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 45
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 45
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 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104
In 1879, Mr. Rosdahl traded his little property in Chicago for eighty acres of land in Whiting Township, Jackson Co., Kan., and the same year came to this place. Lumber for a shanty, his household effects, a wagon, three mules, two cows, and $18 in money was the capital which he brought with him to begin his new life in the West. His team had to stand out all winter and he went in debt for a living, but his dauntless spirit overcame all obstacles in his path. He placed the land which he owned under a fair state of cultivation, and in a few months bought eighty acres more, on which he erected a good house and stable. He now has ten head of good mules, 100 hogs, and thirty head of cattle, and makes a business of cattle raising. He is also engaged in bee culture, having ten stands of the honey-makers.
At the age of twenty-five, Mr. Rosdabl was mar- ried to Miss Hannah Nelson, who bore two chil- dren. This family he left behind him when he came to America and never saw them again. His wife died the day he landed in New York, and one of the children soon followed her to the grave, dying of diphtheria. The eldest child, a daughter, went to live with her grandparents, and grew to the age of sixteen, when she too was cut down by the reaper, Death. Mr. Rosdahl had left abont $800 for the use of his family, and Miss Ellen was given an excellent education, but this she was not
373
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
spared to use. While living in Butler, Mo., Mr. Rosdahl married again, the bride being Miss Char- lotte Johnson, a native of Sweden, who had come to this country about the same time as himself. The prudence and economy of this lady have been a great aid to her husband, and her hopeful spirit and encouraging words have been manifested in many times of trial. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rosdahl, one dying in in- fancy. Harmon is now a young man; Anna Lou- isa is seventeen; August about sixteen ; and Elma, Emma, Ida, Matilda Charlotte, Nils Otto, Victoria, and a baby, Colonel Vietor, complete the group.
Mr. Rosdahl is a Republican, and never fails to cast his vote for the party of his choice. He and his wife are members of the Lutheran Church, but there being no organization of that denomination in the neighborhood, they all attend the Baptist Church and Sunday-school, and the elder children have united with the latter society.
On another page of this volume may be found a lithographie engraving of the residence of Mr. Rosdahl and its surroundings.
.
ORMAN HILL. This gentleman is the owner and ocenpant of a splendid farm in Jefferson Township, Jackson County, which has been his home for the last decade. It com- prises 160 broad and fertile aeres lying on seetion 4, and has been thoroughly improved by its owner, who is a progressive and successful farmer. He is a son of Joseph M. and Fannie (Chatfield) Hill, both natives of the Empire State, who moved to Ohio in an early day and identified themselves with the pioneer work in that Territory. The father was both a farmer and a stonemason. At the time of his decease he was forty-one years old, and his widow, who survived him many years, died at the age of seventy-five. The father was a pron :- inent man in the United Brethren Church, of which both parents were devoted members. The father was also active in political work. Their family comprised six sons and daughters. The paternal
grandfather of our subject was John Hill, a soldier during the Revolutionary War. Silas Chatfield, the maternal grandfather, was born in New York State, was of Welsh deseent and served in the War of 1812.
The subject of this brief sketch was born in Crawford County, Ohio, in 1835, and was reared on a farm and educated in the town schools. At the age of fifteen he commenced life for himself, find- ing work in a sawmill. After his marriage in 1860 he began farming on rented land and continued so employed until after the breaking out of the Civil War. IIe then. Ang. 8, 1862, enlisted in the Union service, becoming a private in Company K, 100th Ohio Infantry, and giving valiant service to the cause during the three years following. He had his full share of the hazardous and stirring seenes of campaign life, including bloody conflicts. hard marches, lively skirmishes, and those more quiet duties of camp and field which are not less trying to the nerves and require no less courage. Among the prominent battles in which he partici- pated were: the siege of Knoxville, the various en- gagements of the Atlanta campaign, Columbia, Franklin and Nashville.
"When the cruel war was over" Mr. Hill received an honorable discharge and returned to his native State to resume the peaceful occupation of a farmer, buying a farm of eighty acres, which was his home until 1879. He then came to this county and pur- chased 160 acres on section 4, which he has brought to its present state of produetiveness and prosper- ous appearance.
As before stated, the marriage of Mr. Hill took place in 1860. His chosen companion was Miss Jane Andrus, who was born in New York State. She is an intelligent lady, an excellent housekeeper, and endeavors in her daily life to follow the pre- cepts of the Gospel. Seven children have resulted from the union. Alice P. is the wife of Sam Wol- verton, of this county ; Myrtle is the wife of Benton C. Brown, also of this county; Arthur A., Clarence J., O. Kling, Caroline and Clayton complete the circle.
In politics Mr. Hill is a Republican. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he holds the position of Class-
374
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
Leader. He is one of the leading farmers of his township, and one of its most public-spirited citi- zens, being a liberal contributor to all enterprises for the publie good.
A fine view of the home of Mr. Hill will be found on another page of this work.
ON. WILLIAM CHASE, a prominent, widely-known, and highly honored citizen of Holton, may well be accorded a leading place among the pioneers of Jackson County, with whose interests he has been closely connected since 1866. He has improved several tracts of wild land, and still owns a large and valuable farm, comprising a whole section of 640 acres of choice land, in what is now called Adrian Town- ship, he having developed it from the unbroken prairie. Mr. Chase has held many responsible offices, and in public as well as in private life has proved a safe and sagacious counselor.
Our subject comes of good New England stock, and is a native of that part of the country, born in the town of Robbinston, Washington Co., Me., June 9, 1822. Ilis father, Moses Chase, was born in Parsonsfield, Me., and his father, bearing the same name, was also of New England birth, a de- scendant of English ancestry. He was a farmer, and removed from the Pine Tree State to New York, spending his last years there. The father of our subject passed his early life in the State of his nativity, and when a young man crossed the bor- der, and for a time lived in New Brunswick, but soon after marriage he returned to Maine, and located in Washington County, where he bought a tract of land covered with the primeval forests, and built there a log house, the same in which his son, of whom we write, was born. He developed a good farm, and made his home there till his death, in 1835. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Sarah Greenlow, and she was born in New Brunswick. Her father, Alexander Greenlow, a Seotchman by birth, was a farmer in that province, and there spent his last years. The mother of our subject was left a widow with six children to support by the premature death of her
husband. She was, however, equal to the task, be- ing an exceptionally smart woman, possessed of good judgment and business capacity. She took charge of the farm and managed it with excellent financial results for a few years. and then sold it, and removed to Milltown, New Brunswick, to give her children the advantage of schools. After liv- ing there some years she went to New York with her family, and spent her last years in Nunda, Liv- ingston County. She was the mother of eight chil- dren, of whom the following six grew to manhood and womanhood : Almira, William, Levi, Sarah,
Joel and Mary.
William Chase, of this biographieal sketch, was thirteen years of age when his father died. His early education was conducted in the pioneer schools of his native town, and he afterward at- tended the public schools of Milltown, New Bruns- wick. When he was sixteen years old he was apprenticed to the trade of a carpenter and joiner. After serving four years, and acquiring a thorough mastery of his calling, he went out into the world to begin life on his own account, and took jobs of carpentering and building in the country on both sides of the St. Croix River, in Maine and New Brunswick, continning there till 1849. In the fall of that year he went to New York, and contracted to build bridges over the Genesee Valley Canal. and was thus employed three years. At the end of that time he and his brother Levi came West, and were engaged in building all the heavy bridges on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railway, between Springfield and Bloomington. It took about two years to complete the contract, and then our sub- ject took another to construct twenty-two miles of the Missouri Pacific Railway. Having completed that two and one-half years later, he entered into another in Iowa, to build forty miles of railway from New Boston, on the Mississippi, westward through Louisa and Washington counties. That was an unfortunate venture on the part of Mr. Chase, for when he had completed it a year and a half later, the money was not forthcoming to pay him, as the company suspended. He next took a contraet in Illinois on a railway in Scott County, and two years afterward. when he had done his work he found himself still further out of pocket,
375
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
as that road suspended payment. His next work was to build a sawmill, nine miles south of St. Jo- sephi, in Missouri, which he completed and had in running order in the spring of 1860. The break- ing out of the war the following year brought business to a stand-still, and there was no demand for lumber. In 1864 Mr. Chase sold his Missouri property, and investing in some teams, he and his son Charles crossed the plains for the purpose of mining in the Rockies, or engaging in other busi- ness. Their trip was made just previoas to the outbreak of the Indians on the plains, and there were hostile savages all along the route, but Mr. Chase and his son fortunately escaped an attack, and arrived in Denver safely. From that city they went into the mountains prospecting, and took a contract to furnish wood to a quartz mill, and de- livered two cords a day at $8 a cord. Provisions were very high in the mining camps, flour bringing $28 a hundred, and hay with which to feed the cattle cost five cents a pound. In February, 1865, they returned Eastward with a train of 100 wagons and 300 men, with a military escort accompanying them over the Platte route. Mr. Chase after that had charge of the bridges on the St. Joseph Rail- road, between St. Joseph and Brookfield, until 1866. He then became a pioneer of Jackson County, buying a quarter-section of wild prairie land in Douglas Township. Building a residence at once, he then broke and cultivated forty acres of land, which he sold five or six years later, and purchased eighty acres of wild land on Soldier Creek. He erected necessary buildings, and was engaged in improving the land about five years. Disposing of it at that time, he invested in 320 acres of land, of which a sod had never been turned. It was located two miles east of Soldier Creek, and he at once entered upon its improve- ment, after erecting a dwelling, and when he sub- sequently sold it sixty aeres were under tillage. His next purchase was of 640 acres of uneultivated land, in what is now Adrian Township. He put up comfortable buildings, fenced the entire tract, and improved about 100 acres of it before he took up his residence in Holton, and he is still proprie- tor of the place.
It has been well said that, "Next to a good mother,
the greatest blessing of a man's life is a good wife," and to such an one is our subject indebted for much of the prosperity and happiness that have acerued to him since his wedding with Miss Naney Brackett, which occurred forty-six years ago, Jan. 1, 1843. She is a true woman in every way, possessing a fine character, and a lovely Chris- tian spirit, and she has been a conscientious mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church since she was thirteen years old. She is a native of Maine, born in the town of Albion, Kennebee County, Feb. 5, 1826. Her father, James Brackett, was born in New Hampshire, and when a young man he became a resident of Maine, where he engaged in farming and stock dealing, buying cattle in the surrounding country and driving them to the mar- ket in Brighton, Mass. In 1833 he became a pio- neer of Aroostook County, Me., and cleared a farm from the forest primeval, and made his home on it the remainder of his life. Mrs. Chase's mother was a native of the town of China, Kennebec Co., Me., her maiden name, Abigail Fairfield, She died on the home farm in Aroostook County. Mrs. Chase lived with her parents until her marriage, and was carefully taught to spin, weave and knit, which were considered the necessary accomplish- ments in her early days, and she was also trained in all household duties and hecame a skillful house- wife.
The following is recorded of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Chase. Delia, Mrs. Long, lives in Shawnee County, Kan. ; Emma married Frank Lyman, and they live in Topeka; Charles lives in Avoca, Jackson County; Frank lives in Douglas Township; Ida married William Renfrow, and they live in Washington Township; Laura married Russell HIelm, and they live in Pottawato- mie County; Jennie married Charles Woodruf, and they live in Valley Falls.
It will be seen by a perusal of this biography that our subject has made a success of life, using the term in its broadest sense, and his standing among his fellow-citizens is of the highest. He is a man of strong character and enlightened views, and wisdom and foresight are prominent among his traits. His business capacity and genuine trust- worthiness have made him an invaluable civic olli-
376
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
cial in the various publie positions that he has held with honor to himself and his constituents. He has served many years as School Treasurer, and has energetically pushed all plans for increasing the school facilities. He was elected County Com- missioner in 1870, and was an incumbent of that office four years, showing by his judicious course that he was the right man for the position. In 1877 his fellow-citizens honored him by electing him to represent them in the State Legislature. He was formerly a Democrat in politics, and he voted for Stephen A. Douglas in 1860, but from that time until the close of the war he worked with the Republican party. Since then he has been inde- pendent, using his influence to elect the man whom he considered best fitted for the office, regardless of his political affiliations.
ACOB F. JENNER, M. D. The main points in the career of Dr. Jenner, one of the lead- ing physicians.of St. Mary's, are essentially as follows: He was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, Jan. 16, 1828, and in ac- cordance with the laws and customs of his native country, began attending school when a boy of six. Four years later, in 1838, his parents, Thomas and Sarah Jenner, emigrated with their family to the United States, and located in the heavy timber of Vanderburg County, Ind. There the father entered a tract of land, put up a log cabin and opened up a farm, clearing about fifteen acres. Later, however, he removed to Evansville, Ind., and there spent his last days, dying at the ad- vanced age of seventy-six years. The mother pre- ceded her husband to the silent land, passing away in 1842, when her son, Jacob, was a lad of four- teen years. Both in early life had become members of the Lutheran Church, in Erdman Hansen. in Wurtemburg.
After coming to America, Young Jenner pur- sued his studies in the schools of Evansville, Ind., and in due time took a collegiate course, after which he began the study of medicine. He com- pleted these in the medical college, at St. Louis, Mo., and began the practice of his chosen profes-
sion in Posey County, Ind. He remained there until March, 1855, then crossing the Mississippi, located near Topeka, this State, where he built up a large and lucrative practice and became well- to-do. He came to St. Mary's in 1869, and al- though not desiring to practice any more, he, by special request, attends upon a few of his old patients, who will not accept his resignation.
When first coming to Kansas, Dr. Jenner found the country mostly settled by Indians, and his only guide across the open prairie was the Indian trail. Wild game was plentiful-prairie chickens, deer and buffaloes, the latter of which were to be seen in large numbers fifty miles from the new town. He remained in that vicinity eleven years, and re- moved thence to Granville, Jefferson County, this State, where he sojourned until 1869, during which year he came to St. Mary's. Here also his prac- tice for years extended miles in each direction.
Dr. Jenner was married near Topeka, Jan. 29, 1857, to Miss Mary J., daughter of Charles and Jennie ( Adair) Bradshaw. Mrs. Jenner was born in St. Joseph, Mo., Nov. 5, 1841. Her parents were natives respectively of Virginia and Ken- tucky, and removed to Platte County, Mo., about 1833. They lived there on a farm about five years, then removed to St. Joseph, sojourning there also a number of years, then the father pur- chased a large tract of land near Savannah. An- drew County, to which he removed with his family, and there spent his last days, dying in 1847. The family then returned to St. Joseph, where the mother died, in 1851.
Mrs. Jenner was the fourth of the six children born to them. The Bradshaw family traces its an- cestry to England. Grandfather Adair was of English descent, and possibly an Englishinan by birth. He married a Welsh lady, and spent his last years in Kentucky. To the Doctor and his estimable wife there have been born five children, viz: Lulu B., now the wife of N. W. Redick; Eva. Mrs. George Wheat, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; David E., Katie M., Mrs. W. I. Boyer, and Jessie, who remains at home with her parents. The latter have been members of the Congregational Church for many years. Dr. Jen- ner is a charter member of Pottawatomie Lodge,
377
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
No. 52, A. F. & A. M., of St. Mary's. He joined the order at Indianola. He occupies a good posi- tion among his professional brethren, and is a mem- ber of the Kansas State Medical Society.
Three brothers of Mrs. Jenner-Robert, James and Thomas-served in the Union Army during the late Civil War, and all veteranized at the ex- piration of their first term of enlistment. Robert was promoted to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General. He received eleven wounds in the battle of Franklin, Tenn., and laid upon the ground thirty-eight hours unattended. He was for eighteen months in the hospital unable to return to his home. The others came out without a scratch. The Jenner family occupy a large two-story frame residence, set in the midst of ample grounds orna- mented with trees and flowers. The eldest son, David E., is an energetic and enterprising young man, having an interest in the roller mills under the firm name of Thompson & Jenner.
weer
OHN A. LACKEY. Among those of the younger generation who have acquired prominence in their chosen fields of labor, mention may very properly be made of this gentleman, who, during the period of his residence in this county, has become widely known and universally esteemed. He dates his sojourn in Kansas from the year 1872, and the succeeding interval has been busily employed in improving his homestead and bringing the naturally rich soil to a high state of cultivation, he remaining on the farm from 1872 to 1876.
The father of Mr. Lackey was Alexander II. Lackey, a native of the Buckeye state, and a son of John Lackey, also born in Ohio, whence he removed to Illinois, and there died when sixty-seven years of age. By trade he was a carpenter. Alexander Lackey also removed to Illinois, his removal being effected in 1856, and afterward, in 1872. removed still farther West, and settled in Marion County, Kan. In 1888 he located in Washington Terri- tory where he is now living. Ile is of Irish extraction, and has been for many years a minister in the Presbyterian Church. His life, pure and
without reproach, is a priceless treasure which his children justly prize. Through his instrumentality many have been led to Christ, and the Master's kingdom has been extended.
Our subject was also fortunate in having a mother of noble character, self sacrificing love, and whose life was devoted to the welfare of her hus- band and children. She was in her youth Hannah II. Hawthorne, and was born in Harrison County, Ohio, in about 1833. She was a daughter of John Hawthorne, likewise born in Ohio, and of Irish ancestry. He passed his life in the quiet pursuits of a farmer. Mrs. Lackey passed to her final rest when she was fifty-seven years old. The record of her children is as follows: Callie E., John A., Frank II. William M., Robert H., Mary R., Howard W. and Martha B., all of whom are living.
Of these eight children, our subject was the second in order of birth, and was born in Beaver County, Pa., Aug. 15, 1852. He early left his native State, and was reared in Illinois, where he gained the rudiments of an education, which sub- sequent reading and self culture has greatly bread- ened. In 1872, having resolved upon removing fur- ther West, he came to Marion County, Kan. After following agricultural pursuits there until 1876 he commenced to work in a lumber yard in the thriving town of Peabody. This occupied his time until 1879, when, coming to Wamego, he clerked three years for the Western Lumber Com- pany. In the fall of 1882 he entered the employ of the Iron Clad Lumber Company at Wamego. and remained with them for a period of almost six years.
The next move on the part of Mr. Lackey was to Laclede, one of Pottawattomie County's flourishing towns. Here he embarked in the mer- cantile business and is at present engaged in the same. Besides the duties incumbent upon him in connection with his store he is also Postmaster, and is thus a busy man. He is succeeding in his venture, and is accumu.ating sufficient of this world's goods to ensure an old age of comfort. He is politically a strong Republican, but obtained his position of Postmaster under- the Cleveland administration. Socially, he belongs to the I. O. O. F. Lodge, No. 80. at Wamego, and is a
378
PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM.
member of the A. U. O W. Anchor Lodge. No. 128, at Wamego.
A very important event in the life of Mr. Lackey was the celebration of, his marriage with Eva N. Leslie, which occured July 6, 1882. Mrs. Lackey was born in Monroe County, Ohio, March 14, 1856, and is a daughter of Johnson and Mary Leslie, the former of whom is a native of Ohio. About the year 1870 he came to Kansas and located in Douglas County, where Mrs. Leslie died at the age of fifty years. Her husband lived to a good old age, dying in Osage County when eighty-three years old. Our subject and his wife have one child, Mary H., born March 6, 1884. The family are happily sitnated, surrounded by the conveniences which render life in the nineteenth century so delightful.
G EORGE W. FORRESTER, one of the most intelligent and enterprising citizens of Union Township. Pottawatomie County. resides on section 10. where he has a fine estate of 670 acres of good land. He was born in Mason County, Va., Oct. 3, 1848. His father, grand- father and great-grandfather were each named George W. Forrester. The great-grandfather was a member of Gen. Washington's bodyguard dur- ing the Revolutionary War, and was presented by the General with a Surgeon's pocket-case contain- ing a thumb-lancet, and was also given an irou candlestick. These articles were so highly prized by the recipient that he desired in his will that they should never be permitted to go out of the family, and designated the manner in which they should be passed on from father to son. They are treasured as a valuable souvenir, and are to be given to George W. Forrester as long as there is one in the direct line of descent, but if there should happen to not be one in that line, then they are to be given to one of the name that is the next nearest of kin, and the oldest of the name. As our subject has a son of the name, there seems no likelihood of the articles passing to a side line.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.