USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 39
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On January 18, 1885, Alexander M. Switzer married, secondly, Anna Ingham, who was born in the town of Beckett, in Massachusetts, daughter of William M. and Sarah ( Hopkins) Ingham, who emigrated from the East to Kansas during territorial days out here, settling at Tecumseh. In the fall of 1871 William M. Ingham and family moved from Tecumseh to Hutchinson and in the latter city Mr. Ingham built a store building on the west side of the main street, just four doors north of where the First National Bank now stands, and opened a grocery store as a partnership concern, under the firm name of Norman & Ingham. In those days the chief "natural product of the soil" hereabout was buffalo hides and bones and of the
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former product Mr. Ingham bought carload after carload during the early days. Mr. Ingham continued in business at Hutchinson until 1894, in which year he and his wife moved to Shawnee, Oklahoma, where they are now living retired, the former at the age of eighty-four and the latter, seventy-four.
Alexander M. Switzer was a progressive farmer and early became a leader in his neighborhood. He set out seventy acres of fruit orchard and made a success of his fruit culture in addition to carrying on the general work of the farm with much success, and raised the first strawberries grown in Reno county. From the very first he took an active part in the county's civic affairs and in the fall of 1878 was elected county commiss- ioneer from his district, serving in that important capacity for a period of six years, during which time the iron bridge was erected across the Arkansas river. At the end of his second term in 1885 Mr. Switzer was presented by the citizens of the county with a handsome gold watch valued at one hundred and twenty-five dollars, as a mark of their appreciation of his valu- able public services. In 1896 he was the candidate of the Republican party for the office of state senator from this senatorial district, but went down with the rest of the ticket in the populistic "tidal wave" which swept over Kansas in that memorable year. For many years he served his party as precinct committeeman and further served the public as township treasurer and as justice of the peace, in which latter capacity he served for twelve years.
In 1905 Mr. Switzer sold his farm to advantage and, not being content to retire, bought a store which had been opened at a point on the railroad now known as Yoder, the "town" then consisting of the said store and one dwelling house. In that same year Mrs. Switzer was made postmistress of Yoder, a position which she still holds, and both proceeded to "boom" the place. The next year, 1906, Mr. Switzer platted the village and a considerable sale of lots followed, the village now having a population of about seventy-five, with a most promising future, Mr. Switzer being the chief merchant of the town, which, as a result of his persistent representa- tions to he railroad company now has a railroad station and is quite distinctly "on the map." In the fall of 1914 when Lincoln township was divided, Mr. Switzer led in the fight to have the new township named Yoder town- ship and he won his contention, his own town of Yoder now being situated in the township of the same name. It was also through Mr. Switzer's efforts that the Farmers State Bank of Yoder was organized and he is the vice-president and a director of that concern.
To Alexander M. and Anna (Ingham) Switzer two children have been
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born, daughters both, Gladys, born on November 29, 1890, who married Roland F. Brock and lives in Hutchinson, and Ethel, August 18, 1896, a teacher in the Reno county public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Switzer are mem- bers of the Harmony Baptist church and take a warm interest in the affairs of that organization, as well as in all good works in their community, and are held in high esteem throughout that section of the county, where they are so well known. In the earlier days of his residence in this county, Mr. Switzer was a Methodist and he hauled the sand for the construction of the first Methodist church erected in Hutchinson. For sixteen years he was super- intendent of the Sunday school held in the Fairview school house in Lincoln township and was one of the county's most active Sunday school workers. Mr. Switzer is a member of Joe Hooker Post. Grand Army of the Republic, at Hutchinson and is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a member of the blue lodge of that order at Hutchinson, of the commandery at the same place and of the consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Masons at Wichita, as well as a member of Midlan Temple, Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the latter city, in the affairs of all of which divisions of Masonry he takes a warm interest.
LIEUT. MARTIN HOAGLAND.
Lient. Martin Hoagland. an honored veteran of the Civil War, one of the carliest pioneers of Reno county, a homesteader of 1871; former street commissioner of Hutchinson, who for years past has lived comfortably and pleasantly retired in Hutchinson, ever thoughtfully concerned in the advance- ment of the affairs of the community at large, is a native of Illinois, but has been a resident of Kansas since 1871, in which year he came to this county and became one of the organizers of Valley township, being elected first township trustee. He drove through from his old home in Illinois. bringing with him, besides his household goods and some essential farming implements, some fine chickens and three pure-bred Berkshire hogs. Lieu- tenant Hoagland has always maintained that he never suffered any pioneer hardships, but that is believed to be merely an expression of pioneer modesty, for it is doubtful if any of the real "old-timers" hereabout escaped the hard- ships common to the days of the grasshopper scourge and the burning winds and the withering droughts. Before coming here he had saved some money and was thus able. however, to tide over the period of losses of crops and
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all save hope in the early seventies. It is certain that many there were who were grateful to him in those trying days for material assistance which enabled them to "pull through" and preserve their homestead claims in the face of adversities which would have daunted any but the true pioneer breed of men. For years Lieutenant Hoagland was master of the local Grange and one of the most influential agriculturists in this region. Upon moving to town he continued taking a prominent part in affairs and for some time served as commissioner of the city's streets and also for two terms as city police judge. In 1888 he erected three houses in the block in which he lives in Hutchinson and in one of these, 216 Fifth avenue, West, has since made his home.
Martin Hoagland was born on a farm adjoining the corporation line of the town of Bardolph, in McDonough county, Illinois, December 18, 1843, son of Oakey and Emily ( Collins) Hoagland, the former of whom was born in Kentucky, son of Oakey M. and Ellen ( Batterton) Hoagland. Oakey M. Hoagland, a native of Scotland, came to this country in his youth and was married in Kentucky. To him and his wife five children were born, those besides the father of the subject of this sketch having been Belle B., who married T. J. Creel, a merchant, of Bardolph, Illinois, for many years postmaster of that place; Kate, who married George MeCabe, of Gibson City, Illinois ; Michael H., who went to the Pacific coast in 1849, enlisted in the United States army in 1861 in Oregon, saw much arduous service and met his death in a terrible storm while acting as an escort to the United States mail, and Prof. B. S. Hoagland, who for years was manager of the Kansas Musical Jubilee at Hutchinson.
Oakley Hoagland was born at Frankfort, Kentucky, April 1, 1803. About 1836 he moved to Beardstown, Illinois, where for three years he was proprietor of a general store. He then moved to Bardolph, same state, where for eight hundred dollars he bought a half section of land adjoining the corporation line and there established his home. He was one of the organizers of the Presbyterian church at Bardolph and for years served as an elder of the same. He died on July 15, 1875. To him and his second wife, who was Emily Collins, a native of Connecticut, three children were. born, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest, the others being Oakey M., a veteran of the Civil War, member of Company I. Fifty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and Willie, who died at the age of twelve years.
Martin Hoagland was reared on the home farm in Illinois and supple- mented the schooling he obtained in the local schools by a two-years' course
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in Branch's Academy at Macomb and two years at the Prairie City Academy. On December 5, 1861, he then being not quite eighteen years old, he enlisted in Company I, Fifty-seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the Civil War. Going out as a corporal he was gradually promoted until he was commissioned first lieutenant of his company and at the Grand Review at Washington at the close of the war was in command of a company. The Fifty-seventh Illi- nois saw much activity and Lieutenant Hoagland was in the thick of it all, several times having very narrow escapes from death, but he came through without serious wounds. Once he was thrown to the ground by the con- cussion of a large shell bursting near his head, his left ear being rendered useless by the force of the shock. Another time a musket ball carried away one of his knuckles ; his watch in his waistcoat pocket once saved him from being pierced by a bullet and another time he was saved by the stock of his gun, which he was carrying front and which was struck by a bullet.
Upon the completion of his military service Lieutenant Hoagland returned to his home in Illinois and began farming, presently buying an eighty-acre farm west of Bardolph. On November 26, 1867, he was united in marriage to Emma Evans, a school teacher, who was born in Ohio and who was teaching school in the Bardolph neighborhood. Early in 1871 Liertenant Hoagland disposed of his interests in Illinois and came to Kansas, locating in Reno county. He entered a homestead claim in section 30, Valley township, and there erected a frame building a story and a half high, sixteen by twenty-four feet, which, with twenty-five dollars in money, six months' provisions and the household goods, was whisked out of sight by a cyclone on May 15. 1873. In the house erected to take the place of the missing domicile the Hoaglands lived for three years and then Lieuten- ant Hoagland crected a substantial brick-lined dwelling, which served as a residence for him and his family until his retirement from the farm. Lieu- tenant Hoagland was an excellent farmer and it was not long until he was looked upon as one of the most substantial and influential residents of that part of the county. Upon the organization of Valley township he was elected township trustee and in that capacity did much for the advancement of the common interest thereabout. When the Grange was organized he took a prominent part in the affairs of that organization and for years was master of the same. In the fall of 1872 he brought to this county a carload of young trees from Illinois, thus being the first man to introduce nursery stock into Reno county, and his example in that direction, quickly followed
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by others, was of incalculable benefit to the community. He set out a ten- acre orchard and demonstrated the adaptability of the soil hereabout to fruit culture ; in 1879 being awarded seventeen premiums on his fruit at the Reno county fair. He also engaged extensively in the breeding of pure-bred Berkshire hogs and did much toward getting a good strain of swine intro- duced among the pioneers of this county. For eighteen years he was a member of the school board.
In 1883 Lieutenant Hoagland began buying grain for C. B. Myton at Windom and continued thus engaged until the death of Mr. Myton, after which he moved to Hutchinson and bought the Central restaurant, which then stood at the present site of the A. & A. drug store. A year later he bought the old Ohio House, then a popular hotel, and a year later bought an interest, with W. R. Morrison, in the Queen City meat market. Three years later he went with the Hutchinson Meat Packing Company as superin- tendent of the delivery department of that concern. In 1898 Martin Hoag- land was elected a member of the Hutchinson city council and served two terms in that capacity. In 1900 he was appointed to the office of street commissioner and in that capacity rendered excellent service. He later served two terms as city police judge and in other ways has done his part in the public service. Lieutenant Hoagland is a life-long Republican and for years has been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in the county.
For twenty-six years Lieutenant Hoagland served as the local corre- spondent for the agricultural department at Washington and for eighteen years was correspondent to the Orange Judd Farmer from this section. He is past commander of Joe Hooker Post No. 17, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, and has filled every office in that patriotic organization, for years serving as quartermaster. He is a charter member of Reno Lodge No. 140, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and for eight years was treasurer of the local organiza- tion of the Knights and Ladies of Security.
To Lieutenant and Mrs. Hoagland eight children have been born, as follow: Walter B., one of the proprietors of the Forsythe-Hoagland cloth- ing store at Hutchinson; Arthur C., manager of that store; W. Louis, who was graduated from the Medical University of Kansas City in 1899 and is now physician for the Central Coal and Coke Company at Carsons, Louisi- ana: David R., an employee of the Adams Express Company at St. Louis; Olive C., a graduate of the Chicago Conservatory of Music, who married H. A. Lloyd, proprietor of an amusement park at Lawton, Oklahoma ; Nellie, a graduate of the high school at Hutchinson, now a teacher in the
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public schools of that city: Rose, who died in her graduating year, in 1899. and Floy, who received an excellent musical education and is now a teacher of music at Hutchinson, making her home with her parents.
MRS. ELIZABETH SKEEN.
Mrs. Elizabeth Skeen, widow of the late William Moore Skeen, and the proprietor of a well-kept and profitably cultivated farm on the edge of Brandy lake in Valley township, this county, has been a resident of Reno county since 1885 and is one of the best-known women in that part of the county in which she has long resided.
Elizabeth Warlow was born on a pioneer farm near the town of Danvers. in McLean county, Illinois, daughter of Jonathan and Catherine (Hay) Warlow, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts in 1814 and the latter in Kentucky, January 3, 1812. Jonathan Warlow when a lad moved with his parents from Massachusetts to Ohio, where his youth was spent. In 1834. he then being twenty years of age, he pushed on West and became one of the earliest settlers of McLean county, Illinois, at that time entering a tract of "Congress land" there which is still in the family name. In 1835 the family of Catherine Hay moved from the Hopkinsville ( Kentucky) neighborhood and settled in McLean county, Catherine Hay then being a young woman. She and Jonathan Warlow were presently married and early became regarded as among the most substantial and influential residents of that community. Jonathan Warlow prospered in his farming operations and became quite wealthy, adding to his land holdings in McLean county until he was the owner of five hundred acres of land there, besides a farm of two hundred and forty acres in this county, which he bought in the early eighties. He was a Democrat and was influential in the political life of his community. He and his wife were earnest members of the Christian church, which he served as an elder for many years and he also was superintendent of the Sunday school for sixteen years. Jonathan Warlow died in 1900. His wife had predeceased him about fifteen years, her death having occurred in 1885. They were the parents of six children, namely: George L., a prominent lawyer of Fresno, California, which city has been his place of residence since 1888; Elizabeth, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch : Mary, who married Jesse Brainard, now living retired at Hutchinson, this county, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this
الك
WILLIAM MOORE SKEEN.
MRS. ELIZABETH SKEEN.
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM W. MCCANDLESS AND SON JAMES.
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volume; Celia, who married George L. Johnson and died at Fresno, Califor- nia, in 1913; Mrs. Della Rowell, a widow, now living at Fresno, California, and Ida, who married Harvey Abbotts (now deceased ) and continues to make her home on the old Warlow home place in McLean county, Illinois.
Elizabeth Warlow was reared on the home farm near Danvers, Illinois, receiving her elementary education in the local schools, which she supple- mented by a course in Eureka College, from which she was graduated, after which she began teaching school in her home county, continuing, however, to make her home with her parents, and was thus engaged to the time of her marriage on December 25, 1879, to William Moore Skeen, of Blooming- ton, Illinois. It was a double wedding at the old Warlow home that Christinas Day, Elizabeth Warlow's sister, Ida, and Harvey Abbots being united in marriage at the same time. William M. Skeen was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, and when he was sixteen years old accompanied his parents to Bloomington, Illinois, where he grew to manhood. Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Skeen hade their home on the latter's parents farm for about five years, at the end of which time, in 1885, they came to Reno county and took charge of Mr. Warlow's two hundred and forty acre farm in Valley township, arriving there on April 2 of that year, and there William M. Skeen spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on February 7, 1906, he then being sixty-seven years of age, having been born on March 27, 1839. His widow continues to reside there, she having inherited eighty acres of the original tract at the time of her father's death, and is very pleasantly situated. Brandy lake washes her farm on the east and in early days the fine grove on her place was a popular picnic-ground.
Mr. and Mrs. Skeen had no children, but they reared from childhood William W. McCandless, who, with his family, makes his home with Mrs. Skeen and operates her farm, besides renting a considerable tract of adjoin- ing land, which he cultivates quite profitably. William W. McCandless was born in Kentucky, May 4, 1876, son of James McCandless and wife, the latter of whom was a Mitchell, and was a babe in arms when his parents came to Kansas in 1877. The family settled near the town of Raymond, where James McCandless was engaged as foreman of the local section of the Santa Fe railroad. In 1884 Mrs. McCandless died and her bereaved husband sent his children back to Kentucky, where they remained with kinsfolk until his marriage two years later, after which they were returned to Kansas. These children were as follow: Claud, a farmer of this county; Gaither, section foreman for the Santa Fe Railroad Company at Raymond, in the neighbor-
(26а)
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ing county of Rice : Minnie, who married O. W. Bottorf and lives at Fresno, California, and William W., who, in 1891, he then being fifteen years of age, was taken into the Skeen home, which he ever since has regarded as home, although he has been away for considerable periods at various times. In April, 1899, he enlisted in the Fifth Cavalry, United States Army, for service in Porto Rico, and served for three years with the army. In 1902 he re-enlisted, this time in the Twelfth United States Infantry, and served for three years with the army in the Philippines, being mustered out in June, 1905. Since the death of Mr. Skeen in 1906 he has been operating the Skeen farm and is doing very well. Mr. McCandless, when sixteen years of age, saved a man from drowning in Brandy lake, while many people were boating. The man had gone under twice, and Mr. McCandless, having presence of mind, went out to him in a boat and rescued him as he went down the third time. All the newspapers lauded him on his brave act.
On July 24, 1911, William W. McCandless was united in marriage to Cora Mae Reed, who was born in Camden county, Missouri, February 20, :886, daughter of George and Sarah (Seaton) Reed, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Iowa, who now live on a farm in Clay township, this county, where they have made their home since 1909, and to this union one child has been born, a son, James Earl, born on April 5, 1912.
FRANK A. MARTIN.
Frank A. Martin, one of the best-known, most progressive and most substantial ranchmen of Sylvia township, this county, former mayor of the town of Sylvia, who has witnessed the development of Reno county and the region hercabout since pioneer days, and who in the summer of 1915 moved into a splendid country house on his great ranch, a striking contrast to the sod shanty on the plain, in which he established his home upon set- ting up for himself in Sylvia township, is a native of Illinois, having been born on a farm in Piatt county, that state, January 15, 1861, son of Daniel Louis and Jane ( Snyder ) Martin, the former a native of New York state and the latter of Ohio.
Daniel L. Martin moved, as a boy, with his parents from New York to Ohio and in the latter state he grew to manhood and married. In 1850 he and his bride emigrated to Illinois, locating in Piatt county, where Mr. Martin homesteaded a quarter of a section of land and established his home.
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In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served valorously during the Civil War until he met a soldier's fate at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, being killed during that engagement on November 30. 1864, his widow and children being thus bereft of a kind husband and indulgent father. There were six of these children, namely: William Andrew, who lives at Waldron, this state; Daniel, who died at his home in Stafford county, this state, on March 28, 1908; Elizabeth Jane, who married Andrew J. Darr and died at her home in this county in 1882; Abigail, widow of Martin Sims, of Stafford county; Frank A., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Mary Alice, who married Sam B. Hammond, of Reno Hill, in Reno county, both of whom are now deceased.
After the death of her soldier husband in 1864 Mrs. Martin disposed of her interests in Piatt county, Illinois, and with her six small children returned to the home of her father. Mary Snyder, in Scioto county, Ohio, where, in 1873, she married, secondly, W. P. Stockham, who came to Kansas with his family in 1876, arriving in the neighboring county of Stafford on February 22, of that year. Mr. Stockham homesteaded a tract of land on the Reno county line in section 2, of Fairview township, Stafford county, and there established his home on the plains, he and his family thus becoming counted among the earliest settlers of that section. Mrs. Stock- ham died there on March 2, 1893, at the age of sixty-four, and Mr. Stock- ham then went to Nebraska, where his death occurred a few years later.
Frank .A. Martin was about three years old when his father was killed in battle and he spent his boyhood on the farm of his grandfather in Ohio, receiving his education in the neighboring district school. He was fifteen years old when the family came to this state and he grew to manhood on the homestead place on the Reno county line, over in Stafford county, living in one of the few frame houses in that section at that time. When he arrived there there was not another house within sight of their homestead in any direction and no school anywhere near, the first school in that district being a subscription school organized by the neighbors who later came in, the pupils receiving their instructions seated on rude benches placed in the Stockham granary. During the days of Frank A. Martin's young manhood there still were numerous Indians hereabout, though no hostile bands. For the first few years one of the "chief products of the soil" was buffalo bones, and as "ready money" was mighty scarce here- about then Mr. Martin was glad to gather up the bones off the plains and haul them by ox-team to Hutchinson, thirty-five miles away, where he
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received six dollars a ton for the same. While thus engaged, he cleared the site of the present flourishing city of Piatt of the bones lying there- about. The nearest market for the family then was Sterling, thirty-three imiles away.
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