USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 9
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William B. Garleck was born on a farm in Cass county, Illinois. on the 28th of July, 1839, and is a son of .James and Mary (Platt) Gar- leck, both of whom were born and reared in England, where their mar- riage was solemnized and where the eldest of their three children was born. In 1835 they severed the ties that hound them to their native land and immigrated to America. They landed in the city of New Orleans and thence made the voyage up the Mississippi river to the state of Illinois, where they became pioneer settlers of Cass county. There the father secured a tract of government land and he reclaimed the same to cultivation. thus developing one of the valuable pioneer farms of that section of the state. He was a man of sterling integrity and mature judgment, and through his well dirceted industry he gained a due measure of prosperity in the state of his adoption. He continued to reside in Illinois until his death, in 1864, at the age of sixty-five years, and his devoted wife survived him by a number of years; she was seventy-six years of age when she was summoned to the life eternal. The eldest of their three children, Mary, was born in England, as al- ready stated. and she is the widow of Robert Fielding, with residence in Cass county, Illinois, where she was reared to maturity; Joshua P .. who now resides in San Francisco, California. was for nearly thirty years a sneeessful and popular teacher in Oakland, that state, just across the bay from San Francisco, and he is now living retired, secure in the high regard of all who know him; William B., of this review, is the youngest of the children.
William B. Garleck was reared to adult age amidst the conditions and influences of the pioneer farm which was the place of his nativity. and in the meanwhile he was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. When the Civil war was precipi- tated on the divided nation his youthful patriotism was roused to re- sponsive protest and he forthwith tendered his services in defense of the Union, in response to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers. Early in 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company G, Thirteenth Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to the Missouri eam- paign, under General Curtis, and with this gallant command he took part in many of the important battles marking the progress of the great conflict between the North and South. The history of his regiment practically constitutes the record of his military career, save that for one year he was held as a prisoner of war in a Confederate prison in Alabama. He was again taken prisoner about seven days before the close of his term of enlistment, and he was thus held in captivity until the termination of the war. It will thus be seen that his service covered the entire period of conflict, and his record as a soldier of the
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Union will stand to his lasting honor as one of the faithful and loyal sons of the republic, whose integrity he aided in preserving.
After the elose of the war Mr. Garleek returned to his home in Cass county, Illinois, and his home coming was saddened by the absence of his honored father, whose death had occurred in the preceding years. In October, 1865, he returned to the south, where he remained for a short time, after which he remained with his widowed mother until the spring of 1866, when he came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and estab- lished his permanent home. He located in what was then the village of Wyandotte, the virtual nucleus of the present metropolis of Kansas City, and here he engaged in the work of his trade, that of briek mason. He eventually beeame one of the most prominent contractors and build- ers of the county and to this line of enterprise he continued to devote his attention until 1897. Within this long period he ereeted many of the substantial residences and other buildings still standing in Kansas City, and his fidelity to a contract was ever on a parity with his rec- ognized ability and his sterling integrity of character.
In 1892 Mr. Garleek received an appointment to the government position of stock examiner, but npon the change in national adminis- tration, with the election of President Cleveland, he was ousted from this position, but he was reinstated after the election of President Me- Kinley. In 1897 he was promoted to his present office of government stoek examiner, and in the same he has given most careful and efficient service, in connection principally with the operations of the great stock vards and packing houses in Kansas City, Kansas, and its vicinity.
In politics Mr. Garleck has ever accorded a stalwart allegiance to the Republican party, in behalf of whose cause he has given effective service, and he has been influential in connection with public affairs in his home eity. IIe served for three years as a member of the city council and his voice and influence were brought to bear in the further- ance of progressive municipal policies and government. He also had the distinction of serving two years as postmaster of the State Senate, and during his sojourn in the capital city of Kansas he formed the acquaintance of many of the representative men of the state. He has ever retained a deep interest in his old comrades in arms, and this is signified by his membership in Burnside Post, Grand Army of the Republic. in his home city, where he also holds membership in the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Garleek commands unquali- fied confidence and esteem in the community in which he has so long lived and labored to goodly ends, and he stands as a fine type of loyal and valuable eitizenship.
In the year 1870 Mr. Garleck was united in marriage to Miss Ellen N. Sackett, who was born at Akron, Summitt county, Ohio, and who is a daughter of E. C. and Patty (Sackett) Sackett, the former of whom was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, and the latter of whom was a native of Ohio. Mr. Sackett was a boy at the time of his parents' removal from Connecticut to that state's historic Western Reserve in Ohio, where he was reared to maturity under the conditions of the pioneer era and where his marriage was solemnized. In September, 1855, he established his home in Cass county, Illinois, where he devel- oped a farm and became a representative citizen. Both he and his wife continued to reside in that state until their death, and of their eight
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children all attained to years of maturity except two, who died in infaney. Mrs. Garleck was the youngest of the children and was nine years of age at the time of the family removal from Ohio to Illinois, where she was reared and educated. Her marriage to Mr. Garleek occurred in Macon county, that state, where her parents then main- tained their home. Mr. and Mrs. Garleck have two daughters-Flora Coburn, who is the wife of Orville L. HIelwig, of Garden City, Kansas ; and Mary Platt, who remains at the parental home.
HANFORD LESTER KERR, a well known real estate dealer of Kansas City, is a citizen of the type the state likes to call representative and is a native Kansan. He is conspienons not alone of his own achieve- ments, but as the son of that well remembered gentleman, Hanford Newell Kerr. the prominent Democratie statesman. banker and good citizen, whose admirable and striking personality has left its mark in many ways.
Mr. Kerr, of this review, was born in Johnson county, Kansas, June 19, 1860, and is the son of Hanford Newell and Sarah Ann (Morris) Kerr. Both father and mother were natives of Miami county. Ohio, the father having been a farmer and stoek dealer in the vicinity of the little city of Troy. About 1856 they followed the tide of migration westward and took up their residence in Bloomington, Illinois, where they remained for about two years, subsequently remov- ing to Wyandotte county, Kansas. Hanford Newell Kerr rented land and engaged in agricultural pursuits for a short time, then going on to Johnson county, where he remained until 1864, and about that year returning to Wyandotte county. Here he purchased one hundred and five acres of land from an Indian named Jacob Whitechaw, for this good sized fraet paying what seems now the infinitesimal sum of thirty- three and one-third dollars in gold. This land is now within the city limits of Kansas City, Kansas.
Mr. Kerr's father was one of the most conscientious and indus- trious of men, and with enough of the practical about him to be sue- «essful. He was prominent and popular in Democratie polities and served one term in the state legislature. IIe was progressive in many lines and he and three other prominent men organized the first bank in Wyandotte county, known as the First National Bank. In 1873 the bank met with reverses on account of the financial panie of that year, but it is characteristic of the elder Mr. Kerr that all obligations were faithfully met. the bank suspending business. In matters relig- ions Mr. Kerr was a free thinker; he was noted for his charity and benevolence; and by all his associates was held in high esteem. It was the fortune of this worthy man to live to ripe old age, his demise oc- mrring at the age of eighty-nine years, while the mother's span of life was almost equal, her years being eighty-five when she was som- moned to the Great Beyond.
The children of H. N. Kerr and his wife were eight in number, the subject being the youngest in order of birth. Sarah Ann, now resident in Florida, became the wife of T. W. Coombs, now deceased. James Wayne, who passed his life in this vicinity, died some twelve years ago. leaving a wife and five children. Laura married John Miller, resided for a time in Brown county, then came with her husband to this locali-
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ty, and then to Oklahoma, where she died in 1889, the mother of five children. Emma became the wife of David Taylor, of Wyandotte county, and died in 1889. Corydon Weed is now in the real estate business in Kansas City, Kansas. One daughter, Abigail, died at the age of eight years and another died in infancy.
As previously mentioned, IIanford Lester Kerr was the youngest of his father's children. He received a common school education and found play for his youthful energies in the manifold duties to be en- countered upon the farm. On the 30th day of November, 1883, he assumed the dignity and responsibilities of a married man by his union with Miss Nettie Cash, a resident of Wyandotte county. Their two children are Kenneth, who graduated from the high school of Kan- sas City, and is now at home, assisting his father in his business, and Orrel, the daughter, is still in attendance at the high school.
Mr. Kerr is fortunate in owning thirty acres of the original home- stead, the circumstance of whose purchase has been told. He has erected a beautiful and picturesque residence, one of the most attrac- tive hereabout, which is so situated as to command a fine view of Kan- sas City and the surrounding country. On his valuable little traet he has engaged very successfully in the raising of fruit and has eleven acres in grapes. For many years he has been buying and selling real estate and has built and sold many beautiful residences in the city. He and his family enjoy popularity and esteem. In religious convie- tion he, like his father before him, is a free thinker.
JOSEPH A. BUTLER, who is successfully engaged in the undertaking business at Kansas City, Kansas, has long been a prominent and in- fluential factor in public affairs in this section of the state, where he has served as city marshall, as county commissioner and as representa- tive of his distriet in the state legislature, all of which indicates a high degree of popular confidence and esteem. In the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the twenty-first of June, 1870, occurred the birth of Joseph A. Butler, who is a son of Jeremiah J. Butler. The father was a cooper by trade and he and his wife, whose maiden name was Laura Campbell, were both natives of Ireland, whence they immigrated to the United States about the year 1856, location being made in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where the family home was maintained until 1871, in which year removal was made to Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Jeremiah Butler became the parents of eleven children, and of the number eight are now living. The father and mother are both de- ceased, the mother passing on to her reward in 1874, and the father surviving until 1895.
Joseph A. Butler was a child of about one year at the time of his parents' removal to this city, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline. After leaving school he became iden- tified with the Tead Cooper business, and he remained with this until 1898. In 1905 he embarked in his present business-undertaking- and he opened an establishment at the place in which he is now located on the corner of Central avenue and Harrison street, Kansas City, Kansas. He has been most successful in this line of enterprise from the very start and he now conducts one of the finest undertaking con- cerns in the city.
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In his political convictions Mr. Butler is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and in local polities he has long been a most interested factor. In 1898 he was elected to the office of city marshall, in connection with the duties of which office he acquitted himself with honor and distinction, continuing incumbent thereof for some two years. In the session of 1901 he represented his district in the general assembly of the state legislature and subsequently he served for three years as county eom- missioner of Wyandotte county. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Benevolent and Proteetive Order of Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Columbus, and with many organizations of a local character. He is a man of high ideals and one whose civic life has ever been of the most praiseworthy order.
In this city on the Sth of February, 1893, was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Butler to Miss Mary E. Nichols, who was born and reared in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. To them have been born four children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here recorded : Loretta, January 18, 1894; Maria, December 9, 1895; Joseph, June 14, 1898; and Dorothy, October 7, 1899. Another member of the Butler household is Henry Butler Burns, who was born January 28, 1905, and who was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Butler when a child but six weeks old. The mother was Mrs. Butler's sister. Mr. and Mrs. Butler are devout members of the Catholic church in Kansas City and as citizens they are highly esteemed and beloved by all with whom they have come in contaet.
JOHN P'. NELSON .- These paragraphs are designed to give some account of the popular and progressive Nordes Venner Society, of which John P. Nelson is a leading officer, rather than of the life of Mr. Nelson himself, although there is considerable in his personal record that is worthy of high commendation. Ile is now occupied very extensively with the affairs of the society, and its enterprise and success in the work it is doing for the advancement of its members and the welfare of the community will make it easy to infer what the amount and value of his services must be.
The Nordes Venner Society was organized in 1887. It was de- signed to promote social enjoyment and benevolence among its members, make them mutually helpful to one another, and to hold up a high standard of citizenship in the city of its home and work. Its founders were : Theodore Hassel, now a resident of Chicago; Edward Hambee and Frank G. Forsberg, living in Kansas City; Peter Peterson, a pros- perous farmer in this county; Charles W. Green, who lives at Chelsea Point, and Charles Baker, who was killed some time ago, and whose widow has her home on Grandview avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. These gentlemen builded more wisely than they know. From the seed they sowed in hope has grown a large and vigorous organization that has a good name throughout this part of the state, is regarded as very worthy and well managed, and wields a considerable influence in support of all that is useful in the promotion of the city's best interests.
The present officers of the Society are: John Anderson, president ; John Peterson, vice president; Conrad Walter, corresponding seere-
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tary ; John P. Nelson, financial secretary; O. M. Smith, cashier; Osear Swanson (machinist) custodian ; Charles A. Anderson, master of cere- monies; Ernest Peterson, ordinance man; Oscar M. Oleson, inside guard; Tobias Dahlgren, outside guard; and Henning Lindberg, build- ing custodian. They all show capacity and fidelity in the perfor- mance of their duties and make it manifest that they have unwavering loyalty to the Society and an abiding practical interest in its present welfare and future progress.
John P. Nelson, the financial secretary, whose home is at No. 40, South Porter street, secured his preparation for the office he holds in an extensive and varied experience, some of which was very trying, some decidedly agreeable and all helpful to his development and in his training. He was born in Sweden, December 22, 1858, and there grew to manhood, obtained his education and learned the carpenter trade. IIe was industrious and frugal, and made every day of his labor tell to his advantage. But he longed for wider opportunities and better re- sults than his native land gave promise of affording him, and deter- mined to seek them in another country.
At the age of twenty-five he came to the United States and direct to Riley county. Kansas. A short time afterward he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where he was employed for two years on the Rock Island and Union Pacific railroads. In 1889 he came to Kansas City, Kansas, and this has been his home ever since. He has worked in the meat de- partment of several packing houses and also done much as a con- tractor. These lines of endeavor still engage his attention and employ his faculties, and he has an excellent record in both, showing great intelligence and skill and the utmost integrity in all his work of what- ever character.
The fraternal features of his nature find expression almost ex- clusively in the Nordes Venner Society, although he belongs to another Swedish order, the N. N. E., in which he holds his membership in Missouri. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Kansas City camp, and has belonged to other orders, but has dropped out of them. The ordinary duties of life have been too exact- ing of him to admit of his giving the required attention to many lodges, and he has wisely limited his membership to those which are most in accord with his tastes and serviceable to his needs, and these have his full devotion.
He was married in Kansas City in the fall of 1896, being then united with Miss Anna Westman, who was born in Sweden on Angust 13, 1878, and was brought to this country in her childhood. They have become the parents of five children : Carl John, Oscar Clarenee, Ann Amelia, Albin Edward and Mabel Eveline. Mrs. Nelson, the mother of these children, died on November 23, 1909. The father and his children attend religious services at the Lutheran church, and take an active part in its evangelizing work and social undertakings of every kind.
CARLIS C. CRAFT, who is engaged in the business of house moving, was born at Polo, Missouri, on the 24th of October, 1875, and is a son of John M. and Margaret M. (Carroll) Craft. The father was born in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and as a youth learned the carpenter's
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trade. He came to Polo, Missouri, in 1870 and in 1880 moved to Kan- sas City, Kansas, where he was engaged in the work of his trade and in house moving. He married Margaret Carroll in Waynesburg, Penn- sylvania, February 15, 1866, and they became the parents of three ehildren. all of whom are living and of whom Carlis C. was the second in order of birth. The father is living and maintains his home in this eity, where he is still doing earpenter work. He is a Socialiast in his political adherency and was a soldier in the war of 1861. The mother died December 23, 1910.
Carlis C. Craft, who was a child of but five years of age at the time of his arrival in Kansas City, attended the common sehools here and early began to assist his father in his work. When he had attained to years of discretion he assumed full charge of the house moving depart- ment of his father's business and with that line of enterprise he has now been identified for fully fifteen years. His offices are located at No. 700 Kansas avenue, and in connection with his work he has a finely equipped outfit and commands an extensive business. In polities Mr. Craft is a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party and while he has never had any aspirations for political preferment of any deserip- tion he is ever ready to give of his aid and influence in support of all projects advanced for the good of the city and state at large. He is a member of the Kaw Valley Drainage Board. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Order of Owls.
On the 16th of September, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Craft to Miss Edna Matthews, who was reared and educated at Independenee, Kansas, she being a daughter of John and Lovina (Kraft) Matthews, both of whom are now living, residents of Inde- pendence, Kansas. The father in his oceupation is a grader. To Mr. and Mrs. Craft have been born two children, namely, Russell F. and Raymond A., both of whom are enrolled as pupils in the publie schools of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Craft are prominent and popular factors in connection with the best social activities in the community.
CHARLES L. McCLUNG .- The efficient and popular assistant post- master of Kansas City, has been a resident of the Sunflower state for fully thirty-five years and thus may consistently be designated as a Kansas pioneer. IIe has been an influential factor in the civie and material development of this favored commonwealth and was the founder of Empire City. Cherokee county, now one of the thriving towns of the state. Prior to establishing his home in Kansas Mr. MeClung had rendered distinguished service in the Civil war, in which he was identified first with the army of the Union and later with the navy arm of the service. He has been a resident of Kansas City since 1896 and is one of the well known and highly honored citizens of the fine metropolis of Wyandotte county, where his standing is such as to render it specially consonant to give in this publication a brief review of his career, which has been marked by varied and interesting phases.
Charles Livingston McClung was born at Troy, Miami county, Ohio, on the Ist of Angust, 1840, and is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the old Buckeye state. He is an only son of Benja-
That S. He Clung
Сима
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LEHCX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
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min Franklin and Amanda Florence (Taylor) McClung, the former of whom was likewise a native of Troy, Ohio, and the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania. The father passed the closing years of his long and useful life at Empire City, Kansas, where he died in 1883, at the age of sixty-five years. He was a son of David and Naney (Smith) MeClung, the former of whom was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, and the latter in Lexington, Kentucky. HIe was a child at the time of his parents' removal from Kentucky to Miami county, Ohio, in 1798, and the family was one of the first to make permanent settle- ment in that county, with whose history the name has been prominently identified during the long intervening years. The MeClung family is of stanch Seoteh lineage and the original progenitors in America were numbered among the Seotch Presbyterians, or Covenanters, who settled at historie old Jamestown, Virginia, about 1680. other prominent Seoteh families of the new colony having been the Prestons. the Paxtons, the Lyles, the Grigsbys, the Stuarts, the MeCampbells, the MeCucs, the MeKees, and the MeCowns. Mrs. Amanda Florence (Taylor) Mc- Clung, mother of him whose name initiates this review, was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Kentucky, where she was reared and educated and where her marriage was solemnized. The Taylor family likewise traces its ancestry back to sturdy Scotch origin. Mrs Amanda F. MeClung was summoned to the life eternal. at Troy, Ohio. when about fifty-one years of age. The parents were zealous members of the Presbyterian church and exemplified their deep Christian faith in their daily lives. The father devoted the major part of his aetive career to the voeation of cabinet-maker and his sterling attributes of character gained and retained to him the unqualified esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life.
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