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 41
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where he remained ten years. From there he went to Vernon county for two years, from the latter place to Anderson county, Kansas, for two years, and then to Greenwood county, Kansas. While in Missouri he farmed and in Kansas he was in the cattle business. Mr. Stevens remained two years in Greenwood county, and in 1887 moved to Sedgwick county, settling in Ohio township, where he bought 560 acres of land. He farmed and raised stock until 1908, when he moved to Clearwater and now rents his farms. Mr. Stevens is president of the State Bank of Clearwater and has been so since its organization in 1899. He is also president of the Clearwater Telephone Company, which is capitalized for $10,000. On October 10, 1872, Mr. Stevens was married to Miss Mary A. Hammus, who was born in Woodford county, Illinois. They have no children. Fraternally, Mr. Stevens is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a member of the school board of District III, Ohio township, for nine years. He is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian church.
James Stewart,* of Mulvane, Sedgwick county, Kansas, a vet- eran of the Civil War, was born in Ireland January 24, 1837, and came to the United States in 1857, landing in Philadelphia, and from there making his way to DeWitt county, Illinois, where he remained until the war broke out. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company K, Forty-first Illinois Infantry, and was with General Grant in the first battle in which that commander was engaged. Mr. Stewart was wounded six times at Fort Donaldson and was carried from the field. He was discharged and sent to his home on account of being incapacitated for further service by his wounds. Mr. Stewart returned to his home in De Witt county and remained there until 1871, when he came to Sedgwick county, Kansas, and preempted 160 acres of land in Salem township, on which he remained nineteen years. He then moved to Mulvane, where he now lives. Mr. Stewart was married in 1868 to Miss Susanna T. Eli. Four children have been born of this union, viz .: Mrs. John McClelland, of North Yakima, Wash .: Mrs. W. E. Smith, of Chickasha, Okla .; John S., of Kansas City, Mo., and Mrs. Ellen Schafer, of Chickasha, Okla. Mr. Stewart has sold his homestead and is living a retired life in Mulvane, where he owns his home. In politics he is a liberal.
Joe Stewart, of the firm of Joe Stewart & Son, Wichita, Kan., is a native of the Emerald Isle, where he was born in County
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Down on August 7, 1853. Mr. Stewart came to the United States in 1865 and resided in Illinois until 1870, when he moved to Kansas. He located first at Clearwater, Sedgwick county, where he was engaged in the farming business, and in 1876 moved to Wichita and opened a market on North Main street, which at that time was little more than a highway with two wagon ruts for traffic. Mr. Stewart dealt extensively in hogs for a time, and was for six years an efficient member of the Wichita police force. His market was conducted at No. 244 North Main street, and he has been in active business on this street for over a quarter of a century. October 9, 1909, Mr. Stewart, with his son, John A. Stewart, opened his present market at No. 211 North Main street, which is one of the finest of its kind in the city. "Uncle Joe," as he is familiarly called, is one of the pioneers in the butcher business of Wichita, being in line with the other pioneer men who have preceded him : Maddox, Scarf, Waggoner and DeNear. In 1880 Mr. Stewart married Miss Mary Davidson, of Goddard, Sedgwick county, a daughter of James and Belle Davidson, na- tives of Ireland. Five children have been born of this union, viz .: John A., Belle, Mary, Joe., Jr., and Pearl L.
Aaron W. Stoner, secretary and treasurer of the Kansas Steam Laundry, of Wichita, is a native of Maryland, in which state he was born on September 25, 1865. His parents were David and Amanda A. (Funk) Stoner, natives of Maryland and Pennsyl- vania, respectively. They moved to Illinois in 1877 and ten years later removed to Kansas, locating in Osborn county, where ten years later the father died at the age of sixty-nine. His widow is still living and is a resident of Wichita. Aaron W. Stoner received his education in the public schools of Illinois and came with his parents to Osborn county, Kansas. In 1886 he went to the state of Wyoming, where he engaged successfully in the mercantile and live stock business until 1904, when he moved to Wichita, where he became interested in the Kansas Steam Laundry, and has since been associated with the concern as secretary and treasurer. The other officers of the concern are: President, Rufus Cone ; vice-president, G. W. Cornell. Mr. Stoner is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Wichita Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Stoner was married in 1910 to Miss Indiana Bates, a daughter of Ezra Bates, of Wichita.
William O. Stringer, deceased, but in his life a resident of Sedgwick county, Kansas, was born April 10, 1834, in Richwoods
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township, Peoria county, Ill. His parents were born in Louisville, Ky. They were Scotch and German descent. He was married on February 25, 1858, to Miss Abigail Rosetta McClallen, in Groveland, Tazewell county, Illinois. To this union were born five children, all but one of which were born in Richwoods, Peoria county, Illinois. Nydia R. Stringer was born December 5, 1858, died at the age of forty-four years. Adaline Stringer was born December 2, 1862; was married to Oliver Champ June 9, 1887, at Mapleton, Ill .; lived in East Peoria till she came to Kansas with her family, March 6, 1907 ; settled in Illinois township, Sedgwick county. William S. Stringer was born September 26, 1865; mar- ried Ada M. Keith March 6, 1889, and lives in Illinois township. Geo. F. Stringer was born August 26, 1872; married Mattie Ham- lett Blackwood March 24, 1909; is living at Randlett, Okla. Clara C. Stringer was born February 3, 1876 ; married Charles H. Dennis April 21, 1897 ; lives in Wichita, Kan. At the time of Mr. String- er's death, which occurred near Goddard, Kan., February 22, 1910, he had completed a successful life, and at his death was laid to rest in the Attica cemetery. He was the owner of 800 broad acres of land in Sedgwick county, Kansas. Mr. Stringer moved to Kan- sas with his wife and three youngest children in 1884, and settled on a quarter-section in Attica township, near Goddard. In Illi- nois he had laid the foundation of his success before becoming a citizen of Kansas. During the war he was drafted in the army, and paid $1,000 for a substitute. Mr. Stringer was known as an expert mechanic, as well as a good and successful farmer. At an early day he became interested in mechanical work and as he grew older this trait developed until he became a master mechanic. On May 30, 1879, while working at his trade, he met with an acci- dent which left him a cripple for life. This accident caused him to give up further endeavors in the mechanical line. Mr. Stringer invented, constructed and operated the first cider mill in Rich- woods, Peoria county, Illinois. He was a man who formed many friends because of his reliable and sterling qualities. He was a strong believer in Democratic doctrines up to the time of his death. Mrs. Stringer, his widow, still lives on the old homestead. She is the oldest of five children, and the daughter of Silas and Abigail (Parkhurst) McClallen, who were natives of Massachu- setts and who emigrated after marriage from the Bay state to Illinois, locating first in Peoria, and later in Tazewell county, when Mrs. Stringer was a child eight years old.
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John E. McClallen, in 1872, disposed of his farming interests in Illinois and started out overland with a team for the young state of Kansas. Preempting 160 acres of land in Attica town- ship, he set himself vigorously to work to cultivate the soil and to build up a homestead. He succeeded admirably in his efforts, meeting with uniform prosperity, and is now the owner of 1,284 broad acres, embellished with a handsome and substantial set of farm buildings, and of late years has given his attention largely to the raising of a good grade of cattle. He has been no unim- portant factor in the developments of the rich resources of Sedg- wick county, by whose people he is held in universal esteem. He presents the anomaly of a man who has steadily declined to be- come an officeholder, but nevertheless has his firmly fixed ideas upon political matters, and is zealous supporter of the Republican party. The subject of this history is a descendant of excellent Scotch and German ancestry, and his family was first represented on American soil during the Colonial days. He was born in Worcester county, Massachusetts, August 27, 1839, and is the son of Silas and Abigail (Parkhurst) McClallen, who were natives of Massachusetts, and who migrated after their marriage from the Bay state to Illinois, locating first in Peoria and later in Tazewell county when their son, John E. McClallen, was a lad six years of age. Silas McClallen, the father of our subject, was born April 8, 1814, in Petersham, Mass., and his wife Abigail near Dana, Mass., March 28, 1817. They were married March 25, 1836. The household included five children, namely, Rosetta, wife of William Stringer, of Attica township; John E., of our sketch; Charles I., also farming in Attica; Clara, the wife of Samual Mooberry, who is farming in Tazewell county, Illinois, and George T., who is married and lives on the homestead.
Mr. McClallen spent his boyhood years on the farm in Tazewell county, Illinois, becoming familiar with its various employments, and also acquiring a good education in the district school. He was twenty-two years of age at the outbreak of the. Rebellion, and on the 16th of August, 1861, enlisted for three years in the Forty-seventh Illinois Infantry, the regiment being then under command of Col. John Briner. Their division was led by General Pope until after the siege of Corinth, and then our subject with his comrades was transferred to the army of General Sherman, the Fifteenth Army Corps, whom they followed until after the siege and capture of Vicksburg. Subsequently, under the com-
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mand of General Banks, the Forty-seventh was transferred to the Sixteenth Army Corps, and proceeded up the Red river on the expedition which has been made a subject of history and the incidents of which will be clearly remembered by those acquainted with the events of that period. Upon the return to Memphis, Tenn., although their term of enlistment had expired, the Forty- seventh infantry, by request of their general, engaged in another battle at Cupola, and remained in their service two months longer, after which they returned to Memphis and received their honor- able discharge October 11, 1864. Mr. McClallen participated in thirty-one general engagements. Our subject now returns to his home in Illinois and on the 4th of March, 1865, re-enlisted in the Western Army Corps, under General Hancock. They proceeded . first to Washington City, and subsequently operated in the Shen- andoah valley. After the surrender of Lee, they returned to Washington, and Mr. McClallen was one of the guards over the conspirators of Lincoln's assassination. Afterward he and a por- tion of his regiment were sent to Louisville, Ky., where they had charge of the barracks while the Kentucky soldiers were being discharged and mustered out. Thence they repaired to Columbus, Ohio, where they remained while the Ohio boys were being dis- charged. Mr. McClallen was subsequently discharged at Co- lumbus, Ohio, on the 5th of March, 1866. During his army service he was most of the time in the brigade which the American eagle, "Old Abe," followed through the war, flapping his pinions over the smoke of battle and always returning to his colors after the conflict was over. This much admired bird, it will be remembered, was, after the war, taken to Wisconsin and died in Madison, that state, not long ago. Our subject upon retiring from the service engaged in farming on his father's homestead a year, and then was occupied as clerk in a store at Mackinaw, Ill., another year, after which he purchased eighty acres of land near El Paso, and farmed there for a period of four years. At the expiration of this time, resolving upon a change of location, he crossed the Mississippi, and his subsequent life we have already indicated. John E. McClallen, a wealthy bachelor, residing near Goddard, met his death by accident. He was struck by the eastbound pass- enger train on the Wichita & Western and instantly killed. Mr. McClallen was on his way to visit his sister, Mrs. William Stringer, who was giving a reception in honor of his aunt, Mrs. Dolly Butterfield, from Massachusetts, his mother's sister, whom
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he had not seen since he was six years old. Mr. McCllalen was sixty-six years of age at the time of his death. Mr. McClallen, in addition to the personal property, owned besides 1,284 acres in this county, a number of valuable business and residence lots in Wichita. He pre-empted the farm which has ever since been his home (till death). After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well in the family lot by the side of his father and mother in a beautiful cemetery at Peoria, Ill.
Cyrus Sullivan, real estate dealer, and head of the firm of Cyrus Sullivan & Son, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of the Domin- ion of Canada, having been born at Carleton, Carleton county, Province of Ontario, on August 10, 1852. His parents were Thomas and Adaline (Rood) Sullivan, natives of New York and Vermont, respectively. The parents, after some fifteen years of married life spent in New England, joined a colony which located a few miles from Ottawa, in Canada, where they engaged in farming until 1870. In that year they joined a colony of twenty bound for Kansas, and on June 15, 1870, located in Kechi town- ship, Sedgwick county, where they pre-empted a claim of the Indian trust lands of the Osage tribe. The claim selected by Mr. Sullivan was in Section 22, which he found to be wild prairie, but which, by careful cultivation, he made fertile and productive, and there he spent the balance of his life. He died in 1871 at the age of seventy-six; his widow survived until 1894, when she died at the age of eighty-eight. Mr. Sullivan was an educated man, of fine character, and was prominent in occupying local offices while a resident of Ontario. Mrs. Sullivan was descended from noted ancestry, her great-grandfather on her mother's side being Governor Belcher, who was sent from England at an early day to be Governor of Vermont. Robert Sullivan, the grand- father of Cyrus, was a native of Ireland, and came to the United States and settled in New England about the year 1790, and was a merchant in Ireland. Cyrus Sullivan was educated in the pub- lic schools of his native town of Carleton, Ontario, and also at a commercial school, and began farming early in Kechi township, Sedgwick county. He was one of the fortunate ones in securing a claim, a portion of which he still owns. He was actively engaged in farming pursuits until 1904, when he removed to Wichita, and has since been successfully engaged in the real estate business. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal Aid. On January 15, 1872, he was married to
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Miss Elizabeth Q. D. Rorison, daughter of Hugh Umstad Rorison. Mrs. Sullivan is the youngest of a family of thirteen children. Her grandfather, Captain Grierson, was an officer in the British army, and was given 3,000 acres of land when he had served his term in the navy. Three children have been born to Mr. Sullivan and his wife, viz .: Alden Newton, Cyrus Clayton and Arthur Douglas Sullivan, all of Wichita. Alden N. Sullivan, the eldest son, is a member of the firm of Cyrus Sullivan & Son. He was born April 14, 1878, in Kechi township. His education was ob- tained in the public schools, Lewis Academy and the Wichita Commercial College. He first began work on the farm at home, and then entered commercial life as a traveling salesman for W. R. Case, cutlery, of Bradford, Pa., covering the territory of Kansas and Oklahoma. He continued this employment until 1908, when he engaged in the real estate business with his father. The offices of the firm are at No. 212 Anchorm Trust building. Alden N. Sullivan was married on December 28, 1904, to Miss Fannie Doratt, daughter of O. R. Doratt, of Wichita.
Thomas A. Sullivan, lawyer, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of Sedgwick county, Kansas, where he was born on January 8, 1873. His parents were George G. and Letitia (Hunt) Sullivan, natives of Ontario, Canada, who moved to Kansas in 1869, freighted from Emporia to Wichita by mule team, and settled on a farm in Wichita township, locating on the northeast quarter of Section 29, township 26, range 12, which is now known as the Lone Tree farm, and is one of the best and most productive in Sedgwick county. Thomas A. Sullivan now owns a portion of the home- stead farm and devotes some of his spare time to raising regis- tered stock. George G., father of Thomas A., held various public offices and was a member of the school board. Fraternally, he was a member of the Knights of Pythias and was also a member of the First Presbyterian church. He died May 6, 1902, in his sixty-third year. His widow is still living and is a resident of Wichita. Thomas A. Sullivan was the eldest of a family of four children, all of whom are living, and on holidays it is their custom to meet in a family gathering. George G. Sullivan, father of Thomas A., was a son of Thomas A. Sullivan, a native of Canada, who moved to the Southwest after his son, stopping first at Kansas City, Mo., and later joined his son in Kansas. He was a cabinetmaker by trade and made some of the coffins in which the pioneers were placed for their last rest. His location was in
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Wichita township near his son. His wife's name was Adeline, and she was of English-Irish descent. Thomas A. Sullivan was educated in the public schools of Sedgwick county, at Lewis Academy and Wichita University, and studied law in the office of Amidon & Conley. He was admitted to the bar of Sedgwick county and began practice in the city of Wichita as a partner of C. A. Sefton, with an office in the Zimmerly building. Four years later the firm was dissolved and Mr. Sullivan has since continued alone. In 1889 he located his office in the Sedgwick building and has since conducted a general practice. Mr. Sullivan was married on December 20, 1899, to Miss Florence G. Kelley, daugh- ter of George W. and Naurie Kelly, of Roanoke, Va. Three children have been born of this union. Mabel, the eldest, died in 1902, and the two living are Frances Louise and Marion.
Richard H. Sullivan was born December 11, 1863, at Madison, Ind. His parents were William Blackmore and Mary Esther (Hughes) Sullivan, of Virginia and Kentucky nativity, respec- tively. He was educated in the common and high schools of Madison, and under a private tutor in the academical and collegi- ate branches of science, English and history. Mr. Sullivan mas- tered the printing business and followed the profession of journal- ism prior to entering the services of the United States weather bureau. He passed the entrance examinations and entered the United States signal service, war department, on September 24, 1887, and was transferred to the United States weather bureau, department of agriculture, on July 1, 1891. Mr. Sullivan has been stationed twice at Indianapolis, Ind., and once each at Kansas City, Mo., Denver, Colo., Nashville, Tenn., Grand Junction, Colo., and Wichita, Kan. He was observer and first assistant at Denver for six years and at Indianapolis six years; observer in charge at Grand Junction and local forecaster in charge at Wichita. Nearly eighteen years of his professional life have been passed in the West. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the Indiana Society, the Sons of the Revolution, of the National Geographic Society, and is president of the State Audobon Society of Kansas. He has written and lectured on many subjects of a scientific nature, some of which are the following: "The Work of the United States Weather Bureau," "Protecting Orchards from Spring Frosts," "Conservation of Moisture for the Proper Growth of Vegetation," "Relation of Bird Life to the Horticulturist and Agriculturist as an Economic Proposition," and "So-Called
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Change of Climate in the Semi-Arid West." Mr. Sullivan was married to Clara A. Amberg, daughter of Charles and Susan Amberg, of Indianapolis, at Kansas City, Mo., June 10, 1890. One daughter, Esther Louise Sullivan; two sons, Warwick Amberg Sullivan, and Richard Franklin Sullivan, have resulted from this union.
Charles W. Tallman, of Ninnescah township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on December 21, 1844. His parents were Charles and Isabelle (Brown) Tall- man, both natives of the Keystone state. The father was born in February, 1812, and the mother in March, 1813. The parents of Mr. Tallman were married in Pennsylvania and in 1860 went to Missouri, where they remained during the remainder of their lives. The father died in January, 1869, and the mother died on January 7, 1905. Charles W. Tallman remained at home until he enlisted in the army in 1864 in Company E, Forty-eighth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and served during the remainder of the war. He then returned to his home in Missouri, where he remained about two years. He then moved to Leavenworth county, Kan- sas, in the spring of 1868, where he remained five years, and in the spring of 1873 came to Sedgwick county and pre-empted 160 acres of land in the southeast quarter of Section 17, Ninnescah township, which farm he still owns. In 1887 Mr. Tallman moved to Wichita and did gardening for thirteen years, and in 1900 returned to his farm in Ninnescah township. When he first came on his claim there was about eight acres broken. Aside from that Mr. Tallman has done all the improving, erected the buildings, and now has a pleasant home and a finely improved farm. On October 20, 1875, Mr. Tallman married Miss Nellie Swartz, who was born in Leavenworth county, Kansas, on January 9, 1856, a daughter of David and Mary (Collins) Swartz. David Swartz was born in Indiana on March 8, 1804, a son of Michael and Catharine (Sheets) Swartz. Michael Swartz was born in Penn- sylvania on February 20, 1766, and his wife was born on August 15, 1777. They were married on March 1, 1798. Mary Collins Swartz was born in New Jersey on October 11, 1814, and was married March 5, 1838. She and her husband came to Kansas in 1852 or 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Tallman have had five children, four of whom are living. They are: Mrs. H. L. Boyer, born October 14, 1876, of Viola township, Sedgwick county ; Mrs. R. B. Russell, born February 6, 1878, of Wichita; Samuel P., born Feb-
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ruary 16, 1882; Grace D., born November 27, 1888, and died April 28, 1889, and Helen E., born March 15, 1892. Mr. Tallman has served many years on the school board of his district. He is en- gaged in diversified farming and has a fine orchard of 200 apple trees and about 150 peach trees. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; also a member of the Grand Army Post at Clearwater.
Houston Lee Taylor, late of Wichita, Kan., was a native of Concord, N. H., and was born in 1834 to John and Lucinda (Jack- son) Taylor, who moved to Eaton, Ohio, when he was a child. He acquired his education there, and after leaving school, in 1854, went to Mattoon, Ill., and engaged in the hardware trade. Ap- pointed postmaster by President Buchanan in 1858, he served in that capacity three years, studying law in the meantime and being admitted to the bar. In 1861 Mr. Taylor responded to the call of President Lincoln for volunteers, and was commissioned captain of Company H, Fifty-ninth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, the siege of Corinth and other early engagement of the Civil War, and in September, 1862, was promoted for gallant services to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Sixty-eighth Illinois Regiment. Colonel Taylor, after his honorable discharge, was appointed by President Lincoln special treasury agent and assigned to duty in the Missis- sippi valley. From 1865 to 1869 he served as United States gov- ernment agent for the Shawnee Indians in Kansas, after which, in 1870, he engaged in banking at Oswego, Kan., and conducted a successful business for three years, and then withdrew from the bank to look after his private affairs in Johnson county, Kansas, where he held large property interests. In May, 1874, he took charge of the Wichita Land Office under appointment by President Grant and filled that office some five years. He also helped to incorporate, and for one year served as a director of, the Carthage, Oswego & Southwestern Railway Company, and about 1880 was appointed special agent of the government to look after the tim- ber interests in Arizona. About 1882 he engaged in the insurance business as senior member of the firm of Taylor & Taylor, and so continued a number of years. Colonel Taylor was one of the progressive men of his city and entered heartily into all projects looking to the betterment and development of the community. He served as commissioner of elections, was on the police com- mission under appointment by Governor Humphrey and also
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