USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 26
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mother at Crestline, Ohio. Her father was for many years a farmer and an importer and breeder of pureblood Percheron horses.
To Mr. and Mrs. John J. Boehm have been born one child, Walter, who was born on October 31. 1889, at Spencer, Iowa. He completed the work in the grades ad high school at Hutchinson and two years at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, after which he attended the law department of the University of Kansas and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Laws. After being admitted to the bar he entered the laundry business of his father and now has charge of the office.
Walter Boehm was married, December 4, 1914, at Hutchinson, to Mary Lee Vance, a native of Abingdon. Virginia, and the daughter of J. M. Vance, whose wife was a Carpenter. The father of Mrs. Boehm was a native of Virginia and the mother of Maine.
Jacob and Caroline Erb were the parents of the following children : Harland G., a farmer at Ames, Iowa; Eleanor, the wife of Charles Kuken- rall, a farmer of Anthony, Iowa; Rosabel, the wife of M. H. Kelso, a den- tist at Ames; Minnie May, the wife of L. M. Maxwell, a farmer at Lee, Montana, and Elizabeth J., wife of John J. Boehm.
GEORGE W. COOTER.
George W. Cooter, former county treasurer and a well-known retired farmer of Reno county, now living at Hutchinson, where he possesses valu- able banking and other interests; an honored veteran of the Civil War, one of the real pioneers of Reno county and a man who for years has been actively identified with the best interests of this section of the state, is a native of England, but has been a resident of the United States since he was a babe in arms. He was born in Sussex on May 3, 1846, son of George W. and Martha ( Boxall) Cooter, both natives of Kent.
The senior George W. Cooter was born in 1820 and was reared on a farm, later becoming an expert landscape gardener, doing contract work in that line. In 1847 he emigrated with his family to America and located at Saybrook, Connecticut. later moving to Cleveland, Ohio, where he remained until 1858. in which year he came West and bought a farm in Jackson county, Missouri, where he remained until practically driven out by his pro- slavery neighbors, whose violent opposition to his well-known anti-slavery views and ardent support of the Union cause compelled him to seek security
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for himself and family over the line in Kansas. He located at Leavenworth in 1862, and in that neighborhood rented a farm, where his death occurred in 1867. he then being forty-seven years of age. His widow survived until 1882, she being sixty-eight years of age at the time of her death.
George W. Cooter, Jr., was about one year old when his parents came to the United States and his early schooling was obtained in the public schools of Cleveland. He was twelve years old when the family left that city and moved to Missouri, and was fifteen years old when the Civil War broke out. He was a big, vigorous, robust boy. In 1862 his father, whose name was also George W., had enrolled his name for enlistment, but when the call came at Independence, Missouri, the father was sick and was wor- ried because he could not respond, so the son said he would go and answer the call for muster for the father, which he did, and was accepted, and instead of coming back as he agreed he went on with his company the next morning, in Company E, Twenty-fifth Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infan- try, and served with the Army of the West until September 20, 1865. He was attached to Company C. First Engineering Corps, with which he served until the close of the war, being classed as an artificer. During his service in the Engineering Corps, Mr. Cooter was attached to the Fifteenth Army Corps, under Gen. John A. Logan, and was with Sherman in the march to the sea, engaged in reconstructing bridges destroyed by the enemy. At the close of the war Mr. Cooter participated in the Grand Review at Washing- ton and was not yet twenty years old when he returned to his home in Leav- enworth, a veteran of one of the greatest wars in history.
Upon the completion of his military service, Mr. Cooter served a three- years apprenticeship to a carriage smith at Leavenworth and became thor- oughly proficient in that trade, which he later followed for four years. in the employ of Moore & Jennings at Leavenworth, after which he was given the position of foreman of the carriage department of the federal prison at Leavenworth. In the meantime, in 1871, he had married and after retaining his foremanship for thirteen months, decided to join the homestead move- ment, then setting in strongly toward this section of the state, and in 1873 came with his wife and baby son to Reno county. Upon arriving here Mr. Cooter homesteaded a tract of land in Little River township, where he estab- lished his home, being one of the very earliest settlers of that part of the county. Presently he also entered a timber claim and as his affairs pros- pered gradually enlarged his land holdings until he eventually became the owner of eight hundred acres of land in Little River township and what is now Medora township. To his general farming operations he added cattle
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raising and was also quite successful in that line, soon coming to be regarded as one of Reno county's most substantial citizens. For his own convenience and that of his neighbors he also set up a smithy on his farm and later moved the same to Medora, where he kept it going for several years.
Mr. Cooter was early elected treasurer of Medora township and for years served in that important public capacity. From the very day of the organization of the Republican party Mr. Cooter has been a loyal and stead- fast adherent of that party and took an active part in local political affairs. In 1892 he attended the Reno county Republican convention, without ever a thought of being a candidate for any county office, and was very much astonished to find himself nominated for the office of county treasurer. There were several avowed candidates for nomination to that place on the ticket, but Mr. Cooter was not a candidate and no previous mention of his name had been made in that connection. When the call for nominations for treasurer was made a farmer delegate in the convention secured the floor and placed the name of George W. Cooter in nomination, and the "dark horse" was nominated on the first ballot, very much to the surprise of the nominee. That was the year after the Populists swept Kansas and the Republicans came back and elected their men to every office in Reno county. George W. Cooper was one of these and in due time he entered the duties of the office of county treasurer. He was re-elected in the next campaign, and thus served two terms in the treasurer's office. During his incumbency in that office Mr. Cooter made his home in Hutchinson, the county seat, but upon the expiration of his term of public service returned to his farm in Medora township, where he lived until his final retirement from the farm, since which time he has made his home in Hutchinson. In 1905 he built a fine home at 314 Fourth avenue, east, and there he and his wife are now living, very pleasantly situated. Mr. Cooter has sold his farm lands and has made other investments. He is a director of the State Exchange Bank and takes an active interest in the general affairs of the business community, but his greatest pleasure is found in the exercise of his undoubted skill and ingenuity as a wood-carver, which, now in the days of his comfortable retirement. has become a delightful "hobby" with him and those who have seen the results of his work with a jack-knife and a piece of wood declare that he accomplishes wonders along that line. Mr. Cooter is past con- mander of Joc Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and continues to take a warm interest in the affairs of that patriotic organization.
In 1871. at Leavenworth, this state. George W. Cooter was united in marriage to Elizabeth Hartford, who was born in Coleraine, County Lon-
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donderry, Ireland, in 1846, daughter of William and Martha Hartford, the former of whom died in England at the age of thirty-six, his daughter, Elizabeth, then being but five years old. In 1861 the latter and her mother came to this country to visit her brothers in New York and six years later came to Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, where she married Mr. Cooter. To this union four children have been born, as follow: Fred W., now presi- dent of the State Exchange Bank of Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Elizabeth, who married Clifton J. Ryker and now lives at Gulfport, Mississippi; Clara, who married D. Winters and lives at St. Joseph, Missouri, and George, a prosperous farmer, living near Lamar, Colorado.
FRANKLIN EDWARD DILLON.
Franklin Edward Dillon, one of the most successful farmers residing in the vicinity of Hutchinson, Kansas, is a native of Macoupin county, Illi- nois, where he was born on December 20, 1877. He is the son of J. W. and Ellen (Preble) Dillon, the former of whom, a retired farmer, makes his home in Alton, Madison county, Illinois. He is a veteran of the Civil War, having given active service in saving the Union for three years during the conflict. Mr. Dillon has always been an ardent advocate of the principles of the Republican party and in religious views gives support to the Meth- odist church. His wife, who is deceased, was also a prominent member of the same church. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Dillon are: Oscar, Ollie, Jasper, Roy, and Franklin Edward.
In the public schools of Jersey, Illinois, Franklin E. Dillon received his elementary education. Upon completing the common school course he began to work as a farmer on his father's farm. He remained on the home place assisting his father until he was twenty-three years of age and at the end of that time came to Reno country, Kansas, where he obtained employment on the farm owned at that time by Frank Danfords. He remained on this farm, which was in Reno township, for two years when he went to work on the Fernie ranch in Lincoln township. After a year spent in this town- ship, he rented a farm with which he was occupied for a few years, until he bought a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Reno township. just west of Hutchinson. For the last few years, the subject of this sketch has rented a tract of one hundred and twenty-five acres of land. belonging
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to his wife's mother, and adjoining her home place. Mr. Dillon divides his time as a farmer between his own farm and the rented land, occupying the latter as a residence.
In the fraternal affairs of the county in which he resides the subject of this sketch takes an active interest. He holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America and plays a part in local commercial life. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Reno township and in his political views is in favor of the Republican cause, although in local politics he votes independently.
On April 3. 1907, Franklin Edward Dillon was married to Susie V. Wildin, a native of Reno county, Kansas, and the daughter of John and Electa ( Hoskins ) Wildin. To this union the following children have been born : Floyd, who was born in January, 1908; Kermit, Esther and Wilma.
John F. Wildin, deceased, father of Mrs. Dillon, was one of the most popular men of the community in which he resided. He was born in York county, Pennsylvania, on November 13, 1851, the son of George and Caro- line ( Keener) Wildin, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, and descendants of an old German family, who were termed in the early days of colonial life. the "Pennsylvania-Dutch." The family gave support to the Lutheran church. George Wildin, who was a plasterer by trade, moved with his family to Pike county, Illinois, in 1858, where he bought a farm and turned over his plastering trade to his sons. In 1882 he moved to Rush county, Kansas, where he remained a few years before moving to Hutchin- son, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1912. His wife passed away on September 1. 1899. The couple reared a family of four children as follow: William J., who lives in north Reno township: Calvin, who resides in Pueblo, Colorado, where he is engaged in the real-estate business ; Susan, who became the wife of Jacob Musser, and who died in 1897, and John F.
John F. Wildin was the eldest in the family and at the age of seven years moved with his parents from Pennsylvania to Pike county, Illinois, where he attended the public schools. He was trained from youth to assume the duties of farm life, and remained as an assistant to his father on the farm until he reached the age of manhood. After his marriage he rented land from his father for three years, and in 1880 was able to buy a farm of his own. He purchased four hundred and eighty acres of land in Rush county, Kansas, where he continued to reside for nine years, leaving the place in 1889. He located in the Park addition of Hutchinson, where he
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lived for two years, before buying a farm in Enterprise township. In 1892 he bought two hundred and sixty acres in Reno township and lived on what was known as the Hetock place, until his death. The farm residence was built by Mr. Wildin in 1894. He also assisted in building the Methodist church as a member of the building committee. His wife also held mem- bership in the Methodist church of Reno township. Mr. Wildin for a num- ber of years served as steward of the church and also as trustee and during that time was faithful in his attendance at the services.
On March II. 1877. John F. Wildin was united in marriage to Electa Hoskin, a native of Pike county, Illinois, and the daughter of Isaac and Mary Jane (Mosier) Hoskin, the former of whom was a native of Pike county, Illinois. Mary ( Mosier) Hoskin was born in Monroe county, Indi- ana, and died in Illinois. She was a prominent member of the Methodist church of the district in which she resided. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. John Wildin are as follow: Mary, who became the wife of W. S. William and who reside in Lincoln township; Carrie, who married John Miller, a farmer of Rush county, Kansas; Susie, who became the wife of Franklin E. Dillon; Janie, who lives with her mother in Reno township; Electa and Frederick, who are also residing on the home place.
WILLIAM ELBERT LONG.
William Elbert Long is a native of Tennessee. He was born in Athens, McMinn county, in that state, March 28, 1862, the son of Erastus R. and Etharilla A. (Cassada) Long. The father was born in South Carolina, February 7, 1836, but the greater part of his life was spent at Athens. Tennessee, where he followed the occupation of a farmer. He also learned the trade of wagon-maker while living in his Tennessee home. The elder Long, with his family, left Athens, Tennessee, October 12, 1877, and ar- rived at Hutchinson, Kansas, October 14, 1877. He entered one hundred and sixty acres of trust land located in the southern part of Reno county. There he built a home and engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in November. 1885. He was a Mason, a Republican and a Meth- odist. Etharilla A. (Cassada) Long was born in Tennessee, November 28, 1839, and is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Long were married in McMinn county, Tennessee, April 17, 1859, and were the parents of the fol- lowing children: Jacob W .. born in Athens, Tennessee, March 7, 1860.
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died on November 19, 1913: William Elbert. the subject of this sketch; Cordelia M., born in Athens, Tennessee, November 24, 1866, died on Ang- 11st 11. 1867: Ida, born in Athens, Tennessee. September 24, 1868, married John A. Cole, a rancher in Meade county, Kansas; Mittie, born in Athens, Tennessee, July 9. 1871, married William Cannan, a farmer near Cherokee, Oklahoma; Frank, born in Athens, Tennessee, November 28, 1873; Bertha, born in Reno county, Kansas, December 20, 1878.
William Elbert Long was educated in the public schools of Athens and Wesleyan University, of same place, and assisted his father in farming until the death of the father, in 1882. In 1878, while but a youth of sixteen years. William E. Long "located" one hundred and sixty acres of govern- ment land adjoining his father's land, and later entered and proved up the same, obtaining a clear title in 1884, which he still owns. He remained on the farm until 1898, when he was elected sheriff of Reno county and re- moved to Hutchinson. He held the office of sheriff of the county for five years, or two and a half terms, although the state law only permitted two terms in succession for that office; the half term was on account of change to biennial elections.
Mr. Long was engaged in the plumbing and heating business from 1904 to 1909; since then retired. He was a member of the Hutchinson city council two terms, from 1904 to 1908, as a representative from the third ward. He supported the administration of Mayor J. P. Harsha, in the mat- ter of building the drainage canal from Cow creek to the Arkansas river, as a measure for protection from floods. Politically, Mr. Long has always affiliated with the Republican party. Fraternally, he is a thirty-second de- gree Mason. a Knight Templar, a Mystic Shriner, a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On April 27. 1897. William E. Long was married to Sarah C. Baker, in Pawnee county. Nebraska. She was the daughter of Frederick W. Baker and Sarah Elizabeth ( Long) Baker, who were married on October 5. 1862. Mrs. Long's father was born in Kentucky, March 8. 1833, and died in Arlington, Reno county, Kansas, April 18, 1913. His occupation was that of a farmer. During the Civil War, Mr. Baker was commissioned by Gov- ernor Johnson, of Tennessee, as recruiting officer, and was afterward cap- tain in a Tennessee regiment. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post at Arlington, Kansas, and a member of the Methodist Episco- pal church. In politics he was a Republican. Mrs. Long's mother was born
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in Bradley county, Tennessee. November 17, 1842, and is now living at Arlington, Reno county, Kansas.
Mrs. Sarah (Baker) Long was born in Benton, Polk county, Tennes- sce, July 21, 1871, and died in Hutchinson, Kansas, August 18, 1913. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Long are: Cella E., born on July 12, 1898; Charles E., February 14. 1903; Chester E., January 5, 1906; all born in Hutchinson, Reno county, Kansas.
ELMER L. BREWER.
Elmer L. Brewer, superintendent of the printing department of the Hutchinson News was born in McLean county, Illinois, December 4, 1863. one of the family of five children of James and Susan (Westfall) Brewer. Belle, a sister, is the widow of Charles N. Davis, for many years a news- paper man at Port Arthur, Texas. His death occurred on April 4, 1911. Charles, a brother, is a farmer in McLean county, Illinois, where Walter, the youngest of the family, also lives, engaged in the same occupation. Nellie, is the wife of Charles C. Russell, a dealer in wall paper and paint, located at Coffeyville, this state. James Brewer was a native of Kentucky, born in Franklin county, near the city of Frankfort, October 20, 1837. He was a farmer and nurseryman all his life and died at Coffeyville, this state, March 10, 1914. Susan (Westfall) Brewer was born in Leroy, Illi- nois, July 6, 1841. and died on November 3, 1909, while the family was residing in McLean county, Illinois.
Elmer L. Brewer received his earlier education in the grade schools of Leroy, Illinois, and after completing his studies was apprenticed to a printer in that town where he learned the trade to which he has given him- self since that time. He came to Hutchinson in April, of 1886, to accept a position with the Hutchinson Notes and has been on the staff of that publi- cation since that time. For eight years he was assistant foreman in the printing room and has been superintendent of that department for the past eighteen years. Mr. Brewer has also become a stockholder of the company and is an active member of Typographical Union No. 243, also of the Inde- pendent Order of Red Men. He is independent in politics and holds his religious membership with the Methodist Episcopal church, to the support of which he gives liberally of time and means.
On January 1, 1808, Elmer L. Brewer was married in Hutchinson to
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Della M. Sloan, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Sheridan) Sloan, born at Ashland, Ohio, December 15, 1861. Her father was a native of Penn- sylvania, born in New Derry, Westmoreland county, December 15, 1835, and was a farmer all the active years of his life. Her mother, who is also dead, was born in Ashland, Ohio, March 10, 1840. Mrs. Brewer has two brothers, namely: William J. Sloan, cashier of the Halstead Bank, Hal- stead, this state. and Alva L. Sloan, in the abstract and title business at San Bernardino, California. The Brewer home is a handsome residence located at 625 Fourth avenue, East, Hutchinson, where Mr. Brewer took his bride shortly after their marriage.
ALPHEUS EWER ELLIOTT.
The late Alpheus Ewer Elliott, who for years was one of the best-known and most progressive merchants in Hutchinson, this county, was a native of Maine, having been born in the town of Vasselboro, that state, on Novem- ber 24. 1843, son of Francis and Mary (Robinson) Elliott, both natives of Maine. The Elliotts are of English descent, the family in this country having descended from an Elliott who was among the very early settlers in New England. Francis Elliott, who was a ship builder and an earnest Quaker, was the son of a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolution- ary War. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, who grew to maturity.
Alpheus Ewer Elliott received his education in the public schools of his home town and was seventeen years of age when the Civil War broke out. His youthful heart was fired with patriotic fervor and he at once attempted to enlist for service in the regiment that was being formed in his part of the state. but was rejected on account of his age. Nothing daunted, however, and still determined to fight for the cause of the union of the states, he ran away from home and went to Massachusetts, boldly declared himself to be twenty-one years of age and enlisted in the Twenty-second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, with which he served until the close of the war. During this full term of service he never was wounded, though hav- ing participated in many important and severe engagements, and never was on the hospital roll but once, that temporary disability having been caused by long exposure in killing weather.
At the close of the war Alpheus E. Elliott, then a veteran, though still
MR. AND MRS. ALPHEUS E. ELLIOTT.
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little more than a boy in years, returned to Massachusetts with his returning regiment and stopped at Fall River, which he made his home for more than ten years. He married there in 1871 and then engaged in the grocery busi- ness, which he continued quite successfully for some years. In 1878, warned by the failing state. of his health, and at the advice of his physician and friends, he decided to come West, believing that a change of climate would prove beneficial. With his family he came to Kansas, locating in the town of Ottawa, where he engaged in the loan business. After about ten years of residence in Ottawa, Mr. Elliott determined to push on further West, the state of his health again beginning to trouble him, and decided to locate at Cheyenne, Wyoming. En route, he stopped off at Hutchinson, this county, and so favorably was he impressed with general conditions and the salub- rity of the climate hereabout that he decided to remain. That was in 1889 and the remainder of his life was spent in Hutchinson. Upon locating in Hutchinson, Mr. Elliott engaged in the retail furniture business, his place of business having been in the 300 block in North Main street, and there and thus he continued in business until 1895, in which year the gradually failing condition of his health compelled his retirement from business and he lived as an invalid for eleven years, his death occurring on February 13, 1906, his widow and one child surviving him. His widow passed away on Novem- ber 27, 1915.
On October 12, 1871, at Fall River, Massachusetts, Alpheus E. Elliott was united in marriage to Myra Martha Bowers, who was born in Medford, Massachusetts, daughter of Capt. John and Elizabeth (Jones) Bowers, mem- bers of old families thereabout, the two families having been represented in and about Medford for generations. John Bowers was a sea captain, mas- ter of his own vessel, engaged in the coastwise trade, who died of yellow fever at New Orleans when his only daughter, Myra, was a baby. His widow survived him but three years and the orphaned little girl, the only child. was reared by her uncle, James Dudley, at Waltham, Massachusetts.
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