USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 91
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WILLIAM JOHNSON.
William Johnson, first trustee of Lincoln township and the proprietor of a well-improved and profitably operated farm of two hundred and forty- one acres in that township. is a native of the kingdom of Sweden, but has been a resident of this country and of Marshall county since he was twenty- one years of age. He was born on March 28, 1863, son of Par and Mary Johnson, also natives of Sweden, who spent all their lives in their native land.
Reared on a farm in his native land, William Johnson remained there until he was twenty-one years of age, when, in 1884. he came to this country and proceeded on out to Kansas, arriving at Frankfort, this county, on April 3 of that year. Upon his arrival here he secured employment at farm labor in Rock township and was thus engaged there for two years, receiving from fifteen dollars to twenty dollars a month for his labor. In 1888 he married and for two years thereafter rented a farm in Rock township, later rent- ing a farm in Noble township, where he lived a year, at the end of which time he bought a farm of eighty acres one mile east of his present farm. He later moved to a farm in section 16 of Murray township and after two years of residence there bought a farm in Rock township, where he made his home for five years, or until 1897, when he bought the farm on which he is now living and where he ever since has made his home, he and his family being very comfortably situated there. In addition to his general farming Mr. Johnson has given considerable attention to the raising of graded live stock, making a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and Duroc-Jersey hogs. He has made excellent improvements on his place and has one of the best- kept farms in that part of the county. Mr. Johnson is a Republican and has for years taken an active part in local civic affairs. He was trustee of Noble township for one year and when Lincoln township was organ- ized was elected trustee of that township and was re-elected for three terms
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without opposition, his term of service expiring on January 1, 1916. Mr. Johnson also has been a member of the school board for twelve years and in other ways has done his part in advancing the interests of the commun- ity in which he lives.
In 1888, four years after coming to this country, William Johnson was united in marriage to Ida Johnson, who also was born in Sweden and who had come to this country in 1886, and to this union seven children have been born, namely: Clara, born in 1889, who married John Olson and is now living at Seattle, Washington; Thorsten, 1890: Albert, 1892; Esther, 1894: Florence, 1898; Leonard, 1902, and Ebba, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Swedish Lutheran church and for years have taken an active part in church work and in other neighborhood good works.
RUDOLPH YAUSSI.
Rudolph Yaussi, one of the well-known and successful farmers of Wal- nut township. Marshall county, was born in Switzerland on February 15. 1851, the son of Christian and Elizabeth (Begert) Yaussi, the former of whom died in Switzerland and the latter spent her last years in Marysville, Marshall county.
Christian Yaussi followed the butcher business in Berne until his death in 1863. Five years after his death the mother with her six children came to the United States locating near Hiawatha, Brown county, Kansas, on a farm, where she resided for many years, coming to Marysville, Kansas, where some of her children resided, in her later years, and where she died at the age of eighty-five, loved and respected by all who knew her, for her kind and hospitable disposition and true Christian spirit.
Christian and Elizabeth Yaussi were the parents of seven children as follow : Rosa, Fred J., Elizabeth, Rudolph, Gottlieb, Frank and Mary. Rosa, now deceased, was the wife of John Detwiler; Fred J. is deceased ; Elizabeth, the wife of Gottlieb Buehler, died in Switzerland; Gottlieb is a prosperous farmer in Brown county, Kansas; Frank is a well-known merch- ant in Marysville, and Mary is the wife of John Aegerter, of Garber, Okla- homa, and Rudolph is the subject of this sketch.
Rudolph Yaussi was educated in the schools of Switzerland and at the age of seventeen he came to the United States with his mother and the rest of her family and located in Brown county, Kansas. After this young
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Rudolph worked as a farm hand in Kansas and Missouri for some years; rented and worked a farm in Missouri one year. He then returned to Brown county, Kansas, where he acquired eighty acres of land, which he farmed for a few years; he then sold out and moved overland to Smith county, Kansas, where he traded a good team of mules for a relinquishment on a one hundred and sixty acre homestead of raw land. Here he made his home in a "dugout" in true pioneer style, suffered untold agony with rheumatism for months, but stayed with it and his tireless energy won for him a fair return for his work. After six years he sold his place in Smith county and came to Marysville, where he purchased two hundred and forty acres four miles west of town, on which he resided about fifteen years. He sold this place to two of his sons and bought a two-hundred-acre farm nearer Marys- ville, where he now resides, and which he has made one of the best in the county, both as a live stock and grain farm.
In 1876 Rudolph Yaussi was united in marriage to Mary Aegerter, and to them were born ten children : Rosie, John, Emma, William, Mary, Frank, Lida, Rudolph. Edward and Sophia.
In 1896 Mary (Aegerter) Yaussi died in Marysville. Kansas. Some years later Rudolph Yaussi was married to Mary (Studach) Goepfert, a native of Switzerland, and to them was born one child, a daughter, Zella, now attending the high school at Marysville.
Mr. and Mrs. Yaussi are consistent adherents of the Evangelical church. Mr. Yaussi is also a member of the Swiss and Turner societies of Marys- ville.
JAMES L. FLANAGAN.
James L. Flanagan, one of the younger and most successful farmers and stockmen of Richland township. Marshall county, was born in McLean county, Illinois, on August 22. 1881, being the son of James and Catherine (Dunn) Flanagan.
James Flanagan was born at Hamilton, Butler county, Ohio, on Febru- ary 25, 1852, where he resided until he was seven years of age, when with his parents, Martin and Julia ( O'Connell) Flanagan he came to the state of Illinois. The parents established their home near Chenoa, and it was here that the son, James, received his education in the local schools, grew to manhood and was married. Martin and Julia Flanagan were natives of Ireland and came to the United States in 1848. and were married in this
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country two years later. They were the parents of nine children and were a highly respected people.
In 1876 James Flanagan was united in marriage to Catherine Dunn, who' was born on September 16, 1855, and was the first white child born in Chenoa township, McLean county, Illinois. She is the daughter of Patrick and Mary ( Murray) Dunn. They were natives of Ireland, and after com- ing to the United States, located in Ohio and then in Illinois, after which they established their home in the Dakotas, about 1853. Some nine years after their marriage, in 1885, James and Catherine Flanagan left their home in Illinois and came to Kansas and settled on their present farm in section 17, Richland township, Marshall county. The tract at that time was unde- veloped and unimproved. A house, eighteen by twenty-six feet was erected. and divided into three rooms, and in this the family lived for a number of years. A small stable was built and the land was broken, with three mules that they had brought with them from their home in Illinois. They also brought hedge plants, box-elder seeds and sprigs of cottonwood. These they planted, and today the magnificent trees are evidence of the careful thought of those early pioneers. As they began to prosper, Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan purchased more land, and at the time of the death of Mr. Flanagan on Janu- ary 10, 1910, they were the owners of nine hundred and sixty acres of splendid land, all of which was well improved.
To James and Catherine Flanagan were born the following children : Julia, John, James L., Mary, Martin, Nellie, William and Catherine. Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan were devout members of the Catholic church and were ever active in all the services of the church. Three of their daughters are sisters in parochial schools; Julia is a teacher at the convent at Clyde, Kan- sas ; Mary is at Monett, Missouri, and Nellie is at Concordia, Kansas. John died when he was twenty-one years of age and Martin is the manager of the elevator at Summerfield, and William and Catherine are at home. Mr. and Mrs. Flanagan were ever held in the highest regard by the people of their home community. Mr. Flanagan was a most patriotic citizen and a man of high ideals, and was recognized as a progressive farmer and suc- cessful stockman. He always took a keen interest in local affairs and had much to do with the growth and prosperity of the township and of the county. He was an independent voter and for two terms he served the township as trustee. His life was a worthy one ; he was a kind and indulgent husband and father, and a generous neighbor and friend. His death was mourned by the entire community, for all knew that a good man had gone
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to his reward. Mrs. Flanagan is still living at the old home and takes much interest in the management of the place.
James L. Flanagan was but three years of age when he came with his parents to the farm in Marshall county. Here he was educated in the local schools and in Marysville Normal, and was reared on the home farm. where he now lives and where he as a lad and young man assisted his father with the farm work. He is now operating the place for his mother and is meeting with much success in general farming and stock raising. He is the owner of shares in the Elevator Company at Summerfield and is one of the substantial men of the township. He is a devout member of the Catholic church. He is a member of the Democratic party and takes much interest in local affairs.
LEWIS MILTON STEVENSON.
Lewis Milton Stevenson, one of Murray township's most substantial and progressive farmers and the proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres one and one-half miles west of Axtell, has been a resident of Kansas since 1882, in which year he came down here from Nebraska, after having resided in that state a couple of years after a long residence in the state of Iowa. Mr. Stevenson is a native of the state of Illinois. He was born on a farm in Knox county, that state, November 7. 1846, son of Edward and Mary (Keys) Stevenson, the former of whom was born at Baltimore. Maryland, and the latter at Dover. Delaware, both representatives of old American families, whose last days were spent in Illinois.
Edward Stevenson was born in 1807, the son of Zachariah Stevenson, who was a soldier in the War of 1812. He married in the East and in the early forties emigrated to Illinois, settling on a quarter of a section of land in Knox county, one of the pioneers of that part of the state, and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. She died in 1865 and he survived her for nearly twenty years, his death occurring in 1884. They were the parents of six children, of whom but two survive, the subject of this sketch having a brother. James Stevenson, who is living in Missouri.
Lewis M. Stevenson was reared on the paternal farm in Knox county. Illinois, growing up familiar with pioneer conditions, and received his edu- cation in a little old district school house built of slabs and from boyhood made a "hand" on the farm. He was nineteen years of age when his
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mother died and after that he began shifting for himself, presently, in 1866, going to Iowa, where he began working as a farm hand at eighteen dollars a month. working with a hoe from sunup to sundown. Four years later he married in Iowa and began farming on his own account on a rented farm. Three years later he bought a farm in Shelby county, that state, a tract of railroad land it was, borrowing the money from the county treasurer with which to pay the same, and from the very beginning was successful in his farming operations, soon coming to have one of the best-improved farms in Shelby county. There he lived until 1880, when he sold his farm to advantage and moved to Beatrice, Nebraska. After traveling around a bit, Mr. Stevenson decided to again engage in farming and in 1882 came to Marshall county and bought a quarter of a section of land in Richland town- ship, seven miles northwest of Beattie. He developed that place into a splendid farm and in October. 1907, sold the same. The next month he bought a quarter section in Murray township, just west of Axtell, built a fine house on the same and in March, 1908, established his home there and has ever since made that his place of residence, he and his family being very pleasantly and very comfortably situated. Mr. Stevenson has made other valuable improvements on his place and has one of the best-equipped farm plants in that part of the county. He gives considerable attention to the raising of pure-bred Duroc-Jersey hogs, in addition to his general farming, and has done very well, long having been regarded as one of Marshall county's most substantial farmers.
In 1870, in Iowa, Lewis M. Stevenson was united in marriage to Mary Minerva Easterly, who was born on a pioneer farm in Jones county, Iowa. in 1853. daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Jane ( McConkey) Easterly, natives of the state of Ohio, who moved to Iowa in 1851 and there established their home. Jonathan Easterly and wife were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are still living. Of these surviving children Mrs. Steven- son is the eldest. the others being as follow: Margaret Ellen, who mar- ried Danville Tarbox, of Jones county, Iowa ; John L., a resident of Charles City. Iowa; Mrs. Flora Clementine Simmons, of Jones county, Iowa : Mrs. Jennie Moe, of Animosa, Iowa: Elmer Ellsworth, of Seattle, Washington ; U. S. Grant, of Olin. Iowa, and Mrs. Ada Belle Harper, of Saskatchewan, Canada.
To Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson twelve children have been born, namely: Lemuel Lester, who taught school for one year and then turned his atten- tion to photography and is now conducting a photograph studio at Emporia, this state; Jonathan Lewis, who was graduated from the Kansas State
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Normal School at Emporia, taught school several years and is now the owner of a farm in the neighborhood of Plymouth, this state: Elmora Jane, who completed her schooling at the State Normal School at Emporia and at Campbell College, Holton, and is now a member of the excellent corps of Marshall county's public school teachers: May, a graduate of Kansas State Normal, taught for nine years in the schools at Hoxie and for two years in Arizona and is now the wife of J. M. Hall, of Hoxie: Mary Ethzelda. also a former public-school teacher, who is now conducting a dressmaking establishment at Denver; Arthur G., also a teacher, who is farming in the neighborhood of Holton; Bertha, also formerly a teacher, who married Arthur Jones, a farmer, living north of Beattie: Mrs. Clementine Wanklyn, also a former teacher, who is now living six miles south of Beattie; Nellie Pearl, who is now teaching school in Colorado: Chalmers, who also formerly taught school, but is now employed as a machinist at Hoxie ; Olin, a machin- ist at Manhattan, and Clayton, who is at home assisting in the management of the home farm. Perhaps no other family in Marshall county has con- tributed so many persons to the public-school teaching force as has the Stevenson family and the members of the same have ever been actively concerned in the social and cultural development of the county and of the Axtell neighborhood in particular, helpful in promoting all movements having to do with the advancement of the common welfare thereabout.
JOSEPH DWERLKOTTE.
Joseph Dwerlkotte, cashier of the Citizens' State Bank of Marysville, Kansas, and a landowner in Marshall county, is a native of Germany, but has been a resident of this county since the days of his boyhood. He was born and reared on his father's estate near the village of Dinklage, Grand- Duchy of Oldenburg. April 10th. 1874, the seventh son of Clemens and Bernadina Dwerlkotte.
Reared on the farm, Joseph Dwerlkotte received his elementary train- ing in the common schools and afterwards took a three years course in a normal and agricultural college. AAt eighteen years of age he made up his mind to come to this country, and took passage at Bremen on February 12th. 1893, and arrived in the port of New York on February 26th. From there he came west to Custer county, Nebraska, and worked on a farm near the town of Oconto for eighteen months. In July, 1894, he came to Marshall
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county, where he engaged in farming in Elm Creek township, near Marys- ville, for about twelve years. In the year 1900 he was united in marriage to Miss Johanna Minkenberg, also a native of Germany, born in the village of Steinfeld-Oldenburg, in 1879. Mr. Dwerlkotte was a very successful farmer and upon the organization of the Citizens' State Bank of Marysville in 1907, he entered that institution as assistant cashier and moved to Marys- ville, where he has since resided. Upon the resignation of Mr. Laughlin as cashier in 1913, Mr. Dwerlkotte was chosen as his successor, which position he still occupies.
To Mr. and Mrs. Dwerlkotte four children have been born, Edith, Leo, Ludowiena and Joseph, all of whom are living excepting the last named. Mr. Dwerlkotte is a Republican in political affairs. Religiously, he is affil- iated with the Catholic church, and fraternally with the Knights of Colum- buis and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. At the present time he holds office as grand knight of Marysville Council No. 1777.
CORWIN BALLARD.
Corwin Ballard, trustee of Bigelow township, a former well-known school teacher in this county and the proprietor of a well-kept farm of eighty acres in Bigelow township, is a native of the neighboring state of Nebraska, but has been a resident of Marshall county since he was ten years of age. . He was born on a farm in Richardson county, Nebraska, April 6, 1871, son of Jesse and Martha (Huntsinger) Ballard, the former a native of the Hoosier state and the latter of the Buckeye state, who spent their last days in this county, substantial residents of Franklin township.
Jesse Ballard, who was an honored veteran of the Civil War, was born in Carroll county, Indiana, June 23, 1843, a son of Jermaine and Mary Ann (Banm) Ballard, natives of Indiana, who came west and settled in Rich- ardson county, Nebraska, in 1860. When the Civil War broke out Jesse Ballard was eager to take his part in the defense of the Union and believing his chances for getting to the front would be better for enlisting in Iowa, went over into that state and enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Battery, with which he served until mustered out at the close of the war, and during which service he saw some very stirring action. The effects of constant heavy gun fire so affected Mr. Ballard's hearing that he ever afterwards suffered from an annoying deafness. Upon the completion of his military
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service he returned to Nebraska and there married Martha Huntsinger, who was born at Xenia, Ohio, October 9, 1848, a daughter of Eli and Mary ( Harrison) Huntsinger, natives of Pennsylvania, who had settled in Nebraska. After his marriage Mr. Ballard continued farming in Nebraska until 1881, when he came to Kansas and settled in Marshall county, buying a quarter of a section of land in Franklin township, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1908. His wife had preceded him to the grave about thirteen years, her death having occurred in 1895. They were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being Libbie, deceased, and Otha and Leroy, who are now living in Colorado.
As noted above, Corwin Ballard was about ten years of age when he came to Marshall county with his parents in 1881. The course in the district schools of Franklin township he supplemented by a course in the high school at Marysville and then took a course in the State Normal School, after which he entered Ottawa University and was there taking the classical course when the death of his mother and sister in 1895 interrupted his studies. He did not return to the university and in 1899 began teaching school in district No. 36, in Oketo township, this county, where he taught for two years. He then rendered further teaching service in the Bigelow schools and in the school in district No. 65 and in 1904 began farming on his own account. For two years he farmed a rented place and then bought his present farm of eighty acres in section 4 of Bigelow township, where, after his marriage
in 1909, he established his home and where he and his family are very pleas- antly and very comfortably situated. Mr. Ballard lately has gone in some- what extensively into the breeding of Holstein cattle and is doing very well. His farm is well improved and his operations are carried on in accordance with the principles of modern farming. Mr. Ballard is a Republican and from the days of his youth has given his thoughtful attention to local civic affairs. In 1914 he was elected trustee of Bigelow township and in 1916 was re-elected to that important office. now serving his second term and giving to the duties of that office his most intelligent attention.
In 1909 Corwin Ballard was united in marriage to Daisy Walls, who was born near what is now the village of Bigelow, in this county, January 18, 1881, daughter of William H. and Rachel (Strange) Walls, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Virginia, who were married in this county and are still living here, and to this union two children have been born, Lulu R., born on January 23, 1910, and Eunice E., July 4. 1911. Mr.
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and Mrs. Ballard are members of the Christian church and take a proper interest in the various beneficences of the same, as well as in the general social activities of the community in which they live.
REV. GUSTAF NYQUIST.
The Rev. Gustaf Nyquist, rector of the Swedish Lutheran (Salem) church in Lincoln township. this county, and one of the most active and influential men in that part of the county, is a native of the kingdom of Sweden, but has been a resident of this country since he was twenty-four years of age and of Kansas since completing his theological studies in 1900. He was born in Dalsland, near the line separating Sweden from Norway, December 17, 1871, son of Alexander and Katharina (Larson) Nyquist, also natives of Sweden, who spent all their lives in their native land. Alexander Nyquist was a merchant tailor. To him and his wife eight children were born, four of whom are still living, those besides the subject of this sketch being Alfred, who came to the United States in 1893 and at Chicago worked at his trade as a tailor until 1899, when he returned to his native land and is now continuing the business established there by his father; Mrs. Laura Anderson, of Norway, and Mrs. Inga Kullgren, also of Norway.
The Rev. Gustaf Nyquist received an excellent foundation for his ministerial vocation in the schools of his native land and in 1896 came to the United States and shortly afterward entered the divinity school of the University of Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1900 and in that same year was ordained to the ministry, being shortly afterward given charge of a church at Topeka, this state. He later was transferred to Omaha and also for some years, in addition to his ministerial labors, was engaged in educational work. In 1911 Mr. Nyquist took a special course in the Augustana Theological Seminary, Rock Island, Illinois, and was given charge of the Swedish Lutheran Salem church in Lincoln township, this county, and has since been engaged in the ministry, having done much in that time to enlarge the scope of the local congregation's influence along all lines ; the church having expanded both materially and spiritually under his effective ministration. Salem church is well established and good work is reported in all departments of the congregation's activities in the pros- perous community thus covered. Both as a leader in the general community
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life of that neighborhood and as a faithful minister of the gospel, Mr. Nyquist has given his most carnest and devoted attention to the various needs of the community along religious, social and cultural lines and has done a good work, his efforts being appreciated greatly throughout that entire section.
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