USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 20
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Mr. Phelps having originated the idea of forming a stone and sup- ply company, formed a corporation with his five sisters, Mrs. Ella L. Fridley, Mrs. Effie L. Hoover. Mrs. Ada C. Cushing, Mrs. Anna M. Wood and Mrs. Gertrude P. Hunie, and Mr. B. C. Beed, the only per- son outside of the Phelps family, and was instrumental in organizing the Phelps Stone & Supply Company, locating the plant at the state line, near Rosedale. The company was incorporated September 22, 1904. with a capital of $45,000, which has since been increased to $67,000, the officers being as follows: Frank K. Hoover, president ; W. E. Cushing, vice president and secretary ; Frank N. Phelps, treas- urer : and Harry J. Nicholas, of whom a brief sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, manager.
This company at first bought thirteen and one-half acres of land on the hill adjoining the Dietz Hill, the place being now known as Gray- stone Heights, but adjacent land has since been purchased, its acreage now being twenty-one acres. An extensive and profitable business has been built up by the company, its crushing stone plant having a capac- ity of three hundred cubie yards per day, and its actual ontput for the year 1910 was, approximately. forty thousand cubie yards of crushed stone, which was delivered as per contract. In carrying on this work the firm employs on an average forty teams and forty-five men at the plant, the business being transacted at the office, which is located on the property.
The part of the country in which Mr. Phelps lives was formerly the happy hunting ground of the Indians, the tribe of Wyandots, thous- ands in numbers having their villages, made of tepees, on the present
Vol. II-10
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site of the village of Kansas City, Kansas. A short distance from the home of Mr. Phelps, on the hill lying on the Kansas City, Missouri, line, the American Fur Trading Company located its post, having a stockade and a log fort. It was illegal to sell liquor to the Indians, but ways were then found, even as now, to evade the law, a post being set in the ground and on that a pole was so inverted that it would re- volve. The Indian desirous of obtaining liquor would tie his skins on one end of the pole, while the traders tied the liquor to the other end, and as the pole swung around the articles were exchanged. In excavating for the Phelps residence the workmen found the grave of an old Indian chief, who had been buried there, surrounded by his implements of war.
Many years ago James C. T. Phelps purchased a stock of goods in his native home state, Illinois, took them down the Mississippi and up the Missouri river to Weston, Missouri, which was a great stocking place for the prairie schooner trains taking loads of emigrants over- land to the California gold fields. IIe made money in the venture, but did not return with a second stock. For many generations this branch of the Phelps family has been prominent wherever located. As a pioneer of northern Illinois, John Phelps, grandfather of Frank N., did much towards the settlement of Ogle county, and had the distine- tion of having laid out the beautiful little city of Oregon. The family is an old and honored one, a genealogical record published within a few years giving its history back to the eleventh century.
Frank N. Phelps married, in Logan, Iowa. September 8, 1897, Eleanor W. Wood, who was born in Magnolia, Iowa, a daughter of .John and Eliza (Hopkins) Wood. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps have one «hild. Frank N. Phelps, Jr., whose birth occurred March 22, 1906.
FRANK HOLLINGSWORTH .- A man of much business energy and tact, Frank Hollingsworth is closely identified with the advancement of the mercantile prosperity of Wyandotte county. having a finely equipped and well stocked grocery in Kansas City, Kansas, at No. 726 Shawnee Road. He was born. February 18, 1862, in Richmond. Wayne county, Indiana. coming on the paternal side of Quaker stock, his immigrant ancestor having come to America with William Penn.
His father, Milton Hollingsworth, was a man of talent and culture. and for several years was engaged in professional work in Indiana and Ohio, teaching in some of the leading educational institutions of those states. He also founded the Hollingsworth College, at Williamsburg, Indiana, and also established several M. Hollingsworth commercial colleges. having seven in operation at one time in Indiana and Ohio. He died while yet in manhood's prime, in 1871, aged forty-seven years, his body being laid to rest in the cemetery at Richmond, Indiana. He married Susan Fallis, who died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1907, and was buried beside her husband, in Richmond, Indiana. Eight chil- dren were born of their union, namely: Clarence, deceased; Inez, de- ceased ; Ona. deceased ; Arabelle, deceased ; Martha, deceased ; Frank, the special subjeet of this brief biographical sketch ; Ellwood. deceased ; and Milton, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, at the corner of Seventy-fifth and IFolmes streets, and owns property on the Shawnee Road.
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Brought up and educated in Indiana. Frank Hollingsworth re- mained a resident of his native state until 1884, when he located in Wyandotte county, Kansas, which has since been his home. He was for a number of years in the dairy business, his mother living with him until her death. Soon after coming to Wyandotte county, Mr. Hollingsworth bought a large lot of land, two hundred feet deep, with a frontage of two hundred and twenty-five feet. He subsequently sold a piece of it, ninety-two and one-half feet front, and the full depth. In 1911 he erected his present store building on the remaining part of his land. and is now prosperously engaged in the retail grocery busi- ness, carrying in stock everything in that line demanded by a first class patronage.
Mr. Hollingsworth is a steadfast Republican in politics, and has served as school director, and for many terms, before his district was made a part of Kansas City, was district elerk, and when the district was annexed he was the Republican nominee for clerk of Shawnee town- ship. Mr. Hollingsworth is still nnmarried.
WILLIAM HURRELBRINK .- The agricultural interests of Wyandotte county. Kansas, have a thrifty representative in the German-American farmer, William Hurrelbrink, who operates a truck garden and farm near Bethel.
Mr. Hurrelbrink was born in Germany, March 18, 1852, one of the family of eight children of Frederick and Annie (Meyer) Hurrelbrink, both natives of Germany, where they passed their lives and died. The father was a farmer by occupation, and at the time of his death was eighty-six years old. William grew up on his father's farm; received the nsnal common school education, and, according to the requirements of the country, served three years in the army. In 1880 he came to America, and direct to Kansas City, Missouri, near which city he at once engaged in farm work. In 1894 he bought land in Wyandotte county, Kansas, where he has since been engaged in farming and where he now has under cultivation sixty-six acres of fine land, an important feature of which is his truck garden. Corn and oats are his chief crops.
In 1878, Mr. Hurrelbrink married Miss Julia Turner, by whom he was accompanied to this country, and who has contributed her share toward the making of a home here. They are the parents of five chil- dren : Annie, wife of Walter Zipley; Fred, William, Amelia and Almie.
Mr. Hurrelbrink has served nine years on the school board. and has always taken an enthnsnastie interest in promoting the welfare of the community in which he lives. At one time he was elected a justice of the peace. In this office, however, he declined to serve. He votes the Republican ticket; is, fraternally. a Mason, and, religiously, is identified with the Lutheran church.
WILLIAM S. SMITH .- There is no better known figure in Rosedale than its street commissioner, William S. Smith, who has been identified with the history of the town for almost three decades. He has had a variety of experiences, and whether as farmer, as herdsman, as quarry man, as employe of the railroad, or as public officer, in all of which connections he has been engaged-he has been eminently sur
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cessful. Possibly the man who decides on a certain business or pro- fession when he first starts out in life and devotes himself to that and that alone, may make more money than the one who has turned his attention to different lines, but the former misses a great deal of valu- able experience which the man who has tried and made a success of different lines, has gathered. Mr. Smith is an instance of this fact as a brief survey of his life will show.
William S. Smith is a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, where his birth occurred May 21, 1855. He is the son of Charles Smith and Ann (Sangster) Smith, both natives of the land of the kilt and the bagpipe. Charles Smith was educated in the schools of Aberdeen and as a young man followed the occupation of farming. Neither he nor his wife ever came to America, but he died in the town he had so long called his own, while Mrs. Smith is still a resident of that same town. They were the parents of nine children, of whom William S. is the first in order of birth.
The subject of this sketch spent the first few years of his life in the historic city of Aberdeen, but before he was of an age to attend school, his parents moved to Huntle, and there he received his early educational discipline in the public schools of the town. After he had completed his school course, he gained employment on a farm, but he was not satisfied with the agricultural conditions in Scotland, or rather with the wages that were paid for farm work, and he made up his mind that he would come to America. In 1883, when he was twenty- eight years old, he severed the ties which bound him to his old home in the midst of the hills, and emigrated for America, coming direct to Kansas of whose agricultural resources he had heard in Scotland. He first went to Mankato, Kansas. then to Linwood, the same state, where he took care of a herd of Scotch cattle and one year later he bought some property in Rosedale, which he still owns. He took up his residence in Rosedale in 1884. built his own home, which he has maintained ever since that time, but subsequently gave up his agricultural pursuits and for a number of years worked in the stone quarry, in the capacity of foreman. Then he was employed by the railroad company as ear re- pairer, and continued in this line of work until the month of October, 1907, when he was elected to the office of street commissioner of Rose- dale. So excellent was his work during the term of office, that he has three times been re-appointed to succeed himself, and is now serving his fourth term.
Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth K. Baird, a young lady of St. Louis where the marriage occurred. She was born in Scotland, her parents. James and Mary (Thompson) Baird, being natives of Scotland, where they lived and died. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have the following children: James Bruce, John Baird, Alexander Thompson and William McKenzie. James, the eldest boy, was named after his maternal grandfather; John, the second boy received his mother's maiden name; the third boy was given the maiden name of his great-grandmother, while the fourth hoy was named after his father. There had been another William, who died when he was only two and a half years old, and little Mary, the only girl in the family, was called to blossom in another sphere when she was three years and a half old. She is buried in Junction cemetery, and with her is buried a part of
"ET YOFF. J LIDRAJOY
9.7, Halten
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
the affections and hopes of her father and mother, who had watched the little flower as it budded from babyhood to childhood and then was removed from their tender watchfulness.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and has passed all the chairs in the Blue Lodge of the Masonic fraternal order, having been initiated in Scotland. He was at one time a mem- ber of the Railroad Carmen's Union, but he has not kept up that eon- nection. For the past seven years he has been a member of the school board and still holds office with that body. It is needless to say that his advice and council on that board has been of the most progressive character, for the fact that he is retained year after year is sufficient indication of his efficiency. The Scotch people are thorough in what- ever they undertake, a characteristic which Mr. Smith possesses in a very large degree, and that is probably the reason that he has been so successful in Rosedale.
JOSEPH F. WATSON .- There is nothing in the world that gives a man a keener sense of satisfaction than the consciousness that he has done his dnty. The soldier who is wounded while fighting, the doctor who catches the fever from his patient, the sailor who perishes at his post at sea are no more to be admired than the railroad man who be- comes disabled in the performance of his duty. If anything could compensate Mr. Watson, the noted councilman of Rosedale, for the pains he has endured and the inconvenience he now suffers, it would be that fact-that he did his duty.
Ile was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, June 1, 1849, a son of W. H. and Louise Watson, the former of whom was a farmer, and in Kansas he made a farm in the woods. Joseph F. Watson was educated in the public schools in his native county and when he was twenty years old he left his home and came to Missouri. Since then he has spent all of his time in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. In 1871 he got a position as brakeman and yardmaster with the Chicago and Alton Railroad. Later he aeted as special condnetor for the road. After several years he became conductor for the St. Louis and Keokuk Short Line, traveling between Hannibal and St. Louis. Then he worked for the Wabash road and in 1881 he went to work for the Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad as brakeman and fireman. In November, 1887, he went to work for the Kansas City Belt Line as foreman of the switching crew and yardmaster. In October, 1908, while in the employ of this road he met with an accident. He was climbing on top of a car, when the handle broke and he fell back. Ile turned a somersault and alighted on his feet, breaking the bones in both feet. This made it impossible for him to again perform any physical work. He has since that time lived a retired life at Rosedale. In 1911 he was elected to the office of city councilman in the Fourth ward of Rosedale, and he is now aeting as one of the city fathers.
In 1888 he married Lizzie Cross, a young lady who was born in Sullivan county, Kansas. One son was born to this union, George O., who is a salesman of railroads supplies. He started in the yards and worked up to the position of claim agent. He resigned this position to aceept his present post. He belongs to the order of Masons, having
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
joined in Rosedale. Ile lives at home with his father and the two men are very devoted to each other.
Mr. Watson is a member of the Odd Fellows fraternal order and he is also a member of the Switchmen's Union. He is very popular in Rosedale not only with the railroad men, but with all who know him. He is very desirous of seeing Rosedale prosper and he is doing excellent work in his position as eouneilman.
HENRY L. ALDEN .- Judge Alden may properly be designated the dean of the bar of Wyandotte county, since he has here been engaged in the work of his profession for fully two score of years, the while he has been called upon to serve in various positions of publie trust, nearly all of which have been in direct line with the work of his pro- fession and one of which was that of judge of the district court. He has stood exemplar of the most loyal and progressive citizenship and his influence has been potent in many directions. He is one of the vener- able and able members of the bar of the state and as a legist and jurist his honors rest on large and definite accomplishments. No eitizen commands a fuller measure of popular confidence and regard and none is more worthy of consideration through the medium of a review in this history of Wyandotte county and its people.
Henry Leroy Alden has every reason to take pride in his genealogy, as he is a descendant of John and Priscilla Alden, the sterling Puritans whose idyllic story has been so graciously told by the loved New Eng- land poet, Longfellow. Judge Alden himself claims the historie old Bay state as the place of his nativity. He was born in Greenwieh. Hampshire county, Massachusetts, on the 8th of May, 1847, and is a son of Abel and Evaline (Thompson) Alden, the former of whom was born in Massachusetts and the latter in Connecticut. History amply records the prominent part taken by the Alden family in New England affairs from the time when its original representatives came over from Eng- land on the "Mayflower" down through the succeeding generations. and representatives of the name are now to be found in divers states of the Union. Abel Alden, like his forbears, devoted the greater part of his active career to the great basic industry of agriculture, with which he continued to be identified until his death, which occurred on the old homestead in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, when he was well advanced in years. His loved and devoted wife survived him by several years, and of their eight children three sons and one daughter are now living.
Under the sturdy discipline of the New England farm Judge Henry L. Alden gained his early experiences, and he continued to attend the common schools of the locality and period until he was fifteen years of age, when he entered Munson Academy, at Munson, Massachusetts, where he prosecuted his studies for one year. He supplemented this by a course of two years in Kimball Union Academy, at Meriden, New IJampshire, and soon afterward he went to Pennsylvania, where he did effective work for two years in the pedagogie profession-in charge of a private academy. The death of his honored father then cansed him to return to the old homestead farm on which he was born, and he had charge of the place for one year, within which he brought the affairs of the estate into good order. In November, 1867, Judge Alden made
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his advent in Wyandotte county, Kansas, and he recalls the fact that he arrived in the old village of Wyandotte, now a part of Kansas City, on the morning of Thanksgiving Day. He assumed the position of principal of the Wyandotte public schools and after retaining this position for one year he entered the law office of Stephen A. Cobb, at that time one of the leading members of the bar of Wyandotte county, and began the study of law under effective preceptorship. He made rapid progress in the assimilation of the science of jurisprudence and laid the foundation for the broad and exact knowledge of law and pre- cedent that has gained him such distinctive priority in his chosen pro- fession. He was admitted to the bar in April, 1870, and forthwith formed a partnership with his honored preceptor, Mr. Cobb, with whom he continued to be associated under most pleasing conditions until the death of his valued coadjutor, after a period of about eight years. Later he was associated in practice with Henry McGrew, and later George B. Watson was admitted to the firm, under the title of Alden, MeGrew & Watson, which was retained until March, 1891, when Judge Alden was appointed to the bench of the district court of the Twenty- ninth judicial district. This appointment was conferred by Governor Humphrey, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge O. L. Miller, and at the regular election in the autumn of the same year Judge Alden was chosen by popular franchise to fill the office for the regular term of four years, at the expiration of which, in 1895, he was chosen
as his own successor. Ile brought to the bench the most admirable judicial mind and the matured powers of a well trained lawyer, so that his administration on the beneh was marked by discrimination and serupulous care in conserving the ends of equity and justice. His
court calendar was handled with dispatch and ability and his unvary- ing courtesy gained to him the confidence and respect of both lawyers and litigants. Judge Alden retired from the distriet beneh in January, 1900, and such activities as have since engaged his attention have been those of the direct work of his profession, in which his interposition is demanded to a greater extent than his physical powers and his time can satisfy. He served, however, as city counsellor after his retirement from the bench, and this municipal preferment he retained from April, 1907, until May, 1909.
Early in his professional work in Wyandotte county Judge Alden showed special elements of technical and popular strength and thus became marked as eligible for official preferments along the line of his chosen calling. 3 IIe gained his initial experience in public office, how- ever, as city clerk of Wyandotte, and he retained this incumbeney two years-1868-9. £ In 1872 he was elected county attorney and in 1874 the popular verdict placed upon his work in this office was shown in his eleetion as his own successor. In 1882 he was again called to the same office, and his total service as county attorney thus covered a period of six years. In 1876 he was elected representative of Wyan- dotte county in the Lower House of the State Legislature, in which he served during the general assembly of 1877. He declined to become a candidate for re-election and this is the only office of importance he has consented to hold except those closely touching the work of his profes- sion. The Judge has ever been unfaltering in his allegiance to the Republican party and he has been prominent and influential in its
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councils in Kansas. He has served as a member of the party's eom- mittee in Wyandotte county, as a member of the Kansas state central committee in 1877-8, and in 1886 he was a delegate to the national con- vention which nominated General Benjamin Harrison for the presi- deney. In this last connection he had the further distinetion of being a member of the committee that formally notified General Harrison of his nomination.
Judge Alden has been affiliated with the Knights of Pythias since 1878 and has taken a lively interest in the affairs of this fraternity. has not only passed the various official chairs in the subordinate lodge, but he has also had the honor of serving one year as grand ehaneellor of the Kansas Grand Lodge of the order. He is a valued member of the Kansas City Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and is past exalted ruler of the same. Incidental to the more recent professional work of Judge Alden it may be noted that he served from May 1, 1909, until September I, 1910, as assistant general solieitor for the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad Company and that he finally resigned this position on account of impaired health. Judge Alden was for -several years a member of the Kansas State Bar Association and was president of said association during one year.
In the year 1870 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Alden to Miss Mary Cruise, of Kansas City, and they have three children, Cora F., Maurice L. and Franees E., all of whom reside in Kansas City, Kan- sas. Maurice L. Alden has since 1902 practiced law as a member of the firm of MeAnany & Alden. The birthplace of Mrs. Alden was in Al- bany, New York.
HARRY J. NICHOLAS .- A young man of tireless energy and of keen mental vigor, an active brain, Harry J. Nicholas has made good use of the mechanical talent and ability with which he was by nature en- dowed, and as manager for the Phelps Stone Company, one of the largest concerns of the kind in Kansas City, Missouri, is filling a posi- tion of much importance. A native of Nebraska, he was born April 25, 1883, in Madison county, being a son of Albert Buffum Nicholas, who married Emeline Frances Miller, the adopted daughter of a Mr. Douglas.
When he was a lad of seven years his parents moved from Nebraska to Missouri, and there Harry J. Nicholas received a public school edu- cation. As a young man he was variously employed, first becoming acquainted with the details of the stone business while working a year with the Eagle Contracting Company, of Kansas City, Missouri, who sold out to the Parker, Washington Paving Company, with which he was identified the following year. In March, 1905, Mr. Nicholas became bookkeeper for the Phelps Stone and Supply Company, and likewise cashier, and while thus employed displayed sneh rare ability and judg- ment that on March 1, 1908, he was promoted to his present high posi- tion as manager of the firm. Through his wise management of affairs Mr. Nicholas has largely increased the business for the company, hav- ing been instrumental in securing some very large contraets in the sup- plying of building material used by the Street Railway Company in the construction of viaducts, bridges and other concrete works. He has a good deal of constructive ability, and by the use of his mechanical
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