USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 34
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In 1903 Mr. Taylor purchased what was known as the Capital Elevator at Topeka and changed its name to Elevator A. It has a capacity of 300,000 bushels. The wheat is brought from this elevator through an underground tunnel to the bottom of the mill, having been put in fine condition previously. It is then elevated to the top and put on a special milling separator, which is composed of four Wolf gyrators, in four compartments, each compart- ment having five sieves, making 20 to each gyrator. These remove more thoroughly than by any other system every foreign seed such as cockle, rye or cheat. From here the grain is elevated to a special scouring machine where
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every grain has its coat thoroughly scoured and the little fine fuzz, only to be detected by the use of a glass, is removed. From here the wheat is dropped into a basin where it receives a light soaking in water which causes it to swell and loosen the bran. It is then elevated into what is called a brush machine which cleans out the little crevice in every grain of wheat so that when it strikes the rolls it is absolutely clean and nothing remains but the sustaining berry and its coat of bran.
This wonderful mill has made provision for the rapid handling of the grain and has numberless improved machines found in no other plant. On the first floor are five packers, three for flour and two for feed; by the side of each packer is a platform scales, on which every package is weighed as handled. The flour elevators and chutes are all tin-lined, this precaution pre- cluding a possibility of bugs or weevil. On the second floor are found 21 rolls, 9 by 30 inch double stands, which grind the wheat, taking the place of the stones used in former days. On the fourth floor are found four dust collectors, six middling purifiers, one brush machine and one scourer. On the fifth are located six centrifugal reels, one bran duster, one shorts duster, one "Imperial" rolling screen, one separator, two tubular dust collectors, one cyclone dust collector and the four mammoth gyrators, which bolt the flour, separating the bran, shorts, etc. This mill has a 1,200-barrel capacity. A specialty is made of two brands,-"Perfection" and "Invincible."
In 1904 The Taylor Grain Company was incorporated as a stock com- pany with these officers: William L. Taylor, president; Charles E. French, secretary and treasurer; and Edward A. Austin and M. A. Taylor, directors. A very recent organization was The Gyrator Milling Company with these officers : W. H. Davis, president ; William L. Taylor, vice-president ; Charles E. French, secretary; J. B. B. Betts, treasurer and C. K. Holliday, director. This company leased the new mill of The Taylor Grain Company and will do a milling and flour business, both domestic and foreign, but the elevator and grain business will be carried on by The Taylor Grain Company.
The Taylor Grain Company has established branch agencies throughout Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and ships thousands of cars of grain annually to the East. Mr. Taylor is credited with being one of the best posted men on grain freight rates in the United States and can name the rate to every place without any reference to the tariff book. He has gathered around him a force of able, experienced grain men, all of whom have had business experience, although none have reached middle life. Among these special mention should be made of A. W. Long, the capable superin- tendent, who has had much milling experience in Virginia, in the Northwest and in Kansas. Formerly he was one of the stockholders of the Manhattan Milling Company, at Manhattan, Kansas, and retired from that company to
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become one of the stockholders in The Taylor Grain Company. It was largely upon his advice that the celebrated "Gyrator" machinery was in- stalled here. Charles E. French, secretary of the company, came originally to Topeka from Farmer City, Illinois, and became traveling representative of what was then W. L. Taylor & Company, and in this capacity he became known to almost every shipper in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory and Oklahoma. The auditor of the company, R. B. Nelson, was a school teacher in Iowa and then a bookkeeper for one of the largest grain firms in that State and subsequently manager of the Wheeler Grain & Coal Company of Laurens, Iowa. He next accepted a position as chief clerk and then chief accountant with one of Pittsburg's steel companies. Upon the incorporation of The Taylor Grain Company, Mr. Taylor made him auditor and chief accountant, a position for which he is qualified by long experience, added to natural ability in this line. The company has representatives at all the lead- ing shipping ports and their manager at Galveston, Texas, has been appointed Belgian consul at that point.
HON. ARCHIBALD. F. WILLIAMS.
HON. ARCHIBALD F. WILLIAMS, United States commissioner and a prominent attorney-at-law of Topeka, was born at Topeka, October II, 1869, and is a son of Archibald L. and Elizabeth C. (Ferguson) Williams and a grandson of the late Hon. Archibald Williams, who was the first United States District judge of Kansas.
Judge Archibald Williams was born in 1801 at Mount Sterling, Ken- tucky. The name is of Welsh extraction and the founder of the family in America came from Wales and settled in Virginia, forming a part of the loyalist or cavalier party known by the Puritans of New England as "Rake- hellies," which was a derisive name applied to those who did not adopt their own austere belief and follow their manner of living. Frequent mention may be found of these objectionable people in the writings of Roger Wil- liams, who, without doubt came from the same parent stock in Wales. For many years the Williams family flourished in Virginia where the name is still one well known, but prior to the birth of Judge Williams his parents had migrated to Kentucky. A young law practitioner, Judge Williams re- moved to Illinois in 1826, locating at Quincy, and he subsequently became an intimate personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. Upon many occasions he represented his county in the Legislature, and under the administration of President Taylor served as United States attorney. When the Kansas-
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Nebraska troubles were brewing, he was made a nominee for Congress on what was known as the "Anti-Nebraska" or "Anti-Slavery" ticket, and at the organization of the Republican party he was one of its sponsors.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected President, one of his first appoint- ments, after his selection of his Cabinet, was that of Judge Williams as the first United States District judge of Kansas, and in this connection it may be noted, that Mr. Lincoln had offered a position of the Supreme Court bench of the United States to his trusted friend. This great honor, which subsequently fell to Judge David Davis, of Illinois, was declined by Judge Williams who modestly declared himself not well enough equipped to accept so exalted a position. While this opinion was not shared by his cotempo- raries, his decision was accepted by the President and he was sent to Kansas in a scarcely less honorable or onerous position. Prior to his decease in 1863, he had returned to Quincy, where his life closed.
Archibald L. Williams, son of Judge Williams, located in Kansas in 1861, a short time before his father came to the State, and entered upon the practice of the law, a profession in which his eminence is only second to that of his distinguished father. At different times he served as city and county attorney and for four years he was acting United States attorney. In 1870 and again in 1872, he was elected by the Republican party, At- torney General of Kansas. For years and from its beginning, he was con- sulting attorney for the old Kansas Pacific Railroad Company at Topeka and continued in office with the different railroad organizations which suc- ceeded it. In 1887 he became general attorney for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, in Kansas, a position requiring every qualification of an able, ex- perienced, tactful and judicious lawyer.
While Mr. Williams' eminence in the profession is well known in all departments of the law, his services to the State, in 1874, in curtailing the fraudulent organizing of western counties, added credit to an administration of the attorney generalship, which in every feature had been a credit to the State. It was through his almost unaided efforts that the practice of or- ganizing western counties by fraud was broken up. A short time previously, the counties of Barbour (since changed to Barber), Harper and Comanche had been organized, and they had issued, between them, about $250,000 in bonds. This sum had, to put it mildly, been unloaded partly on the State School Fund but more extensively on unsuspecting Eastern investors. In the course of time this produced trouble and a public investigation was de- manded. The Legislature appointed an investigating committee which was composed of one member from each House and the Attorney General, Mr. Williams.
The member of the Senate and the member of the House started out on
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a tour of investigation as ordered, but certain ones who had reason to fear a searching visit of the authorities had devised a scheme by which Justice should be turned aside and they should go their way without molestation. Those were days when Indian outrages were not uncommon and as the legislators were only human and had families dependent upon them, they gave credence to the tales poured in their ears of savage uprisings in the far western counties whither their duty led them and prudently turned back. When this scheme was tried on Attorney General Williams, the conspirators found they had to deal with a man of different mettle. He made his way to the lands in question, visiting Barbour, Harper and Comanche counties and returned alive and very willing to make a report. He found that Barbour County had a few bona fide residents although not numerous enough to legalize the organization of the county, but that Harper and Comanche coun- ties were not settled at all.
The meaningless report submitted by the other members of the com- mittee, from hearsay, was supplemented by that of the Attorney General and it has been preserved not only as a historic paper but as a contribution to humorous literature. We submit an excerpt :
"There is no population in Comanche County. If Marius sat amid the ruins of Carthage and wept, I camped upon the town-site of Smallwood, the county-seat, and feasted upon wild turkey, with no white man to molest or make me afraid. In Smallwood there are two log cabins, both deserted, without doors, windows, sash or blinds. About a mile off is a deserted ranch. These compose the houses of the householders of the county. In this county there is not an acre of land or a dollar's worth of property subject to tax- ation; its sole inhabitants are the Cheyennes and the coyote, the wolf and the Arrapahoes, and its organization is and always has been a fraud. Harper and Comanche counties were organized solely for plunder. The vast amount of bonds issued has seriously injured our credit abroad. To issue these bonds required wholesale perjury and forgery. When these counties are properly attached to some other county for judicial purposes, the thieves who issued these bonds should be attended to. The State, through its Attorney General and the proper county attorneys, should put every engine of the law in force; should pursue, capture, try, convict and lock up these rogues, so that our credit may be restored and other incipient rascals of a like character, quickened with a similar ambition, may be deterred from the crime through a fear of a like fate."
This vigorous protest had the effect desired and the whole credit rests with Mr. Williams. He still continues in the practice of his profession and his name still is, as it always has been, held in the highest honor.
On August 28, 1862, Archibald L. Williams was married in Posey
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County, Indiana, to Elizabeth (Cloud) Ferguson, and they have six chil- dren, all of whom are residents of Topeka.
Archibald F. Williams, our immediate subject, was educated in the common schools of Topeka and at Washburn College, with three years in- struction at a military school at Boonville, Missouri. He then read law under his eminent father and later took a course in the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating in 1892. Mr. Williams began to practice as an attorney of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, later formed a law part- nership with C. K. Holliday, but since 1895 has been alone.
Mr. Williams has always been an active member of the Republican party and has been frequently honored by election to responsible offices. In 1903 he was elected to the Legislature, a position he resigned in order to accept the one he now fills, that of United States commissioner.
Mr. Williams is a member of the Bar Association of the State of Kansas and of the Commercial Club of Topeka and belongs also to the Elks.
HON. JOSEPH S. FARRELL.
HON. JOSEPH S. FARRELL, a successful farmer and stock-raiser of Sol- dier township, Shawnee County, who owns a half-section, the best part of section 29, township 10, range 16, was born December 24, 1849, in Delaware County, Iowa, and is a son of Francis and Vin (Ray) Farrell.
The father of Mr. Farrell was born in Ireland and after he came to America spent some years at Philadelphia, where he was employed in the construction of public works. In 1848 he moved to Iowa, where he followed farming until his death in 1852. His widow survived until 1858. Our subject has two brothers: Francis, a resident of Pocahontas County, Iowa, who has seven children; and Thomas, of Cherokee County, Iowa, who has one child.
Joseph S. Farrell was reared and educated in Iowa and early devoted himself to agricultural pursuits. In 1878 he came to Kansas and settled on a farm of 160 acres in Jewell County, which locality remained his home for 22 years. During this period Mr. Farrell became one of the county's most prominent men, serving 18 years on the School Board of the local district and taking a very active interest in political affairs. In 1896 he was elected to the Legislature on the Populist ticket and served one term and through the extra session, during which time he supported the maximum railroad rate bill and the school book bill, proving himself a conscientious and faith-
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ful legislator. He served also as township trustee for some four years and dominated party affairs in his township for a number of years. In 1900 he sold his property there and bought his present farm, which he conducts in a great measure as a stock and cattle farm.
Mr. Farrell was married October 6, 1879, to Bridget Sullivan, who is a daughter of John and Mary (Cunningham) Sullivan, who came to Kansas in 1888 and settled in Jewell County, where Mr. Sullivan died April 18, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Farrell have had these children: Mary V., residing at home; Katherine (Mrs. Charles Rail), of Kansas City, who has two chil- dren,-Charles and Emmet; Francis and James, both at home; Agnes Wini- fred, who died February 11, 1894; and Mabel and Marguerite, both at home. The family belong to the Catholic Church.
Mr. Farrell completed the beautiful family residence a year ago. It is modern throughout and is situated on a bluff from which can be seen a wide stretch of valley and the city of Topeka. It is one of the ideal rural homes of the township.
JOHN S. JORDAN.
JOHN S. JORDAN, proprietor of the "Elmdale Fruit Farm," is one of the substantial and representative citizens of Williamsport township, Shawnee County, his 240 acres of valuable land being situated in sections 23 and 24, township 13, range 15. Mr. Jordon was born near Hudson, Columbia County, New York, June 26, 1835, and is a son of Abram J. and Mary (Snyder) Jordan.
The parents of Mr. Jordan spent their whole lives in New York, where the father was a prosperous farmer. The family consisted of two daughters and four sons: Mrs. Caroline Henry, deceased; Mrs. Ann Palmer, de- ceased; John S., of this sketch; Benjamin, of Columbia County, New York; George, deceased; William A., who lives on the old homestead; and Niram P., of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. Two children were born to a second marriage.
Our subject was reared on his father's farm and obtained his education in the schools of Columbia County. When 18 years old he went to Kendall County, Illinois, and engaged in farming there until 1873 when he removed with his family to his present farm in Shawnee County. It was then well- improved and he has continued improving until it now is one of the most valuable fruit farms of the county. He has 120 acres in apples of the best varieties and ships an immense quantity. He also carries on general farm-
Courteously yours. Silas. E. Sheldond
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ing and stock-raising and makes every branch of his work contribute a satis- factory income, all his land but 20 acres being under cultivation.
Mr. Jordan was married in 1860, in Illinois, to Helen Jennie Moore, who was born at Lisbon, Kendall County, Illinois, and is a daughter of Horace and Jane (Cody) Moore, natives of Oneida County, New York. They have four children, namely : Edith May, wife of James Stanley Banks, of Grantville, Kansas; Clyde H., of Williamsport township; Horace A., liv- ing at home; and Lulu, wife of Bert Schaffer, of Williamsport township.
Prior to settling in Kansas, Mr. Jordan had crossed the plains in the employ of the government as a teamster, and was then impressed with the agricultural possibilities of this section. Although he takes only an intelligent citizen's interest in public affairs, he never misses an election, affiliating with the Republican party.
HON. SILAS E. SHELDON, M. D.
During a period of more than 30 years, the late Dr. Silas E. Sheldon, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, practiced the profession of medicine in the city of Topeka, where his life work ended on April 19, 1900. Dr. Sheldon was born in Lorain County, Ohio, and was a son of Elam and Azubah ( Robinson) Sheldon.
Silas E. Sheldon was reared on his father's farm and attended the local schools until 1854, when the family moved to Berea, Ohio, and the young man entered Baldwin University where he enjoyed collegiate advantages for two years. In that city he began the study of medicine, in 1856, with Dr. Alxander McBride as his preceptor, and in 1858 entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In 1860 he was graduated in medicine at the Cleve- land Medical College. Until 1862 he practiced in Cleveland but then entered the army in the capacity of assistant surgeon of the 32nd Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf., with which he continued until 1864. He remained in the service until the close of the war, from the above date being medical inspector on the staff of General Cox, who later was elected Governor of Ohio. During a por- tion of his army service, he was surgeon of the 104th Regiment, Ohio Vol. Inf., with the rank of major, and was mustered out as surgeon.
Dr. Sheldon's coming to Topeka was probably for the same reason that at that time brought professional men, business men and laborers here-a search for a wider field of opportunity. He was welcomed by the physicians already established who found in him a congenial colaborer, a valuable assist- ant and a careful, scientific investigator as well as a skilled practitioner. The work he accomplished in the line of medicine in his chosen city fills an import-
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ant chapter in its history. For a considerable period, he was chief surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company. Dr. Sheldon was noted for his earnest and careful private practice and he carried the same quali- ties into the various lines of public work which called for his disinterested services on many occasions. His death brought to a close a life rich in good deeds, high endeavor and notable achievement.
In politics, Dr. Sheldon was only active so far as he thought the success of his party would promote the best interests of his country. He was elected and served two sessions in the Kansas State Senate. His first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln, for whose life, character and principles he entertained the most profound respect. He was one of the organizers of Lincoln Post, G. A. R., and the post's first commander. An enthusiast in Free Masonry, he held many of the high offices of the order. In this body he was prominent for many years and held high rank, in 1876 being elected grand commander of Knights Templar of Kansas. He was a vestryman in the Protestant Episco- pas Church for 17 years and devoted to church work. The State and local medical societies had in him a useful and learned member. He successfully maintained his private hospital in Topeka for many years. Dr. Sheldon is buried in a most beautiful spot opposite the Garfield Monument, in Lake View Cemetery, at Cleveland, Ohio, the home of his earlier years and successes.
In 1866, Dr. Sheldon was married to Ann Eliza Ball, a daughter of Cap- tain John Ball, one of the leading citizens of Cleveland, Ohio. She still sur- vives and occupies a warm place in the hearts of a large circle of friends and of those whom her many charities and beneficences have reached. She gave to the State Library a collection of 100 valuable books, at the same time pro- viding for the maintenance of the collection by a gift of $5,000 as an endow- . ment fund. She resides in handsome apartments at the Copeland Hotel. Like her late husband, she is very liberal in her gifts to worthy objects.
CYRUS CORNING.
CYRUS CORNING, one of the well-known business men of Topeka, whose able and independent political career for a number of years made him widely known, was born July 12, 1844, at Stockholm, St. Lawrence County, New York, and is a son of Russell and Sarah (White) Corning.
The father of Mr. Corning was born in New York and his mother in Vermont. The father, who was a farmer, moved with his family to Wiscon- sin in 1850 and came to Kansas in 1878, settling on a farm in Ness County where he died in 1882. His wife died seven years later. Both parents were
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interred at Plainfield, Wisconsin. They had five children : Henry, a mechanic and farmer at Florence, Colorado; Cyrus, of this sketch; Sidney A., a lawyer at Plainfield, Wisconsin; Lovina (Mrs. James Sharp), of Nebraska; and Charles S., a farmer living near Plainfield, Wisconsin.
Mr. Corning was educated at Allen's Grove Academy, at Allen's Grove, Wisconsin, Ripon College, at Ripon, and then attended Lawrence University at Appleton, acquitting himself so well that by the time he was 17 years old he was authorized to take charge of a district school. He con- tinued to teach and became principal of the school at DePere, Brown County, and subsequently of the Appleton High School, remaining in the former con- nection for three and in the latter for two years. Failing health caused him to change his occupation and led him to make his first entrance into journalism. He started a paper called the Stockbridge Enterprise, which he conducted for about eight months, and then, in the spring of 1876, removed to Law- rence, Kansas, where he read law with Hon. George J. Barker, now post- master there. In that same summer he was admitted to practice and he continued in practice for seven years. During this time his health again gave him trouble and caused his giving up his practice in the city and his removal to Ness County, where he was elected first county attorney. Two years later he came to Topeka.
Soon after, Mr. Corning became deeply interested in the reform move- ment and so convinced that his duty lay in the use of his voice and pen in furthering the day of its success, that he went to Osage County, which seemed a promising field, and started the Kansas Workman. This paper he conducted for 12 years in connection with a fair law practice. When the movement in which he was so interested became still more one of the issues of the day, Mr. Corning entered into the arena as a worker and speaker, but before long he found that the excitement and hardship of this work again threatened his health and again he was compelled to retire for a time. In 1884, however, he entered the field on an independent ticket and defeated the Lewelling party ticket by a majority of 35,000 votes. Mr. Corning has lived to see many of his prophesies come to pass and an encouraging number of the reforms, to which he has devoted the best energies of his life, adopted. He is a strong believer in State ownership of all trusts and corporations and, in times past, he has predicted, while lecturing on socialism, on the corner of Sixth and Kansas avenues, such laws as that enacted by the last Legislature giving the State the ownership of the oil business.
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