USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 37
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The Keeslers are among the well known and honorable citizens of their township. The heads of the family were eastern people-the Kees- lers being original New York settlers-and the Snyders and the Riggles, ancestors of Mrs. Keesler, from the "Keystone" and "Buckeye" States.
Mary A. Keesler was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, Oc-
HARVEY KEESLER ( DECEASED ).
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tober 5. 1833. Her father, Jacob Snyder, was born in Adams county, that state, and her mother, Margaret Riggle, was a native of the same county with our subject. Jacob Snyder was, early in life, a mason but, later, became a farmer and, in 1839, moved his family to Ohio from whence, in 1848. he immigrated to Allen county, Indiana, where he died in 1871, at sixty-three years of age ; his wife dying the year previous at fifty-six years old. The eight children composing their family were: Mary A., George R., Elizabeth, Melissa, Jacob M., William, Eliza and Emma.
Mary A. was the first born of the Snyder children and came to wo- manhood on her father's farm in Indiana. She was married January 30. 1855, to Ilarvey Keesler, born in Vermillion county, Ohio, March 20, 1831. Mr. Keesler was a son of John and Snsan (Ewing) Keesler, both of New York birth. These pioneer parents migrated to Ohio in an early day and settled in the wooded portion of the state, where they brought ap a family of eight children and died. These children were: Harvey, Lucy, Charles, Martin, Mary, George. Frank and William.
Harvey Keesler was the oldest child of his parents and his youth, like that of his wife, was passed upon the farm. He took up the occupa- tion of his fathers in the county where he met and married his wife and was, for some time, a tenant on a rented farm. They purchased their first homestead in the green woods of Indiana, where their beginning in life was most primitive indeed. Prior to his marriage. Mr. Keesler had followed the canal as a boatman on the Erie canal but seemed ready te exchange this life for one, with a life companion. in the beech timber of the "Hoosier State." Illis tenure of the farm was undisturbed until Jan- mary 3, 1864. when he joined Company "H." Thirtieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. in which command he served till the close of the Civil war. He took part in the famous March to the Sea and the Atlanta campaign and was wounded near Resaca, Georgia. in the left hand. the ball remaining where it lodged for twenty-two days. thus crippling Mr. Keesler for life. Ile left the hospital to rejoin his regiment before he was fully recovered but was prevented by the heavy fighting then going on in front and, having taken down with a fever. was furloughed home. Becoming again able for duty, he reported at Covington, Kentucky, was sent to Evansville, Indiana, and there remained until the surrender of Lee's army. June 1. 1865, he was discharged and he soon rejoined his family on his little farm.
For seven years Mr. Keesler continued to reside in Indiana, and when he departed from the state to become a citizen of the Kansas prai- ries he brought a limited supply of money with him. When he settled in Cherry township he purchased a farm of one hundred and forty-nine acres north of Cherryvale, which he ocenpied and improved for eighteen years and then exchanged it for one of four hundred and twenty aeres on
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Drum creek, well adapted to the raising of grain and stock. Here he died in the height of his success and popularity, April 2, 1899.
A man of great energy and industry, Harvey Keesler made his mark as a citizen of Montgomery county. He was not only identified with its business but its politics also. He affiliated with the Republicans, who honored him, without his solicitation and against his wishes, with the township clerkship, but he would never consent to neglect his private affairs to accept a publie trust. He was thrifty and provident and left his family in good circumstances at his death. Two hundred acres of the farm have been set off to the children while the remainder. with the splen- did improvements, provides Mrs. Keesler with a comfortable home during her declining years.
Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Keesler, namely : Willard F., who is married to Lydia Cornelius and has two children, Harvey C. and Gladys; Charles, whose wife is Eva Cornelius, has a child, Ethel; Clara, wife of D. W. Osborn, is the mother of five children, viz : Loren, George, Lewis, Arley and Beryl; Laura, married George Seymour and died February 25, 1882. leaving a dangliter. Mary L. Seymour, who is her- self married to W. H. Thompson and is the mother of Lewis L. Thomp- son, the only great-grandchild of Mrs. Keesler. Thus, with the names of five generations of her family, is the history of Mary A. Keesler closed. Her seventy years of life have been years of labor and of devotion to the bringing-up of an honorable posterity.
HORACE OSCAR CAVERT-Centennial year. the Caverts of this review became settlers of Montgomery county, Kansas. They were headed by J. Curtis G. Cavert, father of our subject, and located on Elk river in Sycamore township, where the brief period of two years were passed on a farm. In 1878, they changed their residence to Independence where they have since resided and where the business life of H. O. Cavert has been spent.
Oscar Cavert was born in Outagamie county, Wisconsin. March 27, 1860. His father was a native of the State of New York and settled in Wisconsin in 1847. His grandfather. William Cavert, was a direct de- scendent of an Irishman who, with a brother, settled in New York state, fresh from Erin. For some unknown reason they each decided to change the spelling of the name from "Calvert" to Cavert. One brother went into the south and the other remained in New York and the generations that have followed from each branch has maintained the American spell- ing of the name.
3. 6. G. Cavert grew up, was married and entered the volunteer ser- vice in Wisconsin. The Third Wisconsin cavalry, Company "1," was his command and he was commissioned a first lieutenant. He was promoted
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to a captaincy and was mustered out as such after having served four years, chiefly in the western department, where guerrillas and bush- whackers largely prevailed. For a wife, he married Helen M. Crane, a daughter of W. W. Crane, formerly of Akron, Ohio. Seven children were born to this union, those living being: Mrs. Mattie Calhoun, of Tulsa, Indian Territory ; Horace Oscar, our subject ; Callista, of Tulsa, Indian Territory ; and Stella, wife of C. M. Flora, of Independence, Kansas. Of the three deceased, two sons died young and a daughter, Frankie, wife of John Parker, died in Portland, Oregon, leaving a son, Cleo.
Mr. Cavert, of this review, acquired his education in the common schools of Wisconsin. He was approaching his sixteenth year when he came to Montgomery county, Kansas. After leaving the farm in Syca- more township, he was in the employ of Crane & Larimer, shippers, for five years. In 1883, he engaged in the real estate business which he has followed, catering to the local trade, and in this way doing his part to- ward the development and improvement of the town and country. He is serving his second term from the second ward on the city council, where he favored street paving, electric lighting and other, minor, public im- provements. He is a Republican in politics, is an Odd Fellow, a Modern Woodman. a Workman and an Elk.
September, 6, 1888, Mr. Cavert married Adda B. Ferrell, a daughter of Elder 1. W. Ferrell, of the Christian church and formerly from Jes- samine county, Kentucky. The issue of this marriage are: William Cur- tis and Herbrt Oscar.
LORENZO D. WINTERS-Competency in publie service is strictly to be desired and is too frequently inattainable at public elections. Of- fieials are often chosen in utter disregard of the essentials for the public service and in response to a general clamor for a popular idol. But where common sense rules good judgment prevails and the citizen who wins official honors in response to this condition never fails to exceed the expectations of the patrons of his office. Such is strikingly true of the present incumbent of the office of clerk of the court of Montgomery county. L. D. Winters of this review.
For more than two years he has officiated in his present capacity and the multifarious duties of his responsible office are as positively and effectively in his grasp and under his control as were the more cumber- some details of his farm down in Cherokee township. He was peculiarly situated as a candidate because of his ready adaptation to a clerical posi- tion and because of his immense popularity with the voters of the county, and when it was discovered that he led heavily over other candidates on his ticket it was not a matter of either general or special surprise.
Lorenzo D. Winters came to Kansas in 1879 and settled, with his
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parents, in Montgomery county. The family was from Owen county, In- diana, where our subject was born February 6, 1863. His father, Obediah J. Winters, is a substantial farmer of Cherokee township. Montgomery county, and was born in the same county as his son. in 1832. The father was united, in Clay county, Indiana, in marriage with Clara C. Roath, a daughter of Lorenzo D. Roath, of Stark county, Ohio. Their two children are L. D. and Edward B., the latter, of Coffeyville, Kansas.
The common schools and the Coffeyville and Independence eity schools furnished L. D. Winters with his educational equipment. He was eighteen years of age when he left school and turned his attention to farming on the old home. He followed the vocation of his early training until the close of the year 1900 when, having been elected Clerk of the Court, he moved his family to Independence to assume the duties of his office. His majority at this election was 326 votes and when his friends had all voted for him two years later his majority was found to be 826 votes.
December, 1885, Mr. Winters married Lydia J. Vennum, a daughter of Frank H. and Harriet Vennum, old settlers of Cherokee township, in Montgomery county. Mr. and Mrs. Winters have two children, viz: Ethel Ruth and Mabel Harriet.
The Modern Woodmen, the A. K. T. M. and the Odd Fellows claim Mr. Winters as a member. likewise the Elks of the capital city of the county. Ile lends great strength to the local Republican organization of his county and his personality has "led many wandering erring ones" to return. He maintains his farm on Pumpkin creek and it and his eat- tle interests are under his scrutinizing eve.
JOHN C. MATTHEW'S-The late John C. Matthews was a char- aeter well known to the citizenship of Montgomery county. He was one of its earliest settlers and was identified with its affairs for almost thirty years. When the U. S. Land Office was located in Independence he was sent ont from the east as a clerk in the office and when the removal of the office occurred some years later its clerk remained behind to continue acitizen of Montgomery county and to participate in its ordinary affairs.
John C. Matthews was born in Montgomery county. Ohio, January 22, 1823. ITis father, Elias Matthews, emigrated from Baltimore, Mary- land, in the first years of the nineteenth century and settled near Dayton, Ohio, where he reared his family and became one of the leading and well-known farmers. He took an active part in the public affairs of the community and was a Whig in political belief. He was born in 1791 and was accidentally killed at the age of fifty-three. He married Susannah Keplinger, who was born in 1792 and died May 8. 1870. at Munice, In-
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diana. being the mother of the following children: George W., Thomas J., James M., Elias M ... John C., Sarah J., William L., Mary C., Henry C. and Daniel W. The fifth son. John C .. grew up near Dayton and, when about 20 years old, went to Delaware county, Indiana. He acquired a com- mereial school training and began life as a bookkeeper in his new Indiana home. In 1859, he was elected County Treasurer of Delaware county and filled the office two terms. Succeeding this. he established a foundry and planing mill in Munice and, later on, engaged in the marble business in the same place. He was identified with Munice's affairs till his selection as the first elerk of the Independence Land Office. His ability as an ac- contant and in a clerical capacity, generally. was universally recognized and he was appointed. in consequence, deputy Register of Deeds and later deputy Clerk of the Court of Montgomery county. Succeeding these clerkships, he engaged in the abstract business and was one of the most reliable and trustworthy of the profession. He passed away in Independ- enee May 29. 1902.
On the 16th of October. 1850, John C. Matthews married Margaret M. Jordan. a daughter of James Jordan, a native of Beaver county, Pennsylvania. The latter settled in Wayne county, Indiana, in 1818, where Mrs. Matthews was born August 29, 1832. The children of this union are : James C., of Independence, Kansas; S. Valentine and El- mer E.
S. V. Matthews was born in Delaware county, Indiana, February 15, 1858. He acquired a common school education and among his first aets toward the preparation for life's serions affairs was to begin the study of law with Judge MeCne, of Independence. He was admitted to the bar December 30, 1880, but permitted himself to become interested in other matters and never engaged in the practice of law. In 1882. he was elected Clerk of the District Court and. in 1884, was reelected. He was deputy in the same office some time later and when this service was con- eluded he engaged in the business of abstraeting, in company with his father, the subject of this sketch.
June 17. 1883. Mr. Matthews was united in marriage with Anna W. Vance, of Findlay, Ohio. The issue of this marriage are: Erma F. and Dean V.
The Matthews of this branch are Republicans of the original school. John C. Matthews came into the party when "John and Jessie" were making the race for the presidency as the party's first candidate in 1856, and within its fold has he, and his sons also. fought their political battles.
THOMAS B. HENRY-In this personal record is presented one of the original members of the faculty of the Montgomery county High School-filling the chair of mathematics-whose family history has,
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since 1871, been associated with that of the early settlers of Montgom- ery county. This municipality is the place of his nativity and it has been the stage upon which his business and professional career has been chiefly enacted. Born and brought up on the farm and inured, somewhat, to its developing and toughening influences, and trained in the classic air of our state educational institutions, he now honors one of the noble professions of his state.
Thomas B. Henry is a son of the late well-known pioneer, Dr. Wil- liam E. Henry, who settled on Table Mound in 1871. On the top of that sightly elevation, far above the surrounding country, much of his pos- sessions lay, and he passed the closing scenes of his life in the improve- ment of his claim, while also in the pursuit of health. The doctor was in feeble health, as a result of his army service, and his advent to Kansas was prompted in the hope of physical, more than financial, benefit. While he busied himself with the initial work of improving a prairie farm, he also practiced medicine and was identified with a medical college, estab- lished in Independence in an early day, holding the chair of chemistry in the institution.
The birthplace of the head of this prominent Montgomery county family, Dr. William E. Henry, was Warren county, Ohio, in the year 1842. He received an academic education and graduated in medicine in "the Ohio Medical College," of Cincinnati, Ohio, and during the Civil war served in the 2nd Ohio Vol. Inf. as a private soldier. In the battle of Murfreesboro a musket ball shattered his left arm, the injury finally causing his death, on the 23rd of August, 1876. He was married in War- ren county, Ohio. in 1870, his wife being Miss Rachel M. Butterworth, a daughter of Henry Thomas Butterworth, and a cousin of the late Hon. Ben. Butterworth, M. C., of Ohio. The two surviving issues of this mar- riage are : Thomas B. Henry, of this notice, and William E., of Topeka, Kansas.
Prof. T. B. Henry was born on Table Mound, in Montgomery county, August 17th, 1872. The farm continued to be his home 'till about his twentieth year, when he finished his course in the Independence High School and. after teaching a term in his home district, he entered the State Normal School. He completed the academie course in that institu- tion in June, 1894, and the same fall took the position of teacher of mathematics in the Arkansas City, Kansas, High School. At the ex- piration of his year's work he resigned to enter the State University of Michigan, where he took special work in mathematics and philosophy. He transferred himself, in 1897, to the State University of Kansas, and graduated from that institution in 1898, with the degree of A. B. He was a"Phi-Delta Theta" man. in the university, and, while in the normal school represented his society with credit in essay and oratory in the annual contests. His school education finished, he assumed his present station
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in life, as a member of the faculty of the Montgomery County High School, to the educational success of which he has contributed in a high degrec.
June Sth, 1899, occurred the marriage of Mr. Henry and Miss Ellen Pugh, a daughter of the late pioneer, J. H. Pugh, of Independence. They have a splendid home on North Ninth street in Independence and their residence is one of the most attractive and commodious in the city.
ROBERT MAWSON DOBSON-Prominently identified with the live stock and farming interests of Montgomery county is R. M. Dobson, of Fawn Creek township. He is one of the self-made young farmers of the county and has been a resident of it for twenty-one years. A history of the successes and reverses in the rise of Mawson Dobson would detail a somewhat checkered career, yet it would show a gradual upward ten- dency, a continual nearing of the goal in the life of an ambitious man. Determination does much toward the accomplishment of a heart's desire and the achieving of life's aim is filled with experiences which add zest and interest in this particular career.
Starting in life with an empty hand, but with a full heart and a strong head, states the condition of our subject at the real beginning of his career. At about sixteen years of age he assumed the station of doing a manly part toward the maintenance of the parental home. He was equipped with only a country school training, but it was sufficient to meet all the requirements of an ambitions youth of the farm. A part of his early life was passed as a farm hand and the profits of this toil served to provide him with the sinews of warfare in the more serious battles of life. Having no legacy, except a strong frame and a good name, he has provided both the opportunity and the material out of which his modest fortune has finally been carved.
R. M. Dobson is a native of Illinois. His birth occurred in Scott county, that state, March 19th, 1861, and he grew to maturity where he was born. His father, the venerable Robert Dobson, of Tyro, Kansas, was a native of the Queen's Dominions, being born in Yorkshire, Eng- land, April 7th, 1828. The latter came to the United States at twenty- one years of age and established himself in Morgan county, Illinois. He joined the 91st Illinois Vols. during the Rebellion and served three years and seven months in the Union cause, which service left him, as a legacy, a disability which has rendered him, ever since, an incapable and physi- cally incompetent man. For his wife, Robert Dobson married Mary A. Mawson, a lady of English parents, and who survives at the age of sixty- five years. Her children are: George W., Frances A., wife of Frank C. Moses, of Independence, Kansas; R. M., of this sketch; Elizabeth, who is
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married to Frank Smith, of Tyro, Kansas; Charles W., of Illinois, and Leslie, of Montgomery county.
April 8th, 1886, R. M. Dobson married Sarah E. Godwin, a daughter of John B. Godwin, of Sullivan county, Indiana. Mrs. Dobson's mother was Miss Sarah P. Halberstadt, whose children numbered seven. Mrs. Dobson was born on the 3rd day of February, 1861. and has no children. She came to Montgomery county, in 1882, and for seventeen years has been a never-failing source of strength and encouragement to her ener- getie and industrious husband.
Mr. Dobson began farming in Montgomery county on a small scale and in a modest way. Hle bargained for eighty acres of land in Fawn Creek township in 1885 and. in 1890. sold it and purchased a part of what is now his splendid estate. His home was known as "the Stuekle place," and is in section 5, township 33, range 15, one of the fertile farms of the Onion creek valley, and one naturally adapted to the successful raising of stock. In this tract he owns four hundred and eighty acres in a body and, in addition, a half section of grass land near by. He engaged early in the buying and selling of stock and when he was a youth, yet in his 'teens, he was able to "drive a smart bargain" as a dealer and trader in stock. He feeds, annually, on his ranch about one hundred and sixty head of cattle and owns a bunch of thoroughbred Herefords which have contributed no little toward the income of the farm. With this class of cattle his success has been more marked and striking than with any other breed or grade. They are capable of more profitable development and are therefore the money-makers of the bovine tribe.
Mr. Dobson is buried in interest in the development of bis farm and herds. He does little toward the political phase of the county's history, and when he serves as a delegate to conventions and votes the Republican ticket he has performed his whole duty, as he sees it. He is a Mason and a member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, of Independence, and of the Mystic Shrine, of Leavenworth. He is also a Woodmen of the Modern Camp.
JOSEPH GENTRY SEWELL-One of the pioneers of Montgomery county whose brief career was filled with good deeds, and whose charac- ter was dominated by the elements of an upright life, was the subject of this personal memoir. His history with the west began in 1871, when he settled on section 30, township 33, range 15, Montgomery county, Kansas, and continued and was confined to that locality 'till December 29th, 1882, when he died. The eleven years he spent here were years of inces- sant labor in the improvement and development of a home where his fam- ily might be sheltered in comfort and sustained liberally with the fruits of honest toil.
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Mr. Sewell purchased the claim-right of Mr. Chambers, the original settler of his farm, and himself patented the land in section 30, as well as a part of section 31. His career in early life had been that of a farmer and blacksmith, and to each of these callings he devoted himself in his new location. He erected a shop on his homestead and did the plow- sharpening, horse-shoeing and other blacksmith work over a wide scope of the surrounding country, thereby extending his acquaintance and estab- lishing himself in the confidence and good will of his fellow settlers. He transacted the business of the ordinary affairs of life, as they came along, with a plain, unassuming and dignified air and comported himself, al- ways, in a manner becoming the sincere and God-fearing man that he was. His life was a conspicuous one in the community and when it was suddenly terminated in death the shock of it and the accompanying grief extended far beyond the limits of his immediate household.
Joseph G. Sewell was a native of Overton county, Tennessee, and was born December 6th, 1829. His father was W. D. Sewell, a farmer and a Baptist minister, of Virginia birth. He was born in 1800, went down into Tennessee, a young man, and married there, Susan Brown, who died at the age of seventy-six years. Rev. Sewell lived 'till 1880, and passed away in Tennessee, where he had done his life work. His children were. Elizabeth, who married Hardy Hopkins, and died in Missouri; Jonathan Calvin, who died in Texas; Joseph Gentry, our subject ; Mary, wife of Jerre Taylor, of Tennessee; Washington, Isaac, Jesse and Stephen, of Tennessee; Lovania, who married Elijah Pritchard, deceased, and Celia, now Mrs. Baalam Roberts, of Overton county, Tennessee.
In his youth Joseph G. Sewell acquired a country school education. He took up his trade at the proper age and acquired proficiency in it by the time he reached his majority. November 20th, 1851, he married Catherine Maberry, a daughter of John and Mary (Spicer) Maberry, for- merly of North Carolina, in which state Mrs. Sewell was born, June 22nd. 1834. The Maberry children were William Madison. Catherine, Calvin, of California, Serena, deceased, married James Jordan ; Sarah, of Menephee county, Kentucky, is the wife of John Williams. In 1861, Mr. Sewell enlisted in Capt. MeKinney's company-Tennessee troops-for service in the Confederate army, and was out two years. He participated in battle at Murfreesboro, Chicamanga and other engagements of im- portance and was wounded in the chin in the Chickamauga fight. On be- coming a civilian again he resumed his trade in his native state and con- tinued it in the main until his removal to Kansas.
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