USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 47
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end of which time he had secured some very attractive contracts for public printing and accepted a proposition to sell at a handsome profit. In 1900 he bought out all the bill boards in the city of Hutchinson for advertising purposes and has operated the same ever since. He at once improved the general appearance of the bill boards and did this work so effectively that in 1915 he received the first prize of the National Billposters Association for the most attractive bill boards in the country.
On July 12, 1875, William A. Loe was united in marriage, at Sisters- ville, West Virginia, to Anna Eliza Totten, who was born at New Martinsville, same state, and to this union two children have been born, Josephine E., who died aged three years and six months; Cora, who married Charles R. Sterling, who owns an art store at Phoenix, Arizona, and has two children, daughters, Elizabeth and Dorothy. Mr. and Mrs. Loe reside in a very pleasant home at 222 First avenue, west, and take a proper interest in the social and cultural life of the city. Mr. Loe is a Republican and gives his intelligent attention to the political affairs of both the city and county. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and for four years was recorder of the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Hutchinson.
JOHN S. ZIMMERMAN.
John S. Zimmerman, son of Isaac and Mary (Stuckey) Zimmerman, was born on October 2, 1882, in Livingston county, Illinois. Isaac Zimmer -. man was born in Boddish, Germany, and came to America in a sailing vessel when eighteen years old. He located near Fort Wayne, Indiana, and there married his first wife, whose name was Mary Sommer. They were the parents of one child, Elizabeth. His second wife was Mary Stuckey, and their children are as follow : David, Solomon, Noah, Jacob, Joseph. John S., AAmos and Levi. Mr. Zimmerman moved from Fort Wayne to Livingston county, Illinois, where he lived six years. At the end of that time he moved to Reno county, Kansas, where his brother. Joseph, was living. His wife died in 1901, and he survived her two years, his death occurring in 1903. Both were active members of the Mennonite church. He had purchased four hundred acres of land in Reno county, but disposed of part of this land. owning at the time of his death about three hundred and twenty acres.
John S. Zimmerman received most of his education in the country schools of Reno county, and attended the high school at Nickerson for a
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short time. He took up farming as a vocation, and that he has met with a very fair measure of success is attested by the fact that he is the owner of two hundred and sixty acres of well improved land, and in 1911 built a beautiful modern residence on his farm. All his farm buildings are good and equipped with all the up-to-date appliances for scientific farming. His large and commodious barn is lighted with electricity, and his farm is equipped with silos, in which he stores feed for his live stock, as he makes a specialty of raising and breeding fine hogs and cattle.,
On May 13, 1903, Mr. Zimmerman married Pearl A. Leslie, a native of Kansas, the daughter of J. F. and Agnes Leslie, who were pioneer farm- ers of this county, coming here in the early days from Missouri. To this union have been born four children: Irene, Leslie, Devera and Ardris.
Mr. Zimmerman has served his township on the school board, and is president of the Farmers Elevator Company at Sterling. The family are all active workers and members of the United Brethren church.
VERNON M. WILEY.
Vernon M. Wiley, one of the best-known merchants in Kansas, is a man who believes in doing things when the time arrives for doing them. When the capacity of his big dry-goods store at Hutchinson, even then the largest store in that town, became strained, he set about providing larger quarters and as a result of his energetic action, Hutchinson today has one of the largest and finest commercial and office buildings in the Southwest. the Rorabaugh-Wiley building, which is familiar to nearly everyone living in Reno county, at least to all who ever have occasion to visit the county seat.
Vernon M. Wiley was born in Monroe county, Ohio. August 27, 1877, son of William J. and Sarah A. (Meek) Wiley, both natives of that same county, the former of whom was born on November 29, 1838, and the latter, in 1848, both of whom still are living. William J. Wiley is the son of John and Mary Wiley, natives of eastern Pennsylvania, who moved to eastern Ohio, settling in Monroe county, where they entered a farm from the government in the northwestern portion of that county and proceeded to make a home for themselves in the then forest wilderness, and there they reared their family.
William J. Wiley grew up on this pioneer farm and gave such studious attention to his books during his school days that as a young man he began
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teaching school. He married Sarah A. Meek, also a school teacher in that neighborhood, daughter of Henry Meek and wife, early settlers of that section, the latter of whom was a native of Ireland, and bought a farni, undertaking to pay for the same out of his wages as a school teacher and from the earnings of the farm. For fifteen years William J. Wiley continued as a teacher in that neighborhood, his wife at the same time continuing her teaching, and this without interrupting the development of their farm, to which, of course, they gave their undivided attention during the summers. It was their custom during this trying period to rise early, attend to the duties of the farm and the household and then start for their respective schools, Mr. Wiley having eight miles to walk to his school and Mrs. Wiley walking four miles to her school, the wearisome trip to be repeated on the return home in the evening. In this way they paid for their farm, having bought it without a dollar on hand. William J. Wiley early began to pay attention to the possibilities of profit in sheep and became an extensive sheep raiser, at the same time buying wool all through southeastern Ohio. He and his wife were devout Presbyterians and were the prime movers in the organi- zation of the Presbyterian church in their home village, Jerusalem. In 1892, Mr. and Mrs. Wiley retired from the farm on which they had lived many years and moved to Emporia, Kansas, where they are now living, enjoying many evidences of the respect and esteem in which they are held by all who know them. On April 20, 1915, Mr. and Mrs. Wiley celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, they having lived loving, prosperous and Christian lives together for fifty years. To them six children were born, all of whom save one are living and all doing well their respective parts in the world, these children being, in the order of their birth, as follow: Myrtle, wife of Prof. H. H. Van Fleet, superintendent of schools at Aspen, Colorado; Vernon M., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch: William Harold, treasurer of the Gushard Dry Goods Company at Decatur, Illinois; Herman P., a real-estate dealer at Garden City, Kansas, who died in 1913; Grace, wife of Dr. Harry C. Nutting, a well-known physician of Emporia, this state, and Geneva, who is at home with her parents.
Vernon M. Wiley was fifteen years of age when he came to Kansas with his parents in 1892. He had received an excellent elementary education in the schools at Jerusalem, Ohio, his home village, and upon locating at Emporia entered the preparatory department of Emporia College, which he attended for two years, after which he took a course of two years general schooling in the college. He then entered the dry-goods store of John Hark-
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ness at Emporia, as a clerk, working for five dollars a week, and there he remained for two years, at the end of which time he transferred his services to the store of .A. O. Rorabaugh, in the same city, where he remained two years. Mr. Rorabaugh then took him into a partnership for the purpose of opening a branch of the Rorabaugh stores in Hutchinson, and on January 1. 1901, he arrived in the latter city, county seat of Reno county, and here he has remained ever since and has been remarkably successful in his commercial and other enterprises. The Rorabaugh-Wiley store began as a small concern, employing but eight clerks, and was opened in the room now occupied by the Jenkins music store, next door to where then was located the Martin dry- goods store, at that time the largest and best dry-goods establishment in Hutchinson. In 1904 Mr. Wiley's firm bought the Martin store and merged the two concerns, speedily realizing an increase of business which presently necessitated more ample quarters. With a view to securing the same, Mr. Wiley set about the organization of a building company and soon the Rora- baugh-Wiley Building Company was incorporated, Mr. Wiley being made secretary-treasurer of the same. This company bought a seventy-five-foot front at the corner of First and Main streets and erected an eight-story office building, which was completed in 1913, the Rorabaugh-Wiley Dry Goods Company occupying the first four floors of the same, with an up-to- date department store, by far the finest and largest in Reno county, employing an average of one hundred and thirty-five clerks and other attaches, Vernon M. Wiley, secretary and treasurer of the Rorabaugh-Wiley Dry Goods Com- pany, being the general manager of the same. Mr. Wiley also is financially interested in the Rorabaugh stores at Wichita and Emporia and is regarded as one of the most active and enterprising young merchants in the state. In addition to these large business interests, Mr. Wiley is a director of the Hutchinson Building and Loan Company, a director of the Commercial Club and a director of the Young Men's Christian Association.
On June 24. 1903, Vernon M. Wiley was united in marriage to Mary Lena Crowley, who was born in Missouri and reared in Council Grove, this state, daughter of A. S. and Augusta Crowley, who located in Council Grove when their daughter Mary Lena was six months of age. For years .A. S. Crowley, now deceased, was a well-known dry-goods merchant at Council Grove, where his widow still resides. To Mr. and Mrs. Wiley two children have been born, Philip, born on July 19, 1905, and William Edward. Nov- ember 29, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley have a lovely home at 612 A avenue and take a proper part in the city's social activities, being held in high esteem
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by their many friends. They are earnest members of the First Presbyterian church and take an active interest in all good works hereabout.
Mr. Wiley is a Republican and gives thoughtful attention to local politi- cal affairs. He is one of the most active promoters of the interests of the Young Men's Christian Association, whose fine building in Hutchinson is one of the best of the kind in the state, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, attached to the consistory at Wichita, and a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
JAMES LEE DICK.
James Lee Dick, prominently identified with the great Carey industries at Hutchinson, this county, and one of the most enterprising and energetic of the younger business men of that city, is a native of Iowa, born in Lucas county, that state, August 19, 1880, son of Samuel and Della Ann (Strong) Dick, who are now living, comfortably retired, at Los Angeles, California. Samuel Dick was a merchant in Iowa and in 18SI came to Kansas and located at McPherson, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until 1908. in which year he retired from business and moved to Los Ange- les, where he and his wife are now living.
James L. Dick was but a babe in arms when his parents came to Kan- sas in 1881 and all his active life therefore has been spent in this state. Upon completing the course in the public schools at McPherson he entered Northwestern University, which he attended for three years. During his university course, Mr. Dick was active in the affairs of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and took honors in the mile run in track work for the 'varsity. In 1901 he went to Hutchinson, in the employ of the Guymon- Petro Wholesale Grocery Company, with . which concern he remained for eighteen months, at the end of which time he transferred his services to the Carey interests and has been associated with the same ever since, having in that time became one of the most active factors in the development of the Carey industries, hokling the position of secretary of the Carey Salt Com- pany, treasurer of the Hutchinson Salt Company, secretary of the Carey Ice and Cold Storage Company and secretary of the Hutchinson Interurban Railway Company.
On May 7, 1907. James L. Dick was united in marriage to Cara Jeanne
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Handy, who was born in Hutchinson, daughter of Edward S. and Minnie A. (Hale) Handy, the former of whom, now deceased, was one of the pio- neers of Reno county, former county clerk and for years prominently con- nected with the real-estate interests of Hutchinson. Mrs. Handy, who is still living, is the daughter of Marshall Hale, one of the earliest pioneers of this county, all of which is set out in a memorial sketch of the late Edward S. Handy, presented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Dick have a very pleasant home at 428 First avenue, East, and take an interested part in the various social and cultural activities of their home town. Mr. Dick is a Mason, a member of the Hutchinson Country Club and a member of the United Commercial Travelers' Association, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
WILL S. THOMPSON.
Will S. Thompson, a former city councilman and past president of the Hutchinson Commercial Club, successfully engaged in the real-estate and insurance business at Hutchinson and prominently identified with numerous enterprises in and about that city, is a native of Missouri, but has been a resident of Hutchinson since 1894 and for years an active supporter of all measures designed to advance the best interests of that flourishing city.
Mr. Thompson was born in the city of St. Louis and received his educa- tion in that city: He early began his business career as an employee of the wholesale dry goods firm of the Hargadine McKittrick Dry Goods Com- pany in that city and remained with that concern until he came to Kansas, locating at Hutchinson on September 19, 1894. There he engaged in the retail dry-goods business, opening a store at 112 North Main street, where he remained in business for one year and six months, at the end of which time he sold his store and engaged in the real-estate and insurance business. in which he ever since has been quite successfully engaged, with offices in the Rorabaugh-Wiley block. Mr. Thompson has not confined his business inter- ests wholly to the one line. He is a director of the Kansas Chemical Manu- facturing Company ; a director of the Kansas State Fair Association, as well as a director of the Hutchinson Young Men's Christian Association. He is public spirited and enterprising and is, identified with all forward-looking movements in the city. As a Republican he was elected to the city council
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and served in that body for six years before the change to the commission form of government. He is now and has been for nearly twenty years a director of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and has served for three terms as president of that important organization, 1904-1906 and 1909.
In 1896, two years after locating in Hutchinson, Will S. Thompson was united in marriage to Maria L. Donnell, who was born in St. Louis. Mr. Thompson is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Thompson is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the blue lodge at Hutchinson and of the consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Wichita. He also is a member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Workman Lodge.
CHRISTIAN STECHER.
Christian Stecher, justice of the peace in and for Haven township, this county, a prominent and prosperous farmer of that township, secretary of the phenomenally successful Farmers Grain Company of Haven, former trustee of Haven township and for the past ten years or more officially connected with the State Bank of Haven, is a native of Germany, having been born on a farm near the town of Salzgitter, twenty miles from Hildesheim, in the kingdom of Hanover, January 7, 1854, son of Andrew and Dina (Swanaka) Stecher, both natives of Hanover, who became early residents of Reno county, where their last days were spent.
Andrew Stecher was reared on a farm in the sugar-beet country of Hanover and there married and became a small farmer. In 1859 he went to Australia, where he worked in the gold mines for seven years, at the end of which time he returned home and eight months later, in 1867, came with his family to the United States, landing at Baltimore after a voyage of six weeks and four days on a sailing vessel. The family at once proceeded to Christian county, Illinois, where Andrew Stecher bought a farm and established his home, remaining there until 1882, in which year he and the other members of the family joined the eldest son, the subject of this sketch, who had located in Reno county five years before. Andrew Stecher bought a farm in Haven township and there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring on May 27, 1896, he then being seventy-three years of age. His wife had died three years before. her death having occurred on May 21, 1893, at the age of sixty-eight. They were devout members of the Lutheran
6. Stecher & Wife
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS.
church and their children were reared in that faith. There were three of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest, he having a sister, Henrietta, wife of R. Coleman, a well-known resident of Haven, this county, and a brother, Henry, a retired farmer of South Dakota.
Christian Stecher was thirteen years old when he came with his parents to this country. He had received an excellent elementary education in his native land and upon coming here entered the school in the neighborhood of his new home in Illinois and very readily acquired an excellent command of English, quickly becoming as good an American as any. In the fall of 1876 he and his brother-in-law came to Kansas, stopping at Halstead, in Harvey county, from which point they looked the country over, finally deciding to locate in Reno county. In January, 1877, they bought school land in Haven township, this county, Christian Stecher's selection being . the northwest quarter of section 16 of that township. Until his marriage, five years later, Mr. Stecher made his home with his sister and her husband, who had settled nearby. He presently added to his original purchase by the purchase of the quarter section adjoining on the south and after his marriage in 1882 established his home on the latter quarter, where he lived until 1892, in which year he sold that farm and bought a quarter of a section near Mt. Hope, where he lived for three years. In the meantime his father's advancing years necessitated the retirement of the elder Stecher from the active duties of the farm and in July, 1895, Christian Stecher sold his farm and moved onto his father's place assuming the management of the same. Upon the death of his father he bought the interests of other heirs in the estate and still lives there, long having been regarded as one of the most substantial and progressive farmers in that neighborhood. In 1903 Mr. Stecher erected a very pretty and comfortable farm house on his place and he and his family are quite pleasantly situated. He has enlarged his holdings and now owns three hundred and twenty acres surrounding the home place, besides a valuable tract of pasture land along the Arkansas river ; a quarter section along the Ninnescah river and one hundred and ten acres in section I, in Haven township.
Mr. Stecher is a Republican and from the time he came to this county has given his earnest attention to local political affairs. In 1886 he was elected township trustee of Haven township, later serving in turn as town- ship treasurer and as clerk, after which he again was elected township trustee and served in that capacity during the period 1905-08. He then was elected justice of the peace and is still holding that position, having made a wide
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reputation as an adjuster of local disputes out of court. For ten years or more Mr. Stecher has been officially connected with the State Bank of Haven and is secretary and one of the directors of the Farmers Grain Com- pany at Haven, a concern which has been a great success from the very day of its inception, its stock now selling at sixty dollars, the par being twenty dollars, much of this success undoubtedly being due to the board of directors and their management. Mr. Stecher looks after his extensive interests in a thoroughly businesslike manner.
On December 21, 1882, Christian Stecher was united in marriage to Ottilie Baumann, who was born in Prussia, Germany, and who was a babe in arms when she came to this country with her parents, August and Min- nie Baumann, who became early residents of Reno county. To this union seven children have been born, as follow: Walter, assistant cashier of the State Bank of Haven, married Minnie Meyer; Minnie, who married Herman Kranz, a Haven township farmer; Ella, who married Frank Wittorff and lives on a farm near Inman, in McPherson county, this state; Arthur, who lives on a farm in Haven township: Esther, who married William Kranz and also lives in Haven township; Edwin, at home, and Harold, also at home. Mr. and Mrs. Stecher are earnest members of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran church near Haven, and their children have been reared in that faith. Mr. Stecher is president of the church board and moderator of the congregational meeting and takes a warm interest in the various beneficen- ces of the church.
LEVI RAYL.
Levi Rayl, well-known stockman, of Reno township, this county, and the largest landowner in Reno county, is a Hoosier, having been born on a farm in Howard county, that state, seven miles northwest of the town of Kokomo, on November 20, 1864, son of Thomas and Julia Ann (Conwell) Rayl, the former of whom was born near the city of Louisville, in Jeffer- son county, Kentucky, in 1833, and died in 1891, and the latter, born near the town of Lafayette, in Madison county, Ohio, in 1838, died on July 8, 1906.
Thomas Rayl was the son of Elijah Rayl and wife, both natives of Ken- tucky, who settled in Howard county, Indiana, in 1835, being among the earliest pioneers of that section of Indiana, there having been but three houses in Kokomo at that time. Elijah Rayl bought one thousand acres of
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swamp land from the government, paying for the same twenty-five cents an acre and proceeded to drain and develop the same. In passing, it may be fitting to state that that once despised land is now worth two hundred dollars an acre or more. Elijah Rayl's industry proved profitable and before his death, at the age of eighty-eight, he had seen his land, which originally had been but a swamp wilderness, rated as among the very best bits of farm land in north central Indiana. He was the father of five sons and one daughter, to each of whom he gave one hundred acres when they married, as a mark of his appreciation of their efforts in helping to develop the home farm.
Thomas Rayl was the youngest of these sons. He grew up amid the pioneer conditions then existing in the neighborhood of his home and upon his marriage received one hundred acres of land from his father on which to establish a home of his own. His wife, Julia Ann Conwell, also had been reared in that section of Indiana, her parents, Reason Conwell and wife, having emigrated from Ohio and settled there in 1835, about the same time the Rayls settled there, also becoming wealthy farmers. Reason Con- well lived to be ninety-two years of age and his wife lived to be eighty-six. Thomas Rayl lived on the farm which his father had given him for fifteen years, at the end of which time he moved to Kokomo, where he at once took a prominent part in the affairs of the then rapidly growing county seat and for a time served as mayor of the town. He also served for years as a county commissioner of Howard county and in other ways aided in the development of his home county. He was a Democrat and was influential in the councils of his party in that part of the state. Among his interests was the possession of an extensive stone quarry west of Kokomo, which he operated quite profitably for some years, having been engaged in the build- ing of turnpikes and concrete streets. In 1873, attracted by the many promis- ing reports emanating from this section of Kansas, he came to Reno county with his family and bought a half section of railroad land in Reno township, the same being the north half of section 9, township 23, range 6 west, and on that place he spent the remainder of his life, the original homestead being now occupied by his son, Levi Rayl, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch. Thomas Rayl had quite a bit of money when he came to Reno county, but the grasshopper scourge which swept over this section the year after he located here, practically ruined him, although he held on to his homestead and later developed it into a fine farm. He was a strong, rugged Znan and his sons grew into the same type of vigorous, self-reliant.
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