USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 47
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William Thompson was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, November 7. 1845. He was a son of Madison and Elizabeth (Thompson) Thomp- son, natives of the old Buckeye State. When he has but seventeen years of age William Thompson enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-second Ohio infantry, and served his country well and faithfully during the time of his service. He resided in Ohio until 1875 and then came to Nemaha county, where he purchased 160 acres of land in Rock Creek township. He made extensive improvements on this tract and built a large ten-room house for his abode. He became an ex- tensive cattle and hog feeder and prospered during his residence in Kansas. He died May 25, 1904.
He was married December 24, 1870, to Eliza Cleary, born in Noble county, Ohio, June 4, 1845, a daughter of John and Ann (Dempsey) Cleary, natives of Ireland. John Cleary, her father, was born January 2, 1810, and became a carpenter, but took up farming in Noble county, Ohio, after his immigration to America. He was married at Cincinnati, Ohio, to Ann Dempsey, born November 4, 1817, and died 1879.
Four children were born of this marriage of William and Eliza Thompson, as follows: Harmon D., at home with his mother ; Mrs. Ann Iola Franklin, on a farm five miles southwest of Sabetha : Joseph E., dead; Norwista Grace, at home.
Mrs. Thompson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is active in church and society work connected with this denomina- tion.
Henson J. Hazell, prosperous stockman of Sabetha. Kans., and for- mer member of the Board of County Commissioners of Nemaha county, has taken an active and influential part in the civic and political life of Nemaha county and has achieved a measure of success which compares most favorably with that of the best Kansas farmers. Mr. Hazell was born October 13, 1852, in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, and is a son of Josiah and Armon (Miller) Hazell, who were the parents of two chil- dren, namely: John, deceased, and Henson J., the subject of this biography.
Josiah Hazell was born in June, 181.4, in Green county, Kentucky, and became a blacksmith and skilled machinist. He migrated to Illinois in 1840 and worked at his trade in Jo Daviess county until his death in 1854. His marriage with Armon Miller occurred in 1847. Mrs. Armon (Miller) Hazell was born in Green county, Kentucky, in 1829. and died January, 1886. She was a daughter of James and Mary (Bush) Miller, of Kentucky. After the death of Josiah Hazell, his widow mar- ried William McCarty in 1859. Mr. and Mrs. McCarty migrated to Kansas and settled in Nemaha county in 1873.
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Henson J. Hazell was reared on his father's farm in Jo Daviess county and came to Kansas in 1873 with his mother and stepfather, who settled on a farm in Berwick township, Nemaha county. Soon after his arrival in this county, Mr. Hazell bought eighty acres of unim- proved land in Berwick township, improved it and cultivated his acre- age for fourteen years and then sold it. He later bought 230 acres of land adjoining Sabetha on the south, just outside of the city limits, which is his home at the present time. Mr. Hazell has always been an extensive feeder and shipper of cattle and handles from 300 to 400 head annually at a considerable profit. In addition to his farming inter- ests he is a shareholder in the Citizens State Bank of Sabetha.
Mr. Hazell was married in December, 1875, to Miss Mary E. Mc- Carty, who was born in Ohio, April 2, 1855, a daughter of George B. and Lizzie McCarty, who were natives of the Old Buckeye State. Four children have blessed this union, namely: Joseph, who is assisting his father cultivate the family farm; Mrs. Armon Brown, deceased; Robert, bookkeeper for an ice manufacturing concern at Kansas City, Mo .; Mrs. Helen Ash, Sabetha, Kans., whose husband is a stationary en- gineer, and who is the mother of two children, Henson Jr., and Warren Ash, born April 13, 1916.
Mr. Hazell is one of the "wheel horses" of the Democratic party in Nemaha county and has been active in the councils of his party for many years. He has filled the office of township trustee and was elected to the office of county commissioner in 1912, serving for three years. He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Hazell has always taken a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of his home county and is a thorough and loyal Kansan who has made good in the State of his adoption.
John C. Maxson, M. D., Ph. G., Corning, Kans., is one of the leaders of the profession in Nemaha county who has achieved a signal success in his difficult, useful and exacting calling. Dr. Maxson was born at Lima Center. Wis., January 14, 1867, and is a son of James S. and Amelia B. (Child) Maxson, who were the parents of six children, as follows: Mrs. Emma L. French, deceased; Julia B., deceased; Mrs. Mary A. Lamphear, wife of Dr. Emery Lamphear, Campbell, Cal .; Sarah L., Campbell, Cal .; Mr. Gertrude A. Reynolds, Campbell, Cal .; Dr. John C. Maxson, subject of this review.
James S. Maxson, father of Dr. Maxson, was born in Alleghany county, New York, October 9, 1823, and educated himself in the acad- emies of his native State for the teaching profession, which he followed for many years in New York, Wisconsin and Kansas. After a residence of some years in Wisconsin, he came to Kansas and located at Emporia in 1874. Later he taught in the city schools of Hartford, Kans., and taught in various cities and towns of Kansas for several years until he retired to a home with his children at Kelly, Kans., and lived among
DR. J. C. MAXSON AND FAMILY.
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them until his death in 1905. Mr. Maxson was a very industrious man, who kept himself employed during vacation time by plying his trade of painter. He was married in Wisconsin to Amelia B. Child, who was born in New York State in 1834, and died at Erie, Kans., in 1896. They were members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
John C. Maxson was educated in the schools of Parsons, Kans., and other towns in which his father's profession required that he reside.
After completing his public school studies he matriculated at the University Medical School of Kansas City, Mo., in 1889, and pursued a course of study covering four years in that institution. He graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1893. In the meantime he had taken up the study of pharmacy in the Kansas City College of Pharmacy and received his degree of graduate pharmacist in 1891. Dr. Maxson was thus well equipped to undertake the practice of his profession, which he began in Kansas City, Mo., remaining there until his removal to Goff, Kans., in 1894. He followed general practice in Goff until his removal to Corning in 1905. Since locating in Corning, Dr. Maxson has enjoyed a lucrative practice and has accumulated a competence for him- self and family as a result of his extensive medical practice. He owns 240 acres of land in Colorado and has three business buildings in Corning.
Dr. Maxson was married in September, 1892, to Miss Addie B. Wetherby, and this marriage has been blessed with five children, as follows: Bernice, deceased; Harold, Mildred, Hilda and Alberta. Al- berta is deceased. Mrs. Addie Maxson was born in Michigan, February 7, 1865, and is a daughter of James and Caroline S. (Gill) Wetherby, natives of New York. Her father was a cabinet maker, and is deceased. Her aged mother was born in 1839, and makes her home with Dr. Maxson.
Dr. Maxson is a Republican, and is affiliated fraternally with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a member of the county, State and American Medical societies, and is constantly striving to advance himself in his profession by means of wide reading and keeping abreast of the advance made in medical science.
Elliott H. Marshall, proprietor of the Sabetha greenhouses, is a native born Kansan who established his successful floral plant in 1898. Mr. Marshall was born November 6, 1872, on a farm in Berwick town- ship. Nemaha county. He is a son of Hugh and Sarah (Deaver) Mar- shall, who were the parents of three children, as follows: Edgar, the eldest who died two weeks after the arrival of the Marshall family in Kansas; Elliott H., with whom this review is concerned; Mrs. Hattie Hohnbaum, Hiawatha, Kans.
Hugh Marshall, the father, was born in 1813 in Virginia, and died December 10, 1875. He first went from Virginia to Deavertown, Ohio, and worked at his trade of tanner until 1870, when he moved to Mis-
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souri, and made a settlement in that State. He lived in Missouri for one year, and on September 1, 1871, migrated to Nemaha county, Kansas, and made settlement on a farm one and a half miles north of Sabetha. He tilled his eighty acre farm until his demise. The mother of Elliott H. Marshall was born in Ohio, December LI, 1833, and died June 21, 1909.
The subject of this review was three years of age when his parents made their home in Kansas. He was reared on the farm and, after at- tending the district school in his neighborhood, he finished his schooling at Sabetha, being required to walk two miles from his home to the town, and return home after school was dismissed. In 1894, his mother re- moved to Sabetha, and left her son in charge of the farm. He tilled the tract until 1898, at which time he came to Sabetha, and established his greenhouses. His first building was a glass structure 16x25 feet in di- mensions, and he has continually enlarged his buildings because of the growing demands of his business, which increased from year to year under good management until the Marshall greenhouses now consist of three large structures, each seventy-five feet long. He also erected a residence on his tract of two and a half acres, which is located on Four- teenth street, just north of the St. Joe and Grand Island railway.
Mr. Marshall was married in 1894 to Gertrude E. Parker, who was born March 16, 1876, and is a daughter of Wickcliffe and Ellen (Davis- son) Parker. (See sketch of C. L. Parker). Four children have blessed this marriage, as follows: Mrs. Leonie Ruse, living in Brown county, Kansas, and who graduated from the Sabetha High School in 1915; Golda, Verna, and Bernice, at home.
Mr. Marshall is inclined to be independent in his political views, and votes for such candidates as seem best suited to fill the duties of the of- fice sought. He and Mrs. Marshall are members of the Methodist church, and Mr. Marshall is a member of the board of trustees of the Sa- betha congregation.
Dr. George R. Conrad .- George R. Conrad, veterinary surgeon, Sa- dict's, Kans., was born in Oldenburg, German, March II, 1833, and is a of George W. and Lurania (Rasson) Conrad, who were the parents of six children. George W. Conrad was born at Rochester, N. Y., was there reared to young manhood, moved to Jasper county, Iowa, and from there, came to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1868. He settled on a farm in Cap- ioma township and prospered, becoming owner of 240 acres of land. Mr. Conrad, Sr., is now located at Dover, Okla., and is aged seventy-five years. He was, at one time, a member of the Kansas legislature, having been elected representative from Nemaha county on the Republican ticket. Mrs. Conrad is residing in Sabetha. She was born in Boston, Mass., in 1843. Six children were born to George W. Conrad and wife, as follows: Mrs. Clara Robinson, Sabetha. Kans .; Mrs. Belle Hollister, wife of manager of the Tile Manufacturing Company of Sabetha ; George R., subject of this review; Mrs. Eunice Masheter, Tryon, Okla .; Mrs.
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Mille Deaver, Kansas City, Kans .; Dr. Burt Conrad, Sabetha, Kans.
George R. Conrad received his schooling in the district school of his neighborhood, in Capioma township, and remained on his father's farm until 1893. He then came to Sabetha and worked for two years with Dr. Kabe, a veterinary, after which he studied for two years at the Kansas City, Mo., Veterinary College, and graduated from this school in 1897. He immediately began the practice of his profession at Sabetha, and has built up an extensive practice among the live stock producers in a large territory ranging from Atchison to Marysville, Blue Rapids, and other points in northern Kansas. Dr. Conrad has succeeded in a professional and a material way, and owns 280 acres of good land south of Fairview in Brown county, Kansas.
He was married, in 1894, to Etta C. Carpenter, born in 1870, in Iowa, and a daughter of James and Mary A. (Gallagher) Carpenter. Her fa- ther was a locomotive engineer, and after migrating to Kansas, he oper- ated a flouring mill near Woodlawn, his daughter also conducting a store and the postoffice at Woodlawn, Nemaha county. Four children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. Conrad, as follows: Paul, a student in North- western University at Lincoln, Neb .; Samuel, George and Marjorie, at home with their parents.
Dr. Conrad is a Republican in politics, and he and Mrs. Conrad are members of the Congregational church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Knights and Ladies of Se- curity.
An incident in the early life of Dr. Conrad is well worth recording : "When George R. Conrad was about nine years of age, an Indian came along the road near the Conrad home, leading a pony. The red man wanted to buy a guinea fowl, and left the wild pony at the Conrad place. The pony was wild and untamed. George took the animal to a quiet place in the timber and fed him. The pony would fight at the least pro- vocation and resented any attention, but George gradually tamed him, and fed him at night in the barn. Two weeks later, the Indian, who was the chief, 'Mothockquit,' of the Kickapoo tribe, returned for his pony. and the boy was heartbroken over the loss of the pony, which he had hoped to keep."
Dr. Conrad has specialized in his calling, and has become successsful in the surgical operation called the crip-thorchid operation, usually per- formed on a horse.
Henry Feldman, successful real estate operator of Sabetha. Kans .. was born in Richardson county, Nebraska. October 8, 1871, and is a son of Fred and Magdalene (Glarner) Feldman, who were the parents of five children, Henry being the third in order of birth. Fred Feldman was born in Berne, Switzerland, in 1840 and emigrated from the land of his nativity in 1868 and first settled in Pennsylvania, where he worked at his trade of carpenter. He lived for some years in Pittsburg and was there married and came west to Nebraska, locating on a farm in
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Richardson county. He cultivated his farm until his untimely death, caused by a runaway team while he was putting up hay, in the summer of 1886. The mother of Henry Feldman was born at Glarus, Switzer- land, in 1836, immigrated to America when thirty years of age, and died in 1912. Both parents are buried near the home place in Richardson county. They were members of the German Reformed church.
Henry Feldman was reared to young manhood on the Nebraska farm and attended the "Rattlesnake" district school in his boyhood days. At the age of twenty-two years he rented land from his mother and followed farming successfully until 1909. The following year he located in Sabetha, Kans., and engaged in the real estate business. While managing his farm in Nebraska, Mr. Feldman specialized in the breeding of heavy draft horses and for two years after his location in Sabetha he was a breeder of Polled Durham cattle. He was a large feeder and an extensive shipper of live stock, his shipments to the mar- kets running from 200 to 500 head of hogs and cattle annually. His success in the real estate field has been marked. He is owner of 320 acres of land in Richardson county, Nebraska, the old homestead of the family. At the present time, Mr. Feldman is in partnership with J. L. Musgrove.
Mr. Feldman was married in 1887 to Verna Walker, who was born June 13, 1871, a daughter of A. W. and Amelia (Ackerman) Walker, natives of Canada and Wisconsin, respectively. A. W. Walker was an early settler of Missouri, where he lived for some years previous to locating on a farm near Salem, Neb.
Mr. and Mrs. Feldman are members of the Methodist church. Mr. Feldman is independent in his political views and refuses to wear the party yoke or vote at the dictates of political bosses. He does his own thinking along political lines and votes for such candidates as he thinks best fitted for the office sought.
William H. Root, owner of a fine farm of 260 acres in Rock Creek township, is a native Kansan and son of pioneer parents. He was born on a farm in Brown county, October 7, 1864, and is the second of six children born to Jacob and Elizabeth (Burtwell) Root.
Jacob Root, his father, was born in Darke county, Ohio, February 28, 1835, and migrated to Brown county, Kansas, in 1860. He farmed in Brown county until 1894 and then moved to Sabetha, Kans. His wife, Elizabeth, was born in 1842 in Iowa and died in 1869. After her death Jacob Root was twice married without issue. He is now making his home with William H. Root in Rock Creek township.
William H. Root began renting land when he was twenty-two years of age and in 1900 came to Nemaha county, Kansas, and bought his present home farm of 260 acres in section 4 of Rock Creek township. He was married in 1886 to Mary Shannon, who was born in Iowa in 1867, and died in 1912, leaving three children, as follows: Mrs. Essie Sires, living at Trenton, Mo., has a son, Virgil, aged five years; Frank and
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Fred, at home with their father. Mr. Root was married the second time to Mrs. Jennie (De Long) Murray, a widow, born September 24, 1872, at Parallel, Riley county, Kansas, a daughter of William and Sarah Elizabeth (Watson) De Long. William De Long, her father, was born at Wheeling. W. Va., and was a veteran of the Civil war. He served in the Seventeenth regiment of Iowa volunteer infantry and was wounded while digging a trench. A comrade accidentally stuck a pitch- fork in his right eye, causing partial blindness. He migrated to Kansas in an early day and made a settlement in Riley county. He lived in Riley county until 1874 and then removed to Troy, Kans., where he died in 1899. Mrs. Root's mother was born in Muscatine county, Iowa, in 1836, and is now living in Randolph county, Kansas. The first marriage of Jennie De Long was with John Murray in 1893. Mr. Murray was born in Virginia, December 5. 1872, and was a son of George and Eliz- abeth Murray. He came to Denton, Kans., with his parents when twelve years old. After the marriage of John and Jennie Murray they moved to Troy, Kans., where Mr. Murray died in 1901. Three children were born to the Murrays, as follows: Mrs. Alpha Lacefield, Brewster, Kans., who has a daughter, Virginia, born May 19, 1916; William L., depot helper at Sabetha, Kans .; Myrtle Evelyn, at home.
Mr. Root is a Republican in politics and is a member of the Dunk- ard church. He is a shareholder in the Sabetha Mutual Telephone Company, and is a member of the Farmers Union and the Farmers Shipping Association of Price, Kans.
George W. Myers, wealthy farmer of Rock Creek township, began life as a herder of cattle, and has worked his way upward to his present position of substance and well being through industry and good. finan- cial management. Endowed with no possessions at the outset of his ca- reer but a strong body and a good mind, he has accomplished a great deal more than the average man. Mr. Myers is a pioneer settler of Nemalia county, and his advent into Kansas dates from the year 1867, when his father homesteaded a tract of land in Capioma township.
Daniel Myers, the father, was born in Canada in 1832, and drove from his Canadian home to Nemaha county with a team in 1867. He set- tled in Capioma township, but left the county in 1869, and settled in Arkansas City. Cowley county, Kansas, where he died of typhoid in 1873. His wife, Elizabeth Collins Myers, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1823, and died March 16, 1899.
George WV. Myers was born near Morrisburg, Canada, February 6, 1863, and is a son of Daniel and Eliza (Collins) Myers, who were the parents of a family of eight children. Upon the death of his father in 1874, George W. left home and herded town cattle on the range at Arkan- sas, with his brother, Daniel, for three years. He and his brother then came to Nemalia county, and herded cattle on the plains for two years. For one year, he broke up prairie land for incoming settlers, and then rented land on his own account for two years. In 1883, he bought forty
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acres in Capioma township, but sold the same in 1887, and bought another eighty, which he later sold, and invested the proceeds in a quar- ter section. In 1905, he moved to his present location, and began devel- oping and improving the farm, which was the nucleus of his present large holdings of 560 acres. Mr. Myers has one of the most complete agricul- turål plants in Kansas, upon which he has spared no pains nor expense to make perfect, and equip so that the farm work can be handled expedi- tiously and economically. He has a silo, cow shed, milk house, scales for weighing the farm products, and an excellent farm home. Mr. Myers specializes in Durham cattle.
Mr. Myers was married, in 1882, to Harriet E. Benedict, who was born in Henry county, Illinois, January 28, 1866, and is a daughter of Stephen and Ann (Bushnell) Benedict, natives of New York State. The Benedict family came to Nemaha county, Kansas, and made a settlement in Capioma township as early as 1868. Stephen Benedict was born in 1833, and died on his farm in 1897. His wife, Ann, was born in 1836, and died in 1890. Both were members of the Congregational church.
Stephen Benedict served throughout the Civil war as an enlisted man in an Illinois regiment, and was a member of the Sabetha Grand Army post. He was a fancier and breeder of fast driving horses, and produced the fastest pacing mare, ever bred in Nemaha county.
The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Myers: Mrs. Ida Beck, Abilene, Kans .; Mrs. Blanche Hennigh, Rock Creek town- ship ; Harrison, a farmer in Rock Creek township; Mrs. Ethel Hennigh, Rock Creek township; Mrs. Mildred Showman, living in the same local- ity ; Glenn and Grace, at home ; two children died in infancy.
The Republican party has the allegience of Mr. Myers, and he has served in various minor offices in his township. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and ranks high in Masonic circles, being a member of the Mystic Shriners, and having taken all Masonic degrees, up to and including the thirty-second degree. He and Mrs. Myers are members of the Methodist church, and contribute of their means to the support of this denomination.
Elmer E. Althouse .- Four generations of the Althouse family have lived in Nemaha county, Kansas, and the family history begins with Conrad and Susanna Althouse, who were natives of Germany and Penn- sylvania, respectively. Conrad Althouse was the grandfather of him whose name heads this review, and was born in Germany, September 23. 1795, immigrated to America, worked at his trade of carpenter and made a settlement in Nemaha county in 1857, just four years preceding his death in 1861. His wife Susanna was born at Salisbury, Penn., Jan- uary 28, 1809, and died February 17, 1898.
Herman Althouse, a son of Conrad and Susanna (Workman) Althouse, was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1834, and accompanied his parents to Kansas in 1857. He pre-empted 160 acres of unbroken land on Cedar creek, in Rock Creek township, broke
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up his land with oxen, built a one-room shack, and a grass-roofed shed for his live stock and later supplanted his primitive structures with better buildings when he got his land in good producing shape. The Althouse family came by steamer from Pittsburg down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi to St. Louis, Mo., thence via the Missouri river by steamboat to St. Joseph. During the border ruffian days Her- man Althouse took an active part in some of the stirring scenes inci- dental to making Kansas a free State. He was married in 1859 to Susan Howard, born in Andrew county, Missouri, August 9, 1842, and a daugh- ter of Abraham and Siotha Jane (Manes) Howard, natives of Ten- nessee. Herman and Susan Althouse are members of the Methodist church. When Herman Althouse came to Kansas to make a home for himself he had no money, passed through all the hardships incidental to the settlement of the county and had his share of them. He has reared a large family of eleven children-a record of which any adopted son of Kansas has good and just right to be proud.
Elmer E. Althouse was born on the home farm of the Althouse family, June 15, 1866, and has always lived with his parents and cared for them. He is tilling 160 acres, eighty acres of which is owned by his father. He is a Democrat in politics and is one of the enterprising younger farmers of the county. The other children of Herman and Susan Althouse are as follows: Francis M., a farmer of Rock Creek township; Mrs. Jennie Deskin, deceased; Mrs. Bettie Buckner, Morris county, Kansas; Mary, wife of Rev. T. M. Bell, Mound City, Kans .; Thomas, farming in Capioma township; Charles, Rock Creek eown- ship; Mrs. Nellie Felmlee, Sabetha, Kans .; Mrs. Maud Crawford, Sabetha, Kans .; George, a farmer of Rock Creek township, and Abra- ham H., living in Morris county, Kansas.
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