USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
464
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
who was admired for her charitable disposition, always ready to assist in sickness and distress ; loved and honored by all who knew her, she will long be remembered by her many friends and neighbors.
GEORGE T. KROEKER.
George T. Kroeker, born in Russia, May 25, 1869, was the son of A. B. and Maria (Thiessen) Kroeker, both probably natives of the same country. The father was a wagon-maker. Because of religious persecution, his Mennonite ancestors moved from Holland to Germany. Two genera- tions later Germany withdrew its promise of military exemption and the Mennonite colony settled on the banks of the Sea of Azof in Russia. Thirty-five years later, Russia withdrew a similar promise, and the Menno- nites, whose religion forbade military service, began to look elsewhere. Mr. Schmidt, Santa Fe land agent, and now in Kansas, went to Russia in 1873 and induced them to settle in Kansas.
a native of Iowa, both of whose parents are now deceased. To this union
111 1874, A. B. Kroeker and family, in the colony of Rev. Dietrich Gaeddert, a Mennonite leader, located on section 17, Little River township, Reno county, Kansas. In 1895 they moved to McPherson county, where A. B. Kroeker died in 1898, aged fifty-three years. His wife, aged sixty- eight, is still living. He was a Mennonite bishop and preacher. For years he operated a threshing machine outfit in his community. His children are George T., the subject of this review; Abe, a farmer living in California ; Jacob, deceased; Mary, wife of H. T. Epp, a merchant of Inman, Kansas, and John, a farmer living in McPherson county, Kansas.
At the age of six, George T. Kroeker came to Kansas. His parents lived in a sod house with slough grass roof, and suffered the usual hard- ships of the pioneer farmers of Kansas. He lived at home, attending the neighborhood schools until grown, always a worker, money-maker and a leader. He rented land until he had saved enough money to make a first payment on a farm in Little River township. In 1908, he bought the Poul- ton homestead, a quarter section in Medora township, and has since made this his home. He has remodeled the dwelling and erected a large and commodious barn. His lovely home, built on a hill, is in view for miles around. He now owns three hundred and sixty acres in the two townships. He was one of the builders and is a member of the official board of the
George. J. Thocker agnes Krocker
465
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
Mennonite school at Inman. He is a Republican in politics, and has served as trustee and school board director. He started the Farmers' Elevator at Buhler, and was engaged in the retail hardware business there from 1898 until 1902. He is a trustee and member of the Inman Mennonite church, and is one of the most progressive men in the community. In 1907 he and Abe Buhler, went back to Russia to visit the old home.
On April 24, 1891, George T. Kroeker was married to Agnes Rampel. a native of Illinois, a daughter of John Rampel. To this union have been born the following children: Abe, who married Agatha Esan and lives on his father's farm; George Jr., living at home; Mary, the wife of George Schirling, of McPherson county, Kansas, and Edward, John. Marta, Astor and Herbert.
EDSON L. TEED.
Edson L. Teed, cashier of the Central State Bank of Hutchinson, this county, is a native of Wisconsin, born in 1858, son of Lewis and Caroline (Palmer) Teed, both natives of New York state, where they were married. Not long after their marriage they emigrated to Wisconsin and entered a homestead tract in the neighborhood of Port Washington, in Ozaukee county, on which they lived until 1877, in which year they came to Kansas, settling in Barton county, where they again entered a homestead tract and proceeded to make a new home, spending the remainder of their lives there, Mr. Teed dying in 1900, his wife having preceded him to the grave the year before. Lewis Teed was a veteran of the Civil War, having served more than a year as a member of Company I, First Regiment, Wisconsin Heavy Artillery.
Edson L. Teed received his early education in the public schools of Wisconsin and was nineteen years of age when he came with his parents to Kansas. For some time he worked on his father's farm and then learned telegraphy in the Santa Fe railroad offices at Great Bend, becoming night operator and the night station agent there. He took an active part in Republican politics in Barton county and presently was elected county clerk, in which capacity he performed excellent service in behalf of the public for a period of four years, at the end of which time he became a traveling sales- man for a big printing house, selling county office and bank supplies and other forms of stationery. In 1893 he moved to Hutchinson, which place
(30a)
466
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ever since has been his home. Mr. Teed continued his service as a travel- ing salesman until the time of the organization of the Central State Bank at Hutchinson, which was opened for business on July 26, 1915, at which time he was made cashier of that institution and is now serving in that capacity.
Mr. Teed for years has taken much interest in "the sport of kings," and has given close attention to the development of the racing strain in horses, for the past eight years having been secretary of the Kansas and Oklahoma Circuit and Horse Breeders' Association. He is a Mason, a member of the chapter and of the commandery, and takes much interest in the same. He also is a member of the United Commercial Travelers' Asso- ciation, the Modern Woodmen and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
On June 22, 1887, Edson L. Teed was united in marriage to Lena S. Schermerhorn, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Albert S., who was graduated from the Kansas State Law School and is now a prom- ising young lawyer of Hutchinson as well as assistant secretary of the Hutchinson Commercial Club. Mr. and Mrs. Teed are members of the Presbyterian church and are interested in all good works hereabout.
Mrs. Teed is the eldest child and only daughter of Albert C. and Eliza M. (Dougan) Schermerhorn, the former of whom was born in Saratoga county, New York, on October 14, 1840, and the latter in LaSalle county, Illinois, November 12, 1844. Albert C. Schermerhorn grew up in his native county and learned the saddler's trade under the direction of his father, in the latter's saddlery shop at Crescent, New York. Upon the first call for volunteers to put down the rebellion of the Southern states he enlisted for the three-months service and at the close of that term of service re-enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, and served, under General Mcclellan, until 1862, when he was honorably discharged on a physician's certificate of disability due to illness. He then went to La Salle county, Illinois, where he worked in the railway station until the spring of 1864, when he enlisted as a first lieutenant in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for one hundred days, the regiment being quartered at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, putting down Indian troubles. At the close of this service Mr. Schermerhorn returned to Illinois, engaging in the saddlery business at Lostant and was married there in January, 1865. In 1874 he and his family came to Kansas, locating in Barton county, where Mr. Schermerhorn entered a soldier's homestead not far from Great Bend, which he proceeded to prove up. Not long afterward
.
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
he was appointed clerk of courts of Barton county to fill a vacancy in that office, and in 1880 moved to Great Bend, being thrice elected clerk of the court on the Republican ticket after that. Following his public service. Mr. Schermerhorn opened a furniture and undertaking establishment at Great Bend, which he conducted there until 1893, in which year he moved his business to Hutchinson and conducted the same there until he sold out and retired from business in 1901. He died on October 29, 1903, and his widow is making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Teed. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. Teed having had two brothers, Edward D., who died at the age of eleven years, and Robert D., who is drapery clerk in the Roraboaugh-Wiley department store in Hutchinson.
FAY SMITH.
It may be news to many friends of Fay Smith, one of the few really "old timers" now remaining in this county, former county sheriff, former clerk of the county courts and former county commissioner, to know that the name by which he was formally christened was John Lafayette, but it has been so many years since he was known by that dignified name, and so long has it been since he has signed his name any other than "Fay," that it shall so remain in this formal biography of one of Reno county's most inter- esting and prominent pioneers.
Fay Smith is a native of Iowa, having been born in Jackson county, that state, on November 27, 1852, son of John L. and Matilda (Smith) Smith, who, however, were not related by ties of blood, both of whom were born in Tennessee where they grew up in the same neighborhood and where they were married, shortly after which they emigrated to Jackson county. Iowa, where they spent the remainder of their lives. John L. Smith was a vigorous, energetic man and became one of the most extensive farmers in the section of the country in which he settled, having been the owner of eight hundred acres of land. Mrs. Smith was a member of the Methodist church and her children were reared in that faith. There were nine of these children, of whom but three now survive, Fay Smith having one brother and one sister now living, Rufus P., a retired farmer of Taylor county. Iowa, and Mrs. Susan Kingkade, of Winfield, this state. The only one of the nine children here mentioned, besides the subject of this sketch, who
468
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
came to Reno county was George A. Smith, who came here in 1874, but later removed to Taylor county. Iowa, where he became a prosperous farmer.
Fay Smith was reared on the paternal farm in Iowa, receiving his ele- mentary education in the district schools of his home nieghborhood, supple- menting the same by a course in the schools of Bellevue, the nearby town. and at twenty years of age started out for himself, making his way to Kansas and very wisely deciding to stop in Reno county. That was in 1872, not long after the beginning of a social order hereabout. and Mr. Smith filed a homestead claim to a quarter of a section of land in Lincoln township, this county, and there established his home, continuing his residence in Lin- coln township for eight years, at the end of which time he moved to Hutch- inson, the county seat, having accepted the appointment as deputy sheriff under Capt. J. M. Hedrick, and thereby hangs a tale.
Not long after Fay Smith had entered his homestead claim in Lincoln township, he and his neighbor. Robinson, decided to trade tracts. In order properly to effect this transfer it was necessary for them to relinquish their homestead claims. Before they could perfect their new titles, a man of the name of Pierce, who had been awaiting the opportunity, filed an entry for Mr. Smith's quarter section and took possession, boldly "jumping" the claim, and coolly proceeded to erect a house on the same. This insolent bit of effront- ery so incensed Mr. Smith's neighbors that about thirty of them met at a nearby house, elected Captain Hedrick leader and in military order marched to the place of the claim jumper. Pierce was at work on the roof of his new domicile when the "vigilantes" arrived. He leaped to the ground and made a dash for his wagon, in which there were stored several firearms, but before he could open fire he was overpowered and at the mercy of the indignant homesteaders, who told him that unless he immediately signed a release of his claim and left the country they would drown him in the nearby creek. Upon his refusal to do as commanded, the party dragged him to the creek, a number of the men armed with poles with which to hold the body under water until all struggling had ceased. A detachment then seized Pierce, prepared to throw him into the water. "One, two, three; ready!" cried Captain Hedrick, and the terrorized Pierce was swung back and forth preparatory to the final plunge. As Captain Hedrick's calm and determined cry "Ready!" rang out the wretched claim jumper "caved." "I'll sign : I'll sign," he screamed. whereupon he was placed on his feet, the papers were quickly signed and he left the country, never to return. It was thus that Fay Smith, then little more than a boy, retained his homestead and
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
at the same time formed an abiding friendship with Captain Hedrick, which eight years later led to his appointment as deputy sheriff.
It was in 1880 that Fay Smith became deputy sheriff of Reno county. Four years later, in 1884, he was elected sheriff, to succeed Captain Hedrick, and in this official capacity served very acceptably for four years, at the end of which time he engaged in the livery and feed business in Hutchinson and continued thus occupied until his election to the office of clerk of the courts of Reno county in 1896, in which public capacity he served four years, 1897-1901, continuing the excellent record in the public service he had made in the sheriff's office. In 1906 Mr. Smith again was called to the public service, he having been elected in that year to the responsible and important office of county commissioner, in which capacity he served for eight years, up to and including 1914. In 1905 Mr. Smith bought a very desirable tract of sixty acres within the city limits of Hutchinson, in the east part of town, north of Fourth avenue, and there he erected his house, 1410 Fourth avenue, East, where he still makes his home. He platted thirty acres of this tract and during the last few years has been actively engaged in the real- estate business, promoting the sale of the lots in that addition.
On January 2, 1886, Fay Smith was united in marriage to Alice B. Lewis, who was born in' Putnam county, Indiana, daughter of S. C. and Louisa Lewis, who came to Reno county in 1883 and bought a farm in Troy township, where they made their home for some years, later moving into Hutchinson, where Mr. Lewis died in 1907 and where his widow still makes her home. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith two children have been born, Harry L .. born in 1887, who is now living in southwest Georgia, and Susie, 1889, who married Prof. O. W. Hunter, professor of bacteriology in the college at Manhattan, Kansas.
Mr. Smith is a Democrat and from the time of his location in Reno county, the year after the town of Hutchinson was laid out, has been an active force in the political affairs of the county as well as taking a deep interest in district and state politics. He has been a delegate to numerous state conventions of his party and is widely known among the leaders of the party in this state. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that order.
In a biographical sketch of Fay Smith, presented in the "History of Central Kansas," published in 1903, it is stated that the paternal grand- father of Mr. Smith, Alexander Smith, was a native of the South, as was his wife, who came from North Carolina. He was of English-Irish lineage
470
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and she of Dutch. Two of his sons were soldiers during the Civil War, one fighting for the preservation of the Union and the other taking up arms in favor of the Secessionists; and in the battle of Gettysburg they fought against each other. John Lowry Smith, father of Fay Smith, although born in North Carolina, was reared in Tennessee, and in 1839 went to Iowa. The following year he moved his family from White Oak Springs, Illinois, to Iowa, where he took up a timber claim and partially improved the same, but later made a home for his family out on the prairie. He spent his remaining days in his adopted state and passed away at the age of fifty-nine years. He had become a successful grain and stock raiser, having acquired about five hundred acres of land. Fay Smith is identified with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Hutchinson. He is a very active supporter of the Methodist Epis- copal church, of which both he and his wife are members.
WILLIAM M. CONNELLY.
William M. Connelly, one of the best-known lumber men in this section of the state, and a resident of Hutchinson, this county, since the spring of 1905. is a native of the Keystone state, having been born near the town of Marietta, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, on May 29, 1864, son of John D. and Sarah E. (Miller ) Connelly, both natives of that same county, the former of whom, born in 1844, died in 1907, and the latter, born in 1844, died on March 14, 1915.
John D. Connelly was the eldest son of Francis David and Barbara (Diffenbach) Connelly, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter. of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who were the parents of three children, George, who died at the age of six; Sarah, who died at the age of eighteen, and John D. Francis D. Connelly became a contractor of public works. He built the waterworks plant at Boston and constructed a part of the Maryland Central railroad. While engaged in railroad construction in Penn- sylvania he met and married Barbara Diffenbach. Later he and a partner secured the contract for the construction of a railroad in Indiana, but by reason of some legislative quibble the bonds that had been voted to pro- vide for the construction of the road were declared invalid and in conse- quence Mr. Connelly was rendered practically bankrupt. He then was made superintendent at the Pennsylvania canal, which position he held until the
471
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
beginning of the Lincoln administration, when the President appointed him to a good post in the United States treasury department, which he held until Cleveland's second administration.
For some time after his marriage to Sarah E. Miller, John D. Con- nelly was employed in a bank at Strasburg, in Lancaster county, nearby the home farm of the Millers, on which he made his home and on which the subject of this biographical sketch was born. In 1867 he was made the cashier of the Bair & Schenck bank at Lancaster and moved to that town and was there engaged in banking many years. his first banking connection having been followed by appointment to the position of cashier in the Farm- ers' National Bank at Lancaster, which position he held until his retirement from business in 1900, his death occurring in that city seven years later. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church and for years were active in good works. They were the parents of four children, namely : William M., the subject of this sketch; Frank D., superintendent of main- tenance of the Conastoga Traction Company, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; George W., who is living retired in the same city, and Mrs. Martha A. Graybill, a widow, also of Lancaster.
William M. Connelly was reared at Marietta, Pennsylvania, receiving his elementary education partly in the public schools of that city, but mostly in a "pay school," supplementing the same by a course in the Episcopal In- stitute at that place, later taking a comprehensive course in a business col- lege. As a young man he engaged in the lumber business with his uncle, Joseph Miller, at Marietta, Pennsylvania, a business which his grandfather had established there in 1843, and was there three years, making his home with his Grandmother Miller. Previous to going to Marietta, William M. Connelly had left school, in 1883, and taken a trip to Kansas, going to Wichita with a man who had been reared in the family, but in the fall of that year he returned to Pennsylvania and entered the employ of his uncle, as noted above. In 1886 he returned to Kansas and entered the employ of the Rock Island Lumber and Coal Company, with which extensive concern he has been connected ever since. At the beginning of this employment he was given the position of office manager for a local branch and from time to time was transferred to the management of various offices of the com- pany in this state until, in April, 1909, he was given charge of the com- pany's office at Hutchinson and has been located there ever since, serving as general manager of the company's extensive interests in this section. In 1907, under his direction, the company erected a new covered lumber yard
472
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
and office at 215-21 South Main street and has a very well-equipped estab lishment.
On July 3. 1888, William M. Connelly was united in marriage to Ade- line M. Buntz, who was born at Des Moines, Iowa, daughter of J. E. and Adeline Buntz, the former of whom, now deceased, was a millwright, and to this union three children have been born, William D., born in 1889, now in the jewelry business at Liberal, Kansas, who married Bernice Donner and has one child, a daughter, Adeline; John E., 1892, living in Hutchinson, who married Vina Taylor and has one child, a son, Ted, and George F., who is at home. a student in the high school. The Connellys have a very pleasant home at 539 A avenue, East, which has recently been remodeled in a very attractive manner.
Mr. Connelly is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a member of the con- sistory at Wichita and is also a member of Midian Temple, Ancient Arabic Order. Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and takes a warm interest in Masonic affairs.
WILLIAM A. LOE.
William A. Loe, an old newspaper man and for years the manager of the Home theater in Hutchinson, this county, is a Virginian by birth and has been a resident of Hutchinson since 1885, having arrived there on the crest of the "boom." He was born in Wheeling, Virginia, (now in West Virginia) on April 8, 1855, son of William and Jane (Lopman) Hornbrook Loe, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former of whom was the son of Welch parents and the latter of Irish parents, Mr. Loe's grandparents on both sides having been born on the other side of the Atlantic.
William Loe was a prominent contractor and builder in Wheeling and erected the largest brick building built in his day in that city. He was twice married, his first wife, who was a Thomas, having borne to him two children, Catherine and Thomas, both of whom are now deceased. He then married Mrs. Jane Hornbrook, widow of F. B. Hornbrook, who died leaving her with one child, a son. Francis B. Hornbrook, who died some years ago in Boston. To this second union there was born but one child, a son, William A., the immediate subject of this sketch, whose father died in 1856 when he was thirteen months old. Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Loe established herself in the millinery business in Wheel-
473
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
ing and was quite successful. In 1865 she moved to Athens, Ohio, with her children, in order that her elder son might have the advantage of attend- ance on the university at that place, and lived there for six years, at the end of which time she returned to Wheeling, where she remained for two years, at the end of which time she moved with her sons to Sistersville, West Vir- ginia, where she spent the rest of her life, her death occurring there in 1875.
Upon the arrival of the family. in Sistersville, William A. Loe worked for a time in a planing mill and then engaged in business for himself in the grocery and confectionery line. Later he engaged in the newspaper business and as editor and proprietor of the Sistersville Independent imme- diately began to exert a wide influence for good thereabout and it was not long until he was one of the best-known men in that section of the state. He was elected to the city council and also served as postmaster for four years, during the Garfield-Arthur administration. Through the columns of his newspaper he. so vigorously and so insistently advocated the con- struction of the proposed Ohio River railroad between Wheeling and Parkersburg, West Virginia, that the road became a realty and the people and the railroad officials gave him, and yet give him full credit for making the road a success.
In 1885, attracted by the fine reports then being heard in the East concerning the amazing development of Hutchinson and of Reno county in general, Mr. Loe disposed of his interests in Sistersville and came to this county, locating in Hutchinson, arriving there on March I, of that year. He at once opened a job-printing establishment, his place of business being in the old Opera House block, and there he continued in business for seven- teen years. In 1892, in connection with his printing establishment, he founded the weekly newspaper, The Clipper, which he published and edited for about twelve years, at the end of which time he sold it Sheridan Ploughe. In 1892, the same year in which he started The Clipper. Mr. Loe leased the Hutchinson opera house, at that time the only theater in the city, and considered at the time it was built as the best opera house in the state of Kansas. He managed that theater very successfully until 1904. in which year he became manager of the new Home theater, at the corner of B avenue and Main street and has ever since been in charge of the same. Mr. Loe is an active and energetic citizen and has been interested in various enter- prises during his residence in Hutchinson. In 1887, in connection with his general printing business, he started the first newspaper in the town of Partridge, this county. The Cricket, which he owned but nine weeks, at the
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.