David E. Pointer

DAVID E. POINTER is a successful rancher and farmer in Stanton Township of Stanton County, and belongs among the early settlers of this part of Kansas, though only a schoolboy when his parents moved into the region.

The Pointer family came to Kansas in 1886. David E. Pointer was then eleven years old, having been born in Menard County in Southern Illinois December 17, 1875. The founder of the family was his father, John Pointer who was born at Louisville, Kentucky, March 22, 1848. He was reared and educated in his native state and married there Martha J. Swiggett, who is now living in Syracuse, Kansas. Their children were: Annie, wife of William Kibbe, of Garnett, Kansas; Ola, wife of Archie McFarland, of Great Bend, Kansas; and David E.

John Pointer and wife moved from Kentucky to Menard County, Illinois, and were farmers near Petersburg until they came to Kansas. They chartered an emigrant car and arrived in this state by rail, unloading their goods at Garden City. The family lived there while John Pointer was looking for a location. He pre-empted the southeast quarter of section 12, township 29, range 39, and on that made his home while proving up. He also homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 4 of the same township and range, and this also he proved up. These constituted the nucleus of his family and ranching interests until he retired, after which he lived in Syracuse until his death on August 10, 1906. In coming to Kansas be brought a few horses and mules, household goods, some seed, but a very limited amount of money. As the land produced very little in the way of sustaining crops for several years, the family eked out their livelihood by selling eggs and butter. He placed much reliance in the early days upon raising broom corn, which sold from twenty to sixty dollars a ton after being hauled to Garden City, a distance of sixty miles. While he was proving up the pre-emption and homesteaded the family lived in a half dugout. Their meat supply was pork from their own hogs fattened on cooked broom corn seed. Finally John Pointer acquired a frame house, buying a claim shanty from a settler who had abandoned the country, and gradually his prosperity enabled him to buy more land, so that he acquired a number of quarter sections from tax titles and direct purchase. John Pointer was a republican in politics, a member of the board of school district No. 29, attended local conventions of his party and occasionally served on the Federal Grand Jury.

David E. Pointer received his first educational advantages in Southern Illinois, and afterwards was a pupil in the common schools of Kingman and Stanton counties in Kansas. He lived with his parents until past his majority, and began farming on the shares with his father. He managed the stock of the ranch for a fourth of the proceeds, and this gave him eight head of cattle. They were cows, and from them, though cows were then worth but $10 a head, he dates his start in the livestock business. Mr. Pointer homesteaded the tract where he now lives, the southeast quarter of section 21, and this has been the center of his varied activities. His pioneer home was a frame shanty which he moved from an adjoining quarter section, and in it he lived for a time as a bachelor. He had several horses to supply power for his farming operations, but farming was not a reliable feature of his enterprise, some years returning very little seed while one year was a perfect failure. To his original shanty he put on other additions until he made a comfortable but modest home and his present residence is one of the few commodious ones of the county, in fact it is the finest country home in that entire region. It is a two-story, nine-room dwelling, furnished with modern facilities of water and bath, and his family are growing up there with all the comforts of the city. Three times a week he gets mail delivered to his home, and there is a church at Walnut Grove nearby. This family are Methodists and twice a month meetings are hold in the Liberty schoolhouse.

As a land holder Mr. Pointer has acquired 2,400 acres, has it all under fence, and 200 acres are used for growing the staple products of this section, rough feeds and grain. As a cattleman he keeps between 300 and 400 head of high grade White Faces, and has also found profit in hog raising. All his meat supply comes from his own farm. His financial interests have been extended to owning stock in the Hutchinson Packing Company, also in the Wichita Crude Oil Company in the Towanda field and in the Big Dick Oil Company in Wilson County, Kansas.

Naturally a citizen of his character and substantial position takes an interest in local affairs. He has been clerk of school district No. 21 for eight years, has served as clerk of the District Court, first elected in 1899 and re-elected in 1901, and is an active republican. He has served as a member of the Federal Grand Jury at Wichita. He has no fraternal connections and is not a church member.

On December 29, 1901, Mr. Pointer married Miss Nellie N. Brollier, daughter of Richard and Susan (Zeger) Brollier. Her father was born near Bluffton, Ohio, enlisted from that section as a soldier in the Civil war, and served with Sherman's army on the march to the sea. His life otherwise was spent as a farmer, and he came to Western Kansas in 1886, the same year as the Pointer family. He homesteaded in Harper County during the early '70s, and is now living in Stevens County. He came to Kansas from Polk County, Missouri. The Brollier children were: Minnie, Ella and Jessie, all of whom died unmarried; Clayton of Grant County, Kansas; Mrs. Pointer, who was born in Harper County October 26, 1879; James and Vera, of Stevens County; and Ruby, wife of Clarence Metts, of that county.

A group of lively and interesting children have their home with Mr. and Mrs. Pointer. Their names are Floyd E., Ethel, Merle, May and Fay, twins, Carl and Irene. Floyd volunteered in May, 1918, for the big war, when only fifteen and a half years old, "weighed in" at 155 pounds, and when pronounced a perfect specimen of manhood he evinced the greatest pride of his life. He is in traininug[sic] for a naval man in San Francisco.

Pages 2248-2249.