USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
275
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
"He was elected mayor of Topeka, for 1870 and 1871. One day he was informed that a faro-bank was in operation over the Wells, Fargo & Com- pany express office in the city of Topeka. Armed with a warrant he and sev- eral policemen started to raid the building where the nuisance was kept. Finding the entrance to the building closed, the mayor ordered a large meat axe to be brought, and then instructed the marshal to take the axe and break open the door, and the order was promptly obeyed. The faro-bank and fixtures were secured, and were valued at $625, and burned in a public street in Topeka, by order of the mayor. The pugnacious Col. C. R. Jennison had his faro-bank burned in Topeka, in 1871, by order of the mayor. No saloon man got a license with which to debauch the citizens of Topeka during Mayor McAfee's administration. He was a terror to evil-doers. For four terms he was a member of the Kansas Legislature and served on the temperance committee.
"In 1893-94 Rev. J. B. McAfee delivered over 100 lectures and sermons in as many Kansas pulpits, in the interest of prohibition, when the anti-pro- hibition people tried to elect a Legislature for the purpose of calling a con- vention that would annul the prohibition amendment of the constitution of Kansas. He labored and traveled in Kansas at his own expense under the auspices of the State Temperance Union. He likely did more than any other man in Kansas to thwart the plans and hopes of the liquor men of his State. Though he was not a party Prohibitionist, yet the party of Prohibitionists were more willing to trust him on this subject as chief executive of the State than his own party was.
"The Kansas Prohibitionist, a party paper, said of Rev. McAfee: 'He is the peer of any man who is named in connection with the office of chief magistrate. A life-long temperance man, he is without blemish; a fearless defender of the right, his integrity is unquestioned. If the people of Kansas want a Prohibitionist Governor, there stands J. B. McAfee. Match him.'
"In 1873, Brother McAfee suffered a bleeding of the lungs for the third time, and was so low that he was speechless. Two of his neighbors were very ill at the same time; their doctors gave them brandy as a remedy for their disease and affirmed that it helped them much. Rev. Mr. McAfee's doctor urged him to take some brandy, and affirmed that if he did not take it, he would be in the next world before the next morning. He refused to take the brandy, and as he could not speak, he wrote on the slate: 'Well, Doctor, I will be sober when I get there.' The doctor missed his guess for the brother is alive and well now, twenty-eight years after the event. The two patients that took the brandy never recovered, but died in a short time afterwards.
"The people of Kansas may well congratulate themselves that Kansas has furnished a counterpart to the renowned Pennsylvanian, Rev. John Peter
276
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
Gabriel Muhlenberg, son of the patriarch Muhlenberg of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. The former doffed the clerical robe of the pastor and attired himself in the military uniform of a soldier. He was made a colo- nel, major general, Member of Congress, United States Senator, and died October 1, 1807. Had our J. B. McAfee been clothed with the needful authority and properly sustained by the people, he would have suppressed the rum and beer rebellion in Kansas, in the latter part of the 19th century, as Washington suppressed the whiskey rebellion in Western Pennsylvania in the latter part of the 18th century.
"We are glad in concluding this sketch to say that Rev. Mr. McAfee is still active in life's affairs, and lives, highly respected in Topeka, Kansas, where we hope he may yet be spared many years of usefulness."
Mr. McAfee is the only survivor in this State of the organizers of the Lutheran Synod of Kansas. It was through his labors that the first five Lutheran churches of Kansas were organized and they long felt the influence of his presence and the assistance of his purse. He is a valued member of Lincoln Post, No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of the Kansas State Historical Society, one of its directors, and it owes much to his interest and careful research.
The following appeared in the Central Christian Advocate of September 7th, 1904:
"On his seventy-fourth birthday, Rev. J. B. McAfee, a veteran Lutheran clergyman in Kansas, wrote to Dr. D. H. Fisher a letter which deserves publicity : .
Dear Brother Fisher-I see in the Daily Capital of August 6th that you are in the Buena Vista Hospital, Little Orleans, Maryland. I am very sorry that there is any occasion for your being in a hospital. I do hope and pray that you may soon be restored to health again. I have had the pleasure and honor of knowing you and your good work in Kansas for about forty-eight years. You have been the most faithful and untiring worker in the Master's vineyard in all these years that I have ever known. Kansas is truly better because you have lived in it. You never waited for opportunities to do good; you made the oppor- tunities. You never waited for the enemies of the church and good government to attack you; you went forth to meet them in the byways and highways. To you more than to any other person are we indebted for constitutional prohibition in Kansas. I well remember, thirty-seven years ago, when you offered in the State Temperance Convention the first reso- lution looking to constitutional prohibition in Kansas, and after the resolution was voted down, you held it high in your left hand, as high as you could, and exclaimed : "Brethren, I do believe God will spare my life to see the principles of this resolution embodied in the constitution and laws of Kansas." God not only spared you to see it, but to be one of the most important factors in securing it.
During my almost fifty years of residence in Kansas I know of no one who has worked so hard and so faithfully and efficiently to secure good laws and good government and to advance the cause of Christ in this State. May the Almighty hand of that loving Savior who led a sinking disciple from a grave in the waters of Galilee lead you safely, day by day, down the pathway of life, safely through the valley of the shadow of death, and in the morning
HON. CHARLES CURTIS
279
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
of eternity may you hear the welcome plaudid of "Well and faithfully done." Brother, it won't be long until you will rest your weary head within your loving Savior's arms. Soon we will meet and greet each other in the land of the blest, in the home of the redeemed. God bless you. Most fraternally yours, J. B. MCAFEE.
P. S .- I am seventy-four years old today."
At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1852, in the parlor of the Theological Seminary, Rev. Mr. McAfee married Anna R. Yowler, and they have two daughters: Celeste, who was married in 1874 to D. H. Forbes ; and Emma Virginia, who was married on the same day to Judge D. C. Nellis; and one son, Henry W., who married a sister of Judge Nellis of Topeka, in 1880. Rev. Mr. McAfee has retired from active life. As he re- calls the many stirring incidents he can but feel that, while the path led often over rugged heights, he was permitted to place many landmarks on the way and it has led into quiet pastures at last.
HON. CHARLES CURTIS.
HON. CHARLES CURTIS, who is serving his seventh term as Representa- tive of the First Congressional. District of Kansas in the United States Congress, stands unique among all the members that Kansas has ever sent to that body, in that he is a native of the State. He was born in North Topeka, January 25, 1860, and is a son of Capt. O. A. and Helen (Papan) Curtis. His father was born in Indiana, moved to Kansas in 1856, and with a regi- ment of this State saw hard service during the Civil War, being captain of Company F, 15th Kansas Vol. Cav.
Maternally, Mr. Curtis is of French and Indian blood. His maternal grandfather, Louis Papan, was a native Canadian Frenchman and was one of the representatives of the great Hudson Bay Fur Company. Louis Papan's wife, Julie Gonvil, who was named in the treaty between the United States and the Kansas or Kaw tribe of Indians in 1825, was a daughter of one of the heads of the tribe.
Charles Curtis received a good education in the schools of Topeka. He is a self-made man and can well take pride in his achievements. While work- ing his way up, he read law and was admitted to the bar, passing a rigid examination in 1881. Almost immediately he entered politics, for which he has a natural aptitude, being elected county attorney of Shawnee County in 1884 and reelected in 1886. He made criminal and corporation law a spec- ialty while in the practice, being engaged as counsel in the celebrated Spend- love and some 25 other murder cases. In 1892 he ran for Congress on the
280
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
Republican ticket and was elected by a majority of 2,800 over the Fusion candidate in a district that had given the Fusion candidate of the campaign before a majority of 5,000. He was reelected in 1894, 1896, 1898, 1900, 1902 and in 1904. In 1897, the Populist Legisla- ture changed the First and Fourth districts of the State so as to throw Shawnee County, his home, into the First District with Judge Broderick and thus made sure of defeating one or the other for renomination. Mr. Curtis is a member of the ways and means committee, the most prominent and im- portant committee of the House, his appointment being made on the strength of his record without outside indorsements. He is the second member of the committee on Indian affairs in the House, and is its acknowledged leader on all matters requiring technical knowledge of the subject. He was selected as one of the Republicans on the House committee of II members, whose duty it was to prepare a bill for the settlement of the financial policy of the country. The bill reported by this committee was afterwards enacted into law. Mr. Curtis had the honor of introducing the bill that provided for the carrying out of the administration policy of President Roosevelt and Secre- tary of War Taft, in regard to the admission of the products of the Philip- pines into this country. He is an ardent friend of the old soldier and proud to belong to the Sons of Veterans, of which organization he is a valued member. Although dignified in manner, with much of the reserve of his Indian parentage, he is easy of approach and always frank and obliging. He speaks easily and well, his earnestness commanding the attention of his asso- ciates in the House, where the majority merely talk "to the record." As a campaign speaker he is primed with good stories. Among his colleagues he is often referred to as "John A. Logan II," his resemblence to the "Black Eagle" of Illinois being most striking although he is of slighter figure. He is a personal friend of President Roosevelt and is a welcome visitor at the White House.
Mr. Curtis was united in marriage November 27, 1884, with Anna E. Baird, and the following children were born of their union: Permelia J., Harry K. and Leona V. His family are active members of the Baptist Church, in the support of which he is most liberal. A portrait of Mr. Curtis accompanies this sketch.
CAPT. PATRICK H. CONEY.
CAPT. PATRICK H. CONEY, one of Topeka's most successful lawyers, is a veteran of the Civil War and during his many years residence in Kansas has fought with relentless vigor for the protection of the rights of the old
281
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
soldier, his widow and orphans. He was born in Newbury, Vermont, March 10, 1848, and is a son of Luke and Honor Berry ( Reddy) Coney.
The genealogy of this family is traceable back to Laogare, ancestor of the Southern Hy Nials, a son of Nial of the Nine Hostages, King of Ire- land, in A. D. 379.
Luke Coney, father of our subject, was born in County Roscommon, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in 1839, locating in Boston, Massachusetts. Thence he removed a few years later to Vermont, where he met and married Honor Berry Reddy, at White River Junction in 1844. From there they removed to Newbury, Vermont, and in 1850 located in the towns of Macedon and Walworth, Wayne County, New York. Mr. Coney was a hard-working man, and although at times it was difficult for him to make prosperous headway he was successful in giving his children a common school education. He is now living at the home of his son in Topeka, at the advanced age of 92 years.
Patrick H. Coney worked in boyhood on a farm during the summer months and worked for his schooling during the winters. When 15 years of age, he enlisted in Company H, 111th Reg., New York Vol. Inf. He was detailed as dispatch bearer on the staff of General McDougall, and was later promoted to be orderly dispatch bearer on the staff of Gen. Nelson A. Miles, and served in that capacity up to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. He was transferred June 5, 1865, to Company H. Fourth New York Heavy Artillery, and served until October 5, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Hart's Island, New York. He was wounded at Peach Orchard in front of Petersburg, Virginia, on June 16, 1864, which detained him in hospital for 60 days. In November, 1864, he was absent for a period of 15 days to attend the funeral of his mother, who was killed in a railroad accident at Palmyra, New York, on returning home after assist- ing in the work of caring and providing for the sick and wounded soldiers in the Rochester (New York) hospitals. Captain Coney was in the most im- portant engagements of his regiment in the great Army of the Potomac, from Gettysburg to Appomattox Court House, more than 30 in all, his regiment losing in killed and wounded 412 out of a total of 1, 103 men in the fighting line.
After his discharge he returned to his home in Walworth, Wayne County, New York, where he attended the Academy, graduating therefrom in April, 1867. Removing to the "Sunflower" State, April 21, 1867, he lived at Leavenworth until 1881, attaining prominence as a business man, student, writer and publicist. Since that year he has been a resident of Topeka. He founded and published the first exclusively soldier and sailor paper in the West,-the National Banner, which was subsequently merged into the Knight
282
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
and Soldier and afterwards the Western Veteran. In 1885 he was admitted to the bar at Topeka, and afterwards to the United States District and Supreme courts. He has practiced as a lawyer in all the courts, and in all the departments of the government since making a specialty of pensions and war claims. He has prosecuted and procured the allowance of more pensions for comrades and their widows and orphans than any or all of the attorneys in the entire West. He has been the special, resistless champion of his comrades and their rights, through all trials and tribulations, through good and ill report. It is safe to say, no comrade, his widow or orphan, however poor or desperate the case, ever asked him for assistance in securing his or her just dues and was denied the same. Captain Coney fearlessly and ably exposed the perfidious and false "Cleveland-Lochren" administration and defended his comrades and their widows against the wicked and disloyal assaults on all pension claimants and pensioners. He was first and strongest to arraign the administration of H. Clay Evans, ventilating his conduct of the Pension Office. He pinioned Evans in the most masterly manner, expos- ing him in detail as no other person dared to do, and he did so at the peril of his extensive practice before the Pension Office and the Interior Depart- ment. He successively and successfully arraigned him before Congress and before the national and department G. A. R. encampments, and brought him justly before the bar of public opinion and public justice, thereby forcing him out of the Pension Office in the face of the strongest forces in the nation that were sustaining Evans. Captain Coney and Capt. J. G. Waters brought quo warranto proceedings against the County Board of Shawnee County to compel county boards to technically respect and obey the law for the burial of soldiers, which was favorably decided by the court. He also, with David Overmyer as assistant, instituted the quo warranto proceedings in the Su- preme Court against Mayor Bergunthal and the city of Topeka in behalf of H. K. Goodrich to compel compliance with and to test the constitutionality of the "Soldiers' Preference Law," which was sustained and held to be constitutional for the first time on March 12, 1904. Captain Coney received no compesation for services in either of these cases, in fact they resulted in considerable financial loss to him. It was a labor of love and duty to him, and he fought where others sulked. His voice for over 20 years has been heard, respected and heeded in the national encampments, and he is now the best known, respected and loved comrade of the West, not alone in Kansas but in the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Captain Coney has one of the finest libraries in the city of Topeka, and recently received from his close personal friend, Lieut .- Gen. Nelson A. Miles, a copy of the latter's recent book, bearing on the fly-leaf the authors auto- graph and kind wishes. The library also contains many of the choicest,
283
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
rarest and costliest publications ; among them are genealogies of Irish families and other races.
Captain Coney has always affiliated most actively and prominently with the Republican party and although not an office holder or seeker, he has, since attaining the age of citizenship, been one of the party officials, being chairman of the City and County Central committees of Leavenworth County when only 22 years of age. He was a member of every State convention of his party in Kansas for 34 years, and served more or less in the councils of the party as an officer, delegate, representative or public speaker without compensation or reward during all his public political life. He was president of the Republican Silver League of Kansas.
In the great political campaign of 1884 Captain Coney took a prominent part in support of Blaine and Logan, the standard-bearers of the Republican party. As Blaine was his ideal statesman, and Logan his ideal representative of the volunteer soldier of America, the ticket appealed to him as no other had done since the attainment of his majority. Although the ticket went down in defeat, his interest in the Republican cause did not wane or waver. and in the succeeding campaigns, both national and State, he was active with voice and pen in the defense and dissemination of Republican principles. He helped to turn the tide of Populism in Kansas, to prevent the overthrow of civil government, and to restore the State to the Republican column. In 1888 he canvassed New York for Harrison and Morton, and received the special commendation of the Republican National Committee for his efficient service. For some years thereafter he was closely identified with the Topeka Daily Capital, the leading Republican organ of the State, and provided funds for its operation in every emergency that confronted it, through a period of serious business depression, when it had no political patronage to fall back upon, and the company's financial resources were inadequate to maintain it. Many other instances might be given of his devotion to the interests of his party and the welfare of his political associates and personal friends. Responding to every call of duty as a citizen, performing much more than the average citi- zen's share in public matters, and laboring zealously in every campaign for the advancement of the party and its candidates, Captain Coney has neither held nor sought official position, preferring his home, his books, his business affairs and his private station, to all the fleeting rewards and glories of office.
Captain Coney joined Custer Post, No. 6, G. A. R., at Leavenworth, in 1870, and with others reorganized Lincoln Post, No. I, of Topeka, in 1881. He organized Rice Post, now Topeka Post, No. 71, G. A. R., and served as its commander. He was elected department commander of Kansas G. A. R. at Parsons, Kansas, May 24, 1905. He is a member of the Irish National Alliance, and has been a stanch advocate and supporter of its movement for
281
HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY
an independent government for Ireland. During the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, he organized, promoted and successfully conducted, as president and general manager, the Lapland Exhibit Company. He is a member of Orient Lodge, No. 51, A. F. & A. M., of Topeka; Capital City Tent, K. O. T. M .; Irish American Historical Society; New England Society of Kansas; State Camp, No. 75, W. O. W .; Capital Lodge, No. I, Select Knights and Ladies ; and U. S. Grant Command, No. I, U. V. U. All Kansas knows and respects him, for he has "stood up" for this State and her interests and welfare with eloquent voice and pen for more than 38 years.
CHARLES F. SPENCER.
CHARLES F. SPENCER is one of the leading members of the Shawnee County bar. He was born in Johnson County, Indiana, June 22, 1854, and is a son of George W. and Ann (Brewer) Spencer. His father was a native of New York State and after living in Michigan and Indiana for a time came to Kansas in 1856 as a Free-State man, and located in Topeka, which con- tinued to be his home up to the time of his death, in January, 1881. He was one of the most prominent and respected residents of Shawnee County.
Charles F. Spencer came to Topeka in the spring of 1857 and has lived here continuously ever since. He received his education in the common schools and Topeka High School, read law in the office of A. H. Case, was admitted to the Shawnee County bar in 1878, and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession at Topeka.
In 1883 he was elected county clerk of Shawnee County on the Demo- cratic ticket and served one term. He was one of the two Democrats first elected to office in Shawnee County. In 1889 he was appointed by Governor Humphrey as the Democratic member of the Board of Police Commissioners of the city of Topeka, was reappointed by the same Governor in 1891, and served four years with Dr. Francis S. McCabe and P. I. Bonebrake as the other members of the board.
Mr. Spencer was a Democrat up to the time his party became fully allied with the Populist party, at which time he became a Republican. He was elected city attorney of Topeka as a Republican in 1901, reelected in 1903, and served four years. At the expiration of his service as city attorney, he was employed by the mayor and council to compile and revise the ordi- nances of the city.
Mr. Spencer was married in 1884 to Belle Alexander, a daughter of Col. W. D. Alexander, who died at Topeka in 1899 and was one of the most
285
AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
honored and esteemed residents of Shawnee County. One son was born as the issue of this marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer have a very comfortable lıome in Topeka.
Mr. Spencer has for many years been a member of the Kansas State Bar Association. He has a very high standing for ability and integrity at the bar, and the best of records in each of the public positions held by him.
HENRY HOBART MILLS.
For many years the late Henry Hobart Mills was a part of the commer- cial life of Topeka, Kansas, one of the founders and the active head for many years of the well-known dry goods house of H. H. Mills & Sons, now known as the Mills Dry Goods Company. Mr. Mills was born at Geneseo, Livingston County, New York, November 21, 1827, and after an unusually busy and successful life passed away at his home, No. 1105 Polk street, Topeka, November 7, 1901.
Mr. Mills passed his boyhood in Livingston County, New York. When he was 15 years old the family moved to Michigan and settled on a farm in VanBuren County, in the vicinity of PawPaw, where the youth grew to manhood, assisting his father in clearing and operating the pioneer farm. He cleared a farm out of the forest for himself, disposed of it in 1857, and moved to the village of Howell, Livingston County, Michigan, where he engaged in the mercantile business, which he conducted for the following 28 years. In 1885 the business field presented by the wonderful activity dis- played at Topeka led him to cast in his lot with the business-builders here. With his son, William W. Mills, as one of the partners, the dry goods firm of Mills, McPherson & Company, was established, later becoming H. H. Mills & Sons. Upon the reorganization of the business and the change of title to that of The Mills Dry Goods Company, the officers were: William W. Mills, president ; Charles Emery, vice-president ; W. H. Whitton, secre- tary ; and H. H. Mills, treasurer.
Through all the varying fluctuations in the business and financial world, this company kept on its way, under the firm control and wise management of its officials, mainly directed by the experience of its founder, and to-day it stands as a monument to the ability, energy and recognition of the sound business principles of Henry Hobart Mills.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.