USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 33
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JOHN D. KNOX, STEWART SHELDON.
Dr. Mcclurkin is survived by his widow and six children, namely : Mary E .; Juliett, who lives at home; Emma; Eva; Albert W. and Carrie. Mary E. is the wife of Rev. T. P. Stevenson, D. D., pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They have five chil- dren: Waldo, a minister of the Presbyterian Church and missionary to Cuba; Clara, wife of Matthew McConnell, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Helen and Eva, who live at home; and T. P., Jr., a civil engineer under Queen Wilhelmina, of The Netherlands. Emma is the wife of Rev. J. C. Gibney, of Newton, Kansas. They have two children, Albert and Harry, who are students at Tarkio College, Tarkio, Missouri. Eva is the wife of L. E. Gruber, an attorney-at-law at Lincoln, Nebraska. They have two daughters, Helen and Alberta. The only son of our subject, Rev. Albert W. McClurkin, is a Presbyterian minister of Chicago, Illinois. He married Anna Garland of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and they have three children : Eleanor, Rachel and Jean. Carrie is the wife of W. H. Meyer, a merchant at Enid, Oklahoma. They have one daughter, Lois.
IDA C. BARNES, M. D.
IDA C. BARNES, M. D., the leading woman physician and surgeon of Topeka, whose portrait is herewith shown, is a lady who combines pro- fessional skill with the attributes which make her an esteemed and beloved member of her sex. Dr. Barnes was born in Kansas and is a daughter of Jared and Sarah (Reed) Barnes. The parents of Dr. Barnes were both born in New York. They came to Kansas in 1857. The mother died in 1888, but the father, who is a retired capitalist, still lives, being a resident of Topeka.
Dr. Barnes remained in Kansas until she had completed her collegiate course at the Kansas State University, where she was graduated with the
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degree of B. A. in 1885. From early girlhood her tastes had led her in the direction of medical study, and after due preparation she entered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, where she was most creditably graduated, receiving her diploma in 1890. She remained one year in Philadelphia as resident physician in a hospital, working in clinics and absorbing medical and surgical knowledge which could scarcely have come to her in any more effective way, and then came to Topeka. She began practice in this city in 1891 and has finely appointed offices at No. 726 Kansas avenue, where she employs in her practice every pain-alleviating medium of modern days, which has received the sanction of the profession. She is a constant student and has taken advantage of a number of post-graduate courses at Chicago, where she also became experienced in the remedial use of the X-ray and radium.
Dr. Barnes is a valued member of the Shawnee County Medical Society ; of the Kansas State Medical Society; of the American Medical Association and of the Alumnae of the Woman's Medical College, of Philadelphia and the Association of College Alumnae.
She is medical examiner for a number of fraternal associations and for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. She is a lady of most enlightened views and of great force of character. Possessing in a notable way the necessary requisites for a good physician, she finds her field of work con- stantly extending. She has filled the position of chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Young Women's Christian Association of the State of Kansas for the past 13 years. Her beautiful home is located at No. 1273 Clay street. Like her parents, she is a member of the Baptist Church.
ANDREW J. ARNOLD.
ANDREW J. ARNOLD, deceased, at one time postmaster of Topeka, was for many years engaged in the drug business in this city. He was a man of considerable prominence and his death, which occurred on March 29, 1899, was mourned as a sad loss to the community.
Mr. Arnold was born in Indiana, January 3, 1845, and was one of seven children born to Ephraim and Edith (Perry) Arnold. Of these children, N. B. Arnold, the well-known attorney of Topeka, is the only survivor. The father was a man of prominence in his native State and served for many years in the Indiana State Legislature.
Andrew J. Arnold was reared and educated in his native State. When a young man he enlisted in Company G, Second Reg., Indiana Vol. Cav.,
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and served with distinction in the Union Army throughout the remainder of the Civil War. Upon his return home he located at Bloomington, Indiana, where he attended the State University, graduating therefrom in June, 1868. In April, 1870, he located in Topeka and embarked in the drug business, con- ducting a store here until his death. During the second administration of President Grover Cleveland, he served as postmaster of Topeka, giving the people faithful and business like service.
On October 21, 1869, Mr. Arnold was united in marriage with Louise Campbell, a daughter of Prof. M. M. Campbell, who for many years was identified with the Indiana State University. She has a brother who is well known as a lawyer in Topeka. Edgar Campbell Arnold, the surviving child of this union, is one of the largest and most progressive druggists of this city and is also a director of the Citizens' Bank of North Topeka, having succeeded his father as such. The only other child, Edith, died aged 16 months. Mr. Arnold was a member of the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Honor. Mrs. Arnold and her son reside in a pleasant home at No. 927 North Jackson street, where they are surrounded by many friends.
COL. JAMES BURGESS.
COL. JAMES BURGESS, one of the retired residents of Topeka, has been very prominently identified with the development of this city in which he located in 1868. He came to Kansas several years after the close of the great Civil War, in which he took a distinguished part and gained high rank for gallant and faithful services. Colonel Burgess was born at Springfield, Ohio, August 1, 1826, and is a son of Thomas F. and Elizabeth (Ream) Burgess.
The parents of Colonel Burgess were born in Virginia, of English extrac- tion. His father was a saddler by trade, a business which then included the tanning of leather as well as the fashioning of it into articles of utility. Prior to the birth of our subject, the family moved to Springfield, Ohio. About 1835 the Burgess family removed to Indiana, settling first at Richmond, but re- moving later to Hendricks County, and there our subject obtained a little more instruction in the subscription schools, supplementing that which had been afforded him in Ohio, but, in fact amounting to very little. He learned the tanning business but not with any view of following it for a livelihood. In seeking a business opening, he entered into a partnership with a resident of Belleville, Indiana, for a short time and then for a while engaged in busi-
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ness, continuing until 1852, when he moved to Danville, Indiana, where he was located at the opening of the Civil War.
His first enlistment was as a private in the three-months call for troops, in Company A, Seventh Reg., Indiana Vol. Inf., but he was elected captain and served as such until he was discharged. Upon his return home, he was selected by Governor Morton as recruiting and organizing officer for his im- mediate (Seventh) district. As each such appointed officer had his own district, he remained there until he had succeeded in raising three regiments. In the meantime the 70th Regiment had been raised, Col. Benjamin Harri- son commanding, and our subject became lieutenant-colonel under him, re- signing his position as recruiting and organizing officer and going to the front with Colonel Harrison. The intimacy then established continued after Colonel Harrison became President of the United States.
After two years of service under Colonel Harrison, Mr. Burgess was ordered back to Indianapolis to report to Governor Morton for recruiting service, and the raising of the 124th Regiment was the direct result of his efforts. He was appointed colonel of this regiment and served as such through all the various army movements and in the campaign before the fall of Atlanta, when his regiment was engaged night and day. He was honorably discharged in 1865 and returned to Indiana.
In 1868 Colonel Burgess came to Shawnee County, Kansas, and settled on a farm in Soldier township, where he remained 20 years, and then took up his residence in Topeka. He built in what was then an unsettled portion of the city (now Tyler street,-the heart of the aristocratic section) a beauti- ful home, which was erected after plans of his own, combining beauty of situation with attractiveness and solid comfort.
Colonel Burgess has been very prominent in city affairs. For 12 years he served in the City Council, during 10 of these years being a member of the committee of ways and means, and proved his thorough efficiency in promoting the needed public improvements. He also served in the Legisla- ture one session from the north side. He was long connected with the mail service, having charge of the west side station for two years under Post- master Henry King and from 1881 to 1885 he had charge of the north side station under Postmaster Thomas Anderson. He was the first superintendent of the mail carriers' district appointed on the north side. In 1886 he was elected register of deeds of Shawnee County and was reelected in 1888. His political affiliation has always been actively Republican.
Colonel Burgess was married in Clark County, Illinois, August 27, 1846, to Elizabeth M. Irons, who was born in Hendricks County, Indiana, May 12, 1829. They have had five children, the two survivors being mar- ried daughters who reside at home. Nannie married John A. Van Vechten
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and they have three children : Alba, Burgess and Mary. The second daugh- ter, Jessie, married S. J. Hodgins. The family is one closely united in af- fection.
For over a half century Colonel Burgess has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow ; he is a Master Mason in the former organization and past grand of his lodge in the latter. While in Indiana he was a representative to the Grand Encampment. Although entirely retired from active life, there is no citizen of Topeka who takes a deeper interest in her continued prosperity.
RICHARD BINNS.
RICHARD BINNS, one of the leading business men of Rossville, Shawnee County, and for the past 20 years justice of the peace, was born in 1834 in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of William and Ruth (Gibson) Binns.
David Binns, grandfather of our subject, was born in England and there followed the brewing business, which he continued after settling in Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Society of Friends and thus was led to abandon his brewery, it being against the tenets of the Quaker faith to manufacture spirituous liquors. William Binns accompanied his parents to America when eight years old. He married Ruth Gibson who was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, and they both lived to be about 70 years of age. In 1844 they moved to Eastern Ohio, settling in Harrison County.
Our subject lived in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and then in Harrison County, Ohio, until 21 years of age, having attended school in the latter county and learned the carpenter's trade. He then went to Richmond, Indiana, and there worked at his trade until 1870, when he came to Topeka. In March, 1871, he settled at Rossville, where he engaged in a hardware business for six years, and has continued to follow contracting and building until the present time. He has carried out a number of very important contracts, one of these being the first government building which was erected on the Pottawattomie reservation, which cost $4,000. In his earlier ears he also taught school, and for the past 20 years has administered the law as a magis- trate at Rossville, to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.
In 1855, in Indiana, Mr. Binns married Elma H. Hill, who is a daughter of Harmon and Mary (Henley) Hill, and they had six children, namely : Mary, wife of Elias J. Burton, deceased in 1876; William A., a resident of Los Angeles, California, married first to Anna Esson, and second, to Anna
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Higgins; Horace M., deceased, who left four children,-Grace E., Nellie, Ethel and Charles, who reside with their mother at Rossville; Frank N., residing in Los Angeles, California, who married Anna Mary Wilt and has one daughter; Anna Laura, who married Charles Smiley and died leaving two children,-Ruth and Ray; and John B., who died when 27 years of age. Politically, Mr. Binns is a stanch Republican. He has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow for many years. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
The Hill family is an old established one of Indiana, of English ex- traction. Mrs. Binns' grandfather, Benjamin Hill, was born in North Caro- lina, June 22, 1770, and married Mary Jessup. In 1802 he moved to Vir- ginia and in the fall of 1806 he moved with his family to Indiana, settling in the unbroken forest about three miles east of Richmond, entering five quarter-sections of land. Pioneer privations and hardships of all kinds were endured by the family and his first wife soon succumbed to them. He then married Martha Cox, who was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, November 28, 1779, and became a resident of Indiana in 1807. They had five children : Benjamin, Harmon, Rebecca, Ezra and Enos. Mr. Hill was an extensive farmer and he also built the flour and saw mill east of Richmond which was known as Hill's Mill. He died February 9, 1829, aged 59 years and his widow died January 25, 1867, aged 88 years.
Harmon Hill was born in Wayne County, Indiana, in 1811 and died in 1877. When he was 15 years old he worked in the old mill which remained in the Hill family until it was burned down in 1870. Later he became a farmer. He married Mary Henley, who was born in 1813 in Indiana, and they settled on the old Hill homestead in 1831. They had five children : Rebecca, Samuel, Martha Ann, Elma H. and John Henley.
RUSSELL U. FARNSWORTH.
RUSSELL U. FARNSWORTH, deceased, for a period of years was one of the representative men of Monmouth township, Shawnee County. He was born at Haverhill, New Hampshire, August 12, 1839, and died at Richland, Kansas, on January 31, 1897. He was a son of Calvin and Mary Jane (Underwood) Farnsworth.
The parents of Mr. Farnsworth were natives of New Hampshire, repre- sentative farming people of their locality. They had five children, of whom Russell U. was the eldest, the others being: Silas, who was killed in the army during the Civil War, a bullet passing through a Bible which he had bound over his heart; Robert, a Methodist preacher, who died in California; Charles,
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also a Methodist minister, a resident of New Hampshire; and Nellie, wife of Rev. Orville Clapp, of New Hampshire.
The late Russell U. Farnsworth was reared on the home farm until young manhood, when he came to Monmouth township, Shawnee County, and entered land. He then went back to New England and soon after en- listed in Company G, Third Reg., Vermont Vol. Inf., for service in the Civil War. His regiment was attached to the Army of the Potomac. From the first the life did not agree with him and he was given the position of regimental clerk, but finally his health gave way entirely and he was obliged to ask for his discharge on account of disability. For a short time he traveled through Iowa as a book agent and then decided to return to Kansas. The long journey in the open air, driving across the plains with an ox team, brought about a better state of health and when he settled on his claim he was able to begin its cultivation. He continued on the farm until he went into the implement business at Richland, with E. U. McKee, in which he was still interested when attacked by his last illness.
Mr. Farnsworth was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was unusually liberal in his support. He took a great deal of interest in public matters and was a strong advocate of prohibition, but all his life continued to act with the Republican party. He was strictly honest and upright, a man who could always be found on the right side of any movement and was one who was respected by the whole community. He identified himself with the Grange and Farmers' Alliance and he belonged also to the Masonic organization of Auburn and to the Richland Post, No. 370, Grand Army of the Republic.
Mr. Farnsworth married, first, Ellen Fairbrother, and they had two chil- dren : Josephine, wife of E. L. Hopkins, of Topeka; and Silas Herbert, who was drowned when nearly 10 years old. He married, second, Harriet Isa- bella McDowell, who was born in Illinois, December 3, 1852, and is a daugh- ter of Jeremiah and Matilda (Foster) McDowell. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Dowell were orphans and they met and married in Illinois and reared these children: Harriet Isabella; James P .; Edith A., wife of O. C. Kelley of St. Louis; Arthur, of Shawnee County; and Noble and Cora, deceased. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth were: Noble Albert, who died aged two years; Jennie A., a graduate of the Emporia Normal School, who is a successful teacher in Topeka; and Mabel Ione, her mother's assistant, who was a student in the Normal School for one year and now devotes her spare time to music.
Mrs. Farnsworth has been the capable postmistress at Richland for the past eight years. She is a lady widely known and much beloved in the com-
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munity where her late husband was also held in such high esteem. Mrs. Farnsworth's uncle, Luther Purley Foster, was prominent as a merchant and banker and resided in Parsons, Kansas, at the time of his death.
DANIEL H. KOGER.
DANIEL H. KOGER, deceased, one of the large farmers and well-known and most highly esteemed citizens of Topeka township, Shawnee County, died on his fine farm of 80 acres located in section 35, township 12, range 15, on April 9, 1899. Mr. Koger was born April 20, 1838, in Powell's Val- ley, Tennessee, and was but a few months old when his parents removed to Kentucky and settled on a farm near Lexington, which remained his home until he was 22 years of age. When about 17 years old he determined to secure a good education and managed, by boarding himself, to spend the win- ters of some three years at school in Lexington.
When the trouble between the North and South threatened to result in civil war, Mr. Koger determined to remain neutral but different members of his family became either Union men or Confederates, and as political excitement daily grew higher he decided to change his residence. In 1860 he moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and during the whole period of the war, although not an enlisted man, he worked in some capacity for the gov- ernment. He drove a wagon with army supplies, was a government shipping clerk, assisted in guarding supply trains and was wagon master on many dangerous expeditions. He remained at Fort Leavenworth some 10 years and then bought a farm of 160 acres west of Leavenworth. This not turn- ing out as well as he had hoped, he returned to Leavenworth and was in the employ of the government there as transportation agent and in other capaci- ties until 1882, when he came to Topeka. He also spent some three months on one of the Indian reservations, in an official capacity and was wont to tell many remarkable experiences that came to him during this period. He was a man of responsibility and the greatest confidence was placed in his judg- ment and ability.
When Mr. Koger came to Topeka, he engaged with his brother-in-law in a livery business, which was continued two years under the firm name of Bloomer & Koger, and then he established a cattle ranch in Sheridan and Decatur counties, Western Kansas, in partnership with Jacob W. Thomas, of Leavenworth. He continued to reside in Topeka some five years and then sold out to his partner and removed to the farm where the remainder of his life was spent. He erected here the comfortable family residence and
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR
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made many improvements. The farm is now conducted by his son as a dairy and fruit farm, and is one of the best in the county.
In 1872 Mr. Koger married Annie Smith, who was born near Taney- town, Carroll County, Maryland, November 29, 1849, and who moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, with her parents in 1856. She is a daughter of David and Caroline (Spalding) Smith, the former of whom was at that time a well-known buyer and shipper of stock,-he now resides with his second wife, at Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Koger had six children, namely: Walter S., operating the farm, who is a widower and has one son,-Daniel Hugh; Mrs. Cora Witwer, of Shawnee County; Daniel, of Topeka township; and Mabel, David S. and Frank H., who live at home.
Mr. Koger was a life-long Democrat, but he consented to fill no offices except those relating to school affairs in which he took a great interest. He was a man who loved to see his friends under his roof and, with his estimable wife, proffered a generous hospitality. During his long period of suffering, prior to his death, he always had a welcome for all and a genial, pleasant manner which brought him many friends. By his family he was deeply beloved and by his fellow-citizens, universally esteemed.
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR.
WILLIAM L. TAYLOR, president of The Taylor Grain Company, of Topeka, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, is one of the enterprising and progressive men who have been attracted to this section of the United States because of its apparent wide field of business opportunity. Mr. Taylor came to Topeka on April 15, 1902, from Columbus, Ohio, where, although still a young man, he had been identified with important grain interests.
Milling, in these modern days, is a marvelous industry. From the earliest times the grinding of grain has gone on and there still remain a few benighted sections where it is carried on under the most primitive conditions. In the early settlement of Kansas, one of the most important considerations was the possible building of a mill, and many a populous city of the present day grew up around the old water-wheel mill. Man's ingenuity has made wonderful changes and improvements in all kinds of machinery and methods and probably no industry has benefitted more than that of milling. Topeka, the great mill city, is the home of one of the finest mills ever constructed in any part of the world, one where perfection of plan and equipment has resulted in a plant second to none in capacity. Reference is made to the
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Gyrator Mills in North Topeka, dedicated on January 24, 1905, originally owned by The Taylor Grain Company, but now owned and operated by The Gyrator Milling Company. The establishment of this plant at Topeka and the successful completion of all that was proposed at the beginning are due to the energy and ability of William L. Taylor, president of The Taylor Grain Company and vice-president of The Gyrator Milling Company.
Coming here in 1902 Mr. Taylor was able, in two years, to see the wide field offered for the enterprise he had under consideration. When he an- nounced that it was his intention to build here the largest, finest and most complete mill in the world, the milling journals made the fact known all over the country and he was soon visited by a representative of Wolf & Company, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, who manufacture the "Gyrator" line of machinery. After considering their claim as well as others, Mr. Taylor made the agreement with this company that he would construct his mill after their latest improved plans and specifications and they were to install the most improved milling machinery manufactured. The guarantee was given that the mill would produce a better grade of flour, at a less cost for manufactur- ing, than any other mill made.
The mill proper, a view of which is shown on another page of this work, is five and a half stories high, made of pressed brick laid in cement through- out and the walls are 26 inches thick above the second story. The first and second floors are of white maple, the third, fourth and fifth of long leaf yellow pine, quarter-sawed. On each floor there is a stand-pipe with fire hose at- tached ready for use, two barrels of water and two hand fire-grenades. Speaking-tubes run to the office from all floors and electric light is furnished all over the building, provided by the company's own motor. The walls, ceilings and posts are all painted a pure white with a fire-proof composition and every bearing of the machinery is self-oiling. A brief description of the manner of treating the wheat, which comes to the consumer so thoroughly milled yet retaining all the sustaining qualities of the grain, must be in- teresting to every reader of this work who depends for sustenance upon the "staff of life."
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