USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 53
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George A. Park was born in Lorain county, Ohio, January 8, 1835. The first event of importance in his life was the great but glorious trag- edy in the nation's life-the Civil war-in which he played an honorable. and to him a most memorable part, for he lost his good right leg in the service.
Mr. Park enlisted on February 17, 1864, in Company "A," S1st Ohio Vol. Inf., as a private. This regiment was sent immediately to the front and arrived in time to take part in the glorious campaign in which Sher- man proved the truth of his own trite saying, "war is hell." Our sub jeet's first battle was at Resaca ; then came Rome Cross Roads, Dallas, Big Shanty, Kennesaw Mountain and finally, Atlanta. Here the Sist saw hot service from the day that the gallant MePherson fell until the capitulation of the city. While on the skirmish line on the 25th of August. 1861, a ball struck Mr. Park on the right knee, removing the knee pan and necessitating amputation. This, of course, put a stop to further soldering on his part. He spent a month in the Marietta hospital, thence to Nashville, and arrived home November 11th, the day of President Lin- coln's second election. He now learned the shoemaker's trade, an occu- pation which he has followed, together with farming, since that time. He purchased his first land in Ohio, in 1870, a piece of timber, which, though crippled, as he was, he, himself, cleared. This he sold in 1883, and the following year moved to Labette county, Kansas. He bought a quarter section here, but in 1890, disposed of it and settled in Montgomery county, where he bought the farm which he now owns, a quarter section in Caney township. He cultivated this farm until 1899, when he rented it and moved into the county seat.
The married life of Mr. Park dates from July 13, 1861. when, in Kenton, Ohio, he was joined to Miss Angeline, daughter of Robert and
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Martha (Shultz) Stevenson. The parents of Mrs. Park were of the thrifty farming elass, prominent members of the M. E. church, in which denomi- nation the father was a local preacher. The mother was born November 14, 1813, and died November 3, 1861, the father's birth occurring March 28, 1814, and his death April 27, 1896. They still live in the blessed in- fluences which were set adrift by their holy living. Their children, be- sides Mrs. Park, were: William, a soklier of sixteen years' service, two of them in the Civil war, now resides in Ft. Wayne, Ind .; JJoseph, a farmer near Valparaiso, Ind., and Martha, Mrs. John Pruitt, of Trinidad, Colorado. To the marriage of our subjeet and his wife have been born children as follows: Byron C., deceased in infancy; G. B., married Gene- vieve MeKinley, whose children are: Emmett, Iris and Lester; Adah. Mrs. William O. Dunlap, whose children are: Percie, Blanche, Curtis, Georgia and Alexander; Ralph E., of Weston, Ohio, married Wanetta Vandenburg, whose one child is Ralph Victor ; Rolla, a merchant of Tyro, Kansas, married Maggie Knotts, children: Arthur and Lowell; Sidney F., single, Bartelsville, I. T .; Leafy. of Sturgis, South Dakota; Mattie, Mrs. Fred Dobson, whose children are: Esther and Angie; Frankie L., a teacher at Tyro, and Robert R., deceased.
Mr. Park is a member of the G. A. R., and in politics votes the So- cialist ticket. He is a gentleman whose sterling qualities have brought to him the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends and neighbors, and whose career has been entirely creditable.
JAMES R. CHARLTON-November 17. 1877, James R. Charlton, ex-County Attorney of Montgomery county, began life as a citizen of Kansas. He was prompted to seek the west to engage in educational work here and to thus, in early life, shape his course along lines of pro- fessional activity. Subsequent events have shown the execution of such plans to have led him from the school-room to journalism and finally into the practice of law.
A youth of nineteen, he first located at Sedan, and soon thereafter became a teacher in the country schools of Chantauqua county. He had received his education in the High School of Odin, Illinois, and was authorized to teach, under the law, before he left his native state. While carrying his three terms of school work he was prosecuting the study of law under the direction of J. D. MeBrian, of Sedan. In Aunst, 1880, he was admitted to the bar in Winfield, Kansas, and taught two terms of school before entering the practice. In 1884, he located in Elk City, where he began law practice in 1885. He founded the Elk City Enter. prise, a weekly paper, with Democratic principles, and published it about four years. He was justice of the peace, police judge and city attorney
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of Elk City and was a resident of the place until December, 1890, when he removed to the county seat.
His early political training led Mr. Charlton into the Democratic party. His political course was along these lines until the political up- heaval of 1890, when he joined issues with the new party of that year, and has acted with it sinee. He was elected county attorney in 1890. served one term and was unanimously nominated for a second term, but declined, and, in 1894, opened an office in Caney, where he has since re- sided. He is city attorney of Caney and has a large law business in the nearby counties of the state and in the Indian Territory on the south.
James R. Charlton was born in Marion county, Illinois, July 21, 1858. Ilis family was one of the pioneer families of that county, for William JJ. Charlton, his father, was born there in 1836. Isaac Charlton, his grandfather, left Virginia in 1824, and settled some of the wild lands near Salem, Illinois. Isaac Charlton was born in 1800, and died in 1876, leaving six children, viz: James, Wesley, Sidney, Newton and William .J., father of our subject.
Mention of William J. Charlton is made on another page of this volume. It is sufficient in this connection to state that he was well known in Odin, Illinois, as a farmer and a merchant, and that he lived in Chautauqua county, Kansas, from 1877 'till 1901, when he located on the Verdigris river, near Independence, Kansas.
Mr. Charlton, of this review, married in Chautauqua county, Kan- sas, April 3, 1881, Hattie M. Hutchison, a daughter of John Hutchison, from Clinton county, Indiana. The latter married Eliza Moore, and reared three children. Earl, only child of JJ. R. and Mrs. Charlton, was born January 3, 1887.
For many years Mr. Charlton has been an active church worker. While he is a member of and holds a pastorate in the Christian church he has done effective work in the evangelistic field, in Oklahoma, Wash- ington and other places. He was pastor of the Christian church in Caney in 1895-6, was then state evangelist for Kansas for one year, and is now serving the Caney charge again.
BENJAMIN F. MASTERMAN, M. D .- During the period of pioneer settlement of Montgomery county there came to Independence one of its permanent citizens, a gentleman whose influence and power made itself felt in after years in the public and professional interests of the county. seat, and whose individuality has stamped itself indelibly upon the so- cial fabric of the county. This pioneer character was Dr. B. F. Master- man, of this review, the date of whose advent to his new home was Feb- ruary 7, 1870.
B. F. MASTERMAN, M. D.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
He came here, not in search of wealth, but of health. His close con- finement in the old state as a drug elerk and as a student of medicine racked his body and the bleak and unsettled west was turned to as the fountain which would restore youth. Although a junior in the prepara- tion for his profession, the foundation principles of the subject had been well laid and the work of the senior year was little more than a formality necessary to the securing of a diploma. Following his inclination, he opened an office for the practice of medicine and was encouraged in its continmance by the success of his work and by his love for the profession. For nine years he ministered to his patients as an undergraduate and then, with a breadth of experience and a strong physique, he returned to finish his college work in his professional year. Accomplishing this in 1880, he resumed his practice in Montgomery county.
Dr. Masterman is of English blood. He was born in Stenben county, New York, February 5, 1844. His father, Matthew Masterman, was born in England, came to the United States young, grew to maturity in Steu- ben county, New York, and there married Mary E. Runyon. He was for a time a merchant at Penyan, New York, and left there in 1858 and set- tled in Washington county, Indiana, where he died in 1876, at sixty-eight years of age. Ile was in politics a Whig, but without ambition for pub- lie office. His wife died in Mazomania, Wisconsin, in 1858, leaving him seven children, six of whom survive, viz: Mary E., wife of John Run- yard, of Mazomania, Wisconsin; Dr. Benj. F., Mrs. Nellie Calkins, of Alamoosa. Colorado; Emmet, of Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Jennie Edmunds, of Elk City, Kansas; Albert F., of Reno, Oklahoma. William, the first child of the family, died in the army while a private in the 11th Wis. Vols., war of the Rebellion.
Al thirteen years of age, Dr. Masterman left the farm in New York and accompanied his father's family to Washington county. Indiana, where, at Salem, he entered a drug store as a clerk. He remained in this position 'till some time in 1862, when he enlisted in company "E," 5th Indiana cavalry, for service in the Civil war. The regiment saw service in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky, and was an integral part of the Army of the Ohio. The doctor took part in Morgan's raid, or rather in the pursuit of Morgan's band, was on the outside at the siege of Knoxville, accompanied Sherman's forces to the initial work of the Atlanta campaign and fought guerrillas in Tennessee and Alabama. He served as hospital steward the last eighteen months of his enlistment and was discharged June 14, 1865.
On his return to Salem, our subject took his old place in the drug store, where he remained one year. He then took up the study of medi- cine regularly and was occupied with it 'till the first of the year 1870, when he left the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, a junior, and sought
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his health and his fortunes in Kansas. It is in Montgomery county that his achievements have been attained. Here his adaptability to an hon- ored profession has been demonstrated; here his efficiency as a public servant has been displayed; here his sincerity and honesty as a citizen and his integrity as a man have won the confidence of the publie and as- sured him an unfaltering friendship during his declining years.
In December, 1871, Dr. Masterman married Nannie D. Conner, a daughter of Lewis Conner, who came to Independence from Iowa, and was one of the early hotel men of this city, and of Coffeyville. The issue of this union are: Franc, wife of M. F. Dougherty, of Independence; Henry L. and Emmet.
In 1874. the Doctor was made a Mason, and holds a membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, of Independence, and, in 1899, was made a Shriner at Leavenworth, Kansas. In politics he is a Republi- can, and his hand has been in many a battle of the ballot in town and county. He has served one year on the school board, eight years on the city council, one term as mayor of Independence and four years as county coroner.
GEORGE L. BANKS-To one not in love with nature unadorned, citizenship on the frontier is uninteresting and monotonous indeed. The absence of stir and the whir of business, the unbroken solitude of days and the primitive and rude accommodations of the settler, all had a ten- dency to depress and weaken one's intentions, and but for the determina- tion and the hope that springs eternal in the human breast, discourage- ments and then desertion would have depopulated Southern Kansas in a decade after the Civil war. But privations were endured-now looked upon as blessings-and other difficulties were surmounted and the versa- tile and tenacious pioneer laid the foundation and erected the superstruc- ture for one of the great and prosperous states of the American union. No man's work alone did this, but the efforts of the aggregate, the great whole, brought about a result of which their posterity may well be proud. During the last years of the pioneer period in Montgomery county many. men, yet its citizens, cast their lot herewith and participated in the final acts in the shaping of its internal and civilian affairs. Modestly, vet energetically. connected with this particular era, was George L. Banks, of this review, the pioneer and widely known settler of Fawn ('reek township. lle established himself in the county in May. 1871. and was for fifteen years an active and patriotic devotee to the agri- cultural and political interests of the same. With the exception of six years, when he was absent from the state, that interest has scarcely les- sened in intensity in thirty-two years.
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Mr. Banks is one of Lake county, Ohio's native sons, and was born October 13, 1839. His parents, Orin and Olive (Brown) Banks, were natives of Scoharrie county, New York, and born, the father January 25, 1803, and the mother March 12, 1805. They were married in 1823, and settled in Lake county, Indiana, in 1845 and stopped, first, in LaPorte county. They passed their lives as country people, were upright Chris- tian folk and were thrifty as farmers of their time. They died in Lake county, Indiana, the father October 29, 1857, and the mother Jannary 27, 1887. The Banks's were of Scotch-lrish origin and the Browns of English lineage. The parents both belonged to old families of the east and reared a large family of children, as follows: Charles, of Salina, Kansas; Elisha, of MePherson county, Kansas ; Parley, of Lake county, Indiana; Mary C., wife of Simon White, of LaPorte county, Indiana; George 1 .. , of this notice; Nathaniel P., of Lake county, Indiana; Sarah L., wife of W. B. Adams, of Montgomery county, Kansas.
George L. Banks spent his youth and early manhood in LaPorte county. Indiana, and had the advantage of a good country school educa- tion. The Civil war came on just after he had reached his majority, and was concerned with the serious affairs of peace, but he enlisted, June 6, 1861, in Company "C," 15th. Inf., under Col. Geo. D. Wagner. The regiment was ordered at once into the field and it took part in the bat- tles of Greenbriar and Elk Water that same year. As the war progressed it participated in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River and Mis- sionary Ridge, where Mr. Banks was wounded, and rendered unfit for ser- vice for some weeks. During his Jater active service he was in battle at Charleston and Dandridge, Tennessee. He was discharged from the army June 25, 1864. In 1897, he received from the Secretary of War a medal of bronze, appropriately engraved and inseribed in commemora- tion of distinguished service while in line of duty. Engraved on the face of the medal is:
"The Congress to Color Sergeant George L. Banks, 15th Indiana Infantry,
"For gallantry at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 25, 1863."
The letter from the Secretary of War notifiying Mr. Banks of the honor accorded him and announcing the issuing of the medal states the specifie acts of gallantry and is herewith made a part of this record :
MEDAL OF HONOR.
War Department. Washington, D. C., Sept. 21, 1897. George L. Banks, Esq., Independence. Kansas.
Sir :- You are hereby notified that by direction of the President and under the provisions of the Art of Congress approved March 3, 1863, providing for the presentation of medals of honor to such officers, non- commissioned officers and privates as have most distinguished them-
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
selves in action, a Congressional Medal of Honor has this day been pre- sented to you for most distinguished gallantry in action, the following being a statement of the particular service: At Missionary Ridge, No- vember 25. 1863, this soldier, then a Color Sergeant, 15th, Indiana Vols., in the assault. led his regiment, calling upon his comrades to follow, and when near the summit he was wounded and left behind insensible, but having recovered consciousness rejoined the advance. again took the flag and carried it forward to the enemy's works, where he was again wound- ed. In the brigade of eight regiments the flag of the 15th Indiana was . the first planted on the parapet.
The medal will be forwarded to you by registered mail as soon as it shall have been engraved.
Respectfully,
R. A. ALGER, Secretary of War.
After the war, Mr. Banks resmed farming in Indiana and continued it with a fair measure of success 'till his departure for the broad prairies and the pure air of Kansas, in the spring of 1871. Matters were in a formative state in Montgomery county and he aided in organizing. and was the first clerk of school district No. 91, and the school house was named "The Banks School House" in his honor. He entered and patent- ed a piece of land and was occupied with its improvement 'till December, 1886, when he disposed of it and transferred his residence to Angola, In- diana, where he became the proprietor of a hotel. Remaining there only a short time he removed to Camden. Hillsdale county. Michigan, where he resided six years, returning thence to Montgomery county, Kansas. From 1892 to 1895, he was a resident of Independence, and the latter year moved out to his farm in section 8, township 33, range 15, where he owns one hundred and sixty acres. He owns an eighty in section 17. and is regarded one of the successful and reliable farmers of his county.
October 9, 1864. Mr. Banks was united in marriage with Olive W. Chandler, a daughter of Thomas P. and Betsy ( Woodmanse) Chandler, of Vermont. Mrs. Banks was born at Caledonia. Vermont, August 25. 1842, and died December 12. 1902. She was her husband's companion for thirty eight years and bore him three sons: William N., Charles B. and Arthur A., all honorable young men of Montgomery county.
George L. Bank's political action has been exercised in the ranks of the Republican party. He has ever manifested a good citizen's inter- est ir local, state and national affairs and his face has been a familiar one in local gatherings of his party. He filled all the offices of Fawn Creek township. He is prominent in the State Grand Army and is com- mander of the Southeast Kansas Association of old soldiers. He belongs to the subordinate lodge Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is : member of the A. H. T. A.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
JOEL ARMOUR STEVENSON-Joel Armour Stevenson is one of the well-to-do and progressive representatives of the agricultural class living near the rural community of Costello. He comes from Indiana, having been born in Shelby county, that state, in the year 1860. Horace Stevenson, his father, was a son of Armour, who, in his day, was one of the earliest pioneers of Dearborn county, Indiana, having removed to that state from New York in the early years of the nineteenth century.
Our subject's mother was Mahuldah Ann Gregory, also of an old pioneer family of the "Hoosier State." Horace Stevenson was the fourth of a family of eleven children, and was reared on the family homestead in Dearborn county and, at maturity, settled in Shelby county, where he was engaged, for a time, in teaching school, and where he met and married his wife. The children born to Horace and Mahuldah Steven- son were: Joel and Rose, twins; Rose being now Mrs. Adam Lewis; Nancy. Augustus, William and Edward are the remaining numbers of the family.
Joel A. Stevenson passed the period of his boyhood and youth on the "Hoosier State" farm and was given a district school education. At the age of eighteen, he, in the fall of 1878, accompanied his mother to Kan- sas, his father having died in 1870. (The mother subsequently married Thomas O'Connor and is now a resident of the county.) Mr. Stevenson remained with his mother until he set up an establishment of his own, when he purchased what is known as the Ashbaugh farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, where general farming and stock raising occupy his time. He was married, in 1885, to Ellen, daughter of P. H. and Cath- erine ( Baker) Callahan, referred to elsewhere in this work. The wife of Mr. Stevenson died October 30, 1901, leaving a family of seven children, as follows: Mary, born October 8, 1886; William, born November 26, 1888;Catherine, whose birth occurred December 9, 1890; Thomas, born March 9, 1893; Margaret, born March 6, 1895; John, born March 9, 1898; and Nellie, born March 4, 1900.
Since Mr. Stevenson became a citizen of the county, he has evi- denced great interest in building up her institutions and has always given his influence to the betterment of conditions in his immediate com- munity. He and his family are active members and supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church sonth. In fraternal life, Mr. Stevenson has, for some time, been a member of the Modern Woodmen, and is a Populist in political belief.
DAVID VANCE-Thirty-three years in Kansas is sufficient to have seen wonderful changes, and especially in Montgomery county, for the whole county was then one vast range, given over to the countless cattle
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that roamed over the fertile prairies. The Osages still lingered in the bottoms and the nearest trading points were Humboldt and Ft. Scott. The farm youth of today, who hitches to his rubber-tired vehicle and drives into town but a few miles away, over roads which lead past highly- cultivated farms, with their modern residences, presents a strange con- trast to the lad of thirty years ago, who hooked his slow-going ox-team to the lumber wagon and drove whole days over the lonely trail to the nearest trading point.
David Vance is entitled to membership in an "old settlers' " organi- zation, for, in 1870. he first looked upon Montgomery county soil. He has taken the full number of degrees in the hardships of pioneer life, and is now enjoying the fruits of faithfulness in the early days, his highly- cultivated farm, four miles northeast of Caney, being evidence of careful and persistent etfort along agricultural lines. Mr. Vance was born in LaFayette county, Tennessee. October 26. 1838. the son of Joseph and Polly ( Leath) Vance. the former a nafive of Virginia. the latter of Tennessee. They married in Tennessee and. later, the father removed to LaFayette county, Missouri, where he died, at sixty-two, the wife having passed away, in Tennessee, at the age of forty-five. Their family consisted of twelve children, six of whom are now living.
Mr. Vance was reared to farm life. learning well the homely lessons of patient toil, which still marks his movements. On the 11th of Decem- ber, 1860, he took unto himself a wife, in the prson of Mary E. Hall, a native of the same county, and settled down to farm life, in the home neighborhood. But he was not destined to pursue the even tenor of his way, for the following year, the storm of war broke and swept all loyal citizens into the army. Mr. Vance became a member of the First Tenn- essee Mounted Infantry, and did valiant service for the flag he loved so well, participating in some of the smaller skirmishes and battles in the middle west. He came off without harm, though, during one skirmish, had an uncomfortably close call. the toe of his boot having been shot off. That scourge of the soldier, the measles, however, was not so considerate of his comfort, and he still carries, in his body, the effects of its ravages.
After the war, Mr. Vance settled in Lawrence county, Indiana, and in 1868, came out to LaFayette county, Missouri. and, as stated, in 1870, located in Montgomery county, Kansas. Here he first took up a claim on Cheyenne creek, but soon sold and bought the eighty aeres of school land where he now resides. He had the misfortune. in 1866, to lose his wife, by death, leaving him two little daughters, Laura Belle and Sarah Jane. These daughters grew to womanhood and married, Laura becoming the wife of C. C. Turk and removing to Oklahoma, and Sarah finding a husband in George O. Arnold. She became the mother of five bright chil- dren and, on the 7th of June. 1898, was carried off by an attack of can-
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cer of the stomach. The husband and children are now inmates of Mr. Vance's home, where they receive the loving care of a proud grandfather. The children are unusually well-conditioned, both physically and men- tally, their musical ability, especially, having attracted most favorable notice. Their names are: Edgar F., Mary E., Iva L., Sylvia E. and Nellie Belle.
Mr. Vance has always had the confidence and respect of his neigh- bors, who have elected him, at different times, to offices of trust. He votes with the Populist party, and in social life, holds membership in the A. H. & T. A. and the Grand Army of the Republic.
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