History of Nemaha County, Kansas, Part 42

Author: Tennal, Ralph 1872-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 964

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Jacob A. Reinhart, retired, Sabetha, Kans, was born in Switzerland, February 16, 1843. He is a son of Daniel and Mary Ann Reinhart, who emigrated from Switzerland to America in 1853, and located in Ohio, where Daniel Reinhart worked at his trade of tanner. He also taught school in his later years. He removed from Ohio to Indiana after some years and there he and his wife died.

The subject of this review attended the district schools of Indiana, and at the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted in the Union service at Mendota, Ill., becoming a member of Company D, Twenty-third Illinois infantry. This regiment was a part of Mulligan's brigade and saw much hard fighting during the Civil war. Mr. Reinhart fought in Gen. Phil Sheridan's command in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, and served until his honorable discharge from the service, March 17, 1865. After the war he farmed in Indiana until 1879, and then came to Ne- maha county, Kansas, settling on a farm near Bern, in Washington township. He cultivated his fine farm until 1910, and then retired to a comfortable home in Sabetha. His first tract of Kansas land cost him $2,000, and his home farm is well improved with good buildings and fencing. Mr. Reinhart owns a total of 390 acres, which he has accumu- lated during his thirty-seven years in Kansas, and he is well-to-do.

Mr. Reinhart was married in 1873 to Kathrine Ressen, born at Berne, Switzerland, May 23, 1850. Twelve children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Reinhart, as follows : Mrs. Matilda Matthews, Bern, Kans .; Albert, a miller at Bern, Kans .; Josephine, living at Bern, Kans .; Andrew and Norse, living in Indiana; Mrs. Caroline Kerl, living in Ne- braska ; Mrs. Dena Ginsler, deceased ; Gideon, farmer in Nemaha county ; Jonathan, cultivating the home farm; Edward, Ephraim and Florence, at home with their parents. Mr. Reinhart is a Republican in politics, and he and the members of the family are affiliated with the Apostolic Christian Church.

George Kerr .- Among the well known and highly successful live stock breeders of northeast Kansas is George Kerr, of Sabetha, Kans., who has made a distinct success as a breeder of Duroc Jersey swine, a specialized department of animal husbandry which is certain of high rewards for the individual who is possessed of sufficient intelligence and the will to carry out his operations along well defined lines. Dur- ing the thity-two years in which Mr. Kerr has been engaged as a

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breeder of live stock, he has made a name for himself throughout Kan- sas and has accumulated considerable property, for the very simple reason that through his skill as a breeder he has produced animals for which live stock growers in distant counties and States were willing to pay excellent prices.

George Kerr was born June 16, 1857, in Platte county, Missouri, and is a son of John and Mary Jane (Rader) Kerr, of whom George is the only offspring. John Kerr was born in Virginia in 1801, and died when George was but eleven months old. He was a son of John and Mary (Calhoun) Kerr, who were descended from Irish ancestry. The mother of George Kerr was born in Ray county, Missouri, and now resides at Circleville, Kans., aged eighty-two years, having been born in 1834. She was three times married, her last marriage being with Frank Hill, a native of South Carolina, born in 1834. Eight children were born to this marriage, seven of whom are living.

The subject of this review was reared in Missouri and Kansas and received his schooling at Circleville, Kans., whither his mother and step-father removed, September 22, 1872, when he was a boy fifteen years old. When he was fifteen years of age he began life for himself and did a man's work at a wage of $11 per month. He saved his earn- ings and made a payment on a farm in Jackson county, Kansas, which he farmed for a time, then sold out and bought a farm in Pottawatomie county, Kansas. Not liking his location, he bought his former Jackson county farm and cultivated it for another year. In 1890, Mr. Kerr came to Brown county, and invested in 120 acres of land in Brown county, one mile east and two miles south of Sabetha, Kans. His acreage has in- creased as his means allowed and he purchased in 1894 a fine tract of 200 acres of land in Capioma township, Nemaha county. He sold his first farm in 1894, and owns 143 acres south of Fairview, bought in 1909. Mr. Kerr first began breeding Poland China hogs in 1884, and handled this breed until 1895, when he began breeding Duroc Jersey swine. Success came to him in this line of special animal husbandry from the start, and he has made exhibits of his fine stock at the Hutchinson State Fair, and won several prizes. The products of his breeding pens are in regular de- mand, and he ships hogs for breeding purposes to buyers and hog fan- ciers in many localities. He remained in active charge of his farm until September 1, 1915, and then took up his residence in Sabetha. Both of Mr. Kerr's farms are well improved with good buildings and fencing, and are very productive.

Mr. Kerr was married on June 20, 1880, to Mary M. Clowe, born May 28, 1864, in Hocking county, Ohio, a daughter of Elijah Bell and Lizzie (Whitcraft) Clowe, natives of the Buckeye State. Five children have been born of this marriage, namely: Minta May, born September I, 1881, died September 5, 1881 ; John, traveling salesman with headquar- ters at Sabetha, Kans .; Nella May, wife of Roy Dixon, Butler county, Kansas ; Harrison, a farmer in Capioma township; Noel, traveling sales-

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man located at Spokane, Wash. The Clowe family migrated from Ohio to Kansas in 1868, and bought a farm in Jackson county near Holton, Kans., for which Mr. Clowe paid $3 per acre. Elijah Bell Clowe was born March 10, 1825. and died January 3, 1905. Mrs. Lizzie (Whit- craft) Clowe was born November 14, 1832, and died November 20, 1903. They were married August 8, 1850. Mrs. Kerr graduated from the Hol- ton High School, and pursued a special course in vocal and instrumental music under skilled teachers. John Kerr, her son, is a graduate of Camp- bell University. Nella is a graduate of the Grand Island, Neb., Business College; Harrison was a student at the Kansas State Agricultural Col- lege at Manhattan, Kans., and Noel graduated from Sabetha High School, and also studied at the Manhattan College. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr are to be congratulated upon the excellent education, which they have given each of their children. Mrs. Kerr is a member of the Congregational church.

Mr. Kerr is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the National Duroc Breeders' Association.

Fred Ukele .- The accomplishments of Fred Ukele during the forty- seven years of his residence in Kansas are truly remarkable when one considers that for the past forty-three years Mr. Ukele has been a crip- ple. During his period of residence in Kansas he rose to become one of the large land owners of Nemaha county, and has reared a fine family. It is a noteworthy fact that Mr. Ukele cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln on the great battlefield of Lookout Mountain. He is one of the last of the vast army of Union veterans who fought to preserve the Union. His life has been marked by a display of good citizenship and he has served his fellow citizens in various useful capacities during his long life. Pioneer settler, Union veteran, substantial citizen, Fred Ukele is one of the honored men of Sabetha and Nemaha county.

Fred Ukele was born in a log cabin located in a clearing of the dense forest of Washtenaw county, Michigan, in April, 1842. He is a son of Christian and Christina (Stohlstamear) Ukele, who were the par- ents of eight children, as follows: Mrs. Lena Reade, Mrs. Louise Gakle, Mrs. Mary Maley, deceased ; Fred, the subject of this review ; John, de- ceased; Mrs. Rachel Weldt, living in Michigan; Edward, Wallace county, Kansas ; Jacob, residing in South Dakota. Christian Ukele was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1808, and became a baker in his native city. Not very long after he became of age in Germany, he decided to immigrate to America. He located in Detroit and worked at his trade of baker for some time and was there married. After his marriage he and his wife journeyed to the dense woods of Michigan and hewed a farm from the wilderness of Washtenaw county and reared a family of children, as before stated.

The mother of Fred Ukele was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 18II, and was a daughter of John and Sarah (Sterley) Stohlstamear, who drove a team to the port of Hamburg and there set sail for America, making the long voyage by sailing vessel. They were on the ocean for

FRED UKELE AND GRANDSON, FRED.

SAMUEL WEART.

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seventy days. John Stohlstamear sold his team of horses in Hamburg, but was unable to sell his wagon. He accordingly had it loaded on the vessel, and upon landing at New York City, he purchased a team of oxen, which furnished the means of transportation for his family and belongings to Michigan, where he made his home.

Fred Ukele was reared amid the most primitive surroundings in the great forests of Michigan, and attended district school, held in a little - log school house. When he became old enough to wield and swing an axe, he began working in the timber and continued at this occupation until 1861. At this time he moved to Henry county, Illinois, and three years later, in 1864, he enlisted for service in the Union army. He be- came a member of Company I, One Hundred and Forty-Sixth Illinois infantry, and took part in some severe fighting until the close of the war. He was at the battle of Columbus, Tenn., and participated in the chase after General Hood's army through Tennessee and the Carolinas. When he returned from the war, Mr. Ukele learned the blacksmith's trade and worked at that trade for three and a half years, in the employ- ment of the Chicago & Rock Island Railway Company, at Geneseo, Ill. In 1869, he came to Nemaha county, Kansas, and worked for one year as a farm hand at $25 per month. He then bought 160 acres of prairie land in section 27 of Berwick township. His first move was the erection of a shanty, 16x18 feet, the boards for which were sawed from cotton- wood logs and hauled from White Cloud, Kans. Mr. Ukele paid $7 per acre for having his land broken to plow and made ready for planting his first crops. He gradually improved his land and prospered, as he de- served, and made a great success as a stockman, specializing in hogs. At one time Mr. Ukele owned 600 acres of land in Nemaha and Smith counties, which he deeded to his sons. He retired from active farm work in 1906, and moved to a nice residence property in Sabetha.

Fred Ukele has been twice married, his first marriage being with Jena Olson, in 1864. The first Mrs. Ukele was born in 1839, and died in 1908. Two children were born to this marriage, namely: Edward. farming the home place in Nemaha county, and Sylvan engaged in the insurance business at Kansas City, Mo. Mr. U'kele reared another child named Clyde Muxworthy, who lives at Bern, Kans. In 1910, Mr. Ukele married Sarah Bowser, born August 11, 1874. in Geary county, Mary- land, a daughter of Hiram and Barbara (Brown) Bowser, the former of whom was born in 1842 and died in 1896. Mrs. Barbara Bowser was born in 1846 and died in March, 1881. Both parents were born and reared in Maryland. Mrs. Ukele came to Kansas in 1900 and joined her brother, Emery, at that time farming near Bern, in this county, but who is now living in Dickinson county, Kansas.

Mr. Ukele is a Progressive in politics, and in former years was the Republican leader of Berwick township, and cast his first vote for Abra- ham Lincoln at Lookout Mountain, Tenn. He has held several town- ship offices and was a member of the school board in Berwick township

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for twenty-one years, and has served as justice of the peace. He is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic Post of Sabetha. One of the interesting heirlooms of the family which is highly prized by Mr. Ukele is an old newspaper published in New York, January 4, 1800, by Samuel Freer & Son.

Mr. Ukele has one grandson, Fred Ukele, and a granddaughter, Charsta Ukele.

Courtland L. Parker .- From driver of a coal wagon in the employ of the Derby Grain Company to becoming an officer and part owner and manager of this large concern is the splendid accomplishment of Court- land L. Parker, of Sabetha, Kans. For a self educated young man, Mr. Parker has had a highly successful career, and through all of his success, he is an unassuming, obliging gentleman who is well liked by his many friends, acquaintances and the patrons of the company which he repre- sents. The story of his rise to his present position is in itself a direct refutation of the oft stated excuse of young men of the present day that opportunity for advancement is not what it was in former days.

Courtland L. Parker, manager of the Derby Grain and Coal Com- pany of Sabetha, was born in Sabetha, July 31, 1884, and is a son of Wickcliffe and Ellen (Davidson) Parker, to whom seven children were born, of whom Courtland L. is the sixth in order of birth. Wickcliffe Parker was born at Janesville, Wis., October 23, 1846, and was reared on a farm until the outbreak of the Civil war when he entered the employ of the United States Government as a teamster. After the close of his Government service, he taught school; came to Sabetha, Kans., in 1880, and engaged in the selling of a bed spring patented and manufactured by himself. He disposed of his manufactured product within a radius of fifty miles of Sabetha. He died in 1910. The mother of Courtland L: Parker was born in Michigan City, Ind., September 6, 1850, and was there reared and married. She died August 18, 1914. She was a deeply religious woman, and was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Courtland L. Parker was educated in the Sabetha schools, and grad- uated from the high school of his native city. At the age of eighteen years, he entered the employ of the Derby Grain Company as driver of a coal wagon, making deliveries to Sabetha patrons of the company. For the past fourteen years, he has remained in the employ of this concern, and has advanced from his first humble position to become a stockholder in the company, secretary and treasurer, and was appointed manager of the company in 1910. Besides the grain and coal business in Sabetha, Mr. Parker has charge of six large elevators located on the Rock Island railroad, which have his personal supervision. For a period of five years of his service, he was manager of the Derby Grain Elevator at Powhat- tan, Kans.

Mr. Parker was married on June 1, 1910, to Miss Stella Bartley, born March 7, 1888, at Powhattan, Kans. Mrs. Parker is a daughter of Sam-

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uel and Mary (Callahan) Bartley, natives of Virginia, who migrated to Kansas, and are now making their home at Powhattan. Mr. and Mrs. Bartley are the parents of eleven children, all of whom are living within a radius of twenty-five miles of their home place.

Mr. Parker is a Republican in his political affiliations, and is a member of the Methodist church, of which organization he is a member of the official board. He is very active in religious work as carried on by his denomination, and is secretary of the music committee, chorister of the Sunday school, and superintendent of the intermediate department of the Sunday school. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and the Knights and Ladies of Security.

Arthur J. Collins, president of the National Bank of Sabetha, Kans., was born in Sabetha, January 7, 1873. He is a son of Ira F. and Sarah M. (Moorehead) Collins, old residents of Nemaha county.

Ira F. Collins, his father, was born in Cass county, Illinois, October 14, 1845, and is a son of Thomas Jefferson and Julia (Fowler) Collins. Thomas J. Collins was born in Ohio in 1800, and was a son of Pratt and Eliza Collins, who were natives of Ireland. In August of 1862, Ira F. Collins enlisted at Virginia, Ill., in Company D, One Hundred Four- teenth volunteer infantry, and saw much active service during the Civil war, in the armies of Generals Grant and Sherman. He received a wound in the head at Guntown, Miss., and remained in the army hospital for sixty days. He was also taken prisoner at Guntown and interned at Cahaba, Ala., where he was held for nine months until exchanged. His greatest battle was at Vicksburg, Miss. Mr. Collins was discharged from the service on July 25, 1865, and in the fall of that year, he migrated to Nemaha county, Kansas, and located five miles north of Sabetha. His first purchase was a quarter section of land in Berwick township. He farmed his land until 1870, and then removed to Sabetha, and engaged in general merchandising until 1890 when he sold out his store and re- tired. In 1912, he embarked in the breeding of Holstein cattle and breeds thoroughbred cattle for fanciers of this breed of cattle who wish to improve their herds. Mr. Collins is owner of 320 acres of land, and has an interest in the National Bank of Sabetha.

Ira F. Collins was married in 1868 to Sarah Moorehead, who was born in Iowa in 1850, and died April 22, 1915. Five children were born to this marriage, as follows: Mrs. F. G. Hammon, Sabetha, Kans .; Arthur J., subject of this review; Mrs. Myrtle Storm, whose husband, W. H. Storm, is a farmer in Berwick township; Grace, wife of George · R. Jones, a clothing merchant of Emporia, Kans .; Helen, wife of Dr. E. J. Harold, a dental practitioner of Sabetha.

Mr. Collins is a progressive Republican, and filled the office of State . representative from 1881 to 1885, and has served as mayor of Sabetha. For forty-five years he has been affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Grand Army Post.

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Arthur J. Collins, with whom this review is directly concerned, was educated in the Sabetha High School and Spalding's Business College at Kansas City, Mo. When seventeen years old, he began clerking in his father's store. In 1894, he was employed at St. Joseph, Mo., as office clerk for the Richardson-Roberts and Bern Dry Goods Company. He resigned this position in January, 1897, and returned to Sabetha, where he entered the National Bank of Sabetha as bookkeeper. He was pro- moted to the post of assistant cashier in 1898, and later was cashier of the bank until his election to the presidency of this strong institution in 1908. Mr. Collins is also a director of the First National Bank of Hia- watha, Kans.

Mr. Collins was married, in 1907, to Edith, daughter of George W. Williams, of Seneca, Kans., a review of whose life is given in this vol- ume. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have one child: Mary Catharine, born Au- gust 20, 1914.

Mr. Collins is a Republican in politics, and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is treasurer of the Sabetha Blue Lodge.

Samuel Weart, of Gilman township, is a Kansas pioneer and one time freighter, who bears the added distinction of having been an Indian fighter during his freighting days. He was born in Ohio, October 16, 1847. and is a son of Louis and Sarah Ann (Kirkendall) Weart. His father was born in New Jersey in 1809, and removed with his parents to Ohio in a very early day. He took up farming, was married in 1840, and in 1859 migrated to Nemaha county, Kansas, taking up a location on the banks of Harris creek, in Gilman township. His first tract of land came into his possession through a mortgage which he held and foreclosed. He died in Kansas, on the Weart home place, in 1863. Sarah Ann (Kirkendall) Weart was born in New Jersey and died in In- diana, where she and her husband had gone previous to Mr. Weart's coming to Kansas. Her demise occurred in 1852. Louis and Sarah Weart were the parents of five children, as follows: William and Au- gustus, deceased; Samuel, the subject of this review; John Berry, a farmer in Washington ; David, deceased.

Samuel Weart was ten years old when his father came to Kansas from Indiana, and he remained at home until he attained the age of twenty-five years. When still a youth in his teens he became a freighter, and was in the employ of the government for some time. He drove six oxen from Seneca during the years of 1864 and 1865, and transported merchandise to Ft. Halleck, and his father also hauled provisions from Atchison to Seneca for the merchants of that city. In 1864, while driv- ing a team for John Wright, their outfit was attacked by Indians to the number of twenty-five or thirty on the South Platte river. There were three wagons in the convoy of eighteen men, but these men were suffi- cient to withstand the attack of the savages, and easily beat them off and killed their leader, with several of his warriors, the Indian attack

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being somewhat ineffective because of a high wind deflecting their ar- rows. The whites lost but one driver in this fight. This train was the first to go through up the Little Blue valley after the Indian uprising and massacre of that period, and were followed by United States sol- diers. After his service as a freighter, he resumed the peaceful pursuit of farming for himself on eighty acres of the home place, and eventually bought out the other heirs and came into possession of the tract. By dint of industry and good management, he has come into possession of 180 acres of well improved land in Gilman township.

Mr. Weart was married in 1876 to Margaret Kaiser, daughter of Nicholas and Marguerite Kaiser, who died, leaving three children, namely: Henry, deceased; Mrs. Maggie Andrews, Marysville, Kans., mother of two children; John, deceased. His second marriage was with Mrs. Katie E. Howard, on May 3, 1904, widow of George Howard, Jr., of Denver, Colo. She was first married to George Howard, May 5, 1897, at Denver, Colo. Mr. Howard was born in Ohio in 1874, reared on a farm near Tonganoxie, Kans., where his parents, George and Lizzie Howard, had settled, later removing to Denver. George, Jr., became a brakeman on the Union Pacific railroad, and was killed in 1899, while coupling cars on the Denver & Rio Grande railroad at Alamosa, Colo. His widow. now Mrs. Weart (maiden name Kennedy), was born in Ireland, No- vember 15, 1874, and came to Kansas City, Mo., with her parents when three years old. She graduated from the sisters' school in 1889, was married in 1894 to Mr. Howard, and has one child by this marriage: Geneva, wife of William Nelson, Oneida, Kans.

Mr. and Mrs. Weart are members of the Catholic church, and Mrs. Weart belongs to the altar society of the church in Kansas City. Mr. Weart is a Republican in politics.

Rev. John Plattner, Sabetha, Kans., pastor of the Apostolic Christian Church of Nemaha county, was born at Basil, Switzerland, February 28, 1853, and is a son of Jacob and Anna Marie (Frei) Plattner, who were tillers of the soil in their native land, and lived and died in Switzerland. John Plattner was one of six children born to his parents. His father died in 1881 ; his mother departed this life in 1861, when he was eight years old.

Mr. Plattner received a good common school education in his native country, and in 1873, he immigrated to America, and located at Peoria, Ill., where he was employed as farm hand for some time until he could begin farming on his own account. He was there married, and joined the Apostolic Christian denomination (Amish). In 1882, he, with others, migrated to Kansas, and joined the Amish or Apostolic Christian settlement six miles west of Sabetha in Nemaha county. Mr. Plattner was appointed presiding elder or minister of the church, and is now serving in that capacity.

Rev. Plattner has carried on his duties as leader and adviser of the Apostolic Christians while attending to his farming interests, and has

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become well-to-do. When he came to Nemaha county, he purchased 160 acres of land seven miles west of Sabetha upon which was located a small house and indifferent improvements, which have since been re- placed by a good home and barns and other outbuildings. This first farm cost him $2,000, and his acreage in Nemaha county has since been increased to the large total of 400 acres in different tracts, in addition to two town properties. Mr. Plattner left the farm, March 2, 1905, and re- sides in a comfortable home in Sabetha.

Rev. John Plattner was married October 24, 1878, to Lida Kellar, and they have reared an orphaned nephew and niece, children of Henry Plattner, namely: Jacob, farming on his Uncle John's land ; Mrs. Anna Edelman, also living on a farm in Washington township. Mrs. Lida Plattner was born July 23, 1859, at Zurich, Switzerland, and is a daugh- ter of Jacob and Anna (Wirgler) Kellar, who immigrated to America in 1874, and settled on a farm near Peoria, Ill. Jacob died there in 1887, and the mother of Mrs. Plattner took up her residence with Mr. and Mrs. Plattner, dying in December, 1903. For the past thirty-four years, Rev. Plattner has served as elder of his church faithfully and well.

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History of Nemaha County, Kansas, Part 42

Author: Tennal, Ralph 1872- Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing Company Number of Pages: 964

Author: Tennal, Ralph 1872-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan., Standard Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 964