USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 13
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AM Minary J. F. Mc murry.
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high grade of logs that he raised on his place. He and his wife were mem- bers of the Methodist church and took an earnest and an influential part in all good works in their neighborhood. Mr. McMurry died in 1903, he then being eighty years of age, and his widow survived him for three years, her death occurring in 1907, at the age of eighty-four. They were the parents of seven children, as follow: James F., the immediate subject of this bio- graphical sketch: Harriet, who lives in Lincoln township, widow of D. M. Stewart : Elizabeth Jane, who married J. C. Moore and lives in Hutchinson, this county; Mrs. Susan F. Allen, now deceased; Hugh L., who died in October, 1876, at the age of seventeen years ; William Eli, a retired farmer, now living at Winfield, this state, and Charles W., who lives on a farm in Lincoln township, this county.
James F. McMurry grew up on the home farm in Haywood county, Tennessee. receiving an excellent education in the subscription schools in the neighborhood of his home, the public-school system not being inaugurated in that state until after the Civil War, and at the age of twenty-one began teaching in the public schools and was thus engaged for ten years, farming during the summer months. In 1869 he married and for a year thereafter lived on a rented farm. He then bought a small farm of sixty acres and there made his home until 1884, in which year he followed his father's excel- lent example and came to Kansas, arriving in Reno county in December of that year. He located in Lincoln township, near his father's extensive place. and for six years rented farms in that vicinity, prospering meanwhile, so that in 1891 he was able to buy a quarter of a section of excellent land in Lincoln township, the same being the northwest quarter of section 22, and has made his home there ever since. Upon taking possession of his farm, Mr. McMurry enlarged the house that then stood on the place and has other- wise improved the farm, also bringing it up to a high state of cultivation ; in addition to general farming being also largely interested in the dairy busi- ness, from which he derives considerable profit. Mr. McMurry is a Republi- can and has served his party several times as a precinct committeeman: From 1904 to 1908 he served the county very acceptably as a member of the board of county commissioners and is widely and most favorably known through- out the county.
On December 2, 1869, James F. McMurry was united in marriage to Ann Mariah Thomas, who was born in Haywood county, Tennessee, August 18, 1849, daughter of John B. and Marcia ( VanBuren) Thomas, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky, early settlers in Haywood county, and to this union seven children have been born, namely: Edgar L ..
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born on July 31. 1870, who was killed in an automobile accident on December 26. 1909; Guy T., November 20, 1871, who married Rhoda Hertzler and lives on a farm near Ft. Benton. Montana; Lulu J., June 11, 1874, who married W. E. Uhl and lives in Ft. Benton county, Montana; Ernest and Pearl, twins, June 26, 1878, the former of whom married Cora Gander and was killed by a runaway teain on April 16, 1913, and the latter married J. O. McNew and died on October 22, 1901 ; Linnie Kate, July 2, 1880, who mar- ried J. O. Dix and lives on a farm in Lincoln township, this county, and Hugh, January 10. 1885, who died on August 10, 1889. The McMurrys are members of the Methodist church at Elmer and for years have been active in the various beneficences of the same, Mr. McMurry being a member of the board of trustees of the church. The family is regarded as one of the most substantial factors in the community life thereabout and its mem- bers are held in high esteem by all.
BENJAMIN E. GILES.
Benjamin E. Giles was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, January 22, 1865. His father, Stelle Giles ( 1833-1907), was reared near Plainfield, New Jersey, married Mary C. Albro ( 1826-1909). of Newport, Rhode Island, pioneer farmers in Illinois from 1850 to 1877, and lived one year in Hutchinson, Kansas, in a house which is still standing at First and Maple streets, the property belonging to John Nelson. In the spring of 1878, Stelle Giles and his sons drove to Barton county and purchased land at the head of Cow Creek, and the same fall was joined by the family, and there they became extensive farmers and stockmen. When, in 1887, the Mis- souri Pacific railway was built, Benjamin E. Giles helped secure the right of way, also aided in having bonds voted in different townships. This rail- road crossing their land, they formed a company and founded Giles City, now Chaflin. Judge Hamilton, who laid out the railroad, lived with them while there. Chaffin, becoming prosperous, later shipped more wheat in one year than any other town in Kansas. Mr. Giles built a fine suburban home and continued his farming operations with great success, and in 1900, sold out and moved to Stillwater. Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Giles were members of the Baptist and Christian churches, respectively. Their chil- dren are as follow : Mrs. Mary A. Bass, of McPherson; Mrs. Estella New- combe. of Great Bend: Emma. the wife of H. W. Galloway, of Pawnee
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county ; William A., of Pawnee county; S. A., of Denver, Colorado; Benja- min E., of Hutchinson; Carrie, the widow of L. W. Cook, formerly an editor of Elinwood.
Benjamin E. Giles came to Kansas when thirteen years of age, attended the old Sherman street school in Hutchinson, and herded cows on the com- mons on the site of his present residence. After the family moved to Barton county, he rode five miles to school until one nearer his home was started, and finished his schooling at Great Bend, in the meantime working hard. After leaving school he bought a farm six miles northeast of Chaffin, and in 1897 engaged in the real estate business at Great Bend, with Porter Young, remaining with the firm for six years, and during this period the firm sold five hundred thousand acres of mostly western lands, which was claimed to be the greatest record in the state. Besides his real estate busi- ness Mr. Giles was also extensively engaged in farming and stock raising on an acreage of between two and three thousand acres, and for three years owned and operated a ranch consisting of thirty-four hundred acres in Hodgeman county, Kansas, keeping nearly one thousand cattle and many mules and horses. In 1909 he bought and located on the George Cole farm, northwest of Hutchinson, in order to give his children rural and urban advantages. In 1914 he purchased his present home, an attractive bunga- low at 211 Ninth avenue, Hutchinson. He owns nine hundred and sixty acres of land in Pawnee county, Kansas, which is managed by his son, Elton, and a son-in-law. A. E. Immenschuh. He also owns a wheat farm of nine hundred and sixty acres in Kiowa county, Kansas, purchased in 1899, and managed by his son, Leonard, as well as five hundred and sixty acres in Ford county, Kansas.
On April 20, 1887, at St. John, Benjamin E. Giles was married to Nydia B. Lamb, a native of Butler county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Daniel and Malinda Lamb. In 1885 Mrs. Giles' parents moved from Pennsylvania to Kansas, purchasing a half section of land near Chaflin. Later they moved to St. John, but are now living at Grand Junction, Colo- rado, aged ninety-eight and seventy-eight, respectively. To Mr. and Mrs. Giles have been born the following children: Alice, the wife of A. E. Immenschuh, has two children, Benjamin and Eugene: Ethel, the wife of Elmer Justice, of Garden City, Kansas, has one son, Lawrence: Elton, a graduate of the high school at Hutchinson, and later a student for a year at Emporia College, spent one year at the Kansas State Agricultural Col- lege, Manhattan, Kansas, and won much fame as a foot-ball player : Helen.
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a kindergarten teacher in Hutchinson, and Gertrude and Margaret, the last two named being still in school.
Mr. Giles is a Republican in politics, and has always taken a prominent part in all matters of local importance and upbuilding. He was chief pro- moter. a director and is now vice-president of the Straw-Board Manufactur- ing Company, of Hutchinson, which is a large and prosperous concern. He is president and chief organizer of the Hutchinson & Western Interurban Railway Company. He is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge and con- sistory at Great Bend. and to the Mystic Shrine at Salina. He is a charter member of the lodge of Odd Fellows at Chaflin, and is a trustee, though non-member of the congregational church at Hutchinson, to which his wife belongs, and assisted in its building.
MELVIN J. REYNOLDS.
A descendant of one of the old families of Virginia, the subject of this sketch was early thrown on his own resources. After the family had suffered considerable loss in the general havoc wrought by the war between the States, Melvin J. Reynolds came to the West and after years of diligent application is now comfortably situated on a fine quarter section in this county.
Melvin J. Reynolds was born on August 31, 1860, in Russell county. Virginia, the son of Isaac V. and Sarah J. ( Ferguson) Reynolds, both of whom were born in Russell county, where the family had lived for many generations. Isaac V. Reynolds was the son of Ira Reynolds, who was the owner of a large plantation in Virginia before the war.
During the Civil War, Isaac V. Reynolds served in the Confederate army in the Sixteenth Virginia Cavalry, under the command of General McCausland. After serving throughout the war, Isaac V. Reynolds returned to his home, but he never recovered from the effects of a cold contracted while in the army, and died in 1866. at the age of twenty-nine years.
Sarah J. Ferguson was born on December 21, 1837. She was married to Isaac V. Reynolds a short time before the war. When her husband died in 1866 she was left with the care of two small children, and seeking a bet- ter location in which to rear her family than the then devastated region of her home seemed to offer, she removed to Illinois, in 1873, and located in Adams county, where she kept house for seven years for William Burke.
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Later, Mrs. Reynolds bought a farm in that county, and lived in Illinois the remainder of her life. She died at Ellen Grove, Illinois, December 23, 1907, at the age of seventy years. Mrs. Reynolds was a member of the Missionary Baptist church and was active in all good works in that com- munion.
Isaac V. and Sarah J. (Ferguson ) Reynolds were the parents of two children, namely: Melvin J., the subject of this sketch, and Ira, a farmer in Adams county, Illinois, who lives on the old home farm of one hundred and forty-three acres.
In Virginia, Melvin J. Reynolds attended subscription school for a few terms, the tuition being paid by his mother through the sale of chestnuts, cabbage and tobacco. When the family removed to Illinois in 1873, Melvin J. was thirteen years old. He attended the district school in the winter and worked on farms in the summer, living in Adams county with his mother until he was twenty-two years old.
In 1882, Mr. Reynolds went to Sumner county, Kansas, where he secured employment with A. B. Burke, a big sheep man, with whom he worked for eleven years. At that time the sheep were on the open range and were herded from Nebraska to southwest Texas, changing pastures with the seasons. Mr. Reynolds soon became an expert in the sheep busi- ness and was made foreman of the outfit, subsequently he became financially interested with his employer. Melvin J. Reynolds came to Reno county in 1894 and located in Salt Creek township, where he rented a farm of Moses C. Stahly. Mr. Reynolds conducted this farm on a rental basis for many years, and finally, in 1912, purchased one hundred and sixty acres of the place, being the southeast quarter of section 32. Mr. Reynolds has put numerous improvements on the farm. He keeps a good grade of stock and engages principally in wheat farming, which has been very profitable in recent years.
Melvin J. Reynolds was married on November 26, 1900, to Amy Stahly. who was born near Nappanee, in Elkhart county, Indiana, the daughter of Moses C. and Mary (Nisley) Stahly. Moses C. Stahly came to Reno county. Kansas, from Indiana in 1885, and bought a farm in Salt Creek township. In 1903 he and his wife moved to Hutchinson, where they still live and where Mr. Stahly is engaged as a carpenter.
Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are the parents of one son, Ferguson, who was born on October 23, 1904. Mr. Reynolds is a Democrat, and takes a proper interest in all matters affecting the welfare of the community. He and his wife have a wide circle of friends in this part of Reno county.
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WILSON SMITH.
Wilson Smith, best known as one of the influential citizens of Nicker- son, Reno county, Kansas, was born on September 28, 1860, in Peoria, Illinois, and is the son of Henry and Margaret (Wilson) Smith, who were both born in Ireland. Henry Smith was born in 1826, and died in 1902. He immigrated to America previous to his marriage and located in Phila- delphia. Margaret Wilson was brought to this country when a girl and her marriage to Henry Smith was solemnized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she then lived. Her death occurred in 1862. She was the mother of five sons, whose names follow: Robert and William, deceased; Lewis C., Robert, who has been unheard from for many years, and Wilson. After the death of Margaret (Wilson) Smith, her husband married Mariah ( Wil- son) Reece, widow of Joseph Reece, and of this second union four children were born, namely: Mariah, Newell, David, deceased, and Loren. Mariah (Wilson) Reece was the mother of one child by her first marriage, Jennie. Henry Smith was a resident of Illinois at the time of his death and both he and his wife were active in local church affairs, being devoted members of the Presbyterian church.
Wilson Smith lived in Illinois until twenty-two years of age, when he located in Butler county, Kansas. After his marriage and for the past thirty years Lewis has lived with his brother. Lewis Smith is a farmer who operates a place containing about six hundred acres of land and first began his career in this vocation in 1877.
On February 18, 1886, Wilson Smith was united in marriage to Alice Thompson, daughter of William P. and Mary A. (Kizer) Thompson. Wil- son Smith and wife are the parents of two children, Laura and Edith, who are both in training at the State Normal School at Pittsburg, Kansas. The marriage of Wilson Smith and Alice Thompson was solemnized in Wash- ington, Illinois. Alice (Thompson) Smith was born on December 11. 1861. and is one of ten children born to the union of her parents, five of whom are now living. Their names follow: Elizabeth and Elijah, deceased; Celia A., Lucinda E., Mary Louisa, Ella, Alice, Emma C. and two who died in infancy. William P. Thompson was a native of Pennsylvania, while his wife was born in Virginia. They met and married in Ohio, in 1841, and thence removed to Illinois where they established a permanent home. Both husband and wife were active members of the Christian church and liberal supporters of same. William P. Thompson was born in 1817 and his death
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occurred on April 21, 1903, his wife preceding him by ten years. She was born in 1821.
Wilson Smith was a resident of Kansas for three years previous to his marriage, returning to Illinois for his bride. Upon his return to this section, they purchased eighty acres and added to it until they had seven hundred and twenty acres of land in Westminster township. Mr. Smith continued to make that his home until 1908, at which time he removed to the town of Nickerson. Since coming to this city he has been identified with all progressive civic questions and has served as a member of the town council for three years past. He is also active as a member of the Christian church, serving its interests as an elder for seven years.
J. O. WHEELER.
J. O. Wheeler was born in Jackson county, Indiana, November 8, 1830. He is a son of Orrel H. Wheeler, who was born in Vermont. His mother was Elizabeth Love, a daughter of John Love, who moved from eastern Tennessee to Indiana, where he lived the remainder of his life. He was a soldier in the War of 1812.
Mr. Wheeler's paternal grandfather was Nehemiah Wheeler, a New Englander, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, entering the service at the age of sixteen years. Nehemiah Wheeler first settled in Ohio, but later moved to Jackson county, Indiana, where he lived the remainder of his life. His wife was Thursie Hall. He was a son of Enoch Wheeler, and the grandson of Samuel Wheeler, who was the first representative of the Wheeler family who settled in America.
Orrel H. Wheeler's education comprised three months in a country school, but he became a well-read man. He was twice married, his first wife being J. O. Wheeler's mother. He came to Jackson county, Indiana, with his father's family, when twelve years old. He learned the carpenter's trade, but after moving to Jasper county, Illinois, he followed farming the rest of his life, his death occurring in the latter county.
J. O. Wheeler received his education in the common schools of Jack- son county. Indiana, and was a student in the high school in Jennings county. Indiana. After leaving school Mr. Wheeler took up farming and also learned the carpenter's trade. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War. he enlisted for service in the Union army on August 14. 1862, and served three years
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with the Ninety-eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Mounted Infantry. He received gunshot wounds in the hand and in the back while in the service, and from third sergeant he was promoted to first sergeant, then to first lieutenant. After the war he resumed farming, and in May, 1873, moved from Indiana to Kansas, homesteading land four miles west of Nickerson. Here he and his family endured all the hardships of the early Kansas pioneers, hunting buffalo bones for a living and contending with the grass- hopper plague. Mr. Wheeler has now retired from active life, being almost blind.
On August 16, 1852, J. O. Wheeler was married to Mary Ruddick, who was a native of Jackson county, Indiana, and who died on July 13, 1914. They were the parents of the following children: Emma E., who married Albert Dean and they have seven children; Alice, who married J. M. Asher : Solomon, Julia, Clara Jane, who married William Dean and they have five children : Charles Harvey, who is now living on the farm, married Fannie Johnson and they have five children. All are deceased but Charles Harvey. Mrs. Wheler in early life was a Quaker, but later was a member of the Methodist church, in which denomination Mr. Wheeler is still active.
CHARLES BLOOM.
Charles Bloom, who for many years was one of the best-known busi- ness men in Hutchinson and who later lived very comfortably on his fine farm in Reno township until his death on January 29, 1916, was a native of Germany, having been born in the town of Waldmohr, Rhenish Bavaria, on June 24, 1846, son of Philip and Mary (Zimmer ) Bloom, both born and reared in Bavaria, members of the German Reformed church, and the for- mer of whom was a blacksmith.
In 1856 the Bloom family emigrated to America, the vessel on which they sailed being forty-eight days on the way to the port of New York. Upon arriving in this country, the Blooms located at Tiffin, in Seneca county, Ohio, later moving to a farm near that city, where Mr. and Mrs. Bloom spent the remainder of their lives, both dying in 1870, the former at the age of seventy-two and the latter at the age of fifty-six. They were the par- ents of seven children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the youngest, the others being as follow: Philip, Jr., now deceased, who was a farmer in Ohio; Jacob, now deceased, who was a blacksmith in Ohio;
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES BLOOM.
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Caroline, who died unmarried in Indiana; Charlotte, now deceased, who married George Hartman, of Seneca county, Ohio; Mary, who married William Leper and lives in Tiffin, Ohio, and Dora, who lives in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, widow of Luther Allbrecht.
Charles Bloom was six years of age when he arrived in this country with his parents and his schooling therefore was wholly confined to the American system of education. He performed valuable labors in his youth in assisting in the clearing of the home farm in Seneca county, Ohio, and at the age of twenty-two, in 1868, he came to Kansas and entered a claim in Wilson county, but the fever and ague at that time were proving such draw- backs to that section of the state that he abandoned his claim and went to Andrews county, Missouri, where, in the village of. Balco, he opened a black- smith shop, he having learned that trade from his father, and was thus en- gaged until 1872, in which year he rented a farm in that same county, he having married there in the fall of 1871, and there he lived for four years, at the end of which time he decided that Kansas offered better opportuni- ties for material advancement and returned to the state he had left in disgust seven or eight years before. He arrived in Reno county on July 18, 1876, where he lived until his death. Upon his arrival here he settled in Hutchin- son, even then a most promising village, and bought a building on the corner of Second and Main streets, in which, in partnership with his brother-in-law, A. M. West, they started a livery stable, which they conducted for some time. In 1878 Mr. Bloom and his partner bought the water-power flour mill, which they operated until 1901. Mr. Bloom also was the organizer and one of the five men who composed the wholesale grocery concern of C. Bloom & Company and was connected with that flourishing business until 1901, at the same time being actively connected with the retail grocery and general store of the A. M. West Company, from 1883 to 1891, dividing his time about equally between the two enterprises. In 1895, five or six years before his retirement from business in Hutchinson, Mr. Bloom had bought two hundred and forty acres of the Wolcott ranch, west of Hutchinson. and after his retirement made his home there. For several years he operated an extensive dairy there, but in later years confined his attention wholly to gen- eral farming and gave his personal attention to the management of his well- kept farm. In 1910 Mr. Bloom's second son, Ralph H. Bloom, opened a livery barn in Hutchinson and Mr. Bloom had an interest in that concern.
On October 3, 1871, Charles Bloom was united in marriage. in Seneca county, Ohio. to Margaret E. West, who was born in that county, daughter (10a)
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of James and Julia West, and to this union three children have been born : H. Clayton, a retired merchant living in Hutchinson; Ralph H., who operates a livery barn in Hutchinson, and Bessie, who married Delos Smith, president of the Hutchinson Wholesale Saddlery Company.
Mr. Bloom was a Democrat and during the early years of his residence and during the time of his active business career took an active and influen- tial part in the political affairs of Reno county and of the county seat town, but never was an office seeker. He was honorable and upright in all his relations in life. and will be long remembered by his many associates and friends.
ROBERT JAMES GRAHAM.
The late Robert James Graham, for more than twenty years one of Hutchinson's sterling and most substantial citizens, a man highly respected throughout the whole county, active and influential in all good works here- about, whose widow. Mrs. Sarah Marshall Graham, is still living in Hutch- inson, honored and respected by the entire community, was a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Morrow county, that state, March 8, 1850, son of Thomas and Isabelle (Walker) Graham, both natives of Wash- ington county, Pennsylvania, and both of sterling Scottish descent.
Soon after their marriage, Thomas Graham and wife left Pennsylvania and moved over into central Ohio, settling in Morrow county, where they bought a farm and there spent the remainder of their lives, Mrs. Graham dying when the subject of this sketch was nine years old. Eight children were born to Thomas Graham and his wife and all were reared in the strict faith of the Reformed church, both Mr. and Mrs. Graham having been rigid "Covenanters." Thomas Graham was a good farmer and an excellent manager and became a man of considerable substance, his children being given every advantage in the way of schooling and cultural training. all becoming good citizens, serving usefully in their respective callings.
Robert J. Graham received his elementary education in the schools of his native county and supplemented the same by a thorough course in Oberlin College, from which he was graduated with honors. He had been reared to the life of the farm and soon after his marriage, on April 23, 1873. bought a farm in Richland county, Ohio, where he made his home until 1884. in which year he disposed of all his holdings there and came West with the intention of settling in Dakota. On the way out he stopped
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