USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 28
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Mr. Allen was married on September 12, 1852, to Miss Sarah Russell, a danghter of John Russell. They became the parents of three ehildren, two of whom are living: Mary Ann. the wife of S. Yoakum, and Edward, who is also a contractor and builder. Both live in Kansas City, Kansas, and add to its forces of productiveness, mental, moral and material improvement and refined social enjoyment. The widely known and highly esteemed wife of Mr. Allen died in 1901, passing away in September of that year. at the age of sixty-nine years. Throughout the city of his residence and a large extent of the sur- rounding country he is well and favorably known as a first rate mechan- ic, an upright and conscientious man and a very publie spirited and enterprising citizen. He has earned his reputation by his merit, which is everywhere freely admitted.
T. FOREST RAILSBACK .- The career of T. Forest Railsback is a splendid example of what may be accomplished by young manhood that is consecrated to ambition and high purposes. He is a lawyer, and a self made one at that. but he is recognized throughout this community for his high order of ability and his conscientious dealings with his clients. His start in getting his education was partienlarly difficult and under similar circumstances many young men would have become discouraged and left the field, but the obstacles instead of disheartening Mr. Railsback spurred him onward, giving him a momentum and force which have resulted since the period of his first struggles in steady prog- ress and success and have brought him the esteem of both the judiciary and associate attorneys. Mr. Railsback is a member of the prominent law firm known as Hogan & Railsback, in Kansas City, Kansas.
A native of the fine old state of Kansas, T. Forest Railsbaek was born at Winfield. Cowley county. on the 28th of January, 1884, and he is a son of Amasa W. and Mary L. (IIolmes) Railsback, both of whom are living in 1911. The father was born at Crawfordsville, Mont- gomery county, Indiana, in 1858, and the mother claims the city of Indianapolis. Indiana, as the place of her nativity, her birth having there occurred in 1863. £ Mr. and Mrs. Railsback are the parents of three children. T. Forest, who is the immediate subject of this review ; Beulah, who is the wife of Charles W. Ensley, of this city; and Alma, who is still in school. Amasa W. Railsback made his advent in Kan- sas in 1876, at which time he located in Wilson county, where he turned
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his attention to agricultural pursuits and whence he later removed to Cowley county. In 1888 he engaged in the grocery business at Win- field, Kansas, whence he removed, in the following year, to Kansas City, Kansas. In this place he entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, working in their machine shops up to 1901, when he again became interested in farming. At the present time he is running a fine farm in Jackson county, Missouri, in the vicinity of Leeds, where he is recognized as a prominent and influential citizen. He is affiliated with a number of fraternal and social organizations of representative character and in their religions faith he and his wife are devout members of the Christian church, in which he is an elder. In polities he is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and poli- cies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and while he has never manifested aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description, he is ever on the alert and enthusiastic- ally in sympathy with all projeets advanced for the well being of the community.
T. Forest Railsback received his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of Kansas City, Kansas, being graduated in the local high school. He early became possessed with an intense desire to practice law as a profession, and in 1902 he entered the offices of MeAnany & Alden, under whose able preceptorship he took up the study of law. In 1902 he was matrienlated as a student in the Kansas City School of Law, at Kansas City, Missouri, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905, duly receiving the degret of bachelor of Laws. During the years when he was obtaining his legal training he sold the Kansas City Journal as a means wherewith to defray his expenses in college. He also did other work of various kinds and so great was his ambition and energy that he managed to earn enough money to see him through his collegiate course. His troubles had not all been vanquished when he received his diploma from the Kansas City Law School, however. He and his present partner, Mr. Hogin, were the first graduates from that institution to take the exami- nation before the Supreme Court of Kansas. Upon their first applica- tion they were refused examination, as there was a general feeling pre- vailing against the school. Finally, however, they were examined and it is most gratifying to note that out of fifty-one they received the highest honors awarded to any of the candidates for admission to the bar at that time. After being admitted to the Kansas bar Mr. Rails- back again entered the offices of MeAnany & Alden, remaining with that well established law firm until 1909, when he entered into a part- nership alliance with James L. Ilogin, as previously noted. Messrs. ITogin and Railsback are engaged in a general practice at Kansas City, and they have built up and now control a large and lerative clientage. They have figured prominently in a number of important litigations in the state and federal courts and are everywhere known for their un- usual ability and exeellent equipment in the line of one of the most learned professions to which a man may devote his attention.
On the 25th of November, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Railsback to Miss Martha Shipley, who was born in Wooster, Ohio, a daughter of George W. and Carolina Shipley, both of whom were like- wise born in the fine old Buckeye state of the Union and both of whoni
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are now residing at Kansas City. Mrs. Railsbaek was the second in order of birth in a family of four children, three of whom are living, in 1911. Mr. Shipley is a carpenter by trade and he is now in the employ of the Kansas City, Kansas, Stock Yards Company. Mr. and Mrs. Railsback have two children, namely : Edward F. and Dorris.
In connection with the work of his profession Mr. Railsbaek is a valued and appreciative member of the Kansas City, Kansas, Bar Asso- ciation, and in politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the cause of the Republican party. Ile is also affiliated with the Mercantile Club and in their religious relations he and his wife are consistent members of the Christian church. Mr. Railsback is everywhere aecorded the un- qualified confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens and in a social way he and his wife are very popular and prominent in their home com- munity.
WILLIAM T. ATKINSON is among the best and most favorably known citizens of Kansas City, Kansas. He is a banker, and has been a resi- dent of this city since 1891, when he came here as receiver for the First National Bank, having held this position until the business of that institution was closed out. In 1893 he became connected with the Armonrdale State Bank, of which he has been the capable president from its organization.
Mr. Atkinson was born in the city of London, England, July 9. 1848. His parents were William and Ann (Clark) Atkinson. They had but two children, namely, William T., whose name introduces this personal sketeh, and Sarah, who became the wife of George W. ITardy. The father was born in the city of London, and the mother in Yorkshire, England. He was a steamship clerk in his early days and in 1856 he came, with his family. to America. locating in Shelbyville, Shelby county, Illinois. There he became a contracting builder, in which business he continued until his death at the age of fifty years. The mother lived to be fifty-five years of age. They were members of the Church of England, and were possessed of sterling qualities of both heart and mind.
William T. Atkinson was eight years of age when his parents brought him to this country. IIe grew to manhood in Shelbyville, Illinois, where he attended the public schools, and then the Shelbyville Seminary. He learned the printer's trade, but did not follow that trade long, rather engaging in mercantile pursuits in Shelbyville. In 1872 he eame west, locating at Topeka, Kansas, where he carried on mercantile pursuits, later at IIolton, and still later at Hutchinson, Reno county, Kansas. Of this county he was elected treasurer in 1873, which office he held for four years, and thereafter was engaged in banking in Hutchinson. He remained there up to 1891 when he came to Kansas City, as receiver for the First National Bank of this city. Mr. Atkinson was chosen first president of the Clearance IIonse of Kansas City, Kansas, and is the president at present. He has also served as the second president of the Mereantile Club, of Kansas City, Kansas, and has otherwise borne a prominent part in affairs of the eity.
In polities Mr. Atkinson is a Republican, but since serving as treasurer of Reno county, he has never sought public offiee. He is a
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member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Episcopal church.
November 27. 1873, Mr. Atkinson married Miss Laura F. Kelley, who was born in Shelby county, Illinois, the daughter of Chattam and Elizabeth Kelley, the former born in Tennessee, and the latter in Kentucky. Her father was a farmer and then a merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson have had two children. namely, Lloyd H., a salesman of steel rails in New York city, and Leo K., who died at the age of eight- een years.
As a banker Mr. Atkinson has won an enviable reputation, and as a citizen the record of a progressive and public spirited man. He has forged his own way to snecess in life, by reason of energy, perseverance, and straightforward dealing.
WILLIAM E. SCHUETZ .- It is a noteworthy fact that there is no call- ing in life where the son so often follows in the footsteps of his father as in the case of farming. William E. Schnetz started in his father's footsteps, but the strides of the son have been longer and more rapid. He has made tracks of his own, branching out in other directions than those taken by his father. That is as it should be if there is to be any true advancement. Mr. Schuetz has seized every opportunity to fit himself for whatever might come. Each man catehes fish that are just as large as his line will allow. The question is are we going to angle for minnows or for whales. Education will change the fisherman's cotton string into a steel rope that will hold any catch. Education does not comprise simply the things that one learns at school. It signifies the drawing out of what is best in a man and putting his resources to the best possible use. His snecess can never exceed the efficiency of his line and he cannot borrow another man's line. Mr. Schuetz, al- though he did not have the advantage of mueh sehooling. is nevertheless an educated man in the most comprehensive sense of the word. He has observed and studied as he went along and has achieved more snecess than the man who has had much more schooling and thinks that the training is going to carry him through without further effort on his part. The world measures success by dollars and cents; Mr. Schuetz has them. It also measures suecess by influence and prominence in some direction. Mr. Schuetz fulfils the conditions in that respect also.
Born in 1866. in Wyandotte county, Ohio, he is the son of John and Catherine Sehuetz. ITis mother's maiden name was Wilderwood ;
she was born in Ohio in 1839. .John Schuetz was born in Ohio in 1834
In 1870 he came to Wyandotte and he was a farmer in his native state. He cleared onc county. Kansas, and settled in Shawnee township.
hundred acres of land and improved it. He became a man of promi- mence in the community and was township treasurer for one year. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. John Schnetz had five children, James M., who married Lyda Ebeck, now lives in Kansas City. Kansas; Chester, who died when quite young; William E .; Anna May, who is the wife of Robert Brantigan and is now living in Clyde. Kansas; Bertha D., the wife of Frank Ashlock. now living on the adjoining farm: and John Schuetz died in 1897 and his widow still lives on the farm with her son.
William E. Schnetz came from Ohio to Kansas with his father and
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mother when he was four years old. They came from Wyandotte county, Ohio, to Wyandotte county, Kansas, from one farm to another farm. Here William has lived ever since and he now manages the hundred acres of land that his father cleared. William has thus spent his whole life on a farm, but he has mixed so much with other people that he has not become narrow. Ile holds the office which his father held before him, that of township treasurer. He is a member of the school board and is greatly interested in the educational work of the public school system. Ile, like his father, is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Seleet Knights fraternal order. Ile is a member of the Central Protective Association. In addition to the hundred acres on which he lives, Mr. Schuetz owns one hundred and sixty acres in Stephens county, Kansas. He raises wheat and fruit. shipping a great quantity of the latter.
In 1894 Mr. Schuetz was married to Maud Baker, who was born June 11, 1872. in Wyandotte county, Ohio, and her parents are still living there. The two families were intimate back East and the young people knew each other practically all their lives. Mrs. Schnetz died March 28, 1900, leaving three children,-Glenn W., Marguerite and Fanny.
Mr. Schnetz is a Democrat and he is deeply interested in the world of polities. He does not accept everything that is set forth on the Democrat platform without investigating for himself. Ile, of course, looks for the ultimate triumph of the Democratic party and in the mean- time is willing to do everything in his power for the good of the country at large and his township in particular. There is not a man in the township who is better known or more respected than William E. Schuetz. The district of Argentine, in which he lives, is rapidly grow- ing and bids fair to become a great agricultural center in the state of Kansas.
AUGUST PETERSON .- Among the well-known and highly respected citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, are August Peterson and his wife, Mrs. Amelia Peterson, who have the distinction of being the first Swedish people to make Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kansas, their residing place. These useful citizens have resided here for more than forty years-since the year 1869,-and have witnessed the splendid develop- ment of the city. Their eldest child, Christine, now wife of Mr. Martin Holgerson, the plumber, located at 637 Orville avenue, was the first Swedish child in Wyandotte, and the brother, Albert Peterson, born in 1872, was the first Swedish boy to be born here. This son has for twenty years, been an employe of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, and still makes his home with his parents. The younger son, Walter A., has been engaged in the insurance business for the past twelve years, but is now making an extended trip along the Pacific coast. However, he still maintains his home in Kansas City. The subject and his wife have the pleasant relation of grandparents, to Mr. and Mrs. Holgerson having been born a daughter Irene, March 8. 1900, who is now twelve years of age. A son, born June 13, 1897, died January 8, 1898.
Angust Peterson was born in Sweden, November 30, 1843. He was Vol. II-14
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educated in his native town and there learned the trade of carpentering. When he was but eighteen years of age he came to the United States and at about that time the Civil war broke ont. Young Peterson was employed by the government during that stormy period as a carpenter, he having become an expert in this line previons to his removal from his native country. He assisted in the construction of hospitals and block houses. Ile was stationed in Nashville, Tennessee and on Look- ont Mountain and thus found himself in the very center of the great conflict between the states. Ile was in Nashville when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
At the end of the war, Mr. Peterson went to Chicago where his marriage took place, and shortly thereafter removed to Kansas City. He soon secured a position with the Union Pacific Railroad to assist in the rebuilding of the shops which had been burned. At the conclusion of this work, he was given a position in the coach yard and this position he retained for thirty-eight years. In view of this fact, no comment concerning his faithfulness and skill is necessary. In 1908, on account of the failure of his eyesight, Mr. Peterson was retired and pensioned and now he and his admirable wife are enjoying themselves on what they have been able to accumulate throughout the busy thrifty years. One of their chief pleasures is an occasional trip on the Union Pacific System, Mr. Peterson having been given an annual pass by the company. The modern brick house in which the subject lives at present is not the first house he owned here. In 1873 he built his first house, a frame structure, at 608 Nebraska avenue, and occupied it until 1903. in which year he built the house at 610 Nebraska avenue, where he now resides. He also owns the house at 612 Nebraska avenue, having built that himself.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Peterson occurred in Chicago, Decem- ber 23. 1869. She was born in Sweden, November 10, 1843, and her parents both died when she was very young. In 1867 she came alone to America and her brothers and sisters followed her later. Mr. Peter- son is a former member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1870 he joined the Swedish Lutheran church and he was at one time a trustee of the church. Ile and his wife are held in honor and affection by all those who know them best.
FRANK W. BARTLETT .- As one of the representative merchants of Kansas City, where he is engaged in the hardware business, and as a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Sunflower state, Mr. Bartlett is well entitled to recognition in this publication. His career has been marked by useful activity along varied lines and he has proved himself well worthy of the confidence so uniformly reposed in him.
Mr. Bartlett claims the old Empire state of the Union as the place of his nativity, and is a representative of pioneer families of that commonwealth. He was born at Watertown, Jefferson county, New York, on the 19th of February, 1853, and is a son of Orlando S. and Nancy (Tuttle) Bartlett, both of whom were likewise natives of Water- town. The mother died at the age of forty-five years and the father attained to the venerable age of seventy-seven years, the subject of this review being the only surviving child. The father was a carpenter by trade and in 1857 he came to Kansas and mimbered himself among the
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early settlers of Wyandotte, the nucleus of the present Kansas City, and here engaged in the work of his trade, his family having joined him after he had provided a home in the little town, which was on the frontier and which had but small population at the time. He became one of the influential citizens of the community and continued his labors as a contractor and builder until the outbreak of the Civil war, when, in- tensely patriotic. he subordinated all other interests to tender his services in defense of the Union. In response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers he enlisted and was commissioned to recruit a company. He successfully accomplished this mission, and he was in active service with his command during the greater part of the war. Ile was made captain of his company and was mustered out with this rank. He was known as a specially skillful tactitian and as captain of his company he won a fine sword in a competitive drill. This interesting trophy is now in the possession of his only surviving son, the subject of this review, as is also the old musket which he carried during the period of his military service.
Frank W. Bartlett was a child at the time of the family removal to Kansas, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of old Wyandotte. He afterward attended Lin- coln College, an institution that was eventually developed into the present Washburn College, in the city of Topeka. When seventeen years of age he left college, after which his first practical serviee was in connection with making a railroad survey from Lawrenee to Carbondale, Kansas. Later he went to Denver and Cheyenne, and he'advaneed in the railroad service to the position of conductor, in which capacity he was employed on the Union Pacific Railroad for a period of seven years, running out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, to which place he first went in the spring of 1872. In 1880 he engaged in the sheep and cattle business
in Wyoming, on the "7Box L" and other ranches, and he continued to he identified with this line of industry for a period of ahont thirteen years. In 1893 Mr. Bartlett came to Kansas City, Kansas, where he established himself in the hardware and implement business, in which he has since continued and in connection with which he has built up a large and flourishing enterprise, based upon careful methods and fair and honorable dealings. As a eitizen and business man he has shown at all times his appreciation of progressive policies and has given his eooperation in support of measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of the community. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World. In a general way he gives his support to the cause of the Republican party, but in local affairs he exercises his franchise in support of men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, without regard to striet partisan lines.
On the 21st of July, 1877. Mr. Bartlett was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Tuttle, who was born at Trenton, Illinois, and is the daughter of James Edwards and Almira (Cary) Tuttle, both of whom are now deceased. Mrs. Bartlett has been prominent in literary, club and philanthropie work, and is at present the president of the Council of Clubs of Kansas City. Kansas, an organization of more than seven hundred members. In the paternal line Mrs. Bartlett is a direct de- seendant of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the noted New England divine who was for a time president of Princeton, in Colonial days.
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Mr. Tuttle came west in the gold excitement of 1860 and settled at Buckskin Joe, not far from the present Leadville. Colorado, which state was at that time a territory. He lived in Denver, also, for a time, but eventually settled in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he ran a wall paper, paint and oil store from 1871 to 1900, when his health failed and he moved to Kansas City, Kansas. He and his wife lived with the Bartletts until their death. Mrs. Tuttle died in December, 1903, and Mr. Tuttle in April, 1907.
Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett have two children, Virginia Pearl Mackenzie and Frank Wyatt Bartlett. The latter is a partner in the business of his father and is making a record for good mercantile ability. He is fond of out door sports, and is a fine photographer and expert shot, taking many prizes at the shooting tournaments.
EDWARD E. VENARD .- For more than a quarter of a century has Mr. Venard been actively identified with business interests in the metropolis of Wyandotte county, and he is today recognized as one of the influential citizens and business men of Kansas City, where his course has been such as to justify fully the uniform confidenee and esteem accorded him in the community. He has given his support to those enterprises and measures that have conserved the development and vivie prosperity of Kansas City and the county, and in business activities his success has been the result of well directed energy along normal lines of endeavor. He is now engaged in the building-material and coal business, and the enterprise which he thus conducts is one of the largest and most prosperous of its kind in the county.
Mr. Venard is a scion of sterling old southern stock and a repre- sentative of families whose names have been identified with the annals of American history sinee the Colonial epoch. He was born at Macomb. MeDonough county, Illinois, on the 28th of April, 1862, and is a son of William E. and Elizabeth D. (Young) Venard, both of whom were natives of Kentucky, where the former was born in 1836 and the latter in 1839. Both families were founded in the old Blue Grass state in the early pioneer days and both were likewise found represented in the pioneer history of Illinois, where the parents of Edward E. Venard were reared and edneated and where their marriage was solemnized. They continued to reside in that state until their death, the de- voted wife and mother having been summoned to the life eternal on the 17th of October. 1909, and the bereaved husband having survived her by less than six months, as he passed away on the 15th of March, 1910. Of the eight children only two are living. Edward E. being the elder and his sister. Gabriella, being the wife of Edward E. Hanson, of Seattle. William E. Venard was but two years of age at the time of his parents' removal from Kentucky to Illinois, in the year 1838. The family located where Macomb, the thriving county seat of Me- Donough county, now stands and were numbered among the pioneer settlers of that section of the state. There William E. Venard was reared to manhood, and that he made good use of the educational ad- vantages afforded him is assured by the fact that as a youth he proved himself eligible for pedagogie honors. He was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of his home county and thereafter continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits in that county for a num-
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