USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 64
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In 1897 Dr. George Von Leonrod was united in marriage to Anna Weigel, who was born on a farm nine miles west of Hutchinson, this county, daughter of Louis and Jane Weigel, Pennsylvanians and early settlers in Reno county, both of whom are still living, and to this union three children have been born, Kunigunda, born on January 2, 1900; Margaret. August 5, 1906. and Anna, in March, 1908. The Von Leonrods have a beautiful home at 1020 North . Main street in Hutchinson, built in 1912, of "classic-colonial" style, presenting a very atrtactive appearance on the prominent corner which it occupies. Doctor and Mrs. Von Leonrod take a proper part in the social
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and cultural life of the city and are concerned in all movements designed to promote the general welfare of the community.
Doctor Von Leonrod is a member of the American Medical Association, in the affairs of which he takes a deep interest and ever keeps abreast of the advances being made in his exacting profession.
GORDON S. RUTHERFORD.
Gordon S. Rutherford, the son of William and Elizabeth (Jackson) Rutherford, was born in Montreal, Canada, October 19, 1875. William Rutherford was born in Jedburgh, Scotland, and emigrated to Canada as a young man, where he established the William Rutherford & Sons Lumber Company. He was successful in business and the company did a large busi- ness. He died at his home in Montreal on July 30, 1903. Elizabeth Ruthi- erford is a native of Bigger, Scotland, and is still living, at her home in Montreal.
Gordon S. Rutherford was educated in the graded and high school of Montreal. after which he took a course in the McGill University and then received his diploma from both the high school and the university. The latter institution conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Applied Science.
In April. 1897. Gordon S. Rutherford became associated with the Tecumseh Salt Company at Detroit. After two years he was engaged by the Sarnia Salt Company at Sarnia, Ontario, and remained with them for thirteen months. On July 1, 1900. he associated himself with the Solvay Process Company and was stationed at Detroit, Michigan, until May I, 1908. From 1908 until May, 1912, he was with the company at the main works at Syracuse, New York, when he was transferred to the Hutchinson plant. as manager, which position he still holds.
The local plant was originally the Hutchinson Chemical and Alkali Company and later reorganized as the Kansas Chemical Manufacturing Company, being operated for a time under that name by the Solvay Process Company, then leased in 1913 by the later company for ten years, with the privilege of purchasing the same, at the end of that time.
The plant is located in the northeast part of the city and comprises two hundred and fifty acres. G. T. Lee is the engineer. L. C. Hughes, chief chemist. Otto N. Stevens, work superintendent, L. W. Apgar, chief clerk and E. C. Moore has charge of the traffic.
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The principal product manufactured by the plant is soda ash, which is used extensively in the making of glass and crockery wares, soaps and all washing and cleaning compounds. The soda ash is obtained from salt and limestone, the salt being obtained in this vicinity, while the limestone comes from the company's quarries at Moline, Kansas, being shipped in the cars of the company. One of the things that makes the plant a possibility in this section, is the abundance of water supply, which is necessary in the cooling process in the manufacture of the soda ash.
The company employs two hundred men at the plant in Hutchinson and one hundred at the quarries in Moline, thus making them the largest single employers of labor in Hutchinson. The company does not carry any liability insurance for its men, but from the time of any accident, all medical attention, hospital fees and medicines are paid by the company, and the party receives half pay for the time disabled.
The Solvay Process Company is incorporated under the laws of the state of New York and is capitalized at fifteen millions of dollars. The Kansas Chemical Manufacturing Company is capitalized at seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It pays twelve thousand dollars in taxes to the city, county and state, which is more than any other company in the city of Hutchinson.
Gordon S. Rutherford is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Tem- plar and a Shriner. He is a member of the Commercial, Country and Rotary Clubs of Hutchinson and a sustaining member of the Young Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Rutherford owns a handsome residence at 528 Sherman avenue, East, where he and his family reside.
JOHN WITTORFF.
Among those citizens of Danish birth and lineage who have played an important part in the development of the agricultural resources of Reno county, Kansas, is John Wittorff, who came to this county during the early stages of its growth. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, when that part of Germany belonged to Denmark, on February 27, 1846. He is the son of Claus and Katherina (Karson) Wittorff. The Wittorff family were ancient landholders of Holstein and founded the town which bears their name. The first member of the family to leave the town of Wittorff was the
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grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Timm Wittorff, who settled in Kellinghusen, in another section of Denmark. Born in a land bounded on two sides by the sea it is only natural that the Wittorffs became seamen ; those members of the family nearest in line to the subject of this sketch were employed on the river boats that ran on the Stear river, a small tributary of the Elbe, near the North Sea. Each member of the family was a devout member of the Lutheran church. The maternal grandfather of John Wittorff was Hans Karson who followed the occupation of a shep- herd. He was a man of unusually strong physique and handsome coun- tenance. Claus Wittroff, who was born in 1805, was married twice, his second wife being. Katherina Karson, who died in 1906, and the husband lived to be ninety-one years old. To this couple the following children were born: John, the subject of this sketch, who is the eldest child; Hans, who came to the United States in 1869 and who follows the occupation of a farmer in Inman, Kansas; Anna, who became the wife of Claus Steinbock and who remained in Germany with her husband until her death which occurred in 1913, and Katherine, the wife of John Geotje, who resides in the city of Kiel. in Holstein, Germany.
The life of the subject of this sketch has been as full of adventure as it has of interest. He was educated in the government schools of his native land and upon completing the course prescribed, worked for two years with his father on the river boats. Later he received employment in a brewery. where he worked for two years. After working at the carpenter's trade for a short while, he learned the process of making wooden shoes, an occu- pation that was profitable at that time. The wages paid to laborers in Denmark and Germany were so meager as to seem almost incredible to those of this country. The subject of this sketch, as a boy, received two cents a day for hired farm work and after he reached the age of seventeen worked as a farmer during the entire year for the sum of twenty-one dollars.
In the year 1867. when the German government began to draft men for the army. John Wittorff. after being drafted, ran away and after many days of travel found himself in Hull, England. From Liverpool he sought passage on one of the immigrant ships and after a voyage of several weeks landed in New York. From that point he went West to Chicago, and arrived in that city with just fifteen cents, with no knowledge of the English language and with no friends that he knew of on this side of the Atlantic. From the time of his arrival in this country, the fortitude and firm purpose
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of achievement of the subject of this sketch became evident and his adapta- bility to the customs of this country was remarkable. In less than a year he had saved enough money to send for his brother, Hans, who seized the opportunity to visit the United States and who landed here in 1869.
The first employment in which John Wittorff was engaged in this · cotintry was on the old Vincennes railroad which ran between Indianapolis and Vincennes and after that he received work with a Quaker preacher who resided near West Baden, Indiana. After the arrival of Hans Wittorff, the two brothers worked for Ezra Alleman in Morgan county, Indiana, and when they had saved sufficient funds for transportation, sent for their two half-brothers, Claus and Henry, to come over from Denmark. Clans Wittorff died in Indiana in 1877, and his brother Henry passed away in 1914, at Medora, Kansas.
The two brothers, John and Hans Wittorff, came to Kansas on Sep- tember 1, 1870. The trip was made on the Santa Fe railroad to Emporia, from which point they road in a mail coach to Chase county, where they went to work for Rufus Ice. The following year, John Wittorff came to Reno county, to look for a suitable homestead. While stopping at the place where the town of Hutchinson now stands, the subject of this sketch saw C. C. Hutchinson, founder of the town which bears his name, and had a conversation with him. Mr. Hutchinson asked Mr. Wittorff to report as soon as located as he wanted to organize the county and said. "We will have a nice little town here some day." Upon this another man spoke up, "And I will have a store here and some goods coming on a wagon from Newton." Then Mr. Wittorff asked if he had "anything that you can sell us now." And he replied, ""I have nothing but a fifty-pound sack of corn- meal, but I will divide with you for a dollar." The subject of this sketch thereupon bought half a sack of the meal for a dollar, and this is recorded as the first purchase of merchandise ever made in Hutchinson.
On January 6, 1872, John Wittorff began his task of homesteading upon land located in the southwest part of section 34. in Superior township, McPherson county, Kansas. He was the first settler in Superior township and for three years lived in a dugout which was later replaced by a sod house. During the years spent on this tract of land he endured many of the hardships of that locality and period. After he had successfully passed through the grasshopper plague of 1874. he was obliged to fight the floods of that section of the country and one year had his crops burned out by the hot winds. When the floods became more frequent he decided to move and
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in 1878 went to Little Valley township. McPherson county, and settled in section 36. Upon this land he lived until 1908, when he returned to Reno county, and here in Yoder township built a beautiful country home, which is surrounded by one hundred and eighty acres of land in Medora township, one hundred and sixty acres in Centerprize township, one hun- dred and sixty acres in Texas county, Oklahoma, and eight hundred and seventy-two acres in the Panhandle of Texas. He has given up most of his attention to gardening which he followed for some time and devotes the greater part of his time to cattle and hog raising. In his political interests. Mr. Wittorff votes independently of any party, and has served in the county as justice of the peace.
The marriage of John Wittorff to Jennie Sanders, a native of Marion county. Indiana, and the daughter of Francis and Nancy ( Berkely) San- ders, took place on May 11, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Wittorff are the parents of the following children: Katie, who was born on October 16. 1872. became the wife of J. B. Hodge and is now living in Denver, Colorado; Oscar, who follows the occupation of a silversmith, lives in Oregon; Carl is an automo- bile mechanic and resides in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Edna, the youngest child, died at the age of two years.
JOSEPH WALTER KING.
Joseph Walter King, a well-known and well-to-do farmer of Center township, this county, now living at Partridge, from which place of resi- dence he directs his extensive farming operations, is a native son of Reno county, having been born in Center township, this county, January 11, 1875. son of Rufus and Ella ( Cecil, King, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Illinois, who were pioneers and prominent residents of this county, having been among the earliest settlers in Center township.
Rufus King was but a baby when his parents moved from Tennessee to Illinois, and in the latter state he grew to manhood. His mother died when he was a child and his father married again. after which the boy, Rufus, left home, he being then but nine years of age. When sixteen years old he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War, enrolling in the Ninety-sixth Regiment, Ilinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for four years, during which time his most serious casualty was the Jon of the end of one of his fingers, which a bullet clipped off. He was cap-
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tured by the enemy at one time and for several months suffered incarcera- tion in Libby prison. At the close of the far, Rufus King returned to Han- cock county, Illinois, and there married Ella Cecil, who was born in that county on March 17, 1855, after which he rented a farm and there made his home until he came to Reno county. It was in the spring of 1872 that Rufus King and William Cecil came to this county on a prospecting trip and were so well pleased with the outlook that they decided to put in their lots with those of the pioneers on this frontier. Rufus King homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 22, in Center township, constructed a dugout on the place and then returned to Illinois for his family, shortly thereafter installing them in the little sod shanty on the plain, and it was there that the subject of this sketch was born. Rufus King was an excellent farmer and from the very first prospered in his farming and cattle operations, presently becoming the owner of nine hundred and twenty acres of fine land. In 1886 he and his wife retired from the farm, having given to each of their four sons a quarter of a section of land, and erected a fine house in Partridge, a village just being organized in the center of the county, where they were very comfortably situated and where Rufus King died on July 7. 1909, he then being sixty-nine years of age. His widow, who still survives him, is now making her home at Arlington, this county. They both were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were among the leaders in the organization of the Asbury Methodist church.
To Rufus and Ella (Cecil) King four children were born, sons all. namely: C. Edward, a well-known farmer living in Arlington township. this county ; George, now retired, living at Orange, California; Joseph W., the subject of this biographical sketch, and Ira, a retired farmer, now living at Arlington.
Joseph W. King was reared on the homestead farm in Center town- ship, receiving his education in the Partridge schools, and remained at home until his marriage, at which time he received, in the distribution of the estate. the old homestead quarter section, including the old home, which he still owns and which, by the way, is said to be the only quarter section in Center township that has never had a mortgage on it. Mr. King made his home there until in February. 1907, at which time he and his family moved to Partridge and have since then lived in the house his father erected in that village. He has done well in his farming operations, and in addition to his homestead farm is the owner of an eighty-acre tract one-half mile south of there. He rents out his farm and directs the operation of the same from his established home in Partridge.
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On December 28. 1899. Joseph W. King was united in marriage to Ivy Bowles, who was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, daughter of John · and May ( Johnson ) Bowles, who came to this county in 1881. John Bowles was a good farmer and became the owner of a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres. - His wife died in 1908, at the age of forty-six years, and he is now living at Arlington, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. King two children have been born. Milton, born on February 21, 1901, and Helen Marie. February 23. 1915. Mr. and Mrs. King are members of the Meth- odist church and take an earnest interest in the general welfare of the com- mitinity in which they live.
LORENZO V. WHINERY.
Lorenzo V. Whinery, one of the generous and most popular farmers in Reno county, sprang from substantial Quaker stock of Ohio. Born near Guerneyville, Clinton county, Ohio, May 26, 1864, he is the son of Zimri W. and Annie ( Brand) Whinery, both natives of that county and both members of the Society of Friends.
Lorenzo Whinery's paternal grandfather was also named Zimri. His great-grandfather came from Ireland to Pennsylvania, where became a Quaker. Zimri, Sr., who early settled in Clinton county, Ohio, was a prom- inent Friend of that place, and it was in his old age that he moved his family to Marshall county, Iowa, where he died. Lorenzo Whinery's maternal grandparents were Vinson and Maria Brand, farmers of Clinton county, Ohio.
Zimri Whinery. Jr., grew up in that county and owned a farm after his majority, near Guerneyville. He was, during the Civil War, "a squirrel hunter" as the people of the part of Ohio were called, who took up arms to drive back General Morgan during his famous raid. In 1878 Zimri Whinery took his family and five hundred dollars in money and settled in Reno county, Kansas. He arrived at eleven o'clock at night. The next morning he "got busy" and by evening he had purchased a farm and had moved out to it with a team, wagon and plow. The purchase was made of Brown & Brigger, of Hutchinson, and consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of railroad land, located in the southwest part of Reno township.
In 1881. a combination of droughts and grasshoppers destroyed almost everything and Zimri Whinery had no way to make a payment on his mort-
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gage, and was in danger of losing his farm; so he and his family set out to seek work further west. He obtained a place as foreman of a tramway in the mines at Buena Vista, Colorado, near Leadville, while his wife cooked for his gang of men, of whom Lorenzo was one. In this way they were enabled to return home with sufficient means to pay off the mortgage.
When the Ben Blanchard South Hutchinson boom went flat, in 1889, Zimri Whinery bought a dwelling that had cost thirty-five hundred dollars and moved it to his farm. He remodeled it and it yet stands as the house on the home place, which was sold by the heirs in August, 1915. He also 'owned one hundred and sixty acres in Little River township. He was a Republican. Although reared a Quaker, he joined the Methodist church after coming to Kansas. He served for a time as township trustee, then as justice of the peace in Reno township. From 1893 to 1896, inclusive, he was clerk of the courts of Reno county. He was very active in political and public affairs all his life. He was very influential. Everyone had confidence in his word and he was consulted about everything of importance that came up in the county. He was a very successful farmer; perhaps not accumulating so much as he might on account of his exceeding generosity. He died on January 2, 1906, aged sixty-one. His wife died on May 31, 1915. Their children were Lorenzo V., Eva, whose first husband was Merton Mertz, second J. K. Johnson, and she is now married to Walter Johns, liv- ing in Cleveland, Ohio; Clifford, a farmer of Dodge City, Kansas; Clara, married William Reeves and lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
Lorenzo V. Whinery was educated at Guerneyville, Ohio. He was fourteen years old when the family moved to Kansas. This was in the tree- less, pioneer state of Kansas history, when the Sun City Trail passed his father's door to Hutchinson. At that time there were no roads on the sec- tion lines. As the eldest son, his help to his father in paying for the home was of no slight importance. In 1885, at the age of twenty-one, he drove through by ox-team to West Plains, Seward county, Kansas, and proved up a claim. He then rented farms in Reno township until he bought his present farm, the southwest quarter of section 19, township 23, range 6 west. Later he bought the west half of the northwest quarter of section 30, making his home farm contain two hundred and forty acres. He also owns a quarter section in Little River township.
In 1907, Mr. Whinery built a lovely home on his farm and planted his lawn in cedars. He keeps full-blood Shorthorns, and has a herd of one hun- dred most of the time. He also feeds a large drove of hogs each year. Like his father, he is Republican in political faith and is also very active in poli-
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tics. He has served twice as township trustee and eight years as clerk of Reno township. For twenty-one consecutive years he has been school direc- tor. He is a director of the Equity Grain Elevator Company, of Whitesides, Kansas. He is up-to-date in every way-from his comfortable home to his automobile. He is amiable, generous and one of the popular leaders of Reno county.
On July 15. 1886, Lorenzo V. Whinery married Priscilla Anna McMil- lan. She was born in 1868 in Illinois. With her parents she soon afterward moved to Missouri, and in 1872 came to Reno county, Kansas. Her parents were Daniel and Eliza McMillan. They drove through from Missouri to Kansas with team and located on section 18, in Reno township, being among the first settlers south of the Arkansas river. They spent the remainder of their lives on this homestead, her death occurring in 1890 and his in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. McMillan were natives of Pennsylvania, and were members of the Presbyterian church. They came west when young married people, settling first in Mercer county, Illinois, where their daughter, Priscilla, was born. After they came to Kansas they built a pretentious two-story house, which. not long afterward was destroyed by a cyclone, and the family lay between raw buffalo hides until the storm was over. Their son, Thomas McMillan, was a great buffalo hunter and this was the family fare to a great extent for the first years of their Kansas life.
Mr. and Mrs. Whitney have five children, as follow: Lilia, born on June 7. 1887. the wife of Noah Cassity, of Parkridge, Kansas; Glen, Novem- ber 12, 1889, at home; Zepha and Zella, twins, March 13, 1891, the former of whom is the wife of Samuel Metcalf, of Oklahoma, and the latter is at home: Pauline, November 19, 1900, at home.
JOHN HICKEY.
In a work of this character it is but fitting that there should be memor- ial mention of those brave and sturdy pioneers whose influence in the early days of Reno county's development did so much toward bringing about pro- per conditions of social and economic life in this then frontier section of the state. Prominent among the early settlers of Castleton township. this county, was the late John Hickey, who came to Reno county in 1876 and in due time became one of the most forceful figures in the life of that township.
John Hickey was a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born in
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Ireland on June 1, 1822, son of Andrew and Rachel Hickey, both natives of Ireland, who spent their lives in their native land. When a young man, John Hickey came to the United States and at the age of twenty-eight, while living in New York City, married Mary Bailey, who was born in Ireland, March 25, 1823, daughter of James and Ellen Bailey, farmers of Stag- mount. After their marriage, John Hickey and his wife came West and settled at Springfield, Illinois, where for some time Mr. Hickey was engaged as a laborer, later moving to a farm in McLean county, that same state, in 1870. In the summer of 1870 their home there was destroyed by fire, en- tailing a complete loss. In 1876, disposing of such goods as could not con- veniently be transported the distance contemplated, Mr. and Mrs. Hickey and their small children drove through from Illinois to Kansas with a cou- ple of teams and wagons, and settled in Reno county. Here Mr. Hickey traded one of his teams of horses to a "squatter" for a homestead right to a quarter of a section in the southwest part of Castleton township and there he established his home. His children still hold the original grant from the government to that quarter section, bearing the name of President Grant. John Hickey and his wife were earnest citizens and valuable members of the pioneer community. For the first few years their task seemed difficult, but with help from their children in the East and the fact that they possessed the true pioneer spirit they gradually overcame the obstacles that proved disheartening to many of the pioneers of that period. Mr. Hickey gathered buffalo bones off the plains and hauled them to Hutchinson, the money se- cured from the sale of these "natural products of the soil" being expended for seed wheat with which to get in his first crop. He presently began to prosper and gradually added to his land holdings until at the time of his death, on November 27, 1905, he was the owner of a fine farm of five hun- dred and seventy acres in Castleton township and had long been regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of that community. His wife had pre- deceased him about two years, her death having occurred on November 7, 1903. Mr. Hickey took a good citizen's part in the civic affairs of his com- munity and did well his part. He was an ardent advocate of the cause of education and for years rendered excellent service as a member of the school board. Both he and his wife had been reared as Catholics and were earnest members of that church, their children also being reared in that faith, though none now belong to it. There were eight of these children, namely : Dr. Rachael Hickey Carr, formerly head physician in the Cook County hospi- tal at Chicago, now actively engaged in private practice in that city; Mrs. Helen H. Dubois, principal of one of the leading grade schools at Indianapo-
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