USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 34
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On January 27, 1896, John D. Kautzer was married to Rose Pargeter, who was born on August 15, 1869, at Stoughton, Wisconsin. Mrs. Kaut- zer's father, Thomas Pargeter, was born on February 4, 1827, at Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, England. He married Ellen Durnford, who was born at Birmingham, England. January 31, 1831, and died on January 12, 1907. Thomas Pargeter was a son of John Pargeter, a native of England. His wife was Hannah Lyzard. John Pargeter was a day laborer in England, his parents having died when he was quite young. . The family were adherents of the Church of England. Thomas Pargeter came to America in 1869 and located at Stoughton, Wisconsin, where he had friends. In 1884 he moved from Wisconsin to Reno county. Kansas, where he purchased a half section of railway land, paying four dollars an acre for same. While actively farming he had two sections of land under his control, rent free. His children are as follow: William George, Ethel, Fred and Harry, all born in England; Rose Ellen, Louise, Lillie May and John, born in this country. Lillie May is deceased : Jane died in England, and Thomas died in Wisconsin, at Stoughton.
J. D. Kautzer and wife are the parents of five children: Lillian, born on May 12, 1898; Dwight T., March 16, 1903; Lester, October 20, 1904; Kenneth D., September 13, 1908; Harry P., April 28. 1913, all of whom are living at home with their parents. Mildred L., born on October 14. 1901. died on March 19, 1910. The family are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church at Pretty Prairie, where Mr. Kautzer's daughter. Lillian, is pianist in the Sunday school.
Mr. Kautzer is a Republican in politics, and takes an active interest in
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all matters pertaining to the welfare and betterment of his home commun- ity. He is now serving as treasurer of Roscoe township. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his wife belongs to the Daughters of Rebekah.
WALTER C. PEIRCE.
Walter C. Peirce, farmer and stockman, of Lincoln township, this. county, who has been a resident here since he was sixteen years old, is a native of Ohio, having been born in the city of Chillicothe, that state, on March 1, 1865. son of F. B. and Ellen ( Wallace) Peirce, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former born in Chester county, that state, and the latter, at Carlisle. Pennsylvania. E. B. Peirce was a Quaker in his religious belief.
This Peirce family in America was founded by Caleb Peirce, an Eng- lish Quaker, who joined William Penn's colony in 1686, settling in Chester county, province of Pennsylvania, and there established his family. E. B. Peirce, a direct descendant of Caleb Peirce, was a son of Isaac Peirce, a gentleman of scholarly attainments, the author of the first encyclopedia ever printed in the United States, which he published in Philadelphia in 1816, under the name of "A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences." The publication, however, did not prove a financial success and the scholar turned his atten- tion to something more material, during the twenties operating a saw-mill in New York City. He was an ardent Abolitionist, and his home in New York City was a common meeting place for the leaders in that cause, John Greenleaf Whittier, the poet, being among those who were wont to gather at the Peirce home. In 1832 Isaac Peirce moved to Ohio, where he bought a farm in Stark county, and was engaged in farming there the rest of his life. During the trying times preceding the Civil War his home was one of the most prominent "stations" of the "underground railroad" for the transportation of fugitive slaves to the Canadian border, and he was one of the most active "conductors" in that service.
E. B. Peirce was eight years old when his parents moved from New York City to Ohio and he grew up on the home farm in Stark county. As a boy he had the privilege of riding on the first railroad train ever operated in the United States. During his youth he attended the original Spencerian College, conducted by Spencer, the originator of the system of writing bear- ing his name, and for nine years was a teacher in the common schools of
WALTER C. PEIRCE AND FAMILY.
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Ohio and Illinois. In. 1865 he conducted a book store at Chillicothe, Ohio. He married Ellen Wallace, daughter of John Wallace, at Martin's Ferry, Ohio. John Wallace was born in Philadelphia, member of an old family of that city. His mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Painter, was living in Philadelphia when the British took that city during the Revolu- tionary War, and the invading soldiers raided her home while she was baking bread, stealing the hot loaves from the oven, an act which aroused her indignation. John Wallace's father, William Wallace, was a ship car- penter and helped to build Commodore Perry's fleet. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, enlisted on September 14, 1776 (Pennsylvania archives. volume 14, page 69) ; commissioned ensign on September 6, 1777 (Pennsylvania archives, volume 14, page 91) ; commissioned lieutenant in Captain Gibbs' company ( Pennsylvania archives, volume 14, page 104). William Wallace's father, Robert Wallace, was a patriot soldier during the Revolutionary War and was with General Washington's army at Valley Forge and at the battle of Trenton. Samuel Culbertson, another ancestor on the mother's side, was the colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment during the War of the Revolution, and was with Washington at the battle of Brandy- wine. He was commissioned colonel July 31, 1777 (Pennsylvania archives, volume 14, page 391.)
John Wallace ran away from home when a boy and went to sea, join- ing the crew of a vessel bound for the West Indies, but it was not long before he found that the life of a sea-faring lad was not just what he had pictured it would be. The vessel had not proceeded far when the brutal captain whaled young John with a rope's end, which effectually dampened the youth's ardor as a sailor and the lad slipped over the side of the vessel and swam several miles to the Virginia shore, where he presently landed, nearly dead, but thoroughly cured of his desire for a sailor's life. For some time thereafter John Wallace made his home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he married Agnes Culbertson in 1825, later going to Martin's Ferry, Ohio, and again later to Harrisburg, where he spent the remainder of his life. He and his wife were Methodists, and active participants in the work of the "underground railroad" thereabout during the days before the Civil War. They were the parents of three children, namely: William, who was a college classmate of James G. Blaine, was colonel of an Ohio regiment during the Civil War and was brevetted brigadier-general; Ellen, who be- came the wife of Mr. Peirce, and Mrs. Rebecca Geiger, who settled at Topeka, this state, at an early date in the settlement of the capital city.
Some time after the close of the Civil War, E. B. Peirce moved with
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his family from Chillicothe, Ohio, to Fayette county, Illinois, where he remained until 1881, in which year he came to Kansas, locating at Hutchin- son, this county. He traded for a piece of property in that city and engaged in the real-estate business here. being thus engaged until March 1, 1886, at which time he purchased the northwest quarter of section 30, in Lincoln township, this county, and there established a new home, the farm at that time having been known as the old Captain Lacy place. Mr. Peirce lived only two years after entering into possession of the farm, his death occur- ring in 1888, at the age of sixty-four years. His widow survived him ten years, her death occurring in 1898. she then being sixty-six years of age. There were ten children born to E. B. Peirce and wife, of whom but five are now living, those besides the subject being as follow: Eugene, a den- tist at Denver, Colorado; Rebecca, who is a nurse; Ruth, a teacher, and Jennie, the wife of Charles I. Glass, of Kansas City, Missouri.
Walter C. Peirce was but a child when his parents moved from Ohio to Illinois and was sixteen years of age when he came to this county with them. Upon locating in Hutchinson he entered the old Sherman street school, and upon completing the course there, taught school one term. In 1886, he then being twenty-one years old, he moved with his parents to the Lincoln township farm and has lived there since. When his father died, two years after taking up his residence on the farm, Walter, then the eldest child of the family who was at home, assumed general charge of the farm in his mother's behalf and upon her death, ten years later, bought the inter- ests of the other heirs and has since been the sole owner. He purchased a quarter section of land adjoining the home farm and now has a well-culti- vated and well-improved place of three hundred and twenty acres. In 1905 he built a fine, modern country house on his place, the first house in that part of the county to be equipped with a hot-water heating system.
On September 14. 1898, Walter C. Peirce was married to Mary Bart- hold, who was born in Napoleon, Ohio, a daughter of John Barthold and wife, who, in 1886, came from Ohio to this county, settling on a farm in Center township, where both are still living, and to this union four children have been born: Harry, born in 1899, who is now a student in the Kansas State .Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kansas: Charles, a twin brother of Harry, died in infancy : Frederick, born in 1901, died at the age of seven years, and Walter, born in 1908. Mr. Peirce has been prominent in Pro- gressive politics in his community, and to educational matters he has given his particular attention and for eleven years has been a director of the local school district.
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JACOB BOWER UPDEGROVE.
Jacob Bower Updegrove, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of Wal- nut township, this county, proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred acres surrounding his home, besides which he owns a ranch of seven hundred and twenty acres west of Dodge City, is a native of Pennsylvania, born on a farm in Berks county, that state, son of William S. and Elizabeth ( Bower ) Updegrove, both natives of that same state, of Pennsylvania-Dutch parent- age, who spent all their lives in eastern Pennsylvania.
William S. Updegrove was the son of Jacob Updegrove and wife, the latter of whom was a Schaeffer, earnest members of the German Lutheran church, who spent all their lives in Berks county, the former of whom died in 1874, at the age of seventy-eight years. His widow lived to be eighty- nine years old. William S. Updegrove was taught in the local German sectarian schools and did not learn to read English until he was past fifty years of age, having had to rely upon German newspapers for his informa- tion regarding current events previous to that time. He was trained as a shoemaker and worked at that trade most all his life. His wife was a daughter of Jacob Bower, a small farmer in Berks county, Pennsylvania. who spent all his life in that county and who reared his family in the faith of the German Lutheran church. When well past middle age William S. Updegrove moved into the neighboring county of Montgomery, in Penn- sylvania, where he bought a farm of one hundred and thirty-one acres and there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1899, at the age of ' seventy-six years. His widow survived until May 20, 1912, and she was ninety years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of nine children, Mary Ellen, Francis B., Harris B., William, Jacob B., Susan, T. F., Sarah A. and U. G., all of whom are still living.
Jacob B. Updegrove early determined that there were better oppor- tunities for a young man in the then new West than in his home country and when twenty-three years old, in the spring of 1878, he came to Kansas and began working as a farm hand in Reno county. He improved his oppor- tunities, awaited the proper time and on June 4, 1884, he then being twenty- nine years of age, bought the farm on which he is now living, in section 21, Walnut township, and set about developing and improving the same. Four years later he married and established his home on that place and there has lived ever since, continually improving and bettering his material condition until now he is the owner of a fine farm of four hundred acres surrounding
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him home, besides which he is the owner of seven hundred and twenty acres west of Dodge City. In 1900 Mr. Updegrove built a fine new house on his place and the other improvements of the farm are in keeping with the same. In addition to his general farming he has gone in somewhat extensively for stock-raising and has done very well, long having been regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in his neighborhood. Mr. Updegrove has taken an active part in local civic affairs ; for five years was treasurer of the town- ship and is now a member of the township school board.
It was on March 1, 1888, that Jacob B. Updegrove was united in mar- riage to Barbara Schindler, who was born in Adams county, Indiana, Aug- ust 19. 1855, daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Schlatter) Schindler, natives of Germany, who came to this country in 1852, landing in New York City, whence they proceeded to Indiana, joining a brother and sister who had preceded them as members of the Mennonite colony in Adams county, that state, both the Schlatters and the Schindlers having been mem- bers of that body of earnest religionists, and there both Daniel Schindler and his wife spent the rest of their lives, the latter dying in 1885, at the age of sixty-four years, and the former in 1896. To Mr. and Mrs. Updegrove three children have been born, Eugene A., born on December 14, 1888; Katie Elizabeth, August 30. 1890, who married J. L. Bennett, and Edna May. July 6, 1894, who married Earl Seybert.
GEORGE W. HOSKINSON.
George W. Hoskinson, a well-known and well-to-do farmer and cattle- inan of Valley township. this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War, and for years active in Reno county affairs, is a native of Ohio, having been Lom on a farm in Washington county, that state, August 26, 1847, son of George E. and Lucy ( Bosworth) Hoskinson, the former of whom was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the latter in the state of Ohio. .As a young man, George W. Hoskinson settled in Washington county, .Ohio, where he married and for awhile made his home on a rented farm. In 1854 he moved with his family to Clark county, Missouri, where his wife died in 1856, leaving six children, namely: Sarah. who married Alexander Perdue and lives in San Bernardine county, California: Eunice, who married Edward Rockefeller and died at Keokuk, Iowa, in 1885; Ophelia, who married George Mackey and lives in Van Buren county, Iowa; George W., the subject of this biographical sketch, and Joseph, a well-known
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resident of Harvey county, this state. in which county he settled in 1877. and in whose home his father died in 1899, at the age of seventy-two years.
George W. Hoskinson spent his youth on the farm and was a hard worker from the days of his boyhood. When the Civil War broke out he was living with his father on a farm in Lee county, Iowa, and though but sixteen years of age at the time, he enlisted, on February 12, 1863, in Com- pany I .. First lowa Cavalry, with which he served until the end of the war, seeing service in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee. At the conclusion of his military service he returned to Lee county, Iowa, where he married in the spring of 1866 and rented a farm, on which he lived until 1876, in which year he and his family came to this state, settling in Harvey county. Mr. Hoskinson filed on an eighty-acre homestead in Lake town- ship, that county, but the next year he relinquished his claim to his brother, Joseph, and went to California, where he went into the business of driving artesian wells, remaining there nearly two years, during which time he put down forty-three such wells, making considerable money by his operations. In 1878 Mr. Hoskinson returned to Kansas and homesteaded a quarter section in Sumner county, where he lived for three years, at the end of which time he sold that place and came to Reno county and bought eighty acres in Valley township, establishing his home there. In 1881 he bought an "eighty" adjoining on the east and extended his operations in the cattle line, gradually adding to his farm until he became the owner of eight hun- dred acres of land and was regarded as one of the most extensive cattlemen in the county. In 1888 things began to "go bad" and Mr. Hoskinson lost thirteen thousand dollars in his cattle business. His creditors were lenient, however, and when his affairs were presently adjusted he had saved three hundred and twenty acres in section II, where he now lives. In 1892 Mr. Hoskinson erected the present comfortable farm house. On March 1, 1916, he moved to Burrton, where he is living retired.
In the spring of 1866 George W. Hoskinson was united in marriage to Eleanor Hardy, who was born in Lec county, Iowa, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hardy, and to this union eight children were born, namely : George, a well-known farmer of Clay township, this county; Ella, who mar- ried Charles McElwain and lives on a farm adjoining that of her father; Charles, a Valley township farmer; Frank, salesman for the Maxwell Auto Company at Hutchinson, this county; Edward, unmarried, who continues to live at home and is managing his father's farm; Zula, who married William Collins; and May and Mabel, the former of whom married Henry Adams and lives at Burrton, and the latter of whom married Dennis Meyers
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and lives in Valley township. The mother of these children died on Janu- ary 22, 1910, and Mr. Hoskinson married, secondly, December 7, 1912, Mrs. Minnie ( McDonald) Wineman, who was born in Tennessee and who was living in Hutchinson at the time of her marriage to Mr. Hoskinson.
SAMUEL McCOWAN.
Samuel McCowan, one of the prominent and successful men of Reno county, born in Ireland on July 12, 1837, the son of Robert and Elizabeth ( Palmer ) McCowan. Robert McCowan was of Scotch descent, and Mrs. McCowan was English. Robert McCowan died when the son, Samuel, was but sixteen years of age. the mother having died some years before. The McCowans were farmers in their native country. They were members of the Presbyterian church and took much interest in all church work.
To Robert and Elizabeth McCowan were born the following children : Robert, deceased: Samuel, William and Elizabeth, all of whom came to America. Elizabeth resides in Caledonia, New York; Robert, William and Samuel came to Kansas.
Samuel McCowan came to America in 1854 and located in the state of New York, where he engaged in farming for one year, after which he was for five years in Canada, on a farm. He later removed to Warren county, Illinois, where he conducted a farm for twenty years before he came to Reno county.
On January 1. 1868. Samuel McCowan was united in marriage to Nancy A. Mcclellan, and to this union the following children were born : Lizzie .\., deceased, married Will Bramwell and had three children, Ethel, Cora and Lizzie: Virey married a Mr. Van Osdol and had one child, Mar- vin, and married, secondly, Roy Terrence: Jesse married Maud Shockley and has five children. Maria, Alma, Ruby, Arthur and Morgan S .; Wiley married Nellie Barton, who is now deceased, and they had four children, Ralph. Avida, Fay and Nannie. All the children live in Reno county and vicinity. After the death of his first wife, Mr. MeCowan was married, secondly, in 1885, to Sarah Haney, the daughter of Thomas Haney, a native of Ireland.
Samuel MeCowan has been engaged in farming the greater part of his life and now owns several lots and four and one-half acres of land in Pretty Prairie and one hundred and sixty acres of land in Roscoe township. He
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was for five years and two months a member of the Seventeenth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served during the Civil War. He was in many battles.
EDWARD T. MARTIN ..
Edward T. Martin, a well-known and progressive farmer and large landowner of Miami township, this county, is a native of Missouri, having been born in the town of Mexico, that state, May 8, 1875, son of Hugh and Ann (Bohen) Martin, both natives of County Galway, Ireland, who settled in Reno county during the first half of the eighth decade of the last century and became prominent and influential residents of Miami township.
Hugh Martin, who was born in 1843, left his native home in Ireland and came to the United States in July, 1861. For a time he worked in the factories at Manchester, New Hampshire, and then went to Cincinnati, where he enlisted for service in behalf of the Union cause during the Civil War and served for ten months and four days on river gunboats, being mustered out at Cairo, Illinois. Upon the conclusion of his military exper- ience Mr. Martin made his home for a time in Illinois and then moved over into Missouri, where he lived until he came with his family to Reno county, in May, 1884. Upon settling here hie pre-empted the northeast quarter of section 34, in Grove (now Miami) township, and established his home there. As he prospered in his farming operations he added to his land holdings by the purchase of an additional tract of three hundred and twenty acres and soon became regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of that neighborhood. Mr. Martin is a Democrat and ever since coming to this county has given a good citizen's attention to local politics. For more than a quarter of a century he has been treasurer of school district No. 1.42 and in other ways has given of his service to the public. He is an
earnest member of the Catholic church and has taken an active part in par- ish affairs. His wife died on Decmeber 2, 1899. They were the parents of six children, those besides the subject of this sketch being John, a prom- inent lawyer, of Pueblo, Colorado, who has served his district for two terms as a representative in the lower house of Congress; James, a loconio- tive engineer, of Moberly, Missouri; Hugh, a well-to-do farmer of Woods county, Oklahoma ; Thomas, a locomotive engineer, of Pueblo, and Annie, who married Corb Carlisle, of Miami township, this county.
Edward T. Martin was about nine years old when he came to Reno
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county with his parents and his schooling was completed in the schools of Miami township. He was reared on the farm and has been engaged in farming all his life and has done well, being now the owner of four hundred acres in sections 22 and 33, in Miami township, where he makes his home, and where he and his family are very comfortably and pleasantly situated. Mr. Martin is a Democrat and has served the public as a member of his local school board.
On February 19. 1899, Edward T. Martin was united in marriage to Hattie Gray, who was born in Cocke county, Tennessee, January 29, 1880, daughter of Lewis H. and Louvina (Click) Gray, who came to Kansas in 1884 and settled in Miami township, this county, where the rest of their lives was spent. Upon coming to Reno county, Mr. Gray pre-empted a farm of one hundred and sixty acres and established a very comfortable home. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Union army as a member of Company D, Tenth Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry, and for a time suffered imprisonment in Libby prison, the Confederate stronghold at Richmond. Mr. Gray died on August 8, 1899, and his widow survived for more than fifteen years, her death occurring on July 14, 1915.
To Edward T. and Hattie (Gray) Martin two children have been born. James L., born on May 22, 1900. and Ethel, April 25, 1902. Mr. Martin is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the consistory at Wichita, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of both of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
CHARLES W. PECKHAM.
Charles W. Peckman, president of the Farmers Grain Company of Haven, this county, one of the founders of that now thriving little city; for- mer vice-president of the Citizens Bank of Haven, first secretary of the Haven Commercial Club, one of the organizers of the Haven Mill Company, first trustee of Haven township, proprietor of "Gem Stock Farm" and one of the real pioneers of Reno county, he having built the first sod shanty on the plain in what is now Haven township. his humble abode at that time having been the extreme western frontier of Reno county south of the Arkansas river, is a native of Ohio, having been born in the city of Maumee. Lucas county, that state, March 26. 1849, son of John D. and Alzina ( Brush ) Peckham, both natives of the state of New York.
& H. Peckham
Sarah C. Peckham
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John D. Peckham was born in Madison county, New York, in 1808, and was reared in that county, becoming a merchant tailor, and at Madison on May 16, 1833, married Alzina Brush, who was born in Spencertown, New York, September 12, 1809. The following year he and his wife moved to Maumee, Ohio, where he opened a merchant-tailoring establishment and established his home. He and his wife were the parents of five children, namely : Frances, who married George Secor and is now living at Toledo, Ohio, past the age of eighty-two years; Lucinda, who died at the age of five years; George, who died in infancy; Cora, who married Charles Doesher and lives at Petaluma, California, and Charles W., the subject of this bio- graphical sketch. The mother of these children died at Springfield, Ohio, in 1854, a victim of the cholera scourge which swept over that part of the coun- try in that year, and some time later John D. Peckham moved to Jackson, Michigan, where he engaged in the merchant-tailoring business and there he resided until his retirement from business in 1872, after which he made his home with his son, Charles W., in this county, his death occurring in 1884. He was a member of the Methodist church, to which his wife also had been attached, and for years was a singer in the choir. Originally a Whig, he became a Republican during the Civil War period, but later became affiliated with the Democratic party.
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