USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 55
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Albert S. Fountain was about six years of age when he came to Reno county from Illinois with his parents, arriving here on March 16, 1875, and he was reared on the home farm in this county, receiving his elementary education in the public schools. In early life he turned his attention to farming, and later he homesteaded a tract of land in Oklahoma, proving up on his claim in January, 1901. While in Oklahoma, he took an active and interested part in the development of his community, and the town of Foun- tain, in that state, is named for him.
In 1902, A. S. Fountain decided to make the practice of medicine his profession, and in that year entered the medical college at Keokuk, Iowa,
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a. S.Fountain MO
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MRS A.S. FOUNTAIN
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from which he was graduated in 1906, with a degree of Doctor of Medicine, and immediately afterward opened an office in Castleton, where he has since been very successfully engaged in the active practice of his chosen profession. He has prospered in his practice, as well as in his real estate deals, and is the owner of a half section of valuable land in Dewey county, Oklahoma, besides property in his home town. Doctor Fountain gives a good citizen's attention to civic affairs, and takes an active interest in local politics.
On November 11, 1894, Albert S. Fountain was married to Maude Wolf, who is a native of Ohio, her birth having occurred in that state on February 26, 1871. She is a daughter of Roman and Ruth (Hedrick) Wolf, who came to Kansas in 1873, and settled on a farm about ten miles south of Hutchin- son, thus being among the pioneers of the county. Mrs. Fountain's father is now living retired in Canton, Oklahoma. Besides Mrs. Fountain, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf were the parents of two children, William R. and Ralph H.
Doctor Fountain is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and of the Modern Woodmen of America, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of both these popular organizations. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the Methodist church.
JAMES MCKINSTRY.
The late James Mckinstry, who for many years was an acknowledged leader among the legal fraternity of this section of the state and one of the most forceful personalities ever connected with the bar of the Reno county courts, was a native Hoosier, born in Putnam county, Indiana, on November 10, 1845, son of Hugh and Cecelia (Lewis) Mckinstry. He died at his home in Hutchinson, this county, on March 15, 1904, after many years of activity at the bar, during which time he had done well his part in the development of the social and cultural life of the community, he having been a resident of the county seat town from pioneer days there, having settled in Hutchinson in 1876, but four years after the townsite had been staked out.
The Mckinstrys are of Scottish descent. On account of the ban under which they were placed by reason of their active participation in the revolu- tion led by the Young Pretender, the family immigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland and in 1760 William Mckinstry, grandfather of James Mckinstry, came to America and located in the colony of Virginia. He
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served as a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolutionary War and at the close of that long struggle emigrated to Hamilton county, Ohio, in the neighborhood of Ft. Washington, now known as Cincinnati, where he devel- oped a pioneer farm, some years later pushing even further along into the wilds, locating in Putnam county, Indiana, in the Greencastle neighborhood, where he established and operated the first nail factory started west of Cincinnati, and there he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1825.
Hugh Mckinstry, son of William Mckinstry and father of James Mckinstry, was one of a family of eleven children born to his parents. He was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1804, later removing with the family to Putnam conuty, Indiana, where he established himself as a merchant tailor. He married Cecelia Lewis, whose father had immigrated from Eng- land to America with his family, locating at New Orleans, where he died of yellow fever in 1810, after which his family made their way north by river and settled in Indiana. In 1854 Hugh Mckinstry moved to Coles county, Illinois, in the Charleston neighborhood, where he became a substantial farmer and where he spent the remaindr of his life, his death occurring in 1873. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom James Mckinstry was the eighth in order of birth.
James Mckinstry was but nine years of age when his parents moved from Indiana to Illinois and the most of his elementary schooling therefore was obtained in the schools of Coles county in the latter state, which he attended during the winter months, assisting with the work of the home farm during the summers. In 1862, when but seventeen years of age, he enlisted in Company C, Sixty-eighth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, attached to the Army of the Cumberland, and participated in various engage- ments in the Civil War until September, 1863, in which month he was dis- abled and, upon a physician's certificate of disability, received an honorable discharge and returned home. During the time of his illness at the front a comrade, John P. St. John, took care of him, showing him many kind- nesses, a warm friendship between the two growing out of this incident of the war. Long afterward Mr. St. John became governor of Kansas and he and Mr. Mckinstry ever remained firm friends and close political associ- ates. In the spring of 1864, having fully recovered from the disability incurred by reason of his illness, James Mckinstry re-enlisted for further service in the Union army and for three months was attached to Company I. One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Regiment. Illinois Volunteer Infantry. engaged in guarding railroads in Missouri against guerilla attack.
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At the close of the war, James Mckinstry returned to his home in Coles county, Illinois, and in 1866 left the farm and went to Georgetown, Missouri, where he took a two-years course in Forest Grove Academy, after which he entered the Illinois Normal University at Bloomington, where he remained until 1870, in which year he was made the principal of the West Side public schools at Charleston, Illinois, which position he held for three years, in the meantime using his spare moments in reading law, his ambition to become a lawyer receiving warm encouragement on the part of an old lawyer at Charleston who placed his extensive library at the disposal of the ardent student. Mr. Mckinstry also served as principal of the schools at Mattoon, Illinois, for one year, at the end of which time he was admitted to the bar. after which he went to St. Louis and engaged there in the practice of his profession, not in the least daunted by the fierce competition he knew would meet him there among the members of the legal fraternity. Mr. Mckinstry was a man of commanding presence, six feet in height, of extraordinary physical development, dark hair and blue eyes, features of the true classic mold, high forehead and of fair coniplexion ; a man who attracted attention wherever he went, and it was not long before he had won a place for himself at the St. Louis bar, among his more important connections being that of attorney for the Cairo Short Line railroad. The climate of St. Louis, how- ever, did not prove agreeable to Mr. Mckinstry's health and in 1876 he decided on a change of climate, determining upon California as his future place of residence. En route. he stopped at Hutchinson, this county, to make a brief farewell visit with his sister, who shortly before had settled in the new town on the Kansas prairies, and so agreeably impressed was he with the town and its apparent possibilities as a place of residence that he decided to remain there, instead of pursuing his journey to California. Opening a law office in Hutchinson, he resumed the practice of his profession and there he spent the remainder of his life, for more than a quarter of a century being recognized as a leader of the bar.
Mr. Mckinstry was a Democrat and from the days of his early man- hood had taken an active part in political affairs, though never having been an office seeker. In the three states in which he had lived, Illinois. Missouri , and Kansas, he had been a delegate to congressional and state conventions and his counsels in the deliberations of the party managers ever were received with consideration and respect. The only elective office he ever held was that of county attorney for Reno county, a position to which he was elected as a Democrat at a time when the county was strongly Republican, men of
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all parties uniting to elect him, and in that office he performed a most excel- lent public service, succeeding in bringing about better methods in the administration of county affairs. His party nominated him as its candidate for attorney-general of Kansas and while he led a forlorn hope valiantly he was defeated, the state being overwhelmingly Republican. His party also honored him by making him one of Kansas Democracy's "big four" at the national convention of the party at Chicago in 1896, the convention in which William Jennings Bryan made his sensational debut into American politics. As a lawyer, Mr. Mckinstry ranked very high in the estimation of his col- leagues throughout this section of the state. While during the most of the years of his active practice he had practiced alone, he, at one time and another, had been associated, variously, as a partner, with Mr. Wise, Mr. Scheble, Mr. Fairchild and Mr. Williams.
On October 29. 1879, at Hutchinson, this county, James Mckinstry was united in marriage to Martha Hellawell, who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, daughter of Law and Mary (Bird) Hellawell, both natives of Eng- land, the former of whom was born in Yorkshire and the latter in Stafford- shire. Law Hellawell came to America with his parents and settled in east- ern Ohio, where he became a tuyere maker in an old-time blast furnace in the town of Youngstown. Mary Bird had come to America with her par- ents when thirteen years of age, the family settling in Mercer county, Penn- sylvania. She married Law Hellawell in Youngstown and there she and her husband reared their family. In 1878 Mr. Hellawell's health became impaired and the family came to Kansas, seeking the benefit of a change of climate in his behalf, and located in Hutchinson. Shortly afterward Law Hellawell, leaving his family in Hutchinson, went on to Colorado. His con- dition became so much worse there that he was brought home and was an invalid the rest of his life, his death occurring ten years later. He and his wife were members of the Episcopal church and their children were reared in that faith. There were three of these children, of whom Mrs. McKinstry, widow of James Mckinstry, is the eldest, she having a brother, William, a farmer, of Liberal, this state, and a sister, Elizabeth, who married William Pierce, a farmer in the neighborhood of Boise, Idaho.
To James and Martha (Hellawell) Mckinstry six children were born, namely : Mary Cecelia, who died at the age of eight months; George C., of Hutchinson, traveling freight agent for the Santa Fe Railroad; Hugh, who died at the age of four years; Phyllis Bird, who died at the age of one month; Dorothy, who is taking a course in nursing at St. Luke's hospital
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in New York City, and James, who is connected with the freight office of the Santa Fe Railroad at Hutchinson.
George C. Mckinstry. first son and eldest living child of James and Martha (Hellawell) Mckinstry, was born in Hutchinson in 1883. He was taking his third-year work in the Hutchinson high school when his father died and he then quit school to go to work. In the fall of 1904 he started to work in the local division offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company and has been connected with that company ever since. He started in at the bottom, working in various capacities in the office until in February, 1909, he was made chief clerk. In the fall of that same year, in October, he was promoted to the position of traveling freight agent, which position he still holds, and is making a great success of railroad work. Mr. Mckinstry is unmarried and makes his home with his widowed mother in Hutchinson.
HON. FRANK F. PRIGG.
The Hon. Frank F. Prigg, district judge and for years one of the best- known lawyers at Hutchinson, this county, is a Hoosier, having been born on a farm in Madison county, state of Indiana, June 5, 1853, son of Edward and Harriet (Curry) Prigg, the former of whom was born in Ohio in 1825 and died in 1908 and the latter, born in Indiana. died in 1860, both having spent their last days on their farm in Indiana.
Edward Prigg was the son of William Prigg, of Welsh descent. a tanner at Havre de Grace, Maryland, who performed conspicuous service for the government during the War of 1812, for which he received a con- siderable grant of land in Ohio, to which he moved and from which he later emigrated to Indiana, entering a tract of "Congress land" in what is now Madison county, that state, where he made his home and became a prominent factor in the development of that region. Edward Prigg was but a lad when his parents emigrated to Indiana and he grew up on the pioneer farm, becon- ing a man of much force in the community, in addition to being a substan- tial farmer being also a country physician of wide local note. He and his wife were members of the Christian church and were helpful in all good ways throughout that community. They were the parents of four children, Judge Prigg having two sisters, Mary and Helen, and a brother, Rollin, of Salamanca, New York, a train dispatcher for the Erie Railroad Company.
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Frank F. Prigg was bereaved by death of his mother when he was seven years of age. His elementary education was received in the local school situated two miles from his home, in which a three-months course was con- ducted during the winters, the instruction received there being constantly supplemented by the instruction and admonition of his good father, and when little more than a boy himself he began teaching district school and was so engaged for three winters, at the end of which time he took a teacher's course in the normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana, which was followed by a full scientific course at the Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana, from which he was graduated in 1879, after which for four years he was a teacher in the graded schools. In the meantime he had been studying law under instruction, both at Danville and at Middletown, Indiana, and in 1882 he was admitted to the bar at Danville. The next year, 1883, he was called to Hutchinson, this county, as superintendent of the schools of that city, in which. capacity he performed excellent service for two years, at the end of which time, in the spring of 1885, he opened an office and began the prac- tice of law in Hutchinson. In 1896, he formed a partnership for the prac- tice of law with Hon. C. M. Williams, of Hutchinson, which mutually agree- able connection continued until December 1, 1912, at which time the partner- ship was dissolved by mutual consent. Judge Prigg assumed his present position on the bench of the district court, January 13, 1913, to which he had been elected in the November election preceding. This is the first elective office Judge Prigg has ever held, although earlier in the days of his practice in Hutchinson he had served seven consecutive terms as city attorney, under appointment of the city council. In 1891 he received the nomination of the Republican party as a candidate for the office of judge of the district court of the ninth judicial district, a nomination both unexpected and unsolicited, he not even having been present at the convention which nominated him, and which, after careful consideration, he declined to accept. Judge Prigg is an earnest Republican, who for years has given his thoughtful and studious attention to civic affairs in this section of the state. His election to his present important and highly responsible position came as the unanimous call of both the Republican and Democratic parties, he being elected without opposition.
In 1879, in Indiana, Frank F. Prigg was united in marriage to Minnie Garrard, who died before Mr. Prigg came to Kansas, to which union one child had been born, a daughter, Edna. On April 6. 1884, Mr. Prigg mar- ried. secondly, Laura A. Van Winkle, who was born in Henry county. Indi-
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ana, daughter of Austin Theodore and Diana ( Veach) Van Winkle, both now deceased, the former of whom was born in Ohio the year in which his parents emigrated to Indiana and he became a teacher and farmer in Henry county, that state.
To Frank F. and Laura A. (Van Winkle) Prigg three children have been born, Jesse G., who died in infancy; Lucile, who married Arthur Fich- horn, now deputy county assessor at Miles City, Montana, and has one child, a daughter, Alice Cordelia, and Mayme B., who married W. G. Burris, now a pharmacist at Phoenix, Arizona, and has two children, Sarah Jane and Betty. Judge and Mrs. Prigg have a pretty home at 112 Twelfth avenue, west, erected in 1907, which is locally noted for the charming character of its genial hospitality.
Judge Prigg is a thirty-second degree Mason, member of Blue Lodge No. 140, at Hutchinson, and a member of the chapter and council of that order, also at Hutchinson; of Reno Commandery No. 26, Knights Templar ; Wichita Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and Midian Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also is a member of the Elks and of the Knights of Pythias. Judge Prigg owns no stock in any corporation, but he is the owner of considerable tracts of land lying in Clay, Valley and Bell townships, this county, and in Burrton town- ship, in Harvey county, in which he takes much interest, his horticultural experiments particularly attracting him. In the summer of 1915 Judge Prigg raised five hundred and thirty acres of wheat, corn and alfalfa.
HERBERT L: SCALES, M. D.
Dr. Herbert L. Scales, a well-known and successful physician at Hutch- inson, this county, is a Hoosier, having been born at Buena Vista, in Gibson county, Indiana, January 14. 1870, son of Dr. William and Emma ( Badger) Scales, both natives of that same state, who later came West and located at Sedalia, Missouri, where the elder Doctor Scales died in 1898.
Dr. William Scales was a man of excellent training in his profession and had practiced for years in Indiana before moving to Missouri. When a young man he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War, but three months later was discharged on a physician's certificate of dis- ability and never saw active service. He then attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati and upon receiving his diploma entered upon the prac-
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tice of his profession at Boonville, Indiana, and was there engaged in prac- tice for twenty-five years. In 1890 he and his family moved to Sedalia, Missouri, where he died eight years later, at the age of fifty-eight. They were the parents of two children, the subject of this biographical sketch having a sister, Daisy, who married Lester Watrous and lives at Winfield, Kansas.
Herbert L. Scales received his common-school education at Boonville and upon completing the course there entered the Louisville Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1892. He came West with his father and the two were in practice at Sedalia together until the death of the elder Doctor Scales. For two years thereafter Dr. Herbert L. Scales continued to practice alone in Sedalia and then, in 1900, came to Kansas, locating at Mt. Hope, where he remained until 1906, in which year he moved to Hutchinson, where he ever since has been very successfully engaged in the practice of his profession. Doctor Scales makes a specialty of treating the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat and confines his practice wholly to those organs. Doctor Scales is a member of the American Medical Associa- tion, the Kansas State Medical Association and the Reno County Medical Society.
On June 3, 1896, Dr. Herbert L. Scales was united in marriage to Hortense McVey, a native of Missouri, and to this union two children have been born, Marjorie, born in 1897, a graduate of the Hutchinson high school, and William, 1900, a student in the high school. The Doctor and his family have a very pleasant home at 506 A avenue, east, and take an interested part in the various social and cultural activities of the city.
CAPT. GEORGE T. COFFMAN.
Capt. George T. Coffman, an honored veteran of the Civil War and a substantial retired farmer of Hayes township, this county, now living quietly and comfortably in his pleasant home in the delightful village of Sylvia, is a native-born Hoosier, having been born on a farm in Marion county, Indiana, May 5, 1842, son of Barton and Mary (White) Coffnian, both natives of Granger county, Tennessee, who moved to Indiana in the late thirties, settling in Marion county, in the neighborhood of Indianapolis, where they establish their home on a farm and there spent the remainder of their lives, the former dying at the age of seventy-five and the latter at the age of eighty-six. Barton Coffman and wife were earnest members of
CAPT. AND MRS. GEORGE T. COFFMAN.
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the Baptist church and their children were reared in that faith. There were eight of these children, four sons and four daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was next to the youngest.
George T. Coffman was reared on the home farm near Indianapolis, his youth being devoted to attendance at the local schools and to such assistance as he was able to give his father in the labors on the farm. In September, 1862, he then being twenty years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company K, Sixty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for ser- vice during the Civil War. He was elected first company clerk and shortly thereafter was elevated to the rank of sergeant. In 1863 he was com- missioned captain of Company K, which rank he held until the regiment was mustered out at the close of the war. During his military service Captain Coffman participated in such notable engagements as the battles of Ft. Henry, Ft. Donelson, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain and the siege and capture of Nashville. The Sixty-third Indiana was at- tached to Sherman's army and after the siege of Nashville was transported to Washington D. C., and thence to Ft. Fisher, North Carolina, and per- formed service in that state until the close of the war. During the battle of Kenesaw Mountain Captain Coffman was severely wounded in his arm.
At the close of the war Captain Coffman returned to his home in Indiana, where he remained a short time, after which he went to Hancock county, Illinois, where he bought a farm and where, August 27, 1866, he was united in marriage to Deborah Tracy, who was born in that state, and who died on October 20, 1880, leaving one child, a daughter, Luella, who married Schuyler George and died at her home in Dodge City, this state. in 1900. On April 13, 1881. Captain Coffman married, secondly, Mrs. Anna (George) Huff, also a native of Illinois, and in 1883 sold .his farm in Illinois and came to Kansas, locating in Shawnee county, where he lived on a rented farm for two years, at the end of which time, in 1885. he came to Reno county, having the year before bought a farm of two hundred and forty-eight acres in Hayes township, and there made his home until 1902, in which year he and his wife retired from the farm and moved to Sylvia, where they since have made their home and where they are very pleasantly situated, enjoying many evidences of the esteem in which they are held by the entire community. Captain Coffman not only was a good farmer, but he soon became widely known as an extensive stock raiser and his operations prospered from the start. In addition to his considerable (36a)
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land holdings in this county, Captain Coffman also is the owner of a fine farm in Oklahoma and is regarded as quite well-to-do.
Captain and Mrs. Coffman are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Sylvia and long have been active in all good works thereabout. Captain Coffman is a Republican and has served his township as school treasurer. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and of the lodge of the Indenpendent Order of Odd Fellows at Sylvia and in the affairs of both of these popular organizations takes a warm interest. Captain Coffman is a fine old gentlemen, now living the quiet, reminiscent life of a retired soldier, modestly conscious that his work in the world has been well done, and he enjoys the full confidence and respect of the entire neighborhood.
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