George W. Julian

GEORGE W. JULIAN has been a resident of Stanton County since September, 1886, when as a youth of sixteen he came with other members of the family from Wayne County, Indiana. He has lived the free and independent life of the farmer and rancher and from small and restricted beginnings has achieved those things which constitute a successful career whether regarded from a standpoint of material accumulations or from profitable and earnest work in public affairs. Practically from the time he reached his majority he has been the recipient of various honors and positions of trust from his fellow citizens.

Mr. Julian might be considered a birthright Quaker. The earlier generations of the family were Carolina Quakers and subsequently became part of the colonization of Friends who made up one of the finest elements of the population of Eastern Indiana, Wayne County in that state having been a stronghold of Quakers from the earliest period of settlement.

His grandfather, Pearson Julian, was a native of North Carolina and was an old-school physician and a preacher in the Friends Church. About 1856 he brought his family west to Illinois, and for a brief time later on lived in Kansas Territory. Many years later he returned to Kansas and settled in Butler County. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Betsy Hodgin, are both buried at Rose Hill in that county. Their children were: Lewis M., of Wichita; Martha, who died at Derby, Kansas, wife of Ansel Sloat, who married Calvin Baldwin and died in Wayne County, Indiana; Rev. Milton P.; Tobias, living in Missouri; Joseph, in Oklahoma; and Mary, who married Cyrus Haynes and lives at Ottawa, Kansas.

Rev. Milton P. Julian, father of George W., was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, in February, 1848, and was a child of eight years when his parents moved to Illinois and settled near Rushville in Schuyler County. A year or so later the family moved on to Kansas and lived for a short time in Bourbon County. From that district, which was then meagerly populated and with practically none of the advantages of civilization, the family returned to Illinois, where Milton grew up and received his education. He was only thirteen years of age when the Civil war broke out and a year or so later he joined the One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry in Captain Hymer's company. His regiment was part of Sherman's army. While guarding a railroad bridge with his company in Georgia he and his comrades were captured by a detachment of Hood's army and were taken to Andersonville prison. Milton Julian had six months of the experience that was meted out to the Federal prisoners in that notorious stockade, and was not released until the end of the war. He suffered famine, cold and cruelties, and when released from prison was naked and emaciated to the last degree. Wherever he has been since the war he has taken an active part in the Grand Army, has served as post chaplain at different places and at St. Cloud, Florida, his present home, is a leading figure in this patriotic organization. He has been a republican first, last and always, and was one of the early representatives from Stanton County in the Legislature, where he served a term and made a creditable record as a champion of sound legislation. He personally introduced several bills and secured the passage of measures affecting the local interest. As a minister of the gospel he was ready at speaking and expressing his views and had his inclinations run in that direction might have made a notable career in public life. President McKinley offered him an appointment in the diplomatic service, but poor health obliged him to decline. He has for many years been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

It was direct from Wayne County, Indiana, that Rev. Milton Julian brought his family to Stanton County, Kansas. In Wayne County he had lived after the war as a farmer and minister and had married there. He was ordained a minister of the New Light Church in Indiana and for many years he was a minister of that church, a branch of the Christian denomination, and in Kansas he preached in Stanton and over many adjoining counties.

Milton Julian married Charity Jane Baldwin, daughter of David and Ruth (Howell) Baldwin. Her father was a native of North Carolina and another pioneer Quaker in Wayne County, Indiana. Reverend and Mrs. Julian had the following children: George W.; William, who died in Stanton County at the age of eighteen, while teaching school; and Myrtie, wife of George Blanchat, of Syracuse, Kansas.

George W. Julian was born in Wayne County, Indiana, December 12, 1869. In Wayne County he had attended the public schools and was a student a part of one term in old district No. 35 in Stanton County, Kansas. Until past twenty-one he remained at home assisting his father in the management of the farm. The family homestead was the southwest quarter of section 21, township 30, range 39. His father pre-empted a claim adjoining this, proving up both, and also a timber claim in section 28, township 29, range 39. The first Julian home here was a dugout, and there was a sod stable. On the homestead they erected a two-room soddy, to which was subsequently added a dugout.

On taking up his independent career George W. Julian took the homestead where he now lives, and he too began life in a sod house, 12 by 14 feet. He soon constructed another residence of two rooms, but still with sod walls. Several years later he moved into a small frame house, and as his means justified it he built the present comfortable residence of seven rooms where he and his family reside. Like most of the other early settlers he did not find it possible to make a complete living from the farm and his stock and did such outside work as freighting and farm labor. His capital to begin with consisted chiefly of a team, a cow and calf, and from the latter he developed his cattle business. Many years ago he achieved a position as one of the leading ranchmen of the locality, and he is now owner of eight quarter sections of land adjacent to each other, all of them fenced. He cultivates about one hundred and fifty acres and is one of the chief growers of broom corn in this region, also raising rough feed for his stock. His record has been one of days and weeks and years devoted steadily and earnestly to the development and domestication of a tract of wild land, and his present comfortable surroundings would properly be judged as a worthy reward for his efforts. Many years ago he began setting out locust trees, and they now add beauty and freshness to his home environment.

Many Stanton County people know him chiefly on account of his prominent public life. He cast his first presidential ballot in 1896 for Major McKinley and has never missed a presidential election since then. With the exception of a brief interval he has served continuously on his school board since he was twenty-one years of age. When a young man he was elected township clerk, filling that office for two terms. For six years he was justice of the peace, two years county surveyor, and for eleven years was county commissioner. Among his associates on the board of commissioners were J. A. Wartman, John Bowns, George Carrithers, Milam Bullock, J. F. Winger, A. S. Figgett and Grant Raney. For several years Mr. Julian was chairman of the board, and when he retired in January, 1917, he was succeeded by Commissioner Friend. One of the most important pieces of work done while he was on the board was the construction of the cement bridge over Bear Creek at the Bearman ranch. He also assisted in compromising the outstanding bonds and in refunding bonds at a low rate of interest. While of Quaker ancestry on both sides Mr. Julian was reared under the influence of the Christian Church, which his father so long served as a minister.

In Stanton County, December 9, 1891, Mr. Julian married Miss Eliza Jane Trimble, daughter of Ephraim and Jane (Duncan) Trimble. Mrs. Julian was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1870, and died at their Stanton County home May 22, 1917, after they had been married a little more than a quarter of a century. She is survived by a large family of children, named Zella, Grace, Leta, Wavie, Harry, Arnold, Janie, Stanley, Charity and Wilma Eliza. The daughter Wavie is a public school teacher and is a graduate of Friends University, Wichita.

Pages 2261-2262.