USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 77
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FRANZ EDWARD NELSON.
One of the native sons of Cottage Hill township, Marshall county, who has won a prominent and influential place among the residents of his home township, is Franz Edward Nelson, the present trustee of the township and one of its successful farmers, who was born on September, 1878, and is the son of C. O. and Anna Matilda (Anderson) Nelson.
C. O. Nelson was born in Sweden on October 8, 1845, and there received his education in the public schools and resided until he was twenty-four years of age, when in 1869, he decided to come to America. On his arrival in this country he came direct to Kansas, and here he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Cottage Hill township, one and one- half miles southwest of where Franz Edward now lives. This farm he developed and improved into one of the best in the township. He engaged in general farming and stock raising with success until 1902, when he moved to Waterville, where he has since lived a retired life. He increased his land holdings after a time and is now the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of splendid land, after having assisted his children to good homes and farms.
As a young man Mr. Nelson was united in marriage to Anna Matilda Anderson, who was born in Sweden on September 25, 1845. She spent her early life in that country and when yet a girl she came to the United States with her parents. To this union the following children have been born : Annie Ollie, Sophie, Laura Alida, Frank Edward, Alfred William, Clarence Victor
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and Amanda. Annie Ollie Johnson resides in Waterville, Kansas, where her husband is one of the leading carpenters of the town; Sophie Hager is a resident of Riley county, Kansas, where her husband is engaged in general farming and stock raising; Laura .Alida is the wife of Sander Larson, a farmer of Cottage Hill township; Clarence Victor is engaged in farming on the old home place and Amanda is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are active members of the Lutheran church and are prominent residents of the community in which they live, and where they are held in such high regard.
Franz Edward Nelson received his primary education in the common schools of the township and later attended Bethany College at Lindsborg, where he completed the business and commercial courses in 1905. He then returned to the home farm, where he remained for two years and then purchased his present place, onto which he moved in 1906. He has made many valuable improvements and has developed his farm to a high stand- ard of excellence and is engaged in general farming and stock raising with marked success.
On June 6, 1905. Franz Edward Nelson was married to Caroline Catherine White, who was born on June 14, 1877, in Denmark and is the daughter of Peter and Hannah (Madison) White, the former having been born in 1844 and died in 1880 and the latter was born in 1844, on May 6. Peter White and his family continued to live in Denmark until 1878, when they came to the United States and at once established a home in Walnut township. Marshall county, where the father died, and since the death of her husband, Mrs. White has resided in Washington county, Kansas. They were the parents of the following children: Dorathy, Margaret, Catherine and Mary. Dorathy Stenson resides in Cottage Hill, where Mr. Stenson is engaged in general farming and stock raising on his farm one mile south of the home of Mr. Nelson; Margaret resides in Marysville, where she is engaged in dressmaking, and Mary is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. White were members of the Lutheran church and reared their children in that faith. To Franz Edward and Catherine Nelson one child has been born. Margaret, whose birth occurred on November 11, 1908, and she is now a pupil in the public schools.
Mr. Nelson is independent in politics and has served his township as trustee and as assessor and was for a number of years a member of the local school board. He takes much interest in the Farmers Union, of which he is a member and he and his wife arc active members of the Lutheran church.
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PETER F. JACOBSON.
Sweden is the native land of many of the well-to-do and influential resi- dents of Marshall county, and among the number, few deserve more special mention than Peter F. Jacobson, one of the substantial farmers and stockmen of Cottage Hill township, who was born on August 18, 1854, and is the son of Jacob and Mary Elizabeth (Jones) Erickson. The parents spent their lives in Sweden and were among the prominent people of the community in which they lived and where thye were held in the highest regard and esteem. The father was born in March, 1803, and died in 1866; his wife was born in 1816 and died in 1869. They were the parents of eight children, five of whom are living. Three of the family came to the United States : Charlie, Christena and Peter F. Charlie is now living at Vikberg, Kansas, where he is one of the well-known men of the community and Christena is the wife of Nels Johnson, of Randolph, Kansas. Charlie was the first of the family to seek a home in America. In 1868 he decided that he would seek a home in this country and later landed on the shores of the United States and at once proceeded to the state of Kansas, where he has met with much success.
Peter F. Jacobson received his education in the schools of Sweden and there grew to manhood. At the age of twenty-eight years, he sailed for the land where he hoped to make his future home. For a time after his arrival in this country he worked in the wire mills at Worcester, Massa- chusetts. In 1883 he came to Kansas and worked as a stone mason and carpenter in Waterville and in Cottage Hill township. During his single life in this country he made his home with his sister, Mrs. Charlotte Alm, in Ripley county, Kansas. In addition to his work in Marshall county, Mr. Jacobson worked for a time in Colorado, where he was engaged as a mason and carpenter, trades that he had learned in Sweden.
In 1887 Peter F. Jacobson was married to Mary L. Blomquist, who was born in Illinois on February 1, 1868, being the daughter of Peter Blom- quist and wife, who were natives of Sweden and who came to the United States in an early day. They first located in Illinois and later came to Mar- shall county, where they homesteaded land in 1870. To Peter F. and Mary L. Jacobson have been born the following children: Judith L., James L., Ernest P., Emanuel R., Daniel, Gladis R., Helen M. and one that died in infancy, whose name was Rebecca. Judith L. was born on October 30, 1888, and received her education in the public schools and is now teaching at the
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Spring school district; James L .. February 21, 1890, is a graduate of the Kansas State Agricultural College and is now teaching in the high school at Salena, Kansas; Ernst P., December 19, 1891, at Denver, Colorado, and is now at home with his parents: Emanuel R., May 28, 1895: Daniel, June 7. 1897; Gladis R., March 7, 1900, and Helen M., April 5, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Jacobson are active members of the Baptist church and take much interest in all church work and they and their family are active in the social life of the community.
Mr. Jacobson is an independent Republican in politics and looks rather to the man than to party affiliations in the selection of officers to administer the affairs of the township and county. For a number of years he has held the position of treasurer of the school district, and has always taken an active interest in the development of the schools of the township, and one of his ambitions has been to have the schools attain the highest degree of pro- ficiency. He is a shareholder in the Farmers Union at Waterville and in the Blue Rapids "Fair Association, and has always taken an active interest in promoting the best interests of the county.
ROLEY S. PAULEY.
The Hon. Roley . S. Pauley, former state senator from this district. former county treasurer and one of the most extensive landowners and stock- men in Marshall county, now living on his fine farm in Guittard township. this county, is a native of the old Hoosier state. but has been a resident of Kansas since 1878, in which year he came to Marshall county, and has thus been actively identified with the development of this part of the state since pioneer days. He was born on a farm in Monroe county, Indiana, June 23, 1849, son of Solomon and Americus ( Smock ) Pauley, the former of whom was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and the latter at Bloomington, in Monroe county. Indiana. In 1855 the Pauley family moved from Indiana to Iowa and settled in Monroe county, in that latter state, where Solomon Pauley died on October 18. 1892.
Roley S. Pauley was about six years of age when his parents moved from Indiana to Iowa and he was reared on a farm in the latter state, receiv- ing his elementary schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, supplementing the same by a course in a business college at Burling- ton, Iowa. In 1878 he came to Kansas and rented a farm in Rock town-
ROLEY S. PAULEY.
MRS. NORA E. PAULEY.
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ship, where, in company with Henry C. Boggs, he "batched it" for two years, until his marriage in 1881, after which he bought a farm in Guittard town- ship and there established his home. He later bought the farm he had first rented and on that place his eldest son is now living. When Mr. Pauley came to Marshall county he had four old horses and a wagon and little else, hence his rise to his present state of good fortune has been due to his own efforts, aided by his wife, a daughter of pioneer parents and who has been a most competent helpmate in all her husband's undertakings. From the very beginning of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Pauley have worked together and have prospered together. During the early years of their life on the farm, Mrs. Pauley thought nothing of going into the fields and mak- ing "a hand", and even after the babies were toddling about her feet she con- tinued to aid in the field work. She recalls that at one time, she then having two small children, it became necessary for her to lend her assistance in the field driving a corn-stalk cutter. She fastened a box onto it and in this box she tucked the babies safely away, thus driving with them all day. Prosperity presently attended these admirably combined efforts and now the Pauleys have more than one thousand acres of valuable land, including a wheat farm over in Graham county on which, in the summer of 1916, there was raised six thousand bushels of wheat. The Pauleys have a beautiful home on their farm in Guittard township, have a fine family of children and are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated, long having been recog- nized as one of the most substantial and influential families in the county. Mr. Pauley early began raising standard live stock and for years fed cattle for the market, later taking up general farming, though continuing to engage extensively in the raising of cattle, and has done very well. He is president of the hog and cattle department of the Marshall County Fair Association. is a stockholder in that association and one of the most active promoters of the same. In addition to his extensive agricultural and live-stock interests, Mr. Pauley also has other interests and has for years been regarded as one of the most prominent factors in the general business life of the community. He was one of the organizers of the Bremen State Bank at Bremen, of the Citizens State Bank at Marysville and of the State Bank at Bigelow, but has recently disposed of those interests, his only banking connection at present being as a stockholder and member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Beattie. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Mutual Telephone Company and of the Farmers Union Elevator Com- pany at Beattie. Mr. Pauley is a Republican and for many years has been
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looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this part of the state. Since 1885 he has been a member of the school board in his home district, which he helped to organize, and has been treasurer of the same all these years. In 1906 he was elected treasurer of Marshall county and in 1908 was re-elected, thus serving for two terms of two years cach, during which time he and his family made their home in Marysville, the county seat, returning to the farm at the conclusion of his official service. In 1912 Mr. Pauley was elected state senator from the nineteenth Kansas senatorial dis- trict and served in the state Senate during the sessions of 1913 and 1915. rendering valuable service not only to his district, but to the state at large, his service as a member of the committees on live stock, fish and game and hygiene, proving of particular valne. For years Mr. Pauley has been an active party worker and has been a frequent delegate to county, state and congressional conventions.
On December 22, 1881, Roley S. Pauley was united in marriage to Nora E. Totten, who was born on September 22. 1865. in a log cabin on a pioneer farm on the banks of Vermillion river, two miles west of her present home, a daughter of Joseph and Susan Totten, who had come to this county from Illinois in 1858, thus having been among the very earliest settlers of Marshall county. Joseph Totten was a carpenter and helped build the first houses in Marysville and at Frankfort. At the time he settled here the nearest trad- ing point was at Leavenworth and he would haul his grain to that point in the fall, returning with a load of provisions sufficient for the coming year. During the early years of his residence here he was actively engaged in car- pentering during the season for such work and his wife and children looked after affairs on the developing farm. In time the Tottens prospered and became the owners of a fine farm of two hundred acres. Joseph Totten was one of the first trustees of Guittard township, serving at a time when that township comprised one-fourth of Marshall county, and served in that capacity for several terms, performing a most excellent service during the formative period of the county's civic life. He died in 1892 and his widow survived him for ten years, her death occurring in 1902. They were the parents of cleven children, of whom Mrs. Pauley was the ninth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Elizabeth, widow of George Thorne. living just north of Beattie: Emma, widow of Peter Jones, living on a farm two miles north of Beattie: John L., who died at Ottawa, this state : Florence. deceased, who was the wife of H. K. Sharp, former register of deeds for this county: Eliza N., deceased, who was the wife of John Morton ; Henry T .. who lives near Mina, this county; Frank H., who lives south of Beattie:
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Charles, who died in infancy; W. J., of Spokane, Washington, and Cora, wife of Henry Weaver, of Guittard township.
To Roley S. and Nora E. (Totten) Pauley eight children have been born, namely: Della E., who was born on December 6, 1882, and is now at home ; Ray S., December 17, 1884, now living on the farm in Rock town- ship where his parents got their start, and who married Nellie E. Graham and has two sons, Monroe and Calvin: Susan A., deceased; Jesse T., born on November 17, 1889, who married Ida Peterson and lives on one of the Pauley farms in Guittard township; Lulu A., deceased; Elsie T., born on July 28, 1895. who is now a stenographer in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan ; Cora E., April 26, 1900, and Wayne R., July 28, 1903. Mrs. Pauley and children are members of the Baptist church, to which Mr. Pauley is a generous contributor, and the family have ever taken an earnest part in the general social activities of their home community, helpful in promot- ing all movements having to do with the common welfare thereabout.
During the annual contest held at Blue Rapids on May 11, 1917, in which specially selected representatives from all of the high schools of the county took part. their daughter, Cora E., distinguished herself by winning first honors in oratory, her subject being "Individual Preparedness."
Fraternally, Mr. Pauley has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Beattie since 1885; he is also active in Masonic circles, as are his sons. Mrs. Pauley is a charter member of the Beattie Eastern Star, in which she has always taken a prominent part having filled all of the chairs but that of worthy matron.
OSCAR A. SWANSON.
Among the well-known and prominent farmers and stockmen of Cot- tage Hill township, Marshall county, who have won recognition in the com- munity where they live, is Oscar A. Swanson, who was born on May 16, 1877, on the farm where he now lives, and is the son of John and Anna Swanson, natives of Sweden.
John Swanson was born on November 24, 1839, and received his edu- cation in the public schools of his native land and there grew to manhood. In 1866 he decided to settle in America and on his arrival in this country he located in Michigan, where he worked in the lumber mills until 1870, when he came to Kansas and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in
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Cottage Hill township, Marshall county. In 1872 he was united in marriage to Anna Swanson and they continued to reside on the homestead for a number of years. They made many valuable improvements on the place and erected some substantial buildings. Much of the land was placed under cultivation, and here Mr. Swanson met with a great measure of success.
In 1877 the family moved to the farm where the son, Oscar .A., now lives. In 1879. while reaping hay, the team of mules that John Swanson was driving ran away, and as a result of the accident Mr. Swanson lost his right hand and a part of his left hand. He was a man of much ability and pos- sessed of keen business acumen. At the time of his death on January 25. 1905, he was the owner of six hundred and forty acres of land, all of which was under a high state of cultivation and nicely improved. Before his death he had moved to Randolph, where he lived for some years, and where the widow now resides at the age of seventy-three years. They were the parents of six children : Selma, Frank, August, Oscar .\., Arthur, and Ellen. Frank is a resident of Fulton, Kansas; Selma is the wife of H. Goff, of Riley county, Kansas; August is now deceased; AArthur lives in Grove county. Kansas, and Ellen resides with her mother at Randolph. Mr. Swanson was a man who was held in the highest regard by all who knew him. His life was devoted to the interests of his family and an endeavor to make better the district in which he lived. He had much to do with the general development of the township and was instrumental in the establishment of good schools and advocated the building of good roads. His life was a most worthy one, and at his death he left a large circle of friends who held him in kindly remembrance.
Oscar A. Swanson received his education in the public schools of the county and grew to manhood on the farm, where he now lives. For a good many years before the death of his father he operated the home place. On the death of his father, Mr. Swanson became the heir to one hundred and sixty acres of prime land and to this he added eighty acres in Washington county. He has made many substantial improvements on the place. In 1910 he built a splendid modern eight-room house, fitted with furnace, lights. hot and cold water and hardwood floors. He is a member of the Marshall County Fair Association, and has made an exhibit of rye, wheat, oats, corn. pop-corn, beets and fruits, raised on his place and won third prize. As a farmer, stockman and fruit grower he is recognized as one of the substantial and progressive ones of the county.
On October 2, 1901, Oscar A. Swanson was united in marriage to Augusta Johnson, who was born in Sweden and is the daughter of Nels and
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Elsie (Anderson) Johnson, who came to the United States in 1882 and established their home in Riley county, Kansas. To this union five children have been born. Myron, Elsie, Mabel, Roy, and Dorothy, all of whom are at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Swanson attend the Methodist Episcopal church and take an active part in the social life of the community.
Politically, Mr. Swanson is an independent and has always taken much interest in local affairs, and has exerted much influence in the civic life of the township. For the past nine years he has served as a member of the school board, and his best efforts have always been for the good of the schools. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and takes much interest in the work of that order.
W. J. KINSLEY.
W. J. Kinsley, one of the prominent men and substantial farmers of Marysville township. Marshall county, was born in Wisconsin on November 3. 1871, and is the son of John and Jane ( Lootitt ) Kinsley.
John and Jane Kinsley were born in England, he on July 4, 1845 and she on October 14, 1853. They were both of the farming class in their native land and grew to maturity on the home farm, receiving their limited education in the public schools. The father worked as a farm hand before he came to the United States and the mother did much work for people other than her parents. They came to America single and located in Wisconsin, where they were married on December 5, 1870. John Kinsley was a young man when he located in Wisconsin and there he worked in the lead mines, after which he enlisted in a Wisconsin regiment and served eighteen months in the Civil War. At the close of the war he returned to Wisconsin, where he was later married and where he and his family lived until 1880. Mr. Kinsley then came to Kansas where he purchased eighty acres in Marshall county. This he developed and improved and engaged in general farming for ten years, when he traded the tract for three hundred and twenty acres in Logan county, Kansas. This farm he also developed and improved and was engaged in farming and the raising of good stock, until 1913, when he sold the farm and moved to Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, where he is now living a retired life. Mr. Kinsley was prominent in the life of Logan county, Kansas, but did not aspire to office. He is a member of the Inde-
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pendent Order of Odd Fellows and has filled all the official positions in the order, including that of past noble grand.
John and Jane Kinsley are the parents of the following children: W. J., James, Christopher, A. T., Sadie, and one that died in infancy ; Jennie, deceased; Louise, Elmer and Pearl. James is a farmer of Logan county, Kansas; Christopher resides in Logan county, Kansas, and is engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery; A. T. is president of the Kansas City Veteri- nary College at Kansas City, Missouri; Sadie Long is a widow and lives at Oakley. Kansas ; Jennie is now deceased; Louise Pelfresne resides at Denver, Colorado, where her husband is an employee of a railroad; Elmer resides at Laramie, Wyoming, and is assistant state veterinarian, and Pearl is at home.
W. J. Kinsley received his education in the common schools of Wis- consin and Kansas and remained at home until he was fifteen years of age, when he worked as a farm hand until he was twenty-four years of age, when he rented eighty acres of land near Marysville, where he lived for one year, when he rented another eighty acres near Oketo, where he remained for three years. He then rented three hundred and twenty acres in the same vicinity, where he engaged in general farming and stock raising for ten years. He then purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres near Marysville and is engaged in general farming and stock raising, in which he has been most successful. He keeps a fine lot of Duroc-Jersey hogs and many high-grade Shorthorn cattle and ten to twelve horses. He has always taken much interest in local affairs. Politically, he is a Republican and for thirteen years he served as a member of the school board and was township treasurer for two years, when he was elected trustee of his township, which position he now holds. He is secretary of the Farmers Elevator Company and president of the local Farmers Union. His official life has always been above reproach and his services have been such that he has the confidence and respect of the entire community. He is most progressive and gives the same care and attention to his official positions that he does to his own personal work.
On October 14, 1896, W. J. Kinsley was united in marriage to Laura J. Kirkwood, the daughter of Amos W. and Mary (Slaughter) Kirkwood. Mr. and Mrs. Kirkwood were born in the state of Indiana, he on May 15, 1838, and she on September 17, 1846. Mr. Kirkwood was reared on the farm and attended the common schools. His father died when the lad was but fourteen years of age and it became necessary to look after himself. He worked as a farm hand, and at the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted
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