USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 38
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Nicholas Comes was an ardent Republican and took an active part in local political affairs during pioneer days, but was not an office seeker. He and his wife were reared as Catholics, but when the priest told Mr. Comes to vote for Douglas during the campaign of 1860 or incur the penalty of excommunication he resented this form of interference with his civil rights, voted for Lincoln and discontinued his connection with the mother church, he and his wife transferring their connection to the United Brethren, later the Presbyterian church. Upon locating in this county they lost little time in encouraging the organization of a church of that denomination and in the spring of 1877 had the satisfaction of participating in the establishment of the Valley Presbyterian church, which ever since has been a power for good in that community. The subject of this sketch has a German Bible which has been in the family for nearly one hundred and fifty years. His mother, who is still living, now making her home at Burrton, in the neigh- boring county of Harvey, past the age of eighty-two, for many years has been active in church work and was a very helpful factor in the work of bringing about proper social conditions in the community in pioneer days. Nicholas Comes died in 1893. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being as follow : Joseph, unmarried, proprietor of a meat market in Burrton, over the line in Harvey county; Edward, who died in 1895: Mollie, widow of Gus Quer- feld, who makes her home in Lawrence, this state: Charles, traffic manager for the Kansas Milling Company, at Anthony, this state; Oscar, a railway conductor, living in Denver, Colorado; Alma, who married John New and is now deceased, and Clyde, who is engaged in the retail meat business with his brother, Joseph, at Burrton.
John W. Comes was reared on the farm in Illinois and received his ele- (25a)
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mentary education in the public schools of that neighborhood, supplementing the same by a course in the McDonough County Normal School, which he attended until the spring of 1876. That was the spring in which the family came to this county and upon his arrival here he secured a position as a teacher in the county schools at thirty dollars the month, for two terms con- ducting the school in the Lawson district, in the neighborhood of the Comes home. He remained at home, assisting in the development of the home farm, until he was twenty-five years of age. He married on December 24, 1881, and in 1882 moved to Burrton, where, with his brother, Joseph, he was engaged in the general merchandise business until 1887, in which year he sold his interest in the store and became a locomotive fireman in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, his run being between Newton and Dodge City, and was thus employed for seven years, or until the big strike of the American Railway Union in June, 1893. In the spring of 1894 he returned to the farm and, his father having died the year before, he bought half of the original homestead, one hundred and sixty acres, from the other heirs and there established his home. He later bought a quarter section adjoining on the south and now owns the east half of section 33, Valley township, one of the best-kept and most profitably cultivated farms in that neighborhood. Upon returning to the farm Mr. Comes went in rather exten- sively for pure-bred Shorthorn cattle and his stock for years was in wide demand for breeding purposes. He is a Democrat and for years has been active in local politics, having served as township clerk and as township treasurer. He was one of the organizers and a director of the Clay-Valley Telephone Company, an independent organization for the benefit of the farmers of the community which it serves, and in other ways has done well his part in the general activities of the community. In 1912 Mr. Comes erected a fine modern dwelling on his farm and all the other improvements on the place are in keeping. The "Santa Fe Trail," the main highway through Reno county, passes the Comes house, which is regarded as being the most attractive residence to be seen on the trail for twenty-five miles. The house is up-to-date in every particular-sleeping porches, wide enclosed verandas, artistic architectural design, hot and cold water through the house-and is designed at every point to insure the comfort of its occupants, the family being thus very pleasantly situated.
On December 24. 1881. John W. Comes was united in marriage to Mary E. Hess, who was born on March 12. 1861. in Wisconsin, daughter of Zachariah and Harriet ( Dodge) Hess, both natives of New York state. Zachariah Hess was born in Herkimer county, New York, December 25. 1829,
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and died on March 22, 1916. He grew up in New York state, married there and became a dairyman, being thus engaged until 1860, in which year he moved to Wisconsin, bought a farm near Janesville, in Rock county, that state, and there made his home until 1868. He then moved to Minnesota, intending to buy land in that state, but did not like the cold winters there and moved down into lowa, where he spent a couple of winters, after which he came to Kansas, settling in this county in October, 1872, and entered a homestead in section 18, in Valley township, where he established his family, which was thus one of the pioneer families of Reno county.
To John W. and Mary E. ( Hess) Comes eight children have been born, namely: Harriet, a trained nurse, who is the widow of J. F. Mats ; Helen, who married Harry W. Gibson and lives on a farm on the "Santa Fe Trail" in Valley township, this county; Verda, married Kemper Hinds and lives on a farm near Hobart, Oklahoma, and they have two children, Kemper, Jr .. and Mary F .; Alma, a trained nurse in the Cook county hospital at Chicago, and Madge, Edward, Kittie and John, who are still at home. Mrs. Helen Gibson is a member of the Methodist church. Mr. and Mrs. Comes and the other children are members of the Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Comes is a deacon. He has been a Mason since 1883, a member of the blue lodge at Burrton; a member of the commandery at Hutchinson and of the consistory, Scottish Masons, and Midian Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita. He also is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and in his lodge affiliations takes much interest.
WILLIAM H. BURGESS.
William H. Burgess, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of Walnut township, this county, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres three miles west and three miles south of Sterling, and one of the most influential men, politically, in that part of the county, is a native of Ken- tucky, born in the city of Henderson, that state, July 26, 1861, son of the Rev. J. G. and R. J. (Goyer) Burgess, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of South Carolina, who are now living at Columbia, Missouri.
The Rev. J. G. Burgess has been actively engaged in the Baptist min- istry since he was twenty-one years of age. He was born in Franklin county, Kentucky, his father, James G. Burgess, also a native of that
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county, having been a farmer there all his life. Grandfather Burgess lived to be ninety-eight years old. He was an carnest Baptist and his son was early devoted to the ministry of that church, being given a liberal education at Bowling Green. During the Civil War the Rev. J. G. Burgess served as a chaplain in the Confederate army, in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's command. For some years he was stationed at Henderson, Kentucky, pastor of a church at that place, but not long after the close of the war accepted a call to Missouri, where he has lived ever since, his present home being at Columbia, that state. His wife was born near Charleston, South Carolina, daughter of Daniel Goyer, a native of Pennsylvania, who became a well-to-do farmer in the Charleston neighborhood, later moving to Iuka Springs, in that same state, where his last days were spent. To the Rev. J. G. Burgess and wife six children were born. of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest and all of whom are living, the others being as follow: Benjamin, J. D., Joseph D., Sallie A. and Julia W.
William H. Burgess was but a child when his parents moved to Mis- souri and his schooling chiefly was obtained at Saline, that state. He became a farmer and in 1883 came to Reno county. The next spring he married the daughter of one of Reno county's pioneers and began farming on his own account, but did not locate on his present farm in section 12 of Walnut township until 1898. There he has made his home ever since and has done very well in his farming operations, long having been regarded as one of the substantial citizens of that part of the county. In addition to his gen- eral farming. Mr. Burgess has given considerable attention to raising live stock, making a specialty of Durham cattle and Poland China hogs. Of late he has gone in somewhat extensively for Cottswold sheep and sees promise of profit in that direction. Mr. Burgess is an ardent Democrat and ever since coming to this county has taken an active interest in local political affairs. Since 1903 he has been the Democratic committeeman in his pre- cinct and has given his most thoughtful attention to the duties of that posi- tion, with the result that his precinct is the banner Democratic precinct in Walnut township and Mr. Burgess has come to be recognized as a fore- sighted and astute political leader in his community. He has taken an earnest interest in local enterprises generally and is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company at Sterling. Mr. Burgess has improved his farm in admirable shape and carries on his operations according to modern methods. In 1905 he erected a comfortable. up-to-date house on his place, replacing his former residence, and in the following year built his present well-equipped barn.
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It was on March 2, 1884, that William H. Burgess was united in mar- riage to Martha A. Jacobs, who was born on July 21, 1864, daughter of Samuel Jacobs and wife, who came to Reno county in 1873, and to this union one child has been born, a son, D. L. Burgess, born on March 2, 1888, who is a valuable assistant to his father in the operation of the home farm. Mr. Burgess is a Mason and a member of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and in the affairs of both of these organizations takes a warm interest.
MONROE COLEMAN.
Monroe Coleman, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman of Sylvia township, this county, is a native-born Hoosier, having been born on a farm in Pike county, Indiana, September 19, 1863, son of Francis Henry and Elizabeth ( Parker ) Coleman, both natives of that same county, members of prominent pioneer families in that section of the Hoosier state.
Francis H. Coleman was a son of Conrad Coleman, one of the earliest settlers in southern Indiana, he having settled in Pike county in 1806, ten years before Indiana was admitted to statehood, emigrating from Kentucky. He was a school teacher and became a man of large influence in the pioneer community in which he settled. He had the foresight to buy up a con- siderable tract of "Congress land" while it was selling at one dollar and twenty-five cents the acre and thus was able to give each of his large family of children a farm when they grew up. Francis H. Coleman was a good farnier and added to his birthright tract two other adjoining tracts. He married Elizabeth Parker, a neighbor girl, daughter of Lorenzo D. and Elizabeth Parker, early settlers of that same county, emigrants from Vir- ginia. Lorenzo D. Parker's mother lived to be one hundred and four years of age. During the Civil War Francis H. Coleman offered his services to the Union, enlisting twice, but both times he was rejected on account of physical weakness. He was an ardent Republican and took an active part in local political affairs, having served as deputy county treasurer of Pike county for some years. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church and were leaders in good works in their community. Mrs. Coleman died in 1880, at the age of forty-seven, and Mr. Coleman survived until 1899, he being sixty-two years of age at the time of his death. They were the parents of six children, namely: Lewis, a well-known resident of Sylvia, this county; Catherine, who married Robert Montgomery and lives in
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Alfalfa county, Oklahoma; Monroe, the immediate subject of this biograph- ical sketch: John, a progressive orchardist, living in Oklahoma; Granville, an engineer, of Owensboro, Kentucky, and Lawrence, who has been teach- ing school in the Philippine Islands for years and is now superintendent of a district comprising ten schools.
Monroe Coleman was reared on the paternal farm in southern Indiana, receiving his schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home and assisted his father in the work of the farm until he was twenty years old, at which time, in 1883, he came to Kansas, settling in Chautauqua county. In the fall of the next year he married and thereafter was engaged as a farm hand on various farms in Greeley, Stafford and Reno counties until 1901, in which year he bought a quarter of a section of unimproved land in Sylvia township, this county, and proceeded to improve the same and get it under cultivation. Mr. Coleman is an energetic and progressive farmer and it was not long until he had created a model place and was prospering. In addition to his general farming he early began to give special attention to the raising of pure-bred Jersey cattle and his registered stock long has been in active demand throughout this part of the state. He was the first man in his neighborhood to erect a silo on his place and the advantage of this form of feeding was so ably demonstrated in his case that it was not long before others were following his example. Of late Mr. Coleman has been giving his undivided attention to his registered stock, his eldest son, John, taking over the active management of the farm, and the two form a most effective combination. The dairy feature of the Coleman farm is made much of and the Coleman Jersey cream commands the top of the market in Kansas City. In addition to his activities on the farm, Mr. Coleman ever has found time to give a good citizen's attention to public affairs. He is a Republican and during his residence in Greeley county served very efficiently for two terms as county commissioner in that county. Since coming to this county he has done well his part in his home township and served for one term as township trustee.
On September 25, 1884. Monroe Coleman was united in marriage to Mary Sandusky, who was born in Pike county, Indiana, daughter of George W. and Jane Sandusky, both of whom spent their last days in Greeley county, this state, they having settled there in 1889, and to this union five children have been born, as follow: John, born on September 13. 1885; who is now operating his father's farm; Carl and Pearl, twins, July 1, 1889. the former of whom is a farmer in Hayes township, this county, and the latter of whom married Harry Hall and lives at Downers Grove, Illinois;
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Nellie, July 31, 1895, and Inez, March 1, 1901, both at home. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman are members of the Methodist church and they and their family are held in high esteem in their neighborhood. Mr. Coleman is a member of the Masonic lodge at Sylvia, in the affairs of which he takes a warm interest.
FRED WEESNER.
Fred Weesner, a well-known and enterprising young druggist of Hutchinson, this county, is a native Kansan, having been born on a farm in the neighborhood of Plymouth, Lyons county, this state, on November 4, 1877, son of Cyrenins and Rebecca (Allen) Weesner, both of whom are now living at Emporia, this state, who came to Kansas in 1868, settling in Lyons county, being among the very earliest settlers of that section of the state, Indians still being numerous thereabout at that time. In 1888 Cyren- ius Weesner and his wife moved from Syracuse, Kansas, to Emporia, where they still reside. Despite his eighty-two years of age, Mr. Weesner is a rugged and robust man and for the past five years has been in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company at that point. He and his wife are the parents of nine children living, five of whom live in Emporia, and four of their children are deceased.
Fred Weesner grew up on the paternal farm in Lyons county, receiving his elementary education in the local schools of his home neighborhood. which he supplemented by a course in the Kansas State Normal at Emporia, during which he paid particular attention to the study of chemistry, fol- lowing which he entered the Ryder drug store at Emporia, one of the pio- neer commercial concerns of that place, and for seven years was there engaged as a clerk, acquiring a thorough acquaintance with the drug busi- ness. In 1901 Mr. Wessner came to this county. locating at Hutchins, where he entered the "A. & A." drug store and in a few years became a stockholder in that concern, remaining with the same for a period of thir- teen years, at the end of which time he sold his interests in the store and on July 16, 1914, opened a new drug store under the name of Fred Weesner & Company at 126 North Main street, where he ever since has been engaged in business and where they carry a full and complete line of drugs and druggists' sundries, maintaining a very neat and up-to-date store.
On October 14, 1903, Fred Weesner was united in marriage to Jessie C. Groty, who was born in South Carolina, but who came to Kansas when
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a child with her parents, who settled in Lyons county, where she grew to womanhood, and to this union four children have been born, Frederick, born in 1904: Kenneth G., Kathryn and Christine. The Weesners have a very pleasant and comfortable home at 807 North Washington street. Mr. and Mrs. Weesner are members of the Christian church and take a warm interest in the promotion of all good works hereabout.
Mr. Weesner is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of the city and county. He is a Mason, a member of the blue lodge and the chapter of that order at Hutchinson, and has taken part of the work of the consistory at Wichita, on the way to his elevation to the thirty-second degree of Masonry. He also is a member of the Woodmen and of the Fraternal Aid Association. Mr. Weesner is one of the progres- sive young business men of Hutchins and is an active and earnest partici- pant in all movements having to do with the promotion of the best interests of the community.
ALEXANDER MORRIS SWITZER.
Alexander M. Switzer, a former county commissioner, well-known and prosperous retired farmer, who enjoys the distinction of having been the first settler of Lincoln township, this county, founder of the town of Yoder, where he has been engaged in the merchandise business since 1905 and whose wife has been postmistress of that village since that year, is a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Tuscarawas county, that state, on March 7, 1849, son of John and Elizabeth (Anderson) Switzer, the former a native of Switzerland and the latter of Ireland, both of whom came to the United States with their respective parents in childhood.
John Switzer was a member of one of the most prominent families in Switzerland. He was born in Berne and his father, who was quite well-to-do. was a brother of President Switzer, one of the most noted of the chief executives of the republic of Switzerland. Upon coming to this country, the elder Switzer located in Ohio and became a substantial farmer of Tuscarawas county, where he and his wife spent their last days. John Switzer was reared on the farm there and learned the trade of shoemaking and harness making. In 1866 he moved to Coshocton county, same state. where he bought a two-hundred acre farm, on which he established his home, working his farm during the summers and working at his bench
Andwife
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during the winters. His first wife, Elizabeth (Anderson) Switzer, died in 1860, at the age of thirty-three, leaving seven children, and John Switzer married, secondly, Anna Cotterley, to which union eight children were born. Of Alexander M. Switzer's full brothers and sisters, three are now living, Robert, the eldest, who lives in Stark county, Ohio; Mrs. Elizabeth Hardstein, of Coshocton county, Ohio, and Thomas, who lives on the old home place in that same county. Jolin Switzer died in 1876, at the age of fifty-one. He was a member of the Lutheran church and reared his family in the faith of that communion.
Alexander M. Switzer was reared on the home farm in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, receiving an excellent education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home. When the Civil War broke out his father enlisted with the "hundred-day" men, but was unable to get away with his company and Alexander, though then barely fifteen years of age went as his substitute, enlisting in Company D, One Hundred and Sixty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the hundred-days service, at the end of which time he re-enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Eighty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. During his service with the first-named regiment he was attached to the Army of the Shenandoah and during his latter period of service was attached to the Army of the Tennessee, being mainly engaged in keeping down the gueril- las. During the Shenandoah campaign the raw regiment was sent into the Allegheny mountains and as the commissary department of the army had not at that time attained a very high state of efficiency. the boys nearly starved, for days at a time being compelled to subsist wholly on mountain corn.
At the close of his military service, Alexander M. Switzer returned to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and on March 21, 1866, was united in marriage to Jennie Nee, who was born and reared in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and in that same year he moved to Champaign county, Illinois, where he rented a farm, making his home in the little town of Tolono, where he bought a piece of property, and there lived until the spring of 1872, at which time he and his little family and Eugene Deburn and wife, drove through to Kansas, settling in Reno county, where Alexander M. Switzer homesteaded a quarter of a section of land in Lincoln township, the same being the southeast quarter of section 2, locating there on April 17, 1872, the very first settler in that township and one of the very earliest in the county, for the county had only been opened to settlement the year before. Mr. Switzer
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constructed a sod shanty on the plain and there he and his wife and their small children made their home. In June following a heavy rain washed away their sod shanty and Mr. Switzer then drove to Newton, thirty-five miles away, and procured a load of lumber which he hauled back, ferrying the boards across the Arkansas river, and constructed a ten by twelve frame shack, in which he and his family lived until conditions became more favorable for the erection of a suitable residence. When C. C. Hutchinson laid out a string of town plats directly south of Hutchinson in 1872, includ- ing Castleton, Kingman and others, Mr. Switzer marked the line by plowing a furrow twelve miles long straight south to the point which later became Castleton, thus establishing the trail. A company of United States cavalry came along soon afterward and followed the furrow, thus making a good trail. As the troop approached Mr. Switzer's house he discerned them coming afar off over the plain and, mistaking the soldiers for a band of Indians on the war path, shivered at the thought of the possible fate of his helpless family. To this day Mr. Switzer declares that his hair literally stood on end when he first discerned the troop and before he discovered that the horsemen were not redskins.
Mr. Switzer prospered in his farming operations, becoming one of the most substantial and useful men in his community, and his home was well established when, in 1884, his wife died. To their union five children were born, of whom but one is now living, Percy E., born in 1871, now superin- tendent of the Savage Tire Manufacturing Company at San Diego, California, who married Carrie Osborn and has three children, Earl, Ettatha and Mary. Lawrence P. Switzer, born in 1868, died in June, 1911, at Seattle, Washington, where he had been for some time engaged as superintendent of the construction force of a large bridge erecting company. The other three children died in infancy, Charlotte at the age of eighteen months, Clar- ence at the age of eight months and Morris at the age of six weeks.
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