USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 49
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George W. Dunn married Sarah Catherine Hendricks, who was born
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in Indiana, daughter of Henry Hendricks, who is now living in the state of Missouri, and to this union four children have been born, Henry, Amos, Bessie and Wilbert. Mr. and Mrs. Dunn are members of the Abbyville Methodist Episcopal church and take an earnest interest in all neighborhood good works. Mr. Dunn is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and takes a warm interest in the affairs of both those organizations.
THOMAS JACKSON FRASER.
Thomas J. Fraser, a large landholder of Reno county, is a native of Marion county, Illinois, where his birth occurred on December 25, 1866. He is a son of Thomas and Mary ( Hardesty) Fraser. Thomas Fraser was born in Kentucky, but lived in Missouri at the time of the Civil War, and in 1866 removed to Marion county, Illinois. In 1878 he moved to Kansas, making the trip by wagon, requiring six weeks to make the journey. He purchased land in Westminster township, Reno county, and here he resided until his death in 1895. His wife's death occurred in 1899. They were the parents of two children, J. A. and Thomas J.
Thomas Jackson Fraser was educated in the common schools of his native county in Illinois, and with his father moved to Reno county in 1878. He took up farming as a vocation and is now the owner of four hundred and eighty acres of well improved land. He moved to his present location in 1900. In 1902 his home was destroyed by fire, together with most of his household goods. He rebuilt at once on the former site, and has a most comfortable and handsome home.
Thomas J. Fraser was married in 1891 to Theresa Mahuren, a daughter of James W. Mahuren, and to this union have been born the following children: Edward, Frank, Charles and Raymond. Frank married Wella Cox, and they have one child, Edward.
James W. Mahuren was born in Clark county, Indiana, about seventy- five years ago. His parents, James W. and Malinda Mahuren, were natives of Kentucky. In 1872. James W. Mahuren moved to Reno county, Kansas, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land, the northwest quarter of section 2, in Medford township. His marriage occurred thirty- five years ago, and his children are as follows: Joseph A .; Robert E., who was killed by lightening : Theresa M .. wife of Mr. Fraser; Fritzena : Mary E., wife of Philip King, and Thomas. On January 1, 1862. Mr. Mahuren
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enlisted in the Civil War, serving three years. He was a member of the Fifty-ninth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He served under Gen- eral Pope, of Missouri, was at the siege of Corinth and in the battles of Vicksburg, Champion Hill and Chattanooga.
Mr. Fraser and family are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is independent in politics and is a member of the Modern Wood- men of. America.
FRANK F. FIREBAUGH.
Frank F. Firebaugh, a well-known and progressive farmer of South Hayes township, this county, proprietor of a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres lying eight miles north of Sylvia, is a native Hoosier, a fact of which he never has ceased to be proud. having been born on a farm in Owen county, Indiana, May 8, 1859, son of William and Nancy (Arter ) Firebaugh, both natives of that same county, who spent all their lives there.
William Firebaugh was the son of the Rev. Daniel Firebaugh, a native of Harrison county, Ohio, born on September 16, 1831, and died on March 8, 1894, in Indiana, who emigrated to Owen county in 1854. thus having been one of the pioneer preachers in that section of Indiana. He was of German extraction and for many years exerted a wide influence upon the life of his community. William Firebaugh was reared as a farmer in his native county and remained there all his life, an active farmer and the owner of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He married Nancy Arter, daughter of Thomas Arter, a native of Georgia, who moved north into Kentucky and thence into Owen county, Indiana, where he spent the rest of his life, and to this union four children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest, the others being Byron, Ambrose and Louvada. The mother of these children (lied in 1864 and William Firebaugh married, secondly, Mrs. Mary Fiscus, to which union three children were born, Martin, Bertha and Ebenezer. William Firebaugh died in 1896, at the age of sixty-two. He was an active member of the church and a man of good influence in the community.
Frank F. Firebaugh was reared on the paternal farm in his native county in Indiana, receiving his educational in the nearby log school house, and grew up a farmer. In 1883 he married and the next year he and his wife came to Kansas, arriving in Reno county on December 4, 1884. For the first year after his arrival here Mr. Fierbangh lived on a rented farm, getting the lay of the land, and in 1885 bought his present farm of three hundred and
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twenty acres in South Hayes township, where he has lived ever since and where he has done very well, long having been looked upon as one of the most substantial farmers of that section of the county. When he took the place it was almost wholly unimproved and he has improved it in good shape and brought it up to a high state of cultivation. From the first Mr. Fire- baugh has given his earnest attention to local civic affairs and for three terms served as trustee of his home township. He also has been a member of the local school board for years and in other ways has done his part in the direction of affairs in his home community. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that popular organization.
Mr. Firebaugh has been married twice. His first wife, who was Lucy Sunderland, of Owen county, Indiana, died, leaving three children, Roy, Guy and Hazel, and he married, secondly, Lydia Kreie, of this county, to which union three children have been born, William, Wilma and Frank. Mr. and Nirs. Firebaugh take an earnest interest in general community affairs and are active in all local good works.
JAMES GREEN.
James . Green, president of the Farmers State Bank of Yoder, this county, and a prominent dealer in live stock at that place, is a Hoosier, a ' fact of which he never has ceased to be proud, having been born on a farm in the Pekin neighborhood, ten miles south of the city of Salem, in Wash- ington county, Indiana, September 2, 1866, eldest child and only living son of Lorenzo Dow and Sarah Ann (Evans) Green, both natives of that same county, the former of whom was born on the same 'farm as was his son, the subject of this biographical sketch.
Lorenzo D. Green was the son of John B. Green, who was born in North Carolina, in 1801, son of William Green, a native of Germany, who moved from North Carolina into Indiana Territory in 1809, seven years before Indiana was admitted to the Union, and pre-empted a quarter of a section of "Congress land" in what later became Washington county, part of which homestead farm is still in the family, James Green continuing to own an interest in the same. John B. Green, who was about eight years old when his parents moved into Indiana Territory, was reared on the homestead farm and became a prominent citizen of that section of the
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Jas Green
Sarah E. Green.
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state. He was a great exhorter in the United Brethren church and exerted a wide influence upon the thought of his pioncer neighbors. He continued a farmer on the old home place all his life, living to be ninety years of age. His son, Lorenzo D. Green, grew up on the home farm and became a strong and vigorous man, six feet and two inches in height, a family characteristic. During hisyoung manhood he owned a saw-mill at Pekin, in the neighborhood of his home, and cut out a great deal of the hardwood timber in that section. During the progress of the Civil War Lorenzo D. Green enlisted for service in the Union army and served for two years and ten months, or until the close of the war, in the Eighty-first Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He participated in the battles of Nashville and was with General Sherman's army for two years. Upon the conclu- sion of his military service he returned to the home farm and there spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in December, 1912, he then being at the age of seventy-five years and one month.
Lorenzo D. Green married Sarah Ann Evans, who also was born in Washington county, Indiana, daughter of Isaac Evans and wife, who later moved to the state of Iowa, but presently returned to Indiana, where their last days were spent. To this union five children were born: James, the subject of this sketch; Alice E., widow of Samuel Wilson, still making her home on the old Indiana homestead; Clara M., who married Robert Wilson and lives at "Ridge Farm," in Illinois; John A. died at the age of two years, and Nettie P. died when nine months old.
James Green was reared on the old Green homestead farm in Wash- ington county, Indiana, and in boyhood learned the value of hard work. Being the only son who grew up he was a valuable assistant to his father in the work on the farm. When he was eighteen years old he decided to come to Kansas, but spent another winter in high school and then, in February, 1885, came West, locating at Hutchinson, in. this county. For five years after his arrival in this county he worked "by the month" on the farm of Dr. James Myers, in Lincoln township, and then rented the White farm in that neighborhood, continuing, however, to make his home with Doctor Myers for thirteen years, and two years later he rented the Myers farm, which he operated until 1897, in which year he bought the south- east quarter of section 28, then in Lincoln township, now a part of Yoder township. He made many improvements to that place and continued to live there until in March, 1915, at which time he moved to the town of Yoder, bought a house there and has continued to make that pleasant village his home since.
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In 1905 James Green began buying live stock, in connection with his general farming, and has since then been extensively negaged in the live- stock business, his chief shipping point being at Yoder. In 1907 he bought an "eighty" adjoining his quarter section and later bought a tract o feighty acres in Castleton township, both of which tracts he still owns, though he sold his original farm in 1914, and in 1916 he bought a well-improved half section in Ford county, nine miles southwest of Dodgeville. When the Farmers State Bank of Yoder Was organized in 1910 Mr. Green was one of the chief movers in the organization of the same and was elected president of the bank, a position which he still holds. He was one of the chief factors in the movement which resulted in the creation of the township of Yoder in 1914 and for years has been regarded as one of the most substantial and progressive residents of that part of the county. He formerly was secretary of the Farmers Alliance of Lincoln township; served two terms as township trustee, two terms as township clerk and was on the school board for eighteen years, having been elected to his official positions on the Republican ticket. One of his early acts after coming to this county was that of assisting in laying out the town of Elmer, he having carried the surveyor's chain while that town was being platted.
On December 20, 1892, James Green was united in marriage to Sarah E. Farthing, who was born in Union county, Kentucky, January 26, 1868, daughter of Sylvester and Cassie (Hobbs) Farthing, pioneers of Lincoln township, this county, both of whom are still living on their old home there and a history of which interesting family is set out in a biographical sketch relating to their son, P. Rice Farthing, a prominent farmer of Salt Creek township, presented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Green are members of the Baptist church and Mr. Green is a member of the board of trustees of the church and treasurer of the same.
THOMAS K. KENNEDY.
Thomas K. Kennedy is one of the most successful and prominent busi- ness men of Haven, Kansas. He was born on June 10, 1875, near Winters- ville. Sullivan county, Missouri, and is the son of William D. Kennedy, a Civil War veteran, and his wife, Susan M. (Webb) Kennedy.
William D. Kennedy was born on November 3, 1830, in Tennessee. When he was eleven months of age his parents settled in Johnson county,
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Indiana, near the Brown county line, and there he grew up on his father's farm. On October 9. 1854, he was married to Susan M. Webb, who was born on June 27. 1835. near Edinburg. Johnson county. Indiana. They went to housekeeping on a rented farm in the same county, where they remained until five years later, when they purchased a farm in Sullivan county, Missouri, to which the family removed. On November 10, 1861. William D. Kennedy enlisted in Company G, Twenty-third Regiment, Mis- souri Volunteer Infantry, and saw active service for three years in the Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cumberland, rising to the rank of first sergeant of his company. With his regiment, he participated in several engagements in Missouri against the Confederate General Price, the chief of which was at Franklin. He was also in the battle of Shiloh and assisted in the Chattanooga campaign. His regiment accompanied Sherman on the Georgia campaign until Atlanta was taken. Then with the Army of the Cumberland he returned to Tennessee to assist in defeating General Hood. He was last located at Louisville, and was finally mustered out at St. Louis, November 12, IS64.
After the close of the war. William D. Kennedy returned to his farm in Missouri, but in 1877 removed to Reno county, Kansas, and purchased the southeast quarter of section 15. township 25. range 5 west, railroad land. located in Haven township. He made the purchase of Messrs. Brown and Briggs, of Hutchinson, and paid five dollars an acre for the land, paying ten dollars down, with six years in which to pay the balance. He later bought the southwest quarter adjoining his farm, and here he carried on general farming until 1907. when he retired from active farm life, and moved into Haven. His wife died on January 14, 1910, and since that time he has lived with his son, Thomas K. He is a stanch Republican and is very proud of the fact that he voted for Abraham Lincoln. He has served his township as trustee, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post at Haven. He contributes generously to the support of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife was a member. In 1912 he divided his estate among his children, who are as follow: John M., a gardener. of Topeka; David W., of South Hutchinson; Stephen A., deceased, who was a farmer of Wheeler, Oklahoma: James E., of Haven; Mary, wife of Isaac Taylor, who died in 1896, in Galena, Kansas: Addie K., wife of M. C. Smith, a farmer of Lambert, Oklahoma: William F., of Haven; Thomas K., of Haven, and W. D., Jr., a farmer of Stafford county, Kansas, and who with his brother. Thomas K., bought one hundred and sixty acres of the old home place.
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Thomas K. Kennedy was two years old when his parents settled in Kansas. His education was received in the district schools in Reno township. He assisted his father on the farm until a short time before his marriage. when he purchased a farm in Haven township. After living there one year he moved to Haven, where, in partnership with George Hoffer, he engaged in the hardware business. In 1909. his health becoming impaired by indoor work, he disposed of his interest in the business to his partner, and went on the road as a salesman for the International Harvester Company. On January 1, 1910, he purchased a sole interest in the hardware store owned by Mr. Hoffer, and still operates this business very successfully. He has enlarged the business, having bought two adjoining lower floors, the build- ings being of brick, fifty by one hundred and forty feet. Here he carries on a large trade in heavy hardware, implements, buggies, etc.
Thomas K. Kennedy was married in 1902 to Ida Hoffer, the daughter of Henry Hoffer and wife, who were early settlers in Haven township, and who still reside in Haven. Mrs. Kennedy was born near Joliet, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are the parents of two children: Ruba A., born on November 26, 1902, and Theodore Kermit, April 1, 1905. The family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
HON. FRANK VINCENT.
The Vincents, represented in Reno county by the family of the Hon. Frank Vincent, of Hutchinson, former mayor of that city, former state senator from this district and one of the most potent individual forces in the financial and industrial life of this section of the state, are of French descent. The family had its origin in the West with the emigration to lowa from Ohio, in 1853, of the Rev. John Vincent, a pioneer minister, a "circuit rider." of the Methodist church, who, with his family, settled at Keokuk, where he became an immediate and powerful influence for good in that, even then, Rapidly developing frontier community. With the Rev. John Vincent and his wife, Margaret, came their children and the respective families of the latter, the Vincents thus, with the passing generations, hav- ing become a numerous connection in the Middle West. Rev. John Vincent arrived in Keokuk on November 30, 1853, and the rest of his life was spent in the performance of good deeds thereabout.
Among the sons and the daughters who accompanied Rev. John Vin-
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cent and his good wife from Ohio to Iowa was Jonathan Pratt Vincent and his wife and their son, Frank, then a babe in arms, the latter of whom shall hereafter, for the purposes of this review, be regarded as the immediate subject of this biographical sketch. Jonathan P. Vincent was born near the city of Pittsburgh, in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1826, and was reared in that state, beginning his active life as a school teacher, later emi- grating with his parents to southern Ohio, where, in Brown county, he became a merchant and farmer. . There he was married to Sophia Miller, who was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1828. daughter of David J. and Mary Miller, who also had emigrated to southern Ohio and who later, joining the Vincent colony, emigrated to Iowa, settling in Lee county, a year later moving to Lucas county, where, near the town of Sheridan, they spent the remainder of their lives. To Jonathan P. and Sophia (Miller) Vincent two children were born, one of whom died in infancy, Frank, the subject of this sketch, being the only survivor. In 1855, two years after the family had settled in Lee county, Iowa, Mrs. Sophia Vincent died, whereupon Mr. Vincent moved to Lucas county, in the same state, and there married, secondly, Caroline Moorhead, to which union five children were born, as follow: Rachel, widow of J. L. Payne, who died in 1894, living in Seattle, Washington; John F., who lives in Boise City, Idaho: William E., an attorney, of Salem, Oregon; W. G., a fruit grower at Salem, Oregon, and Otis, who has charge of the Santa Fe stock yards at Dodge City, Kansas. Following his removal to Lucas county, Jonathan Vincent became an extensive farmer and one of the most influential men in that section. For some years he served as sheriff of Lucas county and in other ways was active in the civic life of that community. He and his wife were earnest members of the Methodist church and ever were inter- ested in good works, their influence in many ways being helpful to their pioneer neighbors. They lived on their farm in Lucas county until 1883, in which year they sold the same and moved to Hutchinson, this county, where their last days were spent in the home of their son. Frank, Jonathan Vincent dying on May 29, 1898, and his widow two years later, in 1900, at the age of sixty-eight.
Frank Vincent, only surviving son of Jonathan and Sophia (Miller) Vincent, was born in Brown county, Ohio, on May 6, 1853. and was six months old when his parents emigrated to Iowa. He was reared in Lucas county, receiving his early education in the district schools of that county and in the public schools of Sheridan. Until he was of age, he remained
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on the paternal farm, assisting his father in the management of the same. and in 1874 came to this county, locating at Castleton. where for four years. in connection with a partner. under the firm name of Vincent & Wallace, he operated a store and hotel. At the end of that time he sold the place. and spent the following summer on a farm, after which, in the fall of 1879, he located at Hutchinson, the county seat, having been made deputy register of deeds of Reno county, and there he has resided ever since. After two years spent in the register's office, Mr. Vincent engaged in the real-estate and loan business until the spring of 1888, at which time he organized the Hutchinson Salt Company, of which concern he was made the general man- ager, a position he has held ever since, though he sold his interest in the same on January 1, 1890. This concern, which now is operating under the corporate title of the Morton Salt Company, was started in a small way, with a daily capacity of about three hundred barrels, but it gradually has been enlarged under the efficient direction of Mr. Vincent, until it now pro- duces about four thousand barrels a day and is one of the chief industries of Reno county.
In addition to caring for his extensive business interests, Mr. Vincent has given much attention to public affairs and long has been regarded as one of the most influential politicians in this section of the state. He is a stanch Republican, even as his father and his grandfather before him were, and from the very beginning of his residence in this county has taken an active part in the affairs of that party. For twenty years, successively, he was a delegate to the Kansas Republican state conventions and was a delegate from the seventh Kansas congressional district to the national convention which nominated William McKinley for the Presidency in 1896. For four years, 1901-05. he served the people of this district as a member of the upper house of the Kansas General Assembly, during which time he exerted a strong influence in the Senate, making a fine reputation throughout the state as a constructive statesman. Previous to that period of service. in 1898, he had been elected mayor of the city of Hutchinson and so satis- factory did his administration of the affairs of the chief executive's office prove that he was re-elected twice. thus serving three consecutive terms of two years each. In 1910 Senator Vincent was again elected mayor and gave the people of Hutchinson another term of experience and valuable service.
On August 20. 1874. Frank Vincent was united in marriage to Anne C. Payne, who was born in Galesburg. Illinois, daughter of the Rev. John
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and Elizabeth Payne, the former of whom for forty years was a minister of the Methodist church, and both of whom spent their last days in Hutchin- son, a most excellent couple, held in the very highest esteem by all.
To Frank and Anne C. (Payne) Vincent seven children have been born, namely: Elizabeth, who is in the employ of the Morton Salt Company at Kansas City ; Frank, Jr., unmarried, an orange grower at Phoenix, Arizona : George, associated with his brother, Frank, in the orange industry in Arizona, married Minnie York; Mary L., who married Russell Mervine, who is engaged in the express service in Hutchinson, this county; Esther, at home with her parents; Louise, who married H. E. Obey, a clerk in the offices of the Morton Salt Company at Hutchinson ; and Jay, head of the shoe depart- ment of the Rorabaugh-Wiley Company, who married Emily Martin. Senator 'and Mrs. Vincent are members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith, the family holding a high position in the social and cultural life of the community.
Senator Vincent is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a member of the con- sistory of the Scottish Rite of that order at Wichita and of Midian Temple. Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and takes a warm inter- est in Masonic affairs. For thirty-three years he has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and also takes an active interest in the affairs of that popular organization. In addition to his extensive manufac- turing and other interests, Senator Vincent takes much interest in a valuable farm which he owns five miles north of Hutchinson and where for years he has been actively engaged in the raising of pure-bred Black Angus cattle, his herd being one of the best known hereabout. He is vice-president of the Hutchinson Ice Company and was one of the organizers and for several years was vice-president and one of the directors of the Hutchinson National Bank.
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