USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 63
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Mr. Haag now found himself where he had begun-everything gone but hope. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast." He rented a farm and worked on manfully, profiting by former errors, living elose and saving every possible penny, until he was, at last, enabled to pur- chase the piece of land he now occupies. This he and his son have im- proved, from time to time, until they are in possession of one of the best
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little farms in the county, with substantial buildings, and stocked with a fine grade of cattle and horses.
In July of 1895, Mr. Haag suffered the greatest misfortune of all, in the loss of his wife, who, with true womanly heroism, had trod the paths of adversity with him, in his younger manhood, without complain- ing. She was the mother of ten children, as follows: all of whom are dead but two: Frances (Clark), whose whereabouts is not known, and Henry G.
Of this family, Henry G. is in charge of the home farm. He married in 1890, Miss Nettie Pritchard, a native of Champaign county, Illinois, and who came to Kansas in 1886. They have one son, George Haag.
Mr. Haag is of the Presbyterian faith, having joined that church when he was but fifteen years of age. Until the rise of the Populist party, he was a rock-ribbed Democrat. but the party having abandoned its time-honored principles, he has since supported. by his vote, the party of reform.
FRED B. SKINNER-One of the stirring young business men of Coffeyville is here introduced to the reader. He is manager of the Gate City Lumber Company and has an abiding faith in the future of the city where he has had his home for years.
Mr. Skinner is a western man. having been born in Washington county, Nebraska, October 8, 1868. He is a son of James L. and Lizzie (Newell) Skinner, natives of Michigan and Massachusetts, respectively, the father being in the transfer business in Coffeyville. The latter was reared in Michigan and made the trip through to Nebraska, in a wagon. in 1857. He settled within a few miles of where the city of Schuyler now stands, crossing the river at Omaha-then a mere watering place. He continued to reside in Nebraska until 1870, when he came to Johnson county, Kansas. He farmed there. some three years, and then came down to Coffeyville, where he has held continuous residence sinee. In the family which he has reared, there were five children, as follows : Fred B., Julia A., wife of William Francis, manager of the Coffeyville Vitrified Briek Company ,at Cherryvale; Frank M., undertaker with the Coffey- ville Furniture Company ; Lela E., a graduate of the high school, elass of 1902; and Addie, a high school pupil.
Fred B. Skinner was but six years of age when the family removed to Coffeyville, and is, therefore, to be looked upon as a product of her institutions. He received a good common school education and, at the age of twenty-one, accepted service with the S. A. Brown Lumber Com- pany. This beginning of his business career was at a small salary, a fig- ure which would have had the effect, with many a boy, of making him listless and inattentive to business. But he continued to "saw wood,"
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did his work carefully, kept his eyes and mind on the details of the busi. ness. and the inevitable followed-he soon became too valuable a man to allow him to become dissatisfied, on account of salary, Mr. Skin- ner has served with several of the leading lumber companies doing busi- ness in the city. In 1898, he accepted his present place, as manager, with the Gate City Lmmber Company, since which the business of that con- cern has increased largely.
The home life of our subject began in 1891, when, on November 21, he was happily joined in marriage with Mary E., a daughter of A. F. Peterson. Mrs. Skinner was born in Green county, Ohio, and came to Kansas, with her parents, in 1886. She is the eldest of five children, the others being: Mrs. Irene Day, now deceased; Wilson, a Montgomery county farmer; Carrie, who resides with her parents; and Edwin, also a faner of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. Skinner has been born a son : Jesse Leroy.
In the social life of the community, both Mr. and Mrs. Skinner are prominent factors, Mrs. Skinner being an active member of the Method- ist church, while he is active in two of the best fraternities-the A. O. U. W. and the I. O.O. F., in the latter of which he is in both the Subordinate and Encampment. Too busy to pay much attention to politics, Mr. Skinner yet exercises the privilege of casting his vote, and it is always recorded in favor of the Republican party.
ALVO J. AXTELL-The trite adage that "the road to one's heart is through his stomach" was never more true than when considered in connection with the landlord and his guest, and he that ministers to the temporal wants of his fellows, bountifully and with good cheer, merits the deep gratitude and wins the unstinted praise of the recipients of his hospitality. These observations apply with special force to the host who raters to the caprices, whims and eccentricities of a traveling public, burdened with a grist of kickers, growlers, grumblers and non-de-seripts, with appreciative capacities, real vaccums in themselves, and are but a slight tribute to one who fills so important a niche in the world's bus- iness affairs. The hotel is the traveling man's home, and of the myriads of landlords who play host, but few measure up to a real standard of excellence and deserve recognition in a treatise devoted to the eminent men of their locality.
Axtell has become a name famed in the hotel annals of Montgomery county and the "Axtell" is a Mecca toward which the knight of the grip-sack wends his way, and in which is found rich, restful repose. Its landlord is a prince among hosts and its royal hostess a queen among entertainers. Neat to a fault, cheerful in its surroundings, and domestic
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in all its appointments, the "Axtell" is a hostelry widely known and uni- versally appreciated.
Alvo JJ. Axtell, whose name is borne by the hotel he owns, is the pro- prietor of the leading commercial house of Cherryvale, and dates his resi- dence in the county from the spring of 1899, when he became the owner of the Handley hotel and honored it with his own name. He had passed his life, chiefly, in the hotel business and his experience, coupled with his abundant native talent. brought him into favorable contact with the commercial fraternity. The wide popularity of his house is not only of pecuniary concern to himself. but it is one of the beneficial institutions of and a positive recommendation for the town.
Wyoming county, New York, gave birth to Alvo J. Axtell, in the vear 1852. His parents, John and Wilhnina ( Beach) Axtell. were of Vermont and Pennsylvania nativity. respectively, and their lives were passed in the hotel business on the farm. While rearing their family of seven children, theirs was a country home and amid rural scenes and the pure air was our subject brought up. In religious belief, the father was a Universalist and the mother an Episcopalian, and the former lived to be seventy-four years old, while the mother died, in 1891, at just three score and ten. The four sons and three daughters, constituting their interesting family. are scattered widely over our continent and are : .Joseph D., of Santa Barbara. California. a hotel proprietor; Zerniah, wife of Dr. A. B. Bottsford. of Chicago, Illinois; John W., now with the "Axtell" in Cherryvale, but for many years a passenger conductor on the Santa Fe Ry .; Zerina A .. Mrs. E. A. Vaughn, of New York; Winfield, a hotel-keeper in New York state: Dell H., wife of Alonzo Wheeler, proprietor of a hotel in Anthony. Kansas; and Alvo .I., the sub- ject of this review.
The common schools of his native state furnished A. J. Axtell, his educational privileges and, when his school days were ended, he secured a clerkship in Post's hotel, in Castile, New York, and was so employed several years, or, until the death of his employer, when he, himself, became the proprietor of the house, and, in this capacity, spent six years more of his early manhood. Upon disposing of his interests there, he rame west and established himself in Missouri Valley, Iowa, as proprie- tor of the Commercial hotel. After running this house six years, he re turned tohisnative state and leased the Congress Hall hotel, at Rochester, and continued, as its proprietor. from 1880 till 1887. This latter year he again came west and this time, located in Wallace county, Kansas, and became proprietor of a Union Pacific eating-house, at Wallace, and conducted its affairs for four years. Upon disposing of this place, and, after a brief period spent in Kansas City, he located in Cherryvale, where he purchased the Handley hotel, in the spring of 1899.
Ilis methods of conducting his place of business has made the Axtell
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
hotei one of the best known in southern Kansas. Nothing can speak more eloquently of the refinement and material prosperity of any com- munity than the establishments which cater, admirably, to the palate and physical wants of the public. Mr. and Mrs. Axtell are admirably adapted. each in his own line, to manage and make a homelike place for the traveling public. Their house is moderuly equipped, their rooms are neat and cheerful and their table staggers under the freshest viands the market supplies. Fifty guest chambers do service to their full capacity and every facility is possessed to insure the comfort of the guests and furnish them a quiet resting place.
March 7, 1888, Mr. Axtell was united in marriage, at Liberty, Mis- souri, with Miss Nora L. Leister, a daughter of J. E. and Nellie (Mc- Carthy) Leister. Mr. Leister was born in Kentucky but reared in Mis- souri and passed his life as a farmer. His wife was born in New York state and is an honored resident of Hannibal, Missouri, her huband hav- ing died at thirty years of age.
The Axtells have lived purely business lives. While their social na- tures have been cultivated and possess a warmth and a charm rarely ex- celled, polities and other side issues have not led them from their hearts' affections. They are steeped in Republicanism, but merely exercise their franchise as citizens and not as aspirants for official favors.
GEORGE T. GUERNSEY-In introducing the cashier of the Com- mercial National Bank of Independence, the eminent financier and man- of-affairs, George T. Guernsey, we are conscious of presenting one of the real characters of Montgomery county ; a man whose genius and adapta- bility to the affairs of life, mark him as one of the notable and conspicu- ons citizens of the municipality.
When he came to Independence, Mr. Guernsey was an unpreposses- sing youth, with a fair education gained in the common schools, and with life's plans immature and unlaid. When he took the position of errand boy, in Turner & Ofis' Bank, in 1874, there was, apparently, nothing to mark him as destined, in manhood, to pilot the affairs of one of the strong financial institutions of the state, down through the years of business harmony, across the billowy sea of panic and into the rhodes of restored confidence, a fete requiring sagacity and foresight to perform. But those ten years with Turner & Otis were years of observation, years of preparation for a successful career in that field of endeavor, in after years.
Mr. Guernsey was fifteen years old when he left Dubuque, Iowa, to make his home in Independence. He was born in the former city, August 11, 1859. his parents being Rev. Jesse and Elizabeth (Eaton) Guernsey, of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively. The father was a Con-
GEO. T. GUERNSEY.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
gregational minister, an educated and accomplished gentleman. He was born in 1823 and came out to Iowa when it was a new state. He died in 1871 and his widow now resides in New Briton, Connectient. The latter was a native of Framingham, Massachusetts, and is the mother of four children, as follows: Nathaniel T., a lawyer of DesMoines, Iowa; George T., of this review; Ehen E., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; and Jessie E., teache: of history in the Normal School at New Briton, Connecticut.
December 2, 1874, George T. Guernsey identified himself, in an humble way, with Independence, Kansas, and Montgomery county. His first ten years here were passed in preparation for the real responsibil- ities of life. January 1, 1884, together with P. V. Hockett and Lyman U. Humphrey, he organized the State Commercial Bank, with a capital stock of $10,000, himself being chosen its cashier. In July of the same year. the stock was increased to $50,000, and February 1, 1891, the busi- ness of the institution had been so Hattering as to warrant its conver- sion into a national bank and, on this date, it was accomplished, and the capital stock increased to $75,000, with a surplus of $35,000. The offi- cers were : L. U. Humphrey, president ; P. V. Hockett, vice-president, and George T. Guernsey, cashier. During all these years, the cashier has been the active spirit in the bank. Its substantial stockholders have been a power toward inspiring confidence in the institution, but the courteous and affable cashier came in touch with the. people and incurred the friendship and won the patronage of a wide range of custom. Mr. Guernsey has manifested a personal interest in so many different enter- prises in Montgomery county, that he has had business and, often, confi- dential relations with many of the leading men in all parts of the county. Thus have his superior talents become known and thus his and the bank's prestige increased.
The Independence Commercial Club has found in Mr. Guernsey, one of its most active members. He is its treasurer and one of its directors and he has rendered active and personal aid in procuring nearly, if not quite. all of the industries doing business in the county seat today. The Midland Glass Company, the Independence lee Company, of which he is a director and treasurer, the Kansas Cotton Twine Company, the Els- worth Paper Company, and the Sugar Mill, and, finally, the Adamson Manufacturing Company, all have felt the magic touch of his hand. In the political field, he has extended many favors to friends in the Repub- lican party, but has never sought office for himself.
September 13, 1881, MIr. Guernsey married, in Emporia, Kansas, Miss Lillie E. Mitchell, a daughter of Elder D. P. Mitchell, of the Method- ist church.
Mr. and Mrs. Guernsey are the parents of three children : George T., Jr., Harold M., deceased, and Jessie E.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
In 1901, the family moved into their handsome residence, on Pennsyl- vania avenue, formerly the home of Judge Chandler.
JAMES W. ENGELS-Five miles north of Coffeyville, stands the handsome rural home of James W. Engels. The farm of two hundred and forty acres, is one of the best pieces of land in the county and the splendid improvements which have been placed upon it, mark it as one of the most desirable properties in Parker township. Mr. Engels gives special attention to the appearance of the grounds surrounding his home. the yard being planted with evergreens and, covered with a carpet of blue grass, is kept in the best order during all seasons of the year. He is one of the old-time farmers, confining his attention exclusively to the raising of grain and food products. During his residence, he has never failed to have something for the market. He plants a diversity of crops. and, should one or more fail, he has others to command the prices which prevail.
Mr. Engels was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, March 17, 1848. John W. Engels was his father's name, that of his mother. Maria John- ston ; and both were natives of Virginia. A farmer, by occupation, the father continued to reside in the "Old Dominion" until his death, at the age of eighty years, the mother dying, in Kansas, at about sixty-eight years. There were nine children in the family: Ann Louisa, Mary E .. Emily. deceased ; James W., Leander R., John T., Maria S .. Sarah E .. George W. and Charles E.
At the age of nineteen years, Mr. Engels left the home and started out to make his own way in the world. He made a trip into Tennessee and Kentucky, then went to Ohio, where he met and married, on the 24th of November, 1874, in Fayette county, Carlista A. Drurie. Mrs. Engels was born in. Columbus; Ohio, May 18. 1855, and was a daughter of John H. and Eliza (Graig) .Drurie. She was one of four children : Marshall, Milton, Emily and Carlista. On account of the death of her mother at her birth, Mrs. Engels became separated from the rest of the family, was reared by other parties and lost trace of her family and has no informa- tion concerning them.
After marriage, Mr. Engels began farming, on a rented place, and continued for some years. In JJannary of 1878, he came west with the purpose of securing a home of his own. He came to Montgomery county. where, for seven years, he rented land and then went down into the Cherokee Nation and engaged in the stock business. This proved to be a profitable venture and, after fourteen years, be returned to Mont- gomery county with sufficient means to purchase his home farm of two hundred and forty acres, five miles northwest of Coffeyville. He moved to this farm in 1899 and, as intimated in the first part of this sketch,
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owns one of the best farm properties in the county, now owning four hundred and eighty aeres, all told. The success which has attended him in life may be ascribed entirely to his own efforts. He is what might be called a self-made man, having started at the very lowest round of the ladder.
To Mr. and Mrs. Engels have been born two children : William T., who died at three years of age, and Wellington T., who married Edna L. Bar- bonr, and is a successful farmer of Fawn Creek township, on one of his father's farms. Mr. Engels is not given much to participation in political life, but is pleased to aid in the success of the Democratic party, by his vote.
JOSEPH MeNEAL-One of the sturdy and substantial farmers of Parker township is Joseph MeNeal, who resides in a handsome rural home, six miles north of Coffeyville. His "goings in and comings out" before the people of Montgomery, since the date of hls settlement here. in 1880, have been of such a nature as to secure to him the good will of every one with whom he has had dealings, and he and his family are rated among the best citizens of the county.
On the 3d of October, 1858, in Athens county, Ohio, Joseph began this life of alternate joy and sorrow. The great-grandparents of our sub- jeet were natives of the Emerald Isle, and there reared twelve children, one of whom, Malcolm, settled in Pennsylvania, and became the parent of Joseph MeNeal, the father of Joseph of whom we write. At maturity, Joseph, Sr., married Mary Wattrous, a native of Connecticut, but of Welsh descent, and they, in turn, became the parents of: Mrs. Mary E. Williams, Joseph, Mrs. Almeda Taylor, Mrs. L. E. Selbe, Mrs. Lucinda Taylor and Mrs. Nettie Schader. In his young manhood, the father was a teacher and, at twenty-one, came ont to Ohio, where he learned the carpenter's trade. In his later days he became a general merchant and Inmber dealer. He was a resident of Ohio until 1888, when he re- moved. with his family, to White county, Indiana, and there died, in 1896. aged seventy-two. He was a man of good traits of character, and of most patriotic mould. Although a man of family, he entered the army, as a private soldier, serving three years, from April of 1861, in Company "K," One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He partici- pated in sixteen of the battles, fought on and about the Potomac, being under the dashing Sheridan a portion of the time. The mother of our subject died in 1877, aged fifty-two years.
Joseph MeNeal, our subject, continned, in dutiful residence at home, until he had attained his majority, and then came direct to Montgomery county. He worked on the farm of Isaac Wycoff, for a perod, and then invested his savings in one hundred and twenty acres of Verdigris bottom
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land. He continued to improve this traet, adding, in time, sixty aeres more, and is now in possession of one of the choice farms of the county. The improvements on the farm consist of a handsome residence and large barn, with comfortable ontbuildings for the further care of stock, and a splendid orchard of well-selected fruit trees. This property is the result of the unaided efforts of Mr. MeNeal. and, in very large part, since his coming to the "Sunflower Slate."
Mr. McNeal remained in a state of single blessedness until he had pre- pared a home, when he brought to it a Montgomery county girl, Miss Henrietta Utterback, the marriage being celebrated Jannary 25, 1891. Mrs. MeNeal is a native of the "lloosier State," born in Boone county, November 22, 1867, the daughter of Albert and Susan ( Blakemore) Utter- back. These parents were also natives of Indiana, children, respectively, of Henry Utterback and Thomas Blakemore, both of English descent. They were pioneers of the county, having settled near Independence, in 1869. llere the father died, in 1881, aged forty-eight years, the mother still surviving at the age of sixty-five. ller six children are: Melissa Kenyon, Sarah Copeland, Henrietta McNeal, Rose Heape, Alonzo and Frank all of whom live in the county, except Alonzo, who resides in Colorado. To Mr. and Mrs. McNeal have been born: Ley E .. Susan Ellen, Joseph HI., Hildred and Sarah.
The period of Mr. MeNeal's residence in the county has been marked by an intelligent comprehension of the duties of a good citizen, and a willingness to sacrifice time in the interests of his commmity. He is at present the efficient trustee of the township. Though not caring for office himself, he delights in helping his friends in the Democratic party, in their aspirations.
CHARLES M. HICKS-Charles M. Hicks is a native of Green county, Tennessee, and was born September 4, 1842. His father was Lorenzo Doll Hicks, a native of Virginia. . The latter went to Tennessee when a small boy and was there married to Catherine Miller, a native of North Carolina. "Andy" Johnson made his wedding coat, and also performed the ceremony, for when he was married Johnson was then a justice of the peace. L. D. Hicks died at Montvale Springs, at the age of fifty-five, while his wife came to Kansas with her son, where she died at the age of sixty-eight years, and lies buried in the Coffeyville cemetery. A family of ten children came to them, five of whom are living, viz: Lorenzo Doll, Jr., George B., of Texas; Mary Jane, widow of J. Wilkin- son, lives in Kansas City ; and Lina, wife of Thomas Tinet, of Coffeyville.
Charles M. Hicks-was the second child, and was reared in Green county, Tennessee, and lived with his Grandfather Miller, until the be-
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS. 561
ginning of the Civil war. His opportunities for an education were very limited, those of the country school being all that were within his reach. He enlisted in the Thirteenth Tennessee Regiment. Confeder- ate troops, and served during the entire war. lle was in several great battles, and was captured once, at Winchester, Virginia, but made bis escape the first night, by slipping away from his guard. After getting through the picket line, he was many days and nights getting back to his command ; traveling by night and hiding during the day. and at last ar- rived, worn out and nearly exhausted. He was also in the siege of Knoxville. (A brother of Mr. Hicks and other relatives were in the Fed- eral army at the same time.) At the close of the war, he went to Middle Tennessee and hired out, by the month. for two years.
Iv 1872, our subject came to Kansas. He made the trip by land. in a wagon, drawn by a small pair of mules. He stopped on the Verdigris river, north of Coffeyville, and hired, by the moth, to work on a farm. He afterward rented a farm for himself, and during the years '74 and '75, saw some pretty hard times, having lost everything by the grasshoppers, but with grit and perseverance, he went to work hauling wood to town, at fifty cents a cord, that he might buy corn at a dollar per bushel.
In 1875, he went to the Territory and leased a large ranch and en- gaged in farming and stock raising, being one of the first white men to go into the stock business in that country. He made a great deal of money during his residence there, and, in 1897, came back to Montgom- ery county, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of fine bottom land on Onion creek, five miles northwest of Coffeyville. Besides his farming interest he still keeps up an interest in the cattle business in the Territory, and is also receiving $200 a year in gas leases. When he came to Kansas, his only possessions were one small team of mules and thirty dollars in money. and his success in business may be attributed solely to his restless energy and resolute purpose.
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