USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 71
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He followed active farming pursuits until 1907 and then retired to a comfortable home in Sabetha, Kans., so that his children would receive the advantages of a good school education such as is afforded by the Sabetha graded schools. Mr. Smith died in the Sabetha Hospital No- vember 26, 1911.
This departed pioneer was married March 5, 1889, to Miss Ida Lahr, born in Macon county, Missouri, and who bore him three children, as follows: Helen, born September 12, 1892, a graduate of Sabetha High School, class of 1911 ; Raymond, born February 9, 1896, attending Gem City Business College at Quincy, Ill .; Lila, born August 28, 1899. Mrs. Ida Smith, widow of William Smith, was born February 9, 1869, and is a daughter of Paul and Mary (Johnson) Lahr. Paul Lahr, her father, was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1839, and im- migrated to Miller county, Missouri, before the Civil war in 1859, but was forced to leave the State on account of the activities of the border ruffians and slave advocates in 1861. He returned to his home in Illinois where his parents had removed from Pennsylvania and enlisted in the Union army August 3, 1862. He became a member of Company D, which was made up of Stephenson county men, and mustered in at Dakota, Ill., and formed a component part of the Ninety-third Illinois infantry. He served faithfully with his regiment during the course of the war and afterward farmed in Illinois for some time previous to his return to Missouri in 1866, where he had a farm in Miller county of 120 acres. In February, 1866, he went to Macon county, Missouri. In 1869, he returned to Illinois. Mr. Lahr left Illinois in 1883, and came to Kansas for the purpose of purchasing a farm in Capioma township, where he lived until his retirement to Sabetha in 1893. Mr. Lahr was
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married in 1865 to Mary Johnson, born in Center county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1844, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Smith) Johnson. On the fifth day of October, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. Lahr celebrated their gol- den wedding anniversary.
The late William Smith was an independent voter, but he took an active part in civic affairs and served as trustee of Capioma township for eight years and during his residence in Sabetha was a member of the school board which had charge of the erection of the school building. He was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and al- ways took an active part in community affairs. He was a member and official of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Ida Smith is a capable business woman who is caring for the Smith estate in an efficient man- ner. She erected a fine, modern home of seven rooms on the farm in 1915 and closely oversees the farming operations. She is a member and worker of the Methodist Episcopal church, as are all of her children. Mrs. Smith is affiliated with the Eastern Star and Royal Neighbors and takes an active part in social affairs in Sabetha.
Samuel W. McClain, well-to-do farmer of Rock Creek township, was born in Ireland, December 26, 1856, and is a son of Archibald and Jennie (Wills) McClain, who were born and reared in Country Antrim, Ireland, and were of Scotch descent. Archibald McClain, his father, was born in 1817, and emigrated from Ireland with his family in 1857. He settled in Pennsylvania, and was employed in the iron works of that State for a number of years until his migration to Nemaha county, Kan- sas, in 1877. For the first few years in Kansas, he rented land and then bought 160 acres on section 31, Rock Creek township, which is the pres- ent home place of his sons and daughters. ,He prospered, built up an attractive farm home, and died on his homestead in 1895. His wife fol- lowed him to the great beyond in 1910, aged eighty-three years.
Samuel W. McClain has spent all of his life in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he attended school, and in Nemaha county, with the exception of one and a half years, and was reared to young manhood on the McClain homestead. He made his first purchase of land in 1894, and now owns 240 acres in partnership with his brother, Laughlin Mc- Clain., The McClain brothers are excellent farmers, and are well-to-do. They raise considerable live stock of a good breed and are industrious and hard working.
The children of Archibald and Jennie McClain are as follows: Sam- uel W., subject of this review; Laughlin, who is farming in partnership with his brother; Archibald, deceased; William, a farmer; Catharine, housekeeper for her three brothers, who live on the McClain homestead; Rev. John E. McClain, pastor of the Congregational Church, at Sheldon, Iowa.
The parents of the McClain boys were members of the Episcopalian church, but the sons and daughter are affiliated with the Congrega- tional church. The example set the McClain children by their parents
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in living clean, industrious lives has been carefully emulated with the result that the brothers and sister work in harmony for their common good. Unlike many Kansas pioneers, they had very few hardships when they settled in Nemaha county and the family have always been contented and happy in the beautiful country home erected by their father, who was a man of good address and education. The McClains come of excellent Scotch-Irish stock whose forbears emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland to escape religious persecution a few centuries ago. Samuel McClain and his brothers are well respected in their neighborhood for their industry and honesty and upright demeanor.
Albert F. Trask, retired farmer of Rock Creek township, was born in Wayne county, New York, December 5, 1846, and is a son of Bar- zillai and Rhoda (Sprague) Trask, who were the parents of seven chil- dren, of whom Albert F. is the only survivor. Barzillai Trask, his father, was born near Lynn, Mass., July 3, 1809, and was a stone and brick mason during his whole life. When he moved from his native State he settled at Jackson, Mich., and there plied his trade and reared his family, after a residence of some years in New York previous to his removal to Michigan. He died at his home in Jackson county, Mich- igan, in 1871. The mother of the subject of this review was born at Lynn, Mass., in 1818, and died in 1850. After all of his children were grown and able to take care of themselves the elder Trask married the second time.
Albert F. Trask remained at the parental home until he attained his majority and then followed any honest labor he could find and plied his trade of stone and brick mason which had been taught to him by his father. When the Civil war broke out his patriotism called upon him to enlist in behalf of the Union and he tried six different times to become enrolled in the Union army, but was rejected because of a de- fective arm. However, he managed to serve for three months in the Michigan State militia during the war -- but it has been a matter of sin- cere regret to Mr. Trask that he was not allowed to fight in behalf of his country when it was in danger of dissolution. While a youth, Mr. Trask had been accidentally shot through the left arm and while the wound did not incapacitate him from doing hard labor the Union author- ities would not accept his services because of the blemish. He plied his trade of mason in Michigan and Iowa and in 1872 he migrated to Ne- maha county, Kansas. For some years he worked at his trade and farmed in Capioma township, and after his father's death he returned home to assist in straightening out the affairs of the family and settling his father's estate and did not return to Kansas until 1891. Upon his return here he rented land in Capioma township and in 1900 made his first investment in eighty acres of land in section 32 of Rock Creek township. He has built up a good home on this tract and has it well improved. In the course of time. Mr. Trask added another eighty to his holdings and has become fairly well-to-do. Of late years he has
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retired from active farm work and spends the greater portion of his time among his children. During the summer of 1916 he made an ex- tended visit among his children who are located in the Far West.'
Mr. Trask was united in marriage with Miss Emily Carlysle in 1870. Mrs. Trask was born in Illinois and died February 27, 1872. Two children were born of this marriage, namely: Rhoda Ann Sprague, died at the age of nine months; Mrs. Rena May Oxley, whose husband is a printer and located at Battle Creek, Mich. Mrs. Rena May Oxley has four children, as follows: Clyde, Marie, Ruby and Doris. Clyde Oxley, her eldest son, is married and has a daughter, Mildred Mae, thus making four generations in the Trask family, beginning with Albert F. Trask, great-grandfather of Mildred Mae Oxley. Mr. Trask was again married in 1874 to Harriet A. Penny, who was born April 20, 1841, at Southampton, N. Y., and who came to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1872. She died March 25, 1912, leaving four children, as follows: Frank E., managing the Trask home place; Charles, married Jessie House and has one child, Charles William, and resides at Scotia, Wash .; Harold, married Florence Jacobs, and has three children, Harriet, Albert and Mildred, and lives at Agatha, Idaho; William, on the home place, mar- ried Belle Lindquist, who was born at Belleville, Kans., and has one child, Marceta Valentine.
For twenty years Mr. Trask has voted the prohibition ticket and has lived up to his convictions in the matter of temperance. He is a kindly gentleman who has lived an industrious and peaceful life and who is fond of his children and grandchildren. Mr. Trask is highly esteemed in his home neighborhood and has many friends who appreciate his many excellent qualities.
James Tomlinson .- Thirty-four years ago, James Tomlinson, mer- chant and land owner of Corning, Kans., made his start as a farmer by the purchase of eighty acres of land two miles east of Corning, with a cash capital of fifty dollars which he had saved by practicing the most rigid economy. The ensuing years witnessed his success, and he became owner of 480 acres in Harrison and Reilly townships. After achieving a success in farming, he became a merchant and invested in the hardware business at Corning in 1900. His large store buildings are well stocked with furniture, implements and hardware, and the Tomlinson store en- joys an extensive trade among the people of Corning and surrounding territory.
James Tomlinson was born on a farm in York county, Ontario, Can- ada, November 25, 1853, and is a son of John W. and Sophia (Thomp- son) Tomlinson, who were the parents of eleven children. John W. Tomlinson, his father, was born in Ontario, lived all of his life in his na- tive country, and died in 1860, at the age of forty-eight years. He was a son of Joseph Tomlinson, a son of Welsh emigrants, born in Pennsyl- vania, and who was an Empire Loyalist during the rebellion of the Ca- nadian provinces in 1837. He immigrated to Canada in 1812 and, during
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the Rebellion, was an assistant to a gentleman in charge of the propa- ganda agitated toward making Canada a part of the United States. His parents were natives of Wales. The mother of James Tomlinson died in Huron county, Michigan, in 1904, aged seventy-nine years. She left her old Canadian home in 1885, and settled in Michigan.
James Tomlinson was reared on a farm in Canada until he was sev- enteen years old. He then learned the trade of carpenter, and followed this trade for ten years. In 1875, he moved to Mercer county, Illinois, and worked at his trade there, and also farmed until his migration to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1880. For two years, he followed his trade at Wetmore, Kans., and then moved to an eighty acre farm two miles east of Corning, which he purchased with a small cash payment, and paid for in due time with hard work and good management. So successful was Mr. Tomlinson's farming operations that he became owner of 480 acres of land in Harrison and Reilly townships, which he cultivated until 1900. In that year he sold out all of his land, and bought a partnership in a hardware store in Corning with W. J. Glenn. In 1902 he bought out his partner's interest, and he has since been managing the store. Mr. Tomlinson is also owner of eighty acres of land in Nemaha county, and has a large tract of 480 acres in Texas.
He was married October 19, 1877, at Davenport, Iowa, to Miss Sarah S. Mccullough, and to this union have been born twelve children, as follows: Anna G., wife of R. E. Harris, living on a farm in Harrison township; John, is operating a lunch and confectionery store in Corning ; Nellie S., a graduate of Corning High School and business college of Kansas City, and is now employed as a stenographer in Kansas City, Mo .; Jessie May, wife of Alfred Molineaux, a farmer living near Goff ; Mabel, wife of Harry Whistler, floor walker for a large packing plant in Kansas City, Kans .; Clyde, at home and assisting in the store, is mar- ried to Emma Neighbors of Seneca; James L., assistant cashier of the State Exchange Bank of Atchison, Kans .; Orville J., deputy postmaster of Corning, Kans .; Bethel, Denise, and Marguerite, at home; Eunice, wife of Robert Harris, Hill City, Mo. The mother of this large and in- teresting family was born at Ardray, Scotland, May 24, 1860, and is a daughter of Robert and Mary McCullough, who emigrated from their native land in 1869, and settled in Ohio where Robert Mccullough fol- lowed coal mining until his removal to Illinois in 1874, where he also worked in the coal mines until his death in 1880, at the age of sixty-eight years. Mrs. Tomlinson's mother died in 1906, aged seventy-two years.
Mr. Tomlinson is an independent or progressive Republican, and has served as trustee of Reilly township. He was elected a member of the Corning town council in 1904, and has served continuously as a valued and active member of that body for the past twelve years. He is a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is assistant Sunday school superintendent. Mr. Tomlinson is affiliated fraternally with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of
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Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His life and activities have been those of a useful and enterprising citizen, who is continually strivng to do his duty by his family, his fellow men and his home city.
John P. Dam .- The little kingdom of Denmark has contributed many hundreds of substantial citizens to the State of Kansas, who are noted for their industry and integrity of purpose. A few of the natives of the Danish kingdom have made settlement in Nemaha county, and have achieved individual successes which are striking and notable. No people are quicker to assimilate American ways and adapt themselves to their surroundings than those of Danish birth, and wherever you find one of that persuasion who has settled on the soil of the West, there you find an agricultural plant operated upon the most advanced lines. John P. Dam, farmer and breeder of Illinois township, has become noted for the pure bred Holsteins which are produced on his farm and he has worked his way upward from poverty to become a well-to-do citizen of his adopted county.
Mr. Dam was born in Denmark, August 1, 1859, and is a son of Per and Johanna (Holm) Dam, the former of whom was born April 17, 1830, and became a teamster in his native country. In his younger days, he was an adventurous gold miner in the far off land of Australia. He died in Denmark in 1870. John P. Dam's mother was born in 1835, and died in the land of her nativity in 1869.
John P. Dam learned the miller's trade in Denmark, and immigrated to Rochelle, Ogle county, Illinois, in 1877. He worked for two years as a farm hand, and then migrated to Nemaha county, Kansas, and bought eighty acres of his present farm in section 34 of Illinois township. He paid $6 per acre for his land, and put up a small shack 12x14 feet, in which he lived during his first four years, while trying to make ends meet on the farm, and pay for his land. His first barn was built of forked timbers stuck upright in the ground and overlaid with poles cut from the timber and which were covered with grass. This makeshift sufficed for some time as a shelter for his live stock. Mr. Dam set out trees and shrubbery for the purpose of beautifying his home surroundings, and in time, erected better buildings to take the place of his first rude shelters. He has added to his acreage, until he now has a quarter section of land well improved. For some years he has been breeding Holstein cattle, and is owner of the best pedigreed bull in Nemaha county. He main- tains a successful dairy which adds materially to his income, and keeps the Poland China breed of swine.
Mr. Dam was married at Centralia, Kans., to Theodora Nelson on July 3, 1887. Mrs. Dam was born in Schleswig, Denmark, December 21, 1857. She accompanied her brother, Peter Nelson, to Centralia, Kans., in 1880, and made her home with a sister Mrs. A. H. Hybskmann. Six members of the Nelson family have emigrated from Denmark to this country, and have found good homes in the land of opportunity such as
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they had dreamed of in their little country across the seas. One child has been reared by Mr. and Mrs. Dam, namely: Amanda, wife of Dr. J. L. Coles, an osteopath located at Winfield, Kans. Both Dr. and Mrs. Coles were educated at Kirksville, Mo., and graduated from the Osteo- path College on June 7, 1915. By a former marriage with Hans Chris- tensen in 1883, Mrs. Dam is the mother of Mrs. Amanda Coles, who was born at Centralia, January 9, 1884. Mrs. Coles is a talented young woman, who was educated primarily in the Corning schools, and decided to become an osteopathic physician when twenty-six years old. She ma- triculated at the Kirksville College, and there met her future husband. Dr. Coles is a native of London, England, and immigrated to Canada when a young man, and was educated for the ministry in a theological school at Winnipeg, Canada. He preached in the Methodist denomina- tional church for seven years, and made a visit to Corning, Kans., where he became acquainted with the family, of which he is now a member by marriage. The father of Mrs. Coles, Hans Christensen, was born in Den- mark, and immigrated to New Jersey in 1875. He later moved westward to Nemaha county, Kansas, and bought an eighty acre farm southwest of Centralia, which he farmed until his early death in 1885. Mrs. Theo- dora Dam is an estimable woman, who has been hard working and in- dustrious during her whole life. She was left motherless when eight years old, and her father died when she was a young woman of twenty- two.
Mr. Dam is affiliated with the Democratic party, and has served as a member of the district school board. He and Mrs. Dam are valued members of the community, in which they reside, and are well liked and respected by their many friends and acquaintances throughout the coun- try side.
Adolphus A. Schoonover, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Illinois township, was born on a farm in Henry county, Illinois. He is a son of Rossiter and Marjorie (Harland) Schoonover, to whom were born eleven children. Rossiter Schoonover, his father, was born at Marietta, Ohio, Washington county, April 11, 1833. He lived in Washington county, Ohio, until 1852, and then moved to Henry county, Illinois, where he purchased a farm and reared his family. He died in Henry county, Illinois, in 1906. The elder Schoonover was of German extraction and was a son of Henry and Eunice (Hopkins) Schoonover, natives of Ohio, and whose parentage was of German origin. Marjorie (Harland) Schoonover, mother of Adolphus A., was born in Peoria county, Illinois, March 7, 1840, and resides at Kewanee, Illinois. She is descended from an old American family which dates back to the sixteenth century and a history of which family has been written and published.
When Adolphus A. Schoonover was twenty-two years old he set out for the western country and stopped at Corning, Kans., on Feb- ruary 16, 1887. He liked the looks of the country and invested his cap- ital in a quarter section of land four miles southeast of Corning in Reilly
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township. He improved this farm with a good home and buildings and beautified the surroundings with groves of trees and an orchard. He farmed this tract until 1902 when he rented the land and bought a forty- acre farm within two miles of the old home place, which he also im- proved. In 1904 he traded his 200 acres for the farm which he is now cultivating in sections 35 and 36 and which comprises 220 acres of good land.
Mr. Schoonover was married at Corning, Kans., July 1, 1890, to Miss Lizzie Earl and seven children have been born of this marriage, as follows: Alice, graduated from Corning High School and now teach- ing in Washington township; Ross, attending the Bradley Horological School at Peoria, Ill .; Florence, Earl, Raymond, Manford and Bernece. Mrs. Schoonover was born in Laporte county, Indiana, July 23, 1865, and is a daughter of Henry and 'Sarah (Morley) Earl, natives of Canada and Ohio, respectively. Henry Earl migrated to Kansas in 1869, and made a settlement one mile north of Corning. He died in 1906, past eighty years old. His wife departed this life in 1911, aged eighty-one years. The Earl family drove overland from their old Indiana home to Kansas in a covered wagon which conveyed the family and all of their movable possessions.
Mr. Schoonover is a Republican and he and Mrs. Schoonover are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is connected frater- nally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Schooner served on the school board of Corning, Kans., from 1906 until 1915, and filled the post of secretary of the board.
William Bumphrey, prosperous and enterprising farmer of Illinois township, is a native of Bureau county, Illinois, and was born June 14, .1877. He is a son of Albert and Mary Jane (Fuller) Bumphrey, who were the parents of three children, as follows: Mrs. Lena (Tripp) Mc- Mann, wife of a minister of the gospel in Oklahoma; Mrs. Della Hol- slander, living in 'Osborn county, Kans .; William, subject of this re- view.
Albert Bumphrey, his father, was born in Henry county, Illinois, May 3, 1853, and lived in his native county until 1881, at which time he disposed of his property in Henry county and bought the farm now operated by his son in section 33, Illinois township, this county. The Bumphrey tract was unimproved at the time of purchase by Albert Bumphrey and he placed needed improvements thereon, farmed the tract for a few years and then femoved to Corning, Kans., his present place of residence. He has been three times married. The mother of William Bumphrey was born in Virginia, in 1851, and departed this life in 1883.
William Bumphrey was a boy of four years when the family came to Nemaha county and he received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood. He naturally followed in the footsteps of his
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parent and became a farmer. Previous to renting the home farm he worked as farm hand for three years and on his own account. He has become owner of eighty acres of land and is cultivating 160 acres in all, eighty acres of which are planted to corn this year (1916). Mr. Bumphrey is branching out and departing from old methods of farming and is venturing into the breeding of fine Shorthorn cattle.
He and Mrs. Bumphrey specialize in Plymouth Rock or Barred Rock poultry and are making a success of raising poultry, a department of the farm work which adds a good income to the family exchequer.
Mr. Bumphrey was married to Florence Vantassel on May 20, 1903, and two children have been born of this union, namely : Opal and Eve. Mrs. Bumphrey was born in Louisiana, May 17, 1882, and accompanied her mother to Centralia, Kans., in 1883. Mr. Bumphrey is a Republican in politics and has served as a member of the district school board. He and Mrs. Bumphrey are members of the Methodist church.
Frank F. Wessel, farmer and stockman of Illinois township, was born in Oldenburg, Germany, June 14, 1883. Although Mr. Wessel is one of the younger generation of farmers in Nemaha county, he has achieved a striking success, and is owner of a good farm of 160 acres in Illinois township, which is well stocked and has excellent improvements. Nemaha county has hundreds of such men of German birth, whose par- ents came to this country in search of opportunity and in the hope of bettering their condition, and who succeeded beyond their greatest hopes, in this county. He is a son of Henry and Elizabeth ( Mocke) Wes- sel, both of whom were born and reared in Germany.
Henry Wessel, his father, was born December 24, 1844, and emi- grated from his native country to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1904. He bought a quarter section of land in section 12, Illinois township, and lived thereon until his death, July 24, 1915. He was married in 1872 to Elizabeth Mocke, who was born in 1860, and died in September, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Wessel were the parents of eleven children, six sons, and five daughters, all of whom are living in Nemaha county and are com- fortably situated.
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