USA > Kansas > Reno County > History of Reno County, Kansas; its people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 74
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In April, 1906, Clyde Bay was united in marriage to Ruby Denzel, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri, daughter of Thomas Denzel, a prominent grocer of that city, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Ken- neth. Mr. Bay is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
EADS E. SHIVE.
Eads E. Shive, one of the most active and progressive young bankers of Reno county, cashier of the Farmers State Bank at Turon, and who has been a resident of that thriving little city since 1904, is a native son of Kan- sas, having been born on a pioneer farm in Harvey county, September 3. 1879, son of John W. and Mary J. (Byers) Shive, the former of whom was born in Barren county, Kentucky, August 1. 1841, and the latter, near Monti- cello, lowa, January 4, 1853, pioneers of Harvey county, this state, both of whom are still living, having for years been prominent residents of Burton, this state.
John W. Shive was reared on a farm in Kentucky and when the Civil War broke out enlisted in Company K, Ninth Regiment, Kentucky Volun- teer Infantry, for service in the Union army, and served with that regiment until the close of the war, a period of three years and three months. The Ninth Kentucky, Colonel Crider, was attached to the command of General Buell and participated in such notable battles as that at Shiloh and at Stone's River, in which latter engagement Mr. Shive was severely wounded. 'In 1871 John W. Shive came to Kansas and homesteaded a quarter of a section
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of land in Harvey (Lake) county, which he still owns. He became prom- inent in the early affairs of his community and in 1885 engaged in the bank- ing business in the neighboring city of Burton and has been thus engaged ever since, though for some time past practically retired from active business. He is still hale and hearty and continues to take a warm interest in general affairs and for many years has been regarded as one of the leading citizens of Burton. He is an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, a thirty-second degree Mason and a Knight Templar. To John W. Shive and wife four children were born, those besides the subject of this sketch being Joseph T., a banker at Galesburg, this state; Sallie, who married H. V. Hackley, a real-estate dealer at Hutchinson, this county, and Ella, a bookkeeper in her father's bank at Burton.
Following his graduation from the high school at Burton, Eads E. Shive entered the University of Kansas at Lawrence and after a year there returned home and began to take an active part in the conduct of his father's extensive affairs, taking an interest both in the operation of the farm and the bank, in the latter capacity being engaged as bookkeeper and assistant cashier of the Burton State Bank for five years, at the end of which time he came to Reno county, in February, 1904, locating at Turon, where he assisted in the organization of the Farmers State Bank of that place, which opened for business on March 4, that same year, and has ever since been serving as cashier of the bank. During his residence in Turon Mr. Shive has been an active promoter of every live proposition for the advancement of the best interests of that growing little city and is regarded as one of the best "boosters" in the place, taking as a motto for the bank with which he is so prominently connected : "The bank that made business good in Turon."
At the breaking out of the Spanish-American War in 1898 Eads E. Shive enlisted for service in Company E. Twenty-first Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Infantry, at Hutchinson, and served with that regiment until the close of the war, most of which time was spent in camp at Chickamauga. anxiously awaiting orders from headquarters to proceed to Cuba. Mr. Shive is an active member of the Spanish-American Veterans Association, a thirty- second degree Mason. a Knight Templar, an Elk and a member of the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest. He is a Republican and since locating in Turon has given his thoughtful attention to local politics, being deeply interested in the affairs of good government. Besides his handsome home at the northeast corner of Burns and Nebraska avenues, Mr. Shive is the owner of a ten-acre
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tract in Turon and is looked upon as a very substantial citizen, one of the leaders in the business life of the community.
On January 4, 1905, at Chase, in Rice county, this state, Eads E. Shive was united in marriage to Flora A. Wade, daughter of Eugene D. Wade, a well-known railway locomotive engineer, and wife, and to this union one child has been born, a son, Virginia, who was born at Turon on December 23. 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Shive take an earnest interest in the general social life of their home community and are held in high esteem by their many friends in and about Turon.
NICHOLAS HOUSINGER.
Nicholas Honsinger, a well-known and prosperous retired farmer of Sylvia township, this county, and justice of the peace in and for that town- ship, who for some years has been living in his pleasant home in the town of Sylvia, is a native of Illinois, having been born on a farm in Will county. that state, September 11, 1849, son of John and Charlotta ( Bront) Dresler Housinger, the former a native of Holland and the latter of Hanover, Ger- many.
John Housinger grew up as a farmer in his native land, Holland, and was married there. His first wife died childless and he then, in 1847, came to the United States. The call for volunteers for the war with Mexico had just been issued about the time he arrived on this side and immediately after landing at the port of New York he enlisted for service and was sent to the front in Company F of an Ohio regiment attached to the command of Gen. Jefferson Davis. He served for a year and during his service received a severe wound in the thigh. "At the close of the war he settled in Will county, Illinois, where he entered a soldier's claim to eighty acres of land. In 18.18 while working in a hotel in Cook county, Illinois, in the neighborhood of Chicago, he met Mrs. Charlotta Dresler, a widow, who had come to this country from Germany with her two children the year before, and they were married without much delay, later settling on his soldier's homestead in Will county. Mr. Housinger lost little time in develop- ing his place and made a specialty of the raising of flax for some years. There being no machines for threshing the flax he made one, operative by ox power, which performed the work very well. He had to haul his flax thirty miles to Chicago, where he found an excellent market, and it was not
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long until he became a prosperous farmer, gradually enlarging his land hold- ings until he was the owner of an excellent farm of three hundred and twenty acres, besides which he had invested in one hundred acres of land in Berrien county, Michigan. In 1878 Mr. Housinger, attracted by the glow- ing word then proceeding out of Kansas, sold his place in Illinois and came to this state, settling in Ellsworth county, where he bought a tract of school land and there he and his wife spent the balance of their days, both living to be eighty-two years of age, she dying in 1888 and he in 1890. To their union two children were born, a son and a daughter, the former of whom is the subject of this biographical sketch and the latter, Minnie, who mar- ried Hite Smith, lives in Ellsworth county, this state. The Dresler chil- dren, who grew up in the Housinger household, now are both deceased, the elder, William Dresler, having died in Ellsworth county in 1900, and the younger, Mrs. Dora Stanson, in the state of Illinois.
Nicholas Housinger was reared on the home farm in Will county, Illi- nois, getting his schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home. where school was held about three months in the year. He remained with his father, assisting in the labors of the farm, until he was of age, after which he rented a farm on his own account and was thus engaged farming for two years, at the end of which time, in the spring of 1872, he married and went to Berrien county, Michigan, where he lived on his father's hun- dred-acre farm until 1877. in which year he came to Kansas and home- steaded an eighty-acre tract in Ellsworth county, at the same time buying an adjoining "eighty," and later bought a tract of railroad land, which he proceeded to develop. In 1888 he sold his holdings there and came to Reno county and rented a farm in Sylvia township. He liked the situation there so much that he presently bought six hundred and forty acres of land in that township and engaged in general farming quite profitably until the time of his retirement from the farm in 1909, in which year he built a com- fortable house in the town of Sylvia and has since that time made his home there, he and his wife enjoying many evidences of the high esteem in which they are held by all their neighbors. Mr. Housinger is a Republican and ever since settling in this county has taken an active interest in public affairs. He is now serving as justice of the peace, an office which he is filling with dignity and the duties of which he is discharging most effectively.
On May 10, 1870, in Illinois, Nicholas Housinger was united in mar- riage to Frederica Heitschmidt, who was born in the town of Gutzeau, in the province of Pomern, Prussia, November 6, 1848, daughter of John and
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Frederica Heitschmidt, who in 1854 emigrated to this country with their family, Mr. Heitschmidt working in a hardware store in Chicago until 1878, in which year he and his wife came to Kansas, settling in Ellsworth county, where they lived until 1888, in which year they moved to Portland, Oregon, where Mrs. Heitschmidt died, after which Mr. Heitschmidt returned to the home of his daughter. Mrs. Housinger, in this county, where he died in 1903, at the age of eighty-two.
To Nicholas and Frederica ( Heitschmidt) Housinger six children have been born, as follow : Alvina, born on March 15, 1871, who married Hugh Vester and lives in Sylvia township, this county ; Anna J., October 11, 1874. who married Martin Miller and lives in Sylvia township: Arno Carl, Decem- ber 15, 1876, who lives on a farm in Sylvia township; Adehlia M .. April 19, 1879, who married Charles Hopkins and lives in 'Hutchinson, this county ; Walter N., August 18. 1881, who also is a resident of Sylvia township, and Elizabeth, September 18, 1886, who married a Mr. Dixon and lives in Byers, this state. Mrs. Housinger is a member of the Methodist church, of which Mr. Housinger also is an attendant and both are active in good works, they and all the members of their family being held in high regard in that neigh- borhood.
NICHOLAS REICHENBERGER.
Nicholas Reichenberger, a well-known and progressive farmer of Sum- ner township, this county, one of the largest landowners in that part of the county, a leader in the political life of his neighborhood and for years active in the civic affairs of that community, is a native Kansan, born in Doniphan county, this state, March 2, 1860, son of Peter and Barbara ( Leirscher) Reichenberger, both natives of Germany and pioneers of Kansas, the latter of whom is still living at the advanced age of eighty-five years.
Peter Reichenberger was a Bavarian and grew to manhood in his native land, becoming an expert cabinet-maker. As a young man he came to the United States and settled in New York City, where for ten years he worked at his trade and where he was married. In 1858 he and his wife and their two small children came to Kansas and settled in the town of Doniphan, a pioneer village in Doniphan county, where Peter Reichenberger opened a cabinet-making shop and also became an undertaker and coffin-maker, it being the custom in those days to make coffins to order. In 1871 he bought
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a farm in the Doniphan neighborhood and in 1874 he and his family moved on to the same. Later in life Peter Reichenberger and his wife moved to Brown county, this state, where he died in August, 1898, and where his widow is still living. They were earnest members of the Catholic church and their children were reared in that faith. There were twelve of these children, five of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having three brothers, A. M., F. P. and Benjamin F., Brown county farmers, and a sister, Margaret, unmarried, who lives with her aged mother.
Nicholas Reichenberger was the third in order of birth of the twelve children born to his parents. His early schooling was obtained in the schools of Doniphan and he was fourteen years old when the family moved to the farm, where he grew to manhood, an able assistant in the labors of develop- ing the home place, and became a very efficient farmer. Upon reaching manhood's estate he bought a small farm, rented some other land adjoining and started farming on his own account. When twenty-five years old he married and in July, 1893, bought a half section of land in Sumner town- ship, this county, in sections 25 and 26, where he established his home and where he has lived ever since. Mr. Reichenberger has greatly improved his place and has added to his acreage until he is recognized today as one of the most substantial farmers in that part of the county. He is a broad- minded, progressive, up-to-date farmer and has done well, he and his family being very well situated in their comfortable home in the Mt. Hope neigh- borhood. Mr. Reichenberger is an ardent Republican and for the past fifteen years has served his party as precinct committeeman. He has served the public as township treasurer and before the days of the direct primary was always a delegate to his party conventions.
On April 14, 1885, Nicholas Reichenberger was united in marriage to Katherine Hess, who was born in Doniphan county, this state, daughter of Nicholas and Kate ( Delcude) Hess, both natives of Bavaria, who came to the United States, locating for a time in Pennsylvania, whence they came to Kansas, settling in Doniphan county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Reichenberger eight children have been born, namely: Anna, unmarried, at home: Mary, who married John Ast and lives on a farm in Summer township; Lucy, who married U. S. Fisher and lives on a farm in Sherman township, Sedgwick county, this state: Clotilda, who married Michael Ast and lives on a farm in Sumner township, and Joseph, Philomena, Ella and Barbara, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Reichen- berger are members of the Catholic church, earnest supporters of St. Joseph's
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parish, and their children have been reared in the faith of that church, the family being active in parish affairs generally and in all neighborhood good works. Mr. Reichenberger is a member of the Knights of Columbus and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
ROBERT E. LEE CALBERT.
Robert F. Lee Calbert, a prominent citizen of Medora, Kansas, was born in Simpson county, Kentucky, January 31, 1866. His parents were John Wesley and Jane (Evans) Calbert. His mother, born in Tennessee, died in February, 1886. His father was born in West Virginia in 1834, and still lives in Kentucky with his sons. When very young, John W. Cal- bert was brought to Kentucky by his father, who was a blacksmith, and here he learned the trade of a shoemaker. He served three years in the Con- federate army, and was badly wounded in the service, his leg being almost shattered by a shot. After the war he followed farming and also drilled and blasted wells. His children are as follow: Robert E. Lee, of this review; John C. and Frank, both farmers of Barlow, Kentucky; William, a farmer living near Paducah, Kentucky, and Mary, now deceased.
Robert E. Lee Calbert had little advantages in the way of an education. He attended the subscription schools of his home district for three terms, and at fifteen worked for a year as a farm hand in Tennessee, after which he worked at farm labor in Shelby county, Illinois, until the fall of 1884, when he hired to John Wittorff, a ranchman on the north line of Reno county. Kansas. For four years he worked for Mr. Wittorff, and for various Ger- man farmers in that neighborhood. In 1887 he proved up on a claim in Wichita county, Kansas, later trading it for a team of horses and a wagon and harness. He then rented the Knoll farm northwest of Hutchinson, and he and his brother-in-law farmed this place for three years. He then rented farm land in Medora township, and finally purchased eighty acres of land adjoining Medora, farming that and other land. In August, 1910, he pur- chased the William Poulton hotel and grocery and has since conducted them. About 1900 he became an auctioneer and has cried all the sales for miles around since. While still farming he started a blacksmith shop, which he now operates in Medora. He has managed the Medora grain elevator for a year and a half for the Hutchinson Milling Company.
Mr. Calbert was married on June 10, 1887, to Della W. Flannigan, of
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Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her parents were Madison and Caroline (Taylor) Flannigan, the former of whom was a Civil War veteran. In the winter of 1886. Madison Flannigan and his family left Michigan, moving to Reno county, Kansas, and after their daughter's marriage, made their home with her the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Calbert are the parents of the following children: Bertha, the wife of O. A. Kinley, of Medora, has three children, Dale, Ruby and Hazel; Ruby, the wife of George Mitchell, of Medora, and has one daughter, May; Lee Madison, William, George, Dorothy, Pearl. Cecil Robert and Sidney Lysle.
Mr. Calbert is a Republican in politics, and has served on the Medora school board for seventeen years. He has been a Modern Woodman for eighteen years, and he and his wife, though not church members, helped to raise the largest sum for building the Medora Union church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Calbert are very public-spirited and are earnest promoters of civic welfare, taking great pride in the local schools and church. Largely through their efforts the Medora school has become one of the few standard schools in Kansas.
MRS. MARY COLLINGWOOD.
The story of the pioneer is always interesting. Because of the peculiar conditions surrounding Mrs. Collingwood in the early days, conditions that can never exist again and conditions that can arise so seldom in the history of any county, the author of this history desires to make a special mention of Mrs. Collingwood, for it illustrates some of the circumstances of the pioneer that shows a fortitude of character, a determination to take advantage of the "Free Land" that was held out as an inducement for the early settler by the federal government. Today when the "Free Land" is all gone, when a high value is put on every acre of soil in Reno county, the true vision the pioneer saw appears, the faith they had in the county which should stimu- late the present generation.
Mrs. Collingwood was not a farmer's wife. She was a city woman, born and reared in Cincinnati, Ohio. She heard that land could be had for the asking in Kansas, and here she came with her family, that she might get. the land for her sons. She reached Hutchinson November 18, 1872. She stayed for two weeks after her arrival with Nathaniel Cory in Lincoln township, while she looked for land for herself and sons. They had driven overland from Indiana, a long drive for a woman and nine children. She
MRS. MARY COLLINGWOOD
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homesteaded the northeast quarter of section 18, township 26, range 6. She built a house fourteen by sixteen feet in dimensions, boarded up and down, "stripped," and with a shingle roof. At this time there was not a house between her home and Texas. She lived with her children. She estab- lished the only boarding house between Hutchinson and Medicine Lodge. She was appointed the postmaster of Pretty Prairie in 1873, when the stage line was established. Charles Collins had had the stage route and mail route from Hutchinson to Medicine Lodge. Collins wanted to name the new town after Mrs. Collingwood, but she objected and suggested the name it now bears, Pretty Prairie. At first Mrs. Collingwood refused to make a charge for her meals, but no traveler would ever receive the hospitality of Mrs. Collingwood without paying for it. With a building fourteen by sixteen feet in dimensions, with nine children, all strangers who stopped at the hotel had to sleep in their own wagons. Some amusing incidents occurred in her house. A party of buffalo hunters from the east, some business men, and some professional men were storm-bound by a bad blizzard that struck them when they reached Pretty Prairie. The storm was so severe that the party had to stay several days at Mrs. Collingwood's hotel. There was only one stove in the house, a cook stove. The fierce wind blew through the house and the only way the people could keep warm was to be close to the stove. There wasn't room enough around the stove for all the visitors and the family to keep warm, so the men made up a purse and paid two of the younger children, Ella, now Mrs. Sam Demorest, and Frank, the younger brother, a dollar and a half apiece a day to stay in bed so they could get close enough to the stove to keep warm.
Mrs. Collingwood had to send to Manhattan for her hogs. She had to haul her flour and meal from Halstead, and her hay and corn from Wichita. The wood was hauled from Medicine Lodge. The wood, however, was only used to help along the fuel of the prairie, "buffalo chips," when they were wet. Mrs. Collingwood had one luxury on her table. She brought with her from Indiana seven bushels of dried apples. The hogs furnished the lard to cook the buffalo meat.
Mrs. Collingwood had considerable money, about twenty-five hundred dollars, she derived from the sale of a farm in Ripley county, Indiana. With this she bought fourteen yoke of oxen. She had five sons old enough to plow and they broke the sod on their claims. There were six quarters of land homesteaded by this family. Mrs. Collingwood had one quarter, Abner, Jennie, Thomas, Joseph and John, each a quarter. Joseph was eighteen years
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old and John sixteen when they settled on their claims. While they were under age, the neighbors never allowed anyone to interfere with them. So they all "proved up" on their claims along with the others. A claim could be held seven years without getting title from the government, and their claims showed no transfer, no mortgage ever being placed on them, and the only entry on the title is the one from the government.
In her early life Mrs. Collingwood worked in her husband's boot and shoe factory. She could make every part of a shoe, except putting on the soles. Had she been a man she would have made a great general, or been at the head of some big business enterprises. As mother she was far more than a general. Her children never questioned a thing that "Mother" did. She counseled with her children, advised with them, and there never was a moment when their respect and love ever questioned her decision. She was a typical pioneer-the kind that have transformed the former buffalo range to a thickly settled community, the kind that laid the foundation for the great prosperity that so generously blessed the labor of her hands. She passed to her reward, the end of a long life of labor and love being reached on February 12, 1916. Her body lies in the mausoleum at Hutchinson. The memory of her deeds of kindness will be recalled by her neighbors and friends, the inspiration of her life will lift other lives and will be a bless- ing to her sons and to her daughters as long as they live. The events that would ordinarily be set down in a sketch are attached to this sketch as out- lining the opportunities for good that came to Mrs. Collingwood. But this brief mention of her active life, appealed so to the one who knew of her life, who writes this history of Reno county, and records the deeds of its pioneers, that they who live here now, and those who will come after, may have a small appreciation of what privations were endured by the pioneers, among the worthiest of whom was Mrs. Collingwood.
Mrs. Collingwood's maiden name was Mary Newman. She was a native of Ohio, having been born in the city of Cincinnati, August 24, 1826, daugh- ter of Abner and Elizabeth ( Arbigast) Newman, the former of whom, a prominent building contractor at Cincinnati, was born in Ripley county, Ohio, in 1799. and died on June 6, 1871. His wife was born on August 25. 1801. They were married in Cincinnati in 1821 and to that union eight children were born, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch was the third in order of birth, the others having been as follow: Christina, born on May 6, 1822, married Z. H. Mason and died in Orange county, Florida ; Joseph, May 19, 1824, died at Oakland, Kansas: Matilda. November 27, 1828, who married Charles Seymour : George, May 21, 1831, who was an
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