USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 24
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 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
At Kansas City, in the year 1887, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Kaufman to Miss Catherine Alice Smith, whose birth occurred at Kansas City, Missouri, and who is a danghter of W. J. and Sarah Smith, both of whom are now deceased. This union has been prolific of six children, whose names are here entered : Hester, Josephine, Cathe- rine and Joseph R. Jr., all of whom are students in the Rosedale school, where they are making splendid progress. £ Two danghters are de- ceased, Ruth having passed away March 11. 1900, at the age of thirteen years, and Elsie, who died when only three years old, January 28, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Kaufman are prominent in connection with the best social affairs of their home city and they have a most magnificent residence. their home being the center of refinement and hospitality.
JOHN ANDERSON LAWS .- It is a beautiful thing to visit John An- derson Laws on his farm in Piper and to see him and his wife, like Darby and Joan, so contented with each other and with their lives that have been so full of joys and sorrows. They have lived many years in the county and have seen many changes. They have seen cities spring up like mushrooms in the night. There is no man in Wyandotte county who is better known or more respected than Mr. Laws.
He was born in Tennessee December 9, 1827. a son of Elisha Laws and his wife. Eleanor Frev. Elisha Laws was born in North Carolina
678
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
in 1804, but when he was a young man he moved to Tennessee, where he farmed and also carried on the trade of wheel wright. He witnessed all the horrors of the Revolutionary war, and also of the Civil war. He died in 1874 and his wife died ten years later, in 1884.
John Anderson Laws, the only one now living out of a family of ten children, was brought up on his father's farm in Tennessee. He attended the distriet school. After he had left school he worked on his father's farm. During the Civil war he enlisted in the Confede- rate army and served in Company B, of the Tennessee Light Artillery, under General Burnside. He fought in all the engagements in which his company participated. After the close of the war he found that it was very difficult to make a living on the farms of the south. In 1871 he came to Kansas and located in Wyandotte county, where he farmed. Hle now owns eighty acres of land at Piper, Kansas, and he grows wheat and corn.
In 1855 he married Adeline Bettis, who was also one of a family of ten and, like her husband, she is the only one living. Mr. and Mrs. Laws have had three children, but they are all dead.
When Mr. Laws first came to Kansas it was not at all an uneommon thing to see the Indians walking about in the cities, then not much more than villages. During those forty years he has lost father, mother, brothers and sisters. Children have been born to him and they too have left him. Now he and his wife are alone. contented in spite of their many bereavements. They have the knowledge that they have done the best they could and that is a record that no one can better.
He is a Republican in politics, and both he and his dear old wife are members of the Baptist ehureh at Piper, Kansas.
WILLIAM H. BISCOMB .- A man of undoubted ability and enter- prise, intelligent and progressive in his views. William II. Biseomb holds a place of prominence among the leading citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, and as a man of varied resources takes pleasure in doing what- ever he can to advance the material interests of the community in which he resides. A son of William Biscomb, he was born July 27, 1862. in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, coming from English aneestry.
Born and educated in Leeds, England. William Biseomb immi- grated to the United States in 1851. loeating in Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, where he was employed as a contractor until 1869. Selling out his business in that year, he bought land in Sedalia, Missouri, and car- ried on general farming for a year and a half. Going back to Pitts- burg in 1871, he resumed contracting, and for several seasons carried on a prosperous business. In 1878 he returned to Sedalia, Missouri, where, having rented his land, he settled as a contractor, remaining there until 1886, when he sold all of his possessions in that locality and bought property in Kansas City, Kansas, where he continued a resident until his death. March -28, 1906. His wife, whose maiden name was Ann Snowden, is now living at her pleasant home on the corner of Third and Steward streets. Seven children were born of their union, as follows: Sarah, wife of John Wright, of De Witt, Arkansas: Kathe- rine, wife of Charles Miller, of Kansas City, Kansas; Sammel, of Marion, Indiana; William II., the subject of this sketch; James, of Indepen-
H.W. Biscomb
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATION!
679
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
dence, Kansas; Emma, wife of Arthur Van Doran and a twin sister of James, resides with her widowed mother; and George, of Brownwood, Texas.
Brought up in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, William H. Biscomb was educated in the graded and high schools of that city. In 1886 he came with the family to Kansas City, Kansas, and subsequently had charge of a crew of men engaged in construction work and bridge building on the Edgerton Elevated Railroad of Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. In 1894 he was appointed by the Board of Education as superintendent of buildings and grounds and through his influence there was completed, in 1909, a store room and work shop, the building, which is two stories in height, with a basement, being fifty-two feet by one hundred and twenty feet and furnished with motor power. The shop is finely equipped with all the machinery and appliances in the construction and repairing of anything used in the schools or sehool buildings, even in concrete work, and saves the city annually thousands of dollars.
Mr. Biscomb married first, July 31, 1883, Effie Douglas, who was born in Sedalia, Missouri, a daughter of Newton and Chrissie Douglas, of Butler, Missouri. She died January 19, 1889. Two children were born of their union, namely: May, wife of Howard Wheeler, of Kansas City, Missouri ; and Arthur, who died at the age of two years and five months. Mr. Biscomb married for his second wife, August 2, 1891, Minnie A. Bryant, who was born in Griggsville, Illinois, a daughter of Moses and Jennie (Scott) Bryant and granddaughter of Eben and Martha (Brown) Bryant, natives of North Cambridge, Massachusetts, and descendants of early Puritan ancestors. Moses Bryant was born in Griggsville, Illinois, but his wife was born and bred in Kentucky. Mr. Biscomb belongs to the Kansas City, Kansas, Mercantile Club, and is a member of Kansas City. Kansas, Lodge No. 1492 Modern Woodmen of America.
FREDERICK WILLIAM MERRIWEATHER .- Rosedale, Kansas, ineludes in its citizenship a full quota of men who are always equal to the occasion-men ready to fight in time of war, and ready to hustle in the business arena in time of peace. Among them is Frederick William Merriweather, an enterprising grocer, a man held in high esteem by the people of the town. He has a war record himself and his father before him had one. Briefly. a sketch of his career follows :
Frederick William Merriweather is a native of Illinois. He was born in Sangamon county, that state, in 1870, son of W. H. and Sarah (Bateman) Merriweather, the latter a native of that same place and the former of Ohio.
W. H. Merriweather was a man of local prominence. In early life he left the Buckeye state and became a resident of Illinois. Dur- ing the Civil war he showed his patriotism by offering his service to the Union eanse, and as sergeant in Company B, One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, he served his country well. A few years after the war, in 1872. he moved to Kansas, settled in Crawford coun- ty, and engaged in farming. Here his sterling qualities brought him into favor with the people among whom he lived and he was honored Vol. II-12
680
IHISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
with high official position. He served one term in the Kansas legisla- ture, and, subsequently, in 1880, was elected registrar of deeds of Craw- ford county. Ile died in Angust, 1898. Politieally, he was a Repub- lican ; fraternally, a Knight of Pythias, and, religiously, both he and his wife were identified with the Methodist church. The six children born to them are as follows: Elmer E., an electrician at Pittsburg. Kansas; Sherman H., traveling representative for a shoe firm of Den- ver. in which he is interested; Moria, who died at the age of nineteen years and six months; Frederick W., whose name introduces this review; Edward J., a farmer of Crawford county; and Joseph L., an electrician of Girard, Kansas.
Frederick W. Merriweather was reared on his father's farm in Crawford county, or, rather. spent his early boyhood days there, for at the age of eleven years he went to Girard, Kansas, where he at- tended sehool until he was seventeen. From that time until the out- break of the Spanish-American war, he was employed as a shoe sales- man. When the eall eame for volunteers, he responded by joining Company D. Twentieth Kansas, and with his command went to San Franciseo, thence, in October, 1898, to the Islands, and as first sergeant of his company proved himself a brave soldier on the field of battle. During his service he was in no less than twenty-two fights and skir- mishes. After the war was over he returned to the United States and took up his residence in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was employed as a furniture salesman. From Kansas City he came to Rosedale. Here he engaged in the groeery business with S. W. Young, which he has sinee continned and today ranks with the leading business men of the town.
In 1903. Mr. Merriweather married his partner's daughter, Miss Willie C. Young. Mrs. Young. formerly Miss Emily Beeson, is a nieee of Simon P. Bell, for many years a prominent eitizen of Rosedale, now ninety years of age. Personal mention of Mr. Bell will be found on another page of this work.
Politieally, like his father before him, Mr. Merriweather is a Re- publican, and while he has never figured conspicuously as a politieian, he served efficiently as a member of the city eouneil, to which he was elected in 1909. He is a member of the Episcopal church.
OLANDER LIND, assistant fire chief in Kansas City, is at present the best man for the office and no one who knows the man will deny that the preference is not justified. He was born in Sweden August 18. 1870, a son of John and Tillie Lind. When he was fourteen years old his parents came to America, going direct to Kansas City, Kansas. There Olander entered the publie schools. After he left sehool he entered Fowler's Paeking House, where he was employed for eight years. He gave up this position to aeeept an appointment as meat inspector. After four years' faithful work in this capacity he resigned in order to join the Kansas City, Kansas, fire department. His work was so efficient and his bravery so well known that in 1905 he was ap- pointed assistant fire chief, which position he now occupies. In 1891 he joined the Nordens Venner Society as its manager. He later became its treasurer and is now president of the building committee. He is a member of the Aneient Order of United Workmen, which society he
681
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
joined here in Kansas City. He is also a member of the United Yeo- men of America.
In 1893, on the 21st of January, he was married to Anna Johnson, a native of Sweden, who had come to Kansas City when she was a young girl. Mr. and Mrs. Lind have one son, Clarence Howard, who is at present a student in the public schools and gives every evidence of becoming as fine a man as his father.
Although Mr. Lind was born in Sweden, Kansas City. can almost claim him as its own. He came here when he was young and when the city was young. It has seen him grow and prosper and he has seen it grow and prosper. 3 Ile is as proud of its present prosperous condi- tion as it is proud of his present high standing and influence.
WILLIAM H. WEBB .- Among the honored pioneers of Wyandotte county assuredly must be mentioned William II. Webb, who came to Kansas in 1864, making the journey aeross the western plains in the covered wagon drawn by oxen, which mode of travel preceded the rail- roads. This good citizen is one of the prosperons agriculturists of the seetion, his activities being principally devoted to general farming and gardening. He made his own way through the many difficulties and hardships which beset the way of the pioneer. Practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails of success; it carries a man onward and upward, brings out his individual character, and acts as a powerful stimulus to the efforts of others. The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, implying the exercise of the ordi- nary qualities of common sense and perseverance. The every day life with its cares, necessities and duties affords ample opportunties for acquiring experiences of the best kind, and its most beaten paths pro- vide a true worker with abundant scope for effort and self im- provement.
Mr. Webb, by the circumstance of birth is a Virginian, his birth having occurred in 1845, in the Old Dominion. Ilis father was John Webb, who was born in Virginia in 1816, and the mother, whose maiden name was Barbara Cunningham, was a native of that state, and sur- vived her husband by one year, her demise occurring in 1900 and his in 1899. Of the seven children born to that worthy couple, two sur- vive. Mr. Webb and Sarah E., widow of J. S. Payne of this county.
Mr. Webb was reared in his native state and under the excellent tutelage of his father became versed in the various departments of the great basic industry. In 1864, some two years previous to the attain- ment of his majority, he was seized with western fever and crossed the plains to Kansas, making the journey in the primitive frontier manner of that day. He came not from Virginia, but from Jackson county, Missouri, whence his father had removed with his family in 1855 and where the older man remained in the useful capacity of a farmer until his death. Young Webb became favorably impressed with the eharms and advantages of Wyandotte eonnty and made the location here which was to prove permanent.
In 1871. Mr. Webb chose a loyal and devoted companion and help- meet in the person of Miss Martha Graves, a daughter of John B. Graves. of Towa, their union being solemnized in 1871. They became the parents of six children, the four eldest, Sarah E., Minnie B., Annie
682
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
B. and William H., being deceased. John W. is an employe of the Kansas City belt line: and Eugene has followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and pursues farming operations in Wyandotte eounty.
In his religious views Mr. Webb is Methodist and politically he is a Socialist, exemplifying in his own life the Socialist ideas of moral and social justice and brotherly love.
HENRY FALK .- Most men are a better success as employes than as employers. That is doubtless the reason why there are so many men who buy farms and lose them because they cannot make them pay. It is not because they do not use their museles enough, but because they do not use their heads enough that they fail. No one can aecuse Mr. Falk of Bethel of this fault. He has made an unmitigated success of farming. Ile found it impossible to leave the life. He tried to for a time, but he found the eall of the land too strong for him. Not only has he been able to secure a competenee for himself and family, but he has done much good for the township and the county. Ile is a publie spirited man. Would that there were more farmers like him.
Born in Baden in the duchy of Baden in the southern part of Germany. in 1851, he was the son of Rheinhardt and his wife Catha- rine, formerly Catharine Ernst. They were both born in Germany. Rheinhardt Falk was a blacksmith in his native town and in 1887 he came to this country to pay a visit to his son, but before his visit ended, he died, in 1888. The same year his wife died in Germany: the two who had been one in life were not long divided in death.
Henry Falk went to the schools of his town of Baden and then went to work on a farm. He was drafted to serve in the army and he served three years. In 1878 he eame to Ameriea by himself and worked on the farms in Lincoln, Nebraska, and he then came to Kansas, where he worked some of the time on farms and partly in packing houses. Ile was assistant foreman at Armour's packing plant. He was very industrious and thrifty, and also very intelligent, and he now owns two hundred and fifteen acres of land in Wyandotte county and on it he raises wheat and eatthe. He has held the office of road overseer in Wyandotte township and in Prairie township, where his farm is now.
Two years after he came to America. in 1880, he married Ludgarde Schmitt. She was born in Germany and came over to this country alone, locating in Kansas City. where she met Henry Falk. The two young people were drawn towards each other and in a very short time were married. She has been her husband's helpmeet in all of his busy life. Like her husband she is an orphan; her parents both died in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Falk have six children : Henry, his father's namesake is the eldest; next comes Anna Mary, now the wife of Wil- liam Northern ; the third is Frank; Katrina is the fourth and she is now the wife of Charles Seifert ; the next in age is Edward Carl and he is attending school in Kansas City, Kansas; and the youngest is .Joseph who is at home on the farm with his father.
Mr. and Mrs. Falk are both Catholics and they have brought up their children in the same faith. In politics he is independent and does not care to pin his faith to any party, but rather chooses to pick the best man on each and every occasion. Ile has a very fine home and
683
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
the family are all prospering. There is room in America for more Germans such as he.
CHARLES F. STUDT .- If there is one life more than another where there is room for the exercise of a man's intelligence it is the life of a farmer. It was formerly believed that it did not take much brains to farm, but men have come to the conclusion that if a farmer is to obtain from the soil all that it is capable of producing, he must use his head as well as his hands. This can be readily proven by comparing two farmers who own the same amount of land, with the same climatic and other conditions. £ The one will produce nearly twice as much as the other and they both put the same amount of labor on the land, but the difference is that the one brings his mind to bear on the subject and the other expects his hands to accomplish everything. Charles F. Studt is one of the farmers who uses both head and hands, the result being a productive farm.
Charles F. Studt was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Fred Studt. The wife died about 1870, and eight years later he came with his children to Wyandotte county, where he bought thirty-nine and three quarter acres of land, the farm being entirely covered with tim- ber, except a very small clearing where a log cabin was built. Mr. Studt began the long, laborious task of clearing the timber and cultivat- ing the land. He built a more modern house in place of the log cabin and put up the farm buildings which are in use today, residing on the farm until 1904, when he died at the age of seventy-four. He is also buried in Quindaro cemetery.
Charles had the misfortune to lose his mother when he was only two weeks old, so that he never knew a mother's love and care. He started to go to school in Cincinnati, but when he was eight years old his father brought him to Quindaro township, where he had bought a farm. They lived here together, Charles following his father about the land and picking up information about the working of the farm and the reasons why things were done. He attended the district school and helped on the farm as soon as he was old enough and has practi- cally spent the whole of his life on the farm which his father bought, he having added half an acre to the original holding, which is located at Barker station. Mr. Studt has never married, but lives on the farm with some of his brothers and sisters. He is the youngest of a family of ten children, as follows: Louisa is now Mrs. Charles Smith and lives at Welborn station; William lives in Cincinnati, Ohio; John lives in Kansas City, Kansas ; Mary and Lizzie live on the old homestead with their brother; Emma is married to Henry MeIntyre and lives in Wyandotte township; Fred lives on Armstrong avenne in Kansas City, Kansas; Amelia is married to George Studt of Quindaro township; Edward also lives in Quindaro township. Charles F. the youngest, has been a member of the Horse League Association, having been its captain for a long time.
There is very little in connection with farm work that Mr. Studt does not know, but he is not one of those men who feel sure that they know it all. If anyone has anything better in the way of methods of work or modern improvements, he is always glad to look into the matter and will try and have the best that is going. He is greatly respected
684
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
by the people in the community, who surely have reason to know him, for he has grown up amongst them.
OSCAR MORTON OLSON .- In every city in the United States there are Swedish people who have in some way or another come to the front. The Swedish vice consul mist of necessity be a Swede himself, but in the case of Oscar Morton Olson we find a Swede who has also distinguished himself in business and who has identified himself with Kansas City for the past thirty years. Many young Swedish men and women have come to the city without friends and withont money. They have found a friend in Mr. Olson and he has helped them to earn money. Not only has Mr. Olson proved himself useful to his own countrymen, but he has done much for Kansas City itself.
Osear Morton Olson was born at Gottland in Sweden May 2, 1856. Ile is the son of Olaf IIanson and Louisa, his wife, both born in Sweden. Mr. Hanson was for eight years engaged in buying and selling eattle, horses and poultry on a coast vessel in the old country. For two and a half years he operated a Scandinavian newspaper which he had organized in connection with the Gazette. He sold this to the Armour- dale Post. After he came to Kansas City he was for a time time- keeper for the Kansas City Water Works and he helped to lay the first pipes in the city. Ile was also with Inman for some time, who was then at the head of the gas company. Ile helped to install gas in Kan- sas City.
Oscar Morton Olson was twenty-one years old when he came to America. He went direct to Kansas City, which at that time was only a village with Indians roaming about. For three years he worked at various kinds of business and then started a grocery store at 576 Minn avenue. After about two years he sold out and engaged in the transfer business. He operated the first moving cart in Wyandotte county. He had bought a piece of land and in his spare time he ploughed it and planted corn there. He continued in the transfer business for seven years, at the end of which time he sold out and be- came connected with Ford, Troup & IIusted in the real estate business. Then for fifteen years he bought and sold real estate on his own ac- count. He lives at 1608 North Fifth street, on the same piece of land that he used to grow corn when he first eame to Kansas City.
In 1880 he married Emma Christena Peterson in Kansas City. She was the daughter of Peter Olson and Petrenella, his wife. HIer former name was Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Olson have one son, Arthur II., born February 27, 1884. He is the foreman at Casey's Sheet Metal Works, and lives at home with his parents.
Mr. Olson has been Swedish vice consul for fifteen years. He is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the National Volun- teers, of which he is inside guard. He takes no particular interest in poli- tics, indeed by reason of his office he must be non-partisan. During the years that Mr. Olson has been in Kansas City he has seen great ehanges. The city has grown from a little village to its present proportions. He feels an unbounded pride in the city and he never loses an opportunity to do anything he can to further its advance- ment. He is still in the real estate business and is doing all he can in the upbuilding of Kansas City, Kansas.
685
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
JOHN M. AINSWORTH .- Among the worthy pioneer citizens who contributed their quota toward the agricultural development of Wyan- dotte county, Kansas, and who were prominent and useful in the many sided life of the community, was John M. Ainsworth, a man honored and esteemed and who is still remembered by members of the older generation as a man of fine and benevolent personality. He passed on to the Undiscovered Country in 1870 and his seventeen years resi- dence in the state of Kansas were in that period which marked the initial stages in its settlement and development.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.