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 148

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 148
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 148
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 148

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).

The loving and capable helpmate of Mr. Randal! was in her maidenhood Miss Katura Butler, a daughter of Harry Butler, a farmer in the Empire State. To Mr. and Mrs. Randall two children have been born, but both were lost to them in their early years. They afterward adopted a son, who bears

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the name of Willie Randall, and is now grown to man's estate.

The gentleman of whom we write is the fourth in a family of five children born to his parents, David and Orpha (Robinson) Randall. His father was a native of the Empire State, and having re- moved to Illinois in 1853, departed this life in the latter State in 1875. He was a natural mechanic, and during his early life followed any kind of me- chanieal work which was in demand. After mov- ing to Illinois he did but little work, his sons carrying on the farm which was his home. Mrs. David Randall was a daughter of Seneca Robinson, an agriculturist in the State of Massachusetts.

Mr. Randall has served as Town Trustee and Treasurer, having held the latter office at the time of the division of the townships. He is now County Commissioner. He is a stanch Republican, and is opposed to the present prohibition system, believ- ing that it is not effectual and should be changed. He is considered one of the shrewdest business men of the county, while modest in his own estimate of his abilities and in pushing himself forward in pub- lic life. His fellow-citizens have a high regard not only for his business qualities, but for his ex- cellent character.

ROF. JOHN S. HOUGIIAM, A. M .. LL. 1). This gentleman is a native of Indiana, and was born near Connersville, in Fayette County, May 28, 1821. On his father's side he is of English descent. His great-grand- father, a clergyman of the Church of England, came to Virginia about the year 1730, settled in that colony, and lived and died there. Jonathan, the son of this elergyman, and the grandfather of our subject, was born in the Old Dominion about the year 1745. He grew to manhood, married, settled on the North Branch of the_Potomae, and there became the father of a numerous family of sons and daughters. He also served as a soldier in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In 1785 he removed with most of his family to Kentucky, floating down the Ohio River from Wheeling in a keel boat, and landing at "the month

of Bear Grass," just above the "Falls," and near the site of the city of Louisville, which at that time consisted of only a few log cabins. He shortly afterward went into the interior of the State, settled on a farm, and cultivated it until about the year 1800, when he removed to Ohio, settling in the southwest part of that Territory. Here he followed farming until his death, which occurred about 1825. he being then eighty years old.

Aaron Hougham, the father of John S., was born in Virginia, in the year 1776, and when nine years of age was taken by his father to Kentucky. lIere Aaron, while a small boy, became acquainted with the adventures, vicissitudes, privations and perils of pioneer life. When only eighteen years of age he left his home and enlisted as a soldier under Gen. Wayne, the "Mad Anthony" of Revolutionary fame, who had been sent against the Indians, and who administered to them a erushing defeat at the battle of the Maumee, in which young Hougham participated.

After being mustered out of the service at Ft. Washington, then standing on ground now occupied by the city of Cincinnati, Aaron Hougham went to Columbia, a village four miles above on the Ohio River, where he was for some time in the employ of John Smith, a Baptist preacher, who conducted a farm and distillery, and who afterward became one of the first United States Senators from Ohio. Among other things young Hougham made the barrels in which Mr. Smith shipped his whiskey to New Orleans in flatboats.

Closing his engagement at Columbia, Aaron Hougham bought some land near Eaton, in Preble County, Ohio, and set about improving and culti- vating it. His farm was in the thick woods, in a sparsely settled part of the Territory, and he was surrounded by Indians, liable at any moment to forsake the ways of peace and take to the war path. It was not long after he was established in his new home before his parents left Kentucky and settled near him.

In the year 1802 this soldier, cooper and farmer married Miss Mary Hutchings, who died in 1814, leaving to her bereaved husband three children-Jonathan, Rhoda and Jacob. Jonathan, who became a cooper and farmer, was twice mar-

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ried. His first wife was Rebecca Dungan, who died in 1831, leaving three children; and his sec- ond was Catherine Lee, by whom he had four chil- dren. He died in Tippecanoe County, Ind., in the year 1848. Rhoda married Samuel Lakin, a farmer, assisted in rearing a large family, and died in 1876, in Jasper County, Ind., aged seventy years. Jacob, also a cooper and farmer, married Miss Elizabeth Sanders, in 1829, and became the father of six chil- dren. His wife died in 1849, and he in 1874, he being sixty-six years old at his decease. He lived more than forty years in Johnson County, Ind., and died there.

Prof. John S. Hougham's mother was of Holland descent. She was the daughter of John Scherer, who died in early manhood, leaving his widow and an infant daughter, Catherine. The widow remarried, her second husband being Mr. Joel White, by whom she had a numerous family. The daughter, Cath- erine Scherer, on coming to womanhood married Aaron Williams. Ile lived only a few years after- ward. Two children were born of this marriage- Susan and Joel D. Susan married Zachariah Cona- way, and became the mother of ten children. She died in Fayette County, Ind., in the summer of 1888, at the age of seventy-eight years. Joel D. is a farmer, living near Franklin, Ind. He married Miss Frances Walker, and five children were born to him and his wife.

After the death of his first wife Aaron Hougham lived a widower about one year, his little daugh- ter Rhoda being his chief housekeeper. In 1814 he was united in wedlock with Mrs. Catherine (Scherer) Williams, widow of Aaron Williams, the marriage ceremony taking place in Union County, Ind. Of this marriage five children were born in the following order: Mary in 1817, John Scherer in 1821, E!i in 1823, Wilson Thompson in 1825 and Sarah in 1827. Mary died in 1866; she was the wife of William Runkle, a farmer, who still lives near Franklin, Ind. Two children blessed their married life, a son who died in early in- fancy ; and a daughter, Catherine, now living near her father, and married to John Hendricks. Eli lives two miles cast of Franklin, Ind. He has been twice married; his first wife was Miss Emily Park- hurst, who died leaving two children, a daughter

aud son. The son died in infancy; the daughter, Mary (Hougham) Wright, survives, and is also the mother of a son and daughter just now coming into manhood and womanhood. Eli's second wife was Miss Minerva Johnson, who still survives. Wilson T. also resides near to Franklin, Johnson Co., Ind. He married Miss Mary Stevens, by whom he has had two sons, both of whom are liv- ing, and like their father are farmers. Sarah died in Johnson County, Ind., when about seventeen years old. As has been already stated, Prof. John Scherer Hougham was born in Fayette County, Ind., to which his parents had previously moved from Preble County, Ohio. When he was nine years of age the family removed from Fayette to Johnson County. Here, until eighteen years old, he assisted bis father on the farm, and attended during the winter months a "subscription school," in a log school-house with puncheon floor and seats, and greased paper windows. At the age of eight- een, with the rudiments of an education thus acquired, he began his career for himself as a dis. triet school teacher, and taught two terms, one of three and one of four months, in Shelby County, Ind. In March, 1840, being then nearly nineteen years of age, and desirous of still further advancing his education, he went to Crawfordsville and there entered the preparatory department of Wabashı College. He continued a student at that institu- tion, teaching during vacation to enable him to pay his board and tuition, until July 26, 1846, when he was gradnated, receiving the degree of B. A. From college he went to Danville, Ind., and became prin- cipal of the Hendricks County Seminary, a position he retained until July, 1848. Nov. 26, 1847, he was married to Miss Mary A. Knowlton, in Shelby County, which was the bride's home and the place of her birth. She was the daughter of Joshua and Eliza (Holmes) KnowIton, her father being a native of New York, and her mother of Connecticut.

Resigning his position as principal of the Hen- dricks County Seminary, in July, 1848, Prof. Ilougham accepted that of Professor of Mathemat- ies and Natural Philosophy in Franklin College, at Franklin, Ind., which he held until the end of the civil year 1853, when he was transferred to the Chair of Agricultural Chemisty and kindred

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sciences, which he ocenpied till the spring of 1863. When he was thus transferred he asked and ob- tained a leave of absence for one year, which he spent in taking a post-graduate course in the Nat- ural Sciences in Brown University, Providence, R. I.

In 1863 the war made such a demand upon the patriotism of the country, to which demand no other State responded more promptly or liberally than did Indiana, that Franklin College suffered in consequence, contributing largely to the number of commissioned officers, besides ber full quota of privates. Indeed, among the very first to respond to the call of the country were the college students, and their number dwindled away until but two wounded soldiers remained, and.there being practi- cally no students left to teach, Prof. Hougham re- qnested and was granted an indefinite leave of absence. Leaving Franklin College he took active charge and oversight of his farms near Frank- lin, in which he remained until April, 1868, when he was offered and accepted the Chair of Agricul- ture in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kan. At that time this State was com- paratively poor. and the Agricultural College a mere bantling compared with the present splendidly equipped institution and farm, and Prof. Hougham began his career as a member of its faculty under disadvantages, and amid obstacles to which the col- lege is now happily a stranger. He brought to his new position thorough scholarship, wise judgment, good executive ability, and practical experience as an agriculturist, and cheerfully met and discharged its duties until April, 1872, when he resigned and accepted the Professorship of General aud Analyt- ical Chemistry, in Purdue University at LaFayette, Ind., to which place he removed with his family, except his son Henry, who remained at Manhattan and occupied the family residence there.

Prof. Ilougham continued a member of the fac- ulty of Purdue University until July, 1876, and during the next four years he gave his time and attention principally to his own personal business. Ilis monetary interests lay chiefly in farms and wild lands in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. Looking after these required no small amount of labor and care. In 1881 he returned to and re-

sumed his. residence near Manhattan. His wife. who was at that time afflicted with a cancer, died June 13, 1882. She was a woman of education and culture, a devout Christian, faithful to all her du- ties as a wife and mother, beloved by her husband and her children, and most highly esteemed by all who knew her.

Since resigning his position in Purdue University Prof. Hougham has had no regular connection with any educational institution. A man, however, of his broad culture, ripe scholarship and intellectual industry could not well refrain from work in the schools. In response to demands for his services he has, in the meantime, in addition to actively su- perintending and overseeing his farms and lands, delivered five courses of lectures on "Chemistry and Physics," in Bethany College, Topeka; four courses on the same at Cooper Academy, Dayton, Ohio, and two at the Western Female Seminary at Oxford, Ohio.

In recognition of his learning and scholarship, and of his marked ability as an educator, and with- out his seeking or solicitation he has had conferred upon him the degrees of M. A., by Wabash Col- lege, Ind., his Alma Mater, and that of LL. D. by Franklin College, to which, for fifteen years, he rendered valuable and highly appreciated services.

December 25, 1887, Prof. Hougham married his second wife, Miss Martha B. Curtis, a daughter of Jeremiah O. and Mary ( Williamson) Curtis, who have for many years resided at Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Curtis belongs to the New England stock of that naine, and Mrs. Curtis is a descendant, through her mother, of the Pilgrims who landed in the May- flower. Martha (Curtis) Hougham is a graduate from the Dayton High School with the class of 1871, and subsequently from Dayton Normal School, and she was for fourteen years a successful and highly esteemed teacher in the Central High School in that eity. Of this second marriage one child, a little girl less than a year old, is a result.

By his first marriage Prof. Hougham became the father of five children-Julia, Eliza, Henry, Ed- ward and Emma. Eliza and Henry are now living, the others having died in infancy and childhood. Eliza married the Rev. William H. Hickman, A. M., D. D., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal

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Church, for eleven years an itinerant in the North- western Indiana Conference, and during the last three years Presiding Elder for the Crawfordsville District in that conference. He has recently been elected to and accepted the Presidency of a school of colored students at Atlanta, Ga. President Hickman and wife have four children living; one son died in infancy. Henry, the surviving son of Prof. Hougham, is a carpenter and builder, resid- ing in Manhattan. Hle married Miss Ella J. Whit- ney, and they have five children, all living.

Although a constant student, Prof. Hougham spends much of his time in the open air, being not only an experienced teacher, but a practical farmer. And during most of the twenty years he was at Franklin, Ind., he was both County and City Sur- veyor and Engineer, and devoted his "vacations' and "spare hours" largely to work on the field with compass, transit or level in hand. Indeed, he even now retains a set of surveyor's and engineer's in- struments-made in his own shop-and as occasion calls for it, he uses them. His pleasant residence is surrounded by sixty-two acres of rich and care- fully cultivated land, two miles northwest of Man- hattan, and less than half a mile from the State Ag- ricultural College. On this he has a large orchard and a fine vineyard, both just beginning to bear fruit, and he derives pleasure and profit from the raising of farm and orchard products. He also has larger farms elsewhere which receive his personal care and supervision from year to year. His resi- dence, in the interior arrangements, bears evidence of woman's fine touch and taste, and the love and appreciation of what is best and most beautiful in art and in home adornment and decoration.

Prof. Hougham prizes beyond all monetary value his library, which consists of many carefully se- lected volumes of the best thoughts of the masters in ancient, media val and modern times. These afford him pleasureable enjoyment, congenial com- panionship and profitable recreation, such as only the student, thinker and scholar can really know.

In the earlier years of his life Prof. Hongham was a Ilenry Clay Whig. After the Whig party passed away he became, and has since remained, a stanch Republican. He has never sought public office, having no taste for political life, and has

contented himself with the simple exercise of the elective franchise whenever his duty as a citizen required it. Religiously, he is a Baptist. and has been a member of that church for nearly fifty years. He is a compact, firmly built man, of medium height, and fine nervous temperament. His keen blue eyes, ruddy cheek, elastic step, and remarka- ble freedom from the infirmities and inconveniences of age, still seem to deny that he is well advanced in the sixties.

It is not too much to say that Prof. Hougham is respected and esteemed by the people of Manhat- tan, and by those who know him well elsewhere, as a man whose life has been an example to his fellow- men of honesty, temperance, frugality, industry, integrity and uprightness; and that they regard him as one who has constantly endeavored to make the world better for his presence in it.

R ICHARD MEYER. One of the leading Ger- mans of Riley County is the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Emden, Hanover Province, Germany, where he was born April 28, 1827. While yet an infant he lost both parents, their deaths occurring only a short time apart. The little orphan was taken care of by rel- atives and carefully reared, receiving the best edu- cation that the most superior schools of his native town could afford. From 1848 to 1850 he was in the German military service under the King of Hanover. In 1851 he emigrated to America, trust- ing that the land of Washington would return him richer fruit for his labor than he could hope to win in his native land. He landed in New York, and for the next four years followed various pur- suits in that city. He then went to Steplienson County, Ill., where he engaged in farming for a few years, then went to Freeport, in the same State, where he secured employment as a clerk, and he remained there until 1860, serving his em- ployer faithfully, and at the same time striving diligently to learn all about the business, in all its details and ramifications, in order to know how to successfully conduct his own affairs when he should feel able to undertake to do for himself. Ile sev-

Hours Laterally Marsz Sb. Williams

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ered his business relations with his employers in 1860 and engaged in a general mercantile business on his own account in the same place. His career as a merchant in Freeport was an eminently suc- cessful one and was continued until 1879. Dur- ing the year 1866, he, in connection with three others, organized the German Insurance Company of Freeport, Ill. He was the first Secretary of the Company and served in that capacity for several years. In 1880 he moved to Riley County, Kan., and located near Riley Center, where he remained till 1884, when he came to Leonardville, where he has since resided. He is one of the founders of the town, and enjoys here as well as elsewhere the respect of the entire community. From 1886 to 1889 he was engaged in the grain business and managed the grain elevator at Leonardville with gratifying results.

Mr. Meyer is the owner of 800 acres of land lying on sections 11, 14 and 15, of Madison Town- ship, Riley County, and is, perhaps, one of the most extensive farmers of the county. He is now living a retired life and is one of the wealthiest men of the county. When he came to America, he was a poor man with no capital save that which nature and a sound, practical education had en- dowed him with, but sagacity and prudence united with persevering industry have combined to place him where he is to-day in the financial world. In addition to being a good business man, our sub- ject is also a man of superior intelligence and wide reading, having an acquaintance not only with the masterpieces of poetry and philosophy but also with those of history and science. Mr. Meyer is a public-spirited man, and any enterprise promising to result in the prosperity of the town will always find in him a warm supporter, and if necessary a liberal contributor. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. Lodge No. 229, of Freeport, Ill. Politi- eally he is with the Democratic party and takes a moderately deep interest in party affairs.

In February, 1853, Mr. Meyer was married to Miss Hinderika De Grave, of New York City. She was born in Leer, Germany,in 1827, and'is yet in the enjoyment of health and a good degree of strength, and presides with stately grace over the handsome home that her husband's prosperity has provided

for them. Their married life has been blessed by the addition of five children to their household, named respectively, Cornelia, Alida, Richard, Henry and Ida L. The first two, Cornelia and Alida, are deceased. The two sons are married and have fam- ilies that rank as leading citizens where they reside. The daughter is at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are calmly enjoying the evening of life in their fine residence in Leonardville. Mr. Meyer's sons are living near Riley Centre on a part of the land belonging to our subject.

W ILLIAMS & REITZEL, Editors of the Barnes Enterprise, have been connected with that journal since Ang. 1, 1887. The paper was established just two years before that date by Kelly & Williams, the junior editor then bemg senior now. It is a six column paper, Re- publican in politics, and is a clean, well printed and well conducted sheet, having a good advertis- ing patronage, and its circulation is steadily in- ereasing, being much larger than when it came into the hands of its present owners. The office is well-fitted for job printing, of which it has its full share, and it is a great convenience to the mer- chants and business men of Barnes and vicinity.

Mark II. Williams, senior member of the firm, is a native of Center County, Pa., born July 27, 1842, his parents being John and Cather- ine (Watson) Williams, the father born in Chester County, Pa., in 1810, and the mother in Clarion County, Pa., about the year 1812. John Williams was a millwright by occupation, working at that all of his lifetime. He died at Lemont, Center County, in 1877, at the age of sixty-seven years. He was a Democrat in his political views and took con- siderable interest in public affairs, but never held any office. He was a member of the Lutheran Church and a man of excellent character, who was esteemed in the community for his many good qualities. His wife, Catherine, died at the same place in 1846, but her husband was true to her memory and never married again. She was a con- sistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and

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her death, which was sudden and unexpected, did not find her unprepared. This worthy couple were the parents of four children, as follows: Evan Thomas, died in 1869, at Lemont. where he had been a blacksmith and farmer; Hannah Jane is the wife of S. P. Davison, a farmer in Jefferson County. Pa .; Mark H. is next, and the youngest is Jolin Irvin, now a master mechanic at Lemont.

M. H. Williams, our subject, received a common school education in his native county, and early in life went into a woolen factory, where he worked for three years, and from 1859 to 1861 was en- gaged in lumbering in Jefferson County, Pa. He was one of the first to respond to the call of his country on the fall of Sumter, and on April 19, 1861, enlisted in Company I, 8thi Pennsylvania In- fantry, serving for three months. He served his time, and in Jannary, 1862, enlisted in the 18th Regiment United States Infantry, Regular Army, serving for three years. During this time he saw service in the Southwest, in the Army of the Cum- berland, and took part in the battles of Stone River, under Rosecrans; at Hoover's Gap, and later in the bloody battle at Chickamauga. The next general engagement in which he participated was at Mission Ridge, in the campaign for the relief of the troops at Chattanooga, Tenn. In all the fights in the At- lanta campaign he also had a hand-at Buzzard's Roost. Dalton, Resaca. Ga., New Hope Church, Smyrna Church, and during the siege of Atlanta, and was in the battle at Jonesboro, in September, 1864. This was the last general engagement in which Mr. Williams participated, but he saw besides much service in skirmishing and marching in that hotly contested country, the theater of some of the most stirring events of our Civil War. Ile was mustered out with an honorable discharge as First Sergeant, on Jan. 22, 1865, at Lookout Mountain, Tenn.

On his return Mr. Williams again began lumber- ing in Jefferson County. Pa., remaining in his native State until 1880, when he removed to Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio, there engaging in farm- ing until March. 1885, when he determined to come West. On reaching Barnes, Washington County, he engaged in the real-estate, loan and insurance business, which he still carries on. In August,

1885, as already stated, he and Mr. Kelly began the publication of the" Enterprise.

At Brookville, Jefferson Co .. Pa., Mr. Williams was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Jane Davison, daughter of Isaac H. and Isabella ( Lem- mon) Davison, who were natives of that county. In 1865 they moved to Wooster, Ohio, where the mother died in 1880; the father is still living near that city. Mr. Williams is a member of Unity Lodge, No. 276, I. O. O. F., and of Marshall En- campment, No. 50, and of Barnes Post, No. 263, G. A. R. Ile is likewise affiliated with the Im- proved Order of Red Men, and is a gentleman in every way worthy of the marked esteem in which he is held.

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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 148

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

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