USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 18
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Edward S. Handy was reared on the home farm and received his ele- mentary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home. On August 1. 1862, he then being sixteen years old, Edward S. Handy enlisted as a recruit in Company F, Seventy-ninth Illinois, his father's com- pany, and served until the close of the war. At the battle of Stone's river he was severely wounded and for some time was confined to the hospital at Murfreesboro, after which he was sent home on a furlough. Upon his return to his company, he then being able to walk only by the aid of crutches, he was detailed as commissary of a hospital. Upon the return of his regi- ment from the Atlanta campaign he was again desirous of re-entering the active service, but his health would not permit and he was made clerk to the adjutant-general of the Third Brigade, Second Division, Fourth Army Corps. Subsequently he participated in the battles of Franklin, Nashville and Spring Hill and was mustered out with his regiment at Springfield, Illi- nois, June 12. 1865. Upon the completion of his military service Mr. Handy entered an academy in the neighborhood of his home and after a course there engaged in mercantile business in the town of York, in his vative county, and was thus engaged until he came to Kansas in the fall of 1872 and settled in Reno county. He homesteaded a tract of land in Lincoln township and sent back word for his brothers and sisters to join him herc. They came in 1873 and all homesteaded farms in the same township, thus b. coming numbered among the earliest settlers of Lincoln township. Dur- ing the grasshopper visitation in 1874 they were hard hit, but overcame all hardships and presently began to prosper.
From the very beginning of his residence in Reno county Edward S. Handy was a forceful and valuable member of the pioneer community. In 1876 he was cheetel clerk of the district court and was re-elected, serving in that position for eight years. Upon his clection he made his headquarters
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at Hutchinson. He was married in 1879 and established his home in Hutchinson, which place ever afterward was his place of residence. He was an ardent Republican and took a prominent part in the political life of this section of the state, frequently serving as a delegate to district and state conventions, but with the exception of his service as clerk of the court never held public office. Upon the expiration of his term of office in the clerk's office Mr. Handy engaged in the general real-estate business and became very successful, for many years being regarded as an authority on all ques- tions relating to realty in this district. He was notably active in promoting the growth and development of the city of Hutchinson and laid out eight or ten additions to that city, including Handy's Addition, Riverside Addition, Handy & Shadduck's Central Addition, Handy's Eastside Addition and others. He also built several of the finest business blocks in the city and was singularly fortunate in his investments. He was one of the incor- porators and for a time was president of the Peoples State Bank of Hutchin- son, later merged into the Hutchinson National Bank, and was one of the directors of the latter institution. He also for several years was a director of the First National Bank of Hutchinson and for some time was heavily interested in lead and zinc mining propositions at Galena; also in mining propositions in Colorado. For some years he served as a member of the city council and one time was the choice of his party for mayor of the city, but he declined to accept the honor. Mr. Handy was one of the organizers of Joe Hooker Post No. 17. Grand Army of the Republic, and for years took a very active part in the affairs of that patriotic organization, which for three terms he served as adjutant.
On December 25, 1879, Edward S. Handy was united in marriage to Minnie A. Hale, who was born near the town of Waterloo, in Dekalb county, Indiana, daughter of Marshall and Hannah (Owen) Hale, who came to Kansas in 1872 and settled at Hutchinson, then a straggling group of thirty of forty houses, with not a tree to relieve the somber monotony of the sand plain. Marshall Hale engaged in the fuel and general builder's-supply busi- ness and early became one of the city's most substantial and influential figures. He built a house for his family residence in 1872 at 408 First avenue, cast, and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on Janu- ary 11, 1906. His widow survived him a little more than eight years, her death occurring in April, 1914. They were the parents of two daughters, Mrs. Handy having a sister, Mrs. W. L. Woodnutt, living at Seattle, Wash- ington.
Edward S. Handy died at his home in Hutchinson on May 19, 1914.
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Besides his widow there survive him three children, namely: Inez L., who married Arthur H. Schlaudt, vice-president and general manager of the Knoor-Schlaudt Wholesale Notion Company, of Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Jessie, who married Dr. Connor Gray, of Seattle, Washington, and Cara Jean, who married J. Lee Dick, superintendent of the Carey Salt Company, of Hutchinson.
DR. JAMES MYERS.
Following the death of the venerable Dr. James Myers at his home in Hutchinson, this county, on September 9, 1915, an old settler paid the following deserved tribute to the memory of that fine old Christian gentle- man : " All the old settlers that knew him know of his wonderful faith and confidence in the country ; not only manifested by his talk, but by all the acts of his life. He -always thought that Reno county was as good as anywhere else, and was never looking for 'green fields in the distance.' His success proved the accuracy of his judgment. The same characteristics were notice- alle all through his life. He was a man of strong impulses, of well-fixed principles, 'nothing wavering.' True, first to his own family; true to his relatives and friends : true to his church, and true to his party ; you always knew where to find him and how he stood when you did find him. Excep- tionally kind hearted, it always did him good to help a deserving and needy one.
The late Dr. James Myers was a native of Ohio, having been born at Trenton, in Harrison county, that state, February 25, 1831, son of James R. and Maria ( Romney ) Myers, fifth in order of birth of the fifteen children born to that parentage, thirteen of whom lived to maturity, and five of whom still survive, as follow: J. A. Myers, a retired capitalist of Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Dr. Jonathan Myers, of Troy; Albert Myers. of Bellville: Mrs. Robert Ander- son, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Minnie Moore, of Tolono, Illinois. James Myers received his elementary education in the schools of his home town in Ohio, supplementing the same by a two-years course in a small Presbyterian college at New Hagerstown. Ohio, and a two-years course at another sectarian college of the same denomination at Richfield, same state, thus received quite a liberal education for that day. At the age of twenty- one he began to teach school and in 1855 emigrated to Iowa, where, in
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Keokuk and Jefferson counties, he was engaged for four or five years in teaching. For six months previous to going to Iowa, he had been reading medical books, with a view to becoming a physician, and upon his arrival in lowa resumed this form of study, in addition to his work in the school room, and for three years sedulously applied himself to reading medicine in the office of his uncle, Dr. D. V. Myers, in Jefferson county. In 1859 he came to Kansas, locating in the then pioneer village of Highland, in Doniphan county, where he opened an office and began the practice of medicine, thus becoming one of the pioneer physicians of Kansas.
When the Civil War broke out Dr. James Myers helped organize Com- pany A, First Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry, that regiment being for the most part engaged in fighting the guerillas in Missouri, during which service Doctor Myers took an active part. A year or two after locating at Highland, Doctor Myers had bought a farm in that neighborhood and upon returning from the war resumed his practice there and at the same time gave personal attention to the management of his farm. He had married in 1861, and in 1874 came to Reno county on a visit to his father-in-law and then saw the town of Hutchinson for the first time: at that time becom- ing so favorably impressed with the situation hereabout that in 1878 he and his wife moved to this county and bought three hundred acres of excellent land in Lincoln township, where they established a new home. Doctor Myers did not continue his profession in his new home, and thereafter devoted his undivided attention to the development of his extensive and growing landed interests and became a very successful farmer and cattle- man. In 1883 Doctor Myers retired from the farm and moved into Hutch- inson, where he bought a house at 523 Avenue A, east, which he remodeled and there he and his wife lived in quiet comfort. The Doctor continued to look after his landed interests, however, after moving to town and grad- ually added to the same until at one time he was the owner of twelve quarter sections of choice land in this county.
In 1861, in Doniphan county, this state, Dr. James Myers was united in marriage to Letitia O'Neal, who was born in Indiana and whose par- ents were among the very first settlers of the Highland neighborhood. har- ing emigrated from Indiana to Kansas very soon after the territory was opened for settlement. Mrs. Myers was a typical pioneer wife and mother, ever ready to cope with any emergency that might arise amid the primitive conditions in which her homekeeping was begun, and ever able to turn appar- ent hardships and backsets into eventual successes. She died at her home in Hutchinson on March 30. 1913, and was widely mourned, for her life had
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been rich in good works. Doctor and Mrs. Myers were active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and for years gave their close personal attention to all movements designed to advance the common good hereabout. Doctor Myers was an ardent Republican from the days of the organiza- tion of that party and for many years took an active part in the political affairs of Kansas, though never having been included in the office-seeking class. To the last he took a keen interest in local affairs, always an earnest advocate of civic righteousness, and his counsels and judgments were highly respected throughout the community.
To Dr. James and Letitia (O'Neal) Myers the following children were born, namely: Elmer, who died in 1880 in his young manhood; Mahlon, who died in his carly youth; Homer, a well-known banker of Sylvia; Wal- ter, who died in infancy; Minnie, who married Charles N. Payne, of Hutch- inson : Mrs. Olive Epperson, of Hutchinson, and Alice, who married Edward Smith and lives in Sylvia.
JUDGE CHARLES M. WILLIAMS.
Judge Charles M. Williams, one of the oldest and best-known lawyers in Hutchinson, the county seat of Reno county, is a native of Missouri, having been born in the town of Harrisonville, Cass county, that state, in July. 1852, son of James H. and Hettie (Son) Williams, the former of whom, born in Tennessee in 1818, died in 1884, at the age of sixty-six, and the latter, born in Missouri in 1825, died in 1864, at the age of thirty-nine.
James H. Williams was reared in his native state of Tennessee and when a young man moved to Missouri. where he became a pioneer merchant in the town of Harrisonville, and where he spent the remainder of his life. He married Hettie Son, and to this union seven children were born, two daughters and five sons. all of whom are deceased except Dr. William W. Williams, a dentist at Sioux City, Iowa, and Charles M., the immediate sub- ject of this sketch. Upon the death of the mother of these children, James H. Williams married, secondly, Armina Son, a sister of his deceased wife, and to this latter union three sons were born, Robert, who lives in San Fran- cisco, California: George, who lives at Warrensburg, Missouri, and Jesse, who for years has been an employee of the Santa Fe Railroad Company.
Upon completing the course in the public schools in his native town. Harrisonville, Missouri, Charles M. Williams entered the Kentucky State
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University, continuing there until his junior year, after which he taught school for a couple of terms and for a short time worked in his father's store at Harrisonville. He then entered the law office of Terrell & Math- ews, at Harrisonville, and after a diligent course of reading passed the required examinations and was admitted to the bar in 1875. after which he engaged in the practice of law at Harrisonville and Belton, Missouri, until 1886, in which year he came to Reno county and located at Hutchinson, the county seat, where he entered into a partnership relation with an estab- lished firm, under the firm style of Mckinstry, Wisler & Williams. A short time afterward Mr. Williams formed a new partnership, under the firm style of Davidson & Williams, which lasted until 1896, when he formed a partnership with F. F. Prigg, which continued until Judge Prigg ascended the bench of the district court in 1913, since which time Mr. Williams has been alone in his practice.
In 1902 Charles M. Williams was appointed by Governor Bailey to fill the unexpired term of Judge Simpson, of the district court, who had been killed, and in the September following his appointment resigned the office, preferring his private practice to a place on the bench. In 1890 Judge Williams was elected to the office of county attorney of Reno county and served until 1892, when he resigned before his term was out. Judge Will- iams has enjoyed a very good law practice and there are but two attorneys at the bar of the Reno court who have been practicing in Hutchinson longer than he has.
On September 4, 1876. at Harrisonville, Missouri, Charles M. Will- iams was united in marriage to Nannie Stair, who was born in Wisconsin, daughter of Edward and Margaret Stair, the former of whom, for many years a building contractor at Harrisonville, now is deceased and the latter is making her home in the household of Judge Williams. To Judge and Mrs. Williams one child has been born, a son, Roy E., born in August. 1884, who attended Armour Institute at Chicago, being graduated from the department of mechanical and electrical engineering, and is now an engineer with Crane & Company, of Chicago, is married and has one child, a son, Charles F. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have a pleasant home at 547 Avenue A. east, in Hutchinson, Mr. Williams having erected his residence there in 1887. the year following his location in Hutchinson.
Judge Williams was a Democrat until 1896, when on account of the nomination of William Jennings Bryan on a free silver ticket he left the Democratic party and voted with the Republicans, and has ever since worked and affiliated with the Republican party and for years has been an influential
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factor in the councils of this party in this county, he having been a frequent delegate to Republican conventions and in other ways manifesting his inter- est in the affairs of the party. He takes an active interest in the general development of the commercial and industrial progress of his city and county and has been largely influential in securing a number of public and private institutions in this city.
CAPT. JESSE BRAINARD.
Among the many veterans of the Civil War who came to this county immediately after it was thrown open to settlement and filed soldier's claims to land here and who braved the first few hard years following their settle- ment, later to be rewarded by plenty, few are better known than Capt. Jesse Brainard, who is now living in substantial comfort in the city of Hutchinson, to which place he retired upon leaving his farm in 1910.
Jesse Brainard was born in Summit county, Ohio, on June 15, 1838, youngest of the eight children of Timothy and Mary, or "Polly" (Sweet) Brainard, the former of whom was born near the town of Haddam, Con- necticut. in 1785, and the latter, near the town of Warren, in New York state. in 1805.
Timothy Brainard was one of the fourteen children of Jesse and Mary ( Thomas) Brainard, who were married in 1776 and who lived at Haddam, Connecticut, until 1803, in which year they moved to Leyden, in Lewis county, New York, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Timothy Brainard was reared as a farmer and when the War of 1812 broke out enlisted for service and served until the close of that brief but conclusive struggle, in payment for which service he received a warrant for eighty acres of land, which he sold. In 1817 he married "Polly" Sweet and soon thereafter drove through with ox-teams to Summit county, Ohio. On his way he passed through the hamlet which was destined to grow into the Aourishing city of Cleveland, but which at that time contained but three houses. Arriving in Summit county, he located in Stowe township, where he entered a tract of government land and proceeded to clear the same and establish a home in the then wilderness. He prospered and later added to that tract by purchase until he became the owner of three hundred and twenty acres, quite a good farm for that time and place. In 1842 he sold that farm and moved to the town of Cayuga Falls, not so very far from the place where he had lived so long. and engaged in the paper trade, his practice
Que Broward
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being to drive through the country with loads of manufactured paper and trade the same for paper rags. He later bought a farm near there, on which he made his home until the death of his wife in 1856, after which he made his home with a son in Illinois, where his death occurred in August, 1869.
Timothy Brainard was a Whig in his early political affiliations, later an Abolitionist and then a Republican. During the trying days preceding the Civil War he was an active "conductor" on the famous "underground rail- road," his farm being one of the best-known "stations" thereabout, and many a harried black he aided in securing freedom by flight across the border. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely: Francis, a veteran of the Civil War, who died in 1880; Mrs. Mary Atwood, now deceased ; Henry, now deceased, who for years was a pilot on the Ohio river and whose whereabouts for years was unknown to his family; Lucy, who died of typhoid fever, at the age of eighteen, shortly before the date set for her marriage; Thomas, who died in 1874, in Illinois; Julia, who married B. D. Green and settled in Valley township, this county, in October, 1873, and died at Nickerson, this county, in April, 1914; Ann M., who married Charles Green, both of whom now are deceased, and Jesse, the immediate subject of this sketch, the sole survivor of this large family.
Jesse Brainard was four years of age when his parents moved to Cayuga Falls and he received his elementary education in the public schools of that town, supplementing the same by a course in a commercial college in Phila- delphia in 1856, during which time he made his home with his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Brainard, a minister of the Presbyterian church in that city. In 1857 he went to Illinois and was working on a farm in McLean county, that state, when the Civil War broke out. On August 26, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, with which he served until in February, 1864, at which time he was promoted to the rank of captain of Company I, Third United States (Colored) Cavalry, with which he served until January 26, 1866, on which date he was mustered out. Captain Brainard participated in the battles of Belmont. Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson and Shiloh, after which latter engagement his company for months was stationed as a guard to the Memphis & Charleston railroad. He then took part in the siege of Vicks- burg and the next February was promoted to the rank of Captain. For six months his cavalry company was stationed at Goodrich's Landing, Louisiana. then at Vicksburg and then was transferred to Memphis and was at the latter point when the war came to an end. Following that the company was kept
(13a)
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busy for months keeping down "jayhawkers," Captain Brainard having been appointed assistant adjutant-general. under General Dudley, doing scouting and provost duty. During the war Captain Brainard was wounded twice, once in the side and once in the arm, during a cavalry fight in Arkansas.
.At the close of his military service Captain Brainard returned to McLean county, Illinois, and on September 26, 1866, was married to Mary M. War- low, who was born on a farm in that county, nine miles west of the town of Bloomington, on April 26, 1843, daughter of Jonathan and Catherine ( Hay) Warlow, the former of whom, a native of Massachusetts, had emi- grated to Illionis with his parents in 1834 and who there married Catherine Hay, who had located there with her parents, who had emigrated from Ken- tucky. Jonathan Warlow became a quite well-to-do farmer and he and his wife spent their last days on their home farm in Illinois. After his mar- riage, Captain Brainard bought two hundred and twelve acres in the north part of McLean county, which he sold in 1868 and bought a farm of one hundred and four acres eight miles west of Bloomington, where he lived until 1873. in which year he came to Kansas and filed a soldier's claim to a tract of land in Salt Creek township, this county, and returned home to sell his farm and close out his affairs preparatory to making his home in Kansas. He did not get back here within the prescribed six months and thus forfeited his claim, but in February, 1874, he returned to Reno county and bought a discouraged homesteader's pre-emption right and transferred his soldier's right to a quarter section in Valley township. His family joined him in March of that year and they proceeded to establish a home on the plains, their first habitation being a mere shanty, eight by twelve feet. That was "grasshopper year." and they consequently, in common with all the pioneers hereabout. lost their first crop, but they stuck it out and after the first few hard years began to prosper, presently becoming recognized as among the most substantial families in the county. Captain Brainard after awhile enlarged his original holdings by the purchase of a quarter section cornering on his original tract, the southeast quarter of section 30, township 23, range 4 west, and now owns one-half section of well-improved and valuable land. He made big money farming as the years went by and in June, 1910, retired from the active duties of the old home place and he and his wife, ever a competent and valuable helpmate to him in the days on the farm, moved into Hutchinson, buying a home at 306 Sixth avenue, east, where they are now living in quiet comfort. They have but one child, a daughter, Jennie E., born on February 28, 1879. who married George P. Lowe, a prosperous
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farmer of Valley township, this county, and has six children, Hazel, Norman J., Ray B., Wesley L., Keith and Edwin.
Captain Brainard is an ardent Republican, but never was a candidate for public office. He is a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and is also affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mrs. Brainard is a member of the Presbyterian church. Formerly Captain Brainard was a member of the same church and gave the land at the south- east corner of his farm on which the Presbyterian church in that section is situated, at the same time contributing liberally to the fund for the erection of the church, but has since taken his letter out and withdrawn from the congregation.
RANDALL P. HERSHBERGER.
Randall P. Hershberger, a well-to-do retired farmer of this county, now living in the city of Hutchinson, is a native of Ohio, having been born in Wyandot county, that state, on December 23, 1863, son of J. H. and Sam- antha ( Paul) Hershberger, the former a native of Wyandot county, Ohio, and the latter of Crawford county, same state.
I. H. Hershberger, who is now living retired at Hutchinson, at the age of eighty-two, was reared as a farmer in Ohio, where he married and where he lived until the spring of 1874, at which time he came with his family to this county and bought out the homestead rights to a half section of land in Reno township. the tract now occupied by the county farm. He proved up this claim, but after the grasshopper scourge of that fall became so discouraged over the outlook here that he left the county and returned to his farm in Ohio. In 1883 he and his family returned to Reno county and took up their residence on his half section in Reno township. In 1886 he sold that farm and bought another farm in Clay township, on which he lived for a year, at the end of which time he sold it and moved to Hutchin- son and invested in real estate, which failed to develop as he had expected and he lost considerable money when the "boom" collapsed, in 1888. He then returned to the country and rented a farm south of Hutchinson, living there until 1900. when he returned to Hutchinson. His wife died in March, 1903. at the age of seventy-two, and Mr. Hershberger is now making his home with his daughter, Mrs. J M. Dana, in Hutchinson. Mr. and Mrs. Hershberger were the parents of four children, the subject of this biographi- cal sketch having three sisters, Mary, who married J. M. Dana and lives in
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