USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 43
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buildings, always is kept well painted and in excellent repair, and has also planted many trees which add to the value and attractiveness of his farm. In addition to his general farming. Mr. Nelson gives proper atten- tion to stock raising and keeps high-grade stock on his place, being content with nothing but the best in the live-stock line. In Denmark he always was accustomed to handling only the best strains of stock and his early train- ing would permit of nothing less high-class on his farm here.
On August 23. 1882, James Nelson was united in marriage to Christina Johnsdater, who was born in the kingdom of Sweden and who moved to Denmark, where for two years she was employed in the domestic department of the same farm on which James Nelson was employed, and to this union six children have been born. namely: Mary, who married Howard Church and lives on a farm in Clay township, this county; Nels M., who is operating a laundry in the city of Chanute, Kansas; Sena, who received a normal- school education and has been a teacher in the schools of this county for the past nine years; Mattie, who married Earl Lee and lives in Platt county, Kansas : Jeanne, who married Blen Hill and lives on a farm in Clay township, and Ernest, at home, a valued assistant to his father in the opera- tion of the farm. Mr. and Mrs, Nelson are earnest members of the Swedish Lutheran church at Hutchinson and their children have been reared in that faith.
JOHN J. MARKHAM.
John J. Markham, a well-known and well-to-do retired farmer of this county, now living comfortably retired at his pleasant home adjoining the town of Partridge; an honored veteran of the Civil War and former town- ship trustee and justice of the peace of Center township, is a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Jackson county, that state, November 9, 1835. son of Richard and Eleanor (Evans) Markham, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of the gallant little land of Wales.
Richard Markham was born in Bedford county, Virginia, son of Stephen Markham and wife, the former of whom was a native of England who had come to this country when a child with his parents, the family settling in the colony of Virginia. Stephen Markham became a well-to-do farmer in Virginia, where he spent his last days. Two of his brothers were killed while serving as soldiers in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. Richard Markham grew to manhood on the home place in Virginia and when
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1
a young man moved over into Ohio, settling in Jackson county, where he married Eleanor Evans, who had come to this country when three years old with her parents, John Evans and wife, from Wales, the family settling in Jackson county, Ohio, where John Evans became a substantial farmer. Richard Markham was the owner of an eighty-acre farm in Jackson county, Ohio, where he made his home until old age, when he and his wife moved to Pike county, same state, where their last days were spent, the former dying in 1896, at the age of eighty-five, and the latter in 1900, she then being eighty-six years of age. Richard Markham and wife were earnest supporters of the Methodist church and did much to extend the influence of that faith throughout the section of the state in which they lived. Mr. Markham was a Democrat and held various offices of public trust and responsibility. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, all of whom lived to maturity, the first to go having been thirty years of age at the time of his death. Of these children, seven are still living, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. But one other member of the family ever came to Kansas, the late David O. Markham, who died in Butler county, this state.
Being the eldest child in the family John J. Markham early began to help his father on the home farm and grew up to a full practical knowledge of farm work. Though his educational advantages were extremely limited in his youth, his schooling having been confined to three or four months in the year during the early period of his youth, he has become a highly self- educated man, broad minded and well informed. In 1861 John J. Mark- ham enlisted in Company E, Fifty-Sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for service during the Civil War and served to the close of the war. When the company was organized he was made an orderly sergeant and was shortly promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and later to the rank of first lieutenant. The first battle in which he participated was at Ft. Donelson. He then fought at Shiloh, under General Grant, and took part in the siege of Corinth, under General Halleck; then on to Memphis and after the fall of that city took part in the general Arkansas campaign for nine months, after which he participated in the siege of Vicksburg. He then was stationed at New Orleans, under Brig .- Gen. W. T. Sherman, and at the close of the war was detailed to duty in the quartermaster's office at Nashville, Tennessee, where he was on duty until November, 1865.
Upon the conclusion of his military experience, John J. Markham came West and located in Doniphan county, this state, where he and his uncle,
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Vinton Evans, bought a farm in partnership and there, in the summer of 1867 he married, shortly after which he sold his interest in the farm he held jointly with his uncle and bought another farm in the same county, where he established his home and there continued to live until 1874, in which year he came to this county, arriving here on April 28, of that year. He bought the relinquishment to the homestead right to the northwest quarter of sec- tion 20 in Center township, a discouraged settler selling the same to him for fifty dollars, and there he established his permanent home. When Mr. Markham took the place there was a cottonwood shack on it and for a time he and his family made their home in that shack, but after they got things going fairly well they erected a more fitting residence and for many years have been very comfortably and pleasantly situated. Mr. Markham was one of the earliest settlers in Center township and from the very beginning of his residence there took an influential position in the community. He gave much attention to cattle raising, from which he derived considerable profit in addition to carrying on general farming on an extensive scale, and as the years rolled by he prospered largely, presently coming to be regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of that part of the county.
In 1908 Mr. Markham turned the farm over to his son, James O., and he and his wife retired to a pleasant home on the outskirts of the thriving village of Partridge, where they are now living. Their home is surrounded by sixteen and one-half acres. a portion of the old Dilley homestead, in the exact geographical center of Reno county; in early days it having been expected that the county seat would be located there. Mr. Markham is a Republican and for many years was looked upon as one of the leaders of his party in the county. He served as trustee of Center township for five terms and for many years served as justice of the peace in and for that town- ship, while he also served as census enumerator for that township during two decades. He has ever taken an active interest in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic and is now attached to the Joe Hooker post of that patriotic order at Hutchinson. He was commander of the Hatch Post of the Grand Army of the Republic during the existence of that post at Partridge.
On June 27, 1867, John J. Markham was united in marriage to Maria C. Hulan, who was born in Franklin county, Missouri, daughter of Osborn and Elizabeth Hulan, and who came to this state with her parents in 1854, the family settling in Doniphan county, and to this union two children were born, James O .. now residing on the old home place in Center township, and
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Louis A. who died in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Markham are members of the Methodist church and ever have been diligent in good works in their com- inunity, all worthy enterprises receiving their hearty encouragement and assistance.
SUPERINTENDENT JUSTUS O. HALL.
Superintendent Justus O. Hall, who has been serving most effectively in the important position of superintendent of the Hutchinson city schools since 1909, is a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Washington county. that state, on February 27, 1870, son of George W. and Elizabeth (Harvey) Hall, both natives of Ohio, the former of whom is now living at Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the age of sixty-nine, and the latter of whom died in 1900, at the age of fifty-onc.
George W. Hall was a farmer and carpenter, who, in 1885, came to Kansas, with his family, from Ohio and bought a farm in the neighborhood of Olathe, in Johnson county, where for a few years he engaged in farming, after which he devoted his whole time to carpenter work. He is a Repub- lican and he and his wife were earnest members of the Baptist church, in the faith of which their children were reared. There were six of these children, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch is the eldest, the others being as follow: W. L., expert accountant who lives in Dallas, Texas: Charles E., who died in Cherokee county, Kansas; Joseph A., who lives in Cherokee county, where he is in the employ of the Frisco railroad; Rosa, who married Paul Anema and lives at Iola, Kansas, and Mamie, who died at the age of twenty-four.
Justus O. Hall was fifteen years of age when he came to Kansas with his parents and for a time he worked on the farm in Johnson county, spend- ing his winters in the graded schools of Olathe. In 1890 he entered the railway mail service and was thus engaged for three years, first on the Kansas City & Denver R. P. O. and then on the Kansas City & Springfield R. P. O. Determining then to broaden his education he went to Lawrence, this state, and, preparatory to matriculating at the Kansas State - University, entered the high school there, from which he presently was graduated, after which he entered the State University, and, by long hours and extra work, actually succeeded in finishing the four-years high school course and the four- years college course in five years, being graduated from the university in 1898, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then was engaged as assist-
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ant principal of the high school at Olathe, where he served for one year, after which he was called to Horton, where he served as principal of the high school for two years, at the end of which time he was elevated to the position of superintendent of schools of that city, a position which he held for four years, after which he was called to Beloit, this state, where for four years he served as superintendent of the city schools. In 1909 the school authorities of Hutchinson engaged him as superintendent of the schools of that city and he ever since has been serving in that capacity, having done most excellent work during his incumbency. During his term of service at Hutchinson, Superintendent Hall has expanded the vocational department of the schools and has instituted gymnasium work in the high school, besides having, in many other ways, broadened the scope of the schools. The gen- eral growth of the Hutchinson schools since Superintendent Hall took charge in 1909 is revealed in the statement that the teaching force has increased seventy per cent during that time and, in every way, the schools are up-to -. date and showing progress along all lines.
Superintendent Hall is a charter member of the famous and exclusive Kansas Schoolmaster Club, one of the most noted organizations of the kind in the country, the membership of which is elective and limited to sixty, including only the leading school and college men of the state. He also is an active member of the National Education Association, in whose annual meetings he takes a warm interest, and is also a member of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education and of the American Historical Association. He is now one of the directors of the Kansas State Teachers Association and has served as president of both the North Central Kansas Teachers Association and of the Central Kansas Teachers Association. Superintendent Hall is a frequent and valued contributor to educational journals and was, together with ex-State Superintendent George W. Winans, for three years editor of the Interstate Schoolman. Finding this editorial work too arduous, however, in connection with the exacting duties of his professional work, he was compelled to give it up. He also is occasionally called upon to address classes in the Kansas State Normal and other places and is one of the best-known educators in the state.
On August 31. 1904. Superintendent Justus O. Hall was united in mar- riage to Bertha Kelley, who was born in Indiana, daughter of William and Kate Kelley, the former of whom is now deceased. Superintendent and Mrs. Hall are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and in 1914 Superintendent Hall was president of the official board of that church. They
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live at 21 Eleventh street, East, in a pretty home erected in 1910, and take their full part in the general social and cultural life of the community.
Superintendent Hall is a Republican, though in local political questions he is more inclined to favor individual candidacies, with respect rather to the fitness of the office seeker than to the party emblemn. He is a Mason, having attained to the Knights Templar degree, and is past eminent com- mander of the commandery and past king of the chapter and past master of the blue lodge. He also is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, in which order he has "passed through all the chairs" and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these several organizations.
ARTHUR MILLER BEAR.
Arthur Miller Bear, born at Manchester, Summit county, Ohio, Jan- uary 28, 1871, is the son of Henry C. Bear, also a native of Summit county, Ohio, and Mary Cathrine Vanderhoof, born at Canal Fulton, Stark county, Ohio. His grandfather, Benjamin Bear, of Holland-Dutch descent and Pennsylvanian nativity, took up land in Ohio about 1803. His mother's father, John Vanderhoof, owned and operated canal boats on the canal from Cleveland to Akron, Ohio.
Henry C. Bear grew up and married in Ohio; learned carriage painting and owned a shop; prospected at Newton Kansas, in 1878, and was joined by his family in 1879. He bought a quarter section of land in McPherson county, near the Reno county line. Hutchinson was his market town. His sons operated the farm, while he continued to work at his trade, owning a shop in Hutchinson. In the early nineties he moved to Liberty, Missouri, but returned to Reno county later, where his death occurred in 1895, at the age of forty-four years. He was an ardent Republican, and was the second postmaster in the town of Medora, serving in this capacity for two years. He was prominent in local politics, holding at different times nearly all the different township offices of Medora township. He was the first trustee of Medora township. His children are as follow: Arthur M., the subject of this review; Carrie, the wife of Lem Paddock, of Independence, Kansas; Anna, wife of I. W. Poulton, of Medora township; John, jeweler and farmer, of Romaine, Montana; George W., of Athena, Oregon, and Orson, who was killed while working as fireman on the Oregon Short Line railway.
Arthur Miller Bear came to Kansas when eight years old. He at-
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tended the schools of McPherson county, and assisted his father with the work on the home farm, later working on farms in the neighborhood, and still later as a section hand on the railroad. In 1898 he bought his present home in Medora township, a quarter section of land, for which he paid twelve hundred dollars. The same land could not now be bought for twelve thousand dollars. Later he bought another forty acres, and is a general farmer and stock raiser, specializing in purebred Hampshire hogs. Beside his farming operations, Mr. Bear and his partner, Mr. Price, do an extensive business drilling wells.
Mr. Bear is a life-long Republican, and has served as justice of the peace and also as school director of his township. For three terms he served as township trustee of Medora township. He was one of the organizers and is now the president of the Medora Mutual Telephone Company. Frater- nally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
On November 22. 1893, Arthur Miller Bear married Eliza Poulton, a native of Reno county, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Ellsworth) Poulton, the former of whom was one of the very earliest settlers of Reno county, and they are the parents of one daughter, Ethel, born on January 4, 1895, now the wife of Ed. J. Shea, a farmer of Medora township. Mr. and Mrs. Shea have one son, Lawrence Patrick.
HON. WILLIAM Y. MORGAN.
While the people of Reno county appreciate the honor that was con- ferred upon William Y. Morgan, editor of the Hutchinson Daily News, by his election, in the fall of 1914, and re-election in 1916, to the distinguished office of lieutenant-governor of the great state of Kansas, and feel that this civic distinction came to him as a very proper and fitting reward for his long and unceasing service in behalf of the people of the state, they will ever feel that his chief title to distinction is that of editor of the leading news- paper in central Kansas. As banker and legislator, and now as second in executive rank in the state of Kansas, Mr. Morgan has indeed been a man of affairs, justly entitled to the high honors which have been conferred upon him, and it is as editor that the people know him best; as the conscientious publicist who. consistently and intelligently, for years has fought their bat- tles : the faithful editor whose newspaper ever has been his medium of
wyn organ
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expression in behalf of all things of good report hereabout since the day he arrived in Hutchinson, and it is this intimate and close relation to them that the people of central Kansas ever will regard as Mr. Morgan's chief claim to distinction, for he has served then well.
Lient .- Gov. William Y. Morgan, editor of the Hutchinson Daily News, is one of the leading representatives of the newspaper interests of central Kansas. For forty-five years he has made his home in Kansas and since 1895 has been a resident of Hutchinson, seat of government of Reno county. William Y. Morgan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 6, 1866, and was only four years of age when his parents came to the Sunflower state. His father, William A. Morgan, of Cottonwood Falls, who was for many years publisher of the Chase County Leader, was a native of Ireland, but was reared in America, having been but four years of age when his parents came to the United States and settled at Cincinnati, where he early learned the printing trade, with which he has been connected throughout the most of his life. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, William A. Morgan enlisted in the Union Army as a member of the Twenty-third Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, and saw much active service. He served as department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, department of Kansas, and took an active interest in everything tending to advance the welfare of his comrades who wore the blue. A man of strong mentality and marked force of character, William A. Morgan left the impress of his individuality upon many lines of thought and action since coming to Kansas in 1871 and attained no small degree of distinction in civic life, having performed excellent service in the state Legislature, to both branches of which he had been elected at one time or another. His death occurred on March 24, 1917. His wife, whose maiden name was Minnie Yost and whom he married in Cin- cinnati, was prominently connected with the work of the Woman's Relief Corps in this state and was department president. She died in 1910.
William Y. Morgan is a graduate of the University of Kansas. In college he took high rank and is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fra- ternity. As a boy, William Y. Morgan learned to set type in his father's newspaper office and thus early became connected with the "art preservative of all arts." Upon completing his course at college, he became connected with the "local" department of a Lawrence newspaper and there earned his spurs as a reporter. Following this connection, he purchased a newspaper at Strong City, which he edited and published for four years, at the end of which time he bought the Gazette at Emporia. His work in connection
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with that now famous paper was very successful and he brought the Gazette up to the rank of first class newspapers, which it has ever since occupied. In 1895 he sold that paper to William Allen White and came to Reno county, locating at Hutchinson, where he organized the Hutchinson News Company and entered upon the publication of the Hutchinson Daily News, he being the president of the company and the principal stockholder. From the very beginning of this now notably successful journal, Mr. Morgan assumed the active management of the same and has made it one of the leading news- papers in the state.
Mr. Morgan from the days of his boyhood has been a stanch Repub- lican and his newspaper ever has been one of the most earnest supporters of the principles of that party in the West. When only twenty years of age he was made secretary of the Douglas county Republican convention and in whatever community he has since lived he has been honored with the secre- taryship or chairmanship of the Republican central committee. In January, 1899. the Kansas Legislature elected him to the office of state printer, which office he held for two terms. He was four terms a member of the Legis- lature from Hutchinson and in the fall of 1914 was elected lieutenant-gov- ernor of the state. He was re-elected in 1916. In business affairs Mr. Morgan has also been an active factor in the general life of Hutchinson and Reno county, and in 1902 was elected president of the State Exchange Bank of Hutchinson, in which position he served for some years very acceptably. He has been identified with all the public affairs of the city.
On November 20, 1891, William Y. Morgan was united in marriage at Strong City, to Colie Adair, daughter of Wit Adair, of that city, and he and Mrs. Morgan, who takes an active and earnest interest in the social and cultural life of Hutchinson, have a fine home at No. 420 Sherman street, the highest point on that street of fine residences. Mr. Morgan is a thirty- second-degree Mason and a Knight Templar. He is also a member of the grand lodge of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He is known all over the state in connection with his services in behalf of the Sons of Veterans and was commander of this patriotic organization.
Mr. Morgan ranks high among the leading men of central Kansas and is widely known and honored for his genuine worth as a man, a citizen and a publicist. He has written three books of travel, the record of his observa- tions on journeys to Europe and the Near East. All of these books, "A
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Journey of a Jayhawker," "A Jayhawker in Europe," and "The Near East" have had large sales. In 1914 he was elected a director of the Associated Press and he gives much of his time to that important organization.
ROBERT T. SPECHT, JR.
Robert T. Specht, Jr., editor and proprietor of the Turon Weekly Press, comes of vigorous German parentage, and both by heritage and training has been well fitted for the work he is so admirably carrying on in news- paperdom. His father, Robert T. Specht, has had a varied and interesting career. He was born on March 4, 1837, in Hamburg, Germany, emigrated_ to America in 1854, and engaged in the printing business in Cleveland, Ohio. There he remained until the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1861 he was given a commission as second lieutenant in Company E, Fifty-eighth Regi- mient Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served in this capacity until 1863, com- manding Company E, when he was made lieutenant of marines on board the ironclad "Dekalb," and remained in the naval service until after the fall of Vicksburg when he was appointed assistant provost marshal of Vicksburg. He returned to Cleveland, and ten years later, moved to Kansas, where he remained until 1877, when he removed to Chase, Rice county, Kansas, and engaged in farming for the next ten years. He became one of the most useful and influential citizens of Rice county. In 1888 he began the pub- lication of the Chase Record, and also engaged in a private banking business there. He was probate judge of Rice county from 1888 to 1890. For the next nine years he was both farmer and banker. In 1899 he retired from active labor and moved to Ellinwood, Kansas, but in 1915 he changed the family home to Topeka, and is still living in that city. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church.
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