USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 38
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Mr. and Mrs. Sewell's children are: Martha J., deceased, was a young girl of fifteen years; William and John, twins, both of Montgomery county ; the former a farmer of Fawn Creek township and the latter, John B., is a resident of Bolton, and was married in 1873, his wife being
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Miss Maggie James, who has borne him two sons and seven daughters: and Andrew Calvin, of Elk City, Kansas.
In public matters, Joseph G. Sewell took only a citizen's interest. He voted with the Democratie party, but had no interest in the outcome of any election, other than the good of the public service. He was intensely moral and upright in his intercourse with his fellow men and, in his church relations, he was a Baptist and a deacon of the congregation. He was also a Mason.
MARTIN VANBUREN SMITH-On the roster which contains the names of the heroes who fought that this country might live a free and united nation, is found the name of Martin VanBuren Smith, one of the pioneer farmers of the county, and a gentleman whose singularly up- right and correct life has exercised a powerful influence in establishing the high standard of civic righteousness now obtaining. Indeed, Mont- gomery county owes much of her excellence in matters of government to the "old soldier." Returning to the crowded farming sections of the east, after those years of strife, he naturally turned to the child whose birth had ushered in the din of battle, and whose strong young limbs were al- ready making rapid strides toward a prosperous future. Here in Kansas, he soon demonstrated that the discipline of army life was the best pos- sible preparation for a civic career-that control of self is the basie prin- ciple of all right living. Fortunate, indeed, was Montgomery county to secure as citizens, in her earlier years, these men, for the four long years of hardship and suffering endured for their country had taught them well its value, and made them doubly desirous of seeing it the best gov- ernment on earth.
Martin V. Smith passed the latter part of the 50's near the Missouri border and was thus prepared by contact with the stirring scenes of that time to respond readily to the call of his country. Early in 1861, he en- listed as a private in Company "G," of the Seventh Kansas, and, during the struggle, followed the fortunes of his regiment in the bush-whacking warfare carried on west of the Ozark Mountains. He was, finally, hon- orably discharged for disability and returned to his farm in Linn county. Mr. Smith was born in the "Keystone State," in Warren county, in 1834, and is the son of Wilson and Nancy (Jackman) Smith, both natives of the county, the Jaskmans having been among the earliest pioneers of that section.
Our subject was one of a family of eight children-Charlotte, mar- ried William McDonald and lives in Warren county; Martin was the sec- ond; then in order came Emily, Frank, Rosaline, Charles and Betsey Ann.
Mr. Smith was reared to farm work, receiving the education common in those times in country districts. He remained at home until his twen-
M. V. SMITH.
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tieth year, when he came west, to Franklin county, Mo. He here engaged in work on the pioneer railroad of the west, and which afterward be- came the Missouri Pacifie. A year here and a like period in Lee county, Iowa, brought him to Bates county, Mo., where he married and remained until his settlement in Linn county, in 1856. This was Mr. Smith's home until 1869, when he settled on a claim a mile east of his present location. In 1873, he purchased the farm upon which he now resides. It contains 160 acres and lies four miles southeast of the county seat town of Inde- pendence.
Mr. Smith has been twice married. The wife of his youth was Mrs. Mary Forbes, nee Knapp. To her were born two children-Estelle, who married Frank Griffin, a farmer of Independence township, and whose children are Ethel and Effie; Angusta is the wife of Seward C. Clark and lives at Newkirk, Okla., with five children-Joseph, William, Seward, Edna and Mary. Mrs. Smith, the mother of these children, died in Linn county, Kansas, in January of 1859, and in 1868, our subject was joined in wedlock to the lady who now presides over his home, Miss Addie, daughter of William and Eliza (Smith) Dickey. Mrs. Smith is one of seven children-Sarah Ann, widow of John Brown, Honesdale, Pa .; Caro- line, deceased; Harriet, Mrs. Alvan Root, of Linn county; Almeda, de- ceased : Cushman, of Dearing, Kansas; Mrs. Smith; Emma was a twin sister of the latter. Mrs. Smith is the mother of six children-Frank H., who married Belle Wise, whose children are Don and Forest; Lillian is the wife of William Fortner, of Independence, whose son is Delbert ; and Delbert, Hugh and Wesley E. are still at home. Hattie died, aged three years.
As before intimated, Mr. Smith and his family have been potent fae- tors in the county's development. They are members of the United Breth- ren church, and he supports the Republican party by his vote.
NATHAN M. FARLOW-Prominently identified with the agricul- tural and general material interests of Bolton and vicinity, is the gentle- man and worthy citizen of this review, Nathan M. Farlow. He was num- bered among the "second relief," or the influx of immigrants who came to Montgomery county some fifteen years after its pioneer days and gave to it a new blood and a renewed vigor of citizenship. October 20th, 1887. was the day he began his residence among the toilers and the prairie pioneers, and he located on section 16, township 33, range 14, mmmnici- pality of Rutland. He was actively connected with farm culture and im- provement 'till November 11th, 1902, when he established himself and his, now reduced family, in the village of Bolton, where he is modestly and quietly passing the evening of life.
Nathan M. Farlow is a native of Orange county, Indiana, born Janu-
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ary 5th, 1842. His father, Jonathan Farlow, was one of the pioneers of the then Territory of Indiana, having settled there in 1811, an emigrant from the state of North Carolina. The latter was born in Orange county, the old "Tar Heel State" in 1807, and accompanied his father. Joseph Farlow, into Indiana, where the first work of clearing up the heavily-tim- bered region was just taking place. The family were of the English Quaker stock, whose antecedents settled in North Carolina from the col- ony in Pennsylvania and were of the direct followers of William Penn. Jonathan Farlow was a quiet. dignified gentleman, industrious and thrifty, and performed a manly and honorable part in the affairs of his county in whatever capacity he was designated to occupy. He married Ruth, a daughter of John Maris, and died in 1873, thirty years after the death of his first wife. The children of the first marriage of Jonathan Farlow were: Jane, wife of Mark Hill, of Orange county, Indiana; Joseph, of Bolton, Kansas: Deborah, who died in February, 1900, was the wife of John B. Atkinson, of Montgomery county; Thomas, who died in Orange county, Indiana, in January, 1886; and Nathan M., of this record. Mary Hill became the second wife of Jonathan Farlow, and their child- ren were: Lindley, of Kokomo, Indiana ; Ruth, who died in 1875; Ellen, wife ot Joseph Trimble, of Orange county, Indiana ; and Sena, unmarried and residing in the same Indiana county.
The Maris's are among the first settlers of Pennsylvania. They emi- grated from Inkborough, in the county of Worcester, England, in 1683, and joined the Quaker colony in Pennsylvania. George Maris was the founder of this branch of plain Quaker folk and the records show that he left England on account of his arrest and imprisonment for permitting a meeting of this religious sect at his house. His friends armed him with a letter commending him to the colony in America, and reciting in it consistency of his religious life and other striking traits of real character. This George Maris is the eighth generation removed from Ruth Maris, the mother of the subject of this sketch.
Nathan M. Farlow came to manhood's estate at a time and in a country when and where there was a prime opportunity to work. He "passed through" school in just a little while and it is not unfair to as- sume that while he was doing this feat he was also making a hand on the farm. He enlisted, January 4th, 1864, in Company "F," 13th Ind. Vol. Cavalry, under Col. G. M. L. Johnson. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and saw service in the States of Alabama, Ten- nessee, Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky. He was with Gen. Grierson and participated in some sharp bouts with the enemy in its own country, prior to its final order to rendezvous at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where its muster our occurred November 18th, 1865, by special order No. 76.
February 4th, 1868, Mr. Farlow married Martha Cloud, a daughter of Daniel and Mary A. ( Milliken) Cloud, both of which families-the
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Clouds and Miffikens-were from the State of North Carolina. Beside Mrs. Farlow, the other Cloud children were a sister, Ann, deceased wife of James Jones, of Orange County, Indiana, and a brother, William Cloud, of the same county and state. Mrs. Farlow was born February 21st, 1849, was reared on a farm, where her mother died in 1866, and her father in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Farlow's children are four in number, as follows: Elmer, a farmer of Montgomery county, Kansas, is married to Ella Finney ; Harry, a merchant of Bolton, is married to Carrie Metzger ; Mamie, wife of Daniel Webster Finney, of Montgomery county, Kansas; William C., who ocenpies the family homestead in Rutland township, has taken him to wife. Blanche Brownell.
Upon his return from the army Mr. Farlow resumed farming and has continued it without material interruption. He has participated in the affairs of his municipality as one interested in the public welfare and when such participation involved a question of political action, he has been an unswerving Republican. He never experienced confusion of opin- ions and consequent change of front when "the great breakup of 1890" came on and he forecasted the comparative temporary character of that movement from the period of its first victory. Mr. Farlow is a trustee of the County High School, member of the G. A. R. and A. H. T. A.
ABRAM G. EMPFIELD-Those who have resided within the juris- diction of Independence for a third of a century have known the subject of this review. His entry to Montgomery county dates along with the pioneers, for in February, 1869, he stopped near the "round mound," near Wayside, and proceeded to do the initial work on a Montgomery county claim. He had not had a capital training for the "rough-and- tumble" of the frontier, although he had driven his team from Blooming- ton, Illinois, across the states to Leavenworth, Kansas, thence to Topeka, Wamego, and finally, into Montgomery county. The trip prepared him for the continued out-door existence awaiting him in his new location and for a year he made the most of his rural environment. He really made no remarkable reputation as a farmer, yet he followed it long enough to get a taste of its difficulties and bitternesses in pioneer days. He dis- posed of his team of horses-partially living them up the first year- and acquired a yoke of cattle, and began turning over the prairie sod. He opened out several acres of land in this way and when the new town of Independence started up, and made some pretensions toward perma- neney, he left the farm and resumed his trade of a carpenter there.
While Mr. Empfield has resided a few years on one of the good farms of Montgomery county, and which he has owned many years, his career has been passed in the county as a mechanic. Few men were better adapted in life to the trade he has followed. The handling of tools in his
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line seemed natural with him and his ideas in designing buildings and in the appropriateness and tastefulness of their finish were at once pleasing and in advance of his time. That he was popular and that he was always employed is no wonder, in the light of his success. He did his first work in the city in 1870. and for twenty-five years he was identified with the building interests of the county's capital. Some of his best work was done on the residences of Win. Dunkin, J. M. Anderson, C. W. Canning and George T. Guernsey.
Having served "his time" at his trade, for the second time, Mr. Emp- field decided to occupy his farm and, with his wife, pass his afternoon of life in semi-retirement. in the enjoyment of the open air and concerned with only a few head of stock and with the general care and improve- ment of his farm. He owns two hundred and forty acres in sections 26 and 27, township 33, range 15, the cultivation of which is done chiefly by proxy.
Abram G. Empfield was born in Cambria county, Pennsylvania, July 20th. 1847. His parents were George W. and Margaret ( Myers) Emp- field. The father was born in Indiana county, the "Keystone State," in 1816. and died in Cambria county, September 17th, 1897, while the mo- ther was born in the same county in 1818, and now resides in Belsano, Pennsylvania. The father of George W. Empfield was Joseph Empfield, who came to the Uinted States an English boy, stealing his way over aboard a "sailer," and on reaching this country was sold, by the captain of the ship. to a miller, for the amount of his passage. He finally drifted into Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where he became a farmer, married and died in 1857. leaving three sons, viz: George W., Abraham and JJack- son, the latter being a minister of the United Brethren church and resid- ing in Salina, Kansas.
Our subject is one of nine children, as follows: Thomas, of Belsano, Pennsylvania: Mary A., wife of Harvey Cooper, of Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania; Susan, who married Amos Black and resides in Cherry- vale, Kansas; Sarah, now Mrs. Isaac Mahan, of Cambria county, Pa. ; Abram, our subject ; William W., of Ebensburg. Pa., and Margaret, wife of William JJames, of the home county in Pennsylvania. These are all the children who grew to maturity, except Martha, who is the wife of Jud. son Reese, of Cambria county, Pa. Abram G. Empfield worked on the farm 'till near his majority, when he was put to learning the carpenter trade. As stated above, he was apt with tools and soon gave promise of great proficiency at the bench. `in December, after he was twenty-one, he left his home and friends and started west "to grow up with the country." He was unmarried, had a small amount of money, and at Bloomington, Illinois, he left the train, joined some friends and purchased an outfit for the "overland" continuation of his journey hither.
In 1877, Mr. Empfield returned to Pennsylvania and, in Cambria
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county, on July 5th, married Mahala Campbell, a daughter of Henry and Rebecca (Hill) Campbell, farmers and old residents of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell were both born in 1826. and still survive. Their children are: Mrs. Empfield. Lewis, of Johnstown, Pa .: Abbie, wife of Sylvester Stover, of Fort Collins, Col .; Amos, of Johnstown. Pa. : Susie, the youngest, is the wife of Amos MeAlister, of Cambria county, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Empfield have an only child, a daughter, Rebecca MI .. wife of George M. Stewart, of Montgomery county, Kansas.
Mr. Empfield and his wife hold membership in the German Baptist church. Their lives have been passed in industry and they have achieved a position among those who have aided in the development of their county.
DELOS W. WILTSE-Introducing this article is the name of one of the early settlers of Independence township, residing in section 31, township 32. range 15. He owns a farm of 240 acres, improved in keep- ing with the progress of the county and has been a citizen of Montgomery county since September, 1874. He is the oldest settler now a resident of his locality-in point of residence-and when he purchased the improve- ments of the original settler of the "claim." they consisted simply of a log honse, which he occupied ten years, and which is now used as a corn crib and serves as a daily reminder of the family's experiences on the frontier.
Delos W. Wiltse is a native of the state of Ohio, born August 18th. 1852. At six years of age he accompanied his parents. John and Mary ( Owens) Wiltse. into Illinois and settled in DeKalb county. The parents were farmers, and the mother died the same year of our subject's birth, and left the following children. viz: Frank, of Green county, Iowa; Charles, who died young; Albert, of Green county, Iowa ; Mary, who died in 1896. as the wife of Patrick Logan, and Delos W., of this sketch. JJohn Wiltse died in Green county. Iowa, in 1902, at ninety-one years of age. He was born in New York state and his family was identified with Her- kimer county. He was reared a farmer and followed it all his life. His wife was a daughter of a Welchman. and he left New York and settled in the state of Ohio at an early date. He had brothers, Elijah and Stephen. of Illinois, and Henry and Otis, who passed their active lives in Wisconsin.
Our subject came to maturity on a farm near Sycamore, Illinois. His education was obtained in the district schools and was of a limited character. Heattended school only during the winter months, after he came to be of use on the farm. He was married in June. 1871. and began life in the calling to which he had been reared. His wife was Charlotte E., a daughter of the late early settler. Ashman Partridge, of Montgomery
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county, Kansas. The latter was well known in the county he helped to improve and was one of the prosperous and wealthy farmers of Inde- pendence township. Since his removal to Kansas, Mr. Wiltse has con- fined his efforts to grain raising, with some stock, and has enjoyed a rea- sonable degree of prosperity. His efforts have universally been honorable and intelligent ones and these attributes, in a strong sense, govern the character of his citizenship. He was limited in resources on his advent to the county. having a team and a small amount of money and, in con- sequence, his first years on the Kansas prairie were economically, yet in- dustriously and comfortably passed.
Di bere have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wiltse four children, as fol- lows: Elmyra, wife of Samuel Lehr, with one child, Chester; Byron, who married May Young : and Walter and Otto, both at home. In politics the Wiltses of this branch are. and have been, Republicans, and our subject has always taken a good citizen's interest in the political and publie af- fairs of his locality. He has served two terms on the school board in dis- triet 105-"Four Corners" school house.
JAMES BRADEN-One of the new acquisitions to the rural popu- lation of Montgomery county is James Braden, a native of the "Keystone State." who, after a long residence in Missouri, in 1901, settled in Lib- erty township. In the short time he has been in the county he has made many friends, his good qualities attracting all who have dealings with him.
The family history of Mr. Braden carries us back to Beaver county, Pennsylvania, where he was born. March 10th, 1829. His father was Frank Braden, and his mother Rebecca Russell. The father died when his son was but one year old and the mother passed away when he was but eight years of age. Our subject was then adopted by Hanson John- son, one of the early settlers and leading farmers of that county. Mr. Braden remained with this family until the death of Mr. Johnson in 1849, and was treated in every respect as a son.
At the age of twenty. he began life for himself and remained in Beaver county, engaged in farming, until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he became a member of the 5th Penn. Heavy Artillery, and during his service, was, for the most part, in the quartermaster's depart- ment and was mustered ont at Vienna, Va., July 18th, 1865. He reen- gaged at farming in Pennsylvania until 1867, when he came west to War- rensburg, Mo., where he purchased a farm sixty-five miles east of Kansas City, on the Missouri Pacific railway. He cultivated this farm for eigh- teen years, when he sold it and rented a farm, until his settlement in Lib- erty township, as stated, in 1901.
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The domestic life of Mr. Braden began in the year 1852, when he was happily joined in marriage in Beaver county, Pa., with Lonisa Sanford. The family of eleven children which she has borne to her husband, are scattered to the four points of the compass, but all occupy honorable positions in the communities in which they reside. The eldest child was John H., now a practicing physician in Morgan county, Mo; Francis L. is a stock dealer at Independence, Kansas; Luther N. is a farmer and stock raiser in North Dakota; John B. is a physician and practices in the State of Washington; Mary Louisa married Serena Campbell and is now & widow, living in Oklahoma; Ella F., wife of E. J. D. Miller, re- sides in North Dakota; Una L. is the wife of farmer Robert L. Smith, of Johnson county, Mo. ; Herman D. lives in the Indian Territory ; Margaret J. married Charles Hite, a farmer of South Dakota; Amos resides in North Dakota. and Perry is a farmer residing in Liberty townshp.
In the different communities in which James Braden has resided during his life time, he has held a prominent and helpful position and has always been consistent in his endeavors for the uplifting of society. He has always been a consistent supporter of the educational institutions of the communities where he has resided and has voted. during his life time, the Republican ticket. In matters of religious concern, he and his family are consistant members of the Presbyterian church and liberal supporters of the same. His coming to the county is regarded, by those who have his acquaintance, as a decided gain to the rural population in the local community in which he is making his residence.
The sons are nearly all members of some society. Herman is a Ma- son. Frank and Dr. J. A. are Modern Woodmen, Perry is an Odd Fellow.
EDWARD B. WEBSTER-Edward B. Webster. one of the more recent settlers of West Cherry township, is a native of Polo, Illinois, having been born in Ogle county, May 20th, 1844. He has been identified with the west since the fall of 1870, and his experience as a farmer has extended somewhat over the States of Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kan sas, and in March, 1892, he purchased his farm of three hundred and twenty acres in section 10, township 31, range 16, which has profitably responded to his intelligent and energetic effort.
The youth of Edward B. Webster was passed in the country and his education obtained in the rural schools. August 26th. 1862, he enlisted in Company "D," 92nd Ill. Vol. Inf., his immediate commanders being Capt. Lyman Preston and Col. Smith D. Atkins. His regiment was as- signed to the Army of the West, under Gen. Rosecrans, during the greater part of his service. His was a company of mounted infantry and moved about with the cavalry forces. He was in the Chickamauga campaign and
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in the Atlanta campaign, np to the battle before the city, when he was shot through the right lung and was forced out of the ranks for about two months. He returned to his command after his partial recovery and was with it 'till mustered out of the service, June 22nd, 1865, at Conrad, North Carolina.
HJe took up the work of the farm again, after the war closed, and re- mained in Illinois 'till the fall of 1870, when he moved to Wappelo county, lowa. where he resumed farming for twelve years, at which time he made a move into the far western plain, settling in Antelope county, Nebraska. There he took up a claim on the public domain, which he held and cultivated 'till the autumn of 1889, when he returned southeast and rented a farm in Jackson county, Missouri, and, three years later, came to Montgomery county, Kansas.
Mr. Webster is a son of George R. Webster. born in Delaware county, New York. The father pioneered to Illinois, took up goverment land, and helped to build the Erie canal, before his departure from the "Em- pire State." He was a son of Elijah Webster, whose children were: George, Jerrad. Oscar, Navadis, Mrs. Mary A. Schriver, Mrs. Roxy A. Burger, and Mrs. Maria O'Kane. George Webster married Sarah Shaver. a native of Delaware county, New York, and a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Burhouse) Shaver. George Webster and wife had two child- ren : Wellen H., of Loveland, Colorado, and Edward B., of this review.
In Wappelo county. Iowa, Edward B. Webster married Clara, a daughter of Samuel and Mary A. (Gleason) Pachwood. The issue of their marriage are: Mabel, wife of C. D. Shepard, of Washington. She has three children, James, Daniel and Earnest; Robert, of Bakersfield, Cal., married Ella Ogden ; Edith, William, Harold and Blanche.
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