USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 25
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John M. Ainsworth was born in Ohio, in 1818. He was the son of John and Sarah (Huling) Ainsworth,both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. He was reared on a farm in Ohio, and in the dis- triet schools of the locality received such education as was afforded to the youth of that period. As early as 1853, Mr. Ainsworth followed the tide of immigration westward and located in Wyandotte county, Kansas, but not a long time afterward he removed to Johnson county, Kansas, where he bought a tract of land and raised horses and cattle. The eharms of Wyandotte county remained strong with him during his absence and in 1865 he sold his Johnson county interests and returned to it. Here on an extensive and fertile farm he engaged in the rais- ing of fruit until his death in 1870. 6 Since his demise his widow has operated the affairs of the homestead, and for many years has had the assistance of her son. In addition to their other activities, they make a specialty of the raising of horses and cattle, and have been distinctly successful, practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never having failed of success.
In 1862, Mr. Ainsworth married Elizabeth L. Swingley the young woman of his choice having been born in Illinois in 1843 and having come with her parents to Kansas in 1860. They (the parents) were S. M. and Mary (Locher) Swingley, and the father, who was a farmer, lived to the great age of ninety years. Mrs. Ainsworth was one of a fam- ily of twelve children, she being the eldest and the others as follows : Rosina, now Mrs. Barber; H. S .; M. S .; S. N .; J. J .; George L., de- ceased; Mollie, now Mrs. C. L. Burke; Ilattie, deceased; Frank S., de- ceased ; C. E. and Edna, deceased. In the Swingley ancestry were ming- led the Swiss and German elements and the excellent characteristics of both of these nations which constitute two most valuable sources of American immigration have been the heritage of the worthy men and women above mentioned. All of them are devout church members, al- though differing in denomination. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth was blessed by the birth of four children, the two eldest, Harry V. and Hattie C., being deceased; Edith being the widow of George A. Taylor; and Fred L., making his home upon the old homestead with his mother.
Mr. Ainsworth, the father, was a Republican, and faithfully sub- scribed to the principles of the party, and Mrs. Ainsworth's people were Democrats. In looking over his simple, but useful life history, one is impressed by the fact that his is the honorable record of a conscientious man-one who, by his upright life, won the confidence of all with whom he came into contact.
The place upon which Mrs. Ainsworth, widow of the deceased lives, was owned by the Indians in days long gone by, when the savage was lord of the prairies, and when the Ainsworths first settled upon
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this homestead, a log house built by the redmen was still standing upon it. The Ainsworth home is one of the most beautiful and pieturesque in the locality. One of the interesting features of the estate is a mineral well, one hundred and eighty-five feet deep.
WILLIAM MCGEORGE .- The sterling character and pragmatic ability so typical of the sturdy race from which he is sprung indicate this representative business man and influential citizen of Argentine, one of the thriving little cities that add to the civic and material attractive- ness and precedence of Wyandotte county. Here he is engaged in the retail drug business and here he has been specially active in the pro- motion of all measures and undertakings tending to advanee the wel- fare of the eity and county. He has served as mayor of Argentine and has been a resident of this county for thirty years, within which he has so applied his energies and ability as to gain large and worthy success, the while he has at all times commanded sure vantage in popu- lar confidence and esteem.
A scion of the stanchest of old Scottish families Mr. MeGeorge finds a due measure of satisfaction in reverting the land of hills and heather as the place of his nativity. He was born at Castle Douglas, Kirkeudbrightshire, Scotland, on the 13th of September, 1852, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Blacklock) McGeorge, both of whom were born and reared in the same section of Scotland, with whose annals the respective names have been identified for generations, extending back to the time when recorded history lapses into tradition. In 1871 the sturdy Seotsman, Thomas McGeorge, severed the ties that bound him to the land of lis nativity and immigrated with his family to the hospi- table shores of the United States. He purchased a farm near Excel- sior Springs, Clay eounty, Missouri, where he became a substantial agriculturist and influential eitizen. He and his wife passed the clos- ing years of their lives at Excelsor Springs, Missouri, and they are survived by three sons and three daughters.
William McGeorge, the immediate, subject of this review, gained an excellent academie education in his native land, where he also served an apprenticeship of four years in the drug trade. He thus gained a thorough technieal and practical knowledge of pharmacy and also of business methods, and he was nineteen years of age at the time when he came with his parents to America. For two years there- after he was employed as elerk in a drug store at Liberty, Missouri, and he then engaged in the same line of enterprise on his own aecount at Camden Point, Platte county, that state. He finally disposed of this business and made a trip through the west. In the spring of 1880 he came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and opened a drug store at Rose- dale. In 1884 he established a drug store in Argentine, and for several years thereafter he conducted both establishments. Ile finally dis-
posed of his business at Rosedale and has since continued the enterprise in Argentine, where he has maintained his home since 1886 and where he has long held precedence as one of the most substantial and progres- sive business men of this attraetive little eity, in the growth and de- velopment of which he has manifested a lively interest. After Argen- tine was advanced from the position of a city of the third elass to that of the first class he served as the first mayor under the new dispensation,
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AUTOR, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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retaining this incumbency two years and giving a careful and pro- gressive administration of municipal affairs. His interest in the city of his home is of the most insistent order and in addition to having served as its chief executive he has served nearly fourteen years as a member of the board of education, of which position he is now in- cumbent. For the long term of twelve years he had the distinetion of being president of this board, having held that position at the time of the annexation to Kansas City, and he was specially zealous in the work of providing the best possible system of public schools, which have here been raised to a notably high standard. Though a stanch supporter of the generic principles and policies of the Democratic party, Mr. MeGeorge has not been insistently partisan in connection with local affairs of public order, but rather has given his support to men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security. The attractive home is a center of gracious hospitality, and Mrs. McGeorge has long been a popular factor in connection with the social activities of the community.
In the year 1882 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. MeGeorge to Miss Morvie Jones, who was born in Wales and who was a child at the time of her parents immigration to the United States. She was reared to maturity in Wyandotte county, Kansas, where her father became associated with the old rolling mills. Mr. and Mrs. MeGeorge have five children, and concerning them the following brief data is given in conelusion of this sketch: John I. is associated with his father's drug business ; William, Jr., is a skilled chemist and is in the employ of the United States government at the experiment station maintained in the city of Honolulu, Hawaii; Robert is a student at Lawrence; Ken- neth is night ticket agent with the Santa Fe Railroad Company; and IIelen remains at the parental home.
GEORGE A. PERKINS .- The type of man best fitted to meet the wonderfully changed life of today is not a new type. He is a man resplendent with the same old sterling qualities, clean in his individual life, great in his civic and patriotic life and great in his religions life. G. A. Perkins, whose name forms the caption for this article, is a representative citizen of Bonner Springs, where he has resided since 1897 and where he is aecorded recognition as a prominent and influen- tial business man. Mr. Perkins was born at Adrian, Lenawee county, Michigan, on the 24th of Angust, 1860, and he is a son of Alexander and Martha (Bean) Perkins, both of whom are now deceased. The father was identified with the mechanical line of enterprise during the major portion of his active eareer, and he passed the closing years of his life at Paola, Kansas.
The third in order of birth in a family of four children, George A. Perkins was reared to the age of eleven years in the old Wolverine state of the Union, whence his parents removed to Kansas in the year 1871. £ Location was first made at Paola, to whose public schools Mr. Perkins is indebted for a portion of his educational discipline. When nineteen years of age he established his home in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was engaged in the harness business for a period of twenty years, at the expiration of which he came to Bonner Springs, and here
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opened a harness shop. In 1904 he added hardware to his first enter- prise, and with the passage of time added furniture and honse furnish- ings. His establishment consists of two rooms, each twenty-five by seventy-five feet, and of a third room twenty-five by one hundred feet. It is one of the most complete in the way of equipment and one of the largest stores of its kind in a town of this size in the west, and for that reason, together with the strictly square and honorable treatment given all customers, an exceedingly large patronage is controlled.
On the 3rd of October, 1888, at Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Per- kins was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Downing, who is a native of the state of Maine, and who is a daughter of J. W. Downing, a farmer and citizen of Wyandotte county.
In polities Mr. Perkins accords allegiance to the principles and policies endorsed by the Democratic party, in the local councils of which he is an active and interested factor, ever being on the qui vive to do all in his power to advance the general welfare of the community in which he resides. He is affiliated with a number of fraternal and social organizations of representative character and in their religious faith the Perkins family are consistent and zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to whose philanthropical work he is a liberal contributor. Concerning Mr. Perkins the following apprecia- tive words have been said: "He is a man of an exalted sense of honor, of cordial and friendly nature and of fine public spirit. Ile believes in Bonner Springs and is a participant in every plan to boost the town. " And we further quote of him and his business from an article published recently in a local paper :
"The largest store in Bonner Springs, which has grown to its present proportions on its own merit and on the confidence that the publie has in its owner, is that of G. A. Perkins, who deals in hardware, harness, furniture and honse furnishings, the latter inelnding stoves. Mr. Perkins carries a big stock of the highest standard. His store, which is composed of two rooms of twenty-five by seventy-five feet each, and a third of twenty-five by one hundred, is one of the most complete and modern in a town of this size in the country. Fourteen years ago it had its start in a small harness shop. The year following he added hardware, and then furniture and the store grew in business largely because he responded intelligently to the publie demand and gave his customers square treatment. That has always been his reputation in
this community. Mr. Perkins was born in Michigan in 1860. He came with his parents to Paola when he was about eleven years old and afterward moved to Kansas City, where he was in the harness busi- ness for twenty years. He is a man of an exalted sense of honor, of cordial and friendly nature and of fine publie spirit. Ile believes in Bonner Springs and is a participant in every plan to boost the town."
JUDGE GEORGE MONAHAN .- There is no lawyer in the state of Kan- sas who has a higher standing than ex-Judge Monahan. £ He has had an interesting career. but throughout it all no one has been able to east any aspersions on his eharaeter. either in a private or a publie eapaeity. Sinee his first entry into the field of law he has set himself to run the course with singleness of purpose, his goal being not fame for him- self, but the performance of his duty. To sueh, honors will come with-
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out being sought, as indeed they have to Mr. Monahan, but in his mind the contentment which comes with the knowledge of a life well spent means much more than the positions of honor which he has filled.
George Monahan was born in Scotland, February 19, 1846. He was the son of James and Sarah (McCahan) Monahan, both natives of Scotland, where they brought up their twelve children, five of whom are living now. Mr. Monahan died in Scotland and his widow came to America with her children and died in Wilmington, Illinois, where she is buried. The names of the children are as follows: John, Margaret, James, Sarah, Peter, William, George, Hugh, Mary, Robert, Andrew and Janet.
George Monahan was the seventh child, which according to the old Scottish superstition was a lucky thing for him. He attended the Scotch public schools, which are better than the public schools of any country in Europe, and later studied law although he did not prae- tiee in his native country. After his father's death the family decided they would come to America and try their fortunes in the new world of which they had heard so much. Accordingly, in 1869. they bade farewell to their native land, to their home among the hills, to the friends of their childhood, to the grave of the father who was buried there and took steamer for America. They located at Wilmington, Illinois, where the mother, grieving for her Scotch home, died and was buried. John and George went the following spring to Kansas, where they bought a farm of three hundred and twenty aeres in Clay county. After a short time George decided that farming was not in his line and he turned the farm over to his brother, in whose family it still remains. He himself began the practice of law, which he carried on successfully and was later police judge and justice of the peace. In 1885 he came to Wyandotte county, locating at Armourdale, where he engaged in the hotel and restaurant business, but after two years' ex- perience in that line he sold out and gave his time exclusively to his law work. In 1891 he bought thirty aeres of land, in addition to the four
and a half acres he had been holding for some time. This land was not under cultivation, but he has made wonderful improvements and now it is well tilled and contains modern buildings. IIe has recently moved on to this farm, where he can live the simple life after his ardu- ous tasks. Soon after the sale of his hotel and restaurant he was elected justice of the peace and before his term expired he was elected probate judge, to which office he was chosen three consecutive times, his last term expiring in January, 1895.
On June 20, 1882, he married Elizabeth Kelly in Osage county, Kansas. Elizabeth was born in England and was the daughter of Patrick and Margaret Kelly; her father was of Irish descent and died in England aged sixty-four. Mrs. Kelly's maiden name was Neville and she was of Norman descent. She came to America with her three children, Mary, Thomas and Elizabeth in 1876. They lived in St. Lonis one year, in Atchison, Kansas, for one year and then in Osage county. Mrs. Kelly died in 1910 and is buried in Calvary cemetery, Kansas City, Kansas, aged eighty-eight years. Judge and Mrs. Monahan have one danghter, Mary, who was born in Osage county and lives at home with her parents.
The judge may well feel satisfied with his life, for it has been of
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great nse, not only to his family, but to the community at large. He is a man of great influence in the county and one who is a power for betterment.
C. B. STEVENS, D. V. S .- The professional career of Dr. Charles B. Stevens, who is a prominent veterinary surgeon at Rosedale, Kansas, exeites the admiration and has won the respect of all who know him and in a ealling in which one has to gain prestige by merit alone, he has advanced steadily until he is recognized as one of the foremost members of his profession in the entire state of Kansas. IIe has ever evinced a deep and sincere interest in community affairs and as a eitizen his loyalty and public spirit have ever been of the most insistent order. In addition to an extensive practice throughout Wyandotte county Dr. Stevens is well known in Jackson county, where his services have been required on different occasions.
Dr. Charles B. Stevens is a native of the fine old Wolverine state of the Union, his birth having occurred in Clinton county, Michigan, on the 9th of March, 1860. At the age of six years he accompanied his parents on their removal to Fort Scott, Kansas, where the family home was maintained for the ensuing four years. Removal was then made to Lamar, Missouri, and thenee to Nevada, Missouri, in 1872. In 1874 the family returned to Michigan, where the father, B. E. Stevens, was engaged in veterinary surgery during the remainder of his life. his demise having occurred in the year 1894. as a result of injuries received in a wreek of the Big Four railroad fifteen miles from St. Johns, Michigan. The mother of the subject of this review was May Britton in her girlhood days and she was summoned to the life eternal in 1886. The father was born in Massachusetts and after being gradu- ated in a veterinary college at Montreal, Canada, he entered upon the practice of his profession. During his residence in Fort Scott he was in the employ of the government and for a time he was associated in a partnership alliance with Dr. Geo. W. Diamand in the livery business.
The third in order of birth in a family of nine children, Dr. Charles B. Stevens received his educational training in the different eities in which the family home was maintained during his early youth. In 1876 he left Michigan and returned to Nevada, Missouri, where he had formerly lived, and in that plaee he remained until he had attained to the age of twenty-six years. He had long been associated with his father in the latter's work and in that way had acquired a great deal of
knowledge in connection with veterinary surgery. In 1902 he took the examination in the veterinary college, at Kansas City and in that insti- tution was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. Ile had been engaged in the practice of this profession previously to his graduation, however, and has now been identified with this partie- ular line of work for a period of twenty-five years. As a youth he learned the harness maker's trade and he also is a carriage trimmer, along which lines of enterprise he has worked a great deal. In con- nection with his professional work he carries a line of harness and his place of business is located at 1180, Kansas City avenue, at Rosedale. Dr. Stevens is well known throughout Wyandotte and Jackson counties and he is everywhere accorded the unqualified confidenee and esteem of his fellow citizens, who honor him for his sterling integrity and worth.
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At Nevada, Missouri, on the 20th of May, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Stevens to Miss Catherine Patton, who was born and reared at Goodland, Indiana, and who is a daughter of T. R. Patton. Dr. and Mrs. Stevens have no children. They are consistent members of the Methodist church South. in their religious faith and are popular and prominent factors in connection with the best social activities of Rosedale.
Dr. Stevens is affiliated with Vernon Lodge, No. 194, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for a time he was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is an unswerving advocate of the cause of the Democratic party and while he does not participate actively in public affairs he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general welfare. The Doctor is an old time horseman, having been a jockey in his younger days. In this connection he was well known in National horse racing circles and during his early life in the west he was well acquainted with the James boys, the Younger brothers and other notorious characters, hence the more credit to him for having lived an exemplary life and having held aloof from their practices. Dr. Stevens has traveled extensively, is a man of broad and definite information and in the various walks of life has so conducted himself as to win the full confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He is a man of generous im- pulse and his charity knows only the bounds of his opportunities.
JOEL C. KINDRED .- Although a Kentuckian by birth, the life of Joel Kindred is bound up with the history of Wyandotte county. He is a farmer who has lived a life of usefulness to the county for many years. His honesty and integrity are irreproachable. His interest in public affairs is unbounded. ITis fraternal relations are of the highest character, while his private life is absolutely blameless and his whole career will bear the closest scrutiny.
Joel C. Kindred was born in Kentucky, August 26, 1863. He is the son of Sylvester Kindred and Mary Perry, his wife. Sylvester Kindred was born on a farm in Kentucky and there he spent his life. farming, raising corn and cotton, vegetables and cattle. He is still living there, but he is too old now (1911) to do any active work, as he is over eighty years of age. He is a Democrat and still takes a great interest in politics. IIe is a Christian, as the tenor of his life bears evidence. In 1910 his wife, the loved partner of his youth, his prime and his old age, left his side and has crossed over to await him on the other side. He has not lost his interest in this life, but he is looking forward to the time when he can join her. They have been blessed with six children, Alice, Lonise, Enoch, Thomas, Joel and Robert.
Joel C. Kindred's earliest recollections are connected with the farm in Kentucky where he drew his first breath. For the first few years of his life this farm formed his world; his parents and brothers and sister were its sole occupants. Later he went to the district school. When he was a very small boy it was his delight to help his father in performing his daily duties; he became familiar with every foot of the farm; he knew every animal and every tree on the whole planta- tion. He stayed at home until he was twenty-one, when he made up his mind that he would start out on his own account. It never occurred
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to him to be anything but a farmer, as he loved the life which kept him close to nature. He came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, in 1884, and in 1890 he had made enough money to buy the farm on which he now lives. Ile raises potatoes, cabbage and general market vegetables.
On January 12, 1887, he married Katharine Magee. She was the daughter of Mason and Harriet Magee, who were Missouri farmers. When Katharine was two years old they brought her to Kansas and Mr. Magee farmed in Wyandotte county until he died, in 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Kindred have had ten children: Elbert M .. who is living in Colorado ; Flora A .; Martin S .; Robert P .: John D .; Frank O .; Elzira B., who died in infancy ; Edna O .; Luther W. ; and Doek.
Joel C. Kindred is a Demoerat and is a very active politician. Ile has served six successive years as trustee of Delaware township and has served as treasurer of the school board for nine years. He is a member of four fraternal orders: the Knights of Pythias, Masons, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. and Ancient Order of United Work- men. Ile is a director in the Farmer's State Bank at Bonner Springs Mr. Kindred, from the time he first came to Kansas, has done all he could for the good of the county. He is especially interested in ehil- dren and, having a large family himself, he understands the needs and requirements of child nature.
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