USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 60
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Mr. Wespe is an active, energetic business man and is connected with various other enterprises in and about Hutchinson in addition to his exten- sive connection with the International Harvester Company. among which may be mentioned his directorship in the Central State Bank and directorship in the companies controlling the plants of the strawboard works and the box- board works. He is one of the most active members of the United Com- mercial Travelers Association and also is is a member of the Modern Woodmen.
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FREDERICK D. LARABEE.
Frederick D. Larabee, of Hutchinson, this county, president of the Larabee Flour Mills Company, proprietor of the famous "Mills of Lara- bee," with mills at Hutchinson and Stafford, this state, and at Clinton, Mis- souri, operating tributary elevators at Macksville, Belprey, Seward, Isabel, Greensburg and Kingsdown, one of the greatest milling systems in the state of Kansas, is a native of the great Empire state. He was born in Cattarau- gus county. New York, in 1868, son of Joseph D. and Angeline C. (Oyer) Larabee, who later became prominent residents of Stafford, this state, where they spent the remainder of their lives.
Joseph D. Larabee moved to Erie county, New York, about the year 1880 and there engaged in the manufacture of milling machinery, remain- ing there until 1886, in which year he came with his family to Kansas, locating at Stafford, where he and his sons, Frederick D. and Frank S., engaged in the banking business. They established the Farmers' National Bank of Stafford and Joseph D. Larabee was connected with that institu- tion until his death. in 1913, at the age of eighty-two years. His widow survived him about two years, her death occurring on July 11, 1915, she then being seventy-six years of age.
Frederick D. Larabee was but a youth when his parents moved to Erie county, New York, and he received his education in the schools of Spring- ville, that county. When but a boy he entered the bank at Springville, with a view to acquiring a general knowledge of the banking business, it having been determined that the family should presently go West for the purpose of engaging in the banking business. Frederick D. Larabee was eighteen years old when the family came to Kansas and located at Stafford, where they established the Farmers' National Bank,-Joseph D. Larabee, presi- dent : Frank S. Larabee. vice-president, and Frederick D. Larabee, cashier, which was a success from the very start. In 1897 the Farmers' National Bank of Stafford was compelled to take over a flour-mill in that city, the company operating the same having fallen upon hard lines, and the Larabees decided to put the mill upon a profitable basis. With that end in view, Frederick D. Larabee and his brother, Frank S., took charge of the mill and soon had it "on its feet." The affairs of the mill prospered so largely that extensions were soon necessary and the Larabees became definitely com- mitted to the milling business and have been very successfully engaged in the same ever since, "The Mills of Larabee" long having had an established
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reputation for quality of product all over the United States, as well as in those foreign countries in which an export trade has been established. In July, 1908, the original Larabee mill at Stafford was completely destroyed by fire, but the Larabees immediately rebuilt the same, larger and better than before, constructing the mill of reinforced concrete and installing the very best obtainable domestic machinery.
It was in 1907 that the great mill in the Larabee system was con- structed at Hutchinson. When the plans for this mill were being prepared the Larabees decided to erect a mill that should eclipse any other in the United States in point of equipment and that mill today is known from one end of America to the other as the best-equipped milling plant in the United States. The mill is fitted with rolls of the German type, made expressly for the Mills of Larabee, and there are no others of this description in the United States, nor are there any other rolls so large in this country. All other equipments of the mill are in keeping and the great plant is operated by a giant Koerting two-cycle, six-hundred-horse-power natural gas engine, weighing more than two hundred and forty thousand pounds. The mill is of concrete construction, absolutely fireproof throughout and is of the most approved style of architecture for such buildings. The mill grounds com- prise six acres of beautiful level ground and the mill building is located just at the head of Avenue A, one of the principal residence streets of Hutchin- son. When erected the Hutchinson plant of The Mills of Larabee had a daily capacity of twelve hundred barrels of flour, but this has since been increased until now the plant has a capacity of two thousand barrels daily. Recently the grain-storage capacity has been increased by the erection of three additional steel tanks, each carrying a capacity of one hundred and fifty thousand bushels, giving the mill a present storage capacity of seven hundred and fifty thousand bushels, these great tanks being supplied from tributary elevators at Macksville, Belpre, Seward, Isabel, Greenburg and Kingsdown. The Larabees also have a mill at Clinton, Missouri, which has a capacity of twelve hundred barrels of flour a day. The Stafford mill has a daily capacity of five hundred, the Mills of Larabee thus having a total capacity of three thousand seven hundred barrels of flour a day. The chief brand of this flour is the famous "Larabee's Best," made of hard wheat : the soft-wheat flour, "Miola Brand." being produced by the mill at Clinton, Missouri. In 1906 the company was incorporated as the Larabee Flour Company, and the present officers of the same are: President, Frederick D. Larabee ; vice-president, August J. Blute; secretary-treasurer, Frank S
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Larabee. For advertising purposes the company is known as "The Mills of Larabee." and the great mill at Hutchinson has painted on its side the legend. "That German Mill," based upon the circumstance that the mill is equipped with German rolls.
Frederick D. Larabee's interests are not confined wholly to his extensive milling connection, but he is interested in several other enterprises in and about Hutchinson, to which city he moved from Stafford in 1908. He is a director of the State Exchange Bank of Hutchinson and a director of the Fontron Loan and Trust Company, besides retaining his connection with the Farmers' National Bank at Stafford. He is a member of the Hutchin- son Commercial Club and the Country Club and he and his wife take an earnest interest in the city's general social and cultural activities.
In 1893 Frederick D. Larabee was united in marriage to May Wads- worth, who was born at Springville, New York, and to this union two chil- dren have been born, Charles W., who is attending the Western Military Academy, and Angelene, born in 1907. Upon taking up his residence in Hutchinson, Mr. Larabee bought the fine old Eagan home at 555 Sherman avenue, East, and there he and his family are very pleasantly situated.
JOHN W. NELSON.
John W. Nelson, head of the Nelson Manufacturing Company, manu- facturers of galvanized iron tanks and proprietor of one of the most exten- sive machine shops in the Southwest, long regarded as one of the leading industries of Hutchinson, though a native of the kingdom of Sweden has been a resident of Reno county since 1872, having arrived here in that year, with his parents, when a boy eleven years old, and may therefore be con- sidered one of the real pioneers of this county. He was born in Elmhult, Sweden, March 29, 1861, son of John and Nellie ( Benson) Nelson, both natives of that country, the former of whom, a farmer and small landowner, was born on July 3, 1835, who became well-known pioneers of this section of Kansas.
It was in 1869 that John Nelson disposed of his interests in his native land and came to the United States with a view to making a new home for his family over here. He located in Winnebago county, Illinois, where for two years he worked as a farm laborer, in the meantime familiarizing him- self with American conditions and looking about for the location he was
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seeking for his family. He then sent for his family to join him there and in the spring of 1872 drove west, arriving in Reno county in May of that year, thus being among the earliest permanent settlers of this county. He entered a homestead claim in Lincoln township and there put up a one-room shanty and broke a little sod. The next year he sold that claim and bought another two miles west, the southeast quarter of section 29, township 24. range 6 west, which he proved up and brought to a high state of cultivation. There the family lived until 1884, in which year they moved to a farm the father had purchased in Castleton township and two years later moved to a valuable tract of land which the elder Nelson had purchased just outside the city limits of Hutchinson, where he spent the rest of his life.
John W. Nelson was eleven years old when he came to Reno county with his parents in 1872 and he grew up on the homestead farm, herding cattle and assisting in the labors of the farm and during his boyhood at- tending school in the winter seasons. He remained at home until he was twenty-four years old and then began to operate one of his father's farms on his own account, but a year later went to Kingman, where he entered a blacksmith shop, with a view to establishing a machine shop, but after six months abandoned that idea and, in company with his younger brother, Peter A. Nelson, who was born on January 4, 1863, went to Finney county, this state, where both the brothers pre-empted a quarter of a section of land, which they "proved up." They then returned to Reno county and in 1887 John W. Nelson opened a hardware store in South Hutchinson. A year later he admitted his brother, Peter A. Nelson, into partnership, under the firm name of Nelson Brothers, and in 1889 they moved their establish- ment across the river and established themselves in business in what then was known as the Herner block, but now is known as the Rock Island block. A year later they moved their store to No. 4 South Main street. and as their business continued to grow moved, a year later, into the Welsh building, where they remained four years. They then bought the fine three- story brick building at 6 Main street, the two-story building at 3 Sherman street, East, and a lot on which they erected a storage house. In 1898 Nelson Brothers established the Hutchinson Machine Shop at 144 and 16 Sherman street. West, which has ever since been successfully operated. In 1906 Nelson Brothers dissolved partnership. Peter A. Nelson taking the retail hardware establishment and John A. Nelson the business of the Nel- son Manufacturing Company and the plant of the same at 600-620 First avenue, East, which he has gradually enlarged into one of the most exten-
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sive manufacturing plants in the Southwest; manufacturing large galvan- ized iron water tanks, pumps and pump cylinders, grain tanks and the like, his product being shipped to all parts of this country.
On October 8, 1890, John W. Nelson was united in marriage to Pearl M. Stevenson, who was born near Lawrence, this state, daughter of James and Elizabeth ( Mckinney) Stevenson, and to this union five children have been born, Nellie A., Maria, James B., Robert, and Elizabeth, who died aged seven years. The Nelsons have a fine home at 407 First avenue, East, in Hutchinson, and are very comfortably and pleasantly situated.
SAMUEL F. HUTTON.
Samuel F. Hutton, one of Hutchinson's best-known and most prominent business men, long identified with the real-estate and financial interests of the town, is a native of Tennessee, but has been a resident of Hutchinson since 1881 and has therefore been a witness to the real developmnt of Reno county. He was born on a farm near Shelbyville, Tennessee, son of George D). Hutton, a prominent resident of that vicinity, a native of North Caro- lina, who had married Mrs. Mary Ann (Houston) Whiteside, widow of Russell P. Whiteside and mother of Houston Whiteside, a well-known law -. ver of Hutchinson, and a daughter, Annie P., who married William E. Hutchinson, cousin of C. C. Hutchinson, founder of the city of Hutchinson. To George D. and Mary Ann Hutton three children were born, the subject of this biographical sketch having a brother, Emmett and a sister, Leota, the latter of whom married Doctor Conn, and both of whom also reside at Hutchinson.
Samuel F. Hutton was reared on the paternal farm in Tennessee and receiving his schooling in the schools of the neighboring town of Shelbyville. In 1881 he came to Kansas, locating at Hutchinson, where his half-brother, Houston Whiteside, had settled in 1872 and there, at the age of twenty-one, he worked in the wholesale and retail establishment of the Allison Devier Mercantile Company. then located at the corner of Second and Main streets in Hutchinson. A few years later he entered the law office of his half- brother, Houston Whiteside, and was in charge of the commercial and col- lection departments of that legal firm until Mr. Whiteside retired from active practice, since which time Mr. Hutton has given his attention to his own real- estate interests and to his loan business. Mr. Hutton was one of the organ-
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izers of the Hutchinson Country Club and is a director of the same. From the very beginning of the activities of that popular organization Mr. Hutton has taken a warm interest in its affairs and there is no more enthusiastic golfer hereabout than he.
On October JI, 1887, Samuel F. Hutton was united in marriage to Lucie M. Meyer, who was born at Atchison, this state, and who had come to Reno county in 1872 with her parents, Michael and Marie Meyer, and her brother, Eugene L. Meyer, president of the First National Bank of Hutchin- son. In a biographical sketch relating to Mr. Meyer, presented elsewhere in this volume, there is set out in detail a history of the Meyer family in this state and to those pages the reader is respectfully referred in this connection. Mr. and Mrs. Hutton have a very pleasant home at 212 East Sherman street and take a warm interest in the various social and cultural activities of their home town.
D. H. MASTELLAR.
D. H. Mastellar, a well-known and well-to-do retired farmer of Lang- don township, this county, now living at Arlington, where he is actively engaged in the insurance business, is a native of Pennsylvania, but has been a resident of Kansas since pioneer days. He was born on a farm in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1850, son of Aaron and Elizabeth (Dresher) Mastellar, both natives of that same state. Aaron Mastellar was a farmer in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, and he and his wife were the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, the others being Charles B., Sarah and George, who were reared in the faith of the German Reformed church, of which their parents were devoted members.
Receiving a limited education in the district schools of his home neigh- borhood, D. H. Mastellar grew up as a farmer and remained in his native county until he was twenty-four years old, when, in 1874. he came to Kansas "to grow up with the country." Locating at Minneapolis, this state, he began working on farms in that neighborhood, but presently went down into Texas, where for nearly four years he was engaged in the government service. While in the latter state he also engaged more or less in the real- estate business and did quite well. In 1885 Mr. Masterlar married and came to Reno county to "settle down." He bought a half section of land in Langdon township and there established his home, soon becoming recognized
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as one of the most substantial farmers in that part of the county. He im- proved his place in excellent shape and in addition to general farming en- gaged quite extensively in stock raising and did well. In March, 1912, Mr. Mastellar retired from the farm and moved to Arlington, where he has since made his home and where he is very pleasantly situated. In order to have something with which to occupy his time after retiring from the farm, Mr. Mastellar took the local agency for the St. Paul Insurance Company and has been quite successful in that line.
It was in 1885 that D. H. Mastellar was united in marriage to Emma A. May, daughter of Andrew May, of Iowa, and to this union three children have been born, Guy, May and Josephine. the first named of whom died in early youth. Mr. and Mrs. Mastellar are members of the Methodist church and during his residence on the farm Mr. Mastellar served as a member of the board of stewards of the local church in that neighborhood for twenty years. In his political views. he is "independent." giving his voting prefer- ence to fit men rather than to mere party emblems.
JOHN U. SCHOONOVER.
No history of pioneer days in Reno county could be regarded as com- plete without fitting reference to the life and the works of the late John U. Schoonover, one of the pioneers of Haven township, this county, and a man who for many years exerted a wide and wholesome influence, not only upon the lives of his immediate neighbors, but upon the common life of the entire community in this section of the state. An honored veteran of the Civil War, an industrious and progressive farmer and an earnest citizen, ever devoted to the advancement of all movements and measures designed to improve conditions hereabout. Mr. Schoonover did well his part in early days in this county and left a good memory. His widow, who still survives, was a most valuable and competent helpmeet to her husband and also proved a fine force for good during the days of the development of proper social and civic conditions in this now well-established and prosperous community.
John U. Schoonover was born at Kenton, Hardin county, Ohio, March 15. 1844, son of Jacob and Lucy ( Walter) Schoonover, both natives of New York state, who settled at Kenton, where Jacob Schoonover was engaged as a carpenter the rest of his life, his death occurring in the early fifties. For thirty-five years he had been a deacon in the Presbyterian church,
Elma J Schoonover
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of which his wife also was an earnest member, and their children were reared in that faith. There were six of these children, Charles, Edward, George, John U., Lucy and Hattie. The elder brother, Charles, is still living at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The two daughters, both of whom are married and still living, long have made their home in Omaha, Nebraska. George Schoonover died from illness contracted during his service in the Union army at the time of the Civil War. In 1853 the Widow Schoonover moved with her younger children to Nevada, in Story county, Iowa, where she spent her last days, her death occurring in the early sixties.
John U. Schoonover received his elementary education in the schools of Kenton and Nevada, Iowa. He was thirteen years of age when he went to Iowa with his mother, who died three years later. At a little less than eighteen years of age he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War in Company E, Third Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in at Keokuk on June 9, 1861. The Third Iowa saw much active service and Mr. Schoonover participated in some of the severest engagements of the war, including the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg and Hatchies River, and the Yocknay exposition. At the battle of Jackson, Mississippi, July 12, 1863, he was wounded in the arm and the neck and was taken prisoner by the enemy. Declining to go into a Southern hospital, he was sent to Richmond and incarcerated in Libby prison, where he was confined for three weeks, at the end of which time, in August, he was paroled and sent on to Annapolis, at which point he was exchanged and was then sent to Indianapolis, where he was engaged in provost duty until the close of his service, being mustered out in that city on July 9, 1864.
Upon the conclusion of his military service John U. Schoonover returned to Nevada, Iowa, and there began working as a carpenter for his elder brother, Charles, who was a contracting carpenter at that place. When the Union Pacific railroad was being constructed he was engaged as a carpenter on that line and was kept busy building hotels, stations and round-houses all along the line as far west as Ogden. In the meantime. in the winter of 1868, he married and early in 1872 drove through by wagon from Iowa to Kansas with a fine team of horses and settled in Reno county. After looking over the land a bit he homesteaded a quarter of a section of land in Haven township and threw up a sod shanty on the same. It was in March that he entered his homestead and on April 26 he was joined by his wife, she having come through by train as far as Newton and by stage and team to the homestead, and the Schoonover home was established there in the little sod shanty on the plain. The first summer Mr. Schoonover
(39a)
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got out twelve acres of corn. The following winter some miscreant poisoned his fine team of horses and he was left poor indeed, being compelled to secure the assistance of a neighbor, Henry Scheele, to rent his place and put in his wheat. In addition to his early farming operations, Mr. Schoonover did considerable carpenter work for the earlier settlers, not a few of whom he had helped to locate on their claims, and gradually became pretty substan- tially established in the pioneer community. He organized the second school district in Reno county, but as the records were not made up until some time later that district appears on the record as the fourth district. At the time he located on his homestead the county government had not been organized and his humble abode was the last habitation on the trail northwest from Wichita until the Hutchinson settlement was reached. Mr. Schoonover was an ardent Republican and from the very start took an active part in local political affairs. In 1875 he was elected justice of the peace and with the exception of a period of four years, held that office in Haven township continuously until the time of his death, being known throughout this entire region as "Judge" Schoonover; and in his official capacity rendered an extra- ordinary service to the community, prospective litigants coming to him from all parts of the county to secure an adjustment of their differences out of court, his services as a mediator averting many a lawsuit. Judge Schoon- over was mainly instrumental in securing the establishment of the first post- office in Haven township in the early seventies, the office, known as "Haven," being located at a farmhouse in a convenient locality. His wife had received an excellent education and had been for some years a school teacher and was thereafter amply qualified to take a leading part in the promotion of proper social conditions in the pioneer community, she and her husband being recognized from the very start as leaders in the local life of the pioneers. During the horrid visitation of the grasshopper plague in 1874 and later their intelligent direction undoubtedly resulted in the alleviation of much distress in their vicinity, Mr. Schoonover performing admirable service as recording secretary of the relief committee for Haven township.
Mr. Schoonover gradually brought his homestead to a profitable state of cultivation and early began the raising of fine cattle, being one of the first farmers in the county to have a herd of full-blood Red-Polled Durham cattle. As he prospered he added to his land holdings until he became the owner of six hundred and forty acres in Haven and Sumner townships. Soon after the town of Haven was established he opened a hardware store there and later bought a general store in the same village, presently moving the
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former store to South Hutchinson. At one time he was a partner in the Haven Milling Company and was one of the organizers of the Hlaven Creamery Company, of which latter concern he was the president during the first eight years of its existence. In August, 1908, Mr. Schoonover retired from the farm and moved to Haven, where his death occurred the following spring, March 21, 1909. His widow is still living at Haven, where she has a very pleasant home and where she enjoys many evidences of the high regard in which she is held by the entire community.
On December 15. 1868, John U. Schoonover was united in marriage at Nevada, lowa, to Elma J. Heacock, who was born at Medina, Ohio, Sep- tember 18, 1846, daughter of Dr. Jacob and Lydia ( Rawson) Heacock, both natives of Ohio and the parents of three other children, a son, Howard, of California, and two sisters, Celistine Michener, who died in lowa, leaving two children, George and Eva, living in El Monte, California, and Eveline, wife of Doctor Williams, who died in California, in September. 1908, leaving four boys, all living in California. Doctor Heacock died in 1854. His wife had predeceased him in 1848 and their daughter, Elma, was thus left an orphan at the age of eight years, being cared for thereafter in the home of her father's niece at Vernon, Indiana, where she lived until she was twelve years old, at which time the family moved to Marshall county, Iowa, alter moving to the town of Nevada, in Story county, that same state, where she com- pleted her common-school education, after which she spent the winter of 1864-65 at the Iowa State University. For two years, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, she had clerked in a dry-goods store and upon leaving the university began teaching school and was thus engaged until her mar- riage to Mr. Schoonover, she then being twenty-two years of age. Upon coming to this county Mrs. Schoonover took an active part in the develop- ment of the pioneer school system and for six years rendered admirable service to the public as a member of the school board, while in many other ways she contributed of her talents to the creation of proper social condi- tions hereabout.
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