USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 35
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SAMUEL MEMURTRY-The subject of this sketch is the efficient clerk of Montgomery county, and has been a factor in the county's af.
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fairs for the past eleven years. He is one of the great throng of honor- able and creditable citizens who have been filling up Kansas from the "Hoosier State" since the war of the Rebellion and. himself, sought its borders in the year 1887.
Mr. MeMurtry was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, September 10th. 1854, and is a son of Ansel MeMurtry, who died November 18th, 1854. the year of our subject's birth, at the age of thirty-two. The father was a native of Kentucky, where his parents established themselves on coming to the United States from the British Isles, just after the war of 1812. Samnel MeMurtry, grandfather of our subject, was the pioneer ancestor above referred to, and was the head of the MeMurtry family of this branch in America. About the year 1830, he accompanied several of his children into Hamilton county, Indiana, where he passed away at a ripe old age. He married Elsie Reid, a lady of Irish birth, and reared a large family of children. In business affairs he was a trader and farmer.
Ansel MeMurtry grew up in Indiana and there married Polly Burris. She was of English birth and was born February Sth, 1827. She still resides in Hamilton county and is the widow of Thomas Phillips. By her first marriage five children were born, of whom three survive, and seven children were born to her last marriage, only one of whom now lives. The MeMurtry children are: Mrs. Maria Wilson, of Arcadia, Indiana ; Mrs. Rosa Phillips, of Lawrence, Kansas; Mrs. Sarah Seully, who died in Hamilton county. Indiana, in 1875; and Samuel, of this review.
Orphaned at the age of two months, our subjeet never knew the guid- ance and protection of a father. The training of the farm and the rural school fell to his lot in boyhood and he finished his education with gradn- ation from the Union High Academy, at Westfield, Indiana. He took up the study of law in Noblesville, Indiana,with the firm of Kane & Davis, and was admitted to the bar in 1879, after a due course of reading. But instead of engaging in the practice of law he took up the work of teach- ing school and followed it in his native state for ten years.
In 1887. he came ont to Kansas with the intention of teaching one year and then taking up the profession of law. An attractive offer was made him in Kinsley, where he located, to take charge of the city schools, and this cansed him to deviate from his original plans, and he presided over the destinies of the schools of the county seat of Edwards county, as superintendent. for five years. The depression of the times brought busi- ness to such a low ebb in western Kansas that. in 1892. he decided to get nearer the center of population, and away from the region of the western plains. He chose Montgomery county for his field of labors and located in Coffeyville, where he became associate editor of the Coffeyville Journal, then under the management of the late Capt.D. S. Elliott. Soon after
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his arrival he was appointed city attorney of the thrifty town on the border, and performed his public duties in connection with his newspa- per work for one year. For four years he occupied his position on the editorial staff of the Journal and then left it to engage in the real estate and insurance business in that city. In this line of activity he was en- gaged when nominated and elected, and finally installed, as county clerk, January 12th, 1903.
Samuel McMurtry was brought up a Republican. His father was a Whig, but his son's political training was left in the hands of others, and it was supplied by teachers of the Republican school. In early manhood he became a factor in local political affairs and his services have always been freely given to his party, as a worker and a speaker. He was nomi- nated for county clerk, by acclamation, in 1899, but was defeated by only fifty-four votes, at a time when the Fusionists had quite a substantial majority. In 1902, the Republican County Convention renewed its fealty to him and gave him another nomination by acclamation, with the result that he defeated his opponent at the polls by seven hundred and ninety- one votes.
While Mr. McMurtry is an ardent advocate of Republican policies, and, of the cause of its condidates, yet he never fails to manifest a cour- teous and respectful attitude toward those of opposing beliefs and, as a consequence, his candidacy has drawn heavily from the forces of the Fusionists when he has been in a political race.
December 28th, 1876, Mr. McMurtry married Miss Julia A. Rammel, in Westfield, Indiana. Mrs. McMurtry is a daughter of Rev. Eli and Cassa (Cash) Rammel, and was born in Middletown, Henry county. In- diana. Her parents came to Kansas in 1879, lived on a farm near Coffey- ville and there died, the former October 26th, 1882, and the latter August 10th, 1887.
Eli Rammel was a Methodist minister and was a member of the North Indiana Conference for forty years. By his marriage he was the father of ten children, five of whom are living.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. McMurtry are: Ansel E., of Kansas City, Mo .; Elmer E. and Gertrude, living; while Vinita died in Coffey- ville, in 1898, at the age of sixteen years, and Sharley and Carrie died at Kinsley, Kansas, in infancy.
Mr. MeMurtry is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a Modern Woodman and a member of the Fraternal Aid Association.
ALVIN J. INSCHO-Living on neighboring farms in Rutland town- ship are two old friends, William H. Sloan and Alvin J. Inscho. These two gentlemen are among the very earliest settlers of the county, having
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settled on their claims in June, 18GS. The years that have passed since that carly day have been full of the multifarious duties of life; at first, the hard, grinding toil and discomforts of pioneer life, which gradually be- came softened by the comforts and luxuries of civilization.
Authentic information concerning the early history of the Inscho family is lacking. Mr. Inscho believes, however, that the name was brought to this country prior to the Revolutionary war. Exact know- ledge locates his grandfather, Robert Inscho, in Virginia in the early part of the 19th century, where he reared seven children, whose names were : Joseph, Robert, Henry, Nancy, Mary, Maria and John. The young- est of this family married Clara Foot, a native of New York state, and a daughter of Robert and Mary Foot, both natives of that state. The child- ren of this marriage were : Ozias, Edwin, of Sterling, Kansas; Perry and Alvin J.
Alvin J. Inscho dates his birth in Huron county, Ohio, February 16th, 1844. He was reared to farm life and, while busily engaged in aiding his parents in the summer and securing an education in the winter. watched the gathering of the war cloud with absorbing interest. With his heart throbbing in unison with the drum beats of the enrolling officer he, in July, 1862, enlisted in Wood county, Ohio-where his parents had removed when he was yet a child-in Company "A," 100th Ohio Vol. Inf., Col. Groom commanding. This regiment became a part of the Third Division, First Brigade-Gen. Gillmore in command-which was mobil- ized with the 23rd Army Corps. His first taste of "the realities" was at the siege of Knoxville, the initial action in a series of victories in which our subject subsequently shared. Some of the more important were: Resaca. Atlanta, then with Thomas to Tennessee-where he partici- pated at Columbia, Franklin and Nashville. Crossing the mountains. his company was "in" at the Wilmington fight and then to Washington, D. C .. where it swung into the grandest line of veterans ever marshalled in review. His muster out of service occurred July 3rd, 1865, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Short periods at Toledo and Perrysburg, Ohio, and at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in which places he worked in drug stores, preceded his coming to St. Joe, Mo., in 1867, and in the summer of the following year he be- came a resident of Montgomery county, Kansas. Here he began life anew on a 160-acre tract which constitutes a part of the five hundred and forty acres which he now owns, in section 24-32-14. Reminiscences of those early times are of exceeding interest from the lips of Mr. Inscho. His knowledge of drugs enabled him to play the "medicine man" with the In- dians to good advantage. so that he was not annoyed as much as other settlers. Too much cannot be said in commendation of the character al- ways sustained by Mr. Inscho. Suffice it to say that no citizen is more
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widely and favorably known than he, and the interest he takes in seenring the best advantages in matters of education and good government, en- dears him to all. He is a member of the board of education and, in a patriotie way. holds membership in the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1882, Mr. Inscho was happily joined in marriage with Dora M. Turner, daughter of David and Lonisa Turner, of Ohio. Mrs. Inscho is a lady of endearing qualities, and a splendid mother to her five children, whose names are: Bessie, Clyde, Birdie, Fay and Frank.
WILLIAM A. MERRILL-This gentleman is a prominent citizen and leading lawyer of the stirring little municipality of Caney, where he has, in the short space of four years, succeeded in winning the respect of the entire community and establishing a lucrative practice. Caney has no more indefatigable worker for the advancement of her inter- ests than Mr. Merrill, and he has shown his faith in her future by invest- ing in one of the best residence properties in the city.
William A. Merrill came to Caney in 1898, from Warrensburg. Mo .. where he had been a prominent and leading citizen for a number of years. lle is a native of Johnson county, of that state, where he was born on the 22d of August, 1861, the son of Leaven H. Merrill and his wife, formerly Susan F. Smith. The father's nativity lay back in the old State of Maryland, from whence he removed with his parents to Missouri when a child. When he arrived at man's estate he chose the occupation of a farmer. In 1863, Leaven H. Merrill being a slaveholder and southern sympathizer, was forced to leave his family in Missouri. He went as far south as Batesville, Arkansas. Instead of going into the regular army, he put out a crop. and, in the fall of that year, was killed by the "Moun- tain Browns," being shot from ambush. He left three children to be cared for by the wife and mother, who bravely took up the task. She lived to see them well educated men and honored citizens, before passing to her rest. at fifty-two years of age. The names of the other two chil- dren are: Joseph A. and Florence. Florence married J. W. Blackwell. and lives with her family near Chelsea, Indian Territory.
William A. Merrill was the youngest of this family thus early de- prived of a father's care. From earliest boyhood he was acenstomed to the severest labor, but adversity taught him many valuable lessons, which have borne their fruit in making him a stalwart and independent soldier in the battle of life. He was reared to farm work, but by dint of close application was enabled to prepare himself for the teaching profession. He attended sessions of Central College at Fayette, Missouri. and, later, at the State Normal at Warrensburg, and for firteen years was continuously engaged in the school room, establishing a reputation as an educator not surpassed in that section of the state. He then took up
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the study of law, and, in 1897, was admitted to the bar in Warrensburg. The following year he came to Kansas, as hereinbefore stated.
Mr. Merrill was married on the 5th day of March, 1889, to Laura P. Keen, of Johnson county, Missouri, who now presides over his home with that dignified grace which denotes the true housewife.
The political convictions of our subject lie in the line of Jeffersonian Democracy, though his rather retiring disposition prechides his taking little more than a voting part in matters of that kind. Socially, he is a popular member of the Masonic fraternity, being, at the present time, secretary of Lodge No. 324. He and his good wife are held in the high- est esteem by the citizens of their adopted city.
WILLIAM H. BRUNTON-Prominent as a contractor and builder of Elk City and junior member of the firm of Reed & Brunton, William H. Brunton has been a citizen of Montgomery county since 1872. He was born in Missouri, February 21. 1862. His father, the venerable Thomas Brunton, who resides near Jefferson City, that state, was one of the early settlers of Louisburg township, where he took a claim as early as 1871. Some years later, he returned to Missouri, his native state, where he is retired from active life at abont sixty-seven years old.
Thomas Brunton married Lucinda Bagsley, an Indiana lady, and the first years of his active life were passed as a carpenter builder. Toward the close of the war, he enlisted in the Twenty-third Missouri Infantry. and soldiered in the west in the Union army. In 1875, his wife died at thirty-five years of age, leaving children : Mary. deceased ; Phoebe, wife of John Heritage. of Montgomery county; William H., of Elk City; Clarinda, who married Philip JJones and resides in the state of Washing- ton; Cyrus A., of Montgomery county ; and Immeinda, Mrs. Chas. Jones, of Washington.
William H. Brunton acquired his education in the public schools of Montgomery county. On leaving school he learned the stonemason's trade and at this he worked several years, before taking up carpenter work. He has been a carpenter builder since 1885, and, in 1903, formed a business alliance with his partner. Mr. Reed.
December 25, 1888, Mr. Brunton married Ethel Kelso, who was born in Logan county, Illinois, June 22. 1870. She is a daughter of William and Maggie ( Doyle) Kelso, both deceased, who left five children, as fol- lows: Mrs. Brunton. Arthur, of Chicago, Illinois: Emma. now Mrs. Mor- ris Osborne, of Montgomery county, Kansas; David, who died at twenty- one;and Pearl, wife of Roy Bailey, of Burden, Kansas. After her hus- band's death, Mrs. Kelso married Joseph Goodwin and, at her death in 1886, left a daughter, Maggie Goodwin. Mr. Kelso was a merchant in
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Corn Land, Illinois, was a justice of the peace there, and died at about thirty years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Brunton's family consists of : Roy Vincent, Fay, and Lela, deceased.
WILLIAM B. WOOD-June 28, 1868. in Whitley county, Kentucky, William B. Wood. of Rutland township. was born. In infancy he was brought to Kansas by his parents, who settled in Montgomery county, where our subject was brought up and has since resided. The fact of their very early settlement here numbers the family among the pioneers of the county, and their entry of a tract of the public domain in section 22. township 32. range 14, marks them as original settlers.
William B. Wood was the son of Thomas F. Wood, of Tennessee birth. but of Kentucky growing-up. He was educated liberally for his day and entered upon the serions duties of life as a teacher in the rural schools. When he reached the frontier in Kansas he laid aside the ferule and devoted his time to industrial pursuits. He was variously employed, as a supplement to his meager earnings on a new farm, but teaming and freighting, and the like, constituted his chief occupation during the first years of his residence here. He was employed by Nopawalla's band to haul their effects off of the reservation to Chetopa and by this species of intercourse came to know the red man of this locality very well. Some of the lower bands of Indians ordered him out of the country and even tried to burn what scant improvements he had made, but Thomas F. Wood was from the wrong country to be scared away, and he remained.
The first building to house the Woods was a cabin 10x12 feet, and the next one was of similar construction but larger and more convenient, and in this did its owner live till his death in 1877. His treatment of the Red Man made warm friends of them. and in 1879. a band of five hundred of them came to visit him and turned back sorrowfully when they learned he was dead.
Jeriah Wood was the grandfather of William B. Wood. He was a native Tennesseean and had children: John I., Wilson, Ambrose, Jo- seph, Mrs. Lucinda flamond, of Pine Knot, Kentucky; Jeptha, Mrs. Sarah Meadows, of Jellico, Tennessee, and Thomas F.
Thomas F. Wood married Eliza A. Morgan, a daughter of Griffin and Ann (Shepard) Morgan, of Whitley county, Kentucky. Two children, William B. and John R., of Montgomery county, Kansas, constitute the living issue of their marriage. During the Elk river flood of 1885, Mrs. Wood and a son, Thomas F., ten years of age, were drowned on the 16th of May.
As a child, William B. Wood's associates were frequently the Osage
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Indian and his papoose. He ahnost lived at their camps and ate their buffalo meat and spoke their language and, even now, the dialect of the wild man lingers about his tongue. He was left without parental guid- ance at the age of firteen years, and saw the inside of the school room as a student, seldom, from thence forward. In 1891, he married Josephine L. Miller, an Ohio lady and a daughter of H. II. Miller. One child, Lelia, is the issue of this union. He occupies the family homestead of pioneer days, and is now replacing the burned dwelling erected by his father in that era.
WILLIAM THOMAS YOE-William Thomas Yoe was born in Cal- vert county, Maryland, March 26, 1845, and reared in a christian home. His parents were Walter and Elizabeth ( Harris) Yoe, native Maryland and Virginia people. In 1848, the parents left their old home and estab- lished themselves among the pioneers at Rushville, Illinois. The father was a carpenter and pursued the arts of peace and won the affection and regard of the community. To the three sons, W. T., Charles and Frank F., the parents left the heritage of a good name and an inspiration to righteous and useful lives.
Thomas Yoe, as our subject is universally known, passed his child- hood and youth about Rushville, Illinois, where he had some acquaintance with the common schools. His education assumed a practical turn from the age of thirteen years, when he went into a print shop, from which. as a business, he has never been separated. Toward the end of the Civil War he enlisted in Company "K." One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Il- linois infantry, and saw service at Memphis, Tennessee.
After the war he located at Shelbyville, Missouri, where, for a short time, he was a hardware merchant. and then at Shelbina, where he be- came associated with Col. A. M. York in the publication of a Republican newspaper. After nearly five years. he decided to exert his energies among the people of the progressive frontier State of Kansas.
In the winter of 1870, he founded, with others, the South Kansas Tribune, and, in February following, brought the plant to Kansas and established it in the new town of Independence, in Montgomery county. L. U. Humphrey, afterward governor of Kansas, was associated with the new paper, on its editorial staff. The proprietorship of the "Tribune" came, later, into the hands of W. T. and Chas. Yoe, where, with a single exception, it has since remained.
Mr. Yoe has been a part of Montgomery county nearly a third of a century and has shared in its development work, both rural and urban. Little that has been of general interest to the county has not known his hand. or felt the influence of his voice or pen ; and the confidence he thus
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inspired warranted the conferring of public honors and the bestowal upon him of public trusts. The practical character of his views, his ma- ture judgment and the evident sincerity of his purpose are traits which have commended him through life and marked him as one of the promi- nent citizens of his city and county. He has been at the head of his news- paper since its establishment and his personal standing has given it weight and power. He has helped make governors and other state officers and furnished effective advice in the distribution of local offices which showed abundant wisdom and brought a strong current of public senti- meut to his party's approval.
As an appointee to publie office, Mr. Yoe has rendered his chief pub- lic service. President Arthur appointed him postmaster of Independ- ence and he served three years but resigned upon the election of Mr. Cleveland. Governor Humphrey appointed him secretary of the State Board of Charities, where he remained three years, and Governor Stan- ley made him a member of the Board of Regents of the State Agricultural College. As a Republican he has occupied a high position in party councils. He has a single standard of honesty and applies it in business, religion and politics, alike. Hle is an active and leading member of the Methodist congregation in Independence, and the influence of his life is a potent one in the spiritual and material affairs of the church.
In 1870. in Shelbina, Missouri, Mr. Yoe married Jennie E. Weather- by. The issue of this union are: Harriet E, a teacher in the Deaf and Dumb Institution of Kansas; Roy W., a farmer, of Tyro, Montgomery county; Edna May, assistant in the Independence postoffice; Earl A., a printer in the Tribune office; and Ruth, Warren and George.
EDWARD PAYSON ALLEN-The First National Bank, of Inde- pendence, is fortunate in having for its executive head, a man of such wide and varied experience, of such unerring judgment and a gentleman of such popular personal traits as he whose name introduces this per- sonal review. He came to Montgomery county ahnost with the earliest, and embodies, in his career as a citizen here, experience as a farmer, mer- chant, public official and financier, all of which stations he has hon- ored and ip all of which has he displayed a natural aptitude and adapta- tion, passing from one to another as a reward of industry and indicating the favor and confidence of his fellow citizens.
Without the pale of the pioneers it excites a ripple of merriment to state that E. P. Allen was once a farmer. His training for years has been so foreign to the calling that he has lost even the most familiar and com- mon attributes of the rural business man, yet he was once a farmer in Montgomery county and the "claim" which he took lies in section 31,
E. P. ALLEN.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
township 33. range 16, where the primitive cottage he erected still stands and where the recollections of poverty still linger. Men who came to Kansas as pioneers, capitalized chiefly by the fruits of their daily toil, and undertook to maintain their families from the profits of a new farm, had disappointments and bitter experiences, alike. and if they plowed with a mixed team and, in their straits, went barefoot, it was forced econ- omy that caused it, and was an open concession to poverty. Mr. Allen passed through it all and the fires of adversity only served to harden the metal that was in him, and better equip him for the contest with less formidable obstacles.
The year 1873. witnessed the close of Mr. Allen's career as a farmer. That year he brought the proceeds of the sale of his heart-aches and memories of disappointments down on Clear creek into Independence and became a merchant. In this, too, his experience led him into the most humble service-most honorable though it was-and on any frequented street corner of Independence today can be found men who have seen "Ed" Allen driving his delivery wagon. At whatever employment, he "followed his trade well" and became absolute master of the situation and of himself. Four years of merchandising brought him to the next step in advance and he carried his popularity into public office. Hle did the work of the recorder's office almost alone for six years, and when he emerged from it, haggard and nearly worn out, he established himself in the insurance and brokerage business, where the initial chapter of his financial history was written. Becoming a director of the First National Bank, in 1885, he became interested in its success and drifted toward financiering with such a pace that the next year he was elected president of the safe, and most conservative, institution of its kind in the county seat. Reserving further mention of his business connections till his na- tvity and family geneology have appeared, we digress and take up the family thread.
Edward P. Allen was born in Green county, Kentucky, Jannary 3, 1843. He was a son of a lawyer, William B. Allen, who was born in the same county and state in 1803. The father passed his life in Greensburg, Kentucky, was a graduate of Nashville, Tennessee, seminary, and of a law school, and practiced his profession successfully all his life. He was a Royal Arch Mason and was once the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. His father, David Allen, and the grandfather of our subjeet, was born in Rockbridge connty. Virginia, October 16, 1773, came to Kentucky with his father about 1753 and served with the Kentucky troops in the war of 1812, dying in Green county in 1816. David Allen's father and oldest paternal uncle were Revolutionary soldiers, and he and three brothers migrated from the "Old Dominion" about the close of that struggle, and their bones mingle with the dust of the State of Daniel
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