USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 44
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In September, 1863, President MacVicar was married to Martha Porter Dana, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, who is a lineal descendant of Gen. Israel Putnam. Our subject was survived by his widow and two children : Dana C., an attorney, of Topeka; and Mary (Mrs. W. H. Morris), of Topeka.
JAMES F. BLAKEMORE
Although leading a quiet life and rarely assuming a conspicuous place in the civic life of Topeka, the late James F. Blakemore was a useful and rep- resentative citizen. He was born March 17, 1830, at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, and was a son of Thomas Blakemore.
The parents of Mr. Blakemore were natives of England. The father was a manufacturer of pearl buttons, which industry he carried on first in Philadelphia, and later in Cincinnati, Ohio, whither the family removed when James F., the youngest of the family of 10 children, was a child.
Our subject was thus reared and educated at Cincinnati, graduating at
HON. GEORGE W. MARTIN
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St. Avery's Academy. He remained in that city until 1872 and then came West and located at Topeka, engaging with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company, with which he continued to be connected until the close of his life. From one position to another he was promoted until at one time he was foreman of the machine shops at Dodge City. He died September 19, 1904. He was a good citizen, a reliable workman and a devoted husband and father. For 47 years he was a Mason.
On March 18, 1873, Mr. Blakemore was married to Mrs. Nancy (Coon) LaRue, widow of J. LaRue, whose death occurred in 1864. Mrs. Blakemore still survives, with one son, Thomas H., who is a resident of St. Louis. She lives in a very pleasant and comfortable home at No. 813 Jeffer- son street, Topeka.
Mr. Blakemore is very kindly remembered by his associates and by the company which he served with such unswerving fidelity and mechanical skill for so many years. He is remembered also as one of the pioneer railroad men of the city, as he came here in the infancy of railroad transportation in Kansas.
HON. GEORGE W. MARTIN.
HON. GEORGE W. MARTIN, of Topeka, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, is secretary of the State Historical Society and was formerly reg- ister of the United States Land Office in Kansas and also State printer ; he was born in the mountains of Pennsylvania, at the town of Hollidaysburg, June 30, 1841, and is a son of David and Mary (Howell) Martin.
Mr. Martin comes of Irish ancestry on the paternal side and of Welsh on the maternal. For more than 20 years the father, David Martin, was in the employ of the State of Pennsylvania. In 1857 he removed with his family to Lecompton, Kansas, and there both he and his wife died in July, 1892, within 21 hours of each other. They were honored citizens.
George W. Martin attended the public schools at Hollidaysburg and then learned the printing trade, in the office of the Register, the leading journal of his native town. After reaching Lecompton, he became an em- ployee of the Union, which later was succeeded by the Kansas National Dem- ocrat. In order to complete his knowledge of everything pertaining to news- paper work, Mr. Martin spent one year in the book offices of William S. and Alfred Martien, book-binders, in Philadelphia.
Upon his return to Kansas, Mr. Martin was employed for a short period on the Lawrence Republican, and then went to Junction City, where in 1861
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he became editor of the Junction City Union, his control of this paper con- tinuing until 1888, when he purchased an interest in the Daily Gazette, at Kansas City, Kansas, of which he was editor until 1899. During the four years in which the Union was the pioneer of Western Kansas journals, Mr. Martin directed every effort to build up every industry in the State and through his journalistic work he had much to do with bringing about immi- gration from many portions of the East and of interesting capital in the agri- cultural resources of the western part of the State.
Politically, Mr. Martin has always been a Republican, one of the kind whose undying loyalty and stern fidelity can never be questioned. He has suffered for his faith, but has never given up his fealty. At the same time he has his personal convictions just as strong and there have been occasions when some of the measures of the party in the State have not met with his approval. In 1882 he was elected to the State Legislature from Geary County, and in the spring of 1883 he was elected mayor of Junction City. His public life has been on a par with his private career, a persistent following of the clear line of duty. He has had great influence in shaping political affairs in his portion of the State.
Mr. Martin's ability as a clear and convincing writer has made the newspapers, over which he has had charge, powers in the State and those measures and principles which he has advocated have always, sooner or later, become burning questions of the day. Probably one of the most talked- of articles, at the time, was a disquisition of Mr. Martin's, entitled "The Owl Club Letter," on the subject of social drinking.
On January 1, 1865, Mr. Martin was appointed postmaster at Junction City, and in the following April he was made register of the United States Land Office. He was removed from this office by President Johnson and his reinstatement was the first appointment made in the State by President Grant. This office he held until 1871, when the district was divided and he established the offices at Concordia and Salina. In January, 1873. he was elected State printer and held the office for eight years. It is generally accepted as a fact that he was a model State printer and that the excellence of the work had never before been reached nor has it ever since been ex- celled. He received a diploma and medal at the Centennial Exposition for blank book and other work.
On December 20, 1862, Mr. Martin was married to Lydia Coulson, who was born at Minerva, Columbia County, Ohio, and died June 7, 1900. She was a daughter of Allen and Catherine Coulson, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania, and the latter in Virginia. They came to Kansas in 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Martin had five children, two of whom died in in-
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fancy. On October 10, 1901, Mr. Martin married Mrs. Josephine Blakely, the widow of a friend and business partner of early days.
Mr. Martin is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He organized the first church of this faith at Junction City and was one of its ruling elders until he removed to Kansas City. He has long been prominently identified with the Odd Fellows and has served as grand master for Kansas and has been a delegate to two sovereign grand lodges. Since 1899 Mr. Martin has filled an office for which he is well equipped, that of secretary of the State Historical Society.
JAMES L. KING.
JAMES L. KING, present State librarian of Kansas, and author of this volume of the "History of Shawnee County," was born at La Harpe, Han- cock County, Illinois, August 2, 1850, his boyhood days being passed in his native town and county, with the exception of two years during the Civil War, which were spent in the South with his father, Col. Selah W. King, an officer of the 50th Regiment, Illinois Vol. Inf. He was only 10 years old when the war begun, but followed the soldiers of Company G of the 50th Regiment, which his father organized, from Camp Wood (Quincy, Illinois,) to Chillicothe, Missouri, thence to St. Joseph, and later to Cairo, Illinois, and Paducah and Smithland, Kentucky, immediately preceding the campaigns of General Grant and Commodore Foote against Fort Henry and Fort Donel- son. Afterwards he spent a year with the troops at Corinth, Mississippi, after the battles at Shiloh and Corinth. Although too young to enlist, he lived with the soldiers in camp, drilled and marched with them, and undoubt- edly saw as much of the war as any man of his years in the whole country.
At the close of the war, he resumed his studies in the La Harpe Academy, where most of his school education was obtained. He also performed clerical work in the law office of his father, who was a practitioner at the bar of Hancock County for nearly half a century, and was a man of considerable prominence, being the friend of Abraham Lincoln, Owen Lovejoy, Richard Yates, Richard J. Oglesby, John A. Logan and other political leaders of that period. The family moved from Ohio to Illinois in 1842, and was of Eng- lish and Scotch ancestry, Mrs. King's maiden name being Eliza Aleshire.
In 1867 James L. King became an apprentice in the office of the Car- thage (Illinois) Gasette, where he acquired the printer's trade, for which he had long betrayed a fondness. At the age of 19 years he was the owner
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and editor of the Home Newes, a weekly paper published in La Harpe, with which he combined the book and stationery business. In 1870 he commenced the publication of the Headlight, the first paper to be established in the new town of Creston, Iowa. He also worked in an editorial capacity on the Dubuque Times and the Davenport Gazette. His citizenship in Kansas dates. from the year 1871, when he located in Topeka. His first employment was in the business department of the Kansas Magazine. He was deputy county treasurer in 1872, and in 1873 became city editor of the Commonwealth. His first newspaper work in Topeka was on the Tanner and Cobbler, a cam- paign paper which he started in 1872 in conjunction with Milton R. Moore. He was one of the editors of the Topeka Daily Times in 1875. In 1876. he was the editor and publisher of the Capital, a weekly literary and social journal, which was launched three years before the present Topeka news- paper of that name. In 1887 he edited the Lantern, a semi-literary weekly, and in 1889 the National Passenger, a Rock Island railroad enterprise. At different times he has worked on all of the principal newspapers of Topeka, and was for many years the Kansas correspondent of the St. Louis Globe- Democrat and Kansas City Journal. His brother, Henry King, is the present editor of the Globe-Democrat.
James L. King began service as a clerk in the Topeka Post Office in 1876. Here he remained for 17 years, filling through promotion every posi- tion in the office. He was assistant postmaster under the administrations of Postmasters Thomas J. Anderson and John Mileham, in 1880 and 1885, and in 1889 received the appointment of postmaster from President Benjamin Harrison. During his official service he found time to continue his news- paper work to some extent, and he has been a frequent contributor to ency- clopedias, magazines and local periodicals. In 1901 he made a tour of the neighboring republic of Mexico and wrote a descriptive pamphlet on the sub- ject, under the title of "Mexico in Glimpses." He is also the author of "Manitou and the Mountains," "Cloudcroft" and a number of unpretentious monographs and short stories on local topics.
He was appointed to be State librarian in December, 1894, serving until 1898. From 1898 to 1902 he had charge of the traveling library system of Kansas. He is chairman of the Kansas Traveling Libraries Commission, and was one of the first and most enthusiastic promoters of that movement. He was the first president of the Kansas State Library Association, and is a member of the National Library Association. In 1902 he was reappointed to the office of State librarian, of which he is the present incumbent.
Mr. King was married October 10, 1877, to Elizabeth Coolbaugh, daugh- ter of Edwin B. and Celestia J. Coolbaugh, of Towanda, Pennsylvania. Mr. an 1 Mrs. King have resided continuously in Topeka since that date. Their
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only child, Emilie Packer King, was married November 23, 1904, to Wil- liam Williams Wikidal, of Topeka. A portrait of Mr. King is shown early in this work. C.
COL. THOMAS N. STINSON.
COL. THOMAS N. STINSON, deceased, one of the pioneers of Shawnee County, was at one time owner of 800 acres of valuable land in this county, of which the farm now owned by Mrs. Stinson in section 1, township -, range 5 in Tecumseh township, formed a part. He was born at Dayton, Ohio, April 14, 1818, his father being a school teacher by occupation.
Of the children born to the parents of our subject, Jane married Major Davis, who was Indian agent to the Pottawatomie tribe; and James became prominent as a surveyor in Illinois, laying off the Illinois and Michigan Canal in that State.
At the age of 21 years, his parents having died, Thomas N. Stinson left his brother in Ohio and came West to Westport, as Kansas City, Missouri, was originally known. He worked in the clerk's office at Independence, Mis- souri, for a time, then for the clerk of the court. He worked for the firm of Simpson & Hunter, large merchants of Westport for a time without pay in order to learn the business, and later was employed by them to go into Kan- sas to trade with the Delaware and Kaw Indians. He later established a store among the Pottawatomies and conducted it until about one year after his mar- riage. Then upon the throwing open for settlement of a large tract of land in Kansas, through the treaty between the Shawnees and the United States, he came to what is now Shawnee County and acquired 800 acres of land. He erected a small log house in which he lived with his family until 1856, when he erected the stone house which has since served as the residence of his family. He conducted a store at Tecumseh for a short time, but in the mean- time oversaw the work on his farm, on which he continued to live until his deatlı in 1882. When the first election in Kansas Territory was held, the votes of his district were cast at his house. Governor Reeder was then in office, and as slavery was the paramount issue before the people who were seeking admission to the Union as a new State, his life was a very strenuous one. Upon one occasion, the Governor and Colonel Stinson were engaged in a game of chess, when an attempt was made to mob the former, who coolly requested our subject not to disturb the game and they would complete the game later. This game was completed four years later and required two days to determine supremacy, Colonel Stinson finally winning with a case of champagne as a reward. He was the first school treasurer in this district,
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and served as a colonel in the Kansas militia. He was a Presbyterian in relig- ious belief, as were his parents.
In 1850 Colonel Stinson was united in marriage with Julia A. Beauch- mie, who was born in Kansas City, Kansas, March 26, 1834, and is a daughter of Mackinac Beauchmie, who was named after the Straits of Mackinac. He was of French descent, and was a trapper with the Choteaus for the American Fur Company. He was married in Missouri to an Indian squaw, Betsy Rogers, mother of Mrs. Stinson, who was a daughter of Louis Rogers. Her father was a white of pure blood, who in childhood had been captured by the Shawnees in reparation for the loss in battle of the only son of Chief Black Fist. Louis Rogers was given a home and was loved by the tribe and its chief, the latter making him his heir. He married a cousin of old Tecumseh, after whom the town and township of Tecumseh are named. Because of her descent from a chief, Mrs. Stinson received a large allotment of land from the government and remained in Kansas, preferring to remain where her children would have the proper educational advantages than to go to the Indian Territory. She and her husband had the following children : Thomas, who went to the Philippines in the American Army; Julia, who married C. B. Hamilton and died in the city of Mexico; Mary, wife of Charles Smith, who has extensive coal interests in Pittsburg and lives in Kansas City ; Hattie, deceased wife of Walter Logan, of Arizona; and Thornton, a farmer of Tecumseh township. Mrs. Stinson is a woman of refinement and character, and is a pleasant and interesting conversationalist.
CHARLES L. WOOD.
CHARLES L. WOOD, senior member of the firm of Wood & Williamson, proprietors of the National Hotel, at Topeka, was born in Montgomery County, Illinois, not far from the capital city of Springfield, January 4, 1862, and is a son of John C. and Malinda A. (Judd) Wood.
In tracing the Wood family hack a number of generations, the fore- bears are found to have been of Scotch and English extraction and some mem- bers of this family were with the Plymouth colony in New England. The immediate ancestors of our subject came, however, from sturdy Pennsylvania stock. The father was a farmer and also a Methodist preacher. He died in 1883 at Greenfield, Illinois, but his widow still survives. Of their nine- children, five are still living, all residents of Kansas.
Charles L. Wood remained on a farm until 21 years of age, his education
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including the instruction afforded by the public schools and by a business college. In 1884 he went to North Dakota, where he became assistant man- ager of a wheat farm for his cousin, J. C. Gill, in the meantime making many friends and being appointed deputy assessor of Cass County. During two winters he also taught school. His first experience in the hotel business was at Castleton, North Dakota, where he was in partnership with Douglas Smith. They conducted what was known as the "City Restaurant," under the firm name of Smith & Wood, and they continued the business from the fall of 1886 to the spring of 1888.
At this period Mr. Wood came to Kansas and in association with his brother. J. C. Wood, conducted the Windsor Hotel at Hays under the name of Wood Brothers, but shortly after he became cashier for the Union Pacific Railroad eating house at Ellis, Kansas, under Frank Washburn, a position he filled one year and then came to Topeka. He served first as chief clerk of the National Hotel, and then went to Colorado as manager of the Union Pacific Railroad eating house at Cheyenne Wells, and subsequently spent one season as chief clerk of the Hotel Florence, at San Diego, California. Mr. Wood then came back to the National Hotel at Topeka and served as chief clerk until 1897. He then became interested in real estate and the hotel brokerage business, doing well in the latter line. In 1898 he took the management of the Chesterfield Hotel, but in the fall sold out his interest and became chief clerk of the Copeland Hotel. In the spring of 1899 he took the management of the National Hotel. On the first of the following No- vember, Mr. Wood purchased the hotel and fixtures and is the senior member of the firm which operates it.
On November 1, 1903, Mr. Wood formed a partnership with C. R. Williamson, who was an old commercial traveler. This popular hotel, a view of which is shown on another page of this work, is in the heart of the business district, located at Nos. 633-635 Kansas avenue, contains 100 rooms and can accommodate 200 guests. It is a five-story and basement building and every equipment is first-class and modern. One particular feature is the excellence of the cuisine and this alone has brought the house the favor of the traveling public. It is conducted on the American plan and caters to an exclusive transient business. Charges are moderate, ranging from $2 to $3 per day according to location of room and with or without bath. Electric lights and elevator service are two very important features of this hotel. A force of 35 employes is kept. A modern local and long distance telephone is provided in each room.
Mr. Wood is secretary and treasurer of the Kansas & Missouri Hotel Men's Association, an organization which was first formed with 12 members,
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in 1895, at the National Hotel, Topeka, as the Kansas Hotel Keepers' Asso- ciation, and was reorganized at Kansas City, January 2, 1901, when its name was changed to the former title. Its object is to prevent the perpetra- tion of fraud, to minimize the number of bad accounts and to work for the interests of hotel men in general. The membership now reaches 200 in the two States and an annual meeting is held, an executive board being in session all the time. All the leading hotels in the two States are represented, with the exception of two in St. Louis. The president of the association is H. C. Whitley, proprietor of the Whitley House, at Emporia, Kansas; and Mr. Wood is secretary and treasurer. On the occasion of the last annual meeting, March 16, 1905, it was decided to admit members to the association from the Southwestern States. The Commercial Hotel Register is published monthly at Topeka by the association and is devoted to hotel interests.
Mr. Wood has been interested in many circles in Topeka and is as widely known as any other citizen. He is a member of the Commercial Club and has been vice-president and is chairman of the advertising committee at the pres- ent time. For some time he has been associated with the Modoc Glee Club; he possesses a fine tenor voice. He is the general manager of the club and attends to the finances when it makes annual entertainment excursions. He belongs also to the Elks.
Mr. Wood was married at Greensburg, Indiana, October 17, 1899, to Ina Graham, who was born in Kentucky. Mr. Wood belongs to the Methodist Church, while Mrs. Wood affiliates with the Episcopal.
Although a thoroughly self-made man, Mr. Wood claims no great degree of credit for himself, arguing that honorable business principles, close application, methodical habits and courteous manners make success possible for any one. He is a very popular citizen of Topeka. He made many friends in St. Louis during the Louisiana Exposition, as the manager of the Epworth Hotel, a huge caravansary with 530 rooms where guests from all over the world were made comfortable.
CHARLES R. WILLIAMSON.
CHARLES R. WILLIAMSON, of the firm of Wood & Williamson, proprie- tors of the National Hotel, was a traveling man on the road for 40 years. He first took up the hotel business when he allied himself with Mr. Wood in conducting the National Hotel. Both are genial and very popular gentlemen.
THOMAS K. TOMSON
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THOMAS K. TOMSON.
THOMAS K. TOMSON, whose portrait is herewith shown, is extensively engaged in raising cattle and in general farming operations in Dover town- ship, Shawnee County. He has been a resident of this county for many years and is prominently known among its citizens. He was born at Youngs- town, Ohio, in 1826, and is a son of Cornelius and Anna (Kyle) Tomson, and grandson of Leffard Tomson, who was a native of Pennsylvania. Our subject's mother was a daughter of Joshua and Mary (Stewart) Kyle, her father a native of Ireland and her mother, born on a ship in mid-ocean.
Thomas K. Tomson received his educational training in the public schools of Youngstown, Ohio, and in the spring of 1856 made a trip through the Western country. Upon his return to Ohio he was married, in 1857, and shortly after went with his wife to Lee County, Iowa, where he lived on a farm near Fort Madison for two years. He then purchased land near Carthage, in Jasper County, Missouri, but never settled upon it. In 1861 he came to Topeka, Kansas, and the following year took up a quarter-section of land in Wabaunsee County, on which he lived four years. He then sold out and bought and improved a farm four and a half miles east of this farm, living upon it four years. He purchased a farm in Mission township, four and a half miles west of Topeka, and after one year moved to the city, where he purchased a livery and other properties, a portion of which he still owns. In the meantime he engaged extensively in dealing in cattle in partnership with his two sons, John R. and James G., leaving his livery in charge of his partner, who first was a Mr. Dilley and later J. B. Love, who now conducts the establishment. In 1881 Mr. Tomson purchased his present farm of 212 acres, situated in section 35, township 12, range 13, and section 2, township 13. range 13, in Dover township, and all told has some 575 acres. He is a progressive business man of unusual ability, and has attained a high degree "of success.
Mr. Tomson was married in 1857 to Elizabeth C. Davis, a native of Ohio, who died in 1878, leaving five children: Anna Bell, now deceased; Ella, who married N. J. Riley, a farmer and stock-raiser living near Cotton- wood Falls, Kansas, and has three children,-Fred, Bell and William; John R., who married Carrie Loomis, a daughter of Harry J. Loomis, who lo- cated in Wabaunsee County in 1856 and still lives there,-they have one child, Marjorie Bell; Frank D., who has a position, at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, paying a salary of $4,000 a year,-he married Tina Coburn, a daughter of Foster D. Coburn, of Topeka, secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, and has two children, Gertrude and Helen; and James G., engaged in the
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