USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 41
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entered a timber claim to a quarter of a section in Gove county and became a well-to-do farmer and stockman. In 1894 he retired from the farm and moved to Garden City, this state, but after living there about a year bought a quarter of a section of land near Arnold, in Ness county, and moved onto the same, spending the rest of his life there, his death occurring on April 15, 1915. His widow is now living at Arnold. She is the mother of seven children and has twenty-four grandchildren and eight great-grand- children. The seven children born to George W. Ream and wife, besides the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, are as follow: Alice, who married Cyrus Sherwood, a farmer, living near Arnold, this state : Flora, who married J. E. Stout, station agent and telegraph operator for the railroad company, at Reno, Nevada: Norman S., of Berkeley, California, superintendent of the Shell Oil Company of Rodeo; Lydia, who married C. J. VanAntwerp, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Scott City, this state: Mary, who married Henry Yasmer, a farmer of Ness county, this state, and Lottie, who married John C. Mitchell, a real-estate dealer at Scott City.
William B. Ream was reared on the home farm in Benton county, Iowa, where his boyhood was spent. receiving his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home there. He was twelve or thirteen years of age when his parents came to Kansas and he learned the printer's trade at Scott City, becoming a very proficient printer and acquiring a thorough acquaintance with the newspaper business. In March. 1895. Mr. Ream came to Reno county and was engaged as manager of the Weekly Press at Turon, this county, for three or four years, at the end of which time he bought the paper and continued as editor and publisher of the same until in October, 1913, at which time he sold the paper and has since then been engaged in the insurance and farm loans business, man- ager of the real-estate and insurance department of the Farmers' State Bank of Turon, with offices in the bank building, and has built up a fine business in that line. From the very beginning of his residence in Turon Mr. Ream has taken an active and a prominent part in the civic affairs of that thriving town. Before the town was incorporated he held the office of township clerk and then he was elected justice of the peace. an office which he held for two terms. He was the first police judge of Turon and then held office as city clerk for one term. He was a member of the city council for two terms, among the second term of such service serving also as acting mayor,- and was then elected mayor, serving as chief executive officer of the city when the electric-light and water plants were installed. Mr. Ream is a
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substantial citizen of Turon, the owner of real estate there besides his pleas- ant home on East Chicago street, and takes an active interest in all move- ments designed to advance the general welfare thereabout. He is a Repub- lican and long has been regarded as one of the leaders of the party in that part of the county.
On September 29, 1898, at Pratt, this state, William B. Ream was united in marriage to Jennie McNickle, who was born at Mt. Pleasant, West Virginia, in April. 1873, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Wolfe) McNickle, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Meigs county, Ohio, who came to Kansas in 1885. locating in Stafford county, where Mr. McNickle later bought three hundred and twenty acres of land, where he still lives and where his wife died in August, 1912. To William B. and Jennie ( McNickle) Ream three children have been born, Etna, born on May 19, 1900; Lloyd, October 20, 1901, and Arnold. Decem- ber 29, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Ream take their proper part in the social and cultural life of the community in which they live and are held in high esteem by all thereabout. Mr. Ream is a past grand master of the Odd Fellows lodge and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of both of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
HENRY KELLING.
Henry Kelling, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of South Hayes township, this county, proprietor of a well-kept farm of three hundred and twenty acres in sections 6 and 7, of that township, where he has lived since settling there in pioneer days, is a native of Indiana, having been born in Laporte county, that state. April 16, 1847, but has been a resident of Kan- sas since 1872 and a resident of Reno county since 1875. His father, Joseph Kelling, came from Germany to the United States about 1842 and located in Laporte county. in the northwestern part of Indiana, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry Kelling is now the only survivor of the family of Joseph Kelling.
Henry Kelling grew to manhood at Laporte and in 1870 was united in marriage there to Augusta Deitrick, who was born in Germany and who had come to this country with her parents, Joseph Deitrick and wife, and had settled with theni at Laporte. In 1872, two years after their marriage. Henry Kelling and his wife came to Kansas and settled in Montgomery
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county, but three years later. in 1875, came to Reno county and located in the northeastern part of what is now South Hayes township and there have made their home ever since. Mr. Kelling homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 6 and the northwest quarter of section 7 and proceeded to develop the same, in good time bringing the farm to its present state of improvement and cultivation, long having been looked upon as one of the most substantial farmers of that part of the county.
When Mr. Kelling settled in this county he had to face the privations incident to the lives of the pioneers hereabout and to endure the common hardships of the time, but he "stuck to it" and it was not long until he rec- ognized the fact that he had acted very wisely in putting in his lot with that of the early pioneers of this part of the state. In the early days buffalo "chip" and cornstalks were his fuel and he found it convenient at times to hanl a load of buffalo bones, gathered off the plains, to the market at Hutch- inson. where he could exchange the same for a bit of ready money. He occasionally would join in a buffalo hunt as a means of replenishing the supply of meat and knew the plains hereabout for many miles around. Mr. Kelling is a Republican and has served the public as a member of the town- ship board and as school director.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kelling two children have been born, Jennie, who married J. A. Hull and lives in Stafford county, this state, and Lollie, who married Henry Sour and lives in Sylvia township, this county. Mr. and Mrs. Kelling are members of the Christian church and take an active interest in the various beneficences of the same, as well as in all neighborhood good works.
GEORGE W. LEE.
County Clerk George W. Lee, of Reno county, is a native of Seneca county, Ohio, where he was born on April 27, 1860, son of Thomas David and Melinda ( Russigie) Lee, the former of whom, born near the town of Pen Yan, in Yates county, New York, in 1814, died in 1868. and the latter, born at Poughkeepsie, in Dutchess county, New York, in 1815, died in 1881.
Thomas David Lee grew to manhood in his native county and when twenty years of age married, he and his wife settling in Seneca county, Ohio, where they entered a tract of land from the government and created a pioneer home in the then wilderness and there spent the remainder of
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their lives. Thomas D. Lce was an ardent Democrat and took an active interest in the political affairs of his home county. He served for many years as justice of the peace in his township and was occupying that position when he died. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Eight children were born to them, the subject of this sketch being the youngest of this family.
George W. Lee was but eight years of age when his father died and he grew to manhood in the town of Bloomville, Ohio, his early education being secured in the schools of that place. He engaged in the livery business, also in the buying and selling of horses, and was thus engaged for nine years, or until 1885, in which year he came to this county and bought a tract of land in Bell township, which he speedily improved and there he made his home for eighteen years, becoming known as one of the most progressive farmers in that part of the county. In 1903 he sold that farm and removed to Medora township, where he bought another place which he made into a fruit and stock farm, and which he enlarged by later purchases until now he is the owner of four hundred and eighty acres, one-fourth of which is set out in orchard fruits. In 1909, Mr. Lee retired from the farm and moved to Hutchinson, where he engaged in the real-estate business, and in 1910 was elected county assessor on the Republican ticket, in which office he performed such acceptable service that he was re-elected and is still holding that office, this making him the incumbent in two county offices, for in 1914 he was elected clerk of Reno county, which office he also is holding, the respective duties of the two offices not being in conflict. Ever since his arrival in Reno county, Mr. Lee has been interested in civic affairs and during his residence in Bell township was township trustee, a position to which he also was elected up on his removal to Medora township. He also served the public as school director and as school clerk.
On December 19, 1878, George W. Lee was united in marriage to Ella E. Paul, who was born in Crawford county, Ohio, daughter of Lyman and Mary Paul, well-to-do farming people there, both of whom now are deceased, and to this union seven children have been born, as follow : Vernon P., a farmer of Bell township, this county; Gretta M., wife of M. D. Hatch, a prominent business man of Lincoln, Nebraska; Lloyd T., a farmer of Arlington township, this county; Ernest and Pearl (twins), the former of whom is a farmer of Bell township and the latter is assistant to her father in the county clerk's office; Roy, who is attending the public schools, and Florence, also in school. Mr. and Mrs. Lee are earnest mem-
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bers of the First Christian church, in the faith of which their children were reared and the congregation of which Mr. Lee long served in the capacity of a deacon, and the family is interested in all good works hereabout.
Mr. Lee is a Republican and for years has been regarded as one of the leaders of that party in this county. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of which order he takes an active interest. The Lees live in a very pleasant home at 1324 North Main street, Hutchinson, which was erected in 1913.
CORNELIUS BRADSHAW COPELAND.
Cornelius Bradshaw Copeland, township trustee of Sumner township, this county, secretary of the Farmers' Telephone Company at Haven, first president of the Haven Elevator Company, a prosperous farmer of that neighborhood and for years one of the leaders in the life of that community, is a native of Illinois, but has lived in this county since he was nine years old and is thus very properly regarded as one of the pioneers of Reno county. He was born in the town of Wapella, Dewitt county, Illinois, October 20, 1867, son of Milton N. and Zerilda (Long) Copeland, both natives of Ohio, the former born in Monroe county on August 17, 1825, and the latter in Hamilton county, December 26, 1828, whose last days were spent in this county, for years prominent and useful residents of the Haven neighborhood.
Following their marriage in Ohio on November 7. 1850, Milton N. Copeland and wife moved to Illinois, settling in Wapella in 1858. Mr. Cope- land was a blacksmith and wagon-maker and operated a shop with four forges in that town, long actively engaged in the wagon-making industry. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted for service in the Union army and served for three years in Company A. One Hundred and Seventh Regi- ment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being mustered out as a sergeant of his company. On January 8, 1874, he and his family came to Kansas and located in Wichita, where Mr. Copeland opened a wagon-making shop. In July, of that year, he filed a claim on a homestead in section 4, Sumner township. Reno county, and in 1876 moved out from Wichita and estab- lished his home on that tract. He erected a frame house on his homestead tract upon locating there, that being a time when most of the homesteaders were still living in sod houses or dug-outs, and also put up a blacksmith shop, which latter he operated for twenty years. He early took an active
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part in the civic affairs of the community and was a man of much force and influence in pioneer days. He was a Republican, but when the Populists were organized with so much force in this state he became a member of that party and served as a member of the central committee of that party. For seven years he served as township treasurer and in other ways rendered valuable aid to the common cause in the neighborhood of his home. During their residence in Wichita. Milton N. Copeland and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church, but later became members of the Congrega- tional church at Haven. Mr. Copeland was a Mason and took an earnest interest in Masonic affairs. He died on November 20, 1897, and his widow survived until April 3, 1900. They were the parents of two sons and four daughters, namely: Cornelius B., the subject of this sketch; George L., who is engaged in the grocery business at Hollywood, California; Carrie, born in Illinois, May 15. 1852. died at Wichita, October 15, 1884; Fannie, born in Illinois, May 20, 1855, died at Wichita. September 24. 1894; and Celia and Ellen, who died in infancy.
Cornelius B. Copeland was seven years old when he came with his par- ents to Kansas and was nine years old when they came to Reno county in 1876. In the following winter he attended the first school opened in Sumner township, the same being conducted by Mrs. Hattie Dickey in a building eight by twelve feet in floor dimensions, which served as a school house unith April 30, 1879, when a new district school house was opened one mile west of the Copeland homestead. This latter building served the school house in district No. 74 until December 9, 1912, when the present fine district standard school on a corner of Mr. Copeland's farm was opened. Cornelius B. Cope- land grew up on the homestead farm, gradually assuming the responsibilities of the management of the same as the weight of his father's years increased, and since the death of his parents has been the owner of the place. Mr. Copeland is a Socialist and supports that party in voting the national ticket. voting independently in local elections. Since 1897 he has served the public as trustee of Sumner township, having been elected in each succeeding elec- tion through all the various changes in political power, and claims thus to hold the record in Kansas for length of tenure in the office of township trustee. Mr. Copeland's interest in behalf of the public service also has been demonstrated in other ways and since the time of its foundation, in 1903, he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Reno county high school at Nickerson and for four years has been treasurer of the board. When the Haven Elevator Company was organized he was elected first presi-
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dent of the same and held that office for seven years. He was one of the most active promoters of the local telephone company at Haven and for years served as secretary of the same.
On September 16. 1908, Cornelius B. Copeland was united in marriage to Helen Jane Vanlandingham, who was born in Covington, Kentucky, and whose father died when she was an infant, her mother now living at Cincin- nati, Ohio, and to this union three children have been born, Helen, born in 1909: Gordon, 1913. and Richard Milton, 1916. Mrs. Copeland is a mem- ber of the Baptist church and takes an active interest in the various benefi- cences of the same. Mr. Copeland is a member of the local organization of the Sons of Veterans and has long taken an active part in the affairs of that patriotic organization.
GEORGE H. YUST.
George H. Yust, the well-known and popular editor and proprietor of the Sylvia Sun, published by him at Sylvia, this county, is a native- born son of Reno county, having been born on a pioneer farm in Hayes township on January 31, 1876, third in order of birth of the nine children of Fred and Dora ( Kreie) Yust, prominent pioneers of Reno county, both of whom are still living on their fine farm in Hayes township, honored and respected by all thereabout.
Fred Yust, who is an honored veteran of the Civil War and one of the largest landowners and most substantial farmers of this county, was born at Graefenheinchen, Prussia, Germany. September 30, 1844, and was eleven years old when he came to this country with his parents, Fred and Amalia ( Roemer ) Yust, the family settling at Canton, Missouri. The elder Fred Yust was a weaver in Germany and he and his wife were born on the same dlay. December 29. 1817. In 1855 they emigrated with their children to America. landing at New Orleans after a voyage of nine weeks in a sailing vessel. They proceeded thence by river steamer to Canton, Missouri, arriv- ing there in December, 1855, and there the eldest Yust became engaged as a stone mason and continued thus occupied until the Civil War broke out, when he and his two eldest sons, Fred and Charles, enlisted in Company A, Twenty-first regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for two years, participating in the battles of Shiloh. Corinth, Tupelo, Nash- ville and lesser engagements and in the siege and capture of the fort on
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Mobile bay. Upon the conclusion of his military service, the elder Yust returned to his home in Canton and resumed his occupation as stone mason and was thus engaged until 1874, in which year he came to Kansas, settling in Hayes township, this county, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their days, highly respected pioneers of that neighborhood, his death oc- curring on May 27, 1900, his widow surviving until March 14, 1904. They both were earnest members of the German Methodist church and their chil- dren were reared in that faith. There were seven of these children, as fol- low: Fred, a prominent resident of this county, father of the subject of this biographical sketch; Charles, a veteran of the Civil War and for years a well-known resident of Reno county, who died in 1890; Amalia, who mar- ried Julius Bandhauer and died at her home in Hayes township, this state; Minnie, wife of Peter Birke, who is engaged in the agricultural implement and hardware business at Canton. Missouri; John, a well-known farmer of Hayes township, this county; Louisa, who also lives in Hayes township, widow of Wid Clothier, and Henry, also a resident of Hayes township.
The younger Fred Yust was eleven years of age when he came to this country with his parents and had had five years of schooling in the schools of the Fatherland. In his new home at Canton, Missouri, he helped his father, he being the eldest son of the family, and when he was sixteen years old enlisted in the Home Guards for service during the Civil War, later enlisting in Company A, Twenty-first Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infan- try, the same regiment in which his father had enlisted, and was with that regiment until the close of the war, thus giving four years of his life to the service of his adopted country. Fred Yust was not only a good soldier, but he was a temperate lad, being addicted neither to the use of tobacco nor liquor, and was frugal and saving, withal, and when he returned from the war and the larger part of his pay as a soldier, intact. This fund he pre- sently invested in a small farm in the Canton neighborhood and in the fall of 1868 married and established his home on that farm, where he lived until the fall of 1874, at which time he and his brothers, Charles and Henry. and their father and mother, came to Kansas, driving through in wagons, and settled in this county. Fred Yust, the younger, homesteaded a tract in Med- ford township, now included in Hayes township, and later took a timber claim in the same township. After awhile he traded his farm in Missouri for another quarter of a section in this county, and thus gradually enlarged his holdings here until now he is the owner of sixteen hundred and eighty acres of choice land in Hayes township, one of the best and most highly-
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developed farms in Reno county. Mr. Yust has made much money in wheat and is regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of this county.
Ever since settling in this county, Mr. Yust has been actively inter- ested in the civic affairs of his neighborhood and early served as township trustee and as township treasurer. Since 1900 he has been justice of the peace in and for Hayes township and is noted for the fairness and justice of his decisions on such questions as come up for adjudication in his court : his services as a mediator. it ever having been his policy to compromise neighborhood disputes without litigation, if possible, being widely appreciated throughout that whole community. Mr. Yust is a Republican and for years has been one of the leaders of his party in that part of the county. He ever has taken his proper part in movements designed to advance the common good thereabout and is one of the directors of the company controlling the farmers' elevator at Sylvia. He is an active member of Sylvia Post No. 386, Grand Army of the Republic, and in the affairs of that patriotic organization ever has taken a warm interest. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the German Methodist church in Haven township, which they helped to organize and Mr. Yust was for years a class leader in the church. Mr. and Mrs. Yust have been active in all good works, even from pioneer days, in that region, and are held in the highest esteem throughout the entire coun- . tryside.
On September 24, 1868, Fred Yust was united in marriage to Dora Kreie, who was born in St. Louis, Missouri, daughter of Conrad and Hen- rietta ( Hartmann) Kreie, both natives of Germany, the former of whom emigrated to the United States in 1848 and the latter in 1849, in which latter year they were married in St. Louis, they having had a previous acquaint- ance in the Fatherland. In the next year, 1850, the cholera epidemic pre- valent at that time drove the Kreies out of St. Louis and they settled on a farm in the neighborhood of Franklin, Iowa, where they remained until 1856, in which year they moved to Kahoka, Missouri, in the vicinity of which town Mr. Kreie bought a small farm and there he and his family made their home. In 1885 Mr. Kreie moved to this county and bought a farm in Hayes township, where he and his wife spent the rest of their lives, his death occurring on January 22, 1906. He was born on May 31, 1822, and was therefore nearly sixty-four years of age at the time of his death. His widow, who was born on September 24, 1831, survived him until June 26, 1911, she being in her eightieth year at the time of her death.
To Fred and Dora ( Kreie) Yust were born nine children, namely :
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William F., born on November 10, 1869, who is performing a fine service as librarian in the public library at Rochester, New York; Kate Elizabeth, July 2. 1872, who married Samuel Snowbarger and lives in Hayes town- ship, this county; George H., the immediate subject of this sketch; Edward Philip, November 12, 1877, who is a well-known farmer in Hayes township; Clara Matilda, August 14, 1880, who married George Snowbarger and lives in Hayes township: Lydia R., Jime 5, 1883, who married M. W. McElroy and lives in Hayes township; Emma Dora, October 25, 1886, who married Carl C. Coleman and lives in Hayes township; Annie Laurie, October 28, 1887, who married Oscar H. Werner and lives in New York City, and Benjamin Harrison, December 29, 1891, who died on November 20, 1910.
George H. Yust was reared on the homestead farm, where he was born, in Hayes township, this county, and received his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, supplementing the same by a three-years course in the Central Wesleyan College at Warren- town, Missouri. He then entered Chicago University and after a two-years scientific course in that institution took a course in Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Chicago, following which he was employed for a few months as bookkeeper for the Champion Harvester Machine Company in that city. He then married in 1900 and returned to his home in this county and for two years thereafter lived on the farm which his father gave him in Hayes township. When he and his brother, Edward P., bought the flour- mill at Sylvia, which, under the firm style of the Yust Brothers Milling Company, they operated for three years, at the end of which time George H. Yust sold his interest in the mill and on September 1, 1905, bought the Sylvia Sun, at Sylvia, this county, which excellent paper he ever since has been conducting, being both editor and proprietor. The Sylvia Sun was established in December, 1901, by George Walker, and Mr. Yust bought the paper from Charles M. Coleman. When Mr. Yust bought the paper it was a five-column quarto, but he has enlarged it to six columns and is publishing a fine, newsy, wide-awake country newspaper, which has a wide circulation throughout that section and is immensely popular in the neighborhood which it serves so admirably. Though Mr. Yust is a Republican, his newspaper is conducted along independent lines, so far as the political policy of the paper is concerned, and its editor is ever an advocate of all proper movements designed to advance the common interest thereabout. In 1910 Mr. Yust erected a fine brick building on the west side of Main street in Sylvia, as a home for his newspaper, and has a commodious, well-equipped and up-to-
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