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 98

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 98
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 98
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 98

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 marriage of our subject was celebrated in Lena, Ill. The bride was Miss Nancy Mahany. whose birth took place in Stark County, Ohio, Sept. 25, 1842. Iler parents came to Illinois when she was fourteen years old, locating in Stephenson County. The mother died at Orangeville, that county, in 1867, being fifty-five years of age. Mr. Mahany is still living in Lena, Ill., being now three- score years and ten. He belongs to the I'nited Brethren Church, and has for many years been one of the pillars of the organization. His wife was also a member of the same church. Ile is a Re- publican, and was formerly an Abolitionist.

Mrs. Norris is an intelligent and well-bred lady, having been carefully reared in her father's home, where she remained until her marriage. She has borne nine children, two of whom are now de-

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ceased. They are Maud and an infant unnamed. Of the survivors all are at home except Harry A., who is teaching in Brantford Township, this county. Those who still cluster around the home fireside are: Sarah I., Kate E., Lon Alice, Roy, Charley R., and Edna.

Mr. Norris indorses the Republican party by his vote and influence. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church. A portrait of this worthy citizen and honorable man accompanies this sketch.

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INRICH FELDTMANN. The early career of this well-to-do resident of Bloom Town- ship, was one of more than ordinary inter- est, during which he spent several years on the high seas, visiting most of the prominent ports of the world. In addition to his wide experience, he is naturally possessed of a keen observation of men and things, and this has, constituted him a man more than ordinarily well-informed. He has been likewise a voluminous reader, and there are few men who possess a more varied knowledge of cus- toms and people as seen on both hemispheres. He was one of the early pioneers of Clay County, homesteading a tract of land in Bloom Township in 1870, to which he has added until he is now the owner of 320 acres, from which he has improved a good farm, embellished by suitable buildings.

Mr. Feldtmann was born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Jan. 12, 1844, and comes of excellent parentage. His father, Hinrich Feldtmann, Sr., was a native of the same Province, and followed farming and teaming. He is still living, being seventy-five years old, and still sojourning near the place of his birth. He was married in early man- hood to Miss Margaret Gossen, likewise a native of Hanover, and the daughter of a scafaring man. She became the mother of four children of whom 1Iinrich, our subject was the eldest, and departed this life in 1887, when about eighty-seven years old. Both she and her husband joined the Lu- theran Church early in life, Two of their sons are living in Hanover, one being a musician and the other a book-keeper. The second son, Ernest, a

sailor, was lost at sea, during a storm and while reefing a top-sail, being blown overboard. He was but seventeen years old.

The subject of this notice received a good prac- tical education in his native tongue, and at the age of sixteen ycars he entered the service of a mer- chant vessel and followed a sailor's life until com- ing to America, at the age of twenty-three years. He also subsequently made a number of trips on the lake from Milwaukee, Wis., as a mate, in the lumber trade. While making his headquarters in the Cream City, he formed the acquaintance of Miss Harriet Gepner, to whom he was married. Mrs. Feldtmann was born in Prussia, in 1850, and came to America with her parents in 1870, they locating first in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father later came to Kansas and homesteaded a tract of land in Clay County, where he spent the remainder of his days, passing away in 1860, when about sev- enty-five years old. The mother is still living there and is now aged seventy-six. Both became identified with the Lutheran Church early in life.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Feldt- mann, four of whom, Henry, Arthur, Magdalena and Wilhelmina died from scarlet fever within a week. The survivors are George, who remains at home with his parents; Mary, a seamstress in Clif- ton ; Otto E. and W. Agnes. Mr. and Mrs. Feldt- mann are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which Mr. Feldtmann has held various positions, and is one of the chief pillars. In former vears he was a Republican, politically, but is now a lead- ing member of the Union Labor party.

C HIRISTOPHER H. KEMPER, general mer- chant at Linn, Washington County, is one of the most successful and enterprising young men of that thriving town. He is of Ger- man parentage and was born in Franklin County, Mo., April 23, 1862. His common-school educa- tion was supplemented by an attendance at the University at Columbia, Mo., and at the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Ill. He was graduated from the commercial department of the latter in- stution in September, 1886, and the same fall came

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to this place. On the 1st of January, 1887, he began business in co-partnership with E. W. Tate, under the firm name of Tate & Kemper. In April, 1888, he bought out his partner's interest, and has since conducted the business alone. He carries a capital stock of 85,000, and hisannual sales amount to $15,000. The business is much larger than it was under joint control.

John T. Kemper, father of our subject, is a na- tive of Lippe Detmold, Germany. He emigrated to the United States in 1845, and for a short time made his home in Gasconade County, Mo. He was originally employed as a stone mason, but during a long period of his life was a miller in Franklin County, Mo., near Berger. Ile is now residing in Linn.

The mother of our subject hore the name of Henrietta Schroeder; she was first married to Henry Tugel, by whom she had four children. One, Jose- phine is still living and is the wife of William Brueggeman. To Mr. and Mrs. John Kemper four children were born, our subject being the youngest. The others were named respectively, John, Lowina and Emelia. Jobn married Katie Hladab, and lives in Berger, Mo .; he has four children-William, Alice, Josephine and Edwin. Lowina married Au- gust Beile, of Myers Store, near Berger, Mo .; she has one child-Clara.

The gentleman of whom we write was married. Nov. 17, 1887, to Miss Eliza Lehman. This intel- ligent and estimable lady is a daughter of the Rev. Peter Lehman, now deceased; she has borne her husband one child, named Harry. Mr. Kemper is one of the most intelligent and honorable citizens of Linn, and great confidence is placed in him by his fellow-citizens. Ile has a bright future before him both financially and socially. He and his wife are members of the United Evangelical Church.

UDLEY ATKINS. editor and proprietor of the Leader, of Randolph, Riley County, was born in Northfield, Minn., Aug. 7, 1868, and is a son of Francis H. and Sa- rah E. (Edmunds) Atkins, both of whom now live ' at Las Vegas. New Mexico. The father was born in

the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., and the mother in the Sonth of England. They were married in North- field, Minn. Francis II. Atkins is a physician and surgeon of repute, a graduate of both Harvard and Columbia Colleges. In the former he studied chemistry and in the latter medicine.

During the Civil War the father of our subject served nine months in the 45th Massachusetts In- fantry, and being discharged was commissioned Surgeon in the navy. He was with the fleet in the attack on Mobile, and was on the flag-ship with Farragut in the attack on New Orleans at the time of its capture. He served until the close of the war, after which he established himself in the prac- tice of his profession at Northfield, Minn., living in that city five years. During part of this time he was Professor of Chemistry in Carlton College. Ilis war experience had given him a taste for mili- tary life. however, and he procured a commission as Surgeon in the regular army and was at various posts on the frontier until 1884, when he resigned his commission and settled at his present place of residence, where he is actively engaged in the prac- tice of his profession.

Dr. Atkins has profited by his varied experiences and great opportunities, and bears the name of a most skillful and successful practitioner in surgery as well as medicine. IIe is one of the best-read men in the Territory, and especially in the science of medicine he keeps fully up to the requirements and developments of his profession. A man of great generosity and benevolence, he has pursued a strictly moral and upright life, and he is a believer in the doctrines of the Episcopal Church. Though not a politician in the sense of desiring office, he is a stanch supporter of the Democratic party. Fran- cis and Sarah Atkins are the parents of four chil- dren, viz: Virginia, Beatrice and Emerson living under the same roof. and Dudley, of this sketch.

Dudley Atkins has, in consequence of his father's constant removal from post to post while in the military service, spent rather a wandering life. His early education was obtained mostly at home, but he attended school at various places as opportunity offered. In due time he entered the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and there spent a year and a half. His first business venture was

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the purchase of the Riley Times from MeDonald Bros., in December, 1888, which he sold in Septem- ber, 1889, to Southwick Bros., after which he founded the Leader. Since then he has given his entire time and attention to his paper and is mak- ing a good Republican local journal, striving earn- estly to benefit the town in which he made his home. The circulation of his wide-awake paper steadily increases and he enjoys a fair advertising patronage. He has a job printing department in connection with his office, which is a great conve- nienee to the business men of Randolph and viein- ity. Mr. Atkins is a young man of integrity and entitled to the united and hearty support of the community for which he is a faithful worker.

OB B. TEBO. The most correet idea of the true character of Mr. Tebo, perhaps may be gained from a statement of the fact that since early manhood he has never purchased a dollar's worth of goods on time, and has never borrowed any money upon which he was required to pay interest. As he is a man naturally possessing great enterprise and energy, it is not surprising that now, at the age of fifty-three years, he is the owner of a good property and surrounded with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. The biographer finds him proprietor of a valuable farm on seetion 12, in Grant Township, Washington County, embellished with substantial modern build- ings and all the other appliances of the well-regn- lated country estate. His present residence, com- pleted in 1885, is a double weatherboarded frame structure, the main part 24x32 feet in dimensions, a story and a half high, with a one story " L," fin- ished and furnished in modern style. The barn and other outbuildings are amply adapted to the shelter of stock and the storage of grain. The farm machinery includes an extensive windmill, which conveys water to whatever point needed from an inexhaustible well, ninety-six feet deep. The land to the extent of 100 acres is under the plow and well fenced. Adjacent to the residenee is an apple orchard of 200 trees, mostly in good bearing condition, while the family enjoy other fruits in

their season-apricots, cherries, peaches, dewberries and other varieties, many of the trees of which were transported from the old home in Illinois. The farm is surrounded by a row of trees, and two groves furnish wood and timber for all purposes.

Mr. Tebo was born east of the Mississippi, in Decatur County, Ind., April 24, 1836. Three years later his parents removed to Brown County, Ill., settling near Ripley, where Job B. was reared to manhood on a farm and acquired his education in the subscription school. An accident erippled him in his boyhood, and although after the outbreak of the Civil War he was desirous of entering the ser- vice, upon examination he was rejected. In the meantime, when a youth of nineteen years, he was married, Aug. 16, 1856, to Miss Mary M. Alex- ander, who had been his playmate from his boy- hood, and who lived within a half mile of his old home in childhood. For this maiden he cherished a very warm affection. He remembers the time when he first saw her, when she was but one year old and he was five. Mr. Tebo also has a good memory upon other points. Although but three years old when his family removed to Mt. Sterling, Ill., he distinctly remembers the day, probably be- cause it was snowing hard, and the family, in a covered wagon, wished to have the cover down, while Job B. insisted upon looking out.

The Tebo family sojourned in Brown County, Ill., until April, 1870, when they came to this State. The parents of our subject were George and Naney (Brockman) Tebo, the mother being a daughter of Job and Elsie Broekman, of Kentucky. Grandmother Broekman lived to the advanced age of ninety years, spending her last days in Indiana. She had inherited a number of slaves from her father's estate while in Kentucky, and freed them as soon as they became of age. The Tebos were from Virginia, and the paternal grandfather of our subject carried a musket during the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Tebo is the daughter of John and Luey ( Batson) Alexander. Her parents died when she was quite small, and she was taken into the home of her maternal grandfather, John Batson, of Tennessee, who later removed to Brown County,

The subject of this notice came to Washington

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County, Kan., with his wife and four children, in 1870, arriving in Grant Township on the 25th of April. The journey was made from Illinois in a two-horse wagon, and they settled upon a rented farm, which Mr. Tebo operated two years, prefer- ring to do this rather than to purchase until he should determine whether he liked the country. The result was satisfactory, and in 1872 he pur- chased a homestead claim, for which he paid $175, after making three trips, about 150 miles west and south, to look for a better location. Four acres of this had been broken, and the only other improve- ment was a sod dugout in the side of a hill, in which the family lived for six months. Frequently they could hear rattlesnakes over their heads. The first summer, while breaking prairie, Mr. Tebo killed sixteen rattlers. When raining, the water and dirt would all come down together over and into the dugout, covering everything with a thick mud. Upon the rented place there was a log-house with a clapboard roof, many of the boards of which had been blown away. while others had warped so that the rain and snow came in without hindranee. Sometimes the family waked up in the morning and found three or four inches of snow on the bed. In 1873 Mr. Tebo put np a rough but comfortable log house, 14x16 feet, and this he occupied until 1885, when it was abandoned for the present comfortable dwelling.

There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Tebo seven children, two of whom died in infancy: John B., the eldest living, is married and the father of one child; he operates a farm two and one-half miles sonthwest of Haddam. William H. ocenpied him- self as a teacher until after his marriage, and is now living on a farm three miles sonth of his pres- ent residence. Mary is the wife of James Cramer, formerly of Washington County, this State, and they live on a farm adjoining this county in Ne- braska; they have four children. Luln is the wife of M. G. Totten, who owns a farm of eighty acres, three miles south of the Tebo homestead, and 160 acres in Rollins County; they have two children. Honston A. remains at home with his parents.

Mr. Tebo, politically, supports the principles of the Republican party, although reared a Democrat, and takes an active interest in local affairs. He

has been a member of the School Board for thir- teen years, served as Township Trustee two terms, and is Township Clerk. Both he and his estimable wife are members of the Christian Church, attend- ing services at Blocker school-house. Mr. Tebo is a favorite both in social and business circles, and enjoys a wide acquaintance in Grant Township, by whose citizens he is held in marked esteem.

HARLES T. DICKY, Postmaster at Paral- lel, in Lincoln Township, Washington County, in addition to the duties of this office, conducts a store of general merchandise and is a man known to nearly everyone in his commu- nity. He is a leading spirit in the Republican party in this section, and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. IIe is essentially a Western man, having been born in Dickeysville, Grant Co., Wis., Feb. 7, 1852, and is the son of Charles Dicky, a native of Stewartville, Warren Co., N. Y.

Charles Dicky was born Sept. 24, 1812, and was one of two brothers who were orphaned by the death of both parents when quite young. They remained in the Empire State until approaching manhood, then struck out for Illinois, and there Charles was left alone in the world by the death of his brother. He remained in Illinois until about 1850, then removed to Grant County, Wis., where he embarked in general merchandising; became prominent in the community and held the various township offices. He supported the Republican party after its organization, and after the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted as a private in Company 1, 10th Illinois Infantry. Ile participated in the battles of Perryville and Chattanooga, and after the expiration of his term of enlistment received his honorable discharge and returned home in safe- ty to his family. In 1872 he came to Kansas, lo- cating in Phillips County, of which he is still a resident.

Charles Dieky was married to Miss Louisa R. Johnson, a native of St. Clair County, Ill., the daughter of John W. and Mary E. Johnson, who are deceased. They were members of the Methodist

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Episcopal Church. Mrs. Dicky was born Dec. 24, 1824, and with her husband is still living. Both are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had a family of seven children, the date of whose births we record as follows: Mary E. was born in Monroe County, Ill., April 25, 1845; Mon- terey was born Oct. 31, 1846; Samantha C., Aug. 17. 1848; Charles T., Feb. 7, 1852; John W., May 3, 1855; Costellas A., Oet. 27, 1856; Harriet M .. March 27, 1866.

The subject of this sketch was the fourth child of the parental family and spent his first years in the Badger State, where he was reared and educated. He followed various pursuits until June, 1872, when he came to Kansas with his father, and there- after was engaged in farming until 1880. That year he came to Washington County, and purchased ten acres of land on section 34, Lincoln Township, where he now lives. That same year he opened up his store and is now in the enjoyment of a good patronage.

Mr. Dicky assumed marriage ties March 18, . 1874, the bride being Miss Annie L., daughter of Olaf and Louisa Anderson. Mrs. Dicky was born in Stockholm, Sweden, Dec. 23, 1857, and came to America with her parents in 1870. They sought the Far West and located in Washington County, this State, where the father is still living. The mother died in 1884. Of this union there have been born five children. The first died in infancy ; Freddie, was born April 1, 1876; Lottie E., Dec. 6, 1879; Siona L., Aug. 27, 1882, and Marion A., May 15, 1888. Mr. Dicky received his appointment as Postmaster in 1881, and is discharging its duties in a manner creditable to himself and satisfactory to its people.

AMES F. GARDNER was an early pioneer of Riley County, and to him belongs the distinction of having been the first Marshal of Manhattan. He is a veteran of the late war, and as an honorable member of a Massachu- setts regiment he did valiant service on many a a hotly contested battlefield, and as a patriotic, loyal soldier. he did his share toward preserving the integrity of our l'nion. He is now managing

an extensive ice business in Manhattan, owning large stone store-houses for the storage of ice on the bank of the Blue River.

Mr. Gardner was born in that part of Meigs County now included in Cheshire County, Ohio, Sept. 9. 1818. His father, James F. Gardner, was a native of Rhode Island, and from the best in- formation at hand, is supposed to have been a de- scendant of one of three brothers that were early settlers of Long Island. In early life he went to live with an uncle in Rensselaer County, N. Y. For a time after marriage he resided in Chenango County, and then removed to Ohio about 1814, and was one of the pioneers of Meigs County, the removal being made with a flat-boat down the Alle- ghany and Ohio rivers. He took part in the War of 1812, and his life was not of long duration after that, it being brought to a close in August, 1818. while in its prime. The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Ann Ireland, and her birthplace was Catacook, Rensselaer Co., N. Y. By the death of her husband she was left with three children, the eldest but nine years of age, and being without means to support them, they had to go to live with other people until she could provide for them. She married a second time in York State, becoming the wife of Jesse Mulford, of Albany County, N. Y., where she lived many years. She came to Man- hattan and spent her last days in this city.

Our subject was very small when the death of his father deprived him of his care and of a home, for he had to live with strangers. He continued in Ohio until he was twelve years old, and then his mother took him to her home in Albany County, N. Y., to live with her. When he was eighteen he went to Gardner, Mass., and there learned how to make chairs, and followed that occupation in that town three or four years. After that he returned to his native Ohio, and for two years was engaged in steamboating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Then we again find him in Massachusetts, this time working at the carpenter's trade in Gardner and Fitchburg until 1856. In that year he came to Kansas, traveling by rail to Jefferson City, Mo., then the western terminus of the railway, and from there by steamer to Leavenworth, and thence on foot to Manhattan, He soon found work at his

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trade here, and became identified with the public life of the city in 1857, being appointed Marshal- of the city, the first to hold that office here, and while he was an incumbent of the office, law and order reigned supreme. In the fall of 1857, Mr. Gardner returned to Massachusetts, and was busily engaged at his trade in that State when the war broke out. In September, 1861, he laid down the saw and hammer, to take up arms in his country's defense, and had his name enrolled among those of the brave volunteers that composed the 25th Massa- chusetts regiment, he being a member of Company F. Our subject served with fidelity the three years for which he was enlisted, and was then hon- orably discharged, the perils and terrible hardships of life on Southern battlefields having told some- what on his vigorous constitution, and making him glad to return to the peace and quietness of his old home where a fond wife and loved children anx- iously awaited his return. He bore an honorable part in twenty-one engagements, including the bat- tles of Cold Harbor, Bermuda Hundred, Peters- burg, Roanoke Island, Newburn, and Norfolk. At Cold Harbor, 700 gallant men of his regiment went into battle, and of these, before the awful earnage was over, all but eighty were killed. wounded or missing. Our subject was wounded in that battle June 3, 1864, and did not again join his regiment before his discharge. After leaving the army, Mr. Gardner lived in Massachusetts until 1866, when he came once more to Kansas, and has ever since been a resident of the State. There was no railway here until that year, and he took a contract to carry the mail from Manhattan to Irving, forty miles distant, employing his son to drive for him, while he attended to his claim in Grant Township that he had taken under the provisions of the home- stead law, and after getting a clear title to the land he commenced its improvement, and made his home there five years. At the expiration of that time he came to Manhattan, established himself in the ice business, and has ever since been engaged in it very profitably, building stone honses with a capa- city of 20,000 tons for the storage of his ice.

Mr. Gardner was married in 1846, to Miss Sarah Mulford, a native of Watervliet. Albany Co., N. Y. She bore him seven children: Marcia, wife of

Fred Houghton, of Manhattan; Mary, wife of Lew W. Boggs, of Manhattan; George, a resident of Riley County; Charles, also a resident of Riley County; Edward F. M .; the latter residing in Texas. Two are deceased. After an unclouded wedded life of more than forty years, Mrs. Gardner was removed by the hand of death, July 26, 1887, from the home that she had cheered and blessed for so many years, and a large circle of friends mourned with the bereaved family for the loss of one who had so well fulfilled her duties as wife, mother and friend.

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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 98

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

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