USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 93
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Mary A. Auld, a sister of Elizabeth Lamb, was born on December 23, 1840, and came from Ohio in 1858 and lived with her widowed mother near Frankfort until her marriage on June 16, 1869, to James Gorman, of Pottawatomie county, Kansas, where she lived until she and her husband went to Ft. Dodge, Kansas, where she died on July 4, 1916. She had the honor of being numbered among the pioneers of Kansas, and taught school in Marshall county in the early days, and later she lived in her log cabin as a bride, and for a number of years after.
James Auld, her brother, was born on January 21, 1852, and came to Marshall county when about five years old, from Ohio and died in Minne- sota, leaving a wife and four children surviving him.
One sister, Mrs. Martha J. Lieb, survives Elizabeth, and was with her during her last illness of about four days' sickness, her death being caused by a complication of diseases.
Martha J. Lieb (nec Auld) was born on April Ioth, 1850, on a farmi near Deersville, Harrison county, Ohio, and came at the age of eight years with her widowed mother, Eleanor Alexander Auld, two sisters and one brother, James. in 1858, to Marshall county, residing near Frankfort, where all three sisters were married at their family home west of Frankfort, she to Charles Lieb, on December 29th, 1869, and went with him to his
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home in Pottawatomie county, Kansas, near Onaga, two and one-half miles southeast thereof, where he died four years thereafter of pneumonia, leav- ing her with two small children. She still lives on the farm, where she went as a bride, and she has seen hier share of pioneer life; she can recall when the Indians were seen every day hunting and fishing, and the grasshoppers in 1874 so thick that they resembled a big storm cloud. She received her education in the country schools of Marshall county, around Barrett and Frankfort and was one of the best spellers, when they had their old-fash- ioned spelling schools. She is sixty-seven years old at the present time, and would not be afraid to spell with some of the school-teachers of today. as the present teachers do not devote the time to spelling they did in the early days of pioneer life.
CARL M. BELKNAP.
Carl M. Belknap, superintendent of the plant of the Electric Light and Water Company at Marysville, county seat of Marshall county, was born in that city and has lived there all his life, one of the best-known men in the town. He was born on August 27, 1881, son of Sota and Gussie Bel- knap, who settled at Marysville in 1878, and who were the parents of three sons, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Curtis W. Belknap, deceased, and Clovis I. Belknap, of Chechalis, Washington. The mother of these sons died in 1886. Carl M. Belknap then being but five years of age. Sota Belknap, the father, was born in Minnesota in 1854, son of William B. Belknap.
JOHN LOFDAHL.
John Lofdahl, a well-known and substantial farmer of Lincoln township and the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of excellent land in that town- ship, now living practically retired from the active labors of the farm at his pleasant home in section 30, is a native of the Kingdom of Sweden, but has been a resident of this country and of Marshall county since 1881. He was born on May 18. 1851. son of Lofs and Hannah Lofdahl, also natives of Sweden, who came to this country with their family in 1881 and after a brief stop with kinsfolk at Rockford, Illinois, came on over to Kansas and settled
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in Marshall county, where both died in the fall of 1884. Lofs Lofdahl and wife were the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Sarah, a resident of Lincoln township, this county : Nels, a resident of Rockford, Illinois ; Aug- ust, who died at Rockford in 1882; Albert, who formerly owned the farm on which the subject of this sketch now makes his home and who died there in 1897: Mrs. Christina Elberg, of Rockford, Illinois, and Mrs. Sophia Young- sten.
Reared on a farm in his native Sweden, John Lofdahl was well prepared to take up farming upon his arrival in this country in 1881. He had married in his native country three or four years before coming here and shortly after his arrival in Marshall county bought a farm in partnership with his father and his brother, Albert, but in 1885 sold his interest in the same and for five years thereafter rented a farm. In 1890 he bought a quarter of a section of land in section 20 of Lincoln tonship, a place on which he had been living for a year, and proceeded further to develop and improve the same. When he took possession of that place it had on it a small house and a shed of a barn, but he made substantial improvements on the place and brought it up to a high state of cultivation. In 1899 he bought the "eighty" in section 30 on which he is now living, and in 1906 bought an additional tract of one hundred and twenty acres in section 31 of that same township, now having, as above noted, three hundred and sixty acres, all in Lincoln township, and all of which is well improved. In July, 1916. Mr. Lofdahl retired from the active labors of the farm and moved onto his "eighty" in section 30, where he has a very pleas- ant home and where he and his family are quite comfortably situated. Mr. Lofdahl is an independent voter and has given close attention to local civic affairs since becoming a resident of Marshall county. For twelve years he served as treasurer of his local school district.
In 1877. while living in his native land. John Lofdahl was united in mar- riage to Charlotte Anderson, also a native of Sweden, born in 1854, and to this union twelve children have been born, namely : Vilander, who is a farmer in Lincoln township; Mrs. Bertha Christianson, now living in Burt county, Nebraska: Mrs. Effie Johnson, of Vliets; Martin, who is operating the farm of his Aunt Sarah and a part of his father's land; Edith, who lives in Omaha : William, who is farming his father's place in section 31: Friedolpf, who is farming in Burt county, Nebraska : Tekla, who is living in Kansas City : Elmer and Arvaid, who are farming their father's place in section 20, and Herbert and Elvera, at home with their parents. The Lofdahls are members of the Swedish Mission church and have ever taken a proper part in church work
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and in other neighborhood good works, helpful in promoting all movements designed to advance the common welfare. Mr. Lofdahl has prospered since coming to this country and has long been looked upon as one of the sub- stantial residents of the eastern part of the county.
JACOB A. BEVERIDGE, D. D. S.
Dr. Jacob A. Beveridge, a popular young dentist at Marysville, is a native son of Marshall county and has lived here all his life. He was born in the village of Home on August 15. 1890, son and only child of Jesse and Rebecca (Logsdon) Beveridge, the latter of whom is still living. Jesse Beveridge, whose father was an honored veteran of the Civil War, was born on a farm in the vicinity of Springfield, the capital of the State of Illinois, in March, 1867, and died at his home in this county in 1901. He was a son of Jacob and Nancy (McNeil) Beveridge, the former of whom was born in Ohio in 1830 and in that state grew to manhood, living there when the Civil War broke out. He enlisted his services in behalf of the Union and went to the front with an Ohio cavalry regiment, with which command he served until the close of the war.
CHARLES B. JONES.
Charles B. Jones, one of the best-known and most substantial farmers and stockmen of Bigelow township and the proprietor of a fine farm of three hundred and forty acres lying in sections 8 and 16 of that township. with his home and well-kept farm plant in the former section, is a native son of Marshall county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in Wells township on April 22, 1873, son of James M. and Louise A. (Jones) Jones, natives of Kentucky and pioneers of Marshall county, and the latter of whom is still living here.
James M. Jones was born in Bath county, Kentucky, September 18, 1839. a son of Charles and Rebecca (Robins) Jones, also natives of the Blue Grass state. the former of whom was of Virginia parentage, his par- ents having moved over into what then was Kentucky county of the Old Dominion before the days of the organization of that great western district
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into a state. In Kentucky J. M. Jones grew to manhood and there in 1860, he married Louise A. Jones, who was born in that state on January 12, 1840, daughter of Joseph Jones and wife, the latter of whom was a Boyd, also natives of Kentucky, where they spent all their lives. In 1865 J. M. Jones and his wife came to Kansas and settled in Marshall county, driving over from Atchison, their first destination having been the John D. Wells farm. In that neighborhood, in Wells township, Mr. Jones bought a quarter of a section of land, erected a log cabin on the same and there established his home. After breaking up his land he set out trees and later built a better house. In 1875 he sold his farm and with his family moved to Cali- fornia, a change of climate being sought for the benefit of his wife's health. Returning to this county in the spring of 1876 he resumed his home in Wells township and there rented land until 1883, when he bought the southeast quarter of section 8 in Bigelow township, the place where the subject of this sketch is now living, and later added an adjoining "forty" to the place. There Mr. Jones spent the rest of his life, a substantial farmer and stock- man. He made excellent improvements on the place and always kept a good herd of cattle, prospering in his operations. He took an active part in local civic affairs and served as treasurer of Bigelow township for two terms. His death occurred on August 16, 1900, and his widow is now making her home with her son, Samuel Jones, a substantial farmer of Bige- low township, and the only survivor, besides the subject of this sketch, of the eight children born to his parents.
Charles B. Jones was the fourth in order of birth of the children born to his parents, and he was reared on the farm, receiving his elementary schooling in the district schools and supplementing the same by two terms of study at the Ellenbecker Normal School at Marysville and a course in Campbell University at Holton. In 1897, upon his return from the univer- sity, Mr. Jones took charge of his father's farm and in 1901 bought eighty acres of the old home place, continuing farming there with such success that in 1911 he bought an adjoining tract of two hundred and sixty acres and now has a well-kept and profitably cultivated farm of three hundred and forty acres, on which he is doing very well. He has made many and valuable improvements to the place and is now very comfortably situated there. Mr. Jones is a Republican and takes an earnest interest in local pol- itical affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office.
On April 20, 1910, Charles B. Jones was united in marriage to Mrs. Nettie (Fenwick) Williams, daughter of William and Melissa (Boyd) Fenwick and widow of James W. Williams, to whom she was married in
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1895, that union having been without issue. To Mr. and MIrs. Jones one child has been born, a son, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have a very pleasant home and take a proper part in the general social activities of the community in which they live. Mr. Jones is a member of the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias at Irving, and in the affairs of those two popular organizations takes a warm interest.
J. L. JUDD.
J. L. Judd, one of the real pioneers of Marshall county and for many years a well-known farmer and stockman of Bigelow township. now living retired in the pleasant village of Irving, is an honored veteran of the Civil War and a native of the state of Ohio, born in 'Lorain county, that state, August 12, 1845, a son of Rasmus and Phoebe ( Hall) Judd, New England- ers, born in Litchfield, Connecticut, who became pioneers of Lorain county, Ohio, and there spent their last days, substantial farming people. Of their six children, but three are now living, the subject of this sketch having a brother. Garwood H. Judd, who is a miner in Colorado. Mr. Judd was in a heavy artillery regiment in 1863 and in 1865 he was in an infantry regi- ment. He was discharged at Salisbury, North Carolina.
Reared on a pioneer farm in Ohio, J. L. Judd received his elementary schooling in a little old log school house in the neighborhood of his home and was living there when the Civil War broke out. In 1863, at Brighton. Ohio, he enlisted for service in Company K, One Hundred and Fiftieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and later was attached to the One Hun- dred and Fiftieth Heavy Artillery, with which command he served until mustered out at the close of the war. Upon the completion of his military service, Mr. Judd, in company with several of his army comrades, entered college at Poughkeepsie. New York, and after a comprehensive course there, in 1870, came to Kansas and walked over from Atchison to Marshall county. He presently bought a quarter of a section of land in Bigelow town- ship, this county, paying for the same five dollars an acre, and then began working as a farm hand, clerking in a store at Irving and doing such other labor as his hands could find to do in order to earn the money with which to complete the sale, building up his farm in the meantime as well as he could. He built his dwelling house of stone quarried from his own land and
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broke up his land with a double yoke of oxen. Indians still were quite numerous here at that time and Mr. Judd recalls that they were great beg- gars. His nearest market for grain was at Marysville and he had to haul his wheat twenty miles on the old trails across the hills. As he prospered in his farming operations, Mr. Judd added to his original quarter section until he became the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in section 17. which he still owns, besides a considerable tract of pasture land in Pottawatomie county, where his son, G. H. Judd, is engaged in cattle feeding.
Mr. Judd's wife, who was Lillian Twaddle, born in Huron county, Ohio, died in 1913, at the age of fifty-nine years. To Mr. and Mrs. Judd six children were born, namely: Daisy, who married J. Sheppard and is living at Irving; Charles. of Grand Island, Nebraska; Garwood, who is at home : Bessie, who died in her girlhood; Guy, who also died in his youth, and Laura, who married Owen Jones, and who died in March, 1917. Mr. Judd is a Democrat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, but has never been a seeker after public office. He is a member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and has ever taken an active interest in the affairs of that patriotic order.
RUDOLPH A. KAPITAN.
Rudolph A. Kapitan, former township trustee, a well-known farmer of Bigelow township and proprietor, in partnership with his younger brother, Wesley Kapitan, of a fine farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres in section 19 of that township, is a native son of Marshall county and has lived here the greater part of his life. He was born in the village of Irving, in a house which occupied the site now occupied there by the Knights of Pythias hall, April 17, 1875, a son of Wesley and Mary (Brozik) Kapitan, both natives of the far-away kingdom of Bohemia and both of whom are 110W deceased.
Wesley Kapitan was born in 1848 in the city of Prague, the capital of Bohemia, and there received a college education. When he was twenty years of age he came to the United States and located in the city of Balti- more, where he was married and where his eldest child was born; remaining there until 1874, when he and his little family came to Kansas and located at Irving, in this county, where he became for awhile engaged as a laborer
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and where he remained until 1876, when he went down into the adjoining county of Riley, homesteaded there a tract of eighty acres, established his home there and there spent the remainder of his life. his death occurring in 1894. Wesley Kapitan was twice married. His first wife. Mary Brozik, who was born in Bohemia in 1848, died in 1883. She was the mother of six children, one of whom died in infancy, the others being as follow : Olivia, who married F. Chalupnik and is now living near Irving, in this county : Rudolph. the immediate subject of this biographical sketch ; Wesley. mentioned above as a partner in the farming operations of his brother. Rudolph; Matthew, twin brother of Wesley, now living at Tenney, Minne- sota. and Antonia, now deceased. . After the death of the mother of these children, the elder Wesley Kapitan married Mrs. Verona Konigsmark, a widow with four children, who is now living on her farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Riley county.
Rudolph A. Kapitan early began to be self-supporting, beginning work on neighboring farms when eight or nine years of age, and picked up such schooling as he could get in the district schools. When twenty-one years of age, in 1896, he began working as a butcher at Hanover, this state, and the next year went to Nardin, Oklahoma, where he opened a butcher shop of his own and was thus engaged there for four years or until his butcher shop was destroyed by fire, when he returned to his native county and opened a butcher shop at Blue Rapids, where he was engaged in business until 1908. when he and his brother. Wesley, bought their present farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres in section 19 of Bigelow township, which they ever since have been operating. Wesley Kapitan, who was born in Riley county on August 14, 1877, is unmarried and makes his home with his brother, who. after his marriage in 1911, established his home on the farm. Since taking possession of that farm the Kapitan brothers have made many improvements on the same, including the extensive remodeling of the house along modern lines, the building of a fine new barn and a double garage and other im- provements in keeping with the character of the fine farm plant they have established. The Kapitan brothers also are quite extensively engaged in the raising of high-class live stock and are doing very well. The brothers are Democrats and give close attention to local political affairs. Rudolph A. Kapitan was appointed trustee of Bigelow township to fill out an unex- pired term and in 1912 was elected to that office and was re-elected in 1914. serving until his resignation, he having found that the proper discharge of the duties of that office interfered too much with the constantly expanding interests of his agricultural business.
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On September 12, 1911, Rudolph A. Kapitan was united in marriage to Margaret Jones, who was born in the principality of Wales on April 7. 1884, and who was but two years of age when her parents, Harry O. and Rose (Owens) Jones, also natives of Wales, came to this country in 1886 and settled in Kansas, both still living in Bigelow township, this county. Mrs. Kapitan is the fourth in order of birth of the eight children born to her parents. To Mr. and Mrs. Kapitan two children have been born, Kelma, born on December 27, 1912, and Elwyn, January 5. 1914. The Kapitans are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the general social activities of the community in which they live, helpful in promoting all movements having to do with the advancement of the common welfare thereabout. Rudolph A. Kapitan is a skilled musician, has played in several large bands and has taught bands. He still takes much interest in musical affairs and has been a great help along that line in the Bigelow and Irving communities.
EDWIN D. BROLYER.
Edwin D. Brolyer, the well-known plumbing and heating contractor at Marysville and one of the leaders in that line throughout this part of Kan- sas, is a native of the old Hoosier state, but has been a resident of Kansas since he was eight years of age and of this county all the time since then, with the exception of about a year spent as a bank clerk at Emporia and the time he spent completing his schooling in the state university. He was born on a farm in Wabash county, Indiana, May 13, 1876, son of Henry and Jennie (Hubbard) Brolyer, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana, who came to this county in the early eighties and settled on a farm north of Axtell, where Henry Brolyer spent his last days, his widow later moving to Axtell, where she is now living.
Henry Brolyer was born on a farm in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, Feb- ruary II, 1836, and was eleven years of age when his parents moved to Indiana, where he grew to manhood on a farm in the vicinity of Wabash. He married Jennie Hubbard. daughter of a farmer in the Peru neighbor- hood, bought land in that vicinity and there continued farming until the fall of 1884, when he came to Kansas with his family, arriving in Marshall county on September 4 of that year. Upon coming to this county Henry (62)
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Brolyer bought a farm of eighty acres three miles north of Axtell, paying ten dollars an acre for the same, and there established his home. Henry Brolyer was a good farmer and made substantial improvements on his farm. There he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1902. His widow is now living at Axtell, in the seventy-sixth year of her age, she having been born in 1841. She is a member of the Christian church, as was her husband, and their children were reared in that faith. There were eight of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth and all of whom are living save two.
As noted above, Edwin D. Brolyer was about eight years of age when his parents came to Marshall county and he grew to manhood on the home farm north of Axtell, receiving his elementary education in the district school of that neighborhood. This schooling he supplemented by attendance at the Kansas State Normal School during the years 1897-1901, and then entered the medical department of the Kansas State University at Lawrence, with a view to fitting himself for the practice of medicine, but presently abandoned that idea, preferring a life of trade rather than that of a profession, and after eighteen months spent in the medical school accepted a position as a clerk in a bank at Emporia and was thus engaged for eight months. at the end of which time he returned to Marshall county and bought a general store at Mina, which he successfully operated until 1904. He then traded his store for a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Center township and farmed the same from March, 1904, until December, 1905. when he sold the place and moved to Marysville, where he entered upon his present line of business and has since been very successfully engaged along that line. During his school days, Mr. Brolyer "spelled out" his vacations by working at the plumbing trade and completed his apprenticeship at Wichita, becon- ing a very proficient plumber and steam-fitter. He was thus well equipped for the business when he established his plumbing shop at Marysville and it was not long until he had built up a fine business covering this section of Kansas and the adjacent sections of Nebraska, his contract work taking hint over a wide territory. Mr. Brolyer has equipped a number of large build- ings with their heating plants, one of his most notable contracts having been that in connection with the equipment of the Community House at Marysville, and his reputation for excellent workmanship is now well estab- lished. Mr. Brolyer is a Republican, ever giving his thoughtful attention to local civic affairs, but has not been included in the office-seeking class.
On April 28, 1903. Edwin D. Brolyer was united in marriage to Myrtle Grant, who was born in this county on May 2, 1881, daughter of
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William H. and Louvina Grant, natives of Illinois and early settlers in Marshall county, locating near Vermillion, where Mr. Grant became a large landowner. To Mr. and Mrs. Brolyer two children have been born, Ken- neth, born on March 6, 1906, and Tressa, January 16, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Brolyer are members of the Christian church and are active workers in the same. They have a very pleasant home at Marysville and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home town. Mr. Brolyer is a Mason and a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these two organizations.
MILO M. RICE.
Milo M. Rice, one of the well-known and prominent residents of Cot- tage Hill township, Marshall county, was born in the state of Pennsylvania on November 17, 1864, and is the son of George I. and Kate (Rice) Rice, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania and members of old families of the state. The first member of the Rice family to settle in Pennsylvania was Zachariah, who was born in Germany and settled in the state in the eighteenth century. He was the father of twenty-one children and his grandchildren numbered one hundred and fifty-six. Members of the family did good service in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812, and were prominent in the localities in which they lived.
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