USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 45
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Mr. Cable married, in 1885, Jennie G. Brown, of Louisville, Kon- tueky, and they have one child, Rufus W. Cable. Politically Mr. Cable is a staneh Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
JAMES FENNELL .- A man of pronounced ability, intelligence and judgment, James Fennell occupies a noteworthy position among the successful business men of Kansas City. Kansas, and as general super- intendent of the Armour Packing Company is actively identified with one of the leading enterprises of Wyandotte county. A son of William and Mary Fennell, he was born January 22, 1865, in Chautauqua county, New York, being the fourth child in a family of seven children, of whom six are living.
William Fennell was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1828, and as a young man immigrated to the United States, crossing the ocean in a sail- ing vessel. From New York City le drifted westward to Chautauqua county, where he subsequently lived until his death, in 1889, for many years being engaged in the boot and shce business. He was a Democrat in politics, and was held in high esteem as a man and a citizen. His wife survived him, passing away in 1900.
James Fennell obtained a practical education in Forestville, New York, attending the publie schools and the academy He first became a wage earner when a boy by picking berries, and was afterward a clerk in a dry goods establishment in Forestville. Seized with wanderlust in 1880, he came westward to Kansas City, Missouri, where he at once se- cured a position in a general store, which was located in the first brick building erected on James street. In 1886 Mr. Fennell first became associated with the Armour Packing Company, with which he has since been eonneeted. He began in the humble capacity of a cattle driver. was later made cattle weigher, and proved himself so capable and faith- ful in the position that he was promoted to the cashiership of the firm's retail market. Pleased with his services, the company from time to time placed him in positions of greater responsibility, and in 1904 Mr. Fennell was made general superintendent of the business of the firm, and has performed the duties thus devolving upon him with unquestioned ability and fidelity, and to the eminent satisfaction of his employers.
Mr. Fennell is also connected with other enterprises of importance, being viee-president of the People's National Bank and a director of the Kansas City, Kansas, Elevated Railroad Company. He is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Royal Legion.
Mr. Fennell married, July 20, 1886, Anna M. James, who was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a daughter of David and Jennie James, natives. respectively, of Connecticut and Vermont. Her father, a prominent lawyer of Ann Arbor, was at one time regent of the University of Michi- gan. He subsequently came to Kansas City, Missouri, with his family, and established himself as a lawyer. Mr. and Mrs. Fennell have one child, Constance Fennell, a graduate of the Kansas City. Kansas, High Sehool.
DAVID CLARKE KELLY .- Worthy of especial note in a work of this character is David Clarke Kelly, the leading druggist of Bonner Springs and a citizen of much prominence and influence. Ile was born in 1873.
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in Johnson county, Kansas, of pioneer ancestry. His father, William Kelly, a native of Ireland, immigrated to America when twenty-one years of age, taking up his residence in Canada, where he secured work as a briek mason. He subsequently met and married Anna Lundy, who was also born in Ireland, and in 1859, accompanied by his young wife, came to Kansas in search of cheap land. Taking up a homestead claim in Johnson county, he immediately took upon himself the duties of a faithful citizen, and during the border troubles was an active participant. Devoting himself to the improvement of his land, he cleared a good farm, to the size of which he has sinee added by purchase, being now the owner of four hundred acres of rich and valuable land, which he now rents. Sinee his retirement from agricultural pursuits he has lived in Olathe, Kansas. He has ever been a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, his first ballot having been cast for John C. Fremont. In his religious views he is a sound Scotch Presbyterian.
Mrs. William Kelly died in 1908, leaving nine children, as follows: Mary, wife of J. G. Rudy, of Craik, province of Saskatchewan, Canada ; Isabel, wife of A. W. Pettit, of Tonkawa, Oklahoma; Alexander, a re- tired farmer of Olathe, Kansas; William J., a retired farmer of the same place ; Mrs. Sadie J. Seudder, living in Olathe, with her father; Kittie. wife of E. Smith, of Billings, Oklahoma, where he is engaged in the drug business; Samuel J., a druggist in Olathe, Kansas, married Emma Barnes, of that city; Tom H., a druggist in Kansas City, Missouri ; and David Clarke, the special subject of this personal review.
Brought up on the home farm in Johnson county, David Clarke Kelly laid a substantial foundation for his future education in the dis- trict schools, where he had a good record for scholarship. IIe after- wards continued his studies at the Olathe Normal University, from which he was graduated with the class of 1901, and in 1907 was graduated from the University of Kansas. Thus equipped, Mr. Kelly established himself as a druggist in Bonner Springs, where he has now a large and well- stocked mercantile establishment, handling all articles to be found in a first-class drug store. He has a large and remunerative trade, and is popular not only as a druggist but as a man and a citizen. He is a Republican in politics, and for seven years has served as city elerk. Ile is a member of the Christian church, and belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons, in which he has attained to the thirty- second degree.
Mr. Kelly married, in June, 1898, Miss Ada Norris, of Olathe. Kansas. She was educated in the public schools at Olathe and at the State Normal at Emporia, Kansas.
SAMUEL N. SIMPSON .- One of the most venerable business men of Kansas City and also one of its most honored and influential citizens is Samuel N. Simpson. Mr. Simpson came to Kansas City when a young man and has taken part in its development from the status of an un- developed region on the frontier to that of one of the most progressive and opulent commonwealths of the nation. In the march of progress he has played well his part as a loyal and publie spirited citizen, and through his utilization of the advantages here afforded, he has gained snecess and prosperity of pronounced order: the while his personal integrity and honor have so dominated his course as to retain to him the
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I. M.Simpson.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
inviolable esteem of those with whom he has come in contact in the various relations of a long and useful career.
Samuel N. Simpson was born at Deerfield, Rockingham county, New Hampshire, on the 3rd of October, 1826, and the lineage on both sides is traeed back to sterling Scotch-Irish origin. Te is a son of Samuel and Ilannah (Pearson) Simpson, both of whom were likewise natives of Deerfield, New Hampshire, where their marriage was solemnized. Samuel Simpson, the elder, was a representative farmer in New Hamp- shire until 1857, when he came to Kansas and beeame one of the early settlers at Lawrence. He continued to reside in Lawrence until his death, which occurred when he was eighty-two years of age. The Simpson family was founded in New England in the year 1631, and the original progenitor came to this country from Seotland. The name has been prominently identified with the annals of New England, and it has ever stood synonymous of sterling integrity and sturdy industry in connection with the productive activities of life. Representatives of the name were found enrolled as gallant patriots in the French and
Indian wars.
John Simpson, grandfather of him whose name initiates
this sketch, fought in the Revolutionary war. This worthy ancestor was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, the old ancestral homestead, and when it beeame evident that the colonies would attempt to throw off the yoke of oppression in the effort to gain national independence, he joined a militia company in his native county, which by a remarkable march arrived in time to fight at the battle of Bunker Hill. It is authenticated that he was the first to fire a gun in this battle, and for this act he was placed under arrest on the charge of disobeying orders. He was promptly acquitted, however, and the estimate placed upon him was shown at the time by his being commissioned major. The old flint- lock nmisket with which he fired this first shot and the commission ap- pointing him major have been preserved as most valuable and interesting family heirlooms in the possession of Samuel N. Simpson of this review. Samuel Simpson, father of the subject, married Hannah Pearson, who died at Lawrence, Kansas, when seventy-nine years of age.
Samuel N. Simpson was reared to maturity in his native state, where he received good educational advantages and has the distinetion of being the first representative of the family to come to Kansas. In September, 1854, a few weeks prior to his twenty-eighth birthday, he made his advent in the Sunflower commonwealth. He made the journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to Lawrence, Kansas, on foot, and the pre- vious stages of the journey had been made on steam boats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Tle was one of a party of sixty persons who
were the first settlers of Lawrence, Kansas. Indeed, it devolved upon
them to lay out the town and to give to it its name. It was at the suggestion of Mr. Simpson that the embryonie city, now the seat of the fine University of Kansas, was named Lawrence, in honor of Amos A. Lawrence, a distinguished and influential citizen of Boston. When Mr. Lawrenee was informed of the honor thus paid him by these sturdy pioneers on the western frontier, he acknowledged the distinction by sending to the new town a draft for ten thousand dollars, with the stipulation that it should be used for educational purposes. The fund was placed out at interest and when Kansas became a state, those in charge of the fund, which had increased to fourteen thousand dollars,
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
gave the same to the state to secure and aid the establishing of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence. No other community in the state had the ability to make so large an offer and thus Lawrence secured the university.
Mr. Simpson's identification with Kansas City, Kansas, dates from the year 1877, and in the new location he established a real estate business, which he still carries on with great snecess.
In Columbus, Ohio, in the year 1864, Mr. Simpson was united in marriage to Kate Lyon Burnett, daughter of Judge Calvin Burnett, who was born in Morrisville, Vermont, and who became eventually one of the influential citizens of Lawrence, Kansas. Mrs. Simpson proved a devoted and gracious wife and helpmeet and endeared herself to all who came within the sphere of her gentle influence. She was a lady of superior enlture, well educated, a successful teacher, including drawing and French among the branches to which she gave instruction, of fine courage, sound judgment, clear discrimination and very practical with- al. She was born in 1833, and the little picturesque New England village of her birth was like a gem on the banks of the clear Lamoille, with the highest peaks of the Green Mountains keeping wateh and ward over the little hamlet. Mrs. Simpson died in the year 1900.
Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Simpson the following brief data is entered: Charles Lyon attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, and is engaged in the real estate business in the two Kansas Cities; Bernett Newell, a graduate of Harvard, is a lawyer, practicing in Kansas City, Missouri; and Nellie Josephine is the wife of William A. Ackenhousen, a merchant of Kansas City, Missouri.
Samuel N. Simpson continued to maintain his home in Lawrence until 1877, when he located in Wyandotte county, where he engaged in the real estate business, with which he has continued to be actively iden- tified during the intervening years and in connection with which, by his extensive and well ordered operations, he has done much to further the civic and material development and progress of this seetion of the state. He was the first to propose the changing of the name of Wyan- dotte to Kansas City and was one of the most influential in effeeting this change. He has platted and otherwise improved several additions to the city, and in every possible way has given aid to measures and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of the city and county. No eitizen enjoys more unequivocal confidence and esteem than this venerable pioneer, and it is pleasing to note that the years rest lightly upon him, and that he brings to bear in his business and social activities the vigor and enthusiasm of one many years his junior. Ile has been one of the most. implacable adversaries of the liquor traffie, and has been influential in the furtherance of the Prohibition cause in this and other states. Never desirous of publie office nor politieal activity, he has shown a loyal interest in matters of public policy and gives his alle- gianre to the Republican party. Both he and his wife were most zealous and devout members of the Congregational church, and he has been an active worker in the same for virtually three-fourths of a century. Sneh are the men who have been founders and builders of the great state of Kansas, and history should take cognizance of their lives and labors whenever a review is given of the development of the various sections of this commonwealth.
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Thus far no mention has been made of Mr. Simpson's work during the troublons years of '54, '55 and '56 and during the Civil war. He and his family were living in Lawrence when the place was saeked by Quantrell and his raiders. IIe got his father, mother, and the rest of the family to a corn field, whence they made their escape in safety. He was left in charge of the town after the raid, and it was his sad task to take the bodies from the burning houses and to bury the dead. He was a personal friend of John Brown and took charge of Brown's personal belongings when the latter was exiled from his home. The following intensely interesting and valuable piece of Kansas Territorial history has been contributed by Mr. Simpson. It was written years ago at the request of his children.
"When the great struggle between the North and the South, be- tween those who were in favor of the extension of slavery in Kansas Territory and those who would dedicate the territory and the new state to freedom, was left by Congress to be determined by the people who resided in the territory, there came to pass one of the most important events leading up to the Civil war. The field where the conflict was located bordered along the west side of the slave state of Missouri, far removed from the free states, particularly from New England. The United States government was in the hands of the slave extension party. The emigrants from the free states must go two hundred miles through Missouri to reach Kansas Territory. Missouri conld and did place thousands of her citizens in the Kansas territory, before the first set- tlers from New England reached it; taking up claims which secured most of the timber and much of the best bottom lands.
"It was the wish of the early free state settlers to have peace in order to secure settlers from the free states. They hoped to seeure the sympathy of the free states and convinced the settlers from the South- ern states that it was more desirable living with abolitionists than with those favoring slavery.
"It was a principle of the settlers coming from the free states that they must bear every indignity. The slave power could bring twenty men to oppose each one the free state could mnster.
"In 1855 members of the Territorial Legislature of Kansas were elected by the votes of the citizens of the state of Missouri, who eame into the Kansas territory by thousands to vote, carrying every voting district but one, and returning immediately after voting to Missouri. This Legislature passed a code of slave laws to govern the territory and the United States officials and the army were aiding the territorial officers to execute these laws. £ The United States government protected every slave state movement. By the summer of 1856 one-third of the free state settlers had left the Kansas territory because of the enormities of the slave power.
"At this time, when there seemed to be total darkness, a man com- menced shaping events without knowing it himself or attraeting any attention from even his neighbors. A kind Providenee now seemed to take matters in hand, using forces that were not appreciated. In Septemher, 1854, he arrived in what is now called Lawrence, having walked through Missouri. He had been reared in New Hampshire. On the first Sabbath after he arrived he organized a Bible class. On the first Sabbath in 1855 he gathered the few children in town together Vol. II-22
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
in his office and commenced a Sunday school. which became the Sunday school of the Plymouth Congregational church of Lawrence. During 1855 he organized a Sabbath school at the home of Mr. Lyons, four miles up the California Road. Mrs. Sarah T. D. Robinson and Mrs. Kellogg were teachers.
"In the winter of 1855 and 1856 the Plymouth Congregational church asked this man to go East to raise money for a church building. He accepted, and in raising this money was brought in contact with Dr. Post, of St. Louis: Dr. Thompson, of Buffalo ; Henry Ward Beecher and Dr. Bellows in New York and Brooklyn; Dr. Todd, of Pittsburg; Ely Thayer. J. M. S. Williams, Amos A. Lawrence, Leonard Bacon, Dr. Cabbott, Dr. Webb, Edward Everett, Robert Winthrop, Dr. Wallace and many others in New England. In May. 1856, he organized a Sunday school at Franklin, a small town three miles east of Lawrence, settled mostly by families from slave states. Charles Edwards, of Lawrenee. was a teacher. During the dark period in 1856 there were some thirty
young men from different southern states scattered throughout Douglass county, boarding with families from southern states. These young men received thirty dollars per month from the states from which they came. Their oceupation was to create such a state of society by burning houses, barns, hay and grain stacks, killing stock and occasionally killing a man, as in the case of Barber, Hoyt and Dow, that free state settlers would cease to come to the territory and many of those already there would leave rather than live under such conditions.
"Dr. Charles Robinson and .several other free state men were held as prisoners by United States troops in a camp about eight miles west of Lawrence. Dr. Robinson was the leader of the free state cause and party in Kansas Territory during the struggle. This unnamed man
visited the camp and talked over the conditions. They agreed that a vigilance committee should be formed with two by-laws, viz: To obey orders and to keep secrets, and to make it their first business to force out of the country the men who were committing the depredations and murders.
"This man returned to Lawrence and invited to his office Turner Sampson, a Democrat from the state of Maine, and Milton Guest, of Indiana, both men being over forty-five years of age. The conditions in the county were discussed and it was agreed to organize a vigilanee committee with the above by-laws. The three agreed to meet that evening after dark at a vacant house near the Blood Mill. They met and decided upon three persons who should be invited to meet at the same place the next night. At the next meeting there were six persons present and at the next, twelve. In a short time the committee had grown to have two hundred members and they wished to elect this man dictator. Hle refused and a Mr. Green, who operated a saw mill, was elected dictator. Mr. Green was true and brave and very quiet. His orders were law. It is only when society is in desperate straits that it consents to a dictatorship. The organization did its work well and after a few of the marauders had been visited at night the rest left for Missouri.
"One day soon thereafter, when this man was superintending his Sunday school at Franklin, a Southern man, whose children attended the school, asked him to step to one side and said: 'I think that Iought to
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
tell you that an army from Missouri will be up here in a short time to destroy Lawrence. They are using a certain log cabin in town as a fort, and already have a cannon there to use against the town when they come up. Please do not give me away.'
"This unnamed man went up to the camp the next day and in- formed Dr. Robinson. It was agreed that the fort at Franklin and any others which might be learned of should be taken before the army arrived from Missouri and the cannon secured. The free state party had been on the defensive long enough, and besides, it was known that a company of men under General Lane from the free states was on its way through Iowa and Nebraska to help the free state settlers of Kansas. It was thought well to strike a blow before assistance came. This man re- turned to Lawrence and the order came to eighty men of the vigilence committee to meet at two points near Franklin after dark the next night. Upon arriving at the points designated one party was to attack the fort at Franklin from the south side and the other party from the north side, and to take it. The men drew near upon their hands and knees so as not to be seen and to expose themselves as little as possible.
"They all had sharp rifles and they used them, but to no good purpose. A space had been left open between the logs of the fort about five feet from the ground and those inside could fire through this opening. One free state man was killed and others wounded. The free state men were obliged to withdraw. And now what should be done? Some said the fort could not be taken withont a cannon. The men were wet with the dew upon the grass. It was nearly midnight. The pale moonlight and the dying companions afforded a sad picture. This man declared that the fort must be taken if they had to pry the logs apart. The eannon within must come into their hands. It was finally decided to load upon a wagon some hay and dry fencing and what tar and rosin could be found in town, to set the log fort on fire. When the load was ready a call was made for volunteers to draw the fuel against the fort. Captain Biekerton, Caleb Pratt, S. C. Smith, Reuben Randall, Edward Russell, this man and two or three others took hold and drew the wagon close to the fort, then lighting the hay. The light
illumined the town. It was agreed that a stream of bullets should be fired steadily into the door of the fort to prevent those inside from push- ing the wagon away from the building. Soon a white flag was run up over the fort, and the cannon captured and taken out with gun carriage and wheels. In the moment of success and victory the cost of victory
is forgotten. The men embraced the cannon even in that dark honr.
"After further deliberation it was planned to take by storm before daylight the fort on Washington Creek, six miles south of Lawrence; and that the cannon should be moved west upon the California road to Fort Titus, twelve miles west of Lawrenee. Kimball Brothers and this man returned to Lawrence and fished out of the Kansas river the type which the border ruffians had taken from the office of the Herald of Freedom, the Kansas Tribune and the Kansas Free State, a few weeks before and thrown into the Kansas river at the time they destroyed the Free State Hotel and burned Dr. Charles Robinson's house. The lead was run into three bullets for the cannon to be used at the taking of
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Fort Titus. All the forces with the cannon must be brought against the last fort and it must be taken before night.
"The company which had come through Nebraska arrived during the night that Franklin and Washington Creek Forts were taken and assisted the free state army in taking the last of the three forts. The news of the two victories in the night spread with the morning light and the free state army numbered several hundred armed men before it reached Fort Titus. Colonel Shombry, of General Lane's party, in behalf of himself and his men, offered to take the fort by storm. They were not successful and the Colonel lost his life in the attempt. The free state army, out of range of the rifles in the fort, now waited for the cannon with the three bullets.
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