USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 66
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After the death of his father, Oliver B. Trower carried on opera- tions as a live stock broker until 1906, when he turned his attention to the real estate business, handling lands, stoek, bonds, investments, etc. Ile is now doing an extensive business in his offices in the Hall building, in Kansas City, Missouri, under the firm name of O. B. Trower & Com- pany. In his political convictions Mr. Trower endorses the cause of the Republican party and he gave most efficient service as a member of the
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city council of Kansas City, Kansas, from 1893 to 1897. He is a charter and life member of the local lodge of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.
In the year 1889 Mr. Trower was united in marriage to Miss Lillie A. Cupps, who was born and reared in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and who later spent considerable time in San Francisco. Mrs. Trower is a direct decendant of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. To this union have been born one daughter, Faye, and one son, Paul C., both of whom are attending school in this city.
WILLIAM FREDERICK DEBUS .- Among that fine body of agricul- turists who have contributed in fullest measure to the prosperity enjoyed by Wyandotte county is William Frederick Debus, who has particular canse for loyalty to this section in that he is a native son. He was born in Wyandotte township June 1, 1868, the son of George Debus and his wife, whose maiden name was Gertrude Reinhardt, they both being natives of Germany. Mr. Debus received his education in the schools of his native township and resided upon his father's farm until he be- came eighteen years of age. Like a great many young men, he had an ambition to abandon country life and become a factor in the world of affairs. Accordingly he obtained a position with the Armour Packing Company, and remained for twenty-three years in the employ of this great concern. He was in the paeking department for six years and boned beef for sixteen years. In 1910, he determined to adopt the wholesome, independent occupation of his youth, farming, consequently he rented a farm at Brenner Heights, from Mrs. Emma Bates, and began the agricultural endeavors which have already proved highly snecessful.
Mr. Debus established an independent household when on November 11, 1890, he was united in marriage to Martha E. Broomhall, daughter of Cyrus M. Broomhall. She was born in Keokuk, Lee county, Iowa, September 30, 1870. Beneath the pleasant roof tree are growing to- wards manhood and womanhood, seven children, as follows: George, Gertrude, Wilda, Philip, Henry, Elmer and Willard. One son, Wil- liam, died November 2, 1902, aged two years, and is buried in Quindaro eemetery.
Mr. Debus finds a great deal of pleasure in his lodge relations. He is a very popular member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America in which latter he has held all the offices. For a time he was a Red Man.
DEWITT C. WOOD .- The present able and popular incumbent of the position of foreman of the Bonner Springs Cement Company is De Witt Clinton Wood, who has been a loyal and public spirited resident of Bonner Springs, Kansas, since 1910. £ Mr. Wood is a native son of Wyandotte county, Kansas, where his birth occurred on the 19th of August, 1870, and he is scion of a fine old pioneer family in this state. His parents, George B. and Anna (Bonham) Wood, were natives re- speetively of Syraeuse, New York, and Clark county, Virginia, their marriage having been solemnized in Clark county, Virginia, in the year 1856. Mr. and Mrs. George B. Wood came to Kansas in 1857, locating on the bottoms in Kansas City. The father was a physician during the
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greater part of his aetive career and he was called to the life eternal in the year 1887, his cherished and devoted wife surviving him until 1910. They were the parents of five children: Mrs. Minnie I. Groff, born in 1858; Mrs. Elmour W. Hochstetler (deceased) born in 1861; H. H. Wood and D. C. Wood. twins, born in 1870; and W. L. Wood, born in 1863.
De Witt Clinton Wood was reared to maturity in Wyandotte conn- ty, attending the public schools and graduating in the high school of Kansas City. Subsequently he attended Winter Park College, in Florida, for a period of two years, at the expiration of which he became interested in the insurance business, entering the employ of the Travelers' Insur- ance Company in 1887. He continued to be interested in the insurance business until 1894, at which time he accepted a position on the board of trade of Kansas. From 1895 to 1898 he was government hog inspector and later was with the Armour Packing Company. Subsequently he served as a volunteer in Bryan's regiment, in the Spanish-American war, and for four years he was a member of the police department, serving in that capacity for two years in Kansas City, Kansas. In 1910 he became interested in the cement business and entered the employ of the Bonner Springs Cement Company, having served for twelve months as caretaker of the plant at Bonner Springs. He gives special attention to the cement shipments, which amount to about one thousand barrels per day. The great trust imposed in him by his employers is the best indication of his adaptability for this particular line of enterprise and to say that the business has prospered under his capable management is to state the case but mildly. Mr. Wood is a man of unusual executive ability and tremendnous vitality and all his business dealings have been characterized by fair and honorable methods.
In Kansas City, Kansas, on the 2nd of July, 1903, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Wood to Mrs. Jennie May Setterberg, who was born in Ohio, and who is a daughter of George W. Fritts, of Wyandotte county. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have no children. In politics he is a stalwart sup- porter of the cause of the Democratic party but he has no ambition for publie office of any description.
HENRY O. GRAFKE, engaged in agricultural and stock raising enter- prises in Quindaro township, Wyandotte county, Kansas, is one of the most energetic, enterprising and successful business men of this section of the state. He has been identified with the great land and farming interests of Kansas since early manhood and it seems that he has always possessed an open sesame to unlock the doors of success in the various enterprises in which he has been involved. He is now the owner of some two hundred and fifty-seven acres of the finest land in the county and his elegant buildings in the midst of well cultivated fields are ample in- dication of the practical ability of the owner. Diligent in business affairs, Mr. Grafke has carved out a fine snecess for himself, and in pub- lie life he has ever manifested a deep and sineere interest in all matters affecting the general welfare.
The father of the subject of this review is Henry J. Grafke, whose birth occurred near Hamburg, Germany. on the 10th of October, 1827, and who is now living in retirement in Germany. He came to the United States on the old steam ship Columbia about the year 1867 and
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after his arrival in this country he first went to Wisconsin, residing at Madison for a number of years. In 1870 he came to Kansas, where he worked on a steam boat for a time. After sending for his family, in the fall of that year, he purchased a farm three miles west of Wyandotte, the same being a piece of unimproved, wild land, on which he erected a little briek house from brick of his own manufacture. Here his wife, whose maiden name was Marie Drube, died in 1872, at the age of fifty- three years, she being buried in the old Indian cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Grafke became the parents of five children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth : Elizabeth, August, Henry O., Dora and Bertha, all of whom are living, in 1911. In 1882 the father re- turned to Germany, where he is passing the evening of his life in full enjoyment of the fruits of former years of earnest toil and endeavor. Elizabeth Grafke married Fred Fanteck, Dora became the wife of Henry Wehmeyer; and Bertha wedded William Raymond, all of them being residents of Kansas City, Kansas.
Henry O. Grafke, whose name forms the captain for this review, was born in Germany, on the 21st of February, 1855, and he was a child of twelve years of age at the time of his parents' removal to the United States. Ilis preliminary educational training was obtained in the dis- triet schools of Wiseonsin and Wyandotte county, Kansas, and he early beeame associated with his father in the work and management of the homestead farm. In 1882 he purchased a tract of sixty acres of land in Quindaro township and later he added to the original traet some thirty- five acres. Prior to his father's return to the old Fatherland, he deeded the son a traet of eighty acres on the river bottoms, and to this estate Mr. Grafke has since added sixty aeres by purchase and twenty-two aeres which his wife inherited. He has introduced all kinds of modern ini- provements on his farm and has raised his land to a high state of eulti- vation. In 1882 he erected an attractive and spacious farm house which was later torn down in order to give place to the magnificent coun- try home erected in 1898. This residence is one of the most beautiful in the entire countryside and it has been the scene of many attractive social activities. In addition to general farming, Mr. Grafke devotes considerable attention to the raising of high grade stock and in all his ventures he has met with marked success.
In the year 1882 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grafke to Miss Christina IIelen Sherman, a daughter of Morris and Christina (Forbes) Sherman. She was born in Quindaro township, Wyandotte county, on the 18th of February, 1858, and died July 14, 1911. Two sons and two daughters survive, Ernest, Harry, Christine, Marie. Ernest Grafke married Eva Sortor and they are the parents of three children : Marian. Edgar and Roger. Marie is now Mrs. Charles M. Burton and she re- sides in Kansas City ; Harry is a veterinary surgeon in government ser- viee at Big Springs, Texas; and Christine is the only daughter at home at Grafke Ileights, residing with her father. Morris Sherman was born in the state of Maine and his wife was a native of Scotland. After their marriage they lived for a time in New York, whence they removed to Wyandotte county, Kansas, about the year 1858. At that time they purchased a tract of one hundred and forty acres of land from the Indians, part bottoms and part on the bluffs. He built a log house, in which the family lived for a time and in addition to the work of clearing
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he got out hundreds of ties for the Chicago and Great Western Railroad then in progress of construction in this part of the country. During the period of the Civil war he was in the undertaking business in Kansas City and made and sold large numbers of caskets for the soldiers. Mr. Sherman was summoned to the life eternal in the year 1881, at the age of fifty-six years; and his cherished and devoted wife passed away in 1894. at the age of sixty-four years. They are both buried in Quindaro ceme- tery. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman were the fond parents of four children : Charles, Roger, Helen and Susan, the first three of whom are deceased. Susan is the wife of Charles Geib, of Springfield, Nebraska.
In his political convictions Mr. Grafke is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies propounded by the Democratic party and while he has never been incumbent of any political office, strictly speaking, he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympa- thy with all measures and enterprises advaneed for the good of the general welfare. He is affiliated with a number of fraternal and social organizations of representative character and in their religious faith the Grafke family are consistent members of the Baptist church, to whose charities and benevolences they are liberal contributors. Mr. Grafke is a man of splendid executive ability and tremenduons vitality and the fine success he has achieved is the more gratifying to contemplate inas- much as it is entirely the outcome of his own well directed endeavors. By reason of his exemplary life and fair and honorable methods in all business dealings he commands the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men and it has been said concerning him that the circle of his friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances.
J. ARTHUR JONES, M. D .- A native son of the Sunflower state who has here gained a definite prestige as one of the able and popular physi- cians and surgeons of the favored metropolis of Wyandotte county, is Dr. Jones, who maintains his residence at 1001 Central avenue, which is also his office headquarters, and who has been actively engaged in the general practice of his profession in Kansas City since 1904. He is a young man of vigor, is thoroughly en rapport with the profession of his choice and is giving his best efforts to the work of his exacting call- ing, in which his success has been furthered by his sterling character as well as by his acknowledged ability and skill as a physician and surgeon.
Dr. Jones was born near the city of Emporia, Lyon county, Kan- sas, on the 21st of July. 1879, and is a son of William R. and Mary Elizabeth, (Studebaker) Jones, the former of whom was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, and the latter in Mnneie, Indiana. She is a mem- ber of the well known Studebaker family of that state, with whose an- nals the name has been identified since the early pioneer epoch in its history, and she is a kinswoman of the Studebakers of South Bend, Indi- ana, known throughout the world as extensive manufacturers of wagons. carriages and other vehicles. William R. Jones was reared and edu- rated in his native state and as a young man he worked on the under- ground railroad, the first year of the war; when he came to Kansas he located in the village of Plymouth, Lyon county, whence he later re- moved to Columbus, Kansas, the county seat of Cherokee county, and he was numbered among the pioneers of that section of the state. He finally removed to Pittsburg, Crawford county, where he continued to
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follow the vocation of carpenter and builder until about the year 1893, when he removed to the state of Oklahoma, where he now resides, his home being at Kildare, Oklahoma. They became the parents of three sons and one daughter, all of whom are living, and of the number Dr. Jones, of this review, was the third in order of birth, the others being Herbert O., Stella P. and Willard. Herbert O. and Willard reside in Oklahoma, and Stella P. in Kansas City.
Dr. J. Arthur Jones is indebted to the public schools of Pittsburg, Kansas, for the major portion of his preliminary educational discipline, and there he completed the curriculum of the high school, after which he began the work of preparing himself for the profession of his choice.
With this landable purpose in view he finally entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas City, Kansas, an institution that is now the medical department of the State University, and in this ex- cellent school he was graduated as a member of the class of 1904, duly receiving his coveted and well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine.
After his graduation Dr. Jones had the discernment and wisdom that led him to remain in Kansas City when initiating the active work of his profession, and here he has maintained his office in his present loca- tion, on Central avenue, from the beginning. He was the "pioneer" in establishing an office at this eligible location, and from this headquarters he has gained a substantial and representative practice, which is con- stantly expanding in scope and importance. He was a teacher of anatomy one year in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1905 and was also associated with Dr. E. M. Hetherington, having charge of the clinical department of gynecology for the medical department of the University of Kansas in 1906. He is a member of the medical staff of Bethany IHospital and is actively identified with the Wyandotte County Medical Society and the Kansas State Medical Society, and he is dis- tinctively popular in the ranks of his profession, of whose stanch but unwritten code of ethics he is a close observer. He subordinates all else to the work of his chosen calling but is liberal and public spirited in his civic attitude. He has had no desire to identify himself with practical politics and gives his support to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment.
In the year 1903, Dr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Thornton, a native of Missouri, the daughter of Robert M. Thornton, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Dr. and Mrs. Jones have a fine little son, J. Arthur, Jr., who is somewhat of an autocrat in the home circle.
LOUIS ANTOINE .- The life of Louis Antoine is a noble illustration of what independence, self faith and persistency can accomplish in America. He is a self-made man in the most significant sense of the word for no one helped him in a financial way and he was practically self-educated. As a young man he was strong, vigorous and self-reliant. He trusted in his own ability and did things single handed and alone. Today he stands supreme as a successful business man and a loyal and public spirited citizen. Most of his attention has been devoted to mechanical work and to farming but he is now living virtually retired on a tract of five acres of land near Rosedale. in Shawnee township, Wyandotte county, Kansas.
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A son of Francis Antoine, Louis was born on the 17th of April, 1840 and he is a scion of a distinguished old French family, representa- tives of the name having held many important official positions in France. Lonis Antoine was reared to adult age in his native land, to whose excellent schools he is indebted for his preliminary educational training, the same having been later supplemented by extensive reading and association with important affairs. As a young man he learned the trades of mechinist and cooper and he came to America in the year 1872. Landing in New York city, he left his family in that place for a short time and proceeded to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he secured work at his trade. Eight days later he sent for his wife and three children and in 1873 the family home was established in Wyandotte county, Kansas. For the ensuing three years he was engaged in work at the cooper's trade and on the 6th of November, 1876, he purchased a farm of thirty acres in Shawnee township. This estate was all wild land and after erecting a small wooden shack he began to clear the same, later putting up the buildings where Mr. Lust now lives. For a period of twenty-six years he was engaged in farming operations on his attrac- tive little estate and in 1902 he erected the beautiful residence in which he now lives. He sold a portion of his land to Mr. Lust and retains five acres, which he devotes to truck farming and the raising of berries and small fruits.
In France, on the 11th of June. 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Antoine to Miss Jennie Mary Golet, a daughter of Grode and Jeanette (Darfine) Golet, and a native of France, where her birth occurred on the 8th of August, 1843. Mr. and Mrs. Antoine became the parents of six children, three of whom were born in France, namely : Edward; Bertha, who is now Mrs. Benjamin Wood, of Kansas City; and Mary, who wedded Felix Goudard. of Shawnee township. Concerning the children born in America, Margaret is the wife of George Mitler, of this county; Louis is a cement worker and contractor in Kansas City ; and Lonise is now Mrs. John Newman, of Kansas City. Through the marriage of his children, Mr. Antoine has a Welsh daughter-in-law and a Brazillian daughter-in-law, and an Irishman, a German and a Swede as sons-in-law.
As a young man in France Louis Antoine served on the city militia during the French war, his military career extending through a period of three months, during which time he was under fire of the enemy three times. In politics Mr. Antoine accords an uncompromising allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. Ile has never held any public office, strictly speaking. but has served with willingness and ability on a number of juries in Wyan- dotte county. He has exerted his every effort to serve the county well and has ever been a liberal contributor of his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare. In the most significant sense of the word Mr. Antoine is a representative citizen of Rosedale and Shawnee township and he is everywhere accorded the unalloyed confidence and esteem of his fellow men.
CAMIEL DE BOVER, although only a resident of Wyandotte county during the last two years, has already shown that he possesses practical
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knowledge of agricultural work of all kinds. ITe showed his sagacity by confining his operations to truck farming, rather than engaging in general agriculture. In this age of specialization the man who con- centrates on one special phase of his work, whatever it be, is more apt to realize success than the one who attempts a more wholesale knowledge and more extended operations. Mr. De Bover has proved to himself the wisdom of his choice in the prosperity that he is beginning to enjoy as a trnek farmer.
Camiel De Bover was born in the kingdom of Belgium in 1866 and is the son of John and Teresa (Speiet) De Bover. both natives of Bel- gium and life long residents of the little kingdom. The father was a basket maker of considerable ability and taste, an art which he followed until his death in 1899. ITis widow survived him four years and they were the parents of six children, three of whom are now in America, all reared in the Catholic faith of their ancestors.
Mr. De Bover, Jr .. was reared in his native land. now the country of religious freedom. but in his boyhood the scene of much disturbance and persecution. After concluding his school training the young man was engaged in various occupations until his father died and he himself was thirty-three years old. At that time. in 1899, he left his home and came to America. direct to St. Charles, Illinois, where he worked in a foundry. later to Kansas City where he gained employment in a pipe factory. Ten years after his arrival in America he made his first ap- pearance in Wyandotte county in the guise of a truck gardener. He raises all kinds of vegetables, for which he finds a ready market in Kansas City, and, as noted above. he is rapidly making a name for him- self in the community.
In 1896 Mr. De Bover married Lena Brunniel, a Belgian by birth and parentage. Mrs. De Bover did not accompany her husband to America, but followed him three months later and the husband and wife. with their five children-Morris, Fred. Catherine, Mary and Josephine. have remained together since that time. Mr. De Bover is a Republican, with no desire to take any part in political affairs. He has remained true to the religious faith in which he was reared, that of the Catholic church.
SAMUEL J. ELLIOTT .- Numbered among the progressive and repre- sentative business men of the younger generation in the metropolis of Wyandotte eounty is Mr. Elliott, who is the efficient and popular cashier of the Gentral Avenue State Bank, located at 15 Central avenue. He has proved a most discriminating executive officer and has done much to further the success of the substantial financial institution with which he is thus indentified.
Samuel James Elliott was born in Jackson county, Missouri, on the 4th of December. 1882. and is a son of Samuel and Jessie (Manson) Elliott. the former of whom was born in Ireland, of Scoteh-English descent, and the latter at Kingston, province of Ontario, Canada, where she was reared and educated. Samuel Elliott, Sr., was nine years of age when he came to the United States, as an apprentice in the pork packing business. He was reared to maturity in the state of New York, and he then came to the west and located in Pottawatomie county, Kan- sas. About 1877 he came to Kansas City, where he opened a general
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store, his place of business having been on the site of the present Stock Exchange building, and he resided near Independence and Troost avenues. Through industry, good management and fair and honorable dealings he built up a prosperous enterprise, and he continued in busi- ness at his original location until about 1892, when he purchased and established his home upon a farm near Springhill, Johnson county. Subsequently he returned to Kansas City, where he is now engaged in the general merchandise. business, at the corner of Eighth and Garfield streets. His devoted wife and helpmeet was summoned to the life eternal in 1891, and she is survived by two sons and one danghter, of whom the eldest is he whose name initiates this review.
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