Mr. Cain and his son, Daniel, bought four head of registered Shorthorns as foundation stock for a Shorthorn herd.
On April 3. 1894. the ceremony taking place in the Catholic church at Center, near Garrison, Nebraska. Patrick W. Cain was united in marriage to Mary .\. Schaaf, of that place, who was born at lowa City, lowa, January 3, 1866, daughter of George and Anna ( Deckert ) Schaaf, natives of Europe, the former born in Alsace and the latter in the kingdom of Bavaria, both now deceased. George Schaaf was born in Lower .Alsace, France, February 24. 1833. and came to America in 1851, landing at Philadelphia, where he lived for fourteen years and where he became a citizen of the United States. In 1858. at PhiladIphia, he married Anna Deckert, who was born in Bavaria, Ger- many, in 1835, and who came to America in 1842, with her parents, locating
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at Philadelphia, where she lived for twenty-one years and where she met and married Mr. Schaaf. George Schaaf remained at Philadelphia until 1863, when he came West with his family and settled at Iowa City, Iowa. Two years later they moved to the vicinity of South Liberty, that same state, where Mr. Schaaf bought a quarter of a section of land and where he engaged in farming and stock raising. Some years later he bought a tract of five hundred and sixty acres of railroad land in the vicinity of Garrison, Nebraska, and in 1884 removed with his family to that place and established his home, becoming a substantial farmer and stockman. George Schaaf was a man of fine char- acter and of excellent business judgment. Possessed of that quality of genius which has been defined as "a capacity for hard work," success crowned his efforts and from time to time he purchased more land near Garrison, until he became the owner of eight hundred acres. George Schaaf was one of the leading factors in the Catholic church in his home parish at Center. Politically, he was a Democrat and ever took a good citizen's part in the public affairs of his home community. He died at his home near Garrison on January 5. 1905, and it was afterward said of him that "The young man who contemplates entering 'the university of hard knocks.' and who aspires to become a good and useful citizen, will find much inspiration in the life of George Schaaf."
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