USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 82
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Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Durand, viz: Charles Earl, who died af three and one-half years, and Calvert A., born Nov. 9. 1901.
Like his father Mr. Durand is a Republican. He is ambitions only to be known as a good citizen and is without aspirations in the political arena.
WILLIAM R. WOOLDRIDGE-One of the recent settlers of Mont- gomery county and a gentleman who has entered on his career here with earnestness and enthusiasm is W. R. Wooldridge, of Independence. He is familiar to Kansas for he has lived within its borders since 1884. when he settled in Elk county and engaged in stock raising and farm-
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ing. Having followed this for some years and then having entered mercantile pursuits at Longton. he became one of the well known and at the same time one of the substantial men of the county.
Mr. Wooldridge was born in Russell county, Kentucky, February 17, 1833. His father, William Wooldridge, was born in the same county in 1801 and died in Hopkins, Missouri, in 1889. The latter was a son of Richard Wooldridge, of Virginia, who settled in Kentucky before its admission into the union of states. William Wooldridge grew up in the wilds of Kentucky and took for his wife Agnes Allen who died in Iowa in 1857. They went to lowa in 1846 and lived in Davis county and were prosperous farmers and highly respected citizens. The chil- dren born to them were: Margaret, Samuel, Martha E., John, Naney B., William R., Diey A., Mary, Baxter, of Hopkins, Missouri; Julian F., of Phoenix, Arizona, and Emily, deceased.
W. R. Wooldridge acquired a common school education and began life as a farmer. He was married April 7th, 1857, his wife being Susan, a daughter of John Jlessee, originally from Tennessee. This union resulted in the following children: Walter and Dooly, both deceased; Margaret, who married John G. Clark and died leaving two children: John, deceased, likewise Kenneth; Lena and Mattie, deceased; Esca, of Oklahoma, and Riley, of Independence, Kansas, who married Iva Crawford and has a daughter, Crystal. In the month of Sept., 1898, Mrs. William R. Wooldridge died, after a married life of forty- one years.
August 9th, 1862, in Ringgold county. lowa, Mr. Wooldridge enlisted in company "G." 29th Inf. and served in the Department of the West under Generals Curtis and Steele. He took part in the battle of Helena and left for Little Rock, Ark., Ang. 10th, reaching there about ten days later. Broke camp at Little Rock in March to meet Banks on Red River and during that march he had his left arm shot off by a twelve pound shell at Spoonville and was left on the field as dead. He was taken by the enemy and was a prisoner at Camden, Ark .. for five months and about Sept. 15th was marched to Tyler. Texas, in which prison he was confined till Feb. 15th, 1865, when he was taken to New Orleans, where he was furlonghed for 30 days. Hle proceeded to Davenport, Iowa, where his discharge from the army occurred lune 22nd, 1865. Resuming civil pursuits he re-engaged in farming and con- tinned it until 1883, when he disposed of his lowa interests and came to Kansas. He spent the winter in Winfield and in the spring of 1884 moved to Longion. He maintained his residence in and business rela- tions with Elk county for 16 years and then removed to Montgomery county, his future home.
In his political action Mr. Wooldridge was an Independent, with unfriendly feeling toward the dominant political party. When the several elements of the opposition crystalized into a new party he joined
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forces with the Greenback party and later became a factor in Peoples' Party affairs. He was a delegate to the Populist convention of 1896 at St. Louis. While not a Democrat, he believes firmly in the political tenets as announced by Mr. Bryan.
IRA HADLEY-The settlers of Montgomery county of the year 1882 number among its band the substantial farmer and splendid citizen of Bolton, Ira Hadley, of this brief review. Ile came in response to the general movement of the time and place toward Kansas and emigrated from Parke county, Indiana. He was born in the latter county and state August 30, 1845, where his father, Simon Hadley, settled in 1834 and where he maintained his residence till his death in 1896. Simon Hadley was born in Chatham county, North Carolina. in 1810 and was, consequently, twenty-four years old when he took up his residence in the wooded country of western Indiana. There he aided by physical effort the elearing up of the county in which he lived and was one of its moderately successful farmers. In his northward and westward journey he came through Ohio where he sojourned temporarily working as a farm hand and doing other manual tabor as the necessities of the occasion required. He was a son of Jacob Hadley who died in North Carolina, and was one of the following children: Jonathan, who went into lowa; William, who remained in the Old North State: Thomas, who died in the state of his birth-North Caro- lina; a daughter who died in Hendricks Co., Indiana, and was the wife of Joseph Ronsley; Eleanor, wife of Owen Lindley, died at Prairie Center, Kans .; Susan, who married Harris, of North Carolina: and Eunice, who became the wife of. Marshall of the old Carolina home.
Simon Hadley married Eunice Hobson who survived untit 1902 and died in Parke county, Indiana, at the age of seventy-nine. Their children were: Eliza, deceased; Fra, William, of Bloomingdale, Indiana; Narcissa, of Marshall, Indiana; Elwood, of the same county; Rhoda, who died at Rockville, Indiana, was the wife of M. W. Marshall; Samuel and Ruth, of Marshall, Indiana, and Albert and Mahlon, of the same county and state.
Ira Hadley, onr subject, passed his life on his father's farm, in childhood and youth and received a country school training. He brought his limited accumulations of fifteen years of independent effort with him to Montgomery county, Kansas, and purchased land in section 19. township 33, range 15, where he owns one hundred and forty acres. For some years he was engaged in the nursery business, having several acres of his farm devoted to the production of a large variety of horti- cultural plants, with the promotion of which industry he was occupied
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until 1896. As a farmer, grain raising claims his attention and he goes about his daily task in a modest, unassuming way.
In the month of Jan., 1872. Mr. Hadley was married in Fountain county, Indiana, his wife being Ruth H. Towell, a daughter of Isaac H. Towelt and a sister of Ira N. Towell mentioned on another page of this volume. The issue of this marriage is as follows: Oliver O .. born in 1875; Clara E., born 1877; Eunice ., born 1879; John W., born in 1883; and Floyd S., born in Kansas in 1889.
Without fuss or show Mr. Hadley has gone about the affairs of life and has merited and won an enduring position in the estimation of his fellow citizens. He has been true to his family, true to his neighbors and irue to his political party. He has been a Republican all his life and the isms and side-issues of designing politicians have not attracted him or carried him away. He is a Mason.
T. C. TRUMAN-Prominently identified with the business life of the city if Independence for three decades and connected with the governing body of the municipality over half of that period. Mr. T. C. Truman, proprietor of the city's leading ice manufactory and cokl storage plant, well represents a type of citizens whose hustling quali- fies have not only brought success to the individual, but prominence to the city as well.
The year 1871 found Mr. Trueman on a virgin claim in Rutland Twp., where he for two years tried the virtues of a farmer's life. This not being to his taste he sold out and moved to town, where, in partner- ship with John Hebrank, he began the manufacture of beer and rar- bonated drinks, Jater adding the ice factory and cold storage plant. The business has grown with the city and is now one of the most extensive in southern Kansas. Mr. Truman has always taken an active interest in the welfare of the city. He is at present a member of the Common Conneil, his first connection with that body beginning in 1875, when he served continuously for eleven years. Again, in 1900, he became a member of that body, the date of his present incumbency. During these years the Council was called upon to make the public improve- ments necessary in the early growth of a municipality, and much of this important service was rendered by our subject. He is a valuable member at the present time as he knows the city "like a book" and can give the location and history of any public improvement.
Mr. Truman succeeded in getting a fair education before President Lincoln's first call for troops. On the 29th of June, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. "K". 2d W. Va. Vol. Inf., in which he served until November of 1861, participating in many of the battles and skirmishes in and about the famous Shenandoah Valley. At this date, while at New Creek. he suffered capture, together with five hundred others. He
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was taken to Libby Prison and for four months experienced the horrors of that noted institution, the date of his exchange being Feb., 1865. He, however, recovered rapidly from the rigors of prison life and in thirty days was again with his company at Fredericksburg. The assassina- tion of the President caused his company to be detailed for service in the capture of Booth and his co-conspirators, and for several weeks our subjeet scoured the country abont Washington. After participating in the Grand Review the regiment was ordered to Ft. Sedgwick, Col., to take part in disciplining the Indians who had given such trouble dur- ing the war. After a year of such service, he, with his regiment, was mustered out May Ist, 1866, his record for faithful service to his conn- try being one of which he may well be proud.
On his return home Mr. Truman embarked in business as a mem- ber of the firm of Wells & Truman, lumber merchants, which con- tin ned successfully until 1868, when he came west to Kansas City. Here he continued in the manufacture of rough lumber until the date of his coming to Montgomery county.
Mr. Truman's home life began November 28, 1867, the date of his marriage to Elizabeth Dewey. She died in 1883 in Independence at the age of forty years, leaving no children. He married his present wife December 14, 1886, in West Virginia, her maiden name having been Miss Colmbia A. Burk. She is a lady of. much good sense, an active member of the Presbyterian church, and a leader in the social and charitable work of that organization.
In the business life of the city he has been an important factor. Tle is a Director in the Commercial National Bank and a member of the Business Men's Commercial Club. In the fraternities, Mr. Truman finds great delight, as he is a thorough believer in that idea. In Masonry he has passed through the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine, and is now Treasurer of St. Bernard Commandery. He became an Odd Fellow in April of 1872, and filled all the chairs through the Encampment. Our subject is also a helpful member of the Woodmen, Elks, G. A. R., and of the affiliated bodies known as the Order of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs. In political matters Mr. Truman is a staunch Republican and is one of the wheel horses of the local organization.
Passing back into the family history and earlier life of our subject, his birth occurred in West Virginia, September 21, 1843. Ile is the son of Absalom and Serena ( Diltz) Truman, the father a native of Cal- houn county, Va., a farmer by occupation, and both he and his wife members of the M. E. church. They died within a year, both at 76 years of age. Their family consisted of five children-Elizabeth, Thomas "., ITenry D., Almira, and Francis M.
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MARY ANN CLIFFORD-A family which has had a long and hon- orable career in Montgomery county is that of which Mrs. Mary Ann Clifford is now the head, her husband, William Clifford having died in 1877. They settled on a claim of 114 acres in Sycamore township. section 8-31-15, in 1871, where she now resides with her son, John B. and his family.
William Clifford was born in Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas and Catherine (Lawson) Clifford. The names of their nine other children were : John, Sarah, Betsey, Charles, David, Mary J .. Jane and Thomas.
Mrs. Clifford comes from Westmoreland county, Pa., where she was born November 10, 1820; the daughter of Robert and Dorothy (Decker) Irwin. Robert Irwin was the son of Edward, who married Martha MeGatta, and reared: Robert, Polly, Jeremiah, John, William, Henry, Thomas, James and Margaret. Of the children of Robert Irwin and Dorothy Decker, Mrs. Clifford was the eldest. Those younger were: Martha, John, Elizabeth, Margaret, Sarah, Moria, Alexander and Robert.
On the tenth of December, 1844, Mary A. Irwin became the wife of William Clifford. He was a young man of considerable prominence, having prior to his marriage been a Captain of militia in the "Keystone State." He, later, left that state and became a resident of Rush county. Ind., from which point he, for many years, operated in produce along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. To the marriage of Mrs. Clifford were born : Thomas B., who married Mary Flack and resides in Montgomery Co., Kas .; Sarah, who married George Sharp and lives in the Indian Territory with her one child, Ralph; Robert, now deceased, married Olive Bonty and left three children, Ida, Charles and Bert; Charles has one daughter, Olive E., and Benton, a son, Robert E .; Gordon, the fourth child, has not been heard from for twenty years; William If., who married Mary J. Hatt, resides in Chautauqua county, Kansas, and has two children- Harold and Byron and is an artist of note. John B. Clifford lives on the homestead with his mother. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., June 9, 1855, and was first married to Mary Verbryck, whose children were: Irwin T., Clayton H., and Claud. His present wife was Addie, daughter of John and Elizabeth Scott) Kington. She is a native of Illinois and her parents are of Virginia and Ohio, respectively. She is the mother of J. Raymond and Paul V. Charles L. the seventh child of Mrs. Clifford married Sarah Jane Ver- Dryck, lives in Independence and has six children: Lola, Pearl, Guy, Homer, Walter and Glenn; the youngest, Cirrilda Clifford, married David Hooper and lives in Montgomery Co. with her children : Myrtle, Mable, Clyde, Bessie and Lee R.
Mrs. Clifford is a woman of many strong attributes of character, greatly beloved by her children, and held in loving veneration by her
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friends and neighbors. Her children are all men and women w") exhibit her careful training in lives of probity and uprightness.
J. A. BROWN-The honorable and responsible position of Mayor of Elk City is held by one of the leading business men of the town, J. A. Brown, now serving his second term, and one of the most popular officials the municipality has ever had. He is a man of the most careful business habits, and insists on conducting public business on the same fines.
Mr. Brown's native state is that of New York, where he was born, in Erie county, August 1. 1847. He was a son of William and Elizabeth Brown. His father was a native of England, while the mother was born in New Jersey. William Brown came to this country in 1841, and settled in Erie Co. N. Y., and then went to Green Co. Wis., in 1850, where he has passed all his active business life. He was. for long years, a large dealer in grain, and was also connected with the banking business, but is now living in retirement. Mrs. Brown, his wife, died at the age of sixty-five years, in Monroe. Wis. They reared a family of five children as follows: JJ. A., Ellen, dee'd. Maria, Nettie and Henry.
Onr subject was taken to Wisconsin by his parents when three years of age. In his childhood his father followed farming and the son grew to love a rural life, though having passed the latter part of his boyhood in town. When he arrived at years of maturity he began farming for himself. and after his return from the war, continued in that line, in Wisconsin, until his coming to Kansas, in 1870. He took up a claim, first, in Howard county, cultivated it for several years, and, in 1882, sold out and embarked in the business he now conducts in Elk City. Beginning on a modest scale he gradually added to his stock and floor space until he is now one of the leading merchants in the city. He has a handsome two-story building. 100x25 and 80x25 on one floor. Both floor and basement are filled with a choice stock of general merchandise, and he caters to a very large trade.
Mr. Brown has always been an interested worker for the advance- ment of the city of his adoption and has served in nearly every office of trust in its gift. He was first elected Mayor in 1897. served two years, and, a year later, was again elected. He has held the office since that time to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. In the social and religious life of the community he and his wife are potent factors, and are leaders in every enterprise that promises to advance the moral tone of the people. They are both members of the Christian church, in which organization Mrs. Brown is a deaconess and consequently a leader in the work of the church.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown were joined in marriage January 1, 1868. Her maiden name was Kate MeVean and she was a daughter of Peter and
MRS. KATE BROWN, WIFE OF J. A. BROWN.
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Elizabeth MeVean of Wisconsin. Her mother resides at Broadhead, Wisconsin, the father being deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are the parents of six children-Libby B., wife of J. W. Love, of Kansas City. with one child, Homer; Lorena, who married F. C. Strawn and resides in Alva, Ok., has one child, Josephine; Nettie J., Mrs. L. P. Coleman, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri; Edna E., Frankie and Henrie are children still at home.
Mr. Brown is a member of the G. A. R., earning his right to belong to that grand organization by service on the feld. He was not old enough to enter the army at the breaking-out of the war, but as soon as he could "pass muster" he became a private in Co. "K," 16th Wis. Inf. His regiment arrived at the front in time to participate in the Atlanta campaign. Its first taste of battle was at Big Shanty, whence it followed "Unele Billy" to the sea, up into the Carolinas, where it saw secession's banners lowered, and the stars and stripes again floating over Ft. Sumter. The hearts of its loyal members welled with pride as they participated in the Grand Review. the grandest exhibition of fighting men ever held; and then home, to take up the thread of life where it had been snapped asunder.
F. E. TAYLOR-County Commissioner Taylor came to Kansas and settled in Montgomery county in 1884. He emigrated from Muncie, Indiana, in which state he was born in Putnam Co., October 13, 1815. His parents, William and Catherine (Tracy) Taylor, were native Ken- tueky people who moved into Indiana about 1840 and passed their lives on a farm. The father was born in 1806 and died in 1856 while the mother was born in 1808 and died in 1851. Their children were ten in number and were the following: Eliza, who married James Burris and died in Illinois in 1901 at seventy-three years of age: Susanna, wife of H. Seward, died in 1860 at twenty five years; Georgianna, who married Perry McCombs, died in 1869 at about twenty-two years of age; John W., of Marshall Co., Kansas; Amelia, who died very young: Mary ... who also died in childhood; Elizabeth, who became Mrs. John Robin- son, died at twenty-one; F. E .. of this review; Zachariah, who died in babyhood; and Mrs. Catherine Baize, of Newton, Il.
The district schools of Indiana furnished the educational equip- ment of F. E. Taylor. He accepted the occupation of his fathers and became a farmer on beginning his life work. In July, 1862, he enlisted in Company "C," Ist Indiana Heavy Artillery, which was assigned to the Department of the Gulf. He served in Banks' Red River Expedition and was with the expedition sent to the reduction f Forts Blakely and Spanish and the capture of Mobile. Upon the expiration of his enlist- ment he veteranized and remained in the service till January, 1866. thus seeing three and one-half years of service withont casualty to
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himself. Resuming his occupation in civil life he continued farming in his native state until his departure for Kansas. lle established him- self on a new farm in Rutland township, Montgomery county, of one hundred and sixty acres. His efforts were rewarded as the years passed and two hundred and fifty aeres more were added to his domain and this, and his residence property in Independence constitute the major portion of his estate. His success indicates that he has taken a lively and active interest in Kansas agriculture and when he retired from the farm in 1900 it was in response to a wish to relieve himself and wife of the work and responsibility of the farm.
Nov. 17, 1867. Mr. Taylor married Malinda J. Smith, a daughter of Jonas and Rosanna (Cooper) Smith, both deceased. Five children are the issue of this marriage, namely: William B. of Independence, once a merchant. and an ex-teacher of the county, married to Dessie Atkinson and has children: Pansie and Jewel; Mary R., wife of J. R. Moore, who resides on a farm near Tyro. has children, Bennie, Emmett, Harry and Rubie F .; Jonas E., single and a farmer; Aaron G., also a farmer and unmarried, and Mary R., who died at three years. The parents and children are members of the Christian church.
Jonas Smith and wife, natives respectively of Tennessee and South Carolina, each accompanied his parents to Martin Co. Ind .. at an early pe- riod and were married in that county. They owned and operated a farm all their lives. Jonas Smith died in 1877, aged 78 years. His wife died in 1850, aged 45 years. The names of their children are: Benj. F., Amelia , Susannah. John, dec'; Malinda, Casander, Amanda, and Docia. All except lohn lived to be well up in years. Grandfather Cooper lived to be 98 years old and Grandfather Smith was $7 years old at the time of his death.
Mr. Taylor holds a membership in the subordinate and encamp- ment of Odd Fellows, in the Grand Army and in the Republican party. He was elected County Commissioner From the 2nd district in 1897, was re-elected in 1900. and will have served six years on the board when his term expires in January, 1904.
WILLIAM AUSTIN-The younger element of the old settlers of Montgomery county is worthily represented in the person of William Austin, of this brief sketch. He has resided in the county since 1872, which year his parents established the family one mile west and four miles north of Cherryvale. Mr. Austin was born in Knox county, Illinois, January 22, 1864. Abel Austin was his father and his mother Sarah T. Scott, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. Farming was the life occupation of Abel Ansiin and he died at forty years of age in 1875. The mother returned to Illinois with her large family on the eve of this misfortune, where she remained till her sons
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were of that age sufficient to cultivate their Kansas farm when the family returned hither and again took up the development of a home. She passed her life in the company of her children and died in Mont- gomery county in 1897.
Abel Austin was a widower when he married Sarah T. Scott. His first wife died leaving him two sons, H. T. and 6. t. Austin, and he was the father of five children by his second marriage, namely: Wil- liam, Frank, Elmer, Homer and Alma.
William Austin has been identified with Montgomery county con- tinnonsly since twenty years of age. From 1884 to 1892, he remained an important adjunet to the domestic circle and he gained his initial experience on a Kansas farm. In 1892, he married Amanda L. White, a daughter of John N. White and Jane A. (Snodgrass) White. Mr. White came to Kansas from West Virginia in 1894, and settled in Montgomery county where they still reside.
At the opening of the Sae and Fox land Mr. Austin made the race for a claim, secured one and fulfilled his obligation to the gov- erment by proving up on the same. At about this juncture his two brothers on the family home died and our subject sold his Oklahoma possessions and returned to Montgomery county, buying the home of his boyhood and youth. His is a fertile farm, well situated and well adapted to the purposes of stock and grain farming.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Austin consists of four children, viz: Florence, Oma, Viola and Elmer.
WILLIAM P. WALLACE-William P. Wallace, ice dealer of Cherryvale. Kan., was born in Lincoln county, Mo., March 7. 1856. His father was John W. Wallace, a native of Logan county, Ohio, and his mother a native of Kentucky. John W. Wallace was a wagon maker in Missouri, where he located in 1852, and he followed that trade all his life. lle died in 1892, at the age of sixty-three years. He was a con- sistent member of the M. E. church. His wife is a member of the Christian Church and resides in Clarksville, Pike county, Mo.
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