USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 36
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Mr. Schneider is a Catholic and a member of the Knights of Colum- bus order. He is one of the foremost citizens of Seneca, and is influential in public affairs.
MAT. SCHNEIDER AND FAMILY.
MAT. SCHNEIDER.
MRS. MAT. SCHNEIDER.
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HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
John Draney, retired farmer, Seneca, Kansa, was born at Cobourg, on Lake Ontario, Canada, September 8, 1840, and is a son of Hugh (born in 1805 ; died in 1856) and Margaret (Connolly) Draney (born No- vember 1, 1814; died October 6, 1896), both of whom were natives of Ireland. Hugh Draney was born in the north of Ireland and Margaret Draney was born near Dublin, a daughter of John and Norah (Kanon) Connolly. Hugh Draney emigrated from Ireland to Canada when a young man in his teens and was there married. After his marriage he migrated to Clinton county, Iowa, in the winter of 1856, and died there. The widow was left with a family of six sons and a daughter, as follows : John, subject of this review; Mrs. Elizabeth McQuaid, Seneca, Kans .; James, deceased ; Hugh, living on a farm north of Seneca ; Thomas, Sen- eca ; Martin, migrated to the State of Washington in 1885 and died there in 1912 ; Michael, Kansas City, Mo. The elder Draney had planned to lo- cate in the West and stopped in Iowa, but found the land too high priced for his means, and determined to come to Kansas. Death intervened in 1856, and the widow carried out his plans. In the spring of 1857, Mrs. Draney, with her family of children, migrated to Nemaha county, Kan- sas, and preempted a homestead of 160 acres, three miles north of Seneca. She also bought land from the government and was successful in accumulating a large estate of 720 acres. The family farm was lo- cated in the St. Benedict neighborhood, and the family expected hard times for a while, but the ability of Mrs. Draney was so great and her powers of management so remarkable that she was successful where strong men failed and had to give up the fight for the redemption of the prairie. Flour cost, in those days, the exorbitant price of $6 pcr 100 pounds, and was a great luxury in the frontier homes. Other neces- sities were priced in proportion on account of the high freighting rates. The Draney funds, which were to be used in buying land. had been orig- inally left in Canada. When Mrs. Draney had her family located she made the long trip back to Canada alone and brought her money to Kansas quilted in her skirt, after having had her bank draft turned into cash in Iowa. She carried this money all alone to Nemaha county from Davenport, Iowa. She reared every child to become an upright and God-fearing citizen and set an example to them of industry and right living which will never be forgotten by her progeny. When old age came upon Mrs. Draney, she retired to a home in Seneca. Although a small woman physically, she made up in energy and determination what she lacked in size ; she was good, kind and brave and resourceful.
John Draney recalls that he and Mr. Gregg met his mother on her return trip from Iowa and Canada, and accompanied her to Nemaha county from Iowa Point, and that the river was very high, necessitating their waiting for a week for the waters to subside. John, at the outbreak of the Civil war, entered the quartermaster's department at Ft. Leaven- worth, Kans., in 1861. His duty was to carry supplies to the Union soldiers stationed at different points, and the only time he was under
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fire was in the chase after General Price. In the year 1865 he was sent out with a train of five hundred pack mules, carrying supplies to the Powder river country, and he witnessed the Indian battle at Powder river. His government service ended in 1865, and he returned home and began to till his 120-acre farm, which his mother had given him four years previously. He tilled his land until 1868, and then, in company with a neighbor, rigged up a team and wagon and started for Oregon. When he arrived at Marysville, Kans., they learned that the Indians were on the warpath up the South Platte river and they headed west- ward via Lincoln, Neb. They found all ranches on the route deserted. and at Ft. Laramie were forced to wait until forty wagons had gathered for the train. They ended their long journey at Apple river, California, where they remained for one year, and then went to San Francisco and decided to return home and give up the project of making a settlement on the Pacific coast. At San Francisco, Mr. Draney took a steamer to Panama and returned home via New York City. He settled down to farming his land, three miles north of Seneca, and improved it to such an extent that he was enabled to sell out in 1879. He then invested the proceeds in a 240-acre farm, east of Oneida. This formed the perma- nent home of the family until 1909, when he and Mrs. Draney removed to a comfortable home in Seneca. The Draney farm is one of the most valuable and well improved farms in the county and is easily worth $150 an acre, a great rise from the original purchase price of $7.50 an acre. At the time he bought the farm there was neither tree nor shrub on the place, but he and Mrs. Draney have improved and beautified it until now it resembles an old Eastern farm.
John Draney was married to Ellen Murphy, May 20, 1871, and this union has been blessed with the following children: Margaret Ellen, born March 4, 1872, and wife of John O'Kane, of Blue Rapids, Kans., and mother of three children, Margaret, John and Walter; Florence, born August 31. 1873, a trained nurse at Chicago, Ill .; John Hugh, born September 10, 1875, and died February 24, 1876; William Wallace, born February 27. 1877, married Roxanna Myers, and resides on a farm ad- joining the home farm, and has seven sons and two daughters, as fol- lows: Alfred, John, Emmet, Solomon, Randolph, Lester, Delphin, Wallace, Nina and 'Lola ; Edwin Draney, born January 3, 1879, married May O'Kane, Fairview, Neb., and has five children, as follows: Celia, Mabel, Daniel, Marie and Clifford; Charles Draney, born October 2, 1881, married Lola Shaver, resides in St. Joseph, Mo .; Robert, born October II, 1883, married Alice Rogers, resides on the home place, and has two children, namely : Cecil and Ellen ; Walter Draney, born April 22. 1887, maried Tecla Egen, and lives on a farm near Capioma, and has two children, Walter, Jr., and Richard John; Leo, born April 11, 1891, a medical student, Omaha, Neb. The mother of this fine family of chil- dren was born October 13, 1851, in Ontario, Canada, and is a sister of Edwin R. Murphy, of Seneca, to whose biography the reader is referred for the history of the Murphy family.
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Mr. Draney has in his possession the birth certificate of his mother, which reads as follows: "Church of St. Joseph, Mount Mellick, Sep- tember 12, 1819. Margaret Connolly, baptized. God parents, Owen Delaney and Margaret Scully."
Mr. and Mrs. Draney and the children are members of the Catholic church, and Mr. Draney is politically allied with the Democratic party. They are an intelligent, interesting couple, who are proud of the fact that they are pioneers in Nemaha county, and have assisted in building up a great State.
Charles E. Mathews, farmer, Seneca, Kans., was born in Atchison, Kans., October 7, 1865, and is a son of Hiram and Sarah (Skinner) Mathews, to whom were born two children: Charles Edwin, the sub- ject of this review, and Elmer Roy Mathews. Hiram Mathews was born in Indiana, in 1828, and was a pioneer in Atchison, Kans., locating in that city in 1857. For several years he was a stage driver on the overland route from Atchison to Denver, Colo. In 1862, he enlisted for service in behalf of the Union at Leavenworth, Kans., and became a member of Company D, Second Kansas cavalry. He was second sergeant of his company, and saw active service at the battle of Prairie Grove, and many other engagements and served until the close of the war. He then located in Seneca, Kans., where occurred the culmination of a romance which had begun in the old days of the stage coach. Before the war he had become enamored of a widow, Mrs. Sarah Jane (Skinner) Wetmore, who had come to Seneca with her husband in 1855, and made a settle- ment on Illinois river, south of Seneca, and homesteaded land. Her first husband died and she wedded the returned veteran, who proceeded to homestead a tract of land, which is now owned by the subject of this review, and located just outside of the city limits, north of Seneca. Hiram Mathews developed this farm of 160 acres and part of it is now incorporated within the limits of the city. He died in 1886. The mother of Charles Edwin was born in Pennsylvania in 1838, and moved with her parents to Illinois, where they died, and she married Mr. Wetmore. Both of Mr. Mathews' parents had been twice married.
Charles Edwin Mathews was educated in the public schools of Seneca, and has always lived on the farm which he owns. He rented the land from his mother until her demise, and then came into posses- sion of the tract by inheritance and purchase. Part of the Mathews farm has been sold and incorporated in the city of Seneca and Mr. Mathews is now farming sixty-five acres of the original tract. He is well-to-do and is a shareholder of the National Bank of Seneca.
Mr. Mathews was married in 1882 to Miss Carrie Thompson, who was born May 8, 1859, in Warren county, Ohio. (See sketch of her brother, Howard Thompson, for data concerning the parents of Mrs. Mathews). She is a graduate of the Seneca High School, and taught school one year before her marriage. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, as follows: Lillian, wife of Charles Voorhees,
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Seneca, Kans .; Mattie, at home with her parents, a graduate of the Seneca High School and the domestic science department of the Man- hattan State College; Edward, at home, a graduate of the Seneca High School, and farming in partnership with his father.
Mr. Mathews is a Progressive in his political tendencies and is a firm believer and advocate of purity in politics and rule by the people and for the people, without domination by the party bosses. He and his family are members of the Congregational Church of Seneca, and he is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
It is a matter of Kansas history that an uncle of Mrs. Mathews, John Doyle by name, conducted the first tavern in Seneca, which for many years was the old stage station until superseded by a later building.
Joshua Mitchell, attorney, justice of the peace and city clerk of Seneca, Kans, is one of the real, old pioneer settlers of Nemaha county, and has had an interesting and varied career which reads like a tale from romantic fiction in the recounting. Pioneer and a son of a Kansas pio- neer settler, scion of old Eastern American ancestry, soldier, Indian fighter, public official, racing man, successful attorney,-he has had considerable to do with the making of a great county and State. Judge Mitchell is one of the last survivors of the famous Powder River Indian fight, when the Sioux Indians received such a crushing defeat at the hands of the Sixteenth Kansas regiment, famous for its exploits and fighting ability, and a regiment noted for its daredevil members and brave and hardy fighters.
Joshua Mitchell was born at Dover, Me., March 11, 1842, and is a son of William Hamilton and Keziah Leland (McLanathan) Mitchell, natives of Maine. William H. Mitchell, his father, was born at Foxcraft, Maine, in 1803, and died on his farm in Nemaha county, Kansas, February 5, 1859. He was a son of Joshua Mitchell, a native of Dover, Maine, a farmer and a son of Irish parents. Joshua Mitchell, grandfather of Judge Mitchell was a soldier in the War of 1812. The mother of Judge Mitchell was a daughter of Samuel McLanathan, who married Keziah Leland. She was born in 18II, and is deceased. Keziah Leland McLanathan was a daughter of Henry Leland and Sarah (Phipps) Le- land, and was born in 1787. Henry Leland was the third in line of his family in America, and was a son of Henry Leland, who was also a son of the first Henry Leland. Sarah (Phipps) Leland was a daughter of Sir William Phipps, one time royal governor of Massachusetts. (The foregoing ancestral data concerning the lineage of Joshua Mitchell was taken from Henry Leland Genealogical Record).
William H. Mitchell was reared on the paternal farm in Maine until 1843, when he located in Lowell, Mass., and served for ten years as captain of the night police force of Lowell. In 1853, he migrated west- ward to Galesburg, Ill., and owned a farm in Knox county, which he developed and cultivated until October of 1858. In that year he loaded
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IRA K. WELLS.
JOSHUA MITCHELL.
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all of his moveable effects on wagons, and accompanied by his wife and all of his children excepting the oldest girl drove overland to Nemaha county, Kansas, locating on the present townsite of Centralia. He built a log cabin, but did not live long to develop his Kansas farm, death in- tervening in February of the year following his advent into Kansas. Ten years after William H. Mitchell preempted his farm, the town of Centralia was laid out and built on the site of his former home. The following children were left fatherless by the demise of William H. Mitchell : Samuel McLanathan, deceased; William Hamilton lives at Liberty, Mo .; Emily Ann, deceased wife of Nathan Bentley U'ppel, who was, killed on the field of Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863; Sarah Keziah, deceased wife of Albert Clark, also deceased, and former residents of Seneca.
The Civil war record of Joshua Mitchell began with his enlistment, October 8, 1861, in Company D, Eighth Kansas infantry, with which organization he served until August 3, 1863. After his honorable dis- charge he re-enlisted as a veteran soldier in Company M, Sixteenth Kansas cavalry, which was equipped as a light artillery company on December 8, 1863, and he served until December 8, 1865. He was com- missioned first lieutenant of Company M, and his command saw much hard service. While a member of the Eighth Kansas, Mr. Mitchell saw service in fighting bushwhackers in the border counties of Mis- souri until his regiment was ordered to Tennessee in 1863. He was taken sick at that time with typhoid fever, which developed into pneu- monia, and he received his discharge on account of sick disability. While delirious with fever, he suffered painful injuries by falling off a trestle in Nashville, Tenn. Careful nursing at home soon restored him to vigorous health and strength, however, and he re-enlisted, as stated previously, and his regiment fought General Price's army of in- vasion at the battle of Westport, October 23, 1864; the battle of the Little Blue River and Cavin Creek, and the battle of Newtonia. During these engagements, his company was under the direct command of Col. Sam Walker, a great and brave fighter. The famous Sixteenth Kansas regiment was part of the army which drove General Price to the Arkan- sas river, as had been planned by the Union authorities. During the Westport battle every horse excepting one in Mr. Mitchell's command was killed, and his comrades would seize the horses of the soldiers watching the conflict from the rear and the side lines and again rush into the thick of the fight, during which the "Sixteenth" bore the brunt of the battle and covered themselves with imperishable glory. They had four pieces of artillery in this engagement, and the muzzles of the guns were kept hot while throwing shot and shell into the demoralized ranks of the rebel invaders. On February 13. 1865, the "Sixteenth" was ordered in pursuit of the hostile Sioux Indians, and marched west to join the command of Brig. Gen. Patrick Edwin Connor. The expedi- tion was planned in the following order: The Sixteenth Kansas, the
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Second Missouri light artillery and the Twelfth Missouri cavalry, and these divisions marched twenty miles apart to their destination in Wyoming, where they expected to meet the Indians. The famous battle of the Powder River ensued. The Sixteenth regiment formed the center of attack and was only saved from annihilation by the artillery ; four times they repulsed the frenzied charges of the savages, and were forced to bear the brunt of the fighting, because the supporting columns could not see the heliograph signals, owing to the fact that the wily redmen flashed mirrors against the artillery men. This battle was Lieutenant Mitchell's last great fight, and his service ended soon afterward.
Mr. Mitchell's employment in behalf of the United States Govern- ment did not cease with his war service, however, and in April, 1866, he took charge of a government train of twenty-six transport wagons (mule motive power) and convoyed the train across the plains to Ft. Union, N. M., and was thus engaged in freighting to New Mexican points until 1867, when he returned to Seneca.
In 1868, he preempted a homestead in Neuchatel township, lived on it one year, commuted, and proved up on his claim. In November of 1871, Mr. Mitchell was elected to the office of county clerk, and served for four years. He was re-elected to the same office in 1875, and served for another four years. In 1880, he was appointed deputy treasurer of the county, and served for one year under Treasurer R. E. Nelson, and one year as deputy under A. C. Moorehead. In 1883, he was ap- pointed to the office of justice of the peace to fill out the unexpired term of D. B. Mckay. During the years ensuing, from 1884 to 1891, this versatile gentleman followed the racing circuits with a string of fast running horses, and this was probably the most enjoyable period of his long and eventful life. He bred practically all of his own running horses and owned four fast runners and a fine trotter. Mr. Mitchell was the owner of "Bright Eyes," the famous running mare, which was known to the track devotees of twenty-five years ago and achieved a national reputation.
His racing career was abandoned in May, 1891, when he received a telegram at Anaconda, Mont., from Ira Collins, then chairman of the board of managers of the State Soldiers' Home, to take the position of quartermaster at the home. He accepted, sold his racing string, and capably filled the position until May, 1894. In the meantime, Mr. Mitchell had the misfortune to suffer a broken arm, caused by a falling horse, in November of 1893. He returned to Seneca, Kans, and in the spring of 1895, was elected justice of the peace, and has held this office since that time, with the exception of two years, when it was filled by Hon. J. E. Corwin. Mr. Mitchell was admitted to the practice of law in 1875, and now devotes practically his whole time to his law business.
Joshua Mitchell was married February 6, 1868, to Miss Julia Eliza- beth Brown, born November 8, 1846, in Warren county, Illinois, a daughter of George and Amanda Fertodd Smith Brown, natives of Ken-
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tucky. The father of Mrs. Mitchell died in Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1867. Her mother was born near Lexington, Ky., and after her hus- band's death she made her home with her children, dying at the home of her son, Albert Gardner Brown, Republic county, Kansas, in 1886. Mr. Mitchell's wedding occurred at St. Joseph, Mo., at the home of Harry Brown, a brother of Mrs. Mitchell. Four children have blessed this union of Joshua and Julia Mitchell, namely: George Anthony, now an electrician in Seneca; was sailor on the high seas for five years and traveled in all parts of the world, returning home in 1914; Ellen Amanda married Chris L. Diehm, Leavenworth, Kans., and mother of three children, namely: Christopher M., Julia Barbara, and Joshua Mitchell Diehm; William Henry died in August, 1872, at the age of eighteen months; Edwin Ruthven Brown Mitchell, educated in the Seneca schools, which he attended for fourteen years without being absent or tardy. He was married in June, 1915, to Miss Mamie Bresnahan, of Kansas City, Kans., and is cashier and staff clerk in the office of the deputy United States revenue collector at Wichita, Kans.
Judge Mitchell has been allied with the Democratic party, and has taken a prominent and influential part in the affairs of his party. He is a member of George Graham Post, No. 92, Grand Army of the Re- public, and is affiliated with Seneca Lodge, No. 39, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Victor N. Peret, retired farmer and Union veteran of Seneca, Kans., has had a most interesting career. He comes of a noted family of sol- diers and is one of four sons of a soldier father, who served in the Union army during the Civil war. Although past eighty years of age, and one of the last of the famous old guard who offered their lives in defense of the Union, Mr. Peret is still vigorous mentally and enjoys life to the utmost. Thirty of his four score years of life have been spent in Kansas and during that time he has reared a fine family and accumulated a fair sized competence for his support during his declining years.
Mr. Peret was born at Abington, Wayne county, Indiana, March 3. 1836. He is a son of Victor and Mary (Dichmocker) Peret, natives of France. Victor Peret, the father, was born in 1778, and was reared in France. When he attained young manhood he became a soldier in the French armies under the great Napoleon Bonaparte and fought for several years in behalf of the emperor. He was captured in battle and taken prisoner by the British, who impressed him into service on a British sailing vessel, where he was compelled to serve for eleven years against his will and inclination. When the ship finally landed at a United States port, he made his escape and later went inland to a small town in Indiana (Abington), where he worked at his trade of tailor until his demise in 1850. The mother of the subject was born in Alsace and died in Indiana in 1850, at the age of forty-four years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Victor N. and his youngest brother, Henry E., of Holt county, Missouri, are the only ones living. Henry E.
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was a soldier in the Union army, as were two other brothers of the sub- ject, James W. and August Sebastian.
Victor N. Peret was reared by kind neighbors and worked at any honest labor in order to earn a living for himself after the death of his parents. He worked at farm labor for the munificent sum of $3 per month and "found," but as he grew older and stronger he easily com- manded a higher wage. On February II, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Indiana infantry, and served until the close of the war. Mr. Peret saw service in the Atlanta campaign, and after the fall of Atlanta, his command followed Hood's army to Columbia, S. C., expecting to meet Hood there and a battle took place, followed by another battle at Franklin. Hood's army was later de- feated at Nashville, Tenn. Mr. Peret was then sent with his corps to Washington, D. C. He was engaged in many battles and skirmishes and was for a time at Morehead City, N. C., from where his command was transferred by train to Newbern, N. C. From this point they marched thirty miles to Kingston, where they were engaged in a three days' fight. This was his last battle. Mr. Peret was honorably dis- charged from the service at Greensborough, N. C., August 31, 1865.
After his notable war service, Victor N. Peret returned to Indiana and cut wood during the winter of 1865 and 1866. He then came to Hannibal, Mo., and purchased a farm of 100 acres in the neighborhood of that city, which he cultivated for fifteen years. He then went to Holt county, Missouri, and farmed there for one year, until his removal to Wetmore, Kansas, in 1883. He and his brother, James W., started a general merchandise store at Wetmore, and eight months later, Mr. Peret sold his interest in the business to his partner and bought a farm in Wetmore township. He cultivated his acreage for seventeen years and added to his holdings until at one time he owned 500 acres of good land. In 1904, Mr. Peret decided to retire and removed to a pleasant and comfortable home in Seneca, where he owns considerable real estate.
Mr. Peret was married in 1867 to Mary E. Shute. Ten children have blessed this happy marriage, of whom seven are living, as follows: John W., a farmer of Illinois township, Nemaha county ; Emma, died at the age of twenty-one years ; Mrs. Anna Trapp, Brown county, Kansas ; Omar E., living in Idaho; James, Fort Worth, Texas; Mrs. Pearl Flem- ing, living on a farm near Council Grove, Kans .; Cecil, El Paso, Texas ; Mrs. Mae Sheppard, Seneca, Kans .; Robert C., died at the age of one year ; two children died in infancy. Mrs. Mary Peret was born Decem- ber 5, 1846, in Richmond, Ind., a daughter of Robert C. and Mary C. (Clark) Shute, natives of New England. Robert C. Shute was an en- gineer by profession, and for a period, of forty years was engaged in the practice of his vocation as engineer and county surveyor of Wayne county, Indiana, Both parents of Mrs. Peret are deceased.
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