USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 62
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MARSHAL H. ROSS-It is always interesting to note the succes- sive steps in the progress of a brainy young man. There is something in- spiring in the manner in which obstacles are overcome and success often snatched out of the very jaws of defeat. The stirring little town of Ha- vanna. in Montgomery county, numbers among her business men, one of these pushing, restless characters, whose magic touch seems to have solved the problem upon which alchemists have been working for ages, for every- thing prospers which receives his attention. However, there is no mystery in the success of Marshal Il. Ross. Persistent application, a mind that forms its judgments quickly and absolute fidelity to a promise, once given, these are the only secrets in the success which has attended him in his short career.
Thirty-one years ago, July 3, of 1903, this stirring citizen was born into the world, which he finds easy to master. A few brief facts concern- ing the history of the Ross family will prove of interest to the general reader.
The grandfather of our subject was Marshal 11. Ross, and was born in the State of Kentucky, in 1813. He, there, married Mary A. Taylor, and removed to the city of Cincinnati, where he was a brick-moulder, from the year 1843 until 1855. In 1855, he removed to Lawrence county, Indiana, and, after a seven years' residence there, again took his way westward. this time settling in Ilinois, and from theuce. in 1865, to Kansas. He located on a farm in Rutland township, which he cultivated for several years, where he died, in 1872. He was a man of restless dis- position, but withal, a good citizen. His wife, who was born in 1814, survived him many years, dying at the advanced age of seventy-five. She was the mother of five children, of whom William W., the father of our subject, was born in Boone county, Kentucky. on the 2d of July, 1839. He passed the period of his youth in Cincinnati and there, in 1861, mar- ried Evaline S. Garvey, a daughter of Obadiah and Mary Garvey, tho former still living with his daughter, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.
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feeding the call to arms, Mr. Ross, soon after his marriage, enlisted in the army, as a teamster, and, three months afterward, was promoted to the position of wagonmaster. In this position he continued to serve during the remainder of the war, never having been away from his com- mand a single day to the time of his discharge, at Cape Giradeau. Mis- souri. Upon his return home, he resolved to try his fortune in the west, and, after a stay of about a year in Illinois, settled in Linn county, Kan- sas. In 1869, he came out to Montgomery county and took a claim in Rutland township, which he held till 1893, when he removed to the vil- lage of Ilavana, the place of his present residence. He is a gentleman possessing the respect of his friends and neighbors, and has served as Justice, both in Rutland and Caney townships, and can always be found on the right side of any question involving the good name of his eominu- nity.
Marshal H. Ross is the only child of his parents, and, as stated, is a prodnet of Kansas, and early developed a penchant for "getting on in the world." When but a lad he husked corn by the shock and with the money thus earned, bought several head-of young stock. This was the foundation of the fortune which he seems destined to control. He is, at present. engaged in several different enterprises. having a well-equipped livery barn, and a large stock barn. He is also dealing in eoal, grain, stock and real estate, and, in all of these different lines, is successful. He owns a number of desirable residence properties in Havana, in addi. tion to a handsome cottage, erected for his own use. A fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres also forms one of his possessions.
On the 5th of Angust, 1895, Mr. Ross married Mary E., a daughter of Moriah and Mary ( Smith) Hendrickson. Mrs. Ross was born on the 3d of .Inne. 1871, in Livingston county, Illinois. She is a descendant of a Revolutionary hero, her father having been the son of Philip Hendrick- son, whose wife, Margaret Smoch, was the daughter of George Smoch, who served under General Washington, and who lived to the remarkable age of one hundred and two years. Philip Hendrickson was a native of New Jersey and, later, removed to Indiana county. Pennsylvania, where Moriah Hendrickson was born, on the 9th of March, 1837, and who is now the only one of nine children living. The latter left home in 1859, and came out to Illinois, where, in 1862, he married. In 1875. he settled on a farm, six miles east of Havana, where he still resides. They are the parents of : Milton. James, George, Alice Il .. wife of Al. Pittman; Mar- garet, wife of Marshal Ross; and Sarah, single and at home. Mr. and Mrs. Marshal Ross are the parents of three interesting children : Frank- lin W : Alta Ulela ; and Opal Marie.
It is needless to add that our subject is enthusiastic for his commu- nity and has a healthy influence within its borders. He is a staunch Re-
546 . HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
publican, and a gentleman whose popularity is only limited by his ac- quaintance.
DAVID L. BURKET-David L. Burket, of the large general mer- cantile firm of Burket & Kelly, of Elk City, is an example of what per- sistence, in following a given line, will accomplish, and that, in these later days, when one hears so much of lack of opportunity. A short half dozen years since. Mr. Burket began business, against sharp competition, with $700 capital invested. His present establishment covers two floors, 80x50. in which is a stock valued at $18,000, and his business shows a growing tendency.
Montgomery county, Ohio, was the birthplace of Mr. Burket and September 17, 1861, the date. He is a son of Moses and Margaret (Spit- ler) Burket, both natives of the "Buckeye State," their people before them having been pioneers in the first state carved out of the Northwest Territory. The father followed the saw-mill business in Ohio for many years and was prominent in the industrial, social and political life of the county, until in 1893, when he removed to Galt, Michigan. Here he has been engaged extensively in fruit culture, having a fine fruit farm of seven hundred acres. The parents are both active members of the Dunk- ard church and their children are as follows: David L., Hester C., Mrs. Robert Ardis; Daniel F., and Isaac L., of Michigan; Jacob L., of Sand Point, Idaho; Mrs. Mary E. Disbrough, Clarence L., of Michigan; and Maggie V., at home with the parents.
David L. Burket received his education in the schools of Union City, Indiana, and wielding the ferrule constituted his initial venture in carly life. After teaching, successfully, five years, he entered the business col- lege at Dayton, Ohio, and took a thorough commercial course. In 1884, he started west on a tour of investigation, and, after short stops in Illi- nois and western Missouri, came to Weir City, Kansas. Here he engaged in the hotel business for a year. Another period was passed in the pat- ent right business, and then he settled in Elk City. For four years, he clerked for Davis & Watkins and then went to Winfield, Kansas, where he spent three and one-half years in the mercantile business, with E. Youngheim. This brings us to the year of the beginning of his present business.
It is not fulsome praise to say that the hustling qualities of Mr. Burkei are not to be surpassed in the county. Courteous and obliging, and yej, withal, "diligent in business," he is fast forging to the front, as one of the county's most prosperous and substantial men. Ile takes a keen interest in the welfare of his adopted city, and has served in both the wayor's chair and on the common council. He and his family are
WM. P. BOWEN.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
active members of the Southern Methodist church'and he is a member of the Modern Woodmen.
The marriage of our subject occurred in Elk City, Angust 13, 1889. Mrs. Burket was Miss Nannie 1. Kelly, daughter of James M. and Mary Ann Kelly, old and honored residents. The mother still resides in the city, the father having died December 29, 1902, at the advanced age of eighty years. At the time of her marriage, Mrs. Burket was one of the popular school teachers of the city, in whose schools she had done excel- lent work for a number of years. She is a lady of culture and is still prominent in the social and educational life of the community. She has borne our subject two bright children : Margaret M. and James M.
WILLIAM PHARES BOWEN-The gentleman whose name intro- duces this personal reference has resided in and heen a citizen of Inde- pendence since 1882. His identity with the varied public and private in- terests of the city has been so conspicnous that he can, with absolute propriety, be regarded a public man. While now exercising the functions of public office, he is the active promoter of many enterprises that affect the public welfare of the county seat.
Mr. Bowen first saw Kansas in 1876, at which time he remained about one year, returning to his native city and state and continuing his resi- dence there, till his permanent return to southern Kansas and his loca- tion in Independence. He is a son of the venerable, active citizen, of Independence, George W. Bowen, of the Eagle Mills, whose advent to Kansas occurred in 1869, but whose identity with Montgomery county began with the same year as his son. The father has passed his life as a miller, learning his trade back in Ohio and Indiana, in the days of primitive milling-the old water wheel and the like. In 1848, he removed from his native state and located in Ottunwa. Iowa, where, for a time, he was the senior partner in the firm of Bowen & Wil- liams, and, afterward, being the sole proprietor of the mill. Ile was born in Jackson county, Ohio, February 21, 1831, but was brought up in Shelby county, and in Adams and Huntington counties, Indiana. Ilis father was Thomas Bowen, of Athens county, Ohio, a farmer and a gen- tleman with Welsh ancestry. Thomas Bowen married Catherine Hig- gins, a lady with German antecedents, who bore five sons and six daughters. George W. Bowen first married Ellen N. Hackworth, a daughter of George D. Hackworth, people of Welch descent. In 1862, Ellen N. Bowen died, leaving four children, namely : William P., our sub- jeet ; Clara E., wife of Christopher Haw, of Ottumwa, lowa; Emma A., who married Roger W. Berry, of Great Falls, Montana; and Katie, de- ceased. In 1864, Mr. Bowen married Angeline Miller and has a son, George M .. with the Eagle Mills, of Independence, Kansas.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
William P. Bowen was born in Ottumwa, lowa, August 31, 1855. At the age of sixteen years, he engaged in the business of milling at that place, and pursued that vocation there until 1876, when, at the age of majority, he went to Labette City, Kansas, where, for about one year, he was employed in the same pursuit. For the next five years, he was asso- ciated with his father in his native city and, with that gentleman, began the milling business in Independence, in 1882.
January 17, 1878, he wedded Hester Amelia Purnell, at Ottumwa, Iowa. She is a daughter of William Purnell and Rebecca (Miller) Pur- nell. Four children have resulted from this union, viz: Louis H., with the Eagle Mills; Mary A., Charles E. and Bertha H.
Mr. Bowen had been a resident of Independence about two years when, in 1884, he was chosen a member of the school board, first, to fill the short term and, then, as his own successor for two successive terms. in 1892, he was elected a councilman from the Fifth Ward and served in that office until 1896,. when he was chosen mayor of the city, which of- fice he held till 1900. Since then he has given that portion of his time to the milling business, which has not been taken up in promoting and encouraging enterprises and measures for the weal of Independence.
During his last term, as a member of the city council, there was much agitation over what is known as the "water works question." The mayor and city council, and, perhaps, a majority of the people, felt that some drastic measures should be resorted to against the water works company, for the purpose of securing better water and higher pressure, as security against fires. . , Mr. Bowen was a member of the committee on water works and, having failed, by negotiations, to obtain from the water company, the city's just rights, he, in company with the mayor, marshall, city attorney and other members of, the water committee, proceeded to the engine room and forcibly took possession of the works. This action resulted in litigation that is still pending and undetermined in the Fed- eral Courts.
During his administration as mayor, Mr. Bowen bent all his untir- ing energies to this litigation. During his first term in the mayorality, the project of establishing an extensive brick plant, came up, and, inci- dental thereto, the proposition to pave certain portions of the streets of the city with vitrified brick. A promoter was on the ground, offering the necessary machinery for making a fine quality of brick. Both enter- prises, especially the first, were very popular in the beginning, but before the end. the incidental phase of the compound proposition ceased to hold favor with the fax-payers, when they discovered the cost of it would be far in excess of their expectations; but, with others, the paving project lost none of its original popularity. Mr. Bowen spent time to secure the brick plant and when it was ap ;accomplished fact, with unflagging in- dustry and energy, he devoted himself to the paving, which was success-
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fully accomplished,after long litigation in the District and Supreme Courts.
While Mr. Bowen was a member of the school board, there was some agitation relating to the unsafe condition of the Fourth Ward school house. This commotion continued, periodically, for many years and, finally, cansed the legal destruction of the three eity school buildings and the erection, in their places, of two, more modern and costly and in high favor with the friends of the public schools. While the discussion of the dangers lurking in the unpopular Fourth Ward school house was going on, some one suggested that Independence ought to have a county high school. of proportion equal to the one recently erected at 'Altamont, in La- bette county. Mr. Bowen was then mayor and, while never convinced of the reported danger in the school house where his children constantly at- tended, at once enthusiastically adopted the county high school idea. To seeure this, the first step necessary was to get a special aet of the legis- lature authorizing it, which matter was entrusted to State Senator Hen- ry W. Young and Representative Isaac B. Fulton, both of Montgomery county. With characteristic energy, Mr. Bowen set about raising the funds necessary to pay the expenses of a committee to go to Topeka, in the interest of the passage of the special act. After much hard work, this was accomplished, the committee did its work well, the bill was in- trodueed and passed and became a law. The school board appointed, under the provisions of the law, was enjoined and the enterprise was "hung up" for many months, awaiting the termination of the injunction proceedings, which were carried to the Supreme Court. The mayor was ever alert and untiring. in defending against these proceedings, and never onee let any private business deter him from looking after the interests of the town and county in the matter.
After all litigation had been settled, and the way was opened to our long-cherished hope. it beamed upon the citizens that it was necessary to furnish a free site for the school building. The High School Board de- manded the best that could be secured. Mr. Bowen went before the board and asked them to go over the town and select a location from several which he proposed and assured them the people would purchase. Several members of the board were unfriendly to the "whole business," claiming it to be a move, by Independence, to compel Montgomery county, to furnish school facilities for the city. After examining the various proposed sites, the board selected the one most expensive, where the beautiful building now stands. To get this site, would cost more than $5,500. The question of "where is the money to come from to pay for it?" at once arose. At that time, no such sum- nor even half of it-had ever been raised by popular subscription, in the city. Many who were warmly in favor of raising the money. failed to tind it agreeable or convenient
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
to pay any part of it. The debt to pay for the site was contracted and, afterward, liquidated in taxes, without a murmer.
In the matter of how to raise the necessary funds, Mr. Bowen was, himself, at first puzzled. He was tireless in devising means to buy the land, and, at the beginning, thought it would be best to issue city orders for the amount, but. on further investigation, found that such orders would be wholly illegal and, of course, could not be negotiated. After "threshing the matter over," for hours, with the "city fathers," he pro- posed that the mayor and council should, individually, sign notes, bor- row the money from the banks and pay for the land; and, thereupon, the "Gordian Knot".was cut. The suggestion was followed to the letter, the notes signed, the money obtained and the site paid for. For the credit and honor of the people of the town, be it said, none of these officers was ever required to pay a single dollar of said notes.
The unique way in which the funds were raised, to meet the admin- istration notes, was as follows: After the purchase of the property, streets were opened around it and the award in condemning them was fixed at a sum sufficient to pay the $5,600, the purchase price of the school site.
1: is impossible, in the limited space allotted to this article, to pur- sue Mr. Bowen's career as an enterprising and valuable citizen. In the establishing of the various industries that are building up Independence and giving promise that it will soon be a beautiful and prosperous city, Mr. Bowen has ever been in the very front rank-in the thick of the fight-among those whose energy has brought the brick plant, the crack- er factory, cotton mill. creamery, Ellsworth Paper Mill, the Adamson Manufacturing Company. the glass factory, the Bartlesville Railroad and other enterprises. He has always been among the first to lend assist- ance and has, more than once, led over obstacles that seemed insurmount- able.
EDWIN M. WHEELER-The fruit industry of Montgomery county is worthily represented by Edwin M. Wheeler, of Fawn Creek township. His attention was diverted from general farming, some years ago, and di- rected to the planting of orchards and the growing of fruit. In this in- dnstry, he stands at the head, in his county, and the diversity and variety of his fruit products, class him among the prominent and successful fruit men of the state. He enjoys the additional distinction of being a pio- neer and the effects of his efforts, in the internal development of Mont- gomery county, are told in the improvement of three farms before he became permanently established on his present productive farm.
Kent county, Michigan, was Mr. Wheeler's native place and he was born September 4, 1848. His parents were New York people and were
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Laurence S. and Adaline (Ford) Wheeler. When our subject was eleven years old, the parents eame west, to St. Charles county, Missouri, and, . five years later, settled in St. Louis county, that state, from where, in 1869, they came on to Kansas and became pioneers of Montgomery conn- ty. They entered land near where Jefferson was afterward founded, and were employed with its improvement and cultivation. when they died, the father at seventy-four years old and the mother at sixty-nine. They were the parents of eight children, of whom five survive, namely : Edwin M., our subject ; Charles W., George R., Oscar F., and Bertha, wife of Irvin Gray.
After leaving the district schools, Edwin M. Wheeler entered the Schenck Scientific Military Institute at St. Charles, Missouri, but, when done with his work there. he was too young to obtain a position in the regular U. S. military establishment and he turned his attention to in- dustrial pursuits. He came to Kansas when the family did and took a elaim on the site of Jefferson, Montgomery county, sold it and took an- other, and repeated the practice again and, finally, bought one hundred aeres in section 10, township 33, range 15, on which has his reputation as a horticulturist, been made. He has fifteen hundred choice, hearing apple trees, other trees of various fruits, thirty varieties of strawberries, from which thousands of quarts of berries are annually harvested, black and raspberries in great profusion. and a vineyard filled with varieties of grapes best adapted to soil and climate. He contracts the Montgomery county market on strawberries and a good fruit year shows his farm to be one of the lively places and his business to be one of the most profit- able of the county. His farm improvements are neat and substantial and in thorough keeping with the life of the careful and pains-taking owner.
December 4, 1879, Mr. Wheeler married Clara Broadbent, whose father, Andrew Broadbent, was one of the pioneers to Neosho county, Kansas, where he died. in 1898. Mrs. Wheeler was born in LaCrosse county, Wisconsin, and came to Kansas with her parents, when a little girl. (The history of the family is presented in the sketch of Albert J. Broadhent, in this work.) Three children have been horn to Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, viz: Daisy D., wife of John Wagner, of Dayton, Ohio; Ray C. and Robin. The sons are valuable aids in the cultivation of the family homestead. Mr. Wheeler has no aspirations for public office, yet he has been justice of the peace, and is content in the gratification of his ambition, to be the successful and leading fruit grower of his county.
HENRY HAAG-Seventy-five years has this pioneer of Montgomery county traveled this mundane sphere, sometimes laboring mid the mire of the slough of despond. again on the mountain top of good cheer and prosperity, but always with a heart and conscience void of offense toward
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the Being whose religion he professed, when a lad of fifteen years. It is not a light matter to consider the life of a good man, for therein are les- sons which, heeded or passed by, have their fruitage in eternity. The brief space allotted to the biographer precludes specifie consideration of the lessons taught by the life of Henry Haag, but we feel that those who are careful to "read between the lines" of this sketch, will be impressed with their valne.
Henry Haag is one of Nature's noblemen, who lives with his son, Henry G., on a well-tilled farm of one-lumdred and seventeen aeres, two and a half miles east of the town of Havana. He is the son of George Haag, and was born in York county, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of Sep- tember, 1828. His father was a native of the same state and, at matur- ity, was joined in marriage to Mary Young, also a native of Pennsylvania. He passed his life, as a miller, in his native state, reared a family of elever: children, and died, at eighty-three, while his wife died at seventy years. Eight of the children are now living : Andrew, Mary Snell, Lydia, Jarvis. Elizabeth, Margaret, Fannie and George.
Henry was the ninth member of his parent's family and was reared to the life of the farm and the mill. With the meager education then possible to be secured in the district school, he set out alone and married, in Pennsylvania, in 1850, Ann Gladfelter, and, four years later, moved, with his young family, to the then pioneer State of Ohio, settling in the virgin forest of Clark county. Here he worked, for a few months, and then again took up the western trail, this time to Illinois, where he stopped sixteen years. He then moved westward to Iowa, and, in 1873, made the journey that landed him, without a penny, in the "Sunflower State." Nothing daunted, however, he took a claim in Caney township, where ill-luck attended him a number of years. But everything comes to the man who "learns to labor and to wait"-and especially to the farmer. Kind neighbors soon found that the newcomer, though without much of this world's goods, was the right sort of "stuff" for a good eiti- zen, and rallied to his support. He was given work about the neighbor. hood until he could raise his first crop. Matters then eased up a little, but the time of deeding came and he was not able to do so without plac- ing a mortgage. This was embarrassing, but further misfortune fol- lowed. in the destruction of all his buildings, by fire, and the subsequent foreclosing of the mortgage on his farm.
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