USA > Kansas > Marshall County > History of Marshall County, Kansas : its people, industries, and institutions > Part 96
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99
999
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
sufficient to say that Mrs. Van Vliet's parents performed nobly their part in the development of Marshall county, that both lived to ripe old age and in their passing left a memory that is as enduring as the community they vir- tually established and to which for years they gave the best that was in them.
To Mr. and Mrs. Van Vliet three children have been born, Mrs. Eliza- beth Haskins, who lives on a farm in the vicinity of the village of Vliets, in Noble township; Winifred, who married W. J. Schiller, of the Central Lum- ber Company, Kansas City, and died on June 29, 1916, leaving an infant son, George Walter Schiller, and Hiram, who died on January 15, 1902, he then being twelve years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Van Vliet have ever given their earnest attention to the general social activities of their home com- munity and have been helpful in promoting all movements designed to ad- vance the common welfare thereabout. Mr. Van Vliet is a Democrat and has ever given a good citizen's attention to local civic affairs, but has not been included in the office-seeking class. For more than twenty years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity and takes a warm interest in the affairs of the local lodge of that ancient order.
KASPER WESTBURG.
Kasper Westburg, owner of the northwest quarter of section 22 in Rock township, this county, where he has a very comfortable home, is a native of the kingdom of Sweden, born there on December 16, 1862. son and only child of Hans and Eva (Peterson) Johnson, who spent all their lives in that country. Hans Johnson died in 1874 and his widow married again and lived until 1914, she being seventy-two years of age at the time of her death. By her second marriage she was the mother of three children, Martha and Sandra, who are living in their native land, and Carl, who came to this country and is now living at Kansas City, Missouri.
Upon attaining his majority Kasper Westburg decided to come to the United States and upon his arrival here came on out to Kansas, arriving at Frankfort, in this county, April 17, 1886. For three months after his arrival here he was engaged in farm labor in the vicinity of Frankfort and then began working as a stone mason, quarrying rock at Frankfort. He then presently rented a farm in this county and worked the same for four years, at the end of which time, in 1892. he pushed on farther west and home- steaded a quarter of a section of land in Wallace county, this state. taking
1000
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
possession of the same in 1893, building a claim shanty on the place and starting in to develop the farm. While thus engaged he divided his time between his homestead tract and a job he secured over in Colorado as a farm hand, driving back and forth from the farm on which he was employed to his homestead, under the mistaken impression that he could hold his home- stead in this fashion. Upon losing his homestead Mr. Westburg went over into the gold fields of the Cripple Creek country and was there engaged seek- ing fortunes until 1897, when he returned to Marshall county and rented a farm in Rock township, on which he "batched" until his marriage in 1899. He then rented the old Kellberg farm and there lived for five years, or until 1904, when he bought his present well-improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 22 of that same township, where he since has made his home and where he and his family are very pleasantly situated.
On April 1, 1899, Kasper Westburg was united in marriage to Louise Carlson, who was born in Sweden, daughter of Carl J. and Petronella (Johnson) Carlson, and who left Sweden in 1895, her parents continuing to reside in that country. To this union one child has been born, Raymond K., born on May 2, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Westburg are members of the Lutheran church and take a proper interest in church work and in other good works in the neighborhood of their home. Mr. Westburg is a Repub- lican and gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of his adopted country.
HERMAN JOHNSON.
Herman Johnson, one of Marshall county's substantial pioneer farmers and the proprietor of a fine farm in section 2 of Vermillion township, where he has made his home for nearly forty years, is a native of the far-away kingdom of Norway, but has been a resident of this country ever since the days of his young manhood. He was born on a farm near the city of Christiania, Norway, February 24, 1847, son and eldest of the seven children of P. J. and Karen Johnson, natives of that country, who spent all their lives there, the former, who died in 1915, living to the great age of ninety years.
Reared on the home farm in his native Norway, Herman Johnson re- mained at home until after attaining his majority, when, in 1868, he came . to the United States and proceeded on out to Minnesota, whence so many of his countrymen had preceded him, and there he became engaged as a
100I
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
member of a railway construction crew. In 1871, at Preston, Minnesota, Mr. Johnson married Lottie Nevins, of Elyria, Ohio, and presently went with his wife to Elyria, in the vicinity of which city, in Lorain county, he became engaged in farming and was thus engaged there for six years, at the end of which time, in 1877, he came to Kansas on a bit of a prospecting trip and bought a tract of one hundred and twenty acres in section 2 of Vermillion township, this county, and in the spring of the following year, 1878, brought his family out here and settled on the farm, where he ever since has made his home and which he had developed into one of the best- improved and most highly cultivated farms in that part of the county. The land for which he paid seven dollars an acre is now well worth one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre and he has never regretted the choice which caused him to settle in Marshall county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Johnson has long given considerable attention to the raising of live stock and has done very well. He has some particularly fine Percheron stock on his place and formerly exhibited his horses at the local fairs. He has given much attention to this line of stock and has done much to improve the strain of horseflesh in his neighborhood.
Mr. Johnson has been twice married. His first wife, Lottie Nevins, whom he married in Minnesota, died at her home in this county in 1895, leaving six children, namely: Gertrude W., who is a trained nurse, now living at Carrollton, Missouri; Grace, wife of Doctor Olson, of Clay Center, this state; Karina, who is a clerk in a dry-goods store at Manhattan, Kan- sas: Edward S., who is engaged in the hardware and agricultural-implement business at Rockford, Minnesota; Carl O., who is a graduate architect and is now engaged as a building contractor at Clay Center, and Mina, a grad- uate nurse, who married Lewis Rea and is now living on a farm near Carroll- ton, Missouri.
On October 14, 1909, Mr. Johnson married, secondly, Mrs. Sarah Eliz- abeth (Wharton) Richards, of Olney, Illinois, widow of Henry Richards, whom she married at Olney in 1894 and who died in 1900. Mrs. Johnson was born in Indiana on December 18, 1858, a daughter of Joseph and Cath- erine Wharton, natives of that same state, who moved to Illinois in 1859. Joseph Wharton served as a soldier of the Union during the Civil War, a member of a company in an Illinois regiment of volunteer infantry, and dur- ing that period of service was captured by the enemy and was held in Libby Prison for thirteen months and fourteen days. Both he and his wife spent their last days in Illinois, the latter dying in 1885 and the former living until 1892. It was at Olney, Illinois, that Sarah Elizabeth Wharton grew to
1002
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
womanhood and there she married Henry Richards, who died six years later. without issue. Some time after her husband's death she came out to Kansas on a visit to friends and here she met and married Mr. Johnson. The John- sons have a very pleasant home and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home community. They are members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Johnson is a member of the Frankfort lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Daughters of Rebekah, of which latter lodge Mrs. Johnson also is a member. Mr. Johnson is a Republican and has given his earnest attention to the political affairs of his adopted country ever since acquiring citizenship here, but has never been a seeker after public office.
WILLIAM M. DRUMM.
William M. Drumm, one of Marshall county's best-known and most substantial landowners and the proprietor of a fine farm in Bigelow town- ship, is a native of the old Buckeye state and has been a resident of this county since 1883, when he came over here from Missouri and settled on the place where he has now been long established and where he and his family are very comfortably situated. He was born on a farm in Logan county. Ohio. January 17, 1848, the fifth in order of birth of the ten chil- dren born to his parents, Samuel H. and Mary Jane (Holmes) Drumm, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia, whose last days were spent in Illinois. Of their ten children, five sons are still living, three sons and two daughters being deceased.
Samuel H. Drumm was the son and only child of John and Frances (Hanson) Drumm, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the state of Ohio. John Drumm left his native Germany with his par- ents, en route to the United States. The parents died on board ship on the way over and upon his arrival in this country he settled in Virginia. later moving to Ohio. He enlisted for service upon the declaration of war against England in 1812 and rendered valiant service during the second American war of independence, but was compelled to suffer the humiliation of surrender under General Hull at Detroit. Samuel H. Drumm grew up in Ohio and there married Mary Jane Holmes, who was born in Virginia in 1818. a daughter of Nathaniel and Betty (Whitley) Holmes, the former of whom also was a soldier during the War of 1812. Some time after his marriage Samuel H. Drumm moved to Illinois, settling on a farm in
1003
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
Edgar county, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1901, he then being eighty-four years of age. His widow survived him until 1904.
William M. Drumm was but a child when his parents moved to Illinois from his native Ohio and there he grew to manhood on a farm, remaining there until he reached his majority, when, in 1869, he went to Missouri. where he began working at farm labor, later becoming engaged on county bridge work. After his marriage in 1874 he began farming on his own account, on a rented place, but the next year, in 1875, he bought a forty- acre farm in Nodaway county, that state, where he made his home until 1882, in which year he sold out his holdings in Missouri and with his family and some necessary household articles drove over into Gage county, Nebraska, leading a cow behind his covered wagon, with a view to buying a tract of Indian land that had just been opened. to settlement. He found the price of that land too high, however, and the next year, in 1883. fitted out an- other covered wagon and drove on down into Kansas and settled in his present location in section 16 of Bigelow township, this county, where he bought land and where he ever since has been established, now owning two hundred and twenty acres in the home tract in section 16 and the north half of the northwest quarter of section 22 and the west half of the south- west quarter of section 15. When Mr. Drumm bought his home place in this county the same was partly broke and there was a log cabin on it. He built an addition to that humble house and lived in the same for a year or two, at the end of which time he moved to the village of Bigelow in order to secure for his children better advantages in the way of schooling. continuing, however, to farm his place and to improve and develop the same. In 1892 he moved back to the farm, built a new house and made other essential im- provements and has lived there ever since, now having one of the best- established farm plants in that part of the county. Mr. Drumm is a Demo- crat and has ever given his thoughtful attention to local political affairs. He was a former member of the school board at Bigelow and in 1916 was a member of the Democratic county central committee, representing his home township.
In 1874, while living in Nodaway county, Missouri, William M. Drumm was united in marriage to Mary Lynch, who was born in that county on February 14. 1852. a daughter of Thomas and Lizzie (Mercer) Lynch, na- tives of Kentucky, and to this union eight children have been born, three of whom died in infancy. the others being as follow: Alta, who married Charles Phillips, now living in Garfield county, Oklahoma, and two children, Vera
100.1
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
and Milton E .; Odessa, who married Lee Fraker, a bookkeeper, living at Kansas City, Missouri, and has one child a daughter, Helen ; Charles E., who is now conducting a gold-cure institute at Grand Island, Nebraska, in partner- ship with Charles Judd : Mary, who married Joseph Wasser, of Frankfort, this county, and has one child, a son, Garwood, and Clarence Milton, who is now at home assisting his father in the management of the farm. Clarence M. Drumm was graduated from the normal school at Grand Island and later taught in that institution. During his school days he achieved con- siderable note as an athlete and for some time was a baseball player, attached to the Nebraska state league of baseball clubs. Charles E. Drumm (called Ed), taught school for ten years and in 1908 was elected county superintend- ent of Marshall county. He served for four years before going into the gold- cure business.
For forty-two years William M. Drumm has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, now affiliated with the lodge of that order at Irving, and has ever taken a warm interest in the affairs of that ancient order. He also is a member of the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen and takes much interest in the affairs of that order.
ERSKINE W. JOHNSTON.
Erskine W. Johnston, a progressive and up-to-date young farmer of Rock township, this county, is a native son of Marshall county and has lived here all his life with the exception of three or four years spent in Labette county, in the southern part of the state. He was born on a farm in Rock township, not far from his present place of residence, January 25. 1890, son of Henry and Laura E. Johnson, the former of whom, born in 1847, died in April, 1905, and the latter of whom, born in 1854, is now living at Frank- fort. Henry Johnston was a native of Canada and came from there to Kansas in pioneer days. He was twice married and by his first marriage was the father of two children. William, who lives four milest west of the old home in Rock township, and Mrs. Janie Ward, of Westmoreland. in the neighboring county of Pottawattomie. By his second marriage Henry John- ston was the father of three children, Mrs. Bertha McConchie, of Washing- ton, this state: Earl B., of Westmoreland, and Erskine W.
Erskine W. Johnston was reared on the farm on which he was born in Rock township and completed his schooling in the high school at Frank-
1005
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
fort. He then engaged in the agricultural-implement business at Frankfort and was thus engaged until 1911, when he went to southern Kansas and bought a farm in Labette county, where he remained until 1915, when he sold out there and returned to Marshall county and bought the farm on which he is now living and where he and his family are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated. Upon taking possession of that farm Mr. Johnson erected a handsome modern residence and his well-kept farm plant is in keeping with the same, the plant bearing many evidences of the up-to-date character of the owner's methods of carrying on his farming operations.
In 1911 Erskine W. Johnston was united in marriage to Fay Slater, of Frankfort, this county, daughter of H. and Catherine Slater, who came to this state from Indiana and located at Frankfort, where Mr. Slater, who is now living at Axtell, formerly was engaged in the laundry business. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have one child, a son, Clement, born on March 1, 1916. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take a proper part in church work, as well as in the community's general social activities, and are interested in all measures having to do with the common welfare. Mr. Johnston is a Republican and, fraternally, is affiliated with the local lodge of the Knights and Ladies of Security, in the affairs of which he takes a warm interest.
JOHN F. HARPER.
John F. Harper, a well-known and substantial farmer of Marshall county, an extensive landowner in Vermillion township, who formerly and for years was engaged in the grain business at Vermillion, but who for the past fifteen years or more has made his home on his well-kept farm in the township of that name, is a native of Virginia, but has been a resident of this county since the days of his young manhood. He was born in that section of the Old Dominion which since the days of the Civil War has been known as West Virginia, October 3, 1858, son of Thomas and Margaret Jane (Ferguson) Harper, natives of Scotland, who became pioneers of Marshall county and here spent their last days.
Both Thomas Harper and Margaret Jane Ferguson, though born in Scotland, were reared in the neighborhood of Belfast, in the north of Ireland, their respective parents having moved there during the days of their child- hood, and there both were orphaned. When about sixteen years of age they both came to this country with kinsfolk and settled in New Jersey, not far
1006
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
from the city of Philadelphia, where they grew up and were married, later settling in western Virginia, where they lived until 1876, when they moved to the state of Illinois. Three years later, in 1879. they came to Kansas and located in Vermillion township, this county. There Thomas Harper bought a farm and there he made his home until 1890, when he retired from the farm and moved to the village of Vermillion, where his last days were spent, his death occurring in 1900, he then being seventy-six years of age. His widow survived him but two years, her death occurring in 1902, she then being seventy-eight years of age. They were the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being as follow: Mrs. Elizabeth Hough, of Norton county, this state; Mrs. Howard Schaefer and Mrs. Isabelle Oliver (twins), the former of whom lives at Vermillion, this county, and the latter in Norton county, and Thomas, a substantial farmer, of the neighborhood southeast of Frankfort.
John F. Harper was reared on a farm in West Virginia and was about eighteen years of age when his parents moved to Illinois. There he con- pleted his schooling, attending school a couple of terms after going to that state, and was about twenty-one years of age when the family came to Kansas and settled in this county in 1879. Two years later, in 1881, he rented a tract of land and began farming on his own account, at the same time en- gaging in the live-stock business at Vermillion, and was thus engaged for twenty years, at the end of which time he bought his present home farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Vermillion township and has since made his home there, he and his family being very comfortably and very pleasantly situated. In addition to the farm of three hundred and twenty acres here referred to, Mr. Harper is the owner of a farm of one hundred and ninety- eight acres north of there and is quite well circumstanced.
Mr. Harper has been twice married. In 1883 he was united in marriage to Hattie Dilley, who died in February, 1889, leaving two sons, Glenn and Harry, both of whom are now living at Caddoa, Colorado, the former being there engaged in the lumber business and the latter farming. On May 3, 1893. Jolin F. Harper married, secondly, Rosa Crawford, who was born at Cottage Hill, in Jackson county, West Virginia. December 16. 1863, a daughter of James and Jane (Dudgeon) Crawford, the latter of whom died in 1874 and the former of whom, born in November, 1831, is still living in West Virginia. Rosa Crawford came to Kansas in October, 1888, and it was here that she first met Mr. Harper, whom she married in 1893. To this union three children have been born, Armour, who is now attending the Salina Business College; Mabel, a student at the State University at Law-
1007
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
rence, and Justin. The Harpers have a very pleasant home and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home community. Mr. Harper is a Republican and has ever given a good citizen's attention to political affairs, but has not been a seeker after office. He is a Mason, a member of the local lodge of that ancient order at Vermillion, and is also a member of the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of both of which organizations he takes a warm and active interest.
JOHN A. WINQUIST.
John A. Winquist, one of Marshall county's pioneers, a large landowner in Lincoln township, and who claims the distinction of being the head of the largest family in Marshall county, is a native of Sweden, but has been a resident of Marshall county since 1875, he having come here with his father in that year, and has thus been a witness to and a participant in the development of this county since pioneer days. He was born on February 19, 1855, son of Nels and Olina B. Winquist, natives of the same county, the former born on August 15, 1817, and the latter, March 5, 1821, who became pioneers of Marshall county and here spent their last days.
In 1870 Nels Winquist and his two sons. John A. and Severin, then mere boys, the former being but fifteen years of age, came to the United States with a view to making a new home on this side of the water. Upon his arrival here Mr. Winquist located in Connecticut, where he began work- ing in a stone quarry. The next year he and his two elder sons were joined by the mother and the other three children and the family remained in Connecticut until 1875, when they came to Kansas and located in this county, where they established their home. Upon coming here Nels Winquist home- steaded a tract of forty acres in what is now Lincoln township, the nucleus of the large farm now owned by the subject of this sketch. There he con- structed a dug-out, sixteen by fourteen feet in dimensions, with a dirt floor. boarded sides and a sod roof, and in that humble abode the family lived for three years, at the end of which time they were able to erect a modest frame house, fourteen by twenty. There Nels Winquist spent his last days, his death occurring on January 17, 1889. His widow survived him about seven years, her death occurring in 1896. They were the parents of five children, those besides the subject of this sketch, the second in order of birth, being as follows: Mrs. Augusta Benson, now deceased; Severin, who died
1008
MARSHALL COUNTY, KANSAS.
in 1904, after having been engaged in farming in partnership with his brother John: Malcolm, who died in 1872. the year after he came to this country, and Hannah, also now deceased.
John A. Winquist was fifteen years of age when he came to this coun- try and was twenty when he came out to Kansas with the family in 1875. From the beginning of his residence here he worked hard, not only he and his brother laboring with their father in the task of developing the home- stead tract upon which the family settled, John A. Winquist taking extra employment as a corn-husker at ninety cents a day during the winters. His brother Severin herded cattle during the summers, at a wage of twelve dollars a month and with the extra money thus earned the brothers bought a horse. For the greater part of the time after he came here until his death Nels Winquist was an invalid and upon the two brothers devolved the task of working the farm, the eldest brother taking care of his parents until their death. After his father "proved up" the homestead he took charge of it and proved not only a capable manager but a good farmer. He and his brother Severin ever worked in partnership, an excellent arrangement, for they worked harmoniously and to good effect and made money, John A. Winquist becoming sole owner of their joint holdings upon the death of his brother in 1904. Mr. Winquist is now the owner of eight hundred and forty acres of excellent land in Lincoln township, the same having on it two sets of improvements. the home place comprising a half section of land in section 14. In addition to his general farming he does a good bit in the way of raising live stock and markets about one hundred head of hogs annually.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.