USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 81
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He was married April 17, 1912, to Marie Hanks, and to this union two children were born, Lois, aged three years, and Herbert, aged seven months. Mrs. Johnstone is a daughter of James and Iva (Shafer) Hanks. Her father was born near Seneca June 10, 1875, and was reared on the Nemaha county place which his father owned. After receiving a common school education he started out, at the age of nineteen, to earn his own way working by the day as a common laborer. , In less than a year, however, he moved to his father's farm and operated it three years and then bought ninety-three acres near Kelly, where he lived eight years. Then he sold out and lived in Kelly one year while working at carpentering. At the end of that time he bought 160 acres in Granada township where he still resides. Mr. Hanks is a noted stock raiser and makes a specialty of high grade Duroc Jersey hogs of which he raises about one hundred head per year. In addition to this he is a breeder of cattle. He is a member of the Methodist Church and of Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America lodges. He is treasurer and county director of the Farmers Union and votes the Democratic ticket. He was married in 1894 to Iva Shafer, who was born in Nemaha county, Kansas, January 14, 1875. She is a member of the Methodist church, the Royal Neighbors and the Farmers Union. Two children were born to this marriage: Marie, wife of Otho Johnstone; Everett, died April 16, 1916.
Mrs. Johnstone was born near Seneca, Kans., August II, 1895, and received a common school education. She is a regular attendant at the services of the Methodist church. Mr. Johnstone is president of the Farmers' Union and is a Republican in politics.
John M. Eisenbarth, one of the well known farmers of Harrison township, is the son of Michael and Ernestine Eisenbarth, whose lives are recorded elsewhere in this volume. He was born in Corning. Kans., February 28, 1887, and grew up on the farm, receiving, at the same time. an elementary schooling. Starting out for himself at the age of twenty- one years, he rented eighty acres near Kelly, Kans., and farmed this for
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a year, then rented a farm of equal size in Harrison township. A year later he rented 160 acres from his mother-in-law, Mrs. Ketter, and has farmed this since that time. On his place, he keeps the finest strains of thoroughbred Poland China hogs and Shorthorn cattle. Corn is, his largest crop, and he uses most of this in feeding.
He was married February 26, 1908, to Mary S. Ketter, daughter of Philip and Elizabeth Ketter, whose biographies are set forth in the re- view of the life of J. B. Ketter, which appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Eisenbarth was born at St. Benedict's, Kans., August 19, 1884, and was reared on the farm. She received a common school education, and lived with her parents most of the time before her marriage.
Mr. Eisenbarth is a member of the Catholic church, and of the Cath- olic Mutual Benefit Association. His wife professes the same faith, and belongs to the Altar Society. Four children were born to them : Vincent John, aged six; Albert Philip, aged four ; Edmund Joseph, aged two; Raymond Anthony, aged one.
Samuel A. Chadwick .- One of the respected farmers of Harrison township is Samuel A. Chadwick, who lives near Goff. He is the son of Samuel and Susan (Kern) Chadwick, who were the parents of eight children: William, harness maker and shoe repairer, Bancroft, Kans., and father of four children ; Samuel A., of whom this sketch is to deal at length; Mrs. Fannie Call, deceased, who was mother of one child; Mrs. Julia Sams, widow, of Goff, Kans., dressmaker, and mother of two children; Charles H., produce dealer, Coldwater, Kans., father of two children : Amanda, deceased, and one child died in infancy.
The mother of Samuel Chadwick. Jr., was the daughter of Jacob and Susan Kern, both of whom were born and reared in Pennsylvania and lived on farms all their lives, the former died in Clinton, Pa., at the age of eighty-eight years. Samuel, Sr., was born in Connecticut in 1815; learned the carpenters' trade and followed it alternately with that of farming until 1870, when he came to Kansas and located in Netawaka, Jackson county, Kansas. He worked out as a farm hand for a year and then homesteaded eighty acres in Harrison township, on which place he lived until his death in 1903. He was a member of the Farmers' Alli- ance. His wife was born in Clinton county, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1826, and lived with her parents until her marriage in 1849. Mrs. Chad- wick is a member of the Christian Church and lives with her son and does much of the housework around the place.
Samuel A. Chadwick, the subject of this review, was born in Clin- ton county, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1861, and grew up on the farm. At the early age of thirteen, he began working out at five dollars a month. After twelve years as a farm hand, he bought eighty acres in Harrison township and farmed it fifteen years, when he sold out and moved to the old home place. He raises Red Poll cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs with great success and has some fine stock on his place.
He was married in 1888 to Maggie Sparrow and four children have
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been born to them: Mrs. Grace Eberwein, living with her parents, and mother of one child ; Mrs. Susie Clarkson, wife of a Wetmore farmer, and mother of one child; Earl and Mary, deceased. Mrs. Chadwick is the daughter of Mason and Mary Sparrows. Her father was born on a Ken- tucky farm, where he lived until coming to Kansas, where he followed railroad contracting for some time, dying in Wetmore in 1887. Mrs. Chadwick was born in Iowa in 1862. She is a member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Chadwick is a member of the Masonic order and of the Farm- ers' Union. He takes an active part in public affairs and usually votes the Democratic ticket. He is a member of the school board and is intensely interested in the welfare of the schools of his district.
Charles Jorden .- Few men have parents whose lives were as inter- esting as that of John Jorden, the father of Charles Jorden. He was born in Macklinburg, Germany, July 25, 1826, and began to shift for him- self at the early age of ten years. His first job was herding geese. Later he worked as coachman for one of the largest landowners in the German Empire, for ten years. He came to America in 1862 and located near Batavia, Ill., renting a farm there for a period of two years. He came to Kansas in 1864, and located in Seneca, where he worked for Charles Scrafford about two years. He then rented 100 acres from Mr. Scrafford, and farmed it for two years, and rented an eighty-acre farm, west of Sabetha, for one year. He homesteaded eighty acres in Berwick township and cultivated it for twelve years. He sold out and rented eighty acres near Kelly, and lived on it eleven years, prior to moving to a forty acre farm nearby, on which he remained six years. After that he lived with his children near Seneca until his death, January 27, 1912. He quar- ried stone for the first stone building erected in Seneca. Prices in those early days were interesting. Mr. Jorden had to pay as high as $9 per hundred pounds for shorts which his wife used in baking bread. He often paid $I a bushel for corn, and then paid fifty cents for having it ground at the mill near Seneca. When he came to Seneca, he arrived by way of St. Joseph where he had come by rail and prepared to make the trip from St. Joseph to Seneca overland. He paid a man $35 to drive him and a load of furniture to Seneca.
His wife, Louisa (Lish) Jorden, was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, March 20, 1824. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jorden, namely : Mrs. Sophia Proude, deceased, whose husband was the first blacksmith in Seneca; John, deceased; Christ, farmer, Morris county, Kansas ; Mrs. Minnie Soltz, lives near Kelly; Mrs. Mary Badesheim, deceased ; Mrs. Dora Reed, Morris, Kans .; Mrs. Christina Coe, wife of a Morris farmer; Charles, subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs. Jorden were members of the Lutheran Church.
Charles Jorden was born April 10, 1872, and grew up on the farm. At the age of twenty, he started out in life for himself, and for two years, worked with pick and shovel. He then rented 240 acres in partnership
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HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
with his brother-in-law, and after a year under this arrangement, he rented forty acres, which he worked for one season independently. After working out as a farm hand a year, he rented a place near Kelly. Later he rented 160 acres near Vermillion, and two years after this, he rented an equal sized place in Harrison township, which he bought a year later, and where he still lives.
He was married September 20, 1892, to Lillie M. Warner, and five children have been born to them, namely: One, who died in infancy ; Elmer, farmer near Kelly; John, Charles, Lillie, all living. at home. Mrs. Jorden is the daughter of A. B. and Sarah (Knight) Warner. Her father was born in New York, July 25, 1840. He learned the stone mason's trade, and has followed this trade all of his life. He has lived in Minne- sota, Missouri, and has lived in Kansas since 1890, when he came to Ver- million. Two years later, he moved to Kelly, where he stayed for eight years, and then came to Goff. Although he is now seventy-six years of age, he plies his trade vigorously. He is a member of the Christian church and of the Knights of Pythias lodge. He is a Republican in politics. He was married, in 1861, to Sarah Knight, who was born in New York, February 23, 1844. She is a devout member of the Christian church. Nine children were born to A. B. and Sarah Warner: three children died in infancy; the others are: Arthur, farmer near Vermilion, father of three children; John and Lyda, deceased; Frank, farmer at Bancroft, father of five children; Lillie, wife of Mr. Jor- den ; Mrs. Ada Hawley, wife of Golf farmer, mother of five children. Mrs. Jorden was born March 17, 1870. She attends the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a member of the Royal Neighbors of America.
Mr. Jorden attends the Methodist Episcopal church and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge, in which he has held all offices, and has been past grand master. He is a Democrat, and has been a member of the school board for fifteen years and, for six years, has been road overseer. He is one of the board of directors of the Farmers' Union. Mr. Jorden is a highly respected citizen, and is active in the public affairs of his neighborhood.
James E. Martin, farmer and trustee of Granada township, is a son of Thomas J. Martin, postmaster of Wetmore, Kans., who was born in Ohio, May 10, 1851, and is a son of James and Rachel A. (Zepernick) Martin. James Martin was a farmer and stock raiser in the early days of Ohio and frequently drove large herds of cattle from Ohio to the Pittsburg market in Pennsylvania. He migrated to Illinois in 1860 and engaged in live stock dealing for seven years. He came to Kansas in 1868 and bought a quarter section in Capioma township, upon which he lived for ten years and then moved to Seneca, where he served a term as sheriff of the county. He lived in Seneca until his demise. His wife, Rachel, was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, and was mother of nine children, as follows: John, Seneca, Kans .; Thomas J .; J. G., liv- ing in Alaska ; Albert, a merchant of Seneca, Kans .; Van, deceased ; Wil-
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liam, killed on the railroad in Colorado; Mrs. Elizabeth Wolfley, St. Louis, Mo .; Mrs. Francis Horn, Indianapolis, Ind. ; Ida, died in infancy.
Thomas J. Martin, father of the subject, was born in Ohio. He was reared there and in Illinois and Kansas, where he began working out by the month when eighteen years old. After ten years experience as farm hand he bought a quarter section in Capioma township, upon which he resided for twenty-five years and then located in Wetmore, where he bought and shipped live stock until 1913. He was appointed postmaster of Wetmore in 1914. He is a member of the Masons and is a trustee of the order and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen. He is a Democrat in politics and filled the office of trustee of Wetmore township for four years and also served two years as trustee of Capioma township. He was married to Elizabeth Lockman, a daughter of David M. and Clarice E. Lockman, natives of Kentucky, who came to Kansas and located in Granada township, Nehama county, in 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have been the parents of the following children, namely : Stewart J., Mildred May and James E.
James E. Martin, subject of this review, was born in Capioma town- ship, January 29, 1884, and attended the district school and assisted his father on the home farm until he was twenty years old. He then worked out by the month for two years in Arizona. Upon his return to Kansas he rented 160 acres near Wetmore for a year, after which he bought an eighty-acre tract north of Wetmore in section 26. He has improved this place nicely and the farm makes him and his family a good living.
Mr. Martin was married on January 1, 1907, to Madge E. White, a daughter of Calvin and Elizabeth (Vanscoyk) White. Three children have been born of this marriage, namely: Madeline Fay, aged eight years ; Mildred May, aged five years ; Margaret Lucile, aged one. Mrs. Madge Martin was born April 14, 1883, at Clifton, Kans., and was a compositor in the Wetmore newspaper office for a year previous to her marriage. She is a member of the Methodist church and is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security. Mr. Martin is a Democrat and leader of his party in his township. He was appointed trustee of the township to succeed M. L. Loveless, who resigned on account of other business, and was elected to the office at the expiration of his first term. Mr. Martin is a Free Mason and is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He also fills the post of treasurer and member of the local school board. Altogether he is a very useful and active citizen in his community who believes in doing his share of the civic and governmental work required to keep things moving.
Jacob Geyer, well known farmer of Granada township and owner of a fine farm of 200 acres, is probably the oldest native born resident of his township, and has the distinction of having lived in the house, in which he was born for fifty-five years. He comes of sturdy German emigrant
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stock, who, as a general thing, make good in America as tillers of the soil, or whatever occupation they take up. For industry and successful tilling of the Kansas soil the German-American residents of Nemaha county have few equals and no superiors. The Geyer family is one of the oldest pioneer families in this county, and takes its beginning far back to the year 1856 when Jacob Geyer, father of Jacob, settled in Gra- nada township on a pre-empted homestead and developed it into a fine farm.
Jacob Geyer, the elder, was born in Germany, April 16, 1830, and was reared to young manhood in his native village. In 1851 he immigrated to America in search of a home and fortune, and began his career in Iowa, where he farmed on rented land for five years. He was married in that State, and in 1856, he came with his young wife to Kansas, and homesteaded in Granada township. He lived on his farm until 1880, and then sold it to his son, and retired to a home at Wetmore, Kans., where he died on October 24, 1901. He was a member of the Evangelical church, and was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Jacob Geyer was married at Dubuque, Iowa, in 1853, to Barbara Zim- mer, who was born in Germany, August 4, 1830, and immigrated to the United States with her people in 1851. Her parents located in Iowa. Mrs. Geyer has, of late years, united with the Methodist church, because of the lack of an Evangelical church in her neighborhood. Jacob and Barbara Geyer were the parents of ten children, five of whom are de- ceased. The five living children are: Mrs. Minnie Porr, a widow living near Sabetha ; Mrs. Barbara Clinkenbeard, Wetmore, Kans .; Mrs. Mary Clinkenbeard, Oklahoma; Jacob, subject of this review; Mrs. Lizzie Means, a widow, living at Wetmore.
Jacob Geyer, with whom this review is intimately concerned, was born on the Geyer homestead near Wetmore, October 10, 1861, and was reared amid pioneer surroundings at a time when settlers and neighbors were few and far between. He obtained such schooling as was possible . in the early days, and has lived all of his life on the farm where he was born. In 1880, he purchased his father's home place and has accumulated a total of 200 acres of well tilled and highly productive land. His largest crop is Indian corn, which he feeds to live stock on his place.
He was married March 24, 1881, to Miss Helena Zabel, and this marriage has been blessed with ten children, as follows: Arthur, a blacksmith at McPherson, Kans .; Mrs. Dora Rarick, living on a farm at Howard, Kans .; Mrs. Mabel Sanders, wife of a live stock commission man at Kansas City, Mo .; Mrs. Lillie Randall, Wetmore, Kans .; Lee, a school teacher at Hamlin, Kans .; Harry, a farmer in Brown county, Kansas; Ethel, a teacher at Whiting, Kans .; Mrs. Gladys Stevenson, living on a farm near Wetmore; Mrs. Merle Bell, on a farm near Wet- more ; Helen, a student in the Wetmore High School and member of the class of 1917. The mother of this large and interesting family was born in Wisconsin, December 22, 1860, and is a daughter of Frederick and
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Louisa (Zabel) Zabel, natives of Germany. Frederick Zabel, her father, was born in 1824, and was married in his native land in 1849. Five years later, (1854), he emigrated with his wife and family to the United States, and settled in Wisconsin where he farmed until his migration to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1867. He bought a quarter section near Wetmore, which he farmed until 1886, and then sold and retired to a home in Wet- more, where he died July 23, 1896. Mrs. Louisa Zabel, his wife, was born January 10, 1830, and was a faithful helpmeet to her husband during his long life. She is a member of the Evangelical denomination. Mr. and Mrs. Zabel were the parents of ten children, cight of whom are liv- ing: Mrs. Dora Martin, a widow living in California; William, a retired farmer of Holton, Kans .; Albert, deceased; Frederick, a farmer of western Kansas; Mrs. Louisa Mayer, a widow living at Wetmore; Helena, wife of Jacob Geyer, subject of this review ; Ferdinand, a farmer of Idaho; Mrs. Mary Johns, wife of a farmer and lumberman of Oregon ; Mrs. Christina Rebenstorf, deceased.
Mr. Geyer is a Republican in politics, but finds little time to devote to political matters, and prefers to give his attention to his farming inter- ests. Mrs. Geyer is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. There must be considerable satisfaction in having grown up with a great county such as Nemaha, and to have lived during the pioneer era of a great State in the making. The greatest accomplishment, however, and one of which Mr. and Mrs. Geyer have good and just right to be very proud, is the fact they have reared to young manhood and womanhood a large and interesting family of ten children. Had they done no more than this, they would be entitled to place of honor and should receive honorable mention far above the average in the annals of their home county where these children were born and reared.
Jacob Wolfley, proprietor of 800 acres of land in Jackson and Ne- maha counties, is one of the old Kansas pioneers, whose career in the West begins with his experience as a freighter across the Great Plains. His father before him was one of the earliest of the Kansas pioneers and came to Nehama county as early as 1855 and purchased land. Augustus Wolfley, like his son, was a successful man of affairs and was ever on the westward fringe of frontier civilization.
Augustus Wolfley, father of Jacob, was born in Pennsylvania, March 23, 1802 and, while reared in the country, spent a part of his youthful days in Pittsburg, where his father operated a tannery. His father died when Augustus was thirteen years old and he assisted his mother in carrying on the work of the farm and tannery until he be- came of age. He then left home and went to Ohio, where he became a missionary, preaching the gospel for several years, finally buying a farm in Ohio, upon which he lived for three years and then traded it for a farm of 400 acres near Port Clinton, Ohio. He lived near Port Clinton for several years, and in the meantime made a trip with a son on the lookout for another location farther West. He decided to remove to
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HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
Illinois, and accordingly bought 100 acres near Kankakee. From there they went to Iowa and invested in 800 acres in Iowa. He placed two of his sons upon the big Iowa farm and operated it until 1854, when Augustus again moved, this time to the Iowa place, to which he drove by team from Ohio, with five horses. In 1855 he came still farther west and bought land in Nemaha county, near Wetmore. In the fol- lowing spring he pre-empted a quarter section west of Wetmore and made his home there until his demise, May, 1880. One year later his son drove fifty head of cattle through to the Kansas farm and joined his father there. Augustus Wofley was a devout member of the Church of God. His wife, Mary Cudney, was born in New York, Sep- tember 3, 1812, and died May 2, 1878. Nine children were born to Augustus Wolfley and 'wife, namely: Augustus J., deceased; John, deceased ; the third child died an infant; Reuben, deceased ; James, sent by his father to Illinois when eighteen years old and later to Iowa on business where he collected some money due Mr. Wolfley and deposited it in a bank, but the family never heard from him again. He is supposed to have been waylaid and killed; Jacob, with whom this review is di- rectly concerned ; Theodore, real estate broker in California; Mrs. Mary Morris, deceased ; Mrs. Anna E. Bazan, deceased.
Jacob Wolfley was born in Ohio, May 10, 1843, reared on the farm in Illinois and Kansas and began to make his own way in the world when twenty-one years old. The great West at that time offered plenty of adventurous pursuits for a young and able man and Jacob Wolfley could not resist the temptation to have a hand in some of the things which were going on. He was employed in driving herds of cattle across the plains to the western country ; drove.freight wagons for the government from Fort Leavenworth to Paola, Kans., and also drove freighting outfits to Fort 'Laramie, Wyo. He was engaged in railroad service for a year and then decided that he needed some more schooling in order to fit himself better to make his own way in the world. He attended school for a year at Topeka, studied for two years in Lincoln College, and afterward pursued a commercial course at Leavenworth for one year. He finally settled down to the prosaic life of a farmer on a tract of 160 acres given him by his father near Wetmore. He home- steaded an adjoining eighty and made this his home for ten years and then erected a home on a quarter section which he owned in Jackson county upon which he lived for twenty-two years. Previous to this his former home not far from Goff had been burned. In 1902 Mr. Wolfley bought a residence property in Goff where he has his permanent home while looking after his large farming interests.
Mr. Wolfley was married in 1873 to Nancy S. Williams, a daughter of Nehemiah and Mary (Studebaker) Williams, the former of whom was born in North Carolina, January 16, 1815, and removed with his parents to a farm in Indiana when but a child. He started out for him- self when twenty-three years old and split fence rails in the Indiana
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HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
woods for as low as twenty-five cents per hundred. He farmed in Indiana for sixteen years and in 1854 moved to Iowa. Five years later he sold out and migrated to Kansas and pre-empted a quarter section of land in Jackson county, on which he made his home for ten years. He farmed in various localities until he left the farm and moved to Soldier, Kans. After residing there for four years he bought forty acres near Ontario, Kans., and lived with his daughters until his death in 1885. Nehemiah Williams was married to Mary Studebaker in 1838 and five children were born to them, as follows: Mrs. Catharine Whin- ery; Mrs. Sarah B. Campbell; John W .; Abraham T., deceased; Nancy S., born. October 16, 1832. The mother of the foregoing children was born in 1818 and died in 1893.
Nine children have been born to Jacob Wolfley and wife, as fol- lows: Perley M., father of five children, farming near Ontario, Kans .; . Mrs. Alice E. Goodrich, on a farm near Wetmore, has five children; Mrs. Ida F. Foley, a widow with two children, living in New Mexico; Mrs. Mary R. Klaiber, wife of a druggist located at San Francisco, Cal .; Sydney J., farmer and stockman, living in Nebraska; Mrs. Nannie H. Spencer, Downs, Kans., mother of four children ; Dorsie M., in high school; Earl, deceased ; one child died in infancy.
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