USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 30
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William Allen Brown was reared and educated in his native state and removed to Illinois in 1875, going from there to Kansas in 1876. He located in Reno county on February 15 of that year and has since been a resident of this locality. The first one hundred and sixty acre purchase of school land which he acquired was sold in 1901, and he then removed from Arlington township to Grant township the following year. He again invested in one hundred and sixty acres of land on which he now resides.
On February 22, 1886, William Allen Brown was united in marriage to Katherine E. Rayl, daughter of Thomas and Julia Ann Rayl, who located in Kansas in 1871. Katherine E. Rayl was born in Kokomo, Indiana, and died in Kansas on September 15. 1909. Her husband then retired to Hutch-
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inson. Kansas, where he took up his residence with his brother, George W. Brown, who married Jennie Harris, and is the father of one child, Frank A. Brown, who operates the property of his uncle, William Allen Brown.
ALFRED L. SPONSLER.
In the Sponsler family there is a tradition that the American progenitor of that now widely scattered family, of which Alfred L. Sponsler, of Hutch- inson, this county, secretary of the Kansas State Fair, is a distinguished member, was a captain in the French army, who came to America during the French and Indian wars, and after the war settled in Philadelphia, which thus became the point of origin of the family in this country. Alfred L. Sponsler's paternal grandfather, Lewis Sponsler, was a resident of Perry county, Pennsylvania, where he died at middle age. His son, Lewis Spon- sler, father of Alfred L. Sponsler, was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, on October 3, 1825, and in his youth learned the trade of wagon-making, at which occupation he worked for many years. In 1849, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, he married Maria Wolfe, who was born in Lancas- ter county, Pennsylvania, September 22, 1827, a daughter of Christian and Sarah ( Stoner) Wolfe, both of German descent. Christian Wolfe was a son of Henry Wolfe, who was a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War.
In 1856 Lewis Sponsler emigrated with his family from Pennsylvania to Keithsburg, Mercer county, Illinois, where he worked as a carpenter for four years, at the end of which time he bought a farm seven miles east of that city, which he improved and there made his home until 1881, when he retired from active farm life and moved to Aledo, in the same county, and there he and his wife spent their last days, his death occurring on April 4, 1893. his widow surviving until August 7, 1913. Lewis Sponsler and wife were members of the Presbyterian church, in the various beneficences of which they for years were leaders in their community. Their children were as follow : William J., who married Mary Hodgson, came to Reno county, Kansas, in 1874, and became one of the leading farmers of Reno township, where he lived until 1915, in which year he retired from the farm and moved to Hutchinson, where he is now living; Sarah. the wife of W. D. Reynolds, a stock raiser of Villisca, Iowa: George W., a farmer and stock raiser, of Mercer county, Illinois: Alice M., unmarried, who lives at Aledo, Illinois;
Minnie B. Sponsler
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Alfred L., the immediate subject of this review; Anna, who is the wife of Laon MeWhorter, one of the most noted breeders of Angus cattle in the United States, now living retired at Aledo, Illinois, and John L., now a prominent attorney at Muskogee, Oklahoma, who was formerly connected with his brother, Alfred L., in the newspaper business at Hutchinson.
Alfred Lincoln Sponsler, third son and fifth child of Lewis and Maria (Wolfe) Sponsler, was born in Mercer county, Illinois, on April 30, 1860, and was reared on the paternal farm in that county, receiving his elementary education in the district schools of his home neighborhood, after which he completed the course in Knox Academy at Galesburg and entered Knox Col- lege, same city, which institution he left at the age of twenty-three to study law in the office of John C. Pepper at Aledo. In May, 1885, after formal examination, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of the state of Illinois, and then entered into partnership with Mr. Pepper, under the firm name of Pepper & Sponsler, and practiced law at Aledo for a year and a half, when he came to this county, locating at Arlington, with the expec- tation of engaging in the practical law at that place, but instead, engaged in the real-estate business, being attracted thereto by the "boom" that was then under way in Kansas, and so continued in business there until November, 1889, when he moved to Hutchinson, where he has ever since made his home.
It was during the time of Mr. Sponsler's residence in Arlington, in 1888, that he made one of the most remarkable political races ever recorded in this state. He was a candidate in that year for the nomination for state senator from this district on the Republican ticket. The senatorial conven- tion, which met at Pratt, was in deadlock from the very first ballot and after balloting for three days adjourned to meet at Turon. At the latter place three more days were consumed in ineffectual balloting, after which the con- vention adjourned sine die. Upon the next call of the district committee, the convention was held again at Turon, and after several hundred ballots, without a nomination, Mr. Sponsler, who several times had come within one vote of the required number to make a choice, and on one ballot within one- half vote of the nomination, withdrew his name from further consideration on the part of his faithful delegates and the nomination went to Hon. F. E. Gillette.
Upon locating in Hutchinson in 1889, Alfred L. Sponsler, in connec- tion with his brother, John L. Sponsler, founded the Hutchinson Times, and in the next year bought the Republican, which they consolidated with the Times, presently picking up four other small papers, merging the same
(20a)
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with the Times, which they conducted under that name until 1891, in which year they purchased the Hutchinson Daily News, including the job shop and bookbindery connected with the plant of that paper, and merged the Times with the latter paper, continuing the publication of the News until the autumn of 1895, in which year the paper was bought by William Y. Morgan, now lieutenant-governor of Kansas and the present owner of the paper. Upon retiring from the newspaper business, Mr. Sponsler and his brother invested all their money in ear corn, which they cribbed at various points in Reno, Harper, Barber and Rice counties, and held until 1898, when they sold it at a nice profit. The next venture undertaken by Mr. Sponsler was the feeding of large bunches of live stock for the market. In this also he was quite successful and he then bought four hundred and fifty acres of grazing land in Salt Creek townhsip, this county, and engaged in the breed- ing of registered Shorthorn cattle, continuing in that business until the fall of 1913, at which time he sold his herd and since then has confined his ranch operations wholly to grain farming Coincident with his ranch operations, in 1906, in connection with Thomas G. Armour, Mr. Sponsler established a printing and publishing house at Hutchinson, the partners later organizing a building company, the Times Building Company, erecting a large office building on South Main street for their publications and put out a new newspaper, the Times. The next year they started the Il'holesaler, presently merging the Times with the latter publication, and are still issuing the Il'holesaler, in connection with which they also continue to operate their large printing plant, Mr. Armour being the active manager of the same.
Mr. Sponsler ever since coming to Reno county has been prominently connected with all movements designed to advance the common good of this community, and his various newspapers have ever been outspoken in behalf of improvements and good government. It was through his efforts in 1802 that the Republican state convention was held in that year in Hutch- inson, the first time the convention had ever been held this far west, and during the winter of 1891-92 his efforts brought about a reorganization of the Commercial Club along lines which have proved valuable to the welfare of the city. Mr. Sponsler for years has taken an active part in politics and has been a delegate to many state conventions of his party. He was chair- man of the Reno county delegation to the convention which nominated Gov- ernor Morrill in 1894. Since 1889 he has attended every session of the General Assembly in behalf of the interests of good government and it is undeniable that he has personally exerted a wholesome influence upon legis- lation. He helped organize the "Kansas Day" Club, of Kansas, and was
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delegate to the Trans-Mississippi congress in 1894. In the spring of 1901 Mr. Sponsler organized the Central Kansas Fair Association and was its first president. He later became secretary of this association and upon the merger of the Central Kansas Fair with the Kansas State Fair ( which was created by the Kansas Legislature, session of 1913), became secretary of the latter and has so continued since that time, his admirable service in that connection now having covered a period of thirteen years. He was for seven years a member of the state board of agriculture and president of that organization during 1907 and 1908. He was also a member of the board of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College three years and largely instrumental in electing Dr. Henry J. Waters president of that institution.
Mr. Sponsler is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the blue lodge at Hutchinson, and of the consistory at Wichita, and is warmly inter- ested in the philosophy of Masonry. He also is a life member of Hutchin- son Lodge No. 453. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On September 27, 1887, Alfred L. Sponsler was married to Minnie Bentley, who was born in Mercer county, Illinois, on September 5, 1862. the daughter of James L. and Nancy ( Smith ) Bentley, who was educated in the common schools, the Aledo Academy and the Illinois State Normal. To this union two children were born, Cora, a graduate of the Hutchinson high school, who attended Kansas State Agricultural College one year, took a course for voice culture in the Knox Conservatory of Music, Galesburg, Illi- nois, and also in Chicago for a year and a half under private tutorship; and Lewis, who, after taking a two-year course in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and studying voice culture at Chicago, is now a stu- dent in Chicago Voice and Dramatic Art Schools.
Mrs. Sponsler died at her home at the corner of Twelfth and Washing- ton streets on June 10, 1915, and was widely mourned throughout the city and county, for, ever since she had been a resident of Hutchinson she had been one of its leading citizens, in every field where women were needed she ever having been foremost. She had served as president of the Women's Club, the pioneer of women's clubs in Hutchinson ; had also served as presi- dent of the city Federation of Women's Clubs, and in memory of her the women's clubs of Hutchinson have named their state endowment fund for her. She was a state officer in the "P. O. E.," having been one of the leaders in bringing the national convention of that sisterhood to Hutchin- son several years ago. She was intensely interested in music and was an active member of the Apollo Club. She also took a live interest in public affairs and was one of the supporters in the equal suffrage movement in
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Reno county, at the same time having done considerable work, in a quiet way, in behalf of the prohibition cause in the county and state. But with all her public activities, Mrs. Sponsler's most dominant trait was her love of home life, and it was at her fireside that she enjoyed herself most. She was a woman who put her family first over all and always remained a modest home-lover, a womanly woman.
ROSCOE C. LAYMAN.
Roscoe C. Layman, son of Preston and Harriet (McNabb) Layman, was born in Newport, Tennessee, November 21, 1875. His father was born in the same place, September 13, 1833, and although born and reared in the South and surrounded by an influence favorable to secession in 1860, he remained steadfastly loyal to the Union. When the Civil War came, as . a result of the secession, and when his native state joined in the secession movement and took up arms against the old flag, and the Union of which it was the emblem, Preston Layman refused to follow the example of his native state. He was an avowed Union man, and in consequence of his known principles, his surroundings became exceedingly unpleasant, not to say hazardous. He found it necessary to leave his home and he eventually gave evidence of his sincere patriotism by enlisting in the Union army in defense of the flag. At Bowling Green. Kentucky, in 1862, he enlisted in Company E. Second Tennessee Cavalry, and served in this command until the close of the war. Under the command of Rosecrans, Thomas and Sher- man, this regiment participated in the campaigns through Kentucky, Tennes- see, Alabama. Georgia and Mississippi. It was in the battle of Stone's river. Chickamauga. Chattanooga, the several engagements in the Atlanta cam- paign, at Knoxville, Franklin and Nashville, and was finally mustered out of the service at Knoxville, at the close of the war.
In all these engagements Preston Laymen bore a soldier's part, and, after his discharge returned to his old home in Tennessee. In February, 1882, he removed to Kansas, settling in Arlington township, Reno county, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land from George Alex- ander. He added to his acres, from time to time, until at his death he was the owner of eleven hundred and twenty acres of as fine a body of land as is to be found in the county. He gave his attention to farming and cattle rais- ing and was one of the most successful in that line of industry in the county.
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Ilis death occurred on November 27, 1909. He was a member of Cabal Lodge No. 299, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Arlington, Reno county ; was a member of the Methodist church, and his political affiliations were with the Republican party. He served as justice of the peace of his township for six or eight years, was a member of the school board six years and was a trustee and an influential member of his church.
Harriet ( McNabb) Layman was born in Newport, Tennessee, May 4, 1843, the daughter of John, and Elizabeth (Dugan) McNabb. She was a member of the Methodist church and died on March 29, 1916, at Hutchin- son, Kansas. Her father, John McNabb, who owned twelve hundred acres of land in Tennessee and had five or six family servants, was born in a fort which had been erected for protection against the Indians in the carly days. He was a strong Union man in the days of the Civil War, and was an active worker in the Republican party after the war. He was a magis- trate and a trustee and deacon in the Baptist church.
The brothers and sisters of Roscoe C. Layman are: William C .; Orrin W., born in Newport, Tennessee; Della, born in Newport, Tennessee, and Arthur, born in Newport, Tennessee.
Roscoe C. Layman was educated in the district schools of Reno county. and in the State Normal School at Emporia, Kansas, which he attended two terms. He then taught school for two years, and was principal of the school in Langdon township, Reno county, for two years. He then turned his attention to farming in Arlington township until 1909, when he removed to Hutchinson and engaged in the transfer business for about nine months. Following this he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business for about two years. In the last few years he has devoted his time and atten- tion to his personal business and his farming interests, which are extensive. He is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and an active member of the Christian church. Politically, he is a Democrat, and was the candi- date of his party for the state Legislature in November, 1914.
Roscoe C. Layman was married, May 3, 1899, to Emma E. Fuller, daughter of Daniel E. and Amy ( Lynch) Fuller, of Arlington, Reno county. Mrs. Layman was born in Mahaska ocunty, Iowa. She is a member of the Woman's Club, a member and treasurer of the Mother's Club, and a mem- ler of the State Suffrage Association, an organization that succeeded in getting the right of franchise for women in Kansas two years ago Mrs. Layman is also a member of the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and was its president for two years. She is a loyal Democrat and a great admirer of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Wilson, the latter of whom she
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ardently supported in the election of 1912, not only by her vote but also by campaign speeches ; her ability as a speaker is of state-wide reputation.
Mrs. Layman's father was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and died on September 17, 1892. He was a farmer, and a member of the Methodist church, and voted the Democratic ticket. Her mother was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1847, and died on April 26. 1916.
Mr. and Mrs. Layman have two children: Zora Mabel, born in Lang- don, Reno county, and Velma Gwendolyn, born in Hutchinson. The family home is a beautiful new house at 307 Twelfth avenue, East.
WILLIAM W. REXROAD.
William W. Rexroad, a progressive and prosperous farmer of Lincoln township. this county, one of the best-known and most energetic residents of the Darlow neighborhood, is a Virginian, having been born in Woods county, Virginia, now a part of West Virginia, on November 4, 1854, son of John and Sarah (Campbell) Rexroad, both natives of Virginia, the for- mer of whom was born in Pendleton county and the latter in Amherst county, both the Rexroads and the Campbells having been residents of Vir- ginia for several generations, the former family being of German descent.
John Rexford was oen of a large family of children and grew up on a farm. He received an excellent education and upon reaching manhood's estate married and started farming for himself. In the spring of 1873. attracted by the fine reports at that time emanating from this section of Kansas. he decided to put in his lot with the homesteaders in that section and he and his family came out here, arriving in Hutchinson on March 31, of that year. John Rexroad homesteaded the west half of the northeast quarter of section 20, in Lincoln township, and bought an adjoining "eighty," and there established his home, the family for some time living in a little two-room frame "shack." The next year the memorable grass- hopper visitation of 1874 made the outlook for the homesteaders rather uncertain for a time, but Mr. Rexroad was persevering and energetic and he presently began to prosper. After awhile he bought another adjoining "eighty," thus becoming the owner of a full half section of fine land, and it was not long until he was looked upon as one of the substantial farmers of that neighborhood. John Rexroad and his wife were members of the
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Baptist church, Mr. Rexroad formerly having been a deacon in that church, and were helpful in all good ways in the early days of their community. John Rexroad died at the old homestead in 1895, he then being seventy years of age, and his widow survived him for ten years, her death occurring in 1905. at the age of seventy-five. They were the parents of eight sons, all of whom are still living, namely: William W., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; John A., familiarly known among his friends as "Jack," a prosperous building contractor at Ft. Worth, Texas; George W., who lives at Long Beach, California; Benjamin S., a well-known build- ing contractor of Hutchinson, this county; James M., a well-known farmer of Center township, this county; Joseph S., a farmer, living in the neighbor- hood of Gage, Oklahoma: Henry J., of Lincoln township, this county, and Marion, a farmer at Goodwill, Oklahoma.
Being the eldest son, William W. Rexroad was his father's "right-hand man" during his boyhood, beginning at an early age to help out in the work of the farm, and his schooling back in his old Virginia home consequently was much neglected. He was eighteen years of age when the family came to Reno county in 1873 and he at once became an active participant in the labor of preparing the homestead tract for habitation, remaining at home until 1880, in which year he bought a quarter of a section of unimproved land in Center township, where Charles D. Evans now lives, and proceeded to improve the same. Early in the year 1886 he married and established his home on that farm, making the same his home until 1890, in which year he sold the place to advantage and for a time thereafter lived on the farm of his brother, George.
In 1900 Mr. Rexroad bought the unimproved southwest quarter of sec- tion 34, in Lincoln township, and has ever since made his home there. He has done very well in his farming operations and in 1907 erected his present fine farm house, one of the best in the neighborhood, and the year following built the large barn which is the center of quite a cluster of well-kept farm buildings, the home plot being situated on the crest of a gentle knoll, com- manding a fine view of the whole of the Ninnescah valley to the south. In addition to successfully farming his own quarter section, Mr. Rexroad is the lessee of the quarter section adjoining on the south, which latter tract he devotes wholly to grain farming. Mr. Rexroad is public-spirited in his general relations to the community, progressive and up-to-date in his methods as a farmer and is recognized as one of the most substantial citizens of that part of the county.
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On February 26, 1886, William W. Rexroad was united in marriage to Minnie J. Bailey, who was born in Iowa, and to this union six children have been born, as follow: Lottie, born on April 13, 1887, who married Charles Terry and lives in Hutchinson; Raymond, January 17, 1889, who married Ida Montgomery and is now farming in Missouri; Carl N., Septem- ber 3. 1896. now ( 1915) a student in the college at McPherson; John Edward, May 31, 1898, also a student at McPherson College; Ruth, Janu- ary 12, 1902, and Hazel, July 16, 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Rexroad are mem- bers of the Church of the Brethren, commonly called Dunkards, Mr. Rex- road being a deacon in the church, and are among the leaders in all local good works, being held in high regard throughout that community. Mr. Rexroad was a Republican until the campaign of 1912, since which time he has been an "independent," with Democratic leanings. He takes a warm interest in civic affairs and supports such candidates for office as in his esti- mation are best fitted for the proper performance of the duties of the public life.
HON. F. C. FIELD.
Hon. F. C. Field, former state senator from this district, a well-known real-estate dealer at Pretty Prairie, this county, and for many years a mer- chant of that thriving little city, is a native of Michigan, having been born in Van Buren county, that state, on July 16, 1860, son of O. H. and Rhoda ( Patterson ) Field, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Canada, who came to Kansas in the early seventies and became pioneers of Reno county.
O. H. Field, an honored veteran of the Civil War, who died at his home in this county in 1878, was the son of Calvin and Samantha (Stricklin) Field, the former of whom was born at Batavia, New York, and the latter at Salem, Massachusetts. In 1837, the year following their marriage, Calvin Field and his wife emigrated to Michigan and established their home in Van Buren county, that state, where they became owners of considerable land. In 1874 he and his family moved from Michigan to Kansas and settled in Reno county, thus having been among the pioneers of this county, and here Calvin Field and his wife spent their last days. They were the parents of nine children, those besides Senator Field's father being Warren A., Herbert W .. Florence E., Estelle, Oscar. Allene and two died in infancy.
O. H. Field was reared on his parents' homestead farm in Michigan,
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receiving his education in the schools of that neighborhood and became a great reader and close student of affairs. He married Rhoda Patterson, daughter of Ephraim Patterson and wife, natives of Ireland, who immigrated to Canada and later moved over the border into Michigan, becoming pioneers of the Ann Arbor neighborhood. Upon the organization of the Republican party O. H. Field affiliated with that party and was an ardent supporter of its principles until after the close of the war, when he became a Democrat. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted for service in Company K, Twelfth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and served for nearly five years, afterward being prominently connected with the Freedmen's Bureau. Dur- ing his military service Mr. Field was taken prisoner by the enemy and for a time was confined in Andersonville prison, later being transferred to Libby prison, whence he was exchanged. In 1876 he and his wife and their one child, the subject of this biographical sketch, came to Kansas and located in Reno county. Mr. Field took a timber claim in the Pretty Prairie section and there he died in the following summer, April 19, 1878. His widow married, secondly, Frank Nelson, of Rush county, this state, and made her home in the latter county the rest of her life, her death occurring on January 9, 1890.
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