Portrait and biographical album of Jackson, Jefferson and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 80

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 788

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 80
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 80
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 80

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).

there until the following fall, when he drove up to this State, and, after locating a farm in Franklin County, worked out until spring.

On the 14th of April, 1861, Mr. Ploughe enlisted in Company E, 2d Kansas Infantry, and being mustered in at Kansas City, Mo., almost immedi- ately began active service in skirmishing; then tak- ing part in the battle at Wilson's Creek, and sub- sequently going to St. Louis and baek, and then to Leavenworth, where he was mustered out in October, after a six months' service.

He went back to the Hoosier State shortly after his discharge, and busied himself in farm labors there until the following spring, when he again offered his services to his country. On this ocea- sion he became a member of Company F, 118th Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into service at Indianapolis as Sergeant. During the six months for which they were enlisted the regiment was on was on duty in Kentucky and Tennessee, and did a fair share of skirmish work, though they took part in no heavy engagements. Mr. Ploughe was again mustered out of the service in the fall of 1863, at Indianapolis, and after twelve months spent in eivil life, for the third time entered the Union army, becoming a member of Company E, 175th Indiana Infantry, the term of enlistment being a year. Again he was mustered into the service at the Hoosier capital, and was sent South, and in Delaware was employed in the duties of guarding and reconstruction until the close of the war.

The day after receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Ploughie started for Kansas, and having reached this State, located in Douglas County, where he re- mained till February, 1866. Hle then changed his location to this county, and entering the service of C. L. Thompson, ran a sawmill at Williamstown, and then one above Thompsonville, for five years. In 1870 he bought sixty acres of land on section 1, and settling upon it brought it to a good state of improvement, and added to the acreage other land, which he also improved, and there be resided until 1882. Ile then sold the 286 acres which he owned, and bought 194 aeres where he is now living, and to this he has added until his present landed estate amounts to 400 acres in this township, and eighty

acres in Cowley County, which he rents. Over 200 acres of his home farm is of bottom land. which affords him an almost inexhaustible soil, and his feed lot, being situated on Rock Creek, is favor- able for stock. Mr. Ploughe keeps graded eattle, and about twenty head of horses of a high grade, and generally feeds a carload of cattle and three loads of hogs per year.

At the home of the bride in Rural Township, this county, in the month of May, 1869, Mr. Ploughe was united in marriage with Miss Margaret, a daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth ( Mathias) Elias, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and there spent their last days. Mrs. Ploughe is also a native of that State, and an intelligent and estimable lady. Their happy union has been blessed by the birth of four children. Harry A., a promising youth, is now attending business eol- lege at Lawrence. Nellie M., Mary E., and Mag- gie, form an interesting group around the home fireside.

The father of our subject was Isaac Ploughe, who was born in Virginia and reared in Kentucky, of which State his father was an early settler. Isaae Ploughe was a farmer and drover and a dealer in stock in the Blue Grass State, whence he moved to Rush County, Ind., and buying- Government land there, engaged in farming and stock-raising. There he was married to his second wife, Miss Elizabeth Powell, a native of that county, and daughter of James Powell, a farmer therein. She died in that State when our subject was ten years old and the father subsequently married again. ITe was a Dem- ocrat, served as a Justice of the Peace, and was a member in good standing of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. His death also took place in the Hoosier State. The first wife of Isaac Ploughe bore him five children: Alfred H. is now living in Hutch- inson, Kan .; William R. lives in Indiana; James W. enlisted in 1861, in the 39th Indiana Infantry, and served until captured by the enemy, and his death occurred in prison ; Mrs. Elsie Caldwell lives in Indi- ana; the fifth child of this union died in infancy. Mrs. Elisabeth Ploughe bore her husband four children, he of whom we write being the second. Thomas B., the eldest, is deceased. Theodore enlisted in 1862 in an Indiana regiment and served three

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years, being taken prisoner, paroled and exchanged; he now lives in Fairview Township. The fourth child died in infancy. Two children were born to the third union. They are Nebraska and Millie K., both of whom live in Missouri.

Mr. Ploughe is widely known as an old settler of Kentucky Township, as an honorable man, and as a reliable citizen. He has been on the jury several times, and has acted as School Clerk for years. In politics he is a Democrat, although he voted for Lincoln and for Grant. He does not aspire to office, preferring to devote his time to his personal affairs and to his family, and to fulfilling the more quiet duties of citizenship.

e HESTER B. WALBRIDGE. The farming community of Rural Township, Jefferson County, recognizes in Mr. Walbridge one of its most enterprising and successful men. He came to this region in the fall of 1867 and purchased eighty acres of partially improved land, to which he subsequently added, and is now the owner of 200 acres, 100 of which are under cultivation. He has erected substantial buildings and avails himself of modern machinery in his farming operations. A man of plodding industry, he is eminently de- serving of the comforts by which he is surrounded.

The subject of this sketch is a native of Vermont and was born July 1, 1829, to Levi and Susan (Silver) Walbridge, who were both natives of Ver- mont and of English ancestry. The paternal grand- father, Roger Walbridge, shouldered his musket during the War of 1812 and assisted in driving the British the second time from American soil. Grandfather Richard Silver was born in England, and crossed the Atlantic with Cornwallis as a sol- dier of the British army ; he soon discovered the righteousness of the Colonists' canse and, deserting the ranks of the British, went over to the American army. It is believed that he spent his last years in Vermont. Levi Walbridge, the father of our sub- ject, prosecuted farming in the Green Mountain State, and died there. The mother is still living. There were born to them the following children : Chester B., Walter (deceased ), Fanny, Jesse (de-

ceased ), Saralı, Schuyler. Adeline (deceased), Hel- len, Rufus J., Marcia, and Monroe.

Chester B. Walbridge spent his early years at the old homestead in Vermont, and when reaching his majority started out for himself, going to Connecticut, and for two years thereafter worked in a stone quarry. From there be repaired to the city of Hartford, wherein he sojourned, however, only a brief time, then returning home was married, in his native township. Nov. 10, 1850, to Miss Lucy A. Spalding. This lady was a native of New Hampshire. The young people commenced the journey of life together on a farm in Vermont, where they lived several years. Then emigrating to Ohio, Mr. Walbridge worked on a railroad for a time; afterward he engaged in farming, and fol- lowed these and various other occupations for a period of twelve years. After leaving Ohio Mr. Wal- bridge engaged in railroading on the Illinois Cen- tral, and later removed to Missouri, where he was engaged on the North Missouri. In the meantime, emigrating further Westward, he became Assistant Superintendent of the Leavenworth branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. Later he became a con- tractor for street car work in Wyandotte, and on other street railways. His next move was to pur- chase a part of the farm which he now owns and occupies.

Of the seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wal- bridge only two are living, Jesse M. and Levi R., who are both farming in Jefferson County. Chester B., a farmer, died in 1882 at the age of thirty years, leaving a wife and two children; the latter, Chester H. and Clarence M., make their home with their Grandfather Walbridge. Mrs. Walbridge is a mem- ber in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her parents were Rulof and Dorothea A. ( Lamberton) Spalding, natives of New Hampshire. Her paternal grandfather, Amos Spalding, was like- wise a native of the old Granite State. Grand- father Joseph Lamberton was born in Connecticut, and served in the War of 1812. He traced his ancestry to Scotland. The family was first repre- sented in America during the Colonial days. Rulof Spalding and his estimable wife died in Vermont, the latter in 1880. Both were members in good standing of the Baptist Church. There were born

Many D. Leadoff

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to them five children, and Mrs. Walbridge is the only survivor of her family, unless it be Zadock, who has not been heard from for a number of years. Mr. Spalding was a very intelligent man, firm and outspoken in his beliefs, and held in general respect in his community.

Mr. Walbridge, while a resident of Missouri, during the late War, served in the State militia nine months. Politieally, he supports the principles of the Democratic party. He is a member of the School Board of his district, and has been a liberal contributor to the enterprises calculated for the public good. He is looked upon as a thorough and skillful farmer and an honorable citizen.

OHN DEARDORFF. This honored old pioneer of Jackson County, came to what was then Kansas Territory, as early as 1856, and during his sojourn of thirty-three years among the people of Jackson County, has firmly established himself in their confidence and esteem. Ile was born in Green County, Ohio, in 1827. and is a son of John and Apharacia (Johnson ) Deardorff, who were natives respectively of Virginia and Ohio. John Deardorff was a tanner by trade but followed farming mostly through life. The pater- nal grandfather, llenry Deardorff, was a native of Virginia and of German parentage. He was a blacksmith by trade and spent his last years in Ohio.

The father of our subject was a Whig, politically, and one of the earliest pioneers of Green County, Ohio. He lived there until 1831, then pushing on further Westward into Indiana, located near the old Tippecanoe battle ground, in the county of that name. He opened up a farm from the wilder- ness upon which he lived until 1839, then removed across the Mississippi into Henry County, Iowa. There, as before, he entered a claim from the Gov- ernment from which he constructed a comfortable homestead and there he remained until 1850. He died in Madison County Iowa., April, 1888, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. The mother passed away prior to the decease of her husband in 1871. She was originally a member of the

Friends' Church, but later worshiped with the Methodists, to which church her husband belonged.

To John Deardorff and his estimable wife there was born a family of eight children, the eldest of whom, a son. Jacob, is farming in Madison County, lowa. John was the second born. Margaret is the wife of Samuel Bosley, and they live in Monte- zuma Village, Iowa; Pauline married S. J. Dolby, of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Pleasant died in Madison County, Iowa, in 1879 ; Naney is the wife of John T. Byers, of Poweshiek County, Iowa; Elizabeth Ellen is the wife of J. J. Hill of California; Will- iam H., is a resident of Madison County, Iowa. John, our subject, was a lad of twelve years when his parents took up their abode in the Hawkeye State, which then presented the appearance of a wild unsettled region. peopled largely by wild ani- mals and Indians. He consequently received only a limited education and assisted in the development of a homestead.

When ready to establish a fireside of his own, Mr. Deardorff was married, in 1851, to Miss Mary Gorshuch. This lady was a native of Maryland and the daughter of Joshua Gorshinch, who was likewise born in that State. The newly wedded pair commeneed the journey of life together on a rented farm, and Mr. Deardorff thus followed agri- cultural pursuits until 1856, when he determined to seek his fortunes elsewhere. Coming then to Kansas he located in Jackson County, pre-empting 160 acres of land on seetion 20, Jefferson Town- ship. He put up a log house and lived in frontier style for nine years when he purchased the farm which he now owns and occupies. This comprises 182 acres of prime land whereon he has erected a handsome residence and other buildings besides effecting the improvements naturally suggested to the enterprising and progressive citizen.

The following is a record of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Deardorff: Joshua B., is farming in this township; Mary E., is the wife of George Helm of Pottawatomie County; William operates a farm in Jackson County ; Laura is the wife of Will- iam Fairbanks of Jackson County ; Effie is a teacher in the public schools at Circleville; Hugh is at home with his parents. The deceased are Nancy, who died at the age of eleven years; John, who was

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killed by lightning when four years old, and Charles who died at the age of eight, besides Jesse and Frank who were taken from the home circle in in - fancy. Mr. and Mrs. Deardorff are members in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while Mr. Deardorff, politically, votes with the Re- publican party. He takes a thorough interest in politics, keeping himself posted upon the eurrent events of the day. Ile is well thought of in his community and is considered one of the best far- mers of Jackson County. He has served as Justice of the Peace, also as Township Trustee and Treas- urer, and at one time was a County Commissioner.

A portrait of Mr. Deardorff, together with that of his wife, appears on another page of this vol- ume.

R USSELL MAXSON, was a resident of Jef- ferson County from 1874, to the date of his death, April 7, 1886, and was a success- ful, intelligent, and progressive farmer, and a man of upright character, highly respected by all who knew him. He was born in Chenango County, N. Y., near Oxford, and lived there until he was a young man, acquiring an excellent education, and receiving a diploma from the Binghamton Busi- ness College, in which he took a thorough course of study. He was a son of Russell and Sarah (Clark) Maxson, and his paternal grandfather also bore the name of Russell, while his maternal grand- father was Job Clark.

On April 5, 1864, Mr. Maxson was united in marriage with Miss Hannah Abbie Babcock, whose acquaintance he had made while engaged as book- keeper and clerk in a village near her home. She was a native of Rhode Island, was born near West- erly, not far from the ocean, and lived there until her marriage. She was a daughter of George and Abbie (Brown) Babcock, and a grand-danghter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Wright) Babcock. Her maternal grandparents were .James and Abbie ( Wil- cox) Brown, and her grandfather Brown was the son of Christopher and Annie (Bramans) Brown. Christopher Brown was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War, and served his country in helping to guard the coast, and preventing the British, who

held Newport, from crossing to the main land. Later he received a pension. He was a descendant in the fifth generation of Chad Brown, who lived contemporaneously with Roger Williams, being a member of the latter's church, and also a Baptist minister. Chad Brown was the son of Peter Brown, who came over in the Mayflower.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Max- son of this sketch, lived for a short time with the parents of the groom, and then went West, "to grow up with the country." They located a home- stead in Freeborn County, Minn., on the lonely prairie, and there they made a dugout, which they occupied for two years. Their nearest neighbors were three miles away. They had lived on the homestead about three years, when Mrs. Maxson's health failed, and she returned to her Eastern home. She was carried to the depot in the arms of her friends, placed aboard the cars, and reaching her home, remained a year, recovering health and en- ergy in the salt sea air to which she had formerly been accustomed. She then returned to her hus- band, and they completed their occupancy of the land, proving up and securing their homestead, which they sold in 1869.

Mr. and Mrs. Maxson then came to Kansas, and resided in Emporia for a year, going thence to Cowley County before the survey was made, and taking a location on the bottom lands. The sitna- tion proved unwholesome, and they were all taken sick, and returned to Emporia with neither money nor stock, and for a while had a very hard time to get enough to eat. Getting some money then from his land, Mr. Maxson purchased a span of mules, eame into Jefferson County, and rented a tract of land which he operated for two years. He then, in 1874, purchased land in Norton Township, where his family now lives, and which he reclaimed from its primitive condition to a well-cultivated acre- age, upon which he erected an excellent house and outbuildings, set out a good orchard, and enclosed the land with good fences.

In the spring of 1886 the diphtheria entered the Maxson household, and three of the inmates fell victims to it. The first to yield was Ina Belle, a promising girl of sixteen years, who breathed her last March 1st, and whose death was followed by

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that of her brother Clyde, two weeks later. On the 7th of April the father fell a victim to the same disease, and was laid beside his children. Mr. Max- son was of a nervous temperament and very im- pulsive, was generous to a fault, and was exceed- ingly kind to his family, by whom his memory is held in loving remembrance. He was a member of the Seventh Day Baptist Church, to which his family now belong. In polities, he was a Repub- lican.

To Mr. Maxson and his estimable wife eleven children were born, six of whom now survive. The first born, and the oldest surviving member of the family, is Bertie; the next on the family roll was Ina Belle. whose death has been noted; Clifford is now eighteen years of age, and a young man of great promise, who is carrying on the farm for his mother; Clyde was the next in order of birth; Al- fred, Franklin and Lyle are attending school; La- verne died in infancy; Elena is a school girl; Irwin and Mervin (twins), died when about one year old.

In connection with this sketch of Mr. Maxson, we will briefly give his genealogical record. On the maternal side he is a descendant of John Clark. who was born Oct. 8, 1609, in Bedfordshire, England. In 1638 he came to Newport, R. I., in company with his brother, Joseph, and six years afterward they organized a church, of which John Clark was minister. They kept the seventh day, and practiced the laying-on of hands. John Clark died at the age of sixty-six years, leaving no chil- dren. His brother, Joseph, had two sons, the eld- est of whom, also named Joseph, married, and became the father of a son, Thomas. From the lat- ter in the fourth generation, was descended Sarah Harris Clark. who married Russell Maxson, the father of our subject.

On his father's side, Mr. Maxson was descended from John Maxson, whose father was said to have been murdered by the Indians. John Maxson mar- ried Mary Mosher about 1664, was ordained Sept. 20. 1708, and died in 1720, aged eighty-two years. His wife died two years prior to his decease. Of their six children, Joseph married Tacy Burdich, was ordained at Newport, and died in 1748. when about seventy-eight years of age. Of his four chil- dren, John was twice married, and by his second

wife, had two children, the older being Jesse, who had a son and a grandson bearing the name of Russell. The latter married Sarah Harris Clark, Oct. 28. 1828.

AMES M. VANATTA. "Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well," and "Honest dealing," have been the mottoes of the above-named gentleman, and to the fulfillment of their teachings, and his practical business ability and good education, his success in life has been largely due. He attributes the greatest measure of it, however, to his excellent wife, who, he says, has done more than her share of the labors and borne more than her share of the hardships which led up to their pleasant surroundings and beautiful home. Their place is one of the finest in Jefferson County, the tasteful residence being one half mile from Nortonville, on an elevation that separates the waters of the Stranger and Delaware Rivers, and commands a fine view of the surround- ing country.

The parents of our subject, James and Katie Ann (Blobeck) Vanatta, removed to Iowa in 1834, and celebrated their golden wedding in May, 1886. Since that time the father has departed this life, while the mother still lives on the old place near Muscatine, where our subject was born, and where he lived until some time after he had reached man's estate. The natal day of our subject was Ang. 19, 1848, aud he acquired a first-class education, con- tinuing his attendance at school during the winters until he was twenty-one years old. Ile was always a great home-body, and was often laughed at for remaining with his parents so continually and so long.

When twenty-four years old Mr. Vanatta made a trip to Kansas, returning the next season to his former home, where he was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Ramsey, a lady of rare taste, industry, good judgment and fine breeding, whose whole life work has been to make home attractive to her husband and to her three lovely children. She is a daughter of Robert Ramsey, who since her marriage has come to Jefferson County with his family. In the spring of 1873 Mr. and Mis. Van-

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atta came to Jefferson County, their worldly pos- sessions then amounting to about $500. The young man had learned the carpenter's trade and followed it after coming to Kansas. He bought a house and lot in Winchester, which he soon traded for sixty acres of land adjoining the farm which he now owns, and keeping a land on the place, continued his work at his trade. Norton ville was just start- ing into existence, and during its first years he did a great deal of contracting in that place, and many of its best buildings are the work of his hands and those of his employes, among them being the Metho- dist Church.

In 1878 Mr. Vanatta bought a farm in Norton Township from his brother, who had purchased it a year or two before, and which cost $3,500, a very exorbitant price at that time. On this place he has made his home, bringing it up to its present condition of beauty and productiveness, and in 1886 adding to his landed estate eighty acres just across the road, the new piece being mostly prairie. He has the finest orchard in the county, consisting of 800 apple trees of the best varieties and of a thrifty nature. A tasty dwelling, 14x26 feet, with eighteen-foot posts, was erected in 1885; the two floors are each divided into four rooms, and a cellar was built under the whole and enclosed with a solid stone wall in a peculiar shape, which effect- ually keeps water out of the cellar.

Mr. Vanatta was the first to come to Kansas from his old neighborhood in Iowa, but others . have followed, and now a dozen families, mostly his own and his wife's relations, are settled about him, and all have prospered. Last year Mr. Van- atta made a trip to Lake Charles, La., where he thinks he will locate ere long, perhaps during the coming season. While there he met some of his relatives from Illinois, who had formerly lived across the river from Muscatine.

Mr. Vanatta is a Republican and belongs to a Republican family. He was strongly opposed to the bonds of the county, and at one time spoke against their issuance in almost every school-house in the township. He belongs to the Farmers' Alliance and the Protective Association. He and his wife and their eldest daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, since joining

which body Mr. Vanatta has become very active in church and Sunday-school work. He was Superin- tendent of the Sunday-school a year, Assistant Superintendent two years, and all the work de- volves on him. The eldest daughter of the fam- ily-Miss Cora -- is sixteen years of age; the other members of the family are Ida and Lillie. All are attending school in Nortonville, and are well advanced for their years.

2 ATHAN J. STARK. The BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM of Jefferson County would by no means be complete without due mention of Mr. Stark, a retired lumber dealer, and one of the oldest settlers in the city of Perry. His native place was in the vicinity of Greenfield, Mass., and the date of his birth Ang. 17, 1817. His father, Jedediah Stark, was born in Groton, Conn., and his paternal grandfather, Nathan Stark, was also a na- tive of that State. The latter farmed for a time among the Connecticut hills, and then removed to Vermont, where he spent his last days.

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Portrait and biographical album of Jackson, Jefferson and Pottawatomie Counties, Kansas : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 80

Author: Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros. Number of Pages: 788

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Bros.
Number of Pages: 788