USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 10
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Charles L. MeClung gained his early educational training in the common schools of his native town, where he received the advantages of the high school, and about one month prior to attaining to his legal majority he subordinated all other interests to tender his services in defense of the union, by responding to President Lineoln's first call for volunteers. On the 4th of July, 1861, he enlisted in the First Ohio Battery, and after this command had received about three months' tactical training, at Camp Chase, in the capital city of the state, he was assigned to detailed work in the quartermaster's department in that city, hesides doing other service. He had been made first lieu- tenant in his battery, and this office he resigned in December, 1863, in order to enter the navy department of the service. He immediately enlisted in the navy, in which he was made acting master's mate. He took part in all the naval engagements along the course of the Missis- sippi river until the beginning of the Red river campaign. At the initiation of this expedition Mr. MeChung was placed in charge of the steamer "Benefit." at the month of the Red river, and this was used as a dispatch hoat after Porter had gone up the river from Alexandria. Mr. MeChung was an active participant in the siege of Vicksburg np to July 2, 1863, when he was detailed to duty at the navy yard at Mound City, Illinois. In February of the following year he was de- tached from this service and again assigned to the flag ship "Black- hawk." with the same rank of master's mate. The fleet proceeded to
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the mouth of the Red river in April, and after the fight at Grapp's Bluffs, on the 10th of that month, one of the most spirited encounters of that expedition, Mr. MeChung was promoted to the office of ensign. At this time he was transferred to the fleet on the upper Tennessee river, and by rank of office he had command of the same between Decatur, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. In this important service he continued until the close of the war, when he tendered his resignation and received an honorable discharge.
After the termination of his loyal and patriotic service in defense of the nation's integrity Mr. McChing returned to his home in Troy, Ohio, where he was engaged in the grocery business for the ensuing year. Ile then sold his stock and business and in 1869 he went to Cali- fornia, where he remained nearly two years and where he held an exeeu- tive position with the Bank of California, in the city of San Francisco. He returned to Arkansas in 1870, and there followed varions lines of enterprise until 1875, which witnessed his arrival in Kansas, a state that has ever since represented his home. Ile first located at Oswego, Labette county, but soon afterward removed to Cherokee county, where in 1877, he platted the city of Empire City, which grew to a town of four thousand five hundred population within one year. Prior to this, in 1872, Mr. MeClung had served as United States deputy surveyor in Arkansas, and, as a skilled civil engineer, he continued in the govern- ment service for a number of years, having charge of mineral lands in various western states.
In 1883 Mr. MeClung removed to Columbus, the judicial center of Cherokee county, Kansas, and there he maintained his home until 1896, when he came to Wyandotte county and located in Kansas City, where he has since resided. In 1879 he was elected mayor of Empire City, and at the expiration of his first term he was re-elected without a dissenting vote. He resigned the office after serving one year of his second term, and thus was chief executive of the thriving little city for three consecutive years. In the same county he was elected county surveyor, but he resigned after serving six months. Later he was again chosen for this position, but he declined to qualify for the same. For several years he was engaged in the work of his profession in connection with railroad operations. In this connection he was chief engineer of the old Missouri & Northwestern Railroad and he also did effective work in connection with other lines. After coming to Kansas City Mr. MeChung continued in the work of his profession as a surveyor and civil engineer, and incidentally he received appointment to the position of assistant city engineer, also as city engineer. In July, 1909, he was appointed assistant postmaster of Kansas City, and he has since con- tinned the efficient and valued inenmbent of this office. He is a stal- wart in the camp of the Republican party and takes a broad and intelli- gent view of matters of public import. He maintains a lively interest in his old comrades of the Civil war and signified the same by his mem- bership in Burnside Post, No. 28, Grand Army of the Republic, and in the Kansas commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
On the 21st of November, 1866, in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McChung to Miss Anna H. Mackey,
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daughter of Dr. James H. Mackey, who was a native of Virginia and who became one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Miami county, Ohio, where Mrs. McClung was born, he was engaged in the active practice of his profession for more than half a century, in Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri, in which last mentioned state he passed the closing years of his long and useful life. Mr. and Mrs. McClung have two children, Clarence Erwin, who is now a valued mem- ber of the faculty of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence; and Ella Blair, who is the wife of Wesley R. Childs, the present postmaster of Kansas City and a representative citizen of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this publication.
CHARLES A. ANDERSON-From the great Norseland has come a most valuable contribution to the social fabric of our national republic, and our Scandinavian adopted citizens have assimilated with the American body politie with completeness and rapidity. By as much as they have cherished the best heritages of their native lands and woven them into the fabric of their citizenship, by so much have they added fine and strong fiber to the American people. Wyandotte county can not claim a large percentage of citizens of Scandinavian birth, but those who have established homes within her borders have well upheld the high prestige of the races which they represent. Such a one is Charles A. Anderson, who is still a young man and who came to America as a youth of eighteen years, endowed with energy, well bal- aneed mind, industrious habits and sturdy self reliance. It has been his to gain distinctive success in his chosen vocation and he is today numbered among the representative contractors and builders of Kan- sas City, Kansas, where his advancement has been gained through his own well applied energies, and where he has made for himself a staneh vantage ground in the confidence and good will of all who know him.
Charles A. Anderson was born in Sweden on the 4th of June, 1870, and in the schools of his native land he secured excellent educational training. In 1888, at the age of eighteen years, he severed the ties that bound him to home and native land and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He landed in the port of New York city and thence came forthwith to Kansas City, Kansas. Ilere his first em- ployment was that of driving a solemn and none too ambitions mule, the appendage of which was a dump-cart of the common type. After remaining here for a few months Mr. Anderson went to St. Louis, Missouri, where he served a thorough apprenticeship at the trade of stone mason and where he continued to be employed at his trade for a period of abont eight years. Thereafter he was identified with govern- ment contract work at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where he assisted in the erection of the prison buildings, and later he was similarly em- ployed at his trade in government contract work at Fort Riley, this state, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. In 1908 he superintended the erection of the Fifteenth street bridge at Kansas City, Missouri-a seventy-foot stone span structure and one of the noted bridges of the west. In 1909 he began independent contraeting in Kansas City, Kansas, and also in the Missouri city of the same name, and he has been indefatigable in his application to work, with the result that his success in his chosen calling is certain to increase from year to year.
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At the time of this writing Mr. Anderson is engaged in the erection of the Central Baptist church, which will be one of the finest church edi- fices not only in Kansas City, Kansas, but also one of the best in the entire west. HIe has also contracted for the central stone work for the new city hall and for the erection of other important buildings, and he has thus become, within a brief time, one of the leading contractors in stone architectural work in Wyandotte county. He is loyal to all civie responsibilities and is fully appreciative of the ad- vantages and attractions of the land of his adoption. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the cause of the Republican party, and his religious faith is that of the Swedish Lutheran church. He is a care- ful, conscientious and reliable business man, and his ability and energy have gained to him prestige and success in the work of his chosen vocation.
ANTHONY PHILIP SAUER .- Many of the men who were prominent in the npbuilding of Kansas, coming here in pioneer days, were of foreign birth and breeding, Germany having contributed liberally of her staneh and sturdy young men. Among the number especial mention should be made in this volume of Anthony Philip Sauer, who was for many years identified with the growing prosperity of Kansas City. He was born March 10, 1826, at Hessen-on-the-Rhine, where he acquired a prac- tical education. Inheriting the habits of industry, thrift and en- terprise characteristic of his German forefathers, he began his business career when quite young, investing his money in a stoek of merchandise, which he took to Australia, intending to there engaged in mercantile pursuits. Disappointed and discouraged with the outlook, he made an entire change of plans and immigrated to the United States, the land of great promise, landing in New York City in 1853.
Embarking in the leather business in that eity, he remained there ten years, meeting with satisfactory success. His health failing, Mr. Sauer sold out his business in New York and came west in search of renewed vigor. Going to the Rocky Mountains, he, with his two sons, Gus William and Anthony P., Jr., were engaged in freighting during a part of the time the Civil war was in progress, operating a large train of teams. Subsequently locating in Kansas City, Kansas, Mr. Sauer established a tannery, and for a while was prosperously en- ployed in the tanning and sale of leather. Disposing of his interests in that line, he embarked in the real estate business. About 1871 Mr. Sauer purchased sixty-three acres of land on the Shawnee Road, and in the improvement of the property invested about sixty thousand dollars, putting twenty thousand dollars into the spacious brick man- sion which he erected. His intentions were to create a large fruit farm and to raise grapes for the manufacture of wine. Before his plans were all complete, however, he was called to the life above, his death occurring at his beautiful home Angust 16, 1878. He was a man of sterling integrity and worth, and adhered through life to the Catholic faith.
Mr. Sauer married, in Kansas City, Kansas, Mary (Einhellig) Messersmidt, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 22, 1840, a daughter of Anthony and Mary (Kabaerl) Einhellig. Her parents emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1848, and after living
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in Erie, Pennsylvania, for a few years came, in 1856, to what is now Kansas City, Kansas, arriving here at the time of the sale of the Wyandotte and Delaware lands, journeying by rail from Pennsylvania to St. Louis, thence by boat to Kansas City. Here Mr. Einhellig died in 1855, aged fifty-six years, and his wife died in 1867, aged fifty-two years.
Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sauer seven children were born, namely: Gus William; Anthony Philip, Jr .; Eva, who married first William Van Fossen, and is now the wife of Mr. Perkins, of Kansas City, Kansas; Marie Antoinette, wife of George MeLain, of Kansas City, Kansas; Josephine Theresa, wife of Thomas Kinney; Clara, living at the old home; and Helen, who died in 1865, aged fourteen months. Mrs. Sauer married first, when she was but nineteen years old, George Messersmidt, a native of Germany, and of that marriage she became the mother of two children, namely: Anna, wife of Theodore Votigtle, a civil engineer; and Mary, wife of Luther Klotz, living in Germany.
WINFIELD S. FERGUSON, M. D., physician and surgeon of Kansas City, Kansas, has practiced his profession in this city for nearly a seore of years and he is exceptionally well known among both fraternity and laity. Mr. Ferguson was born in Paducah, Kentucky, on the 28th of January, 1861, and is a son of Mason F. and Mary (Lagore) Ferguson, the former of whom was a native of the state of Kentucky and the latter of Ohio. The father was identified with agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Padueah, Kentucky, until 1864, in which year he removed to the state of Kansas, settling on a farm near Glenwood, Leavenworth county. He married Miss Mary Lagore in 1844, and they became the parents of five children, three of whom are living at the present time. Mr. Ferguson was summoned to the life eternal in 1910, but his cherished and devoted wife survives and makes her home with the immediate subjeet of this review.
To the publie sehools of Bosar, Kansas, Dr. Ferguson is indebted for his preliminary educational training. When twenty-one years of age lie left the home farm and was matriculated in Park College, Park- ville, Missouri, in 1881. Subsequently he attended the Northwestern Medical College at St. Joseph, Missouri, and he was also a student in several other medieal institutions, but did not graduate in any. How- ever, he entered upon the practice of medicine at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1887, but one year later he eame to Kansas City, where he engaged in the real estate business. Meeting with finaneial reverses in 1893, he withdrew from that line of enterprise and again turned his attention to the general practice of medicine, in which he has now been engaged for nearly twenty years.
In November, 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Ferguson to Miss Bertha E. Gates, of Leavenworth, Kansas. To this union have been born five children, as follows: Winfield B., a graduate of the law department of the University of Kansas, and now engaged in the practice of his profession in this city; Myrtle May, who is now enrolled as a student in the Kansas University ; Florence F., who at the age of fifteen years met with a fatal accident while at high school; Ruth Naomi, a graduate of the high school; and Walter S., who is a student in the publie schools.
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In politics Dr. Ferguson is an adherent of the policies of the Prohibition party and fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for twenty-one years a member of Giant Camp, No. 1412, of the Woodmen Order. He and his family belong to the Presbyterian chureh. 3 Dr. Ferguson is a publie spirited citizen and is a useful and respected member of society.
JAMES B. COLEMAN .- An active and well-to-do farmer of Bonner Springs, James B. Coleman has for many years been successfully iden- tified with the development and advancement of the agricultural pros- perity of this section of Wyandotte county, his large and well kept farm reflecting credit on his good judgment and ability. He was born, in 1859, in Kentucky, which was likewise the native state of his father, Levi Coleman.
Born in Kentucky, March 5, 1835, Levi Coleman lived there until after the breaking out of the Civil war, when he entered the govern- ment employ as the driver of a freight wagon. He subsequently came with his family to Kansas, locating first on a farm in Wyandotte coun- ty, and later moving to Miami county, Kansas, where he is still engaged in agricultural pursuits. He is a steadfast Democrat in politics, and a member of the Masonic Fraternity. IIis wife, whose maiden name was Trithy Saylor, died in Kansas in 1869, leaving four children, as follows: James B., the special subject of this personal record; Ida ; Sallie Ann; and Arrita.
Coming in 1866 to Kansas with his parents, James B. Coleman, then a lad of scarce six summers, attended the district school as a boy, and when old enough began to assist his father in the care of the home farm, in Wyandotte county. Choosing for his life work the indepen- dent occupation of his ancestors, he has judiciously invested in land, and is now the owner of a good farm of three hundred and fifteen acres, which he is sneeessfully devoting to general farming, stock rais- ing and dairying. He has also a steam threshing outfit, and during the harvesting season is kept busily employed in threshing grain throughout this section of the country.
In 1886 Mr. Coleman was united in marriage with Sarah Blanken- ship, who was born in Kentucky, February 24, 1867, coming to Wyan- dotte county, Kansas when she was a year old. Into their pleasant home ten children have been born all of whom are now living, namely : Alına, Ben, Hazel, Leonard, Lee, Clyde, Charles, Inez, Ida and Don W. Mrs. Coleman and two daughters, Alma and Hazel, belong to the Order of the Eastern Star, at White Church, Kansas.
In politics Mr. Coleman is a stanch and stalwart advocate of the policies of the Republican party. HIe is a member of Delaware Lodge No. 96, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and he also holds member- ship in the Order of the Eastern Star.
A. LLOYD CLOTFELTER .- Bringing to the practice of his chosen pro- fession a well trained mind, a zealous enthusiasm and habits of in- dustry, A. Lloyd Clotfelter, of Kansas City, Kansas, has been very successful in his career and is now numbered among the able and in- fluential younger members of the legal fraternity. A son of James
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H. and Rachel (Lloyd) Clotfelter, he was born June 20, 1881, in Emporia, Kansas.
James II. Clotfelter was born October 16, 1848, in Montgomery county, Illinois, and there spent his boyhood days, receiving his first knowledge of books in the district schools and completing his early edu- cation in Springfield, Illinois. Coming to Kansas during the seventies, he was engaged in the live stock business at Emporia until 1884, when hit located at Kansas City, Kansas, where he was a live stock buyer for the Armour Packing Company for over twenty years, resigning his position in February, 1908. Embarking then in business for himself, he bought and shipped live stock throughout the west and south until his death, December 23, 1909. The elder Mr. Clotfelter had an exten- sive acquaintance among stockmen throughout the country. He was a Republican in politics, and belonged to Wyandotte Lodge, No. 3, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, and to Kansas City, Missouri, Lodge No. 26, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He married Rachael Lloyd, who was born in Newark, Ohio, and is now living in Kansas City, Kansas.
The only child of his parents, A. Lloyd Clotfelter was given ex- ceptionally good educational advantages. After being graduated from the Kansas City, Kansas, high school, he entered the University of Kan- sas, in Lawrence, remaining for two years. He then went to Harvard where he obtained his A. B. degree in 1906, thereafter attending the Harvard Law School, and on January 23, 1908, was admitted to the Kansas bar and to practice in the Federal courts. Since that time Mr. Clotfelter has been actively engaged in the general practice of law, and has met with well deserved success. From March 10, 1910, until December, 1910, he filled the position of assistant attorney general for Wyandotte county, Kansas, and during the time handled about two hundred cases. Mr. Clotfelter is unmarried, making his home with his widowed mother to whom he is intensely devoted.
In his political affiliations, Mr. Clotfelter is a sound Republican ; fraternally he belongs to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and to Wyan- dotte Lodge, No. 440, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
CLARENCE L. ZUGG, B. S., M. D .- One of the able physicians and surgeons who have provided a due quota in maintaining the high stan- dard of the medical profession in Wyandotte county is Dr. Zugg, who is engaged in successful practice in Kansas City. In view of the wide realm of his profession he has realized the expediency of concentration or intensive work in the same, with the result that he has specialized in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, to which he now devotes practically his entire time and attention and in connection with which his success has been on a parity with his marked success, with incidental high reputation. As one of the representative members of his profes- sion in Wyandotte county he is well worthy of recognition in this history of the county and its people.
Dr. Zugg claims as the place of his nativity the fine old common- wealth of Ohio, as he was born on a farm near the village of Bethel, Clermont county, that state, on the 26th of March, 1874. He is a son of John L. and Ella (Richards) Zugg, both of whom were likewise born in Clermont county, where the respective families made settle-
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ment in the pioneer epoch of its history. William Zugg, grandfather of the Doctor, was a native of Pennsylvania, and his parents immi- grated to that state from Germany. He was reared to maturity in his native state and as a young man he removed thence to Clermont coun- ty, Ohio, where he reclaimed a farm from a virtual wilderness and be- came one of the representative agriculturists of that seetion of the Buekeye state. His wife, whose maiden name was Ruth Swing, was a cousin of the distinguished divine, Rev. David Swing, D. D., who so long held the pastorate of the People's church in Chicago and who gained a national reputation as a pulpit orator. Enos Richards, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Zugg, was likewise of German aneestry, and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Logan, was a member of the well known Logan family of Kentucky, where she was born and reared.
John L. Zugg continued to be actively identified with agri- cultural pursuits in Clermont county, Ohio, until his death, at the age of sixty years, and he was one of the honored and influential eitizens of his native county, where he ever commanded unqualified popular esteem. Ilis wife, Ella Richards, is now living in Ohio, a Presbyterian in religious affiliation.
Dr. Zugg is the eldest of a family of five chil- dren, all sons, Rev. Frank R., the next in order of birth, is a elergy- man of the Presbyterian church and holds a pastoral charge at Wash- ington, Kansas; Charles R. is a successful educator and resides in Bantam, Ohio; and Clark W., is a student of medieine at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dr. Clarenee L. Zugg laid the foundation for a sound mind in a sound body through his close association with the work of the old home- stead farm during the days of his boyhood and early youth, and in the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the district schools of his native county. He applied himself diligently and at the age of twenty-one years he proved himself eligible for the pedagogic profession, which he continued for one year. In 1896, with definite plans as to his future life work, he set his face to the west and at Park- ville, Missouri, he entered Park College, in which he completed a course in the academie or literary department and was graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1899, and now has the Degree of Bachelor of Science from the Kansas City University. In preparation for the work of his chosen profession he then eame to Kansas City, Kansas, and was matriculated in the College of Physicians & Surgeons, which now constitutes the medieal department of the University of Kansas. He completed the prescribed course in this excellent institution, in which he received his eoveted and well earned degree of Doetor of Medi- cine, upon his graduation as a member of the class of 1902. In the spring of the same year he opened an office at Orlando, Oklahoma, where he served his novitiate in the practical work of his profession and where he remained three years. Hle then returned to Wyandotte county and engaged in active general practice at Argentine, which is now an integral part of Kansas City. There he continued to reside, with ever increasing success in his profession, until 1909, when he re- moved to the central and original portion of Kansas City and turned his attention to the special treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In this circumscribed field of practice he has been notably successful, and he admirably fortified himself for his specialty
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