USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 50
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L. D. HODGE.
L. D. Hodge, a pioneer of Reno county, Kansas, was born in Putnam county, Indiana, August II, 1847. He is the son of Sheton and Janette (Dix) Hodge, the latter of whom was a daughter of John Dix, a farmer, who lived and died in Kentucky.
Luther Hodge, paternal grandfather of L. D. Hodge, was a native of Kentucky, but died in Putnam county, Indiana. Sheton Hodge also went from Kentucky to Putnam county and died in 1895, after spending thirty
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years in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. In addition to his preaching, he also owned and operated a farm. His children are Arthur, Charles. Lewis. Samuel, George and L. D. Samuel, Charles and L. D. settled in Kansas.
On September 12, 1867, L. D. Hodge married Amanda Trent, daughter of W. L. and Lydia J. (Williams) Trent, who was born in Owen county, Indiana. Her grandfather, William Trent, a South Carolina farmer, moved to Indiana, and later to Guthrie county, Iowa, where his death occurred. W. L. Trent was a Baptist minister for many years in Owen county, Indiana, and his marriage and death occurred in that county.
L. D. Hodge, with his family, spent six weeks en route overland from Indiana to Reno county, Kansas, when in 1874, he took up a soldier's home- stead of a quarter section, previously selected, four miles west of his present home. At that time there were only two stores in Hutchinson. The family endured many hardships, and were true pioneers in the full sense of the term. Their fuel consisted of buffalo chips. Their nearest neighbors on the west were seventy-five miles away. For seventeen years they remained on this homestead. then moved to Sterling, and in 1901 they purchased and occupied an additional quarter section across the road from the original homestead. Mr. Hodge has been retired from active farm life for three years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hodge have been born the following children: Ulva S .. born on May IT, 1870, married Bertha Knouse, and they reside in Ster- ling : Florence, July 23, 1872, is the wife of Warden Bishop, of Medford township: William, May 6. 1888, married Mattie Snook, and lives with his parents. Mrs. Hodge is a member of the Baptist church, and is an active member of the Knights and Ladies of Columbia.
FINLEY D. HORNBAKER.
Finley D. Hornbaker. a well-known, prosperous and progressive farmer of Lincoln township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War, who has been a resident of Kansas since the year 1877, is a Hoosier, hav- ing been born on a farm three miles from Bloomington, seat of Indiana University, in Monroe county, Indiana, January 8, 1848, son of John W. and Polly (Finley) Hornbaker, prominent residents of that community, both natives of Kentucky, who had moved from the latter state to Indiana
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when children and who had grown up in the same neighborhood in the old Hoosier state and there married. The Hornbaker family in this country had its origin in Pennsylvania, the first of the name in America having been an early settler in that state, and the family, now a very large con- nection, holds annual reunions at Scranton, in that state.
John W. Hornbaker grew up on the farm in central Indiana upon which his mother had settled upon moving from Kentucky and married Polly Finley, a neighbor girl who also had entered Indiana by way of Ken- tucky, and then began farming on his own account, becoming a well-to-do farmer and stock raiser in Monroe county. He and his wife were members of the Christian church and took a warm interest in all good works in their community. They were the parents of three children, James M., who resides in Oklahoma; Finley D., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and America J., who died in her early womanhood. Upon the death of the mother of these children, her death occurring when they still were quite young, John W. Hornbaker married again and to his second union six children were born. In 1877 Mr. Hornbaker disposed of his holdings in Indiana and with his family came to Kansas, locating in Harvey county, where he bought a tract of railroad land and there established a new home, spending the rest of his life there, his death occurring in 1893, he then being seventy-five years of age. He was quite an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs and was a very substantial farmer, and honored pioneer of the commu- nity in which he settled in this state.
Finley D. Hornbaker was reared on the home farm in Indiana, receiving his education in the excellent neighborhood school in the vicinity of his home, and in October, 1863, when he was but sixteen years old, he enlisted as a soldier in the Union army for service during the Civil War and served until the close of the war as a member of Company I, One Hundred and Forty- fifth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, attached to the army of General Sherman. With that famous command he marched to Atlanta, Georgia, and there the division to which his regiment was attached was sent to Macon. Georgia, and thence to Andersonville in an attempt to release the Union prisoners in the notorious Confederate prison pen at that place. At the close of the war Mr. Hornbaker returned to Indiana and resumed his place on his father's farm. In 1872 he married and thereafter assumed the manage- ment of the home place until the family's emigration to this state in 1877.
Upon coming to Kansas Finley D. Hornbaker bought a tract of "rail- road" land west of Newton, in Harvey county, and lived there until 1885, in which year he sold his place in that county and came over into Reno
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county and bought the southeast quarter of section 27, in Lincoln township, where he established his home and where he became a very successful farmer. Upon taking possession of the place Mr. Hornbaker found a board "shack" on the farm and in that humble abode they made their home-for a year while they were having a comfortable and commodious farm house erected. Mr. Hornbaker prospered from the very beginning of his farming operations in this county and early began enlarging his holdings, with the able assistance of his sons, until now he and his sons are the owners of two thousand eight hundred acres of fine land in this part of the state, Mr. Hornbaker retaining a personal estate of six hundred and forty acres in Lincoln township. In 1910 he and his wife retired from the active labors of the farm, built a pretty little house in the southwest corner of section 23, in Lincoln township, and there have lived ever since. being very comfortably situated, the old home place having been turned over to one of the sons upon their retirement. There are nine children in the Hornbaker family, all living and doing well. Four of the sons taught school as young men and nearly all the children attended college or normal school. Mr. Hornbaker is a Democrat and ever since locating in this county has taken an earnest interest in local political affairs, though never having been a seeker after public office, and has served his party well in the capacity of a precinct com- mitteeman from time to time.
In February, 1872, Finley D. Hornbaker was united in marriage to Dicy L. Wesner, who was born in Greene county, Indiana, January 7, 1850, daughter of John and Eva (Killion) Wesner, natives of Indiana, who spent all their lives in that state, and to this union nine children have been born, as follow : John Edgar, born on April 15, 1873. at Newberry, Indiana, who married Nellie Case and since 1904 has been engaged in the general merchan- dise business in Grand River valley, Colorado; Frank E .. January 26, 1875, who married AAddie Allen and is a successful farmer in Stafford county, this state; Charles C., September 19, 1877, who married Mabel Logan and oper- ates a general store at Castleton, this county, near which place he also owns a fine farm: Omer F .. June 7, 1880, who married Emma Huffman and owns a farm in Lincoln township, this county; Walter, January 27, 1882, who married Marie Emmert and lives at Artesia, New Mexico, at which place he owns a fruit and alfalfa farm in the irrigated belt; Lulu B., February 29, 1884, who married Roy Walden and lives on a farm in Oklahoma: Oscar Clyde. August 13, 1886, unmarried, who was graduated from the Kansas State University and from the Chicago Law School and is now practicing law
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in Chicago; Vernon W., January 7, 1889; who married Laura Rundell and lives on the old home farm in Lincoln township, and Bertha, February 3, 1891, who married Clarence Rundell and lives on a farm adjoining that of her parents in Lincoln township. The Hornbakers ever have been regarded as among the leaders in the various social activities of their neighborhood and are held in high esteem thereabout. Mr. and Mrs. Hornbaker were reared in the Christian church, but as there is no church of that denomination in their vicinity they attend the Dunkard church. Mr. Hornbaker is an active member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Hutch- inson, and a member of the Ancient. Order of United Workmen, in the affairs of both of which organizations he takes a warm interest.
DELMAR E. BAY.
Delmar E. Bay, a progressive and enterprising young farmer. of Roscoe township, this county, proprietor of a fine and well-cultivated farm of three hundred and twenty acres in that part of the county and one of the best known young men in the county, is a native son of Kansas, having been born at Kingman, in the neighboring county to the south on January II. 1886, son of C. M. and Maggie (Sloan) Bay, both natives of Ohio and for many years prominent residents of Reno county, large landowners and influential citizens of the southern part of the county.
In a biographical sketch relating to C. M. Bay, presented elsewhere in this volume, there are set out histories of the Bay and Sloan families and the reader is respectfully referred to the same for genealogical data with reference to the subject of this sketch. Delmar E. Bay was but a child when his parents resumed their residence on the farm in Roscoe township. from which they had moved to Kingman, where for some years the elder Bay was prominently connected with the real-estate business, and he grew up on the farm, early qualifying himself to take his part in the management of his father's extensive interests. At the time of his marriage, in 1909, his father gave him a half section of land adjoining the old home and there he has since made his home, being regarded as one of the most substantial farmers in that neighborhood. His present comfortable farm house was built in 1910 and the improvements on the place are in keeping with the same, all being admirably adapted to the requirements of modern agricultural methods. Mr. Bay carries on his operations on an extensive scale and is doing very
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well. his place being looked upon as one of the model farms of Reno county.
On April 28. 1909, Delmar E. Bay was united in marriage to Pearl Victoria Smith, who was born in Reno county, daughter of S. L. and Mary Jane (McCray) Smith, pioneer farmers of that county, and to this union one child has been born, Dean, born on December 11, 1914. Mr. Bay is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Modern Wood- men of America and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these popular organizations.
WILLIAM A. LEATHERMAN.
William A. Leatherman, son of James K. and Jane ( Bell) Leatherman, was born on May 29, 1873, in Ringgold county, Iowa. His maternal grand- parents were Allen Bell, a native of Ohio, and Mary A. Bell. Their chil- dren were Isaac, William, Frank, Mattie, Emma, Nora and Jane. Allen Bell was a farmer in Ohio. moved west and lived in Iowa several years, but returned to Ohio after his wife's death.
James K. Leatherman was born on July 29, 1844, near Mt. Blanchard, Ohio, and died on May 1, 1892. His wife was also a native of the same place. born on January 22, 1849. To them were born the following chil- dren : Frank, William, Jesse, Viola and Clyde. After his marriage James K. Leatherman resided in Sidney, Iowa, for five years. He then home- steaded land in Rush county, Kansas, but on account of repeated droughts, left this land after five years and moved to Reno county. For two years he lived two miles south of Nickerson, and then moved to a farm northeast of Hutchinson.
William A. Leatherman attended the public schools of Reno county when a lad, and took up farming as a vocation. Soon after his marriage he settled on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Medford township, it being the northwest quarter of section 17, township 22, range 8. Mr. Leatherman has placed many improvements on this farm in the way of buildings, fences, etc., and here he is engaged in general farming and stock raising.
On September 1, 1898, William A. Leatherman was married to Ruth Burke, who was born in Rice county, Kansas, March 31, 1880. Her parents were John and Jane ( White ) Burke. Her maternal grandparents were Levi and Frances ( Harvey ) White, of Illinois, who came to Medford township in 1874, where they lived the remainder of their lives. Levi White served
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in the Civil War for three years, receiving a slight wound in the leg while in the service. He died on January 23, 1885. John Burke was a son of William Burke, a native of Ireland, who reared his family in his native land, then brought them to America. His sons, Thomas, Robert and William, served in the Civil War and William was killed while in the service. John Burke was born on January 16, 1845, and immigrated to New York state sixty-five years ago. He lived in New York about sixteen years, coming to Reno county, Kansas, in 1873. He was married, October 31, 1876, at the Reno House, Hutchinson. He was one of the pioneers of this locality and helped in the construction of the Santa Fe railroad. He homesteaded land northeast of Hutchinson, and lived on this farm for nine years. He then bought a quarter section of land in Medford township, and was the owner of a half section when he retired from active life. He and his family were prominent in the Methodist church. He died on November 13, 1898, sur- vived by his widow and the following children: Ruth, John. Earle, Mary and Laura. Mr. Leatherman and his wife are the parents of the following children : Alva B., born on August 12, 1900; Floyd, November 17, 1907, and Willard, October 3 1909. The family are all active members of the Methodist church and Mrs. Leatherman teaches in the Sunday school. She is a member of the Yeomen and Royal Neighbors.
Mr. Leatherman is a Republican in politics and has served as town- ship clerk, and also as a member of the school board. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeomen.
HENRY P. HARTMANN.
Henry P. Hartmann, chief clerk in the freight offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad at Hutchinson, this county, and who has been a resident of Hutchinson since 1883, is a native of Ohio, having been born in the city of Tiffin, in Seneca county, that state. August 13, 1862. son of John George and Charlotte ( Bloom) Hartmann, both natives of Germany and both of whom are now deceased.
John George Hartmann, who was born in Bavaria, came to America with an elder brother who died shortly after they had settled at Cincinnati. They crossed the ocean on a sailing vessel, which was blown far out of its course by adverse winds and instead of landing at the port of New York, the vessel's original destination, they landed at New Orleans, after a voyage
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of one hundred and five days, and from that point made their way by river to Cincinnati. From Cincinnati John G. Hartmann presently made his way to Tiffin. Ohio, where he married Charlotte Bloom, who had come to this country when a small girl with her parents who had settled near Tiffin, where they engaged in farming. In 1862, following the death of his wife, Grandfather Hartmann, father of John G. Hartmann, came to America and proceeded to the gold fields of Nevada, where he made a "strike" in the region about Ft. Churchill, becoming the owner of quite a valuable mine there. He died in 1864 and his children were notified of the existence of the estate, but on account of the difficulty and hazard of travel over the plains in that day never made claim to the same and the family thus never derived any benefit from the rich mining claim.
John G. Hartmann became a prosperous merchant in Tiffin and spent the rest of his life there, his death occurring in 1877. His widow survived him many years, her death occurring in 1908, at Tiffin, at the age of sixty- eight. They were the parents of three children, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, both of whom reside in Tiffin, Miss Mary, who has been a teacher in the high school there for thirty-six years, and Dora, who is the wife of Dr. B. R. Miller, a prominent physician of that city.
Henry P. Hartmann received his education in the public schools of Tiffin and early learned the carriage-blacksmith trade. In 1883 he came to Kan- sas, locating at Hutchinson. this county, where he worked at his trade dur- ing that summer. He then moved on to Kingman, this state, where he was employed at the same trade for a little more than a year, at the end of which time he returned to Hutchinson and in October of 1885 began work- ing for the Santa Fe railroad as baggageman at the railway station, at that time there being but three or four men employed about the station, and has ever since been in the service of that same company, having been a witness of the company's growing interests in Hutchinson all these years, the com- pany now having one hundred and ten men employed about the freight and passenger stations. Shortly after taking service with the Santa Fe. Mr. Hartmann was transferred to the freight department, with which he ever since has been connected and in the office of which he has been chief clerk since the year 1900. During this long period of faithful service in the com- pany's behalf Mr. Hartmann has received numerous flattering offers of employment elsewhere. but he has preferred to remain in Hutchinson, proud of the educational advantages his children have enjoyed there. He ever has taken a warm interest in the promotion of the affairs of the local schools and for some time served with painstaking care on the school board.
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On July 2, 1885, Henry P. Hartmann was united in marriage to Anna Bussinger, who was born near Loogootee, Indiana, whose father was killed while serving the Union as a soldier during the Civil War, and to this union three children have been born, Leonora, who received an excellent musical education at Oberlin College, in Ohio, and who married Arthur W. Smith, night ticket agent for the Santa Fe at Hutchinson ; Minor L., who, after his graduation from the Hutchinson high school attended the Kansas State Uni- versity for two years, after which he entered the University of Arizona, from which he was graduated in chemistry, after which he attended the Uni- versity of Illinois one year and then went to Harvard University, from which institution he received his master degree after an attendance of two years. and is now, at the age of twenty-six, professor of chemistry in the State School of Mines at Rapid City, South Dakota, and Lucille, who is in her last year in the Hutchinson high school. Mr. and Mrs. Hartmann are mem- bers of the Universalist church and reside in a very pleasant home at 321 First avenue, west, which they bought in 1899. Mr. Hartmann is a Demo- crat and ever gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of the city and county.
BENJAMIN F. BALLARD.
Benjamin F. Ballard, the son of Jesse and Sarah ( Hathaway) Ballard, was born in Marion county, Illinois, September 30, 1856. Jesse Ballard, was a native of Tennessee, who moved as a young man to Marion county, Illinois, and there he married. He was a soldier in the Mexican War, and received a bullet wound in the leg during his period of service. He passed through Kansas during that war. He died in Marion county, Illinois, in November, 1915, while his wife died in 1871. Their children are as follow : Jerry. deceased : Christopher Columbus, of Monon county, Illinois : Charles Edward, of Bloomington, Illinois; Jefferson, deceased; Margaret, Annis and Benjamin F.
Benjamin F. Ballard was educated in the common schools of his native county. He came to Reno county, Kansas, in 1882, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land, on which the family are still living. He his improved this farm in various ways and here carries on general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Ballard was married in Illinois to Esther Bonnet. a daughter of Peter Bonnet. To this union have been born three children: Grace. the wife
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of Jesse Lyonbaul; Mary, the wife of Charles Quirfield; Ray, living at home with his parents.
Mr. Ballard is a Democrat in politics, and has served on the school board of Medford township, and has also been constable of the township for several terms. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Ballard is a member of the Methodist church.
JOHN W. GRAYSON.
John W. Grayson, one of the largest landowners and most substantial citizens of Ninnescah township, this county, owner of a fine farm of six hundred and forty acres in the Pretty Prairie neighborhood, and an active participant in all public enterprises thereabout, is a Virginian, born in Ritchie county, a part of West Virginia since the days of secession, April 29, 1849, son of Felix and Lucy Ann (Wilson) Grayson, farming people of that community, whose last days were spent there.
Felix Grayson was the son of Ambrose Grayson, a sailor. He was reared a farmer and farmed all his life. He was twice married, his first wife, Lucy Ann Wilson, having been a daughter of Joseph Ambrose Wilson, a Virginia farmer, also a resident of Ritchie county. To that union four children were born, of whom the subject of this sketch, the third in order of birth, is the only one now living, the others having been J. A., Sarah E. and James H. Upon the death of the mother of these children, Felix Gray- son married, secondly, the Widow Smith, which union was without issue. Felix Grayson died in 1886 at his home in West Virginia. Sarah E. Grayson married a Mr. Patton and was accidently killed on June 3, 1900, at the cross- ing of Main street and the Santa Fe railroad in Hutchinson.
John W. Grayson was reared on the home farm in Ritchie county and received his schooling in the schools of that neighborhood. He was living with his Uncle during the Civil War and the Rebels came up the valley taking all stock. Mr. Grayson tried to drive his uncle's cattle to safety and ran by the Rebels. They went after him and shot at him six times and hit him three times after which they captured him and later in an attack on them by Bushwhackers they ran off and left him and he was taken home. He grew up a farmer and in 1875 married and continued farming there until in 1887. when he came to Kansas with his family and settled in Reno county, joining his brother. who had preceded him here some time before. Starting
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J. W. GRAYSON AND RELATIVES IN ATTENDANCE AT THE FUNERAL OF MR. GRAYSON'S ONLY SISTER, SARAH E. PATTON, WHO WAS KILLED BY A SANTA FE RAILROAD TRAIN, JUNE 13, 1900.
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with practically nothing he prospered in his farming operations until now he is the owner of this large tract of land in Ninnescah township and long has been counted as among the leading men of his community. Mr. Gray- son's well-kept farm is marked by one of Reno county's most distinctive pioneer land-marks, the old stone house erected there by John Defreace when that energetic pioneer filed on that claim back in the days of the Ninnescah township's earliest settlement, and which house is still standing, with in twenty rods of Mr. Grayson's home, giving promise of being able to weather the storms of many a year to come.
It was in 1875, in Ritchie county, West Virginia, that John W. Grayson was united in marriage to Mary Ebert, who was born on August 7, 1851. and who died at her home in this county on April 7, 1890, leaving six children : J. Ambrose, Roxie Della, Hiram K., Morris E., Mary Dorothy and Felix N., of whom Hiram and Morris are still at home with their father. assisting in the management of the latter's extensive estate.
CHARLES S. WINCHESTER.
Charles S. Winchester, founder and head of the Winchester Packing Company and general manager of the extensive meat-packing plant main- tained by that company at Hutchinson, this county, is a native of Vermont, but has been a resident of Kansas since 1879 and a well-known resident of Hutchinson since 1893. He was born on a farm in Rutland county, Vermont, in the same house in which his father was born, on the place his great-grandfather had bought, as virgin land, from the government and which has been in the continuous possession of the family to the present generation, without ever a mortgage on it. The date of his birth was April 4, 1854, and he was the second in order of birth of the four children born to his parents, Norman and Harriet (Lyon) Winchester, the latter also a native of the state of Vermont.
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