USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 65
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
Mr. Canning has gone about the business of life without flare of trumpets and in a quiet and unassuming manner. Ilis success has come to him as a result of good judgment and shrewd business sense, and the publie only knew of his accumulations as they came in sight and were officially labeled. He owns stock in both the Commercial and the Citi- zens' National Banks and a comfortable and modest home in Independ- ence. He left the farm in 1895 and has, since, occupied himself with a few personal affairs, in addition to the supervision of his farm.
December 10, 1867, Mr. Canning married Dilina La Barge, a Cana- dian lady and a daughter of Francis and Julia La Barge, people of French lineage. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Canning has been a happy one and without issue. They live in each other's society and have a strong tie of common interest. Their home is hospitable, alike, to friend and stran- ger, and their general demeanor is that of persons wishing to do good. They have membership in no religious society and have no enthusiasm over political matters. Mr. Canning holds a membership in the Elks and thus is his whole fraternity connection summed up.
SHERBURN L. HIBBARD-Sherburn Hibbard has served Mont- gomery county seventeen years, continuously, as County Surveyor and, during that period, has held residence in Cherryvale. Mr. Hibbard is a New England man, having been born in New Hampshire, the date being
57
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
December 5, 1850. His parents were A. H. and Maria ( Lang) Hibbard, both passing their entire lives in the same town. They were better-class farmers, and the father was a man of influence and position in the com- munity. having served frequently in the township offices and, in the old days of "mustering," was a captain of the militia. His death occurred in 1870, aged sixty years, that of his wife in 1892, at seventy-three. They were both devontly religious and members of the Congregational church. Of their five children, four are living : Louise, a teacher of long and suc- cessful experience, now a resident of California; Ella, Mrs. William At- kinson : Sherburn L., and Harry, who still resides in Woodville, New Hampshire.
Sherburn L. Hibbard was reared to farm life, passing his boyhood on the old New England farm, until seventeen. Opportunity then offering, to come west to Michigan, he left home, and, for two years, elerked in the store of Fisk Bros., at Lawrence. Not satisfied with the ordinary educa- tion he had been enabled to acquire at home, he then entered the Uni- versity at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1872, taking a three years' course in civil engineering. He now returned to his New Hampshire home, where he was offered a position in the schools, and, for five years, engaged in the noble profession of teaching. It is truly said that no man, having had a taste of western life, is ever satisfied to go back east. However that may be, Mr. Hibbard again came west, passing three years in Illi- nois, engaged in looking after the farming interests of his brother-in- law, and doing some surveying.
In February of 1884, Mr. Hibbard became a citizen of Cherryvale. In the following year, he was elected to the position of County Survey- or, and such has been the character of his services to the county, as to have resulted in his continuance, in that office, to the present date.
Mr. Hibbard first entered the state of matrimony, in 1881, in his native state, Helen, daughter of JJ. J. and Mary Kimball being the lady's name. Her children, Ilazen K. and Joseph P. are now in the east, the eldest at Dartmouth College, taking a course in electrical engineering, while Joseph is in the high school at Wells River, New Hampshire, in preparation for Dartmouth. The mother of these boys died, in 1887, at the early age of twenty-six years. The lady who now presides over Mr. Hibbard's home, was Miss Jennie Dixon prior to 1894, a native of Illi- nois, and a daughter of Israel and Rosetta Dixon. Israel Dixon died, in 1899, in his seventy-sixth year, his wife now being an honored resident of Cherryvale. Two children have come to the home of Mr. Hibbard, since his second marriage : Helen L. and Genevieve.
Mr. and Mrs. Hibbard are prominent members of the Presbyterian church, of which he is one of the ruling elders. He is an ardent Re- publican in polities, and is held in great esteem by all parties.
572
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
WILLIAM N. SMITH-There came to Montgomery county, among the pioneers of the year 1870, one whose life has been interwoven with the interests of agruculture in the county and one who, although now inac- tive and a spectator of events herein, is still alive to whatever pertains to the material or other worthy interests of the county. In this connee- tion, we refer to him whose name introduces this personal notice.
William N. Smith came to Kansas by "prairie express," as it were, driving all the way from the State of Missouri, and settling near Tyro, among a few neighbors who were, many of them, in as straightened cir- cumstances as himself. His few personal effects were packed away in his wagon and his family of wife and two children. constituted his chief center of interest. His permanent settlement, near Tyro, occurred some two years subsequent to his first settlement in the state, which settlement ocenrred near Lafontain, in Wilson county, abont the first of the year, 1871. Until 1884, he lived upon rented land, but, that year. purchased a tract in Fawn Creek township, which he improved and cultivated till his removal to Chautauqua county, in 1896, and located near Brownsville. Returning to Montgomery county, in two years, he took up his residence in Independence, where he has since maintained his home. He yet owns the farm near Brownsville and another, of two hundred acres, on Rock creek, in Montgomery county, making a total of five hundred and twenty aeres of land.
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was the native place of William N. Smith, and February 17, 1840, was the date of his birth. His father was John T. Smith and his granfather was an Irishman, who married an English lady and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and reared three sons and two daughters, and there died. The issue of this worthy couple were : James, who ran a canal boat in Pennsylvania in early life; John T., and Charlotte, who became the wife of Lewis Vandergrift and was a resident of Peoria, Illinois.
John T. Smith, our subject's father. was born in Bucks county, the "Keystone State," and was married there, in 1839, to Ann Bates. His wife was a native of the same state and was born in 1816. Their chil- dren were: William N., Elwood, decaeased ; Chas. C., of Marshall county, Illinois; Angeline, deceased; Arabella, wife of John Clift, of Fairbury, Illinois; Louis V., a grain merchant of Henry, Illinois; Brooks, who died at fourteen years; Lottie, who became the wife of Thomas Monier, of Henry, Illinois; and Jennie, who married Mr. Gregory, of Marshall county, Illinois.
William N. Smith was his father's oldest child. He was reared to industry and honesty, in his native state, and in Illinois, where his par- ents settled when he was a boy. His father's farm furnished scenes of his early activity and his life was somewhat monotonons and prosaic till
+
WM N. SMITH.
573
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
the approach of manhood's estate, when, on December 5, 1858, he mar- ried Ellen G. Bradley, in Mercer county, Missouri.
The father of Mrs. William N. Smith was Joseph Bradley and her mother was Almira Thompson, the father a native of Connecticut and the mother of Illinois. The Bradley children were: Ellen G. (Mrs. Smith) ; William, of Oklahoma; Clara, widow of Jacob Smith. of Enid Oklahoma; Frances, widow of William MeCloud, of Pueblo, Colorado; Josephine, wife of L. D. Boatman, of Mercer county, Missouri; Gideon L., deceased; Louise M., deceased wife of Homer Brand; Mrs. Emma Len- hart, deceased; Almira, deceased, who married John Gaskill, and Jo- seph, of Oklahoma. The father of this family died in Montgomery county, Kansas, in 1876, at sixty-five years of age and his wife died here in 1880.
The Bradleys of this family emanated from Connecticut. where Wil- liam, grandfather of Mrs. Smith, was born. His forefathers were Eng- lish and he married Eleanor Burr. Almira Thompson, Mrs. Smith's mother, was a danghter of Elias Thompson, a major in the Revolutionary war, afterward a noted Indian fighter and a "forty-niner" to California, where he died and is buried.
March 11, 1841, Ellen G. ( Bradley) Smith was born in Marshall county, Illinois. Her children, by her union with Mr. Smith, were : John, who was born in 1860, married Annie Wadsworth and was accidentally killed in 1885, leaving one child: William; Frank B. Smith, the second son, was born in 1862, February 25, and was married in 1885, to Elzetta Davidson. They have two children : Frances and Orrin J.
Mr. Smith's residence in Montgomery county has demonstrated his genuine citizenship. His loyalty and patriotism were demonstrated on the field of blood and carnage during the Civil war and his interest in civil affairs, by his connection with the politics of the county. As a sol- dier, he served in the Third Missouri Cavalry, enlisting at Princeton and serving three years and twenty-five days. He fought against the armies of Price and Shelby, and in the states of Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas, he experienced service, under command of Col. King. Ilis regiment met and defeated the Confederate Gen. Marmaduke, at Springfield, Missouri.
When in active life, his connection with the politics of the county was somewhat spirited. As a Republican, he was elected justice of the peace and trustee of his township, and his party chose him as their can- didate for Commissioner of the southern district and elected him, in 1888. While a member of the board, the court-house grounds were im- proved and beautified and the purchase of the county farm, took place.
Ile is a Mason and a prominent member of the local Grand Army organization.
574
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
CHARLES M. MERRIMAN-A young business man who has made much of opportunity. the past decade, is Charles M. Merriman. of Coffey- ville, wholesale dealer in imported and domestic cigars, tobacco, mineral waters, etc., etc.
Mr. Merriman is a native of Ohio, born in Wyandotte county. Octo. ber 10. 1852, the son of Seth and Anna M. ( Keer ) Merriman. both of whom were natives of the same county. These parents were of the well-to-do, thrifty, agricultural class, during life, first. in Ohio, thence in Logan county, Illinois, where they moved, in 1855, and. in 1872. to this, Montgom+ ery county, where, in Parker township, they lived two years on a farm. They then removed to Joplin, Missouri, where the father passed the re- mainder of his life, dying in 1877, at fifty years. The mother returned to Kansas, and died in Coffeyville, in 1902. at seventy-three. The names of their seven children follow : Marilla, widow of William Vallett. of Cof- feyville; Charles M., John M., of Pleasanton, Kansas; Grace L., Mrs. James Rankin, of Clarinda, Iowa; Agnes, Caroline and Emily May are deceased.
Charles M. Merriman had all the advantages which come to the gentle bred boy and was not slow to make use of them. After being well grounded in the district schools, he matriculated at the State Agricul- tural College of Illinois, at Champaign, where he spent several years. An experience which he had while in that institution, in connection with the great Chicago fire, made a deep impression on his young mind. The school was provided with an army officer, as an instructor, and our subject be- longed to one of his companies. On account of the searcity of guards, the Governor requested them to act, and, for several days, they were sta- tioned in the burnt district, guarding property and distributing supplies to the destitute sufferers. After leaving school, Charles was, for a time, in the employ of his father, who, at that time, was postmaster at Bond- ville, during which period, he also engaged in buying grain and operated a general mercantile business. He came, with the family, to Kansas and was with his father until the latter's death. Until the date of his start- ing the present business, he engaged in the various occupations of farm- ing, mail-carrier, harness-maker and clerk. In 1895, he began to deal in tobacros, in a small way, and, by close attention to business, has built up a large and constantly increasing trade.
During the years of his residence in Coffeyville, Mr. Merriman has established a reputation for honest and upright dealing and holds the re- spect and esteem of the business public. In social life, he has taken a helpful interest, being a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias, in which lodge he has filled all the chairs, and is connected with the Red Men and the Eagles. ITe is an earnest and devoted supporter of Repub- lican principles and delights to aid his friends in their aspirations for office.
575
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Miss Nannie E. Williams became the wife of our subject, January 9, 1885. She is a native of Indiana.
JOHN W. BROWN-One of the recent settlers among the ranks of the agriculturists of Montgomery county, is John W. Brown, who, since the spring of 1902, has lived on the Verdigris, four miles north of Cof- feyville. He owns one of the best small farms in the county and, while he is a new-comer to this county, he is an old settler of the state, having removed here, from Illinois, in 1876, and settled in Cherokee county.
Mr. Brown was born in Decatur county, Indiana, August 30, 1850. His father, Nehemiah Brown, was born and married in Indiana, his wife being Mary A. Mefford, who was also a native of Indiana. After their marriage, the parents removed to Hlinois and settled in Iroquois county. They resided there, as farmers, from 1854 to 1876, when they came to Kansas, and settled in Cherokee county. Here they resided until 1884, when they removed to Cowley county, where the father died at the age of sixty-six, his wife still surviving, at the age of seventy years. The two children were: John W. and Ezra; the latter now living in Oklahoma.
John W. Brown was brought up to regard labor as most honorable and received a rather limited education in the country schools. He con- tinned to reside with his parents until after his majority, when he began his domestic life in Cherokee county, January 5, 1881, being then united in marriage with Hannah B., daughter of William and Emma (Easter- ling) Fortner.
Mrs. Brown is a native of Hendricks county, Indiana, born Feb- ruary 27, 1859. Her parents were both natives of the "Hoosier State," where they married, and , with a young family, eame to Kansas in 1874, settling in Cherokee county, where the father died at the age of forty- eight, his wife still surviving him, in Oklahoma, being at the present time, of the age of sixty-nine. Of their eleven children, nine are living : William Herbert, Mary E., Mrs. Robbins; Hannah B., Howard E., Me- lissa J., Mrs. Herington; Florence A., Mrs. Sesher; Ora, Mrs. Lockwood; Minnie, Mrs. Menor; and May Fortner.
After the marriage of our subject, he took up land in Cherokee county, but soon sold out and went on a "wild goose" chase to Ken- tucky. He, however, was not pleased with the "Blue Grass State," and, after a ten months' stay, returned to Kansas and settled in Cowley county, on a farm, where he continued to reside until his coming to Montgomery county.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, seven children were born : Earl Augustus, born February 22, 1882; William E., born Oetoher 17, >. 1883; Harry E., born November 25, 1888; Ivan C., born September 17, 1891 ; Lillie I., born October 25, 1893: Grace, born March 12, 1897; and Mary E., born July 4, 1900.
576
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mr. Brown is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge. In politics, he generally votes for the man, rather than the party. His courteous con- duet and evident spirit of fairness has made for himself many friends, during the short time of his sojourn in the county. and he and his fam- ily are regarded as a welcome addition to the society of the community in which they reside.
EDWIN BUSHNELL-Edwin Bushnell is one of the oldest settlers of Fawn Creek township. He is a native of Ohio, where he was born July 1, 1843. His father, William Bushnell, was a native of Herkimer county, New York, while his mother, Emily Clongh, was a native of Pell- ham, and was of English descent. Mr. Bushnell's parents moved to Ohio when he was a small boy and he was reared and married there. By occupation, his father was a farmer, and the parents moved to Michigan, in 1851, and settled in Clinton county, his wife dying there at the age of forty-three years. Mr. Bushnell came to Kansas, in 1859, and settled in Franklin county, and, ten years later, he moved to Montgomery county, to make his home with his son, Edwin, and died here, in 1886, at the age of seventy-five years. Three of the seven children are living, viz : Welling- ton, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; Edwin, our subject ; Mary Hathaway, liv- ing in Ohio. Those deceased are: Susannah Thompson, Charles, Frank- lin E. and an infant.
Edwin Bushnell was eight years old when his parents moved to Mich- igan. His opportunities for an education were limited, those of the com- mon district school being all that he could obtain. He lived with his parents till fifteen years of age, when, at the death of his mother, he went to live with the family of W. T. Davis and remained with them until twenty years of age. Ile enlisted, in 1863, in Company "I," Tenth Michi- gan Cavalry, and served till the close of the war. He never participated in any hard-fought battle, but was kept on the move all the time, march- ing through Virginia, North and South Carolina, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee. He was captured at Strawberry Plains by Joe Wheeler, who, not having any place to keep them nor anything to feed them, pa- roled the prisoners in two days. At the close of the war. he returned to Michigan, and worked by the month, for some time, when he started for Kansas and located in Franklin county, about 1866. He afterward came to Montgomery county and bought one hundred and forty-one acres of land and erected, on it, a small house. After many years of hard work and privation, with plenty of drouths and grasshoppers, he has, now, a farmi of two hundred and twenty aeres, five miles southwest of Coffey- ville, all under the best cultivation. He has a nice home, all lighted and heated with natural gas, supplied from a gas well on his farm. His occu- pation is stock raising. He keeps all kind of stock-horses, cattle, hogs, sheep aud fine wool goats.
577
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mr. Bushnell is a self-made man and is of sterling worth and of high moral character. His business transactions have been attended with a degree of success, which may be aseribed to his close application and industry. His wife, Rosa Miller, to whom he was married, October 5. 1876, was born in Marshall county, Indiana. She is a danghter of Allen K. and Martha (McCoy) Miller, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ohio. The mother was of Scotch descent and her people came from the South to Ohio. Mr. Miller came to Kansas, in 1871, and settled in Montgomery county. He and his wife are living in Coffeyville, at eighty-five and seventy-three years, respectively. There were only two children : William and Mrs. Bushnell ; William died in 1873.
Mr. and Mrs. Bushnell have four children : Roy, resides near Holly, Colorado; Will and Earl. in South Dakota ; and Irene, at home.
S. A. SMITHI-One of the pioneers of Montgomery county and a gen- tleman who had a large share in the growth and progress of the city of Independence. is S. A. Smith, stone and brick contractor, residing at 401 East Myrtle street. Mr. Smith came to Independence in 1871, and has held continuous residence here since. This period of over three decades has been passed in honest labor, the returns of which, by thrifty and careful management, have placed him in easy circumstances. He has always taken an active and helpful interest in the city's welfare, serving a number of terms in the conneil and, as a member of the school board, where the practical character of his knowledge was of much ser- vice in the prosecution of the public enterprises necessary in his munici- pality. Mr. Smith is a leading member of the I. O. O. F., in which organ- ization he has passed through all the chairs, and, in the social and relig- ions life of the community, he and his family are prominent factors. In addition to his business in town, he owns and operates a farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres, on Elk river, in the gas belt of this county.
Briefly referring to the family history of our subject. we note that he is of English descent, his father, Dr. William B. Smith, having been born in Nottinghamshire, on the day of the birth of Queen Victoria, May 24. 1819. He grew to manhood there, saw the queen crowned, in 1837, studied medicine, and came to this country in time to take part in the Slexican war. After the war, he settled in Lonisa county, Iowa, married, and practiced his profession there until 1860, when he came to Kansas. He settled at Leavenworth and, for fourteen years, was one of the leading physicians of that city. He served one year in the army, dur- ing the Civil war, going ont as captain of a company, and, later, being commissioned surgeon of the regiment. He died. at Leavenworth, in April of 1875. Harriet Key, his wife, was a native of Louisa county, Iowa. She was the daughter of George Key, whose family consisted of
578
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
seven sons and seven daughters, three of whom still survive. She died, in 1855, at the age of twenty-seven. Dr. Smith's family consisted of but three children, viz: Emily, who married Charles Allen and is now de- ceased ; S. A., our subject, and Fannie, deceased wife of Mr. Edelblute.
S A. Smith was born in Lonisa county, Iowa, on the 22d of Febru- ary, 1848. His education was secured in the common schools, after which he served an apprenticeship at his present trade. Completing the required period, he went to St. Louis, where he worked for several years. In 1870, he came out to Allen county and thence, the following year, to Montgom- ery county, Kansas. He married, in April of 1872, Mary, a daughter of Henry Dalley, whose children are: Harry, a bricklayer, of San Francis- co, California ; and Effie, Ernest and Amy, young people at home.
MARTIN ARMSTRONG-The subject of this review is one of the best known of the early settlers of Montgomery county, he having been a resident here since 1870. Thomas Armstrong, his father, was a native of Ohio, and the earlier members of the family are traceable back into the old "Keystone State."
Thomas Armstrong married Maria Bussard and died, in his native state, at the age of forty-nine years. The wife survived him many years and died at the age of seventy-eight. They were the parents of nine chil- dren : Martin, Edward B., Salem, who was accidentally killed; William, George, also killed in an accident; Duma, John, and Mary Catherine and Margaret Ann, twins.
Martin Armstrong was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, March 24, 1838, and was reared with scant opportunity for an education and in- ured to the toil of the farm. For a wife, he chose Susanna A. Fox, born in Pickaway county, March 29, 1840. She was the daughter of John and Sarah A. (Bussard) Fox, natives of Pennsylvania. To this marriage were born : Luena, Zelda, Susanna, Henry, Ezra, Eliza Jane, and Mary E.
The first westward move of Mr. Armstrong was made in 1863, when he went to Illinois, where he remained seven years, engaged in agricultu- ral pursuits. He then came to Kansas, stopping in Linn county some eighteen months, thence to Montgomery county. The year 1872, marks the date of his settlement on the farm on which he now resides, at which time it was a bare one hundred and sixty, without a single improvement. The first house on the place was made of poles, but, in time, gave way to the comfortable residence now occupied by the family, and, one by one, the substantial improvements, now seen, were added. The farm has been the home of the family since its first settlement, except, for a short pe- riod, from 1900 to 1903, which was spent in the Indian Territory, chas- ing that Will o' the Wisp, the raising of stock, in which so many have
579
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
sunk their hard-earned dollars. There are four children of the Arm- strong family, viz: Noah, Ren, Amanda and Frank. Noah married Dora Strobel, while Ren found a wife in Mabel Claybaugh, and both have homes of their own. Frank and Amanda are still residing at home. Mr. Armstrong cares little for public life, preferring to enjoy the quiet of his own home. Politically, he is independent, supporting the best men and measures, regardless of party.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.