USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 30
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
In the spring of 1866, Mr. Baylies began a trip which gave him his first experience with the frontier. He went to the Territory of Montana, where he was employed in the gold diggings, and in other ways, without much profit to himself and, after three years, returned to lowa and a month afterward started on his pioneering trip to Kansas.
February 14th. 1878, Mr. Baylies married Rachel M., widow of Dr. William E. Henry, and a daughter of H. T. and Nancy I. Butterworth. By her first marriage Mrs. Baylies has two sons, Prof Thomas B. and William E. Henry, mention of whom is made on another page of this volume. A danghter. Caroline C., is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Bay- lies. She is a junior in the Kansas State University. Clara, an orphan girl, is a member of the Baylies household. She has found a welcome and comfortable home there for twelve years and is a valuable acquisition to the family.
Table Mound, on which the Baylies home is situated, is one of the highest points in Montgomery county. It rises more than two hundred feet above Elk river and contains an area of some six hundred acres, and forms a large part of the one thousand or more acres of the Henry and Baylies estate. The Baylies cottage stands on the eastern edge of the abrupt decline and overlooks, from its almost dizzy height, the entire landscape below and furnishes a n magnificent "birds eye" view. The The mound is underlaid with lola limestone and commercial shale and is, perhaps, doomed to destruction for the manufacture of portland ce- ment.
Mr. Baylies is honorable in dealing, modest in bearing and influen- tial as a citizen. Ilis home is filled with good cheer and hospitality and is presided over by a genuine woman, his wife. In early life Mrs. Baylies was a teacher. She is a lady of culture and refinement and in the rearing of their children she and her husband have honored society and won dis- tinction for themselves.
GEORGE B. SMITH-George B. Smith. a farmer of Sycamore town- ship, and a citizen of the county since 1896, is a South Carolinian by birth and an Indianian by adoption. Born December 16th, 1845, in Ander-
262
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
son district, he left the "Palmetto State" with his parents at the age of five years and became a resident of Boone county, Indiana. Here he grew to manhood-the war interfering somewhat with his education, so far as book-knowledge goes-but giving him an opportunity to take les- sons in that greater, and in some respects, more important school-the school of experience. Many a boy left the school-room in those days with but a smattering of "book larnin'" and graduated from Uncle Sam's Technical School in 1865, with that broad culture which comes with travel and association with kindred minds. Mr. Smith enrolled in this school on the 22nd of December, 1863, becoming a member of Company "F," 40th Ind. Vol. Inft., Col. John W. Blake commanding.
This regiment mobilized with the Fourth Army Corps and reached Sherman's army in time to participate in the battle of Resaca, and short- ly after at Buzzard's Roost. At the spectacular fight at Kenesaw Mt., Mr. Smith's enthusiasm carried him within the enemy's lines and he be- came an unwilling hostage at dreaded Andersonville. Owing to the fact that "Unele Billy" had gathered up a few of the Confederates, which Hood thought he might need on his trip north. exchange became possible, and Mr. Smith was thus compelled to experience the horrors of that noted resort but a short time. He rejoined the army in time to help General Thomas administer the two castigations at Franklin and Nashville, and then spent the remainder of his service in the Southwest, not being mus- tered out until January of 1866. that event occurring at Texana, Texas.
After the war, our subject returned to Indiana. and after a period in his home county, in 1871 he moved over into Carroll Co., Ind. Here he engaged in farming until 1876, and then came to the "Sunflower State." Up to 1896, he farmed in Jefferson. Elk and Labette counties, in which latter year he settled in Montgomery county.
Mr. Smith is a gentleman of good sense, popular in his community, and active in all that promises well for the people. He has been a mem- ber of the school board for the past five years, is a working member of the Christian church, and is, of course, a member of the Grand Army.
Mentioning the salient points in Mr. Smith's family history we note that he is a son of Thomas G. Smith, who was born in South Carolina, and is one of twelve children. Their names as far as known being George W., Nancy, Thomas. Millie and Joseph.
Thomas G. Smith was born in Pickens district, South Carolina, Jan- mary 22nd, 1811, was there reared and at maturity married Jane, daugh- ter of George Braswell. This lady was a native of that state and was born November 11, 1817. She became the mother of fifteen children, seven living to maturity; their names being: Caron E. Franks, of Mul- vane, Kansas; Nancy J. Moore, of Montgomery county; Camilla E. Decker, of Claypool, Indiana ; George B., Sarah C. Thompson, of Hopeton,
263
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Ok .; Miranda A. Coppock, of Hamilton county, Indiana, and Madison S., who resides in the same county.
George B. Smith, the honored subject of this review, married in Kan- sas on the 30th of June, 1878. Rachel E. Wilkerson. Mrs. Smith is a daughter of J. C. and Eliza Wilkerson, all natives of Kentucky. To her husband she has borne four children-Charles L. resides in Independence, Kansas; John T. in Montgomery county, as also do Inez and Lulu, the latter at home and the former the wife of Homer L. Bretches.
Mr. Smith and his family are highly regarded in the county of their adoption, where they expect to pass the remainder of their days.
J. M. COURTNEY-Cherryvale was still in its swaddling clothes when J. M. Courtney took up residence within its borders. He helped nurse it into vigorous and lusty youth, witnessed the passing of the line into manhood, and glories now in the evidences of its strength and pros- perity. During these years he has been constant in his interest in the progress of the city and has given much time and effort to the building up of those institutions which constitute its pride, and particularly in the line of education. His various official duties as justice of the peace, su- perintendent of the waterworks, and vice president of the Montgomery County Bank, keep him in close touch with the people and make him a potent factor in the development which is now taking place in his sec- tion of the county.
March 31st, 1840, and Trumbull county, Ohio, mark the date and place of birth of Mr. Courtney. Michael and Grace ( Piersol) Courtney were the names of his parents, both natives of the "Buckeye State," and the fahier a shoemaker by trade. They were respected members of society, devout communicants of the Methodist church, and of intense and loyal patriotism. They removed to Illinois in 1845, where the father died in Vermillion county the same year. His wife survived him over a half een- tury, dying at the advanced age of eighty-three years, in 1901. They reared nine children, four of whom still survive. After the death of the father the family went back to Mercer county, Pa., in 1847, where our subject was reared to man's estate. He passed the years of early man- hood in helping cultivate the home farm, and was thus occupied when the toesin of war resounded through the land, calling those of patriot blood to save the nation from disunion. In October of 1861, he left the furrow and became a private in Company "I," Second Penn. Cav. This regiment joined the forces about Washington, but Mr. Courtney did not see much of the active fighting, as he was soon taken sick with that sol- dier's scourge, the measles, which in turn was followed by an attack of smallpox. After a dreary time in the hospital, our subject recovered suf- ficiently to act as a nurse to the wounded, and, owing to the urgent de-
264
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
mand for that kind of help. he was kept there on detail until he was dis- charged for disability, the smallpox having left his eyes in bad condition.
After the war, Mr. Courtney went to Vermillion county, Illinois, for a period, and in 1866 located in Labette county, Kansas, where he con- tinued to reside to the date of his coming to Cherryvale, 1876. With the exception of a year spent at Eureka Springs in the vain attempt to im- prove the health of his wife, our subjeet has held continuous residence in the city. He ran a drug store for several years, then went into the real estate business, which he has followed in connection with his duties as superintendent of the water works, his appointment dating from 1892. During these years he has been most active in the civic life of the com- munity, serving as city treasurer, trustee of the County High School, member of the city school board, and has been now for three terms a jus- tice of the peace.
Married life with Mr. Courtney began July 15th, 1866. The wife of his youth was Mary E. Wood. daughter of Daniel Wood. Her death oc- curred without issue, and on February 15th. 1885, our subject was joined to the lady who now presides over his household. Flora C. Willis. Her parents were J. W. and Mary Willis, residents of Illinois. Two children have been born-Earl M. and Rhea M. Mr. Courtney and family are members of the Methodist church. while he belongs to the Masons, the Woodmen, the A. O. U. W., the K. of H. and the G. A. R. He is an ardent Republican and a valued worker in the party. No more highly respected citizen is to be found within the confines of the city.
ROBERT SAMUEL PARKHURST-Conspicuous among the pioneers of Montgomery county is the venerable subject of this brief notice. His advent to the county was at a date prior to the removal of the Red Man to his new reservation in the Indian Territory, and when things social were in a somewhat chaotic condition; yet he went about his daily task of driving the initial stakes toward the building of his Western home and laid the foundation for a career of success and use- fulness.
Robert S. Parkhurst settled in Montgomery county, Kansas, in Oc- tober, 1869. He was at the head of a colony of Indiana settlers, few of whom now remain, but some of whom are still represented in the county. There were seventeen families of them and they drove teams overland from Johnson county, Indiana. Mr. Parkhurst had resided in that state since 1826, and, with the exception of three years, was engaged in the successful cultivation of the soil. During this three years' exception he was one of the proprietors of the "New York Store" in Franklin, the county seat, and out of both his ventures-as farmer and merchant-he realized abundantly to give him a good start in Kansas. When he drove
--
.
-
R. S. PARKHURST AND BROTHERS.
265
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
on to the townsite of Independence it had only just been laid off. He came out to accomplish something permanent with the several thousand dollars he brought along and some sixteen houses sprang into existence in the new town as a result of his public spirit and foresight. He took up land also and began the preparation of a country home. His efforts at farming were amply and rapidly rewarded and as he approached the evening of life he found himself possessed of many hundred acres of land. Twelve hundred of this he divided amongst his children and, a few years later-when he had accumulated other large areas-fourteen hundred acres more were set off to his heirs, and still his resources were far from being exhausted. Perhaps few men have made the soil of Montgomery county respond so freely as he. He has centered his efforts in the one line and. except for his connection with the First National Bank, as a stockholder, he has not deviated from the life of a farmer.
Mr. Parkhurst was born in Kentucky, February 2nd, 1823. His par- ents were John and Abigail ( Sellers) Parkhurst, the former born in Tennessee about 1790, and died in Johnson county, Indiana, at about seventy-five years old. His wifedied in the same county being the mother of the following children, namely: Matilda, Owen, Robert S., James, Polly A., Sarah, John A., Caroline, Abigail. Wilson, Elijah, Daniel and Martha.
The youth of R. S. Parkhurst was passed chiefly at work on his father's farm. He acquired little education and began life in a limited way. When he decided to come west he induced many of his friends to join him and five weeks of the autumn of 1869 were passed making the trip out to Independence. The first winter Mr. Parkhurst housed his family in a hay house in which his horses also were sheltered. In the spring other buildings of a frontier character were provided and the work of actual improvement was begun. How well he accounted for his first twenty-five years here is told in the property accumulations already al- luded to. Political achievements he has none. Ile was reared a Demo- erat and has given support to the faith all his life. He has had no ambi- tion for office ; has been ambitious to be a good citizen and provide for his domestic wants.
In April, 1843. Mr. Parkhurst married Lucretia Henry, a daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Musselman) Henry. Mrs. Parkhurst was born in Kenucky in 1824 and is the mother of four daughters, as follows: Abi- gail, widow of Louis Hudiberg, of Montgomery county; Mary E., wife of John Hetley, of Independence, Kansas; Matilda, who married Richard H. DeMott, a prominent farmer of Montgomery county; and Lucinda, wife of William E. Smith, of Independence.
Mr. Parkhurst is a Mason. He belongs to the blue lodge and chapter and is a Baptist of the old predestinarian order, and has been a member of the denomination many years.
266
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
ARCHIBALD L. SCOTT-Among those settlers of Montgomery county who have emphasized their presence in the world of achievement in the field of agriculture prominently appears the name of Archibald L. Scott, of Sycamore township, farmer. soldier and honored citizen. To win a pronounced victory in the domain of agriculture. to accumulate and improve a vast body of land, princely in dominion, in less than two decades and to establish a wide civil and political confidence, ranking one as a leading citizen of his municipality, mentions, in brief, the events in the career of our subject and serves to indicate the real character of his citizenship.
March 10th, 1884, he became a citizen of Montgomery county, and settled on section 10. township 31. range 15. Then his identity with Kan- sas farming began and the history of his efforts in this and kindred voca- tions finds its strongest utterance in the possession of an estate of nine hundred and two acres of land.
The native place of Mr. Scott is Tyler county, West Virginia. He was born near Sistersville. October 6, 1841, was a son of George Scott, and grew up on his father's farm. The latter was born in County Donne- gal, Ireland. in 1811. came to the United States in 1816 with his father, Archibald Scott. The grandfather had a family of sons, John and George, both of whom died in Hancock county, Illinois, the former in 1882-Jeav- ing a family-and the latter in 1898. George Scott was an active, posi- tive citizen of his community, took an interest in its various affairs, was first a Whig, then a Democrat and finally a Republican. He married Easter West, who died in 1846. being the mother of the following child- ren : Wesley S., of Pleasance county. W. Va .; William, deceased; Archi- bald L., of this review; Margaret A., who married Wm. C. Sine, of To- ronto, Ohio; Amos C., of Carthage, Illinois. Rachel Williams became the second wife of George Scott, and her children were: George N., of Hamil- ton, Illinois; Charles A., of Brady's Bend, Pa .; Ellen. deceased, and David O.
The education of Archibald L. Scott was limited in quantity. The log school house was both his preparatory school and university, and his service in school seemed to be of less importance than his services on the farm. The serious responsibilities of life began with him before he was twenty years of age, and in 1860, he crossed over into Martinsburg. Ohio, where he was employed for a time in a tannery. June 5th. 1861, he en- listed in Company "B," 4th Ohio Inf., Col. Loren Andrews, of Gambier College. His service began in West Virginia, at Clarksburg, and he par- ticipated in the fight at Rich Mountain. He was enlisted for three months, but the regiment was reorganized in Camp Denison for three years, it being one of the first Ohio regiments so to do. From the Rich Mountain battlefield the command followed the Baltimore & Ohio Ry. to Fort Pendleton and took Rumney, was engaged at Patterson's Creek,
267
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Martinsburg, Winchester and finally fought Stonewall Jackson at Kern- town, giving that Confederate chieftain his first and only defeat on a fair field. The next move of the command was toward Fredericksburg, and then to the Shenandoah Valley by way of Manassas Junction and Front Royal. An advance was made to cut off Jackson at Port Republic, thence back to Front Royal. to Alexandria and to Hhrrison's Landing, where a junction with the Army of the Potomac was effected. The main battles fought while with the Army of the Potomac were the closing days of the Seven Days' Fight, Antietam, Fredericksburg. Chancellorsville, Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor. At this juncture Mr. Scott's time expired and he was ordered to Columbus, Ohio, to be mus- tered out of service. He enlisted as a private, declined a sergeancy, was color bearer in two engagements and was wounded three times in the bat- tle of Chancellorsville, in the hand, thigh and by a piece of iron under the left ear. The ball taken from his left thigh is in his possession, a relie of the great citizen war.
Mr. Scott changed his uniform for a workingman's garb and became an oil well driller, with a spring-pole for power, in the West Virginia field. Leaving there he went into the Pennsylvania field and was con- nected with oil production in the two states for nineteen years. In the meantime he came to Kansas-in 1870-and was located for a time in Neodesha, where he did carpenter work and served the village as its mar- shal, the first one it had. While there-June 10th, 1872-he married and soon after returned to the Pennsylvania oil fields, where he continued an operator 'till his final advent to the Sunflower State, in 1883.
Mrs. Scott was Clara MeWilliams, a daughter of Wallace and Mary McWilliams, pioneers to Kansas from Knox county, Ohio, settling at Geneva, in Allen county, in August, 1860. The parents afterward moved to Neodesha, where they died, leaving children: Rena, deceased wife of Abraham Ross; David, deceased; William B., of Caney, Kansas; Burnie, deceased, married E. N. Lewis; Moses and Charles, deceased ; Mrs. Scott ; John, of Coffeyville, Kansas, and Eugene, of Neodesha, Kansas.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott's children are Howard A., deputy county attor- ney of Montgomery county, Kansas, who was commissioned First Lieuten- ant of Co. "G," 20th Kansas-Filipino insurrection-and was promoted to captain of Co. "A," but mustered out as captain of Co. "G." having been assigned back to his first company ; George W., married Mabel Lane, re- sides in Montgomery county, and has one child, Edna Cleo; Archi- bald L., Edwin P., Walter W., and Henry J. Scott conclude the list.
As a citizen Mr. Scott has wielded a political influence in Mont- gomery county. He was a Republican when he became a voter and acted with that party 'till the confusing and discordant elements of the politi- cal atmosphere began to vibrate in 1890, and for the next eight years as- sumed positive shape and shook the very foundation stones of the domi-
268
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
nant parties, finally absorbing one and unifying the whole into a mass of "unterrified." To this new politieal force Mr. Scott gave his allegiance and by it he was nominated. in 1890, Representative to the Legislature. He served the winter of 1890-1 in the House and was chairman of the committee on assessment and taxation. He was a member of the library and other committees, but gave more attention to the reform of our tax laws and succeeded in getting a bill through the House covering the sub- jeet, but the Senate sounded its death knell by inaction. He served with Elder and other once noted and prominent Populists, and while he was for Judge Doster for United States Senator, he voted for Wm. A. Peffer.
Mr. Scott has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1868. when he joined the order at Spencer. West Virginia. Siloam lodge. He holds his membership in Harmony lodge. Neodesha.
DANIEL STARKEY-February 12, 1878. Daniel Starkey, of this personal mention, eame into Montgomery county and settled in West Cherry township. At the end of a half dozen years he purchased a quar- ter section of land in section 22, township 31. range 16, and personally conducted it till 1898, when he moved to Wilson county, where he vet re- sides, leaving the conduct of the old homestead to his son. Harvey.
LaGrange county, Indiana, was the native place of Daniel Starkey and his birth occurred March 1, 1848. His father was Thomas Starkey of Juniata county, Pennsylvania. and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Holsinger. The father was a son of Benjamin Starkey, who mar- ried into the Francis family and was the father of nine children.
Thomas Starkey was a colonel of militia in Ohio, was born in Penn- sylvania, and descended from Pennsylvania ancestry. He was a justice of the peace for a quarter of a century in Indiana and was a well-known quetieneer. His wife was a daughter of William Holsinger and bore him thirteen children. Those mentioned here are William, who died of wounds received on Sherman's march to the sea: Mrs. Jane Case, of LaGrange county, Indiana; Mrs. Susan Quinn. of California; Benjamin, of Clinton county, Indiana; Priscilla, wife of R. Finley; Daniel, our sub- jeet ; Adaline, who married Charley Bartlett, of Indiana; Mrs. Ida Em- inger, of Indiana; Mrs. Ada Shamblin, of Michigan ; Mrs. Lettie Sturge, of Indiana; Mrs. Bessie Coleman, of California; Mrs. Alice Myers, of In- diana ; and Mrs. Rhoda Lovitt, of Illinois.
Mr. Starkey of this notice. took for his wife. Abbie Brown, who was born in Erie county, New York, December 25, 1854. Her parents were Irving and Jane (Mann) Brown, people of New York birth. Two sons constitute the issue of Mr. and Mrs. Starkey, viz: Harvey, a Montgomery county farmer, whose wife was Miss Ella Hull, born in Nodaway county, Missouri, and a daughter of Eleazer and Emma Hull, natives of New Jer-
269
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
sey. An only child, Marens M., is the issue of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Star- key. Charles Starkey is the younger child of our subject and he married Ella MeKinney. Their family has one child, Ernest.
Mr. Starkey was one of the prominent and active members of the Farmers' Alliance, years ago, holds to Populist principles in politics, has served on various committees, and a number of terms on the school board.
REVILO NEWTON-Cherryvale, of this county, had not been incor- porated very many years when this worthy and respected citizen took up his residence within its borders. He, at that time, was connected with a private bank, which afterward became the Montgomery County National Bank. of which he has, since its inception, been cashier. IIe has taken a keen interest in the advancement and development of the town and has been especially active in the building up of its educational institutions and in giving tone and strength to the religious life of the community. He has been superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School for twenty- five years and since his settlement in the town has been a potent factor in shaping. through that institution, the moral tone of the community. During much of this time. he has been connected. in an official way, with the school systems of the county, and has been exceedingly active in se- curing the best educational facilities for the use of the growing munici- pality.
Revilo Newton is a native of Illinois, born on the 11th of April, 1842. in La Salle county. He was there reared to man's estate, receiving a fair common school edneation, though this was interrupted by the ap- proach of the great Civil War. He took a gallant part in this sanguinary struggle. He went from the school room to the field, enlisting in August, 1862. in Company "A," Eighty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. This regiment became part of the army of the Cumberland, its first smell of powder being at the bloody battle of Perryville and subsequently at the Stone River struggle. He then went with Rosecrans to Chattanooga, but before active operations were begun at that point, he was taken sick and was compelled to return to the hospital, where he received his discharge in December of 1863. This ended his military experience, as he never recovered his health sufficiently to bear the rigors of military life. He resumed his school life, taking a commercial course and then entering the mercantile business in Tonica, Illinois. Later he removed to Iowa where he continued business five years, thence to Monunk, Illinois, where he spent twelve years behind the counter. This brings us to the date of his settlement in Montgomery county. In 1882. he made Montgomery county his home, as stated, and became connected with a private banking institution. This was later merged into the Montgomery County Nation- al Bank, in 1892, one of the safest and solidest financial institutions of
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.