Portrait and biographical album of Washington, Clay and Riley counties, Kansas, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent citizens together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of the state, Part 145

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Brothers
Number of Pages: 1258

USA > Kansas > Clay County > Portrait and biographical album of Washington, Clay and Riley counties, Kansas, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent citizens together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of the state > Part 145
USA > Kansas > Riley County > Portrait and biographical album of Washington, Clay and Riley counties, Kansas, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent citizens together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of the state > Part 145
USA > Kansas > Washington County > Portrait and biographical album of Washington, Clay and Riley counties, Kansas, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent citizens together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of the state > Part 145

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retired in the enjoyment of the ample competence that he has accumulated by years of active and well- directed labor. To him and his wife have been born six children, namely; David C., our subject, Joseph, Ada L., Eva and Cora. Both he and his good wife are devoted Christians, and as members of the Presbyterian Church are strong in the faith.

He of whom we write was given good educational advantages and after laying the foundation of a liberal education in the district school. he became a pupil at a graded school in Bainbridge, and was graduated therefrom with honors. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of law, having a natural taste for the legal profession, and was a close student for a year and a half. At the expira- tion of that time, having received a fine offer of a position as superintendent of the bridge and depot building department from a Railway Company, he accepted it, though he did not give up his intention of one day becoming a lawyer. He remained with that company till 1883, and in the spring of 1884 resumed his legal studies, reading law with Judge Wilson eight months, and then with Lowe & Smitt one year, and in 1887 he was admitted to the bar, Judge Hutchinson presiding. While studying law he was deputy clerk of the court, and he has served as deputy county attorney. In April, 1888, though he had been practicing so short a time he was select- ed, as possessing in an eminent degree, the qualifica- tions that would fit him for presiding with dignity. equity and wisdom over the local police court, and he was elected Justice, and has ever since held the otlice with distinguished ability. He undoubtedly has a thorough knowledge of the law as applied in all cases that come under his jurisdiction, and ad- ministers justice with firmness and decision, being inflexible and incorruptible in the discharge of his official duties.

Justice Roney has a pleasant home, and to the wife who presides over it so charmingly, and renders it attractive to their numerous friends, he was united in marriage in May, 1886. Two children have been born to them, Beulah and Robert Harrison. Mrs. Roney's maiden name was Ettie Wilson, and she was born in Lima, Allen Co., Ohio, a daughter of David Wilson.

Justice Roney stands high in the social and public

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life of Washington, and has attained his present posi- tion through strict attention to the high principles of morality, honor and integrity, and by diligent attention and devotion to those duties which tend to make an honest man a good citizen. IIe and his wife are valued members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he is Trustee, and he is prominently identified with the Y. M. C. A. as secretary, and is ever active in promoting the highest interests of his adopted eity.

W ILLIAM A. PERKINS, proprietor of the City Restaurant at Clifton, Washington County, has recently established his present business, having removed from his farm in Brant- ford Township. He has there 160 acres of good land in the shape of a well-improved farm with suitable buildings, which he purchased as a home- stead claim in 1876. He settled in Brantford Township in 1871, having removed there from Jackson County, this State, of which he had been a resident two years.

A native of the Province of Ontario, Canada, Mr. Perkins was born March 24, 1856. His father, Daniel Perkins, was either a native of Michigan or Canada and from boyhood up was reared to farm pursuits. Ile was married in the Province of On- tario to Miss Elizabeth Carmichael, who came of Scotch parentage and was born and reared in On- tario. After his marriage Daniel Perkins operated as a distiller, which trade he had learned in early manhood, but afterward assumed charge of a hotel which he conducted for a number of years. After- ward he resumed farming. He left the Dominion in 1870, coming to this State, but in 1888 repaired to Florida where he is now (1889) visiting with a view of locating permanently. He has already purchased land there. The mother is sojourning with her son, our subject; she is a very excellent lady and a member in good standing of the United Brethren Church.

Mr. Perkins was the third in a large family of children, most of whom lived to mature years. He remained a member of the parental household until reaching his majority and was married in Brantford Township, in 1878, to Miss Cora Rusco. This lady

was born in Wood County, Ohio, and is the daugh- ter of Josiah and Katie (Dilts) Rusco, who removed from the Buckeye State to Kansas about 1870, and took up a homestead in Brantford Township where they have improved a good farm. Mrs. Perkins was well reared and remained with her parents until her marriage. She is now the mother of three children, Melvin O., Clarence R., and Ivan L. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins belong to the United Brethren Church in which the former officiates as Steward. Politically, he is a straight Republican and has served as Township Trustee two terms. Aside from this he has declined the responsibilities of office.

OHN W. BARLEY. The duty incumbent upon the biographier, of recording the prin- cipal events in the histories of the prominent men residing in this county, becomes a most pleasant and congenial one, when the life is so up- right, so worthy, so filled with deeds of magna- nimity and kindness. that in the consideration thereof our hearts rise to a higher level, and our thoughts to a sublimer place. These feelings are uppermost in our minds, in reviewing the life of John W. Barley, Register of Deeds of Washington County, and ex-Mayor of the city of Washington.

A native of Greene County, Ohio, our subject was born Ang. 8, 1835, to George and Julia A. (Spicknall) Barley, both natives of Frederick County. Va. On the father's side he is of German and on the mother's of Scotch descent. Jacob Bar- ley, great-grandfather of John W., came from Ger- many and settled in Pennsylvania, where he passed the remaining years of his life. He had a family of twenty-seven children, one of whom, John, grandfather of our subject, removed to Frederick County, Va., where he lived all the rest of his life, engaged in farming and distilling. He was noted for his extraordinary physical strength, performing feats which seemed almost impossible. He was united in marriage with Sarah Marsh, a native of Virginia, of English ancestry; this worthy couple were the parents of twenty children, and lived to a good old age, the husband dying when about eighty years old, and the wife at ninety-two. Their large

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family became widely seattered, and their descen- (lants are found in Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, and other States.

The father of him of whom we write, was named George, and was born April 4. 1808, being the third child in his father's family. He followed the vocation of farming, and was also engaged in the construction of the railroad between Harper's Ferry and Winchester. He was married in Virginia, to Julia A. Spieknall, and a few weeks thereafter. emi- grated to Greene County, Ohio, where he remained on a rented farm for the period of two years. Thenee he removed to Champaign County, Ohio, and bought a farm in the heavily timbered coun- try, on which he spent the rest of his life, dying there in January, 1881. Like his father, he was a man of wonderful muscular power and strength, and was noted for his great industry. The coun- try in which he settled, was covered with heavy timber, and he literally hewed out of the wilderness a home for his family. Working day and night, he soon had a farm of 116 acres cleared and under cultivation. He was known as an honest, upright man, who was respected and esteemed by the peo- ple among whom he lived. He was a man of large capabilities and good judgment, and was elected to several offices of responsibility in his township. This was done sometimes against his will, but his neighbors knew his worth, and felt that matters of public moment would be well administered by him. His wife survived him five and a half years, and died in July, 1886. aged seventy-seven years, hav- ing been born June 3, 1809. She was an excellent woman, pious, and devoted to her family, of great patience and industry, and is held in loving re- membrance by her children. She was a member of the Baptist Church.

A family of seven children were born to George and Julia A. Barley, of whom John W. is the eld- est; the second, Noah F., was born Feb. 10. 1838, and died in Lexington, Mo., Aug. 10, 1860. He was a teacher, and a noted instructor of penman- ship and pen drawing. Isaiah M. was born June 25, 1840, and is now a farmer and stock-raiser near Lawrence, this State. making a specialty of fine horses; Mary E., born June 23, 1842, is the wife of John Morecraft. a farmer of Champaign County,

Ohio; Charles A., born March 19, 1845. is Post- master under the Harrison administration at LeRoy, McLean Co., Ill .; Martha A., born Aug. 12, 1848. is the wife of R. C. Hallowell, a furniture dealer and undertaker at Le Roy, Ill. The youngest, Sarah C., born July 20, 1851, resides in Dayton, Ohio.

One of the first recollections of our subject, is of burning brush, which he had gathered in the surrounding timber. He was reared on a farm, and was early initiated into the hard work necessary to till the soil in that rough country. He attended the district schools in youth, and at the age of eighteen began to utilize the knowledge he had studiously accumulated, and for a time followed the profession of teaching. His winter seasons were thus employed, while the summer quickly passed in the duties of a farm. In 1862 he em- barked in the mercantile business at Middletown, Champaign Co., Ohio, and continued therein en- gaged until 1864.

About this time the nation was plunged in the midst of a dreadful conflict, and there were not wanting foreboders of evil, who predicted the eter- nal destruction of the Union, from the ashes of which would rise, Phoenix-like, kingdoms and em- pires rivaling in splendor those of the Old World. Sharing the enthusiasm common to all patriots, Mr. Barley entered the Union army, April 4, 1864, en- listing in Company F, 134th Ohio Infantry, and at the first election of officers, was chosen Captain. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Po- tomac, and was sent to the front at Petersburg. Capt, Barley was taken sick, and being very near death, was discharged Aug. 31, 1864, at Camp Chase, Ohio. Thus perished all dreams of great- ness in army life, and of aid to his country, which so needed the help of her sons. The quiet of his home, far removed from the confusion of battle. brought baek health, though slowly, to our subject. As soon as he had sufficiently recovered, he taught school again for one term, then removed to McLean County. Ill., and was principal of the public schools at Le Roy, until 1869, serving in this position with his characteristic ability.

A new era in the life of Mr. Barley, was begun in 1869. when he left his old home, determined to

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try his fortune in the West, and located in Wash- ington County, Kan. To this step he was partly impelled by reason of his health, never fully re- covered from the disease contracted in the army. The climate bere has been very beneficial to him, although even the balmy breezes and pure air of Kansas have failed to restore him to a perfect phy- sical condition. As in the East, so here our sub- ject was engaged as a teacher, being employed in that capacity for one year in Washington. In the meantime he took up a homestead on section 19, township 3, range 5, on Beaver Creek, now in Lit- tle Blue Township. In 1870 he was employed as a clerk for Boaz W. Williams, a prominent man in the early history of the county, and with him re- mained until the spring of 1873, when he engaged in business in company with J. O. Young, now County Treasurer. This connection continued un- til 1874, when they took into partnership P. Rocke- feller, who was an influential man in the public life of this community, and afterward became Repre- sentative and Senator. In 1877 Mr. Barley left the mercantile business, and again took a position as clerk until in September, 1879, from which date he was Register of Deeds, and was Deputy Register until 1882. He became connected for one year with the First National Bank at Washington, leav- ing that position to engage in the real-estate and Joan business, which he carried on until he took his present place as Register of Deeds, having been elected thereto in November, 1885, and re-elected in 1887.

While yet residing in the East, Mr. Barley was united in marriage with Elizabeth J. Hollowell, a native of Ohio, and born in Belmont County, March 24, 1841. Her parents were Thomas C. and Sarah A. (Thompson) Hollowell, who came to Kan- sas in 1867. Mr. Hollowell engaged in farming and stock-raising in this county, and removed in 1880 to Norton County, Kan., where he and his wife are yet living. Our subject and his wife were married July 8. 1858, and became the parents of five children, as follows: Florence C., born Sept. 7, 1862, became the wife of J. C. Stevens, of Wash- ington, but died shortly after marriage; Jennie. born Aug. 10, 1859, is the wife of John L. Dixon, a traveling salesman of Atchison, Kan .; Charles P., !

born April 15, 1861, is married to Miss Mary Hull, and is a tobacco and cigar dealer in Washington; Alta M., born Nov. 26, 1865, is the wife of Thomas HI. Eves, a banker of Washington ; George E., born July 20, 1872, assists his father in the office. The mother of this family died Nov. 20, 1874, while yet in early womanhood.

Mr. Barley was again married in 1876, being united with Miss Anna L. Hollowell, a sister of his former wife, and born in Ohio. April 14, 1848. Their union has been blessed by the birth of four children: Fannie, born Oct. 27, 1877, died at the age of ten months; Willie, born Feb. 13, 1879, died when three years old; Frederick, born July 3, 1883, died Jan. 19, 1889; John H., born Jan. 31, 1888, alone survives. Besides the office which he now holds, Mr. Barley has been Mayor of the City of Washington, to which he was twice elected in 1877 and 1878. He has also filled the positions of Town- ship Treasurer, Township Clerk and Trustee. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Frontier Lodge No. 104, A. F. & A. M., of which he has been Worshipful Master, and is a mem- ber of Tyrian Chapter R. A. M., and of Kearney Post No. 5, G. A. R. He and his wife are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is Trustee, and has been Superintendent of its Sabbath School for sixteen years. He is heartily in favor of temperance reform. and is a prohibi- tionist from principle. An old citizen of this county, Mr. Barley is known to all its citizens, and no man stands higher in public esteem. His career has been an honorable one, and his upright and manly character has endeared him to all whoknow him.

n B. NEEDHAM, an ex-Representative and a successful and enterprising business man of Clifton, is the leading dealer in all kinds of agricultural implements in that thriving town, occupying a pleasant location on West Par- allel street. Mr. Needham is a live business man, a genial gentleman and a public-spirited and influ- ential citizen, thoroughly identified with the best interests of the community and active in the ad- vancement of its enterprises. He came to the

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county in 1875 and for three years lived on a farm in Clifton Township, where he still owns 220 acres of land. Sinee coming to the city he has built a beautiful and commodious dwelling of modern de- sign and finish, which is one of the finest residences in the place and bears evidences of taste and cult- ure in its internal arrangements as well as in the exterior appearance. Mr. Needham owns consider- able other property in Clifton, including a fine brick business block.

The subject of this sketch is descended in the paternal line from an old Massachusetts family, his grandfather Anthony Needham, and his father Sylvester Needham, both having been born in that State. The former married Miss Laura Thayer, also of the Bay State and a descendant of old New England stock. In later years this couple moved to Attica, N.Y., where they lived to a ripe old age, Mr. Needham being eighty-nine years of age and his wife eighty-four, when called from time to eternity. Both were for many years members of the Baptist Church, and were much beloved by the people among whom they lived.

Sylvester Needham was the second in a family comprising four sons and two daughters, and he received his education chiefly in Massachusetts, being about of age when his parents moved to New York. He learned the trade of a wheelwright under his father's instruction and followed that occupation until after he had become a resident of Illinois, to which State he went in 1834, while yet a single man. He subsequently located in Putnam County and began work as a carpenter and a farmer, and after some years opened a shop at Cal- edonia, in which town he lived for many years. and where he departed this life Feb. 10, 1874. He was well informed and active in business and was well known among the respected citizens of the community. In politics he was a Whig, and later a Republican, except during the campaign in which Stephen A. Douglas was a candidate for the Presidency. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and to that denomination his noble wife also belonged. After his death his widow contin- ued to make her home in Caledonia, and in 1888 came to visit her children in Kansas. She was taken sick at the residence of her daughter, Mrs.

Evans, in Delphos, and died there in June, 1888, at the age of eighty-one years, her body being laid to rest in the cemetery at Clifton.

Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Needham were the par- ents of six children, three of whom, John, Mary and Lyman, are now deceased. Mary died in Illi- nois; she was the wife of Edmund Evans, who is now a resident of Ottawa County, this State. Of the living members of the parental family Eliza- beth is the wife of Henry Hildebrand, a successful farmer in LaSalle County, III .; and Annis is the wife of Silas Evans, who is engaged in the grocery business at Delphos, Kan.

The gentleman whose name initiates this sketch was born in Putnam County, Ill., May 3, 1846, and was reared and educated in his native county, completing his course of study at Normal and adopting the profession of a teacher. He was en- gaged in pedagogical labors for twelve years, fill- ing positions in Marshall, Putnam and LaSalle counties, from the latter of which he came to this State. Since the spring of 1879, when Mr. Need- ham left his farm in Clifton Township and estab- lished the business in which he is now engaged, he has had a growing trade and proved himself as suc- cessful in a mercantile occupation, as he had pre- viously done in the school-room and upon the farm.

At the home of the bride in LaSalle County, Ill., the rites of wedlock were celebrated between Mr. Needham and Miss Mary A. Graves, who was born in that county, Feb. 10, 1854, and is a daugh- ter of Harvey and Alfonsa ( Larwood) Graves. The bride, who had been well reared and educated, was engaged in teaching prior to her marriage, and is not only well versed in those branches necessary in that profession, but is otherwise well read, and possesses a Christian character which well fits her for the position of wife and mother. Iler parents were natives of the Empire State, but went with their respective parents to Putnam County, Ill., where they became of age, were married, and be- came members of the farming community of that and LaSalle counties. Mrs. Graves died when her daughter, Mrs. Needham, was but five years of age. Mr. Graves is yet living in LaSalle County, and is now seventy-five years of age. The paternal

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grandfather of Mrs. Needham was William Graves, a native of New York State, from which he re- moved with his family in 1832, settling ou an un- broken tract of land in Putnam County, Ill., where he lived to a ripe old age, having improved a good farm and seen the country develop around him to a well settled and prosperous region ere he closed his eyes upon earthly things. His widow survived him to the age of one hundred and one years, and up to the time of her death manifested an intelli- gence remarkable in one of such extreme age. She belonged to the Baptist Church.

The gentleman of whom we write belongs to the I. O.O. F. and the A. O.U. W. of Clifton. In poli- tics he is a sound Republican and has been a dele- gate to the county conventions four years. He has recently been elected to the office of Clerk of Washington County. In the fall of 1888 he was elected Representative from the 77th District and represented his constituents in the Sixty-fourth Session of the State Legislature. While there he was a member of the Ways and Means, Public Land and Mileage committees, and served as chairman of the latter. IIe drafted and secured the passage of a bill reducing the salaries of the eounty officers of that county, which proved a saving of several thousand dollars to the tax- payers.

Mr. and Mrs. Needham are the happy parents of four living children-Claude C., A. Lee, Elsie M. and Velma V .; and they have been bereaved of a daughter, Laura, who died when fourteen months old. Mrs. Needham belongs to the Methodist Church.

C HENIAH H. ALEXANDER. The farming community of Exeter Township recognizes Mr. Alexander as one of its most prosper- ous men who came from Ohio to the Sunflower State in 1879. He located in C'lay Center where he resided several years, then, in 1884, removed to his present farm of 160 aeres on section 4. Here he has a well-regulated farm with fair improve- ments and takes life in a comparatively easy man- ner, being in the enjoyment of a comfortable in- come. He keeps himself posted upon the current

events of the day, votes the straight Republican ticket and is a member in good standing of the I. O. O. F.

A native of Brown County, Ohio, the subject of this sketch was born March 20, 1827, and is the son of IIngh and Clarinda (Cavault) Alexander, the former born in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., and the latter in Hamilton County, Ohio. The pa- ternal ancestors are believed to have originated in Scotland and the mother was probably of German descent. Her father, Cheniah Cavault, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War and also in the War of 1812. Grandfather Alexander, it is be- lieved, likewise fought on the side of the Colonists during their struggle for independence.

To the parents of Mr. Alexander there was born a large family of children of whom he was the eldest; his brother William is a resident of Lyneli- burg, Ohio; Martha J. is the wife of George Ire- land of Ross County, that State; Caroline and Jon- athan are living in Brown County; Hugh lives in Fayette County, and Isaac in Clinton County, Obio. Cheniah H. remained a resident of his na- tive county until a youth of eighteen years and up to this time had been engaged in farming pursuits. He now began learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed thereafter for a period of twenty-five years and at the same time engaged considerably in farming. When nearly twenty-nine years old be was married Feb. 26, 1856, to Miss Julia Chesman. He remained a resident of Ohio until after the out- break of the Civil War, and then in August, 1862. enlisted as a Union soldier in Company A, 7th Ohio Cavalry, which was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and for a time was under the com- mand of Gens. Stone, Burnsides and Gilmore. In July, 1864, Mr. Alexander was transferred to the navy and was made a ship carpenter on the gun- boat "Ft. Hinman." He served in that capacity until the close of the war and received his honor- able discharge in November, 1865.

Mr. Alexander fought in many of the important battles of the war being at Bean Station, East Tennessee, Knoxville. Rodgersville, Butler's Gap, Blue Springs and others, much of the time oper- ating against Stonewall Jackson's men, then under the command of Longstreet, Jackson having been

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killed. Upon retiring from the service Mr. Alex- ander returned to the Buckeye State, where he so- journed until coming to Kansas. There have been born to him and his estimable wife five children. viz: Clara, William, Frank, Edward and George. Mrs. Julia Alexander departed this life at the homestead in Exeter Township, Aug. 9, 1889. She was a lady possessing all the Christian virtues and her name will be held in tender remembrance by her family and friends until they all meet upon the other shore.

AMES RASMUSON. The results of perse- vering industry perhaps have nowhere found a better illustration than in the career of Mr. Rasmuson, of Brantford Township, who was one of the first men to settle in his neighborhood, on section 2. After filing his claim to 160 acres of land, which lay in its primitive state, he broke ten acres, being the first ten acres disturbed by the plow in this region, and succeeded in getting to- gether a few logs with which he put up a shanty and in this he lived in single blessedness for five years, and until he could bring to it a wife and helpmate. From that time on he was successful as a tiller of the soil and has now a well-regulated farm which yields him a comfortable income.

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Portrait and biographical album of Washington, Clay and Riley counties, Kansas, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent citizens together with portraits and biographies of all the governors of the state, Part 145

Author: Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Brothers Number of Pages: 1258

Author:
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman Brothers
Number of Pages: 1258