USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 85
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Mr. Focks was a man of unusual attainments and of splendid educa- tion. He was always a great reader and kept well posted on all current events. He was broadminded and possessed of excellent judgment, and his advice was often sought in matters that pertained to the welfare of the township or county. Having been educated in the excellent schools of his native land, he well knew the value of an education, and was in a position to advise in all matters pertaining to schools and school work. For twenty years he was a member of the school board of his township and served as clerk of the organization. He took the greatest interest in his family, and was a great home man, giving his family the best that he had to give. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran church and always took much interest in all church work, and were prominent in the social, educational and the religious life of the community.
On December 28. 1876, Michael Frederick Focks was united in mar- riage to Mary Schroeder, who was born at Bloomington, Illinois, on Janu- ary 20, 1857, and is the daughter of Anthony and Sophia ( Siebert) Schroeder. Her parents were natives of Mecklenburg, Germany, where they were educated in the public schools and were later married. They established their home in their native land, where they continued to live until 1854, when they came to the United States and located on a farm near Bloomington, Illinois, where they died, the former in 1863 and the latter in 1903. They were the parents of two children, Mary and Minnie, the latter, now deceased, was the wife of John Henning, of Minneapolis. Some years after the death of her husband, Mrs. Schroeder married Gott- lieb Liepold and to this union two children were born, Bertha, now deceased, and Albert. of Bloomington, Illinois.
Michael Frederick and Mary ( Schroeder) Focks were the parents of the following children: Amelia, Minnie, Frederick, Hulda, Henry, Louis, Rudolph. Bertha and Albert. Amelia is the wife of Will Hall and lives at Red Rock, Oklahoma: Minnie Mills, of Kansas City, Missouri : Frederick A. is a railroad man and lives at Crane City, Missouri : Hulda Dwyer, of Kansas City, Missouri: Louis died in 1892; Rudolph resides in South Dakota : Bertha Talbot resides at Marysville, and Henry and Albert are
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at home. Henry was born on January 16, 1884, and Albert on January 7. 1894. The family have long been among the prominent people of the county and have had much to do with the social activities of their home communities.
Michael Frederick Focks was a man who accomplished much during his active and useful life. Coming to America as a lad, and without funds and without friends, he had his own way to make, and in this he was most successful. He always had a high regard for morality and correct living, and during his rambling life of the first few years he was always careful of his associates, and to his family he brought a clean and manly life.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
Andrew Johnson, mayor of the town of Vermillion, proprietor of an extensive lumber business at that place and also connected with various other business enterprises there and at Axtell, treasurer of Noble township. former clerk of Murray township and a substantial landowner of Marshall county, is a native of the kingdom of Sweden, but has been a resident of this county since the days of his early childhood and is thus as thoroughly identified with the affairs of this region as though "native and to the manner born." He was born on February 10, 1867, son of Peter and Margaret (Pearson) Johnson, also natives of Sweden, who came to this country with their family in the spring of 1870 and proceeded on out to Kansas, locating in the northern part of Marshall county, near the present site of the town of Summerfield, right on the Nebraska line. There Peter Johnson home- steaded a tract of land and proceeded to develop the same, making his home there until 1878. when he bought a farm two miles south of Axtell in Mur- ray township. He did well in his farming operations and eventually became the owner of three hundred and twenty acres. He had been trained to the trade of stone mason in his native land and followed that trade to a con- siderable extent after coming here, building the foundations for many of the early buildings in the northeastern part of the county, including the foundation for the first Catholic church at Axtell. His father-in-law, Andrew Pearson, who with his wife, accompanied the Johnsons to this country from Sweden, was a carpenter and actively followed that trade for some years after coming here. He and his wife made their home with the Johnsons. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson were among the charter members of the Swedish
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Lutheran church in the Swedish settlement in Lincoln township and were influential members of that community. They lived to see their family well established and the community into which they had come when this region was an open range populated and prosperous, with flourishing towns and villages and farms improved to the very last word in agricultural develop- ment. Peter Johnson died on January 22, 1914. and his widow survived him a little less than two years, her death occurring on January 2, 1916. They were the parents of ten children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born. the others being as follow: Jonas, who is now living retired at Kackley, this state; Gustave, who is living on a farm south of Axtell; Frank O., a banker at Courtland; William, a merchant at Axtell; Mrs. Minnie Floberg, of Lincoln township; Victor and Edward, who have remained on the old home place in Murray township, and Dena and Rosa, who are also living on the old home place.
Andrew Johnson was but three years of age when his parents came to Marshall county and he grew to manhood as a farmer, assisting his father until he was twenty-two years of age. As a lad he herded cattle on the open range on land now occupied by the town of Summerfield and he has been a witness to the development of the county from the days when the homes of the settlers were few and far between. After his marriage in 1889. he then being twenty-two years of age. he engaged in the mercantile business at Courtland and was thus engaged at that place for four years, at the end of which time he sold out there and moved to Axtell, where he engaged in the mercantile business. Two years later he sold his store and took up the feed and mill business, continuing engaged in that line for five years, at the end of which time he took up the hardware business and conducted a hardware store there for five years. He then moved to Vliets, where he opened a lumber yard and was there engaged in the lumber busi- ness for seven years, or until 1912. when he moved to Vermillion, purchased an extensive lumber establishment at that place and has since been engaged in that business there. Mr. Johnson has done well in his business engage- ments and has made some excellent real-estate investments, being the owner of a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Murray township, which is being operated by his eldest son: the east half of the southeast quarter of section 36 of that township and a quarter of a section across the road in the adjoining county of Nemaha, and also owns an "eighty" a mile and a half north of the village of Vliets. He also continues to own his old home place in Axtell. During his residence in AAxtell. Mr. Johnson was one of the most active business men there and he is still retained as a member of
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the board of directors of the Axtell Telephone Company and a member of , the board of directors of the Citizens Bank of Axtell. Mr. Johnson is a Republican and has for years taken an active part in local political affairs. For years he was a member of the council at Axtell and also served as clerk of Murray township during his residence there. While at Vliets he served for seven years as a member of the school board and is now treas- urer of Noble townhip. In 1914 he was elected a member of the council of Vermillion and is now mayor of the city of Vermillion.
On July 11, 1889, Andrew Johnson was united in marriage to Chris- tine Pearson, who was born in Sweden, daughter of Per Pearson and wife and who came to this country with her parents when she was sixteen years of age. To this union three children have been born, namely: Ernest G., who is working his father's farm in Murray township; Arthur W., who is assisting his father in the lumber business at Vermillion; Leonard A., who is a student at Wesleyan Business College at Salina. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Swedish Lutheran church in Lincoln township and have ever given their earnest attention to community good works, helpful in pro- moting all measures having to do with the advancement of the common welfare.
JOHN DENNIS FARWELL.
Among the prominent and well-known residents of Waterville, Mar- shall county, and one of the early settlers of the county, was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, on July 22, 1832, being the son of Selah and Nancy (Plank) Farwell, natives of the state of New York.
Selah Farwell was born on a farm and was the son of Solomon Far- well, who was the son of Abel Farwell, a native of the state of Massa- chusetts' and a soldier of the Revolutionary War. Nancy Plank Farwell was the daughter of Henry and Margaret (Van Ingen) Plank. Henry Plank was a son of John Plank and Nellie Margaret Gordinier. John Plank was a soldier of the War of the Revolution. Mrs. Farwell was of Dutch descent, her grandfather, Joseph Van Ingen, was a captain in the War of Independence, and his father was a well-known surgeon, who came to the United States from his home in Rotterdam, Holland, and served as a surgeon in the same war.
When John Dennis Farwell was but a few months of age, his Grand- father Plank induced his parents to move back to Lewis county, New York,
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the old home of the family, and there Mr. Farwell received his education in the local schools. When he was sixteen years of age he entered the academy at Denmark, where he completed his education. He then taught school for a time at fifteen dollars per month and boarded around, as was the practice in those days. His father was a carpenter, at which trade he worked for many years, in connection with the operation of a saw- mill and grist-mill. On reaching an advanced age, the father retired from the business and moved in 1848 to a farm near Denmark, New York, which he sold and moved to Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1856. In 1872 he moved to Waterville, Kansas, where he died in 1894. He was a man who was devoted to his family, was industrious and held in the highest regard by all in the community in which he lived. His life was a most active one, and he accomplished much for the opportunities that he had.
John Dennis Farwell, as a lad and young man, was not strong, and after teaching school and clerking in a store for some years, he decided that he would locate in what was then one of the Western states. In 1854 he left his home in the state of New York and settled at Morrison, Illinois. He rented a farm and engaged in general farming, and during the winter months taught school. He later purchased a farm for one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars, and had to go in debt for the place. He made many improvements and did much in the way of develop- ment. He then sold the farm for six thousand five hundred dollars and in 1868 came to Kansas. He stopped for a time at Lawrence, Kansas, and then joined an excursion in search of a location. Their destination was Ft. Sheridan, but when they got as far as Hays City. the sokliers stationed at that place stopped them on account of a band of Indians and vast herds of buffalo moving south in the locality. The next day the train proceeded on its way over the prairie. Many buffalo were seen and some of the larger ones tried to butt the engine off the track, and at three different times the herd was so dense that the train had to run slowly. for the sake of safety. They at last reached Ft. Sheridan, but owing to the raids of the Indians, they started on the return trip early the next morning. At the request of the paymaster for the Kansas & Pacific Rail- road. Major E. D. Reddington, who was to follow, was requested to keep watch for him as he was fearful the Indians would attack his train. Mr. Farwell and the roadmaster, rode on the front of the engine, and during their novel ride, saw many herd of antelope. While thus riding, they discovered a turned rail in the track, but not in time to prevent a wreck of the tender of the engine and a number of the cars. An investigation
MR. AND MRS. JOHN D. FARWELL.
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showed that someone had pulled the spikes, and turned the rail. It was a most exciting time, for the first thought was of the Indians in that sec- tion of the country. It was not long until a white horse, ridden by the chief and followed by many of his tribe, appeared. The train was sur- rounded, but the men of the party guarded the train as best they could. Mr. Farwell with some others of the party, took the engine and made for Carlysle, where they telegraphed to General Sheridan, at Ft. Hays, who sent a relief party to the scene of the holdup. Mr. Farwell then proceeded to Manhattan and from there he staged it to Irving, Marshall county, and homesteaded a farm south of Waterville. Then, after voting for General Grant for President, he returned to Illinois and with his family he returned to Kansas on March 4, 1869, and established himself on the farm. The lumber with which he built his first house, he obtained at Atchison, and while it was but cottonwood, he paid fifty-five dollars per thousand for it. This farm he developed and improved and here he engaged in farming, until 1879, when he sold his large farm of eight hundred and eighty acres and moved to Marysville. In the fall of 1869 Mr. Farwell was elected township clerk and while serving as such he made the contract with the King Bridge Company in 1870 and supervised the building of the first iron bridge built in Marshall county, which bridge is still in use over the Little Blue river at Waterville, although the bridge is forty-seven years old. He was elected register of deeds and served in that office for four years. He was a most painstaking official, and his records were at all times up-to- date. It was one of the requirements of Mr. Farwell, that the office was not to be closed for the day until the records were compared and in order for the next day's business. He was the first official in the county to employ a woman in the office, and it is to his credit, that his record is one of the best that has been made by any official. After his term as register of deeds expired, he was the first one to introduce the hectograph, with which he furnished reports of all instruments filed in the register of deeds office, now reported by the Coles Abstract Company, and conducted a loan and abstract office in Marysville, until 1903, when he retired from the business and moved to Waterville.
John Dennis Farwell was first married on October 20, 1856, to Lydia Hollingshead, who was born in the state of Illinois on January 1, 1837, and died on July 16, 1865. Of this union three children were born: Etta N., Alice E. and Elmer S. Etta N. was born on March 27, 1858, and is now the wife of Mr. Sconten, and she is a resident of the state of Cali-
(57)
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fornia: Alice E., who was born on December 2. 1860, is the wife of C. G. Thomas, a retired resident of Waterville, and Elmer S. was born on Decem- ber 20. 1863, and died on December 12, 1913. He was a graduate of the Trocy polytechnic school of New York, having completed the course in civil engineering in that institution. On July 3. 1867, Mr. Farwell was mar- ried to Abba Hartwell, who was born in Lewis county, New York, on April 4, 1842, and to this union three children were born, only one now living. Fred Henry, who is a resident of Orange, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Farwell are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Water- ville, and for nineteen years, Mr. Farwell was superintendent of the Sunday school at Marysville and for four years at Waterville. They are most estim- able people and have long been active in social and the religious life of the county, where they are held in high regard and esteem. He was for many years a trustee of the church and has always been a liberal supporter of the local churches and the various societies of the denomination. He has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons since 1856. and he is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is the oldest member of the former order in the county, in point of service and membership. He was a charter member of the order at Waterville, and of the Royal Arch Masons at Marysville, and is also a charter member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Marysville.
Mr. Farwell is a man of much ability and possessed of a splendid education. He has always been a great lover of good literature and is a writer of note. He is a great student of history and has contributed a number of historical facts to this present volume. He has also completed a genealogical history of the Farwell family, which is now on the press. His life has been a most active one, and he is known as the "grand okl man" of Waterville. His life in the county connects the early pioneer times with the present, and in all the remarkable growth and history of the county, he has taken an important part. He is one of the progressive men of the district, and today is one of the best informed on the past and the present time. To him is due much of the progress in the educational, moral and physical deevlopment of this section of the state. Coming to the county, when much of it was an unbroken prairie, he has seen the transition to the splendid farms, fine homes and up-to-date towns and cities.
Mr. Farwell remembers with pride when living on the farm, of having raised and tamed two buffalo, that ran with his cattle, and believes that those animals might have been domesticated to advantage.
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JAMES SULLIVAN.
James Sullivan, former sheriff of Marshall county and one of the best-known farmers, stockmen and grain buyers in the county, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Vermillion township. is a native son of Marshall county and has lived here all his life. He was born on the pioneer farm on which he is now living, October 19, 1872, son of James and Bridget (Drew) Sullivan, natives of Ireland and pio- neers of Marshall county, whose last days were spent on their home farm in Vermillion township, both dying in the year 1902.
The senior James Sullivan, who for years was one of the best-known figures on the plains during the days of the freighters along the old Over- land Trail, was born in County Limerick, Ireland. in 1838; and there spent his youth. In 1857, he then being nineteen years of age and of an adven- turous turn of mind, he came to the United States and proceeded up into Wisconsin, glowing word at that time going out of the Northwest and attracting many settlers to that part of the country. The lay of the land there did not suit him, however, and he presently came down into the Territory of Kansas and became a freighter on the old Overland Trail from Atchison and St. Joseph to Denver and was thus employed when the Civil War broke out. Ardently espousing the cause of the Union he enlisted his services in behalf of that cause and served valiantly as a member of the Missouri Militia until the close of the war, returning then to the old position as a freighter on the Overland Trail and was thus engaged until his marriage in 1867. when he bought a quarter of a section of land in Vermillion township and there "settled down." spending the rest of his life there. the farm on which his son, the subject of this sketch, is now living. The last trip James Sullivan made over the Overland Trail in 1867 was with a load of shelled corn, eighty bushels, which brought fourteen cents a pound on the market at Denver, corn being greatly in demand there for meal for the miners. The quarter section James Sullivan bought in Vermillion township was a parcel of school land and he paid seven dollars an acre for the same. His first house was a log cabin and he started breaking his land with an ox-team. From the very beginning he prospered in his farming operations and eventually became a well-to-do landowner, being able to give his children a good start in the world when they branched out for themselves. His wife, Bridget Drew, also was born in Ireland, in 1843. and both were devout members of the Catholic church,
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raising their children in that faith. They were among the organizers of the Catholic church at Lillis and their second son, James Sullivan, the subject of this sketch, was the first person baptized in that church, to the necessi- ties of which his parents ever were liberal contributors, as well as active workers in all departments of the parish work. To this pioneer couple eleven children were born, those besides the subject of this sketch being as follow: Thomas, who died when nineteen years of age: Michael, now a resident of Noble township; William, also of Noble township; Mary E., who married Warren Osborn and lives near Frankfort: John, deceased ; Hannah, who married George Moss and lives in Wells township; Katherine, who married J. M. Brophy and lives at Frankfort: Joseph, deceased, and Daniel and Margaret, who died in infancy. The parents of these children both died in 1902, after many years of usefulness in the community in which they had settled in pioneer days and which they had lived to see develop grandly.
The junior James Sullivan was reared on the farm on which he was born, receiving his schooling in the neighboring district school, and remained on the farm, assisting his father and his brothers in the labors of the same. Upon the death of his parents in 1902 he inherited the home quarter section and continued farming there until his clection in 1908 to the office of sheriff of Marshall county, as the nominee of the Democratic party. So efficiently did Mr. Sullivan perform the duties of that office that he was re-elected in the following election and thus served for two terms as sheriff of this county. Upon the completion of his term of service as sheriff he returned to the home farm from Marysville and began buying grain and live stock. carrying on these operations quite successfully in addition to managing his farm, and has been thus engaged since that time, long having been recog- nized as one of the most substantial farmers and stockmen in that part of the county. In addition to his term of service as sheriff of Marshall county Mr. Sullivan for twelve years prior to his election as sheriff served as clerk of his school district. In 1906 he was the nominee of his party for com- missioner from his district, but was defeated by twenty-three votes. He has long taken an active part in the political affairs of the county and is recog- nized as one of the leading Democrats in his neighborhood.
On January 12, 1908, James Sullivan was united in marriage to Julia Brophy, who was born at Kingston, New York. June 26, 1873. a daughter of Michael and Anna (Delaney) Brophy, natives of Ireland, who had come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth, the
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families settling in New York. In 1879 Michael Brophy came west with his family and located at Atchison, where he was engaged as a building con- tractor until 1882, when he came over into Marshall county and bought a farm in Cleveland township, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on July 12, 1884, he then being forty-five years of age. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring on January 21, 1914, she then being seventy-five years of age. They were the parents of seven children, those besides Mrs. Sullivan, the third in order of birth, being as follow: Mary, who married George McCarthy and lives in Noble township, this county; Bridget, who makes her home with her sister, Mrs. Sullivan; Andrew, a farmer, of Clear Fork township; Edward, of Vliets; Margaret, who married Edward Brown and lives in the neighboring county of Potta- watomie, and John, of Frankfort.
To James and Julia ( Brophy) Sullivan one child has been born, a daugh- ter, Mary E., who died in 1914, at the age of three years. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan are members of the Catholic church at Lillis and give their earnest attention to the affairs of that parish, as well as to the general social activi- ties of the community in which they live. Mr. Sullivan formerly was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He is an active, energetic farmer and business man and has done well his part in helping in the development of his native county, in the general industrial and civic affairs of which he has always taken a deep interest.
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