History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. II, Part 29

Author: Bentley, Orsemus Hills; Cooper, C. F., & Company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, C. F. Cooper & Co.
Number of Pages: 514


USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. II > Part 29


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45


Fred W. Dold, manager of the Jacob Dold Packing Company, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of the Empire State, having been


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born at Buffalo, N. Y., on December 14, 1872. He is a son of the late Jacob Dold. Fred W. Dold is the manager of one of Wichita's largest business interests. He received his educational training in the Buffalo public schools, and, under his father's supervision, began early in life to devote himself to business pursuits. Entering his father's concern, the Jacob Dold Packing Company, he served in every department, from the lowest up. At the age of twenty-one he became a stockholder, and October 1, 1899, was elected manager of the Wichita branch of the Buffalo house. This extensive business enterprise was conceived and carried into execution by Jacob Dold, the elder. Beginning when a poor boy, trading in cattle, selling both beef and hides, in 1888 he founded the stock company which bears his name. In the same year a branch was established at Kansas City, and the Wichita house was also founded, being now among the most substantial in the country. In 1900 the last frame building was replaced by more substantial structures of brick and stone. A more extended mention of the plant is given in the historical portion of this work. Fred W. Dold, the manager, has a high reputation for business ability, and is an important factor in the business life of Wichita. The officers of the company are as follows: Jacob C. Dold, president ; Fred W. Dold, vice-president ; Edward F. Dold, second vice-president and treasurer; Charles H. Dold, third vice-president; Philip B. Dold, secretary-Fred W. Dold being manager of the Wichita branch. Jacob Dold died in October, 1909. After the death of George P. Dold, Fred W. came to Wichita and took charge of the plant. Mr. Dold is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Commercial Club, the Riverside Club, and the Country Club. He was married in 1901 to Miss Lena Cox, daugh- ter of Hon. L. M. Cox, who was mayor of Wichita. Of this. union two children have been born, Frederick L. and Richard C. Dold.


Richard N. Dorr, proprietor of the Baseball Headquarters, Wichita, Kan., is a native of Kentucky, having been born at Marion, in the Blue Grass State, on June 29, 1874. His parents were R. B. and Sallie K. (Stewart) Dorr, natives of Kentucky, who moved to Kansas in 1898 and later removed to California. The elder Dorr died December 29, 1909, at the age of sixty-four. Richard N. Dorr was educated at the public schools of Marion and first began work in the service of the Ohio Valley Railway


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Company in the passenger department. He moved to Kansas and entered the traffic department of the Missouri Pacific railway, and in an accident, March 8, 1904, lost both legs. Mr. Dorr was elected city clerk of Wichita in 1905, a position which he filled with credit for four years. He purchased his present business, known as the Baseball Headquarters, at No. 127 South Main street, of Holland & Isbell, in January, 1910. Fraternally Mr. Dorr is a member of the Masonic order, in which he is a member of the Consistory and Shrine, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was made a life member of Lodge No. 427, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, in August, 1906. Mr. Dorr was married on November 18, 1895, to Miss Jessie Degraffenreid, a native of Kentucky. Of this union six children have been born, viz .: Fayellena R., Wilson E., Elizabeth, Mary Ann, Richard N., Jr., and Rodgers B.


Shelby P. Duncan, attorney, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of Kentucky, where he was born in Fayette county on March 2, 1856. His parents were Harvey and Mary (Bowden) Duncan, natives of Kentucky, where they resided until the Civil War broke out, when they removed to Evansville, Ind., where the father died. Mrs. Duncan died at Evansville, Ind. She was a sister of the late Judge Bowden, of the Supreme Court of Kentucky. Shelby P. Duncan was educated at the Canton (Ill.) High School and at the Peru (Neb.) Normal School. He taught in the public schools of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, and read law while teaching and afterwards in the office of his uncle, the late Judge James H. Bowden, of Kentucky. He was later law clerk to George Gillhan, in Memphis, Tenn., having been admitted to the Russellville (Ky.) bar in 1875 and in Tennessee in 1876. Mr. Duncan opened an office at Fairview, Fulton county, Illinois, in connection with Charles H. Robinson, and there practiced law until 1884, when he moved to Kansas, locating in the village of Nescatunga, Comanche county, which was at that time a rival county seat. In 1888 Mr. Duncan removed to Cold- water in the same county, where he was prominent, holding sev- eral public offices. He was honored with the office of United States commissioner, police judge, justice of the peace, probate judge and county attorney. He was also a member of the Republican Congressional Committee. May 31, 1898, Mr. Duncan moved to Wichita, and after a time again took up the practice of law, which he has since continued. He was married in 1881


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to Miss Kunegunda Kuehn, of Fulton county, Illinois. Two children have been born of this union, Nellie B. and Flora K. Fraternally Mr. Duncan is a member of the Knights of Pythias.


Henry I. Ellis, president of the Ellis Construction Company, of Wichita, claims the Empire State as his native domain, having been born at Buffalo, N. Y., on May 13, 1875. His parents were Gottlieb and Mary (Burger) Ellis, the father being a native of France and the mother claiming Germany as the land of her birth. Young Ellis was educated at the public schools of Buffalo, and at the age of fifteen began to learn the carpenter's trade, for which he had displayed an early aptitude. After having served his apprenticeship he followed the trade for seven years, but in 1905 the call of the West appealed to him and he came to Wichita. Here he entered the employ of the Wurster Construc- tion Company, and was superintendent of this company until July, 1909, when he organized the H. I. Ellis Construction Com- pany. Since that time, among other notable works that the company has undertaken, has been the erection of the Michigan building, the Huber building, the Giwosky building, the Grace Presbyterian church and other buildings. Mr. Ellis also had charge of the construction and erection of the Boston Store building, the Murdock building, the Young Men's Christian Association building and the Western Biscuit building. In the fraternal orders Mr. Ellis belongs to the Knights of Columbus. He was married in 1904 to Miss Kate Reilly, of St. Louis, Mo., and from this union there has been issue one child, Mary U.


Elmer F. Emery, railroad man, of Mulvane, Sedgwick county, Kansas, was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, on July 3, 1855. He was a son of Thomas F. and Mary (Plymell) Emery, both natives of Ohio, where the father was born July 10, 1814, and the mother May 13, 1817. Mr. Emery's parents were married in Illinois in 1839 and resided there until 1871, when they traveled overland by wagon from Decatur, Ill., to Wichita, Kan., arriving at the latter place in February, 1871. (The elder Emery pre- empted 160 acres of land in Rockford township, Section 28, where he lived until 1882, when he sold his farm and moved to Mulvane to live with his son Elmer F., his wife having died on January 18, 1889. Mr. Emery, Sr., died March 9, 1893.) Elmer F. Emery came with his father to Kansas in 1871 and worked on the farm until 1874, when his railroad career began. He went to Colorado with the Denver & Rio Grande railroad as station agent at Wal-


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senburg, and remained there until 1878, when he was transferred to Mulvane, where he opened a station September 15, 1879. His first office was in a box car, and in this the business of the road was handled for a short time until its first station was completed, a structure which is now used as a freight station. Mr. Emery's office was in that building until 1909, when the railroad built its present station. Mr. Emery has held his position in Mulvane thirty-one years. He was married August 14, 1881, to Miss Fannie G. Parker, who was born in Chicago February 11, 1858, a daughter of Cale H. and Mary Parker. Mr. and Mrs. Emery have two children-Elizabeth M., born May 29, 1882, and Norma H., born June 8, 1889. The eldest daughter is a teacher in the Mulvane High School. Mr. Emery served as the first clerk of Mulvane when it was incorporated. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order, Mulvane Lodge, No. 201, A. F. and A. M., of which he is past master; Wichita Chapter, No. 33, R. A. M .; Mount Olivet Commandery, No. 12, and Wichita Council, No. 12. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Emery is a Republican in politics.


Josiah D. Emerick, of Wichita, Kan., was born in Fulton county, Ohio, on September 16, 1846. His parents were James P. and Mary A. (Humphrey) Emerick, both natives of New York state. One the paternal side the ancestry of the family is traced to Germany. On the maternal side one of the ancestors came over in the Mayflower, while the mother's grandfather's father served in the Revolutionary War. Josiah D. Emerick served as a soldier in the Civil War. He enlisted in 1863 in Company K, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and received a wound in the battle of Entory Creek from which he has never entirely recovered. After his discharge he returned to his home in Fulton county, Ohio, and in 1870 he came to Kansas and located in Wichita. After a short residence there he homesteaded 160 acres of land in what is now Section 10, Kechi township, which he afterward sold and bought 160 acres in Section 5 of the same township, which he now owns and has added forty acres to, all in Section 5. Mr. Emerick was married on March 14, 1878, to Miss Elizabeth E. Johnson, in Sedgwick county, Kansas. Four children have been born of this union, viz .: J. Horner, born September 17, 1880 ; Robert G., born November 27, 1884; Eliza M., born July 14, 1888, and Edson H., born June 27, 1894. Mr. Emerick is a member of the G. A. R., of the Masonic order, Valley Center


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Lodge, No. 364, and Consistory No. 2, Wichita. In politics he is a Republican and active in the interests of his party. He has served three years as a trustee of Kechi township and has held other minor township offices.


Elmer Ellsworth Enoch, a leading member of the bar of Wichita, Kan., is a native of the Buckeye State, he having been born at Morristown, Belmont county, Ohio, on February 10, 1864. His early education was obtained in the public schools of the state, and at Franklin College, Ohio, from which he was gradu- ated in the class of 1885 with the degree of bachelor of arts. After leaving college Mr. Enoch began the study of law at St. Clairsville, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar of the state in 1888. In the same year he removed to Wichita, Kan., with whose interests he has ever since been prominently identified, and began the practice of his profession. His abilities won early recogni- tion, and he soon built up a lucrative practice. His first political office was as clerk in the probate court of Wichita, in which capacity he served during the years 1895-97-1901-04. He was elected to the office of justice of the peace and served in that position during the years 1897-99, inclusive. In 1903 Mr. Enoch was elected probate judge of Sedgwick county, of which Wichita is the county seat, and served on the bench during the years 1904-07, inclusive. After retiring from the bench Mr. Enoch again resumed the practice of law, which he has continued to the present time. Mr. Enoch was married in 1888 to Miss Ella Douglas West, a daughter of the late State Senator Henry West, of Ohio. From this union five children have been born. They are: Edith, who married J. L. Fox, of Joplin, Mo., where she now lives ; Mary, Henry S., Alfred W. and Elmer Ellsworth, Jr.


George W. Ernest, superintendent and manager of the Wichita Hydraulic Stone and Brick Company, was born at Whiting, Kan., on December 21, 1881. His parents were John J. and Alice M. (Smith) Ernest, natives of Altoona, Pa., who came to Kansas in 1879, locating in Jackson county, where the elder Ernest was engaged in contracting and building. Mr. Ernest died in 1906 at the age of forty-nine. George W. Ernest acquired his educa- tion in the public schools of Whiting and the Atchison Business College. His first employment was as telegraph operator and agent for the Rock Island railroad at Hoyt, Kan., and afterwards as baggageman for the same road at McFarland. This was followed by five years in the position of yardmaster, when he


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became assistant yardmaster at Topeka, later going to the Santa Fe in the capacity of passenger rate clerk in the general offices of the company. Mr. Ernest came to Wichita in 1909, and in December of that year became interested in the Wichita Hydrau- lic Stone and Brick Company as a stockholder, succeeding to the business management of the concern, which is incorporated with a capital stock of $10,000. The officers of the company are as follows: President, F. C. Dymock; secretary, W. L. Brown; treasurer, J. W. Craig; superintendent and manager, George W. Ernest. The yearly output of the company amounts to $75,000 and it gives employment to twenty hands. The output of the company is about equally divided between the city and shipping trade. The plant was first organized in 1905. Mr. Ernest is a member of the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal Aid. He was married in 1904 to Miss Bess Deck, daughter of John and Mary Deck, of Cricksville, Kan.


Josiah F. Fager, farmer, of Waco township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, was born in Ogle county, Illinois, on April 26, 1849. His parents were Conrad and Mary (Myers) Fager. The father was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, and the mother in Washington county, Maryland. The parents were married in Ogle county, Illinois, where they both spent the balance of their lives. Josiah F. Fager remained in Ogle county until 1871, when he moved to Sedgwick county, Kansas, and pre-empted 160 acres of land in Ohio township. He lived for two years in Wichita, when he sold his claim in Ohio township, and in 1875, in partner- ship with W. W. Hays, built a flour mill, the second built in the county, at what is now Haysville. The first postoffice at Hays- ville was established in 1876 and was kept in the mill. Mr. Hays was postmaster and Mr. Fager was deputy. Mr. Fager was interested in and worked in the mill until 1883. when he sold his interest and moved on his present farm, having bought 160 acres in 1880. He now has 220 acres. On this place he has an orchard of 100 acres in apple and pear trees. Aside from the Hoover orchard Mr. Fager has one of the largest in the county. On December 25, 1877, Mr. Fager married Miss Antonia Shaw, who was born in Shelby county, Illinois. Mrs. Fager is a daughter of Caleb and Mary A. Shaw. Her father came to Sedgwick county in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Fager have one son, Clinton C., born January 6, 1879, who lives on the home place. Fraternally, Mr. Fager is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.


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He is a Republican in national politics and a liberal in local affairs. Mr. and Mrs. Fager are members of the Christian church.


Edward Forward, a well-known resident of Sedgwick county, Kansas, was born in Cayuaga county, New York, on July 19, 1839. His parents were George and Sarah (Cager) Forward, both natives of England, where the father was born in Sussex, on October 30, 1806, and the mother on October 30, 1809. They were married on June 22, 1828, and came to the United States in 1833, settling in Cayuaga county, New York. They sailed on the Duke of Brunswick on May 4, 1833, and were on the water seven weeks. They were the parents of twelve children, nine of whom are living, viz .: George, born in England Septem- ber 9, 1829, and now living in Illinois, at the age of eighty-two; Charlotte, born June 22, 1832, deceased; William, of Illinois, born September 5, 1834; Franklin, of Clinton county, Michigan, born August 11, 1838; Edward, of Ninnescah township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, born July 19, 1839 ; Mrs. Fannie Bunker, of Delano township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, born August 1, 1840; Charles N., of Goddard, Kan., born January 30, 1843; Mrs. Mary Beard, of Delano township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, born August 8, 1845; Lewis, of Mt. Hope, Kan., born November 13, 1852; Adelbert, of Grand Rapids, Mich., born July 16, 1855; Sarah, deceased, born August 7, 1847 ; one child died in infancy. The father of this fam- ily died in Michigan on September 15, 1881. The mother is living in Delano township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, at the age of 102 years. Edward Forward remained at home until 1858, when he went to Yorktown, Bureau county, Illinois, where he remained till 1861, when he enlisted in Company B, First Battalion, Yates Sharpshooters, which in 1864 was veteranized and called the Sixty- fourth Illinois. Mr. Forward was in thirty-three different engage- ments. At the battle of Corinth a minie ball seared his right cheek. The same day three balls passed through his blouse and one tore the heel off his shoe. The sharpshooters were in groups of four, and Mr. Forward was the only one left out of his group, the other three being killed. He was with Sherman on his march to the sea, and was discharged with a commission as second lieu- tenant on July 18, 1865. After the war Mr. Forward returned to Illinois and resumed work at his trade of mason and brick- layer, where he remained until 1877, when he came to Kansas and located in Mitchell county, but returned to Illinois. In 1878 he returned to Kansas and located three miles west of Wichita,


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in Delano township, where he bought a farm and lived eighteen years. He then sold his farm and bought a farm in Waco town- ship near Bayneville, where he lived until 1909, when he sold it and bought 220 acres in Section 21, Ninnescah township. On March 1, 1873, Mr. Forward was married to Miss Margaret A. Gramphin, who was born in Niles, Mich., on November 10, 1852, a daughter of Watkins and Elizabeth (Granger) Cramphin, both natives of Cayuaga county, New York; Mrs. Forward's father was born June 6, 1817, and her mother May 23, 1819. Her father died June 21, 1890, and her mother September 3, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. Forward have five children, viz .: Mrs. Alma Parsons, born July 26, 1876; Edward W., born March 12, 1878; Mrs. Walter Brazill, born May 22, 1880; Mrs. Frank Coulson, born August 21, 1883, and Mrs. Raymond Lucas, born September 14, 1885. All the children live in Sedgwick county, Kansas. Mr. Forward has devoted his entire attention to farming since coming to Kansas. He has held no political positions except trustee of his school district, which he held for a number of years. Fraternally, he is a member of Yorktown Lodge, No. 655, of Tampico, Ill. He is a liberal in politics, always voting for the best men in local affairs, but is a Republican in national affairs.


Harvey J. Freeman is a native of Butler county, Kansas, and was born in 1870 to Henry and Emma (Hart) Freeman, the former a native of England and the latter of Canada, who settled in Butler county in 1869, where the father died in 1907. Our subject is the seventh child of a family of twelve children. He acquired his preliminary education in the district schools, then pursued a course of study at Lewis Academy and later was grad- uated from the Southwestern Business College of Wichita. After his graduation, in 1893, in connection with the institution last named, and under Mr. E. H. Fritch, he organized a school at Guthrie, Okla., where he remained two years. Then associating himself with the Wichita Commercial College, he established a school at Oklahoma City and continued with it two years. Re- turning to Wichita in 1897, he held a position as instructor in the ' institution there till the spring of 1905, when he and Mr. T. W. DeHaven purchased the school. In the fall of that year, Mr. H. S. Miller also became financially interested in the school. Under this proprietorship, the school was carried on till 1909, when Mr. Miller sold his interest to his partners, who have conducted the school since that time. The school, in its various departments,


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occupies the entire third floor at Nos. 508-16 East Douglas street, and has an enrollment of from 200 to 225, with a yearly attend- ance of 500 pupils. He was a member of the city council on the Republican ticket for a period of two terms, and was president of that body for the term ending April 1, 1906. He has been a member of the board of the Kansas state poultry board for the past five years, and on January 1 last, was elected president of the state board, which position he still holds. Mr. Freeman is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a past grand of the order. He also belongs to the Woodmen of the World. In religious faith, he is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1896 Mr. Freeman married Miss Evelyn Peoples, a daughter of Dr. D. A. Peoples, of Guthrie, Okla., who removed thither from Philadelphia in 1889. They have one child, Louise, who was born in 1897.


Farley A. Gackenbach is a wideawake and progressive citizen of Wichita, Kan. He is a native of Allentown, Pa., and was born in 1866, to Charles W. and Jane (Schenck) Gackenbach. The father was a carriage manufacturer and the son learned that trade, though he never followed it. He started out for himself in 1884, going to Atchison, Kan., and spending two years as traveling salesman for Messrs. Sterner & Co., cigar dealers. He then, in 1886, went to Arkansas City, Kan., and spent one year in the real estate business. Here our subject traded some real estate he had acquired for a stock of groceries located at No. 933 South Emporia street, Wichita, Kan. He carried on the grocery trade till 1889, when he sold the business and engaged in the cigar business, first at No. 119 South Main street and after- wards at No. 227 East Douglas street. He conducted this business till 1907, when he sold out his interest and accepted the position of deputy grand master of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, having been, for nine years previous to this time, financial agent of the local lodge, No. 22. Mr. Gackenbach stands high in fraternal circles, being a member of the Mystic Shrine, a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Wichita Consistory. He also belongs to Wichita Lodge, No. 93, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and many others.


In 1906 Mr. Gackenbach was elected a member of the Wichita Board of Education, and re-elected in 1908, and served as its president till 1909, when he resigned. He has the credit of es- tablishing separate schools in Wichita, but the case being re-


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versed by the Supreme Court the matter was dropped until such time as the law was amended.


William H. Gaiser, carriage maker, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of Illinois, having been born in the city of Alton, that state, in 1862. He is a son of John and Celia (Hanna) Gaiser, the father being a native of Germany, who came to the United States when young and settled in Illinois. William H. Gaiser received his education in the public schools of Alton, and began to learn the trade of carriage making when a boy. He came to Wichita in 1887, where he was first employed by J. M. Mc- Kenzie and later by J. M. Washburn. Mr. Gaiser was in the employ of the latter for seventeen years, when he was taken into partnership, the style of the firm being Washburn & Gaiser. This arrangement continued until the death of Mr. Washburn, when Mr. Gaiser succeeded to the business. The business plant was formerly located at Nos. 114 and 116 St. Francis avenue, but the constantly increasing business made larger and more modern quarters imperative, and in 1910 Mr. Gaiser built the present up-to-date plant at Nos. 217 and 219 St. Francis avenue, the most modern to be found in the Southwest. The structure is a two-story brick, covering a ground area of 42x125 feet, and is complete in every detail. The shops are filled with all the equip- ment required in the carriage business. Facilities are here to be found for the building and repair of all kinds of vehicles, from a wheelbarrow to an automobile. The floors are of concrete, there is an elevator for the transport of vehicles from one floor to another, while the paint and varnish rooms, carriage top and repairing department, and a modern forge, all go to make up a new and twentieth century equipment. The works are an illustration of what can be accomplished with enterprise and push. Mr. Gaiser was married in 1887, to Miss Julia Doyle, of Missouri. Three children have been born of this union, viz .: George, Harry M., and Paul.




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