USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 69
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averted, and the business put on a safe basis by Mrs. Briggs-Wall's venture. This house, one of the first in Hutchinson to branch out, continued to do a wholesale business thereafter, extending its business into Oklahoma and Colorado, and employing several traveling salesmen. The business contin- ued to prosper until it was sold on account of the death of Mr. Wall, which occurred on September 9, 1901.
In addition to his mercantile business, Mr. Wall also speculated ex- tensively in Kansas lands, in Reno, Stafford and Hamilton counties, in the former of which, he early planted orchards of peaches, pears and apples. He took much interest in horticulture, and in farming, giving their Reno county farm his personal supervision. Since her husband's death, tree plant- ing has been continued unremittingly by Mrs. Briggs-Wall, who has added catalpa groves, etc., and she most earnestly advocates the planting of shade · trees throughout the entire state, on the south side of all east and west roads, and on the west side of all north and south roads, and equally im- portant, fruit trees on the opposite sides. This, she urges, not merely for the comfort of tourists and the beauty of the country, but for safety as well. Trees benefit the climate in Kansas, and will furnish fuel in time of gas or coal famine. Public road trees add to health and happiness, and, most important of all, children will no longer be deprived of fruit by their thoughtless elders.
Mr. Wall was prominent in musical circles in Akron, Ohio, and also in Hutchinson. With a fine tenor voice he led the singing in the Univer- salist and Presbyterian churches, respectively, in these cities for many years. He was of the liberal faith, and believed in religious, political, and also, medical freedom. He was a public-spirited citizen, with broad charity and always ready to do his part in any movement or enterprise, which had for its object the benefit of the community or the betterment of humanity. At various times affiliated with the Prohibition or the Republican parties, he was always a prohibitionist, and contributed his full share to advance the cause.
David L. Wall was married on October 28, 1869, to Henrietta Briggs, eldest daughter of Daniel and Julia E. Briggs. She was born in Wads- worth. Medina county, Ohio, but her girlhood was spent in Sharon, the family having removed there when she was but a child. She received her education at the Sharon Academy and the "Encell Select Schools" at Cop- ley and at Wadsworth. Her father, of English descent, was born in Berk- ley, near Boston, Massachusetts, about 1804, and died in Akron, Ohio, in
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August, 1873. Clement Briggs, arriving from England in 1620, in the good ship "Fortune", was his ancestor. Her mother was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, May 20, 1813, and died in Hutchinson, April 29, 1896, closing a long, unselfish, and most beautiful life. Mrs. Briggs-Wall's mother, her only sister, and her only brother, spent their last years in Hutchinson, leaving her, after the death of her husband, with no relative hearer than a cousin. Her sister, Martha M. Briggs, was born in Sharon township. Medina county, Ohio, on January 1, 1855, and died in Hutchinson, on January 20, 1893. Her brother, Jerome J. Briggs, was born in Sharon township, Medina county, Ohio, October 14, 1857, and died in Hutchinson, October 30, 1886. Both, upright in character, were valued assistants in the upbuilding of the Wall & Wall mercantile business in Hutchinson, and Martha M. Briggs took entire charge of the closing out of the dry-goods stock in the town of Nick- erson, Kansas. After the death of Jerome J. Briggs, his widow, Mrs. Belle Bowers-Briggs, returned to Akron, Ohio, where her death occurred about two years later.
Mrs. Briggs-Wall took an active part in the temperance crusade in Akron, Ohio, in the early seventies and, at the state convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union at Youngstown, Ohio, she courage- ously introduced the question of woman suffrage and recommended it as a part of the work of the organization. Being successful, she was then inade the first state superintendent of franchise of the Ohio Woman's Christian Temperance Union. In carrying on this work she was at once assisted by John R. Buchtel, founder of the Buchtel College, of Akron, Ohio, who gave one hundred dollars, and Ferdinand Schumacher, also of Akron, and once prohibition nominee for governor of Ohio, who gave liberally. Mrs. Briggs- Wall then gave to each of the more than seven hundred local Woman's Christian Temperance Unions of the state, a copy of the book entitled, "The Duties of Women," by Frances Power Cobbe. Mrs. Wall was a delegate to the first national Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention held in Boston, Massachusetts, and later was appointed national secretary of the franchise department, of which Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace (step-mother of Gen. Lew Wallace), was superintendent. As national secretary, in addi- tion to much other work, Mrs. Wall raised the money to send her co-worker to the Philadelphia convention and very materially aided in placing Mrs. Wallace on the suffrage platform, where she remained, earnestly useful, until her death. By her own suggestion to Mrs. Wall, who arranged plans for her to speak en route, Mrs. Wallace visited Hutchinson twice. On her
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first visit she gave an address in the Christian church at the age of sixty- nine. Three years later, she was again the guest of Mrs. Wall, this time at the latter's home, 810 Avenue A, East, and apparently much younger, as a result of constant public speaking during the intervening years. Much of her work was in the south, where Mrs. Wallace once lived, and where she was especially successful. At the Ohio State Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union convention in Cincinnati, in pursuance of her franchise depart- ment work, Mrs. Wall, herself, gave an address, entitled, "Uncle Sam and Aunt Mary." Other places were provided by those who urged its repeti- tion, but after filling a few engagements, she unexpectedly removed to Kansas to become a woman pioneer in the business world. Immediately upon her arrival in Kansas, however, she was again appointed by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union as state superintendent of franchise, and at once secured the co-operation of the state officers of that organiza- tion, with the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, in united efforts to obtain the municipal ballot for women. In this, the Woman's Christian Temper- ance Union, the much larger organization of the two, she, as superintendent of franchise, pushed the petition work which was so essential to success. When an objecting legislator asserted that he would not -be representing his constituents, he was immediately confronted with a petition from his own home people asking for the passage of the bill. Mrs. Anna E. Wait, then president of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, later informed Mrs. Briggs-Wall that she had thought this phase of the work "providential." The multitude of petitions came, however, largely from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the united work of the two organizations brought success. For the further extension of the suffrage cause, Mrs. Briggs-Wall designed and had executed a remarkable pastel painting (about four by six feet in size ) with Miss Frances E. Willard as the center of the group, and surrounded by an idiot, a convict, an Indian and an insane man. The copyrighted title of the painting is "American Woman and Her Polit- ical Peers," and the plain purpose of the picture is to arouse people to the injustice of the fact that women are included with the disfranchised classes. The painting has thus far been exhibited at the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893. at the "Greater America" Exposition in Omaha, in 1896, also at the state and county fairs in Kansas. Copies have gone into many coun- tries of the world. Miss Willard herself did much to further the produc- tion of the painting by words of encouragement to Mrs. Wall, who had the sole burden financially, but who was able to appreciate kind words when
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the suffrage cause was by no means popular. Having been a teacher, Miss Willard knew the value of an object lesson. Quoting from the letters (writ- ten by Miss Willard to Mrs. Wall, and which are in possession of the his- torian) and referring to the cablegram of consent, sent by Miss Willard (who was spending some time in London) she writes: "I make no charge therefor, let it be my small tribute to the bright enterprise you are setting on foot ;" and, later, "I am entirely willing to go in;" and, "I hope you may have a great success."
Again when some of the photographs of the "peers" were found almost impossible to procure in the United States, Miss Willard explained that it would be still more difficult to obtain them in England, as their dependent and delinquent classes were even better protected. Fowler & Wells, of New York City, sent out their sketch artist, and obtained å portrait of John Rouse (the idiot) from a hospital in the city, and copied, from a medical work, the picture of the insane man. The chief of police, McClaughry, of Chicago, by request of Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, sent to Mrs. Wall a col- lection of photographs of criminals from which to make a selection. Finally the four "peers" were ready for the artist, W. A. Ford, of Hutchinson. Miss Willard sent various photographs of herself, and the one decided upon, was that which most resembled her at the time she was constantly on the public platform throughout the United States. This portrait of her, though in this repellent group, was said by thousands to be the finest in existence. Miss Willard greatly deplored the political classification, por- trayed by this picture, and few things more plainly evinced her desire to escape it, than her willingness to thus aid her co-workers. Mrs. Briggs- Wall, who is an enthusiastic admirer of the beautiful in nature, and in art. was grieved to feel obliged to place before the public Miss Willard's unlovely companions in this group, but felt that the unfortunate facts justified the presentation.
As to local work, Mrs. Wall was glad to aid in securing to the Equal Suffrage Association and Woman's Christian Temperance Union, lot ; on First Avenue, East, in Hutchinson. It is now owned by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and being centrally located, and quite valuable. it is hoped the property may be used by women for the public good.
Mrs. Briggs-Wall has, more recently, had the great pleasure of partici- pating in another, and less serious, phase of pioneer work, viz., the intro- duction, in Hutchinson, of Shakespearean and other out-of-door plays. This. however, by merely giving the free use of her home and grounds to the
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Mother's Club, who, to aid the day nursery, employed the talented actor, Gilmor Brown, to produce the plays. His success was, phenomenal and has proven a brilliant beginning in activities so much needed by the work-a-day western world. Mrs. Briggs-Wall was a charter member of the Hutchin- son Woman's Club and in 1914 was made a life member.
Martha M. Briggs formerly owned the "Briggs-Wall Place," and just at the close of her life, being asked this question, "What would you like to have done for you?" replied, expressing her last wish in the following words, "help the struggling." Few have more serious struggles than do mothers, with little or no means, who must take the sole care of their chil- dren ; therefore her sister especially rejoices that the place has, occasionally, been used for the benefit of the day nursery.
Mrs. Briggs-Wall has no extended knowledge of either her mother's or her husband's families. Her paternal grandmother's father was Col. John Hathaway of Berkeley, Massachusetts. Among her Briggs relatives and families, were her father's only brother, Henry Briggs, of Valdosta, Georgia, who was a physician and surgeon, and whose sons were officers in the Confederate army: Judge George Hayden, of Medina, Ohio, who was judge of the common pleas court of the counties of Medina, Sum- mit and Lorain, and who, with both brothers, served in the Union army, one of whom, Henry, lost his life in that great struggle; George G. Briggs, original and well-known pioneer fruit grower of California, with earliest peach orchards, and whose once famous raisin ranch at Davis, is now the state school of agriculture and horticulture. His practical investigations in the vineyards of Spain, resulted in the promotion of Fresno as the home of the raisin. George P. Marsh, who for eight years was United States minister to Turkey, and for twenty-one years to Italy, whose early art collection was purchased by the Smithsonian Institute, containing originals by Rembrandt and others, and from whose later art collection in Italy, was presented to Mrs. Briggs-Wall a large Italian landscape, framed in Floren- tine moulding, and entitled, "The Overflow of the River Po." When his widow. Mrs. Caroline Crane Marsh, was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Wall in AAkron, at the request of Jason Brown, a son of the historic John Brown, she assisted him in his literary efforts to prepare a reply to a magazine article which he thought derogatory to his father's memory. Mr. Brown came also to obtain information from Mrs. Wall concerning her then recent visit to California, to which place he contemplated removal. Later he brought to Mrs. Wall a plant which he had propagated, and nanied the
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"Henrietta Rose," in her honor, thus showing grateful appreciation of the slight information he had received. His subsequent life in California has already been published, also sketches of his parents' home in Akron; Sey- mour Thomas, artist, another of the Briggs family relatives, whose home was for many years in Paris, and whose portrait of President Wilson was recently placed in the White House. Mrs. Thomas, formerly Miss Helen Haskell, of San Francisco, was also an art student in Paris; Dr. Edward A. Crane, partner in dentistry, and who, with Doctor Evans, published "The American Register" both in Paris and in London for many years. Together, they saved the life of the Empress Eugenie, during the Franco- Prussian war. Still later, Doctor Crane edited the volume, "The Second French Empire," which contains a full account of the above incident : Dr. W. A. Briggs, eldest and best known of a family of five physicians in Sacramento, and whose niece, Phoebe Briggs, saved from an icy lake the lives of three fellow students at Vassar; Col. Alex. B. Crane, attorney, of Wall street, New York, and resident of Scarsdale, Westchester county, was colonel of an Indian regiment during the Civil War; also State Senator Walter D. Nichols, of Berkeley, Massachusetts, and Major Walter D. Nichols, Jr., of Abilene, Kansas, and families.
Mrs. Briggs-Wall is a woman of agreeable personality, and from the brief outline of her work and varied interests in the foregoing sketch, it is easy to believe that she is a woman of remarkable energy and business ability.
O. P. BYERS.
Coming to the state of Kansas at the age of fifteen, O. P. Byers started to work on the railroad, and concentrating his energies on that vocation he has advanced step by step from section hand to president, and is now recog- nized as one of the leaders among the far-sighted business men who are developing the resources of this state.
O. P. Byers was born near Kokomo, Howard county, Indiana, the son of J. J. and Sarah E. (Archer) Byers, the former of whom was born in Darke county, Ohio, and the latter in Orange county, Indiana. Both are now deceased.
J. J. Byers served in the Union army during the Civil War as captain in the Fifty-ninth Regiment. Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was a phy- sician, and after the war settled in Kokomo, Indiana, where he practiced
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medicine until his death in 1888, at the age of fifty-four years. He was an ardent Democrat. J. J. Byers was first married to Sarah E. Archer, to which union were born two children, J. J., Jr., who is a railroad man at St. Joseph, Missouri, and O. P., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Sarah Byers died when O. P. was an infant, and J. J. Byers was married, secondly, to a Miss Tracy, who still lives in Kokomo, Indiana.
After attending the common school and high school at Kokomo, O. P. Byers moved to Salina, Kansas, in 1878, and went to work as a section hand on the Kansas Pacific railroad (now a part of the Union Pacific rail- road system). He next worked as brakeman and then as station agent at different places on the road, and so diligently did he apply himself to the business that he was presently appointed traveling auditor and soon after- ward was made train-master.
Mr. Byers then went to work for the Rock Island railroad as sta- tion agent successively at different places in Kansas and Texas. His excel- lent service won him rapid promotion and he was finally made division freight agent, with offices at Hutchinson, Kansas. In 1885, a company was organized to build a new railroad, the Hutchinson & Southern (now a part of the Santa Fe railroad system). Mr. Byers was chosen as superin- tendent of construction and was active in getting capital interested in the undertaking. He organized the campaigns in the various townships through which the road would pass, to secure favorable action on the bond issue, and the election by which the bonds were 'secured was carried in 1887. The construction of the new road was started in 1889 and completed in 1890. Mr. Byers had charge of the construction and on the completion of the road he was made general superintendent, which position he held until 1893. when he returned to the employ of the Rock Island Railroad Company. as general freight agent at Ft. Worth, Texas.
In 1905, Mr. Byers retired from railroad service and became con- nected with the Kansas Flour Mills Company, of which he is now part owner and one of the officers. On December 6, 1912, a new railroad was incorporated and secured a charter. This was the Anthony & Northern railroad, which is being built to cross the state with a north and south line. Practically all the railroads in Kansas, especially in the western part of the state run east and west. so there is a demand for a north and south railroad. Mr. Byers was elected president of the company when the organization was perfected and is the leading spirit in the movement. Construction was begun in May. 1913. and is still being carried on. A number of towns
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS. 699
have been started along the new road, mainly through the efforts of Mr. Byers. The general offices of the railroad are in Hutchinson, and it is the intention of the officers to operate the railroad, when completed, as an independent line.
O. P. Byers is a Republican and takes a good citizen's interest in local and national political questions. He has secured a broad education through practical experience, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of his business associates.
WALTER W. PAYNE.
Walter W. Payne, a well-known and prosperous real-estate dealer of Hutchinson, this county, is a native of Illinois, having been born near the city of Bloomington, in McLean county, that state, on March 1, 1856, son of the Rev. John W. and Polly J. (Gray) Payne, both of whom were born and reared near the town of Bloomington, seat of Indiana State University, in Monroe county, Indiana, and who, not long after their marriage, moved to McLean county, Illinois, where they bought land of the government, pay- ing for the same five dollars an acre, that is now worth three hundred dol- lars an acre. In 1859 the Paynes returned to Indiana and lived on a farm near the town of Edinburg, in Johnson county, where they remained until September. 1863, in which year they moved to a farm near Plymouth, in Marshall county, Indiana, where they lived for six years, at the end of which time, in 1869, they returned to McLean county, Illinois, where they made their home until December, 1874. They then moved to Iowa and in February, 1878, came to Kansas, locating in Reno county, where they bought a quarter of a section of land in Lincoln township and lived there until 1881, in which year they moved to Holden, Missouri, where Mr. Payne was engaged as a building contractor, at the same time being occupied as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church there until he received a severe injury in a fall, after which he returned to this county and his home in Hutchinson the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1902, at the age of seventy-two years.
The Rev. John W. Payne, long known as "Uncle Johnny" Payne, was for many years a well-known "local" minister of the Methodist church. In his early manhood he became a lay preacher in the Methodist church and presently was ordained, though never regularly attached to the conference. "Uncle Johnny" Payne was a power in the pulpit. Not only was he an
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exhorter of singularly persuasive cloquence, but he was a fine singer and his services ever were in demand during revivals. Though nominally a farmer and carpenter, he ever was active in the pulpit and for many years supplied pulpits at one point or another. He and all the members of his large family took much interest in music and in the various neighborhoods in which they lived from time to time were vital factors in social and cul- tural development. "Uncle Johnny" Payne also took an active and intelli- gent interest in civic affairs and was a strong influence for good in the political affairs of the several communities in which he lived during his active years, though never having been an aspirant for public office. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, namely: Mattie, who mar- ried James Glover and lives in Beaver county, Oklahoma; Prof. E. L. Payne, who for two terms served as county superintendent of schools in this county and who for the past twenty years has been professor of mathematics in the Kansas State Normal at Emporia; Walter W., the subject of this review : Laura A., unmarried, who lives in Hutchinson; Cora, who married George Abbott and lives at Kansas City, Missouri ; Charles N., a well-known real-estate dealer in Hutchinson; Mrs. Nella P. Cowan, who lives in Kan- sas City, Missouri; May, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, and Pearl, who lives with her sister, Laura, in Hutchinson.
Walter W. Payne received his education in the public schools of Indi- ana and early became a teacher. He was twenty-two years of age when he came with his family to this county and for nine years thereafter per- formed excellent service as a member of Reno county's teaching force, assisting in the work of the home farm during the summer vacations. In the fall of 1885 he went to Kiowa county, this state, where he "proved 111>" a claim and became one of the important factors in the creation of a social order in that then pioneer region. He helped to organize the county government and was elected the first superintendent of schools of the new county, a position which he held for five years. In 1891 he returned to Reno county and was presently appointed deputy clerk of the district court, at which time he made his home in Hutchinson. He served for four years, 1893-97, in the district clerk's office and then engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, in which he ever since has been engaged. Shortly after taking up this line of endeavor, Mr. Payne moved to Wichita, where for seven years he was successfully engaged in that line and in 1906 returned to Hutchinson, where he ever since has made his home. Mr. Payne has been quite successful in his business affairs and is accounted one of Hutch-
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inson's substantial citizens. He handles mostly farm lands and has large interests in Meade county, this state.
On May 1, 1883, Walter W. Payne was united in marriage to Jennie Duncan, who was born near Oil City, Pennsylvania, and who came to Reno county in the fall of 1878 with her parents, Stewart J. and Mary Duncan, who became pioneers of the Arlington neighborhood in this county, the former of whom is now deceased and the latter still living, and to this union six children have been born, as follow: Rex V., who married Arta Jones and is assistant cashier of the State Exchange Bank of Hutchinson; Bernice, who married A. L. Carter, assistant credit man of the Cudahy Packing Company, of Kansas City, Missouri: Inez M .. in Kansas City, Missouri ; John Clifford, a clerk in the Commercial National Bank of Hutchinson : Russell W., who works for the Kansas Grain Company, and Marian, in high school.
Mr. Payne is a Republican and for years has taken an active part in political affairs. He is a forceful public speaker and his services have long been in demand by his party as a campaign orator. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Modern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of both of which orders he takes a warm interest.
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