USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 18
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RESIDENCE OF JOHN E. FROST
RESIDENCE OF CAPT. GEORGE M. NOBLE
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cabin home of Louis Gonvil and family, which preceded any of the houses erected upon the site of Topeka, was destroyed by the flood. The channel of the Kansas River was then some distance south of the present channel, and the river not so wide as in after years. The Gonvil house was built on land lying about the middle of the present river channel, and a short distance below the present bridge at the Kansas avenue crossing. In commenting upon this storm several years prior to the great flood of 1903, Fry W. Giles said : "At the site of Topeka the river's breadth was from the line of Third street on the south to the bluffs, two miles to the north of its usual channel, the water standing to a depth of 20 feet. Such a flood now would destroy many million dollars' worth of property." A further reference to this early flood is found in W. W. Cone's "Historical Sketch of Shawnee County :" "During the flood, Major Cummings, Paymaster of the United States Army, wishing to cross from the south to the north side of the Kansas River, near Topeka, stepped into a canoe at about the corner of Topeka avenue and Second street, and was rowed from there to the bluffs in Soldier township, the water being twenty feet deep over the ground where North Topeka now stands. One of the Papans lived in a house on the island just above the bridge. This house stood the flood until the water came above the eaves, and then was washed away. The island at that time was a part of the main land."
COLONEL HINTON'S REMINISCENCES.
Col. Richard J. Hinton, an early friend of Kansas, who died in London, December 20, 1901, made his last visit to Topeka in January, 1900, and delivered an address, "On the Nationalization of Freedom," before the Kansas State Historical Society. Incidental to the address, he gave some reminiscences of Topeka which are appropriate in this connection,-"I have been strolling about Topeka," he said, "trying to find landmarks. It is forty- five years since I crossed the Kansas River and entered Topeka. Certainly there is a vast change. I am delighted with the beauty of the location, the breadth of your streets and the homelike attractiveness that I see about me. When I first crossed the river, the associations and surroundings were cer- tainly of a much different character. My party was one of the companies that came in from the north to assist the Free-State people against the Southern invaders. We formed the rear guard of that column of over one thousand men by whose aid the conflicts at Franklin, Washington Creek, Titus Camp and Osawatomie were fought and won. There was at that time a little town on the north side of the river, known as Indianola, which has no existence now. It was then the seat of a border ruffian colony. Approaching within a short distance of Indianola, we could see from rising ground a great com-
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motion in the straggling street. Men were hurriedly riding backward and forward with guns across their saddles. Immediately dividing our little com- pany, we surrounded the place and captured ten or twelve mounted men, who, we afterwards learned, were preparing for a raid upon Topeka. The town of Topeka had been left with only its women and children, the men having gone to Lawrence to assist their comrades. I remember making a personal capture of the man supposed to be the leader, while he was engaged in emptying powder and shot into a pair of old boots, swung on either side of his saddle-bow. We did them no special harm, but as I rode along with my little company I recall that we had ten or twelve more mounted men than when we started.
A WELCOME ARRIVAL.
"We were ferried across the river early in the afternoon, and as we landed here all of the few inhabitants were on the bank to meet us. The intended raid from Indianola had been made known to them, but our presence was entirely unsuspected, and we were given a cordial welcome. Edmund and William Ross, who were publishers of the Free-State paper, had a little stone building partly finished. Nearly all of our men were printers from Boston, and we made a camping-place for that night of the unfinished printing office, remaining there until early the next day, when some of the citizens returned from Lawrence. It is a great delight to wander about and travel across Kansas-to me at least-seeing as I do the growth of town, village and farm, where memory takes me back to days when all was open plain, when the buffalo could be found in great herds, when the nearest Eastern railroad station was 400 miles from the Missouri River, at Iowa City, and the Southern one was 400 miles down the river, at Jefferson City. Being in Topeka recalls to me the stirring events of your history and the brave deeds of your pioneers. My young manhood was spent here, and now in the mellower days of my seventh decade, I have lost none of my good feeling, and very little of my interest in the country's welfare, and in the achievements that make or mar the same. Kansas is a great State, and, as one who helped to make and mould her, I shall remain proud of her progress until I hear Gabriel's call."
TWO MORNING SCENES.
In his account of the founding of Topeka, December 5, 1854, Fry W. Giles paints a word picture of the first morning in the city's history: "No cloud was within the bounding horizon ; the atmosphere clear, cold and highly rarefied, revealing to the astonished vision objects far beyond its usual ken,
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and those at hand in strange expanse ; the broad belt of timber emerging past the highlands from the unknown west, and stretching far away to the east, holding in its dark embraces the river of Kansas, its presence there anon re- vealed by vista-views of cyrstal ice, radiant with morning light. The general topography-the limitless field of ever-varying, never-tiring undulations, symmetrical beauties every one-called forth devout gratulations, alike for faculties which find delight in form, and these natural objects to satisfy their cravings. The great sun poured its flood in genial rays of red askance the plain, dissolving frost to dewdrops on the seared grass, and inviting the per- ceptions to the pure and the picturesque. Memory turns to such a morning, and amid such surroundings beholds a little group of men standing against the sky on yonder plateau, exchanging glances of doubtful recognition, and contemplating with eager interest the scene of life's labors before them."
In closing this volume the writer may speak of another morning in Topeka-a morning in June instead of December. The same river threads its way in silence to the sea. The same creeks meander through winding vales and tufted groves. Fifty years have passed, and what was then an echoless plain is now a city of 50,000 people, at the high tide of 20th century prosperity. A city in which mills grind unceasingly, and the smoke of many factories mottles the clouds. A city with fifty daily railway trains, five thousand buzzing telephones, a model street-car line, paved thoroughfares, luxurious homes, fine business blocks and every modern utility. It is 1905 instead of 1854 in Topeka. Colleges and schools are graduating scores of young men and women to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, missionaries, artisans, merchants, engineers, clerks, and workers in every field of human endeavor. News- papers, libraries, churches and other agencies are stimulating the moral and intellectual advance of the community, and directing the march of progress with a martial hand. It is June instead of December, banks of roses instead of drifting snow. The prairies of fifty years ago are green with waving corn, golden with ripened wheat, and purple with the first bloom of the alfalfa. From school house and dwelling the flag of freedom and happiness floats in the Western air-of all airs the blandest; and above is the arching sky of Kansas-of all skies the fairest and truest. It is June in Topeka, the June of 1905.
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D. W. Jlon formout WID .
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dana le Stamente
Representative Citizens
DAVID WASSON STORMONT, M. D.
With the death of Dr. David Wasson Stormont, at his beautiful home in Topeka, Kansas, on August 18, 1887, was brought to a close a useful and well-rounded life, rich in good deeds and dear to the memory of thousands. He was born September 26, 1820, at Princeton, Gibson County, Indiana. His father was a substantial man of that locality who was able to give his son the advantages of a college education.
Dr. Stormont received his degree in 1845, and began and continued his practice until 1859, in the village of Grand View, Illinois, in the meantime adding to his medical knowledge and surgical skill by post-graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1862 he sought the attractive field offered by the rapidly growing city of Topeka, with which city he was identi- fied during the succeeding 25 years. He was connected with many medical organizations and was a strong supporter of the movement that was organ- ized to spread a knowledge of advanced methods and to require a higher standard of medical education for the profession. For a number of years he was secretary of the State Board of Health. In practice he was all that could be desired in a physician, adding to this medical skill the true sympathy of a tender-hearted man. The influence Dr. Stormont wielded, both directly and by his stimulating example, was not confined in its effects entirely to the medical profession, but was apparent in the promotion of educational and philanthropic works.
On October 30, 1848, Dr. Stormont was married to Jane Cree Smith, of Grand View, Illinois. This estimable lady survives and it has been her pleasure to not only carry out many philanthropic plans of her late husband but to erect at Topeka enduring monuments to his memory. In the Stormont Medical Library and in The Jane C. Stormont Hospital and Training School for Nurses are public gifts which will bring blessings in their wake for gen-
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erations. Other public buildings have profited by her generosity while her helping hand is continually extended in support of innumerable charities. The hospital was established in 1895, at which time Mrs. Stormont gave the building lots and the sum of $20,000. This institution has since been en- larged and has achieved grand results in the field of charity. Mrs. Stormont gave to the Stormont Medical Library books to the value of $5,000 and for its maintenance endowed the library with the same amount. She also con- tributed the sum of $5,000 to the support of the Topeka Free Public Library.
The late Dr. Stormont was no politician, but he always took a deep in- terest in public matters and was the advisor of many prominent political and business organizers, his high character and sterling integrity making his sup- port very valuable. During the administration of President Lincoln he was appointed receiver of public moneys at Topeka. His remains rest in the Topeka Cemetery under a monument of enduring granite, typical of the strength of his character and also of the long-continued remembrance of his fellow-citizens.
Mrs. Stormont resides in a handsome home at Ingleside, and is sur- rounded by many friends of long years standing. Portraits of Dr. and Mrs. Stormont accompany this sketch.
HON. W. C. WEBB.
HON. W. C. WEBB, deceased, was for many years a leading political factor in the State of Kansas, as well as an honored member of the Shawnee County bench. Judge Webb was born in Pennsylvania, coming from a family of lawyers, legislators and soldiers.
The father of Judge Webb and his three brothers were lawyers, two of the brothers being district judges and one a circuit judge, and his three sons are also lawyers, and six of the eight have been elected to the legislative halls of their various States. His grandfather was a private soldier in a Connecticut regiment during the Revolutionary War; his father and grand- father both served as private soldiers in the second war with Great Britian, 1812-15, and Judge Webb and his three brothers, his oldest son and his sister's two sons, all served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
After the close of the Civil War, in 1866, Judge Webb came to Kansas. His earlier life had been one of industry and activity and he had already reaped many laurels. He commenced his career as a practical printer and he edited and published a Democratic paper for some years in Pennsylvania, but left that political organization on account of its pro-slavery attitude, and
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in 1854 he assisted in the organization of the Republican party. Shortly after his admission to the bar, he removed to Wisconsin and enlisted from that State and after the close of three years of service had won the rank of colonel through personal bravery.
During his residence in Wisconsin, Judge Webb supported Republican principles, was there elected several times to the Legislature and was made county judge and district attorney. After coming to Kansas he was three times elected to the Legislature and held many offices, including county at- torney, judge of the District Court, judge of the Superior Court of Shawnee County and others. He was, also, the first insurance commissioner of the State and was Supreme Court reporter during the time covered from Vol. 6 to Vol. 20.
With his experience of more than 40 years as a lawyer, he made a re- markable record as a lawyer and a jurist. He was one of the best informed men in legal circles, but was not a brilliant orator or a spellbinder. His work, however, was so accurate and his conclusions so sound that he was widely consulted on intricate points by his brother attorneys, who knew that complete confidence could be placed in his conclusions. It was a matter of pride with him that the Supreme Court had upheld every bill which he had adjudged perfect. He owned one of the best law libraries in the State, and was the author of works himself, his last labor of this kind being the compila- tion of the "Revised Statutes of Kansas," authorized by the previous Legisla- ture.
In 1891 he released himself from the Republican party and became an advocate of the principles of the Populist party, and in 1896 was a candidate for the Populist nomination for chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Judge Webb died April 19, 1898, at his home, No. 827 Quincy street, Topeka, which continues to be the family residence. He was survived by his widow and four children, the latter being as follows : Sarah ( Mrs. Richard L. Walker), of Kansas City, Kansas, whose husband died in February, 1903; Linus S., of Parsons, Kansas; Mary W. (Mrs. George L. Walker), of Topeka, and Lovell H., of Winfield, Kansas.
HON. J. B. JOHNSON.
The death of Judge J. B. Johnson in February, 1899, at his home on West Sixth street, Topeka, removed one of Kansas' leading attorneys and able men, one who had distinguished himself as signally in peaceful pursuits as he had done on the field of battle. Judge Johnson was born in Mc- Donough County, Illinois, in 1841.
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When but a lad of 17 years he took up arms in defense of his country's liberties and his valiant services were of such a nature that he was given a captain's commission before the close of the war. He then entered upon the study of the law, for which his great talents especially fitted him, becoming a notable member of the profession and rising to an honorable position on the bench. He was judge of the Circuit Court of Shawnee County when that court existed and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor on several occasions. After serving several terms in the Kansas House of Representatives from Jefferson and Shawnee counties, he was chosen Speaker of the House in 1881 and four years later was again chosen Speaker. His personality was of such a character that, in a city of particularly able men, he filled a place which no other has been found to occupy.
Judge Johnson was an honored and valued member of the Lincoln Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, which had charge of the funeral obsequies, which were of a most impressive nature. After a beautiful sermon by Dr. Linus Blakesley, of the First Congregational Church, the mortal re- mains of one who had been loyal in every relation of life were taken in charge by his comrades, who paid them every military honor before leaving them in the vault which had been prepared in the Topeka Cemetery. A wealth of the most beautiful blossoms to be secured, arranged in every artistic design to express love and regret, had been sent in token of the honor, affection and respect entertained by his professional brethren, business asso- ciates and the general public. The active pall-bearers on this sad occasion were: Judge Charles F. Johnson, of Oskaloosa, Kansas; Dr. George W. Hogebloom; Charles Blood Smith; Judge W. A. Johnson; Capt. R. M. Spivey and George W. Findlay. The honorary pall-bearers, appointed by the Topeka Bar Association, were : Judges S. A. Kingman, A. H. Horton, D. M. Valen- tine, S. H. Allen, John Martin, John T. Morton, John Guthrie and Z. T. Hazen.
C. H. GUIBOR, M. D.
Few members of the medical profession in the State of Kansas have been more justly entitled to eminence than the late Dr. C. H. Guibor, whose death took place at The Jane C. Stormont Hospital, Topeka, on September 22, 1901, as the result of an operation made necessary by an aggravated stomach trouble, which his own great knowledge and skill could not cure. Dr. Guibor was born in St. Louis, Missouri, January 4, 1842, and was a son of Augustus and Edith (Harrington) Guibor.
Dr. Guibor's parents removed from St. Louis to Peru, Illinois, when he
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was a child, and there his father was extensively interested until 1860 in the manufacture of plows. When our subject was 18 years old, the family removed to Colorado where the father engaged in mining, in which he met with considerable success. The youth was at an age when the adventurous life of the mines, mountains and changing population attracted him and he never lost interest in that section where he subsequently owned vast properties. Prior to the location of the family in Denver, in 1873, Dr. Guibor had been sent East to begin his medical studies and these he pursued to graduation at Rush Medical College, Chicago, subsequently being attached to the St. Luke Hospital staff as interne.
After closing his medical student life in Chicago, Dr. Guibor located for practice at Iowa Falls, Iowa, happening to go there just in time to find his services needed in a smallpox epidemic. This trying ordeal for a new physician was successfully lived through and the experience he gained was of the greatest value to him, while his fidelity to his patients marked a notable phase of his character, one which made him honored and beloved through his entire professional career. In 1875 he moved to Beloit, Kansas, where he practiced until 1887-88, when he went back to Chicago to take a post-graduate course along the lines of what later became his specialty. One year later, his health failing, he came to Topeka, where he opened an office and purchased a home at No. 822 Buchanan street. Later he purchased the present handsome family residence at No. 1015 Harrison street, where his family still reside.
Dr. Guibor was known as one of the most thoroughly competent specialists in the diseases of the nose, throat and lungs, in Kansas, was a member of the staff of physicians of the Santa Fe Hospital Association, and he was called all over the State for consultation in the treatment of difficult cases. During his residence at Beloit, he was a member of the State Board of Medical Examiners and a large portion of his time was then spent in con- ducting examinations in the various county-seats in Eastern Kansas. During his time of general practice, he held membership in all the medical societies of the day and held every office in the Kansas State Medical Society. He had read extensively and traveled widely and his culture was as genuine as his information was general. He was a man of large means, owning an immense lumber camp and sawmill in Arkansas, considerable real and personal prop- erty in Kansas, Illinois and Colorado, many mining and banking interests and was the largest stockholder in the Little Bay Lumber Company. He enjoyed his large income in that it enabled him to carry on various philanthropic enterprises. The extent of his private charities will never be known, for the hundreds who came with empty hands to profit by his skill were freely treated and as carefully tended as were those who had fortunes to offer to regain health.
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On June 16, 1879, at Beloit, Kansas, Dr. Guibor was married to Mrs. Fannie Bross, who still survives, with a daughter, Edith, and a son, Charles, the latter of whom was at school at Jarvis Hall, Mount Clair, Colorado, at the time of his beloved father's death.
Dr. Guibor was never active in political life. He belonged to no fraternal societies but was a member of the Topeka Club. To himself his probable death was an accepted fact, but to his family it came as an un- expected calamity. After two months spent on the shores of Lake Michigan, his health had seemingly so much improved to their loving eyes, that they awaited the results of the operation with thoughts of a happy future. Dr. Guibor was of an exceptionally genial and cordial disposition, generous and kind of heart, and devoted to his family, his home, his city and his profession.
HON. PARKISON I. BONEBRAKE.
HON. PARKISON I. BONEBRAKE, banker and prominent and representa- tive citizen of Topeka, Kansas, was born September 25, 1836, in Preble County, Ohio, and is a son of Rev. George Bonebrake.
For many years the father of Mr. Bonebrake filled the arduous duties of circuit rider in Ohio so faithfully that his health became impaired, necessitating his retirement, in middle life, from the ministry of the United Brethren Church. During our subject's boyhood, he removed to Iowa and embarked in a mercantile business.
Parkison I. Bonebrake enjoyed excellent educational opportunities, lay- ing the foundation in the common schools and subsequently attending Cornell College at Mount Vernon, Iowa. His business education was acquired in his father's store and this he put to good account when he came to Topeka, in the summer of 1859. This was early in the city's life and men of his ability and enterprise were welcomed as they were needed. He soon became identified with public affairs, in 1866 being elected county clerk by the Re- publican party, in which office he subsequently succeeded himself for four terms. In the meantime he had so gained the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, irrespective of party, that when he became a candidate for the Legislature he received every vote cast in his district, a unique condition of affairs and a marked testimonial to his sterling character. The financial ability which has later made him noted as a financier all over the State was very apparent when he drafted the excellent assessment and taxation laws which stood on the records for many years. In 1876 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of State Auditor, to which office he was elected soon
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after, and Mr. Bonebrake is one of the few men who have served in a State office for three consecutive terms.
In 1882, upon retiring from the auditorship, Mr. Bonebrake declined other political honors, desiring to give his attention more closely to personal affairs. He organized the Central Bank of Kansas, and subsequently was one of the prime movers in the organization of the Central National Bank of Topeka, of which he was elected president, an office he has held for 21 years to the present day, his careful, conservative direction of the bank's affairs making it one of the soundest institutions of its kind in the State. The other officers of the bank are as follows : Charles S. Downing, vice-president; Edwin Knowles, cashier; F. C. Thompson, assistant cashier. The directors include the president and the vice-president and the following well-known capitalists and business men of Topeka : Charles J. Devlin, V. B. Kistler, H. P. Dillon, Charles S. Gleed, A. S. Johnson, Eugene F. Ware and J. D. Norton. The latest statement of the bank, as rendered to the Comptroller of the Currency, November 10, 1904, is as follows :
RESOURCES.
Loans, Discounts and Securities
$845.969 55
Overdrafts
711 09
U. S. Bonds and Premium
334,400 00
Real Estate
11,500 00
Furniture and Fixtures
2,500 00
Redemption Fund with U. S. Treasury
12,500 00
Cash and Sight Exchange
437,825 76
Total
$1,645,406 40
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock Paid In
$250,000 00
Surplus Fund
45,000 00
Undivided Profits
18,413 93
Circulation
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