USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 44
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Christopher JJ. Mason spent sixty-four years near the scene of his Indiana settlement. contributed no little to the material and internal development of his county, and died in October, 1896, forty-nine years after the death of his wife. Their children were: Cordelia I., wife of Dr. J. HI. Honghland, of Rockport, Indiana; W. T., a banker of the same city ; and Capt. Lycurgus, of this notice.
Irubbing, spronting, rail making, farming and, lastly, atfending school, constituted the annual routine of L. C. Mason's early life, with strongly marked emphasis upon the physical occupations, Getting an education was insignificant. in comparison with the physical developer- chopping and grubbing-and if he dug into his books half as much as he dug into the ground. he was sure to become an accomplished scholar. In October, 1861. he enlisted in Company "F." Fifty-eighth Indiana Vol- unteers, Capt. Crow's company, regiment in command of Col. Carr. Mr. Mason was instered in as a sergeant of his company, and the regiment was ordered to Louisville from Princeton, Indiana, and it became a part of the Army of the Cumberland. Ater the battles of Stone river, Chick- amanga and Missionary Ridge. our subject was transferred to the engi- neering corps, with the rank of first lientenant. His was a company of pontoniers, and aided in bridging every important stream from Chatta- nooga to Atlanta. from which latter point it went with Sherman's army to the sea. The Captain's company helped bridge all the streams about Savannah, and, after the fall of that city, marched north through the Car- olinas with the victorious Federal forces. On to Richmond, building bridges enroute and. finally, to Washington, D. C., where it participated
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in the Grand review. At Savannah, our subject received his captain's com- mission, and was in command of his company from then to the final mus- ter out and discharge, at Indianapolis, in Angust, 1865.
On resuming civil pursuits, Capt. Mason engaged in the produce and tobacco business, flat-boating on the Ohio river. He engaged in traffic with planters along the lower Mississippi river, and occasionally made trips to New Orleans. For five years-1866 to 1871-he followed this species of domestic commerce and closed the business with an accumu- lation of some capital and a roving and wandering habit. His army life, also, contributed to his spirit of unrest, and he came west in response to this peculiar mental bent. He came to Cherryvale, by rail, and staged it across to the new town of Independence, in Montgomery county, Kan- sas. His first home in the county was the Caldwell House, then kept by Larimer & Allen, and named in honor of U. S. Senator Caldwell, of Kansas. At Humboldt, enroute, he met Lyman U. Humphrey, who in- duced the Captain to become a citizen of southern Kansas. He spent the first two years as a loan broker and drifted, gradually, into grain. pork and cattle buying, following it till 1876, when he purchased a farm in the Verdigris bottom. just east of the county seat, and entered upon its cultivation and improvement. His farm now embraces seven hundred acres, as valuable an estate as the county affords. He owns much valua- ble property in Independence, and his homestead on the east bluff, over- looking the valley of the Verdigris, is one of the handsome places in the city. He is a heavy stockholder in the First National Bank and has been vice-president of the institution since 1887.
Captain Mason is well known as a Republican. He was honored by his townsmen, in 1881, to the chief magistry of the city, and was re- elected to the office the following year. He has declined other political honors, preferring private life to the enenmbrances and annoyance of public office.
After two years spent in Montgomery county, Capt. Mason started, June 1. 1873. on an extended tour of Europe. He left New York and reached Glasgow, Scotland, without important incident. He visited, re- spectively. Edinburg, London, Amsterdam, up the Rhine to Vienna, where he attended the "World's Fair" two weeks, being honorary com- missioner to the celebration from Kansas. He visited, next. Trieste, Ven- ice, Rome, Naples, saw Mt. Vesuvius and the leaning tower of Pisa, was on top of St. Peter's cathedral in Rome, passed through the German En- pire and capital, viewed the Swiss mountains and the beautiful city of Geneva, passed through Lyons and spent some time in Paris, France. While in Germany visited Strasburg, and in Berlin saw the great soldier and Emperor, William I, of Prussia. He returned to London from Paris and visited the Parliament House and other noted places, saw the great commercial port of the world. Liverpool, and sailed for America from
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Glasgow in September, reaching home in October, after an absence of four months.
October 23, 1873, Capt. Mason married Mary V. Britton, an Indiana lady and a daughter of Thomas P. Britton, whose ancestors were also Virginians. Thomas P. Britton was married to Miss Evaline Bayless, a native of Tennessee, but of Virginia ancestors, Angust 21, 1829. Mrs. . Mason is proud of the fact that her great-grandfather, Benjamin Bayless, was a revolutionary soldier. She had several uneles who served in the Mexican war and also had a brother in the Mexican war, and one, Frank L., served in the Civil war, 1861-65, and was a prominent man in Texas during the reconstruction period. Gen. Forbes Britton, a graduate of West Point, unele of Mrs. Mason, was very prominent in the settlement of Texas. Mrs. Mason was born in Spencer county, Indiana, in 1845, and is the mother of Evaline E. and Eugenia Mason, educated and accom- plished daughters and the life of the family circle. Capt. Mason is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity in a dual sense, holds a membership in For- titude Lodge and his daughters belong to the Eastern Star. Their sup- port in religious matters is given to the Presbyterian church, of which the family are consistent members.
WILLIAM LASSEY-Since the year 1878, the subject of this per- sonal review has been a citizen of Montgomery county, Kansas. Until recently, he maintained a leading position as a farmer in West Cherry township, but is now withdrawn from active affairs and is in modest re- tirement in the city of Independence.
With no attempt at extravagance in statement, the Lasseys have been aggressive Americans and have been a positive factor in our internal development. Wherever fortune has cast them, the members of this branch of the family have ocenpied a conspicuous place as citizens and, in peace or in war, dnty's first call has been obeyed. As artisans or as farmers have they led lives of usefulness, and with this brief reference to their position the life story of our subject is here narrated.
William Lassey was born in Monroe county, Michigan, November 20, 1841. Ilis parents, William and Mary ( Richardson) Lassey, were im- migrants from Yorkshire, England, where the father was born in 1808. In 1833, the latter came to the United States and resided for two years in the State of Massachusetts, going thence to Monroe county, Michigan, where, near the town of Monroe, he erected the first paper mill built in the "Wolverine State." He was a mill-wright by trade and was employed at this and in the operation of factory and farm for more than forty years. His wife died after their fourth child was born, and for his sec- ond wife he married Mrs. Jane ( Inglis) Gardner, a Scotch lady, who bore him two children and died in Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1883.
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The issue of his first marriage were: William, Jr., of this notice, who was the third child; Richard, the oldest, who died a Federal soldier in Libby prison ; John. of Monroe county, Michigan ; and Mary, wife of Har- mon Ellinger, of Sycamore township. By the second marriage the fwo children were : Joseph H., of Cloud county, Kansas, and Sarah, who resides with her brother, William. The father died in 1887. Mrs. Jane Lassey had two daughters by her marriage to Mr. Gardner. viz: Jane, wife of David Navarre, of Sycamore township, and Marion, wife of Herman Nes- sel. of Monroe, Michigan.
As Mr. Wm. Lassey, Jr., approached his majority the great Civil war came on and when he would. in the natural course of events, engage in civil pursuits, patriotism prompted his enlistment in the army. He join- ed Company "A." 4th Michigan Inf., three months' men, in April, 1861, and was elected orderly sergeant of the company. He re-enlisted in August following and served continuously 'till his term of enlistment ex. pired in August. 1864, when he was mustered out of the service af Defroit. Michigan, after a service unusual for its rigor and intensity. He took part in twenty-three hard-fonght battles, from first Bull Run down through the calendar, meluding the siege of Yorktown, Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville, New Market, Malvern Bill, Harrison's Landing, Gainesville, second Bull Run. Antietam, Shepardstown Ford, Fredericks- burg. Chancellorsville, Gainesville, Va., Gettysburg, Brandy Station, Bris- tow Station, Rappahannock Station and Mine Run.
On leaving the army Mr. Lassey engaged in the business of railroad- ing. In 1878, in company with his father's family, he came fo Kansas, to build them a home, when Montgomery county was being settled up, and the farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which has recently been aban- doned, evidences the thrift and independence which the household has enjoyed. Ile is a Democrat in politics, a Presbyterian, an Odd Fellow and a member of McPherson Post G. A. R.
JAMES MURPHY-The substantial farmer of West Cherry town- ship whose name heads this personal notice, has an abiding faith in the continued ascendeney of Montgomery county. Its agricultural and min- eral wealth give assurance of permanency and the character of its citi- zenship is a guarantee of its continued and onward march. When, in 1879. Mr. Murphy saw Southern Kansas for the first time, its appearanco was in striking contrast with the internal development which has taken place since. In 1880, when he located in Montgomery county and set- tled on section 35, township 31, range 16, the work of home improvement had only just begun. He caught the spirit of enthusiasm with the rest, and the raw quarter, with the little shanty, has broadened to a half sec-
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tion, with splendid hereditaments and with a wealth of fertility and pro- duetiveness that brings gratifying returns.
Mr. Murphy, thongh of Irish blood, is a native of the "Wolverine State." He was born in Macomb county, Michigan, August 2, 1854, and lived in that state until he was twenty-four years old. His father was Humphrey Murphy. likewise his grandfather, both native of County Cork, Ireland. Grandfather Murphy came to the United States with his family, and first stopped in Troy, New York, but, eventually, came on to Detroit, Michigan, and in that state passed his active mature life as a farmer. Humphrey Murphy, Jr., came with his parents to America when a lad of nine years. When a young man he-in 1849-went to California, during the gold excitement, via the Isthmus of Panama, and spent about three years there, working at different points along the coast, but chiefly around Marysville. He was successful and returned to Michigan, bought a farm in Macomb county and there died. While a child of about three years old his father went to Rio Jeniro, Brazil, but only remained a short time, returned to Ireland. and, after a short residence there, came on to the United States, as above stated.
Humphrey Murphy, Sr., married Mary Murphy and had one child, only, who was the father of James, of this review. Humphrey Murphy, Jr., married Margaret MeInerney, a native of County Clare, Ireland, and a daughter of John and Mary Murphy. Eight children were born of this union. as follows: James, our subject ; John, of Seattle, Washington ; Thomas, of Bay City, Michigan ; Mrs. Mary Friedhoff, of Portland, Ore- gon ; Charles B., of the Klondyke; Catherine, Ignatius, of Macomb county, Michigan ; and Cornelius J .. of the same state.
James Murphy married Ella Laduke, born in the same county and state with himself. Her birth occurred April 2, 1865, and she was a daughter of Joseph and Clarissa ( Frink) Laduke, natives of Canada and New York, respectively. Two children, Humphrey and Edward, make pleasant the home of Mr. and Mrs. Murphy, and are stalwart and useful young men.
In his youth Mr. Murphy attended the common schools of his native Michigan and. when seventeen years old, became useful as a man of the farm. When he left home in 1879, and sought sunny Kansas, he spent a year as a workman on the Southern Kansas railway. Then, purchasing the first quarter section of his present farm, he became a member of the old craft, and has done an effective work in the material up-building of Montgomery county.
Hle is a Democrat in politics and acts with his party from motives of patriotism rather than for spoils. He has served as a member of his district school board for eleven years, and holds a membership in the A. H. T. A. The family are members of the Roman Catholic church.
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AMANDA JJ. DAUGHERTY-Posterity will be interested in the settler of the frontier. Their trials, their hardships and sacrifices will be read with a zest that the experiences of others do not furnish. Amanda J. Daugherty was among the early comers. As the wife of Jacob C. Tay- lor, she drove into Montgomery county, in October, 1870, from LeRoy, Mower county, Minnesota, being nine weeks on the journey. They had two teams with them, and from Kansas City-where one driver de- serted-she took the reins of the missing driver and completed the over- land voyage to their destination.
The first three days passed in Montgomery county. were as campers along the Verdigris river, among the Osages, when Mr. Taylor traded one of his teams to settler MeCullongh for his claim-right to a quarter in section 28, township 31, rage 16. Into their 13x13 log cabin the family moved, which yet forms one room of their more recent and modern resi- dence. In April, 1871, Mr. Taylor was drowned in the Verdigris river, leaving his widow and baby boy almost within the grasp of starvation. Food was scarce in their larder, for a time, and once peas formed their sole and only diet. Beyatt, a half-breed Indian, learning of their condi- tion, supplied flour and other provisions, until the stringency of the times was otherwise relieved.
Eight months after her husband's death, our subject married N. A. Daugherty, a settler of Montgomery county, of the year 1870. The latter took a claim on Salt creek, was engaged in farming and improving bis land. Mr. Daugherty is a son of John and Rachel Daugherty and was born in Ohio. His experiences, as a pioneer of this county, were some- what parallel with those of other settlers of his time and he has a record of an industrious and well-spent life. The noted Indian, Mad Chief, was his neighbor, and when he died, the Daughertys helped lay him away in the Indian burying-ground, near the Verdigris river.
Nathan A. Daugherty enlisted in Company "G," One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1862, and served under Gen. Milroy, at Winchester, Virginia, where he was taken prisoner, and was in captivity about forty days, seven days being spent on Belle Isle. He returned to his regiment in November, 1863, and served under Gen. Grant until May 6, 1864. He was wounded, in the Battle of the Wilderness, on that day, and discharged, on account of wounds, February, 1865.
Amanda I. Daugherty was born in Tanneytown, Maryland, April 1, 1844. She was a granddaughter of Jacob Slanghenhaupt, a German, who had nine children, as follows : Samuel, Jacob, John, Betty, Catherine, Barbara, Annie, Margaret and Susan. Jacob Slanghenhaupt, Jr., mar- ried Susannah Hill, a native of Carroll county, Maryland, and a daughter of Clement and Elizabeth Will, natives of England. Of this union, eight children were born, namely : : Mary Batdorf, Annie Caldwell, of
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Lowden, Iowa; Amanda J., of this review; Jacob, of Ouray, Colorado; the remaining four are deceased.
Amanda J. Slaughenhaupt first married Jacob C. Taylor. Mr. Tay- lor was born in Pennsylvania, and his parents were William and Naney Taylor, of that state. The young couple were married in 1862, in Cedar county, Iowa, and afterward moved to Illinois, then to Wisconsin, later to Missouri and to Minnesota, and, finally, to Kansas. Of their mar- rige, a son was born, Charles Taylor, a well-known farmer of West Cherry township, Montgomery county.
SMITH B. SQUIRES-We initiate this article with the name of a pioneer whose residence in Montgomery county has been continuous since the 23d of June, 1868, at which date he settled in Sycamore township, and began the long and tortuous road to success, through the medium of a Kansas farm. He had scarcely attained his majority, but he had passed through a military experience that made young men old and this,. with a decided turn toward versatility, earned him, at once, a position among the useful and prominent young men of the county.
The "Keystone State" furnished myriads of the best settlers of Kansas, and the shops, the farms and the counting-houses sent delega- tions of ber sons to "Bleeding Kansas" to help in the first work of na- ture's reduction in the development of our great state. Smith B. Squires came with these clans and began his journey toward the occident in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred March 21, 1846. His father was George W. Squires, a blacksmith, born in Brad- ford county, Pennsylvania, in 1825. The latter served two years in the army, during the rebellion, as a government horse-shoer, having charge of a shop at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He came to Kansas, at the head of his family, in 1868, and died at Humboldt, in 1881. He made his trade the orenpation of his life. Charles Squires, who was born in Marysville, Connecticut, made the journey across the mountains, into Pennsylva- nia, in a two-wheeled cart, of the most primitive pattern. He died, in 1864, leaving ten children. At twenty-two years of age. Charles Squires married Mary Webb, and when he ended his long journey westward, he was in Herrick township, Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He was left an orphan at seven years old, with two other children, and was bound out at Marysville, Connecticut, to a ship-yard master, where he learned ship-blacksmithing, and when he chose the spot for his home in the "woods" of the "Keystone State," he was four miles from his nearest neighbor. He died at eighty-seven years of age, in 1864, and his wife lived to the age of eighty eight years. The following were among their family of thirteen children: Judson, George W., Constance, Charles, Pembroke, Lydia, who married Asa Bixby; Harriet, Susan, wife of
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Bowen; Albina, who married John Angle; and Rebecca, wife of Frederick Baldwin. The Squires' of this record were of Scotch ante- cedents, their forefathers having settled in New England during the American Colonial period.
George W. Squires made his second trip west in 1855, when he lo- cated in Milldgeville, Illinois. There he met with financial misfortune, lost all his property. Sending his wife and three children back to Penn- sylvania, while he "rustled" a new stake in the west, he made his way to the Pacific coast, where wages were good and work was plenty. In two years, he had accumulated sufficient to "start" again, and he returned to Pennsylvania and, on the North Branch canal, he purchased an acre of ground and built a small tavern. He opened the place, met with success, ereeted a larger house and added a feed yeard to his place. For eight years the family labored and lived there, and saw their savings all swept away in an hour and lay in ashes at their feet. The west again seemed to beckon the father and he came, with his family, to Wilson county, Kan- sas, where, near what is now the city of Neodesha, he purchased an eighty-aere tract of land, where he passed his remaining years of life. He was a quiet. plain man, without political ambition, and was a Repub- lican. For his wife, he married Ellen Bixby, of Scotch-Irish stock, and a daughter of - Bixby, a native of Rhode Island. Their children were : Smith B., our subject ; Andrew F., a prominent farmer of Wilson county. Kansas: Matilda, wife of W. A. Phillips; Elizabeth, who mar- ried Dekalb West-both deceased ; Adda, wife of Ira Berry, of Ft. Scott, Kansas.
The educational advantages of Smith B. Squires were of the rural type and were somewhat interfered with by his youthful entry into the army, during the Civil war. In the month of November, 1861, he en- listed in Company "D," Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and gave two years and five months to the service of his country. His regiment belonged to both the First and Second Brigades of the Second division of the Third Army Corp. Army of the Potomac, and he took part in bat- tle at Kerntown, Winchester, Front Royal, Port Republic, Cedar Moun- tain and Second Bull Run. His first enlistment expiring, he reenlisted in the First New York Veteran Cavalry. Company "G." and was engaged chiefly in patroling the Federal lines in the Big Kanawa Valley, in Vir- ginia, where he was in the saddle almost continuously during the winter of 1864-5. Ile was discharged JJune 23, 1865, returned to his father's home and went to work at the blacksmith's trade. He was master of his trade when he came to Kansas and, while there was not sufficient in this line to keep him busy then, it helped, along with other employments, to sustain him, and provided many a dollar he would not otherwise have had. He was able to turn his hand to anything with a good degree of proficiency, but saw-milling, blacksmithing and farming occupied him
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largely, and he finally settled down to farming. His operations included stock and grain raising, in a modest way, and when he left Sycamore township, to assume county office, his farm lay in sections 12 and 24, township 31, range 15.
In municipal affairs, he has rendered valuable service, and he has never been passive in county politics. He served his township as its treasurer, was twice elected its trustee, and, in November, 1897, the Fu- sion party elected him sheriff of Montgomery county. He was reelected in 1899 and served, in all, five years, retiring from office in January, 1903. His right to the office, as a hold-over. under the new law-passed in 1901- was contested, in 1902, by the Governor's appointee. merely to test the law, and it was the only office so contested in the state.
Mr. Squires was first married April 29, 1866, the lady of his choice being Sarah Donnelly, who died December 20, 1897. The issue of this marriage were: George W., Ellen, wife of Willis Monfort; Grace, who married Cassius MePeck; James O., and Clara, wife of Patrick, Clen- non, all residents of the Indian Territory. May 15, 1899. Mr. Squires married Alice Clements, a daughter of J. J. Williams. She was born in Morganfield, in the State of Kentucky, in 1852.
In Odd Fellowship and Masonry, Mr. Squires has abiding interest, being a member of the "subordinate," and having taken the Royal Arch degree, A. F. & A. M. He is also a Modern Woodman.
PATRICK H. CALLAHAN-Seated in the dooryard of the comforta- ble rural home of P. H. Callahan, one of the most substantial of Sycamore township's citizens, the biographer was given the following resume of his life and family history :
Grandfather, Owen Callahan, was born in Dublin, Ireland. In this rity he continued to reside, and was married and reared a family of four sons: Luke. Thomas, Richard and James. All these sons but Richard, took up the occupation of farming, at which they passed their lives. Richard apprenticed himself to the carpenter's trade and. during his life, pursued that avocation. He married, in Ireland. Elizabeth Moyers, a lady of English descent, who became the mother of ten chil- dren : Thomas S., now a resident of the old home, in Dublin, Ireland; Lecia Leonard, resides in Dublin; Lonise Deakin. Brooklyn, New York; Richard, died in Rock Island, Illinois; Joseph, also resides in Dublin ; Eliza Baker, Murphysboro, Ilinois; and Patrick H., the es- teemed subject of this review. Three others deceased.
As noted, Patrick H. Callahan is the youngest, but two, of this fam- ily. He was born on the 4th of April, 1828, in Dublin, in which city he continued to reside until he was eighteen years of age. At the early age-
PATRICK H. CALLAHAN AND WIFE.
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of eleven, he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, and became a full- fledged journeyman and, leaving home, he crossed the channel to Eng- land, where he continued to follow his trade, in varions places, until 1848, when he turned his face westward toward the great Republic of the United States. He landed in New York City on the 4th of May, of that year, and remained there until 1854. employed at his trade. Hear- ing that Rock Island, Illinois, afforded better advantages for young mechanics, he came west to that place, and was a resident there until the year 1870, the date of his coming to this state, with his son-in-law, Ben- jamin Jones. He made the trip overland, and, upon his arrival in Mont- gomery county, filed upon the land which now constitutes his farm- one hundred and sixty acres, in section 7, township 31. range 15-since which time he has added one hundred and sixty acres, and has three Indred and twenty acres of land.
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