USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > History of Shawnee County, Kansas, and representative citizens > Part 48
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Mr. Hickey dealt in real estate and for 19 years lived in his old home on Van Buren street. He also clerked in dry goods and implement houses for some years. During the Civil War he was an official and has served as under sheriff under A. H. Hale, Sherman Bodwell, H. E. Bush, A. M. Fuller, Chester Thomas and John M. Wilkinson. He can recall many of the most interesting. events of those early days, saw the first railroad enter the town-the Union Pacific-on January 1, 1866, and can remember when the mails were brought from Lawrence by any one who happened to pass along and was willing to take the trouble. For the past eight years he has lived in the southeast of the city where he has a productive fruit farm.
In 1870 Mr. Hickey was married in Kentucky to Mrs. Ophelia (Allan) Deming, widow of Dr. Augustus Deming, who left two children,-Mrs. A. D. Gray, and Caroline, who lives at home. The late Dr. Deming came to Topeka in 1859, practiced here and during the Civil War served as surgeon with the rank of major. He died at Leavenworth, January 8, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Hickey have four grandchildren, sons and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gray : Arthur, David Deming, Philip, Augustus and Gertrude Caroline.
Mr. and Mrs. Hickey are among the oldest members of the First Presby- terian Church, Mrs. Hickey's name appearing as one of the 20 charter mem- bers. Rev. Mr. Steele was the first regular pastor.
Mr. Hickey is a member of the Old Settlers' Association and was its presi- dent one year. With his wonderful memory and vivid descriptive powers, Mr. Hickey can easily bring to life the intensely interesting occurrences which marked the founding of this great capital city of Kansas. In all that she has grown to be he bore his part in the early days, helping to lay business founda- tions and to preserve peace and order.
HUBERT A. HEATH.
HUBERT A. HEATH, manager of the Kansas Farmer, one of the old estab- lished journals of Topeka, was born April 28, 1857, at Cerro Gordo. Piatt County, Illinois, and is a son of John Heath, one of the old residents there.
Mr. Heath's boyhood and school days were passed at Cerro Gordo and he was graduated at the Wesleyan University in Illinois. In 1881 he came to Topeka and has been connected with the Kansas Farmer ever since. He has long been identified with stock interests in this State and for the past 10 years has been secretary of the Stock Breeders' Association, and was a special agent of the Bureau of Animal Industry under Hon. J. M. Rusk, U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, for three years, when he resigned the post. The position was
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one which had come to him entirely unsolicited. Since then all his energies have been directed to the extension of the circulation and influence of the paper with which he has been connected for the past 25 years, a paper which finds a welcome at almost every intelligent farmer's home in the State and which has been a helpful friend and adviser to many perplexed agriculturists.
Mr. Heath was married to Estelle Read, of Bloomington, Illinois, and they have two daughters and one son. The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics Mr. Heath takes an independent attitude, his paper being an agricultural instead of a political journal.
ELIAS SHULL.
ELIAS SHULL, one of the prominent citizens of Topeka, who has been identified with the growth and development of the city since June, 1869, and one of the leading pension attorneys of this part of the State, was born April 4, 1839, at Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, and is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Diehl) Shull.
Jacob Shull was born March 24, 1803, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was a cabinet-maker by trade. In early manhood he migrated to Ohio. In the spring of 1840 he removed to Huntington County, Indiana, where he died September 26, 1845. On December 1, 1835, he married Sarah Diehl, who was born September 18, 1810, near Greencastle, Pennsylvania. She sur- vived her husband for almost 50 years, her death resulting from an injury re- ceived by a fall on the ice in January, 1893.
Elias Shull enjoyed liberal educational advantages. He passed from Chambersburg Academy to Wittenberg College, at Springfield, Ohio, and belonged to the graduating class of 1862, but on Commencement Day he was wearing the blue uniform of the United States Army on the Virginia hills. After his term of service expired and he had been honorably discharged, he taught one term in the Davenport (Iowa) High School. At a later period he reentered military service as a clerk and quartermaster's agent at Vicksburg and in the region round about, and remained in attendance upon the duties of these positions, frequently in great peril, until the close of hostilities. His next work was the superintendence of the collecting of the Union dead from their scattered burial places on both shores of the Mississippi near Vicksburg and from inland battle-fields adjacent, and the transference of these precious remains to the National Cemetery near the city of Vicksburg.
After this patriotic and pious work was accomplished, Mr. Shull went to Washington, D. C., July 15, 1867, where, thenceforth, until April, 1869, he
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was a clerk in the United States service. Early in June, 1869, he came to Topeka, where his interests have centered ever since. Here he became clerk in the office of the assistant general solicitor of the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company ; was eight years clerk in the Topeka pension agency ; was connected with mortgage loaning companies for seven years and for some years was president of the Kansas Investment Company. In February, 1887, Mr. Shull was admitted to the bar of Shawnee County and he has been in active practice ever since, confining his energies mainly to the prosecution of pension claims, etc.
In recalling his public offices, including his military connections, the biog- rapher finds that Mr. Shull was a corporal in Company B, 86th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., from which he was honorably discharged; quartermaster's agent in full control of a woodyard on Island No. 98 in the Mississippi River, established under the provisions of General Order No. 124 of the War Department (series of 1864), to work timber into cordwood wherewith to supply steamboats in the military service on that river; and quartermaster's clerk at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The only elective office of a public nature ever held by him was that of a member of the Board of Education of Topeka, in which he continued about five years. Until his service in said office, the High School of Topeka was not free to anybody ; on his motion it was then made entirely free to every scholar residing in Topeka having the prescribed proficiency. In 1887 he united with the Grand Army of the Republic and continues to be the first post historian of Lincoln Post, No. 1, at Topeka, and is also quartermaster of that post, now in the eighth year of consecutive service, which is a period ex- ceeding in duration that of any predecessor. In 1879 Mr. Shull joined the Ancient Order of United Workmen and for several years was the financier of his lodge and still is actively interested in its work. In religious connection, he adheres to the church of the English Lutherans of the General Synod in the United States and was treasurer of the council of the church at Topeka for more than 23 consecutive years.
Mr. Shull was married February 28, 1871, at Topeka, Kansas, to Mary C. Alsip, who was born in Washington County, Maryland, and who was about eight years younger than he. Their children were: Homer A., born February 17, 1872; Lucy May, born May 25, 1873; Harvey, born August 25, 1874, deceased January 30, 1902; Jacob, born June 18, 1876; Oscar born June 16, 1878, deceased in November, 1881; Sarah, born January 8, 1880; Cora, born in September, 1884; and John D., born April 4, 1886. Harvey Shull's temper- ament, and achievements to the time of his early death, inspired high hopes of things yet to be accomplished, but his work was ended ere he seemed to have reached the prime of his strength.
In politics Mr. Shull has been an ardent Republican, but not too ardent
JOHN MILLS
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to sometimes, on local elections, vote for a nominee of the opposing party, when he inclined to the opinion that it was promotive of the highest welfare so to do. He voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and never afterwards for a presidential nominee other than Republican in party connection.
JOHN MILLS.
JOHN MILLS, deceased, who in life was a very highly esteemed citizen and good farmer of Silver Lake township, Shawnee County, was born Feb- ruary 26, 1820, in Carroll County, Ohio, and was a son of William Mills, who served through the War of 1812 and moved to Carroll County, Ohio, from Berks County, Pennsylvania, where he was born.
John Mills, whose portrait accompanies this sketch was reared and edu- ·cated in Carroll County, Ohio, where he became a substantial farmer and lived until 1882, when he came to Shawnee County and purchased a farm in Silver Lake township, on which he resided until his death on January 22, 1892. His burial took place here.
Mr. Mills was married June 7, 1866, in Carroll County, Ohio, to Mary E. Fouts, who was born March 8, 1841, and is a daughter of George and Eleanor (Hemming) Fouts. Her father was a carpenter by trade, a worthy, industrious man. He died March 23, 1875, but his widow survived until December 22, 1900. Both rest in the burying ground near their old home in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Mills had four children, namely: Martha, who married C. W. Maupin, a farmer of Silver Lake township and has two chil- dren, Chapman W. and John Dewey; George, deceased; James H., a hard- ware merchant at Rossville, who married Laura D. Johnson, and has one child, a daughter,-Evelyn Eudora; and Harry E., a farmer living west of Rossville, who married Flora A. Mccullough, and has one little six-year old daughter, Wilma O. The eldest son, George Mills, died at San Fran- cisco while in a hospital, on October 13, 1899, from hardships and exposure during his service as a soldier in the Spanishi-American War. He en- listed in Company I, 20th Kansas Infantry, U. S. Volunteers, under Gen- eral Funston and went to the Philippines May 12, 1898, and while there performed a soldier's full duty at Caloocan, Tulijan, Malinta, Poli, Marilao, Bigoa Guiginto, Malolas, Bagbag River, Calumpit, Grand River, Santo Tomas, San Fernando, Bacolor and Santa Rita. Many hearts were grieved at his early death.
On March 17, 1897, Mrs. Mills was married to Rezin Fowler, who was born July 1, 1825, in Floyd County, Indiana, and is a son of Richard and
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Docie (Miller) Fowler. The parents of Mr. Fowler were natives of Ken- tucky, farming people there. Later they moved to Indiana, where the father died in August, 1861, and the mother in 1863. Of their 10 children, Rezin was the only one who came to Kansas.
Mr. Fowler was reared a farmer and carried on agricultural pursuits. in Washington County, Indiana, for a period of 48 years. In 1873 he came to Silver Lake township, Shawnee County, Kansas, buying a farm of 160 acres. This he operated for the next 23 years and then retired from active life, taking up his residence in a pleasant home on the corner of Walnut street and Railroad avenue, in the village of Silver Lake. He retains a very valuable tract of 30 acres within a half mile of the town, which he has under rental.
Mr. Fowler has been twice married, first to Sarah Loughmiller, on December 15, 1849, who died March 5, 1895, and was buried in Prairie Home Cemetery. They had four children, namely: Erastus, who died in Indiana, aged three and a half years; Edwin F., a carpenter by trade, who married Maud Barnes and moved to Oregon, where he died in 1888: John L., a carpenter by trade, in business at Ottawa, Kansas, who married Fannie Bridgeford, and has two children,-Carl and Morrell; and Harry A., a farmer and carpenter, living in Shawnee County, who married Eva Stockwell and has one son,-Loren.
Mr. and Mrs. Fowler are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In this body he has been a trustee for a number of years. Mr. Fowler has taken no very active interest in politics since he came to Shawnee County, but in recognition of his standing and reliability he was twice elected treas- urer of Silver Lake township and served with the greatest acceptability. The whole family is well known and much esteemed.
JULIUS TAYLOR CLARK.
The birth of the venerated and esteemed subject of this sketch took place at a history-making period, not only on American but also on foreign soil, and his whole long and useful life, with its varied interests and honorable successes, has been one more or less connected with important events. Mr. Clark was born August 3, 1814, and is a son of Jesse Ashley and Rhoda (Hill) Clark.
The Clark family, from which Julius Taylor Clark descended, was. founded in New England by three English emigrants of the name, who prob- ably settled in Connecticut in colonial days. The great-grandfather was a resi- dent there and was educated as an Episcopal (Church of England) clergyman,
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but as in those early days all Episcopal clergymen in America were obliged to go to England for ordination, a dislike of crossing the ocean for this pur- pose caused him to leave that ecclesiastical connection and to unite with the Independents or Congregationalists, as they now are called. He served as a Congregational minister until his death. He left three sons : Jesse, Ashley and, John.
Jesse Clark, the grandfather, married Tamma Wheeler, who died in the first year of marriage, leaving one son, Jesse Ashley, who was born May 25, 1789, at Spencertown, New York. Jesse Ashley Clark spent his early days with his grandfather Clark, but when yet a young man went to Northwestern Vermont, where he was employed in teaching and clerical work. He married Rhoda Hill, a daughter of Caleb and Cynthia (Strong) Hill. She was the . oldest of 12 children who reached maturity. They owned and occupied the major portion of Isle-La-Motte, a beautiful island at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain. After marriage, Mr. Clark resided on this island and engaged in farming and teaching until 1820, when he removed to Malone, New York. During his period of residence on the island, these children were born, viz: Justus Mckinstry, December 27, 1812; Julius Taylor, August 3, 1814; Tamma Wheeler, August 25, 1816; and Abigail Ashley, February 17, 1819. Jack Wheeler Clark was born at Malone, March 9, 1821. The father was a resident of Ottawa, Illinois, when the mother of our subject died, in 1836. The father married again and at the time of death was survived by his widow and a son, Jesse Ashley, and a daughter, Harriet. They subsequently removed to San Francisco.
In the War of 1812, when the British troops crossed the Canada line in 1814, at Champlain, near the north end of the lake of that name, a detachment landed on Isle-La-Motte, taking all the men prisoners but releasing them on parole. Among these were the father and the maternal grandfather of Mr. Clark. Grandfather Hill was shot and killed by some one, while standing in his own door, either through accident or by design, but the prepetrator of the act was never discovered. Grandmother Clark was wont to tell that when the family saw the British soldiers coming, she caught our subject, then an infant, in her arms, while the mother carried the three-year-old brother into the bushes and there they remained hidden until the soldiers disappeared.
The paternal great-grandmother was a Scott and on her mother's side she was an Ashley, a descendant of the celebrated Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftsbury, who was made a peer, as Baron Ashley, in 1661. Seth Strong, the father of our subject's maternal grandmother, spent his last days with Grandmother Hill and died in her house on Isle-La-Motte.
In 1824 the father of our subject, removed from Malone, New York, to . Fort Covington, Franklin County, and soon after to the village of Bombay,
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some five miles distant, where he engaged in a mercantile business until 1833, when he removed to Ottawa, Illinois. He was one of the original founders and proprietors of that city, preempting and purchasing the land from the gov- ernment. He occupied a farm adjoining Ottawa, on the south side of the Illinois River, until 1840, when the whole family removed to Madison, Wiscon- sin. A few years later the father removed to the village of Cambridge, a few miles east of Madison, where he died in 1852, his remains being interred in a burial lot owned by our subject at Madison.
Julius Taylor Clark began his education at his mother's knee and he has been assured that when but three years of age he was able to read and spell words of three syllables. His studies in preparation for a collegiate course, were pursued at Fort Covington, partly in a private school under Rev. J. A. Savage, D. D., and partly at the village academy. In 1833 he entered Union College, at Schenectady, where for three years he had the honor of standing with a few others, at the maximum head of the roll, for both scholarship and deportment, and from this institution he subsequently received the degree of M. A. During his last year in college he entered his name as a law student in the office of Potter & Page, in Schenectady, this firm being attorneys for the Albany & Utica Railroad, the longest road at that time in America. At the celebration on the completion of this road, Mr. Clark was one of the guests in the making of the initial trip. In the summer of 1836 he returned to his father's home, then at Ottawa, removal having been made during his absence at college.
Mr. Clark completed his law studies under the instruction of Hon. Cyrus Walker, of Macomb, Illinois, and began practice at Ottawa. When his father removed to Madison, Wisconsin, he accompanied the family and there began the practice of the law with William M. Seymour, who was already well estab- lished there. After a limited period this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Clark succeeded to the entire practice, not a large one, as the town was not yet of great importance and the country was but thinly populated. In this way he found time to assist in the editing of the only newspaper published there, and also for reporting in the Upper House of the Legislature. He served also for some time as auditor of the Territory, under Governor James Duane Doty and Secretary Field. Subsequently he accepted the appointment of agent of the general government among the Chippewa Indians, to instruct them, as far as possible, in the ways and habits of civilized life. He remained several years in this capacity and then resumed his law practice at Madison, entering into partnership with Messrs. Catlin and Abbott. Mr. Catlin soon retired but the firm of Abbott & Clark continued for a number of years and after its dissolution Mr. Clark continued in practice alone until 1864. His health at this time was somewhat impaired through the strain and confinement
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of his profession and this induced him to remove to his large and well ap- pointed farm just outside the city limits, where the active out-door life restored. his health and where he enjoyed some four years of solid comfort.
In the summer of 1868 he disposed of his farm and removed with his. family to Kansas, where he purchased 1.300 acres of land, adjoining the pres- ent town of Osage City in Osage County, and entered upon its stocking and improvement. However, he sold this land in the following year and removed to Topeka, accepting the position of secretary and superintendent, as he was already one of the proprietors, of the Topeka Gas Company. Mr. Clark con- tinued in this capacity until the sale of the plant in 1895.
Mr. Clark was married, first, on May 3, 1846, at Madison, Wisconsin, to . Palmyra S. Cornell, who died of tuberculosis on December 25, 1853, and was interred in her husband's burial lot atMadison. She was survived by two sons, Julius Scott and Edgar Sterling. The former is a resident of Topeka and has a family of two sons and four daughters. The latter was named in honor of the first professor of the Wisconsin University, of which Mr. Clark was at that time one of the regents and secretary of the board. He was severely hurt by being thrown from a horse, from the effects of which he died at Burlingame, Kansas, September 10, 1869. His remains and those of a daughter, Jessie, who died in the same year, lie in the family lot at Topeka.
Mr. Clark was married second on December 28, 1854, to Juliet Millard, at Dubuque, Iowa, where she was principal of a ladies' seminary under the auspices of Miss Mann, sister of the great philanthropist, Horace Mann, and an equally celebrated instructor. After a beautiful, devoted and happy wedded life of 45 years, Mrs. Clark died at Topeka, on April 30, 1899. She was tenderly laid to rest in the beautiful family enclosure in the Topeka Cemetery. Of the children of this second union, two died in infancy, the survivors being : Justus Millard, Winnifred and Mary Adaline. Justus Millard married Bertie Hammond and they have two children, Julius and Roy. By profession he is a civil engineer and at present is chief engineer in the construction of the. Boise, Nampa & Owyhee Railroad. Winnifred was married on October 6, 1888, to L. H. Wolfe, of Indianapolis, Indiana, and they have two children,- Jessie and Herman. Mary Adaline was married on October 6, 1895, to J. W. F. Hughes, of Topeka, and they have three children,-James Clark, Alice . Winnifred and Mary Juliet.
As noted, during his residence at Madison, Mr. Clark was one of the representative citizens. He was a member and was secretary of the first board of regents who laid the foundations of the celebrated University of Wisconsin, and upon him devolved the principal labor and responsibility of the undertaking. Mainly from the profits of the purchase and sale of a 160-acre tract of land adjoining the city, after reserving 40 acres for the use of the University, means
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were realized to erect the first of the university buildings. Congress also granted land and its sale assisted in furthering the work, but for a long time it was the brains of Mr. Clark which brought about the consummation of the great plans involved and assured the success of the undertaking. He was also a member of the board of regents of the State Normal schools from the time of their formation until his resignation on his removal from the State in 1868.
On the organization of the Kansas Children's Home Society, in 1894, Mr. Clark was honored by being chosen president, an office he still holds. In 1900 he was elected one of the vice-presidents of the American Sunday School Union and in these organizations he has the veneration and love of thousands. He has always been interested in the Kansas State Historical Society and at various times he has added valuable documents and data. Mr. Clark is the author of the well-known book "Ojibwa Conquest," which he wrote during his residence among the Chippewa Indians, but which he did not place before the public until his retirement from active business. He is connected with various social bodies.
COL. WILDER STEVENS METCALF.
COL. WILDER STEVENS METCALF, United States pension agent at Topeka, has been prominent in both military and professional life for a number of years. He was born at Milo, Maine, September 10, 1855, and is a son of Isaac Stevens and Antoinette B. ( Putnam) Metcalf.
The family is of New England ancestry, the father a native of Massachu- setts and the mother of New Hampshire, and their forebears were colonial set- tlers prior to the Revolutionary War, in which they bore prominent parts. The father of Colonel Metcalf graduated as a civil engineer from Bowdoin College in 1848, and became identified with the Illinois Central Railroad as chief of division. In 1855 he removed to Elyria, Ohio.
Wilder Stevens Metcalf completed the public school course at Elyria in 1872, and then entered Oberlin College, where he was graduated an A. B. in 1878. In 1887 he came to Kansas, locating at Lawrence, where he entered into partnership with Edward Russell, in the farm mortgage business. Since the death of Mr. Russell, in 1898, our subject has continued alone, still retaining his residence in Douglas County. After coming to Kansas he completed his law studies and was graduated in 1897 at the Kansas University and in the same year was admitted to the Kansas bar.
Prior to coming to this State, Colonel Metcalf had been identified for years with the Ohio National Guard, military life always having attractions for him. When the Spanish-American War came on, he enlisted in the 20th
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Regiment, Kansas Infantry, U. S. Volunteers under Colonel (now General) Funston and succeeded the latter in command. During the two years this regiment served in the Philippines, its members and commanders brought it into prominence through fine training as well as gallant action. Colonel Met- calf was breveted brigadier general by President Mckinley for gallant and meritorious action in the Philippines. For the past 18 years Colonel Metcalf has been a member of the Kansas National Guard and a large part of his fine library is filled with text-books on military matters.
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