USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 76
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The efforts of Mr. Green have been directed. for the most part, to- farming, but for some thirty-eight years he has, in season, superintended the operation of his thrashing machine, a period of time which has made him thoroughly conversant with that important industry.
As the "architect of his own fortune" Abner Green has every reason to be proud of his success in life, as it is all the result of indivi- dual effort. The period of his residence in Cherokee township has been one of helpful activity in the social and political life of the county. He has served as treasurer of his township, and the prominent part which he has always taken in educational affairs, caused his election on the Republican ticket by a handsome majority to a position on the County High School board.
The lady who presides over the home of our subject was Miss Drucilla Huff, daughter of Aaron D. and Priscilla Huff. Mrs. Green is a native of Parke County, Ind., where she was born on June 20, 1845. Her parents are both deceased, while six children survive as follows: Hanna Booth, died June Ist, 1903: Abigail Heath, Parthina Morgan, Indiana Carter, Drucilla Green, and 6. K. Hoff. To the home of Mr. and Mrs. Green have come five children, as follows: Locha, deceased at nine
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months; Effa J., wife of Fred J. Burkhart; Manford A .. a farmer of Cherokee township who married Maggie Lydie; Manson O., married Nellie Davis and resides in Independence; and Lora P., is Mrs. Ed Gardner and resides in the Indian Territory.
WILLIAM D. WHELCHEL-Over three decades has this promi- nent and worthy representative of the agricultural class followed the plow in Montgomery county. Under his hand he has seen the bare prairies blossom as the rose, and a well-ordered farm take the place of nature's wild waste. Mr. Whelchel has retired from active farm work, however, and is enjoying the fruits of past labor and economy.
William D. Whelchel was born in Baies county. Mo .. in 1845, and is the son of John J. and Louisa ( Bullard) Whelchel. They were farmers, the father having been born in Indiana in 1818. Shortly after their mar- riage. the parents removed to Bates county. Mo. and later to Linn county, Kan., where the father died at the age of fifty-four years. Their family consisted of 10 children. William was reared to young man- hood on the Missouri farm, and in 1862. came with the family to Kansas. He remained with his parents until his marriage. Jan. 5, 1868. Mrs. Whelchel's maiden name was Samantha L. Williams, daughter of John R. and Sarah (Adams) Williams. Her father was born in Memphis, Tenn., entered the ministry of the Baptist church at eighteen, and died in April of 1881. Her mother was born in Benton county, Illinois, and died at a comparatively early age. in 1864, aged fifty-three years. She was the mother of twelve children: Elizabeth, who married Wm. Dillon, of LaCygne, Kan .; Marion, who was killed in the Civil War; Wm. R., of Washington; Harriet, who died at sixteen years; Thomas J., Sarah, John and Hattie, also decd .; Augustus W .. of California; Mrs. Whelchel, Elvira, Mrs. Wm. Agnew, of the Indian Ty .; Mary died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Whelchel are parents of eight children, all of whom but two, are living, and ocenpying honored places in society. The eldest was John C., born Jan. 15, 1869, married Hattie Norris and is a farmer in Oklahoma Ty .; his children are: Dottie, Inez, Homer, Clay- ton, Frankie and James; Win. F .. born Dec. 17, 1870. married Matilda Arizona Williams, who died Feb. 27. 1903; Charles, born fume 4. 1872, and died Jany. 29, 1873; Hattie, born Nov. 6. 1878, and died Nov. 23, 1900. was the wife of Harry DeMott -- left one child. Tressie ; Walter. of Elk City, married Ethel Hancock, who died May 17. 1902; James, a farmer of Louisburg township, was born Oct. of 1881, and married Bertha Hope; Gracie Sunshine, born Oct. 23, 1885, is a student of the Montgomery County High School; and Chester Iven. born Jan. 10, 1888, is a sturdy farm lad at home.
For a time after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Whelchel lived in the home neighborhood, and. in 1870. came to what was then the wilds
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W. D. WHELCHEL AND WIFE.
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of Montgomery county. They located on the claim where they have since resided. The farm is in Louisburg township, eighteen miles from Independence, and four miles from Elk City, the nearest market town. . It consists of one hundred ninety-three acres of excellent farming land, and presents in its substantial improvements and well-filled fields, a most pleasing sight to the eye. For the first time in thirty-two years, Mr. Whelchel, in 1902. laid by the plowshare and placed the cultivation of his fields in the hands of others. So long a period of faithful service certainly entitles him to "lay on his oars," as it were, though difficult, as it is, to divorce himself from all labor.
The people of Montgomery county have ever found in Wm. D. Whel- chel a man who had the interests of the municipality at heart. Ile has used his influence at all times in seenring the best educational advant- ages for his district, and has been active in making his township and her people contented and law-abiding. His political principles are those advocated by the Reform party, and he is consistent and earnest in his support of that ticket.
ROBERT ELLIS LOGAN-The gentleman whose name introduces this brief notice is a prosperous and substantial young farmer of Inde- pendence township, owning two hundred forty acres of land in section 27, township 33, range 15, where he settled with his father in the year 1885. Ilis homestead is one of the attractive ones along the Inde- pendence and Jefferson road, and in fertility and productiveness, is a competitor of any Montgomery county farm.
R. E. Logan was born in Clinton county, Illinois, October 1, 1869. His father was Benjamin E. Logan and was born in Johnson county, Missouri, December 11. 1842. His grandfather reared a family, from whom he was separated in early life, and little is positively known by our subject concerning his ancestry or his life. He passed some years in California, where he had a son, Rogers, (named for his adopted father) and with whom he resided when he came to Kansas and died at the home of his son, Benjamin E. Logan, in 1889, at eighty years of age. Benjamin E. Logan married Mrs. Mary Stanton in Illinois, Mrs. Logan was a daughter of Ilugh Gelly and she left an only child at her death June 20, 1883. Her husband brought his son, our subject, to Kansas, where they were both concerned with the cultivation of their Montgom- ery county farm 'till the father's death. December 18. 1894. It may he of interest to posterity to state that the Logans and the Cockrells of Mis- souri are related. Senator F. M. Cockrell, of Warrensburg, being an unele of Benjamin E. Logan.
Our subject was sixteen years of age when he came into Mont- gomery county. He received his education in the common schools of his native state and he has been occupied chiefly with the tilling and
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
improvement of his Kansas farm during his residence here. December 24, 1888, he married Anna Brewington, whose parents were James S. and Sarah (Graves-Smith) Brewington. The Brewingtons were from Maryland and the Graves from Dearborn Co., Indiana, where Mrs. Brewington first married Wm. F. Smith. Since the death of her dangh- ter, Mrs. Logan,-which occurred January 17, 1892-Mrs. Brewington has resided with and has aided in caring for and training Mr. Logan's only child, Sadie J., born November 11, 1889. Mrs. Logan was born July 28, INGS, and was her husband's companion only a little more than three years.
In polities the Logans were Democrats and our subject acts with that political organization in all state and national matters. He loses no time in a scramble for office and is concerned only with the affairs of his own estate. He is treasurer of school district number 32-"Maple Grove."
WM. A. IMEL-Wm. A. Imel, proprietor of an extensive planing- mill at Cherryvale, Kan., was born in Edgar county, III., July 29, 1872. His parents are JJ. C. and S. J. Imel, natives of Indiana. His father is a farmer and has followed that occupation all his life. In the Civil War he was among the Home Guards-9th Indiana-but did not see active service. He moved to Edgar county. Ils .. and afterward to Kansas. In 1879, he took a claim of a quarter section in Chautauqua county, afterward selling that and moving to Labette county. Kas., and for many years he was a resident of Montgomery county. In 1902, he removed again to Labette county, where he is at present engaged in farming.
William A. Imel is the eldest of six children, the others being-Cela, Mrs. Ed Turner, resident of Independence, Kas .; Alpha. Mrs. Herman Pittenger, a resident of Cherryvale, Ks., her husband being one of the farmers of the county; Dora, Mrs. William Wagner of Iowa: Fred, Frank and Grace, all at home. Mr. Imel's education was obtained in the schools of Montgomery county. Going to Missouri at the age of seventeen he learned the trade of carpenter, residing with his unele at Warren, about two years, and then returning to this county and working as a journeyman for three years, wherever the business called. A por- tion of that time he did contracting, until his marriage on December 4, 1898, when he secured machinery and went into the planing-mill busi- ness and has followed it ever since. He manufactures all kinds of church furniture-altars, chancels, etc., and does cabinet work as a specialty. Ile has the only planing-mill in the city and does a high class of work, of which the inside work of the Catholic Church of Cherryvale is a sample. He manufactured every piece of wood-work its interior con- tains and it is prononneed by experts to be a most excellent and finished
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
piece of work. He also built the main altar in the Independence Catholic Church, besides doing work in other churches outside of the county. He is a finished workman in his line and his work will stand the test of criticism. His enterprising disposition is acknowledged by all good citizens.
Mr. Imel married Stacy B. Darling, a native of Kansas and a daughter of P. B. and Nancy Darling, from Jackson county, Ohio. Her parents lived on a farm in Labette county, Ks. Mrs. Imel is one of six children. the oldest being. Francis, the wife of John Oliver, of Cherry- vale; Tony. a minister in the U. B. Church of Yates Center, and a worthy, influential man, who has made much of opportunity; Thomas, a farmer of Labette county, Ks. ; Daniel. of Cherryvale; Mrs. Imel, Eunice, Mrs. William Cooper.
William A. Imel and wife have one child, Orlie, who is the joy and pride of their home. They are members of the Methodist Church and are worthy people who carry the good will and esteem of a large and increasing circle of acquaintances. Mr. Imel is a member of the . O. U. W., also the W. O. W. In politics he is an ardent republican.
DR. J. T. BLANK-Materia medica has no more devoted follower in Montgomery county than Dr. Blank of Elk City, physician, surgeon and dentist. His practice in these three lines of the profession is a large one and lies among the best classes, confidence in his ability to master of the sitnation at all times, being the mainspring of his splendid success.
The doctor belongs to the Eclectic school of medicine, being a graduate of the Cincinnati institution, class of 1890. He immediately took up the practice at Elk City and is now reaping the fruits of patient and painstaking effort in the earlier years-years in which he endured the varied trials that come to every young professional man with a persistent complacency which finally won the respect even of his brethren of opposing schools. Of late years he has given especial attention to surgery and has made a fine reputation in that difficult art. He is a close student and has at various times contributed articles of much merit to the different medical journals of the country. In the annual state meetings of the Eclectic Association he takes a prominent pari, and thus keeps in touch with the best thought in the profession. The doctor is a member of and medical examiner for a number of the best fraternal organizations, notably the Woodmen. Fraternal Aid, Tonties and Royal Neighbors. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the A. O. U. W., in which organizations he has been a prominent worker, having filled all the chairs in each. No more popular citizen resides within the confines of the municipality than this busy and courteous disciple of Aesculapius.
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Passing to the family history of our subject. the biographer notes that he was born in West Virginia, June 23, 1866, the son of John and Justina (Hillip) Blank, the father a native of Holland, the mother of Germany. The father was a practicing physician in Clarksburg. W. Va .. for a number of years prior to the war. He enlisted in the service as a surgeon and served in the western army, and at the close carried on his person the sears of a wound received in battle, and which attested his lovaly to country in the days of her dire need. After the war. the family moved up to Altoona, Pa., and in 1870, came out to Kansas, first settling in Doniphan, thence to Elk county, where the father practiced until his death in 1874, at the age of seventy-two years. The mother survived him many years, dying in 1897. at the age of sixty-seven.
Dr. J. T. Blank married in 1892, Miss Dora Hattan, a native of Illi- nois. She was a lady of many beautiful traits of character. a splen- did mother to her two children, Jay and Merrel. Her death, which oc- curred January 7, 1899. at the age of thirty-two years, was a sad shock to her devoted husband and children. Two years later the doctor brought to preside over his home. Miss Louisa Kruschke, a native Kan- sas girl. daughter of Frederick Kruschke. Mrs. Blank combines in a happy degree the qualities so essential in the physician's wife, and both she and her husband are potent factors in the city's social life. The doctor is Vice President of the Eclectic Medical Assu., meeting generally at Topeka.
HENRY W. SELTZER-Henry W. Seltzer was born and reared on a farm in Peoria county, Il. His birth occurred Sept. 4. 1855. His father, William Seltzer, was a son of a native German. His family consisted of three sons: John, Jacob and William, who married Catherine Link, a native of Germany. To them were born four children: John D., a resi- dent of Chicago: our subject, Henry W., of Independence: Mary. de- ceased: and Catherine Watzel, a resident of Peoria, Il. His wife hav- ing died, Mr. Seltzer married Lizzie Griffin, and to this second mar- riage were born six children: Burton, Tonard. Nellie, Frank. Marion and Oliver, all of whom reside in Peoria, IN. Ronald is the son of his third wife. Catherine Pimble.
Henry W. Seltzer, the subject of this sketch, has also followed farming as an occupation, and that snecess which comes from intelli- gent farming has come to him. The farm of one hundred and sixty aeres, where he now lives, in Section 22-33-15, was purchased when he came to Montgomery county. in 1900. In politics none has ever been truer or more enthusiastic than Mr. Seltzer. He is an ardent Repub- lican, and has always served his party to the best of his ability. As a friend of education, he is well and favorably known in his native state, where for several years he was a member of the board of edu-
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cation, and has always worked for the best interests of the schools, where he resides.
On the 13th of September, 1882, occurred the marriage of Henry W. Seltzer and Anna Archabald, a daughter of Thomas and Susan (Kalb) Archabald. Mrs. Seltzer's father was a native of the Isle of Man, and his wife of old Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Seltzer have been born four children : Orie A., Katie H .. Jay II. and Edna M., all of whom are school children at home.
WILLIAM COCHRAN HALL, M. D. The medical profession of Montgomery county and of the city of Coffeyville is honored by the dis- tingnished services in its behalf of Dr. William C. Hall of this review. For sixteen years he has been identified with the practice of medicine in Coffeyville and the success of his practice, his high character and his substantial citizenship, place him prominently in the front rank of Montgomery county physicians.
Highland county. Ohio, was the birthplace of Dr. Hall and his birthday was October 29, 1860. His father, Carey F. Hall, was a husi- ness man of a speculative turn and was born in the same county and state October 20, 1836. He passed his life in Highland. Adams and Scioto counties, Ohio, and. for a short time. was a hotel-keeper in New- castle. Indiana. Jacob Hall, grandfather of Dr. Hall, was born in Vir- ginia in 1802. and came out of the Old Dominion State with his father, George Hall, and settled in Highland county, Ohio. He passed his life on the farm and married Polly Cochran. Jacob Hall died leaving chil- dren. as follows: James, Jesse R., Mary J., Matilda A., Sallie, Lucy and Carey F. The last named married Hannah Milburn, the mother of our subject. His wife was a daughter of Daniel and Easter .1. (Rice) Mil- burn. The Milburns were among the first settlers of that Ohio region and were from Pennsylvania. Carey F. Hall and wife were the par- ents of: William C., of this notice; Lonella N., wife of l. (. Price, of Montgomery county, Kansas; Laura C., who died at eighteen years; Verdie R .. wife of Hardie Stanfield, of Coffeyville, Kansas; and Carey Frank, who resides with the mother of these children just west of Coffeyville.
Dr. William C. Hall passed an uneventful boyhood and youth and attended the common schools of his native state. He acquired his ad- vanced literary training in the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio-Holbrook's school-in the mean time teaching school, and, at twenty-one years of age, took up the study of medicine with Dr. James W. Buun, of West Union, Ohio. He was a student in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Maryland, from which institu- tion he graduated in March, 1885. April 1st following. he located at Latham. Ohio, and began active practice. In February, 1886, he re-
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moved to Sinking Spring, that state, where he remained till his final removal to Coffeyville, Kansas, April 27, 1887. His practice in this city and community has been most active and has become of great im- portance not only to himself but to the locality as well. It has been attended with remarkable success and does honor to the county and great credit to the doctor. He is division surgeon of the Mo. P. and Iron Mountain Railways, local surgeon of the M. K. and T. Railway and of the Santa Fe Railway; is one of the staff of the Good Samaritan Hospital of Coffeyville, and was president of the Montgomery county Pension Board during Cleveland's second administration. ITe has served as President of the Coffeyville Board of Education, is President of and one of the founders of the hospital above named. He has many business interests of importance to Coffeyville, among them being: the erection of and his ownership, with Mr. Mahan, in the Hotel Mecca; a stockholder in and holds the Presidency of the Coffeyville Pottery and Clay Co .; he is President of the Coffeyville Chemical Company and a Director in the Peoples Gas Company, in the Condon Bank, in the new glass company and in the Coffeyville Commercial Club. of which two last he is also Vice President: President of the Coffeyville (Kan- sas) Academy of Medicine and member of Adams County (Ohio) Medical Society: Montgomery Co. (Kansas) Medical Society; Indian Territory Medical Society; Kansas State Medical Society; American Medical Association, and International Association of Railway Surgeons.
June 15, 1887, Dr. Hall married Sara H. Hlite, a daughter of Rev. Addison Hite, a Methodist minister of Virginia origin. Mrs. Hall was born in Highland Co., Ohio, Sept. 16, 1864. and is the mother of Levera May and William Carlton Hall. The doctor is a Scottish Rite Mason, a Democrat in politics and a member of the Elks lodge.
OLIVER PERRY ERGENBRIGHT. As an advocate and counselor at law and in the field of politics, do we best know the gentleman whose name introduces and who is the subject of this brief review. Skilled in his profession and distinguished as an orator, he is an ac- knowledged power at the bar, and a political commander of the third congressional district. His success in his chosen and favorite fields has been prononneed and his position influential among men.
The Ergenbrights are of Tentonie origin and "Eherenbreitstine" on the river Rhine in Lower Germany, was their native home. The founder of this American family, August "Ergenbreit." was the great- grandfather of our subject and. about 1740. he added his presence to the population of Virginia, from which Colony he enrolled as a soldier in the Continental army for American independence. He was a private, did his duty throughout the struggle, was present at the siege and eap- ture of Yorktown and was one of the detail to carry the news of the
W. C. HALL, M. D.
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY, KANSAS.
surrender of Cornwallis to the Capitol at Philadelphia. In his family was one son, George Ergenbreit, whose two sons, Jacob and lohn, per- petnated the family name. JJacob Ergenbrighi reared a family in Rock- bridge county, Virginia, where he died about 1847. John Ergenbright, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Westmorland Co., Virginia, in 1800. and left the state with his father and settled, for a time, near Dayton, Ohio. About 1818, the family continued westward and located in Bartholomew Co., Indiana, from which place the family removed, in 1879, to Montgomery county, Kansas. In 1871, John Ergen- bright died at Independence. Kansas, and at his grave in Mount Hope Cemetery was erected the first gravestone put up in that cemetery.
Farming was their chosen occupation and it was followed as a life work without interruption by their posterity until the period of early manhood of Mr. Ergenbright of this record.
John Ergenbright was a man with limited educational equipment but possessed of successful business traits and he became a man of sub- stantial financial standing during his active career. His political rec- ond was confined to the support of Whig and Republican principles, as a private, and his social distinction achieved in bringing up his children to become useful citizens. He brought his family to Montgomery coun- ty, Kansas, in November, 1870, and in January, 1871. he died in Inde- pendence. He married Jane Martin, whose grandfather, James Martin. was a Kentucky pioneer from Virginia. going into the state of Daniel Boone among its earliest immigrants and being killed there by Indians in their attack on the settlers' blockhouse, which was erected by Dan- iel Boone and associates near the present site of Danville, Kentucky. James Martin, Jr .. father of JJane (Martin) Ergenbright, left Kentucky in 1816 and took his family into Bartholomew Co .. Indiana, where he died. He was a soldier in Gen. Harrison's Department of the West, War of 1812, and took part in the battle of Tippecanoe and in other mili- tary service of importance during that war, and the war of 1812. The children of John and Jane Ergenbright were: William A., a farmer, who died at Barney, lowa, in June, 1902; Ann Eliza, who died in December, 1901. as the wife of Geo. W. Deming, of Pueblo. Colorado; Elizabeth, wife of Oliver P. Applegate, of Trenton, Mo .; George Y., who died Angust. 1897, in Neodesha, Kansas; James M., of Jamestown, In- diana; Mrs. C. H. Howe, of Pomona, California; Jacob A., of Hopkins, Missouri; Sarah J., who married James Tulley, of Denver, Colorado; Benjamin, of Chicago, Ilinois; and Oliver P., of this article. Five other children complete the family of fifteen but are unmentioned here be- canse they died young and without personal history.
O. P. Ergubright was the youngest of his parents' large family and the scenes and environment of his youth were purely rural. lle at- tended Franklin College, Indiana, when approaching manhood, and from there entered Ann Arbor University, Michigan, and was a stu-
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dent there when his father removed to Kansas. The latter's sickness and death prevented his son's graduation from the famous college. Mr. Ergenbright began the study of law in the office of Oyler and Howe, in Franklin. Indiana, and was admitted to the bar in that city in April, 1873, before Judge David Banta. He married the same year and went immediately to Los Angeles, California, where he was engaged in law practice till 1876, when, owing to the sickness and death of his wife, he abandoned his profession and did not again resume it till 1883, when he resumed it in Montgomery Co., Kansas. Proper reference to his ea- reer as a lawyer in this county is omitted here to appear under its proper head on another page of this work. In 1879, Mr. Ergenbright came to Kansas and settled on a farm near Coffeyville, Montgomery Co. He engaged actively in farming and the growing of stock for four years and then. having reenperated in physical strength. he returned to the profession in which he has won renown.
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