USA > Kansas > Jackson County > Portrait and biographical album of Jackson, Jefferson and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 34
USA > Kansas > Jefferson County > Portrait and biographical album of Jackson, Jefferson and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 34
USA > Kansas > Pottawatomie County > Portrait and biographical album of Jackson, Jefferson and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 34
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Mr. Shehi was married in Aledo, Mercer Co., Ill., Oct. 16, 1863, to Miss Ellen Matson. Mrs. Shehi is a native of Sweden, and was born May 25, 1845. She became the mother of ten children, viz .: William H., Bertha G .; Margaret, who died in infancy; Clarissa A., who died in 1887, at the age of nineteen years; Estella M., Harrison S., Jessie L., Bertie, Merritt and George A. William married Miss Ella Hendricks, and is farming on his father's land; Bertha is the wife of James L. Dun- lop, a farmer of Spring Creek Township; the other children are at home with their parents.
Mr. Shehi, politically, is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and belongs to the G. A. R., at Irving. He has officiated as Road Supervisor, was Township Treasurer one term, and has been the School Treasurer of his district several terms. In 1876 he attended the Centennial at Philadelphia. and traveled quite extensively through the Eastern States, visiting Niagara Falls and Canada, and having a fine time generally. He considers the
time and money thus spent as invested in a very profitable manner. A view of the home place will be found on another page of this work.
ICHAEL FOLEY. Shrewd wit and humor are generously blended in the character of Mr. Foley, a leading farmer of Clear Creek Township, Pottawatomie County, and who has been closely identified with its material inter- ests since 1878. He was born in County Cork, Ire- land, in 1843, and lived there until a youth of seventeen years, acquiring his education in the common school, and being trained to habits of in- dustry and sentiments of honor. Upon coming to America, he sojourned for a short time in New York City, where he was variously employed until 1878. That year he came to Kansas and settled in Clear Creek Township, purchasing the north half of the southwest quarter of section 15, from which he improved a good farm. which he still occupies. He has brought the land to a good state of cultivation, and has erected good buildings. The farm is enclosed with substantial fencing, and there are fruit and shade trees in addition to all the other appurtenances of a well-regulated estate. Mr. Foley makes an art and a science of agriculture, and his fertile fields yield annually a comfortable income. In addition to his first purchase, he later secured the east half of the northwest quarter of section 15.
Mr. Foley comes of good, thrifty Irish stock, his parents having likewise been natives of County Cork, and descended from an old and highly re- spected family. John Foley, the father, was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and died in his native county, in 1867, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. The mother, whose .maiden name was Joanna Riordan, also died there, in 1866, in the seventieth year of her age. Both parents were life-long communicants of the Catholic Church. The children of the parental family were named respectively : Michael, John, Dennis, Mary, Kate, Margaret and Ellen. They all lived to mature years, but Michael is the only one in America. He was married, in 1867, to Miss Julia Sullivan, a na-
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tive of County Cork, Ireland, and at that time a resident of New York City. Mr. and Mrs. Foley are the parents of one child, John J., a promising young man who still remains with them. Mr. Foley was the first Constable of Clear Creek Town- ship, and made an efficient officer. He was also the Clerk of School District, No. 74 for three years. In politics he is a free-trade Democrat, and in re- ligion a devout Catholic.
AMES L. PRUNTY. No man stands higher in the business community of Wamego than Mr. Prunty, who handles an immense amount of lumber during the year as a member of the Iron Clad Lumber Company, with which he became connected in the spring of 1877. He also has a lumber and coal yard at Lucas, Russell County. this State. He entered upon his business career at the early age of eighteen years, assuming the position of a clerk in his father's store. In 1872 he purchased the lumber yard of his father at Wamego, but two years later sold out and en- gaged in general merchandising at Laclede. A year later he removed the stock to Wamego, and gradually turned his attention exclusively to gro- ceries, being thus occupied until engaging in his present enterprise. He received only the advan- tages of a common-school education in his youth, but being possessed of more than ordinary ability, has thus far made of life a decided success. The sub- ject of this sketch was born July 18, 1847, in Platte County, Mo., and is the son of Leonard C. and Sarah (Poland) Prunty, who were natives of Vir- ginia. The parental houschold consisted of seven children, four of whom are living: Drusilla is the wife of .Jacob L. Brown, of Wabaunsee County, and the mother of five children; David A. is a resident of Platte County, Mo., and is the father of six children; James L. is the next living in order of birth. John is a resident of the city of Wamego, and is the father of two children. The mother departed this life at the home of our sub- ject, in Wamego, in 1880. Leonard C. Prunty went to California, where he is still living, at the age of seventy-two years.
Mr. Prunty, in 1868, was married, in Wamego,
to Miss Narcissa E., daughter of N. H. Clay, of Wamego. Mr. Clay removed from Frederick County, Md., to Kansas in 1867, and is now a resi- dent of Wamego. His daughter, Narcissa, is the ninth in a family of twelve children, and was born Dec. 25, 1850, in Frederick County, Md. Of the children born of her union with our subject, five are now living, as follows: Mary A. E. was born Aug. 23, 1869; Jessie G., July 4, 1875; William L., Sept. 10, 1877; John W., Nov. 2, 1884; Sarah Edna, Dec. 30, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Prunty are members in good standing of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, in which Mr. Prunty serves as Stew- ard and Trustee. He has been prominent in local affairs, serving as a member of the City Council in 1886, and is at present Treasurer of the City School Board. He is likewise connected with the A. O. U. W., at Wamego, and has been honored with nearly every office within the gift of his lodge. He keeps himself well posted on political affairs, and uniformly votes the Republican ticket. Mr. and Mrs. Prunty were the first couple married in Wamego, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. J. A. Woodburn. His daughter, Mary A .. is the wife of Edgar Lewis, a prominent and popular citizen of Wamego, and who is represented else- where in this work. Mr. Prunty stands high in social and religious circles as well as in the busi- ness community.
The maiden name of the mother of Mrs. Prunty was Sarah Ann Hood. She was born in Maryland, and is still living, being now seventy-three years old. Mr. Clay has attained .to the age of seventy- five years, with all his faculties preserved to a re- markable degree, he being very bright in mind and active in body.
W ILLIAM A. ALLEN, one of the foremost business men of Jackson County, and part owner and cashier of the Exchange Bank of Holton, is prominently identified with the early pioneers of Kansas, and since making a permanent settlement in this State, while aiding in the mak- ing of this prosperous commonwealth, he has built up a fortune for himself and family, and is
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numbered among the most substantial and wealthy citizens of this section of the country. He is a veteran of the late war, in which he won an hon- orable record for faithful, brave and patriotic serv- ice in the cause of the Union.
Mr. Allen was born in London, Canada, Jan. 3, 1837, his father, Howard M. Allen, having been born on this side of the line, in Niagara County, N. Y. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a pioneer of that county, where he cleared a farm and carried on his occupation of a farmer many years. He removed to Lenawee County, Mich., and spent his last days with his son. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Moore.
The father of our subject grew to a stalwart, vigorous manhood in the pioneer home of his par- ents, and learned the trade of a blacksmith in his native county. He went to Canada when a young man, and locating near London. he was a pioneer of that region when it was almost an uninhabited wilderness. He married and lived there three or four years, but did not like the country, and in 1839 he recrossed the border and settled in Michi- gan, becoming a pioneer of Lenawee County, tak- ing up Government land near Blissfield, on the bank of the River Raisin. He built a log house thereon, and energetically entered upon the hard task of clearing and improving his land. The country was in a very wild state, the settlements being scattered, and deer and bears were plentiful, with wild turkeys and other game, so that the pio- neers were not at a loss for fresh and nourishing meats. It was only about two years before his settlement there that the first railway in the State had been constructed. It was a primitive affair, with wooden rails and cars drawn by horses, and it connected Adrian, in Lenawee County, with To- ledo, Ohio, which for some time was the principal market. During his residence there Mr. Allen be- came quite prosperous, and besides developing a fine farm, erected a substantial set of frame build- ings, and made his home on the old homestead till death called him hence, in February, 1866. The maiden name of his wife was Catharine Drake. She was born in Canada, her father, William Drake, a native of Scotland, being a pioneer of the Pro- vince of Ontario. Improving a farm near London,
his last years were spent upon it. The mother of our subject now lives with her son, Ira B., in Pot- tawatomie County, Kan. Of her eleven children the following grew to maturity: William A .; Mary, who married Charles Rayfield, now deceased; Harriet, who married John Tedler, and lives in Pottawattomie County; and Ira B., who lives in the same county.
William A., of this biograghy, was two years old when his parents settled in Michigan, and the preliminaries of his education were acquired in the primitive log schoolhouse, heated by an open fire in a rude fireplace, the chimney being built of clay and sticks on the outside of the building, and the seats made of slabs, with wooden pins for legs. As soon as he was large enough, he was set to the pioneer task of clearing the land and preparing the soil for cultivation. In those days lumber was valueless, and large logs that would now bring a good price were rolled together and burned to get them out of the way. Our subject remained with his parents until 1856, and then made his way, with his father, to the Territory of Kansas, coming as far as Peru, Ill., with a team, and after spending the winter in that place, proceeding on their way to their destination by the Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Leavenworth, and thence through an almost unsettled country to Holton, of which they had heard, but which they found to be only a town on paper, as all was open prairie here, with a village staked out, but a rude log bouse in the process of erection was the only visible sign of a habitation. It was nearly night when they arrived at the town site, and they kept on walking to secure shelter, and four miles west of here found a double log cabin, occupied by a Mrs. Cole and family, who allowed them to stay with them till morning, and the next day they set out for Soldier's Creek. The wind was blowing so hard that they found it very difficult to walk, so they returned to Mrs. Cole's shanty. About a week later his father returned Eastward, but our subject remained here, boarding the most of the time with Mrs. Cole. Soon he made a claim in what is now Liberty Township, and erecting a log cabin, he kept a bachelor's establishment therein a part of the time. Deer and wild turkeys and other game
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roamed about here and furnished him with sub- stantial food, and a few miles west, on the Blue River, buffaloes were to be seen in numbers. At the time of his marriage, Mr. Allen located on his claim, and lived there until 1860. In July of that year he returned to Michigan on account of the state of his health, and he was there when the war broke out. He watched its course with intense in- terest, and soon as he was able took up arms in defence of the old flag, enlisting, Jan. 1, 1863, in Company A, Ist Michigan Light Artillery, and serving with credit till after the close of the re- bellion. His regiment was with the Army of the Cumberland, and for most of the time did duty around Nashville and Chattanooga, and was hon- orably discharged, at .Jackson, Mich., in July, 1865. Our subject through those trying years bore himself with characteristic fortitude, self-reliance and heroism, and proved to have, in a full measure, those traits that mark a good soldier. He returned to Kansas in the fall after leaving the army, and having sold the place he first improved, he bought other land in Jefferson Township. Building a log cabin for a dwelling for his family, he engaged in farming and stock-raising at that point until 1874. In that year he came to Holton, and has made his home here continuously since. In the fall of 1873 he was elected County Treas- urer, and so well did his administration of the - finances please his fellow-citizens that they re- elected him to that responsible office in 1875. When his term expired he resumed farming, and carried on agricultural pursuits very extensively for four or five years, and he is still the proprie- tor of 1,500 aeres of choice land in Pottawatomie County. In 1883 Mr. Allen established a bank at Olsburg, which is now owned and managed by his eldest son. In 1884 he bought an interest in the Exchange Bank, of Holton, and has officiated as cashier of that institution since then.
Mr. Allen's marriage with Miss Mary E. Patten was consummated July 11, 1858, and they still preserve the certificate, which is in the handwriting of the gentleman who performed the ceremony. Mrs. Allen is a native of Virginia, and a daughter of Calvin and Maria Jane (Thornburg) Patten, na- tives respectively of Virginia and Tennessee. They
were pioneers in that part of Missouri known as the Platte Purchase. The father died there in 1856, and the mother subsequently came to the Territory of Kansas, and was a pioneer of Jackson County. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Allen, as follows : Emma, wife of M. W. Keller, of Junetion City; Edward M. and William W. are en- gaged in the banking and real estate business in Olsburg; Augusta J., wife of Dr. J. S. Spangler, of Westmoreland; John B., who is in the drug business at Westmoreland; Mary A., George, Ida, Otto G., Nellie C. and Jessie.
Mr. Allen has met with more than ordinary suc- cess in life as the result of his keen, far-seeing judgment in regard to business matters, and the careful and judicious management of his affairs. We have seen that he has held the important office of County Treasurer, and so conducted the finances of the county as to receive the high compliment of re election at the hands of his fellow-citizens. He and his wife occupy a high position in their community, and by their consistent Christian lives prove themselves worthy members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. In his political views Mr. Allen is a decided Republican.
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S IMEON DEARIN, the leading furniture dealer of Wamego, is rated as a first-class citizen, reliable and wide-awake to the best interests of the community. He keeps abreast of the times on all questions of general in- terest and has contributed in no small degree to the building up of the town in which he has invested his capital and where he has spent the best years of his life. His present business building was erected in 1883, after Mr. Dearin had associated himself in partnership with Mr. August Lucke, of whom Mr. Dearin purchased the business a month prior to his decease.
The offspring of old American stock, Mr. Dearin was born in La Grange, Dutchess Co., N. Y., Oct. 23, 1835, and is the son of Simeon, Sr., and Hester (Vanderbilt) Dearin, likewise natives of that county and the father a farmer by occupation. The par- ents were married in their native State and resided
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there until 1848. Then emigrating to Michigan they located first in Jackson County, and then re- moved to Lansing where they sojourned four years. Returning then to Jackson County they died there, the mother in 1853 and the father in 1861. Their remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Parma. There had been born to them ten children, six of whom are living. Simeon accompanied the family to Michigan and at the age of sixteen years began his apprenticeship at cabinet-making, at which he served four years under D. W. Buck, of Lansing. The trade in those days was much more arduous than at the present, the work all being done by hand. Young Dearin remained in the employ of Mr. Buck until 1857. The following year, cross- ing the Mississippi, he made a trip through the State of Iowa and in the meantime became " dead broke " the first and the last time in his life. He, however, managed to overcome this difficulty and in the spring of 1857 visited his old home in New York State. A few months later, returning West, he emigrated to Kansas City, Mo., and remained there until October, 1860. Thence he returned to Lansing, Mich., and began working for his old em- ployer, with whom he continued until February, 1865.
Next we find Mr. Dearin again in Kansas City where he remained until August of the year above mentioned, and then coming to Louisville, Kan., he engaged at millwrighting until the fall of 1871. That year, establishing himself at Wamego, he be- gan making contracts for work and was thus oc- cupied until 1883, after which his movements have been already indicated. On the 1st of October, 1860, at the bride's home in Spring Hill, Kan., Mr. Dearin was wedded to Miss Alice A. Stiles. Beckes Stiles. the father of Mrs. Dearin, came to Kansas about 1860 and settling in Miami County, engaged in farming. He departed this life in 1865. The mother survived her husband for a period of twenty-four years, remaining a widow and dying at the home of her son-in-law at Spring Hill, in 1889. The household circle was completed by the birth of nine children, six of whom are living.
Mrs. Dearin was born in Vermont, Sept. 6, 1841. IIer early life passed quietly and uneventfully un- der the home roof, she in the meantime attending
the common school and under the instruction of a careful mother becoming versed in all useful house- hold duties. Her union with our subject resulted in the birth of four children, only three of whom are living. Carrie is the wife of S. A. Preshaw, a resident of Salina, this State, and they have one child; May and Willie are at home with their par- ents. Mr. Dearin votes the straight Republican ticket and takes a warm interest in the political questions of the day. While in Louisville he repre- sented his ward in the City Council and has also been an Alderman in Wamego. He keeps himself posted upon the leading topies of the day and is in sympathy with the A. O. U. W., of which he is an honored member.
P ROF. E. J. HIOENSHEL, A. M., President of Campbell University, Holton, a man of great native talent and marked force of character, is winning for himself an honor- able place among the leading educators of Kansas although he has been a resident of this State but a short time. Under his able and vigorous manage- ment, the University is growing in power and is yearly increasing its enrollment of pupils anxious to take advantage of its fine and well selected courses of study, and it is justly recognized as one of the best of our normal institutions in this part of the West.
The birthplace of our subject was in Westmore- land County, Pa., and Oct. 24, 1846, the date of his birth. His father, George HIoenshel, and his grand- father, John Hoenshel, were natives of the same connty, the latter being of German parentage, and spending his entire life where he was born, in his manhood engaging in agricultural pursuits. He and his wife were devoted Christians and devout members of the Lutheran Church, and reared their children in that faith. Her maiden name was Su- sanna Hartman, and she was also of German parent- age, and was a native of Westmoreland County.
The father of our subject was bred to the life of a farmer, and devoted his time principally to that occupation, although he also learned the carpen- ter's trade and was frequently engaged at that. He
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is a veteran of the late war, in which he served with credit for nine months as a member of Com- pany F, 168th Pennsylvania Infantry. He is still an honored resident of the county of his nativity. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Smutz, and she was a native of Fayette 'County, Pa. Her fa- ther, David Smutz, was born in Maryland of pure German ancestry. He removed to Fayette County, Pa., and followed agriculture there. Mrs. Hoenshel is a Free Will Baptist, having been brought up in that belief.
Prof. Hocnshel is the eldest of twelve children. In his early years he assisted his father in the labors of the farm when he was not laying the foundation of his education in the district school, where he pursned his studies diligently. An ambitious, self- reliant lad, at the age of seventeen years he went ont into the world to see something of life and to fight, its battles alone and unaided from that time forth. He walked from his home in Westmoreland County to Coshocton County, Ohio, a distance of many miles, and there sought and found employ- ment on a farm, and in winter attended school. In the spring of 1865 he went to Grundy County, Ill., and worked as a farm laborer that summer. and in the winter of 1865-'66 utilized his education by teaching a district school. He still continued his studies, and in June, 1866, went to Hillsboro, Henry Co., Iowa, and attended an excellent school . there two months. After that he worked on a farm till fall, and then taught school one year in Van Buren County. In the fall of 1867 he returned to his native Pennsylvania, and was engaged in teaching in Westmoreland County one year. At the expiration of that time he again made his way to Iowa, and in the fall became a student in the Home Academy, at Mt. Pleasant, taught by Prof. S. L. Ilowe. He pursued a fine course of study, by which he was greatly benefited during his three months' stay in that institution. IIe then accepted the position of Principal of the City Schools of Birmingham, Iowa, remaining there three years, in- troducing many excellent methods of teaching, and leaving a favorable impression as a progressive educator. At the expiration of that time he was called to a similar position as Superintendent of the City Schools of Augusta, Ill., which office he
held five years, doing good and conscientious work, and giving general satisfaction to all concerned. From there he went to Tuscola, III., and was Su- perintendent of City Schools there three years, and then served in the same capacity in Charleston, III., for nine years. He received the degree of A. M. pro merito from the Illinois Wesleyan University in 1877.
During his entire experience at the head of these various schools, Prof. Hoenshel was an earnest stn- dent of the best methods of instruction as pro- mulgated by our most learned educators, and kept fully abreast of the times in all literary matters, and thus when he came to Kansas in 1888 he was amply fitted for the responsible and high office that he then took upon himself as the head of an insti- tution maintained for the purposes for which Campbell University was founded. He leased the university for a period of nineteen years and im- mediately entered upon its management. Ever a diligent and enthusiastic student himself, the Pro- fessor is eminently gifted with the rare talent of 'drawing out what is best in his pupils, exciting their interest in their studies, and his influence has inspired and strengthened many in their efforts for better culture. His executive ability is well illus- trated by what he has done to raise the standard of the University, and bring to it so large a number of bright scholars.
In this connection a few words in regard to the school and its work will not be inappropriate. Campbell University opened Sept. 1, 1882, with thirty-two students. Last year the enrollment reached 518, and the facilities for learning have been greatly augmented. It has no endowment, receives no assistance from church or State, but depends entirely on tuition fees for success. It must do good work or fail. And we will venture to as- sert that under Prof. Hoenshel's wise tactics and wholesome rule it cannot but succeed. It has a full corps of competent instructors in every depart- ment of learning, and the courses of study are longer and more thorough than those of any other Normal School in the United States, and the institu- tion is empowered to confer all the usual acade- mic and collegiate degrees. All the various branches that constitute a liberal education are taught
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