USA > Kansas > Nemaha County > History of Nemaha County, Kansas > Part 85
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and contractor in Virginia ; Pierce, died in Virginia at the age of thirty years; Winton, died at the age of thirty years; Mrs. Jennie Downey, wife of a hardware merchant in Virginia; Caleb, a restaurant propri- etor in Colorado; Frank, a twin brother of Caleb, is a confectionery proprietor at Hoxie, Kans .; Mrs. Mary Stricker, living in Virginia; Lemuel L., subject of this review.
L. L. Newland began making his own way when fourteen years old and eventually found his way to Kansas, where he followed farming in Brown county until 1902. He then bought 150 acres in Red Ver- milion township, Nemaha county, which is his present home farm. He has on his place, twenty head of cattle, twenty head of Duroc Jersey hogs and twenty head of horses. He has sown thirty-two acres of alfalfa, but raised all the crops adaptable to this soil and climate with fair suc- cess.
Mr. Newland was married November 9, 1887, to Sarah Heer, born in Missouri, June 15, 1864, and is a daughter of Henry and Christina (Trook) Heer, natives of Germany and Ohio, respectively. Henry Heer was born in 1817, and immigrated to the United States in 1838. He first located in Missouri, where he lived until 1862, and then came to Kansas and lived in Doniphan county for thirteen years. He finally sold out his holdings in Doniphan county and rented land in Brown couty for five years, after which he came to Red Vermillion township, Nemaha county, and bought an eighty-acre tract, to which he later added seventy acres, and lived thereon until his death in 1901. He was a Republican in politics and a member of the Methodist church. His wife, Christina, was born in 1827, and bore him ten children, as follows: The first two died in infancy ; Mrs. Mary Jane Overlander, deceased; Robert M., a farmer in Colorado; George, a concrete worker at St. Joseph, Mo .; Sarah, wife of L. L. Newland; Irwin, a farmer of Red Vermillion town- ship; Mrs. Lucinda Felts, Brown county, Kansas; Mrs. Anna Channel, deceased; Frank, a teamster in Nebraska.
Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Newland, as fol- lows: Chester, born in 1888, and farming near Havensville, Kans .; Ivan, born October 6, 1890, living in Dakota; Floy, Mrs. McNeil, born September 16, 1892, living in Red Vermillion township; Ray, born Au- gust 24, 1894; Clio, born January 20, 1897; Vera, born August 14, 1899; Zola, born June 4, 1902; Ruth, born July 15, 1907. Mr. Newland is a Republican in politics. Mrs. Newland is a member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Mr. Newland has served two years as township treasurer and for the past two years has capably filled the office of town- ship trustee.
Thomas Donahue has the distinction of being one of the oldest set- tlers, if not the oldest pioneer, of Red Vermillion township. He has lived on his farm for the past forty-seven years, and has built the home, barns, fences and sheds and planted the trees and shrubbery which adorn his homestead. He has seen the vast expanse of unpeopled
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prairie lands, both hill and vale, transformed into a veritable storehouse of food supplies, which are sent to all parts of the country in exchange for the luxuries and necesities of latter day civilization, which have supplanted the simple and crude needs of the rugged pioneers.
Thomas Donahue was born in Ireland, January 13, 1835, and is a son of Patrick and Mary (Barret) Donahue, who lived and died in their native land. Patrick and Mary Donahue were farm folks in Ireland and were devout Catholics. They reared a family of children, as follows : Mrs. Anu Dunbar, died in Ireland; Anthony, died in Ireland; Mrs. Bridget McCoy, deceased; Thomas, subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Cosgrove, died in America ; the sixth child died in infancy.
When Thomas Donahue was fourteen years old, he began to make his own living and worked out by the day and by the month at any hon- est labor he could get. Opportunities were few and far between in his na- tive country for a boy who was ambitious to get ahead in the world and even in his boyhood days he cast longing eyes toward the far off land of America and dreamed of the day when he could take passage across the broad Atlantic and seek his fortune in the new world, where every man was free to follow his inclinations in the matter of gaining a liveli- hood, and muscle and brawn were needed in the development of the country. In 1862 he was enabled to sail for America and landed at Baltimore. He soon found employment in a rolling mill, the operation of which was stopped by the rebel authorities. and he was thrown out of a job. He went from there to Wheeling, W. Va., and worked in the rolling mills of that city for two years. He then made his way to Chi- cago and worked in that city for eight years and was a resident of Chicago at the time of the great fire which devastated the city. In 1869 he came West to Nemaha county, Kansas, and invested his savings in eighty acres of railroad land. He was only able to make an initial pay- ment on the land, however, and was given ten years' time to finish paying for it. He has resided on this farm continuously and has in- creased his holdings to the large total of 360 acres, which are well im- proved. Mr. Donahue has thirty acres of alfalfa, and owns from sixty to seventy head of white faced Hereford cattle and 100 head of Duroc Jersey hogs, and has fourteen head of horses on his place.
Mr. Donahue was married May 10, 1866, to Mary McTigue, who has borne him the following children: Patrick, a farmer in Neuchatel township ; James, died at the age of forty-one years; Anthony, a farmer in Dakota; William, born April 18, 1876, is farming the home place ; Mary, died at the age of nineteen years; David, born in August, 1880, farming in Colorado; Mrs. Katie Clines, living on a farm in Nemaha county ; one child died in infaancy. The mother of these children was born in Ireland, in February, 1843, and is a daughter of James and Catharine (Heperin) McTigue, natives of Ireland. James. her father, was born in Ireland in 1813, and emigrated to America in 1850. He followed railroad work until 1867, and then made his home with Mr
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Donahue for the remainder of his days. Catharine, his wife, was born in 1813, and their marriage took place in 1830. They were the parents of ten children, as follows: Mrs. Marguerite Gaugin, a widow, living in Nemaha county ; Mary, wife of Thomas Donahue; Mrs. Anne Flaherty, deceased ; Mrs. Kate Barrett, died at Colorado Springs; Helen, deceased ; Patrick, a railroad man in Colorado; Mrs. Jane C. Fiery, a widow, living at 'Leavenworth, Kans .; James, proprietor of a furniture store at Colo- rado Springs, Colo. '
Mr. and Mrs. Donahue are members of the Catholic church.
James E. Wilcox .- The life story of James E. Wilcox, merchant of Bancroft, Kans., is a tale of the accomplishments of a man who was left motherless and thrown upon his own resources when fifteen years old. He became a tiller of the soil and made a great success as a farmer ; in later years he embarked in merchandising at Bancroft and has become wealthy. Mr. Wilcox operates the general store at Bancroft, conducts a lumber yard, manages the grain elevator, and conducts a hardware and farm implement depot, besides looking after his large farming in- terests, which embrace 520 acres of land adjoining the village of Ban- croft and 880 acres situated in other sections of Kansas. His parents were W. T. and Lucretia (Green) Wilcox.
W. T. Wilcox, his father, was born in Illinois in 1834 and immi- grated. to Kansas in 1857. He has the distinction of having been the first white settler married in Jackson county. For some years he drove ox teams in the overland freighing business, and at the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in a Kansas regiment and served the Union until the close of the war. He then followed active farming pursuits until 1906. after which he made his home at Bancroft until 1916, and then removed to Holton, Kans. He is a Republican and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Wilcox was married in 1858 to Lu- cretia Green, who was born in Missouri in 1838, and died in 1873. Four children were born of this marriage, namely: James E., subject of this review ; the second child died in infancy; Mrs. Susan Jane (Thornton) Bristow, Goff, Kans .; Jessie G., deceased.
James E. Wilcox was born in Jackson county, Kansas, September 16, 1859, and was reared on the farm. He began for himself when he was fifteen years old and worked out for $11 per month. He worked as a farm hand until he was twenty-two years old and then rented land on his own account in' Jackson county. Not long afterward he became owner of a farm and continued to buy land as he was able. In 1892 he engaged in business at Bancroft and has built up one of the largest general mercantile concerns in Nemaha county. His stock of goods carried in all lines is valued at over $10,000, and he does an extensive business among the surrounding farmers.
Mr. Wilcox was married in 1884 to Miss Ella Vannote, who has borne him five children, as follows: Ida May, died at the age of seven years ; Clyde, living at Los Angeles, Cal., was engaged in marine service for four years, and is now a member of the Los Angeles police force ;
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Clarence, a farmer at Bancroft, married Lois Connor ; Mrs. Ada Swartz, wife of Louis Swartz, living on a farm in Reilly township; Bernice, a student in the State College at Manhattan, Kans., where she is pursuing a four years' course and will graduate in 1917.
Mrs. Ella Wilcox was born in Nemaha county, November 17, 1865, and is a daughter of John and Lydia (White) Vannote. John Vannote, her father, was born in New Jersey in 1834, and was left an orphan when but a child. He necessarily had to rustle for himself at a very early age. He removed to Iowa and there followed farming until his removal to Kansas in 1860. He lived on his farm of 160 acres in Ne- maha county until his death in 1903. Lydia, his wife, was born in · Michigan in 1843, and is a member of the United Brethren church. John and Lydia Vannote were married in 1859, and the following children were born to them: Mrs. Sarah Shaffer, living in Jewell county, Kan- sas; Frank, a farmer, at Mission, Texas; Mrs. Nettie Riggs, living in Reilly township; Ella, wife of James E. Wilcox, subject of this review ; two children died in infancy.
Mr. Wilcox is allied with the Republican party and has served two terms as trustee of Reilly township. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen lodge. Mrs. Wilcox is a member of the Royal Neighbors.
John William Geren, successful farmer of Wetmore township, be- came familiar in his younger days with all the hardships and vicissi- tudes incidental to the making of a home on the Western plains and has experienced with his family the pangs of hunger and want in western Kansas. One of the highly prized mementos of the struggle which the family were forced to undergo in western Kansas is a silver dollar given to Mr. Geren's son by his grandfather as a present and which Mr. Geren was tempted to spend for flour when it was badly needed in the home. He thought better of it, however, and did not spend the money. He is a son of John W. and Mary (Davenport) Geren, whose life stories follow.
John W. Geren, his father, was born near Knoxville, Tenn., in February, 1824, and he was left fatherless when ten years old. Being the eldest of seven children, the burden of the family support fell upon his young shoulders and he cared for his mother and family until he was twenty-six years of age. He then married and took his old mother along with him to his new home and cared for her until her death. He went to Indiana from Tennessee and farmed there for a year, following which he went to Illinois and lived there for twenty years, after which he spent two years in southwestern Missouri. Two years later he returned to Illinois and bought back the half section of land which he had sold near Denver, Ill. Two years later (March 3, 1873), he migrated to the West and bought a half section near Severance, Kans. He farmed this tract for twelve years and sold it preparatory to locating in western Kansas, where he preempted 320 acres. After struggling for six years in the semi-arid country to make ends meet, Mr. Geren sold his land
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for a mere trifle and came to Bancroft, Kans., purchased a home and lot and lived there until his death in 1910. His was an adventurous and nomadic life and it is recorded that during the days of 1849, when the gold excitement was at its height and men were rushing madly West- ward in search of the elusive and shining metals, he drove overland from Illinois to Pike's Peak, and after a year's hardships and adventures he returned home without the coveted riches. He was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist sect and was a Republican voter. John W. Geren was married in 1846 to Mary A. Davenport, who was born in In- diana in 1831. Nine children were born to this marriage, as follows: Mrs. Jennie Shinn, Bancroft, Kans .; John William, subject of this re- view ; Abram L., a railroad engineer, living in Canada, and has a wife · and seven children living in Oklahoma ; six children are deceased.
John William Geren, with whom this review is directly concerned, was born in Illinois, December 29, 1859, and began for himself when twenty-six years of age. He bought a livery business at Severance, Kans., and operated it for three years. He then sold out and went to western Kansas and homesteaded 320 acres. After struggling to make a living on his homestead for four years, during which time his family suffured from actual want, he sold out and came to Marshall county, Kansas, and rented 500 acres of land for the following four years. He then rented a quarter section from his father-in-law, near Severance, Kans., for two years, and was enabled to buy 157 acres of raw land near Bancroft, Kans., in Wetmore township, Nemaha county. Mr. Geren has improved this tract with substantial buildings and has created a fine farm, having increased his holdings to 237 acres in Kansas and fifty acres in Oklahoma.
Mr. Geren has forty acres of alfalfa and a large fruit orchard, which includes 300 peach trees in bearing and 200 pear trees now eight years old and in bearing. He raises high grade Shorthorn cattle and pro- duces over 100 head of Duroc Jersey hogs annually. This is quite an accomplishment when one considers the ups and downs which Mr. Geren has had during life time. He recalls that when he located in western Kansas he had just $1.25 in cash. At one time the larder was cleared of flour and he found it necessary to borrow from his father in order to avoid spending a dollar which had been given to his fifteen months' old son by his grandfather. This son is now thirty-one years old and prizes the silver dollar as a valuable keepsake and an indication of the love given him by his parents, who placed sentiment above all other considerations in a trying time.
Mr. Geren was married to Miss Addie Poynter, July 19, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Geren have three children. William E., born at Sev- erance, Kans., February 8, 1885, worked for a railroad in St. Joseph, Mo., for a year when he attained his majority, but has been farming with his father for the past seven years. William E. was married De- cember 24, 1909, to Clara Frederickson, born June 15, 1888, daughter of
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Christian and Martha (Erickson) Frederickson, the former of whom was born in Denmark in 1838, became a carpenter; immigrated to America in 1875 and located near Whiting; farmed 160 acres until 1904; was postmaster of Bancroft for nine years, and is now retired. Martha, his wife, was born in Denmark in 1851. William E. Geren is the father of four children, as follows: Willma N., deceased, and Willette Helen, twins, born August 15, 1910; Raymond E., born July 22. 1912; Lena May, born August 7, 1914. Mary Helen Clare, second child of Mr. and Mrs. Geren, was born August 11, 1887, in Ness county, Kansas, in a sod house, graduated from the Bancroft High School and is the wife of Hugh C. Hyder, a clerk in the Bancroft store, and a son of David and Margaret Hyder, of Belleville, Kans. He was born February 1, 1876, and followed farming until he entered the Bancroft store in March, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Hyder were married in 1905. Percy Earl is the third child of John W. Green, and was born May 2, 1902, on the Green home place, near Bancroft, and is a student in the Bancroft public schools. The mother of the foregoing children was born November 8, 1864, on a farm near Severance, Kans., and is a daughter of Samuel and Helen (Follett) Poynter. Samuel, her father, was born at Adriance, Mich., June 8, 1821, and, when a boy, accompanied his parents to Ohio. He was married in 1854 and was employed in hewing ties from logs at a wage of fifty cents per day in his younger days until he had saved enough money to buy twenty acres of land. He went to Missouri in 1856, and farmed in that State until the outbreak of the Rebellion. Being a Northern sympath- izer, he was forced to leave. Enroute to Kansas he traded his Missouri farm to a man whom he met in exchange for the other's Kansas farm. It was a case of trading "sight unseen," but suited both parties, because the Kansas man had to leave because he was a rebel at heart and Mr. Poynter was likewise forced to leave Missouri. He still owns the 120- acre farm at Severance, Kans., and is now residing at Bancroft at the home of his granddaughter. His wife, Helen, was born near Pioneer, Ohio, August 29, 1831, and bore him the following children: R. E. Poynter, painter and carpenter at Holton, Kans., and Addie, wife of John William Geren.
Mr. Geren is a Republican. He and his family are members of the Christian church.
John W. Crowley, trustee of Reilly township, Nemaha county, Kansas, was born on a farm near Logan, Hocking county, Ohio, Sep- tember 3. 1869. He is a son of William and Elizabeth (Good) Crowley, natives of Ireland, the former of whom was born in 1838 and the latter in approximately the same year. William Crowley was reared and edu- cated in his native country and received an education somewhat above the average. He immigrated to the United States in 1869 and operated a general merchandise store at Buena Vista, Ohio. Previous to his emigration from Ireland, he had followed the trade of baker there and had thus gained considerable business experience, which stood him in good stead in the newer country. After a short experience in mercan-
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tile pursuits, he engaged in farming in Hocking county, Ohio, where he died in 1872. His wife, Elizabeth, after the death of her husband, nobly set to work to support her growing family and succeeded in rearing them to become useful men and women. William and Elizabeth Crow- ley were the . parents of the following children: Mrs Anna Potter, wife of a hotel proprietor in Cleveland, Ohio; William, a hard- ware merchant at Ellensburg, Wash .; James, a farmer and waterworks employee at Seattle, Wash .; John, subject of this review; Mrs. Eliza- beth Fast, whose husband is a merchant at South Perry, Ohio; Joseph, a farmer at Ottawa, Kans.
John W. Crowley, subject of this review, began for himself at the early age of twelve years and received a wage of $5 per month as farm laborer in his native country in Ohio. When fifteen years old he came west to Kansas in search of his fortune and eventually found it in Ne- maha county, Kansas. He worked as farm hand for several years, and in 1896 he made his first investment in eighty acres of land in Bourbon county, Kansas. He farmed this tract for four years and then sold it. He came to Nemaha county and rented 110 acres in Reilly township for one year. He then rented 270 acres for another year. By this time he had determined upon the tract which he intended to purchase and accordingly bought 160 acres of the 270 acres which he had been renting. In 1911 he bought the remaining 110 acres, which he is farming success- fully. Mr. Crowley conducts general farming operations and keeps an average of forty head of Shorthorn cattle and raises over 100 head of Duroc Jersey swine annually.
Mr. Crowley was married May 16, 1890, to Miss Minnie Allen, who has borne him children, as follows: Martin, born January 18, 1892, a farmer in Reilly township; Hubert, born February 27, 1901 ; Russell, born May 24, 1903; Charles, born November 10, 1904; Harry, born No- vember I, 1906; Nellie, born June 24, 1908; Alberta, born June 18, 1911. Mrs. Minnie Crowley, mother of the foregoing children, was born in Nemaha county, Kansas, March 27, 1875, and is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Barnett) Allen, pioneer settlers of Nemaha county. Henry Allen, her father, was born in Franklin county, Ind., September 13. 1831, and was reared in Indiana until he was twenty-one years old and then began renting land on his own account. He farmed on rented land in Illinois until 1858, and then immigrated to Nemaha county, Kansas. He drove an ox team and cows from Illinois to his new loca- tion in this county, and preempted eighty acres of Government land, on which he built his pioneer home. He prospered in the years following his advent into Kansas and continued to buy land until he owned 441 acres. He farmed his home place until 1898 and then retired to a home at Soldier, Kans., where his death occurred May 20, 1910. The Re- publican party always had the allegiance of Henry Allen and his pa- triotism compelled him to apply for enlistment in the Union army at the time of the Civil war, but he was rejected because of a crippled hand.
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His wife, Elizabeth, was born near Dayton, Ohio, August 4, 1834. Mr. and Mrs. Allen were the parents of the following children: William, died at the age of twenty-four years; Mrs. Alice Wilson, deceased; Albert, a real estate man at Denver, Colo .; Mrs. Clara Hannum, de- ceased. Mrs. Crowley's grandparents on her father's side were Samuel (born in Franklin county, Indiana, in 1803, and died in Kansas in 1868) and Olive (Wallace) Allen (born in Bennington county, Vermont, in 1800, and died May 25, 1888). Samuel Allen was likewise an early Kan- sas pioneer, who settled in Nemaha county on an eighty-acre preemp- tion adjoining that of his son as early as 1858. There were two children by her first marriage and four by the second marriage. Her first hus- band was.a Mr. Howe. Mrs. Elizabeth Allen was a daughter of An- derson and Margaret Barnett, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, re- spectively. Anderson Barnett was born in Virginia in 1811, and was a pioneer in Ohio and Illinois. He died May 27, 1888. He was a Whig, and was a member of the Quaker sect. Margaret, his wife, was born in Kentucky in 1814. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett were the parents of eighteen children.
Since locating in Nemaha county, Mr. Crowley has taken a promi- nent and influential part in the civic and political life of the county. He is allied with the Republican party and is one of the real leaders of his party in Reilly township. He served for some years as district clerk and for eight years as trustee of the township. He is a director and vice- president of the local Farmers' Union.
William E. Karns, proprietor of a half section of well improved farm land in Wetmore township, was born in Ontario, Kans., February 9, 1883, and is a son of George and Caroline (Kehrwecker) Karns, late of Nemaha county and Ontario, Kansas, whose biographies appear in this volume of Nemaha county history.
Mr. Karns was reared on his father's farm near Ontario, and began renting land from his widowed mother when twenty-four years old. In I9II he was given a tract of land taken from his father's estate. At his mother's death he inherited another tract of eighty acres, and he added to this tract an "eighty" which he bought. thus making 320 acres of land in all which he owns. Mr. Karns conducts general farming opera- tions and has fifteen acres of alfalfa. He keeps his farm well stocked with about forty head of cattle.
Mr. Karns was married to Miss Rose Spencer. April 21, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Karns have two children, namely: Harold. born March 14, 1908, and Neil, born May 11, 1913. Mrs. Rosa Karns was born on a farm near Circleville, Kans., May 8, 1882, and is a daughter of William and Mary (Figley) Spencer. Her father was born in Missouri, July 7. 1850, and began to make his own way in the world when still a small boy. When he was eight years old he made a trip to Kansas. He has followed farming nearly his whole life, with the exception of three years spent in the silver mines of Colorado. He purchased a quarter section
(49)
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HISTORY OF NEMAHA COUNTY
near Circleville, Kans., in 1885, and has lived continuously on his farm since that year. He is a member and a deacon of the Christian church, and for the past twenty-seven years has been a member of the school board.
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