Minor C. Shuck

MINOR C. SHUCK became a resident of Kiowa County in 1884. Beginning with only a quarter section homestead, his landed possessions have steadily mounted until his present ownership extends to 3,280 acres of land in Kansas, Oklahoma and in the western provinces of Canada. Correspondingly he is a prominent man in the affairs of Greensburg, and his career throughout has been flavored strongly with the spirit of liberality in all its relations with the larger public.

Mr. Shuck was born in Scott County, Iowa, September 3, 1853. He is a son of William and Elizabeth (Chambers) Shuck. On his mother's side he is of French-English descent, his great-grandmother having been a cousin of General Lafayette. William Shuck, his father, was born in Indiana in 1821. He was reared and married there, gave all his active life to farming and became a pioneer of Iowa when he removed to Scott County in 1852. In 1862 he established a home in Rock Island County, Illinois, and died there in 1878. He was a republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife, Elizabeth Chambers, was also born in Indiana, in 1826, and died in Rock Island County, Illinois, in 1881. A brief record of their children is as follows: Hosanna, who died in Scott County, Iowa, at the age of thirty, wife of Sylvester Mounts, a farmer also deceased; Tina, wife of Sheldon Ruby, a steamboat pilot of Rock Island County, Illinois; Mary, who died unmarried in Rock Island County at the age of thirty-five; Mrs. Sarah Stewart, a widow living at Geneseo, Henry County, Illinois; Minor C.; Eveline, wife of John Kane, a farmer in Rock Island County.

Minor C. Shuck was nine years old when his parents moved to Rock Island County, Illinois, and he grew up in that section of Illinois, spending the first twenty-one years of his life on his father's farm. His education came from country schools, and after leaving home he worked for wages on farms in Illinois and also did some farming for himself. It was this experience and a modest capital he brought with him to Kiowa County in 1884. He pre-empted a quarter section of the Indian Trust laud, paid out on it, and still owns that quarter section as the nucleus of his extensive holdings. His possessions have broadened out over Kiowa County to include 1,840 acres, while he also owns 640 acres in Texas and Cimarron counties, Oklahoma, and has 800 acres of broad western prairie land in Alberta, Canada. For a number of years Mr. Shuck has had his home in Greensburg, where he owns besides his modern home several pieces of improved property. For many years he has been a stockholder in local banks, and is vice president of the Farmers National Bank of Greensburg and a director of the Haviland State Bank. He is an active member of the Commercial Club of Greensburg and is a stanch republican in politics.

In 1881, in Rock Island County, Illinois, Mr. Shuck married Miss Ida M. Freeman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Freeman, both of whom are new deceased. Her father was an Illinois farmer. Mr. Shuck doubtless derives the greatest satisfaction of his life from the worthy performance of his duty to his family, and is properly proud of the twelve children who have been born into his home and who have grown up to a useful manhood and womanhood. The oldest of the family is Miss Flossie, still at home; Luther is a farmer on Vancouver Island; Raymond is a farmer in Alberta, Canada; Frank was recently discharged from the army and lives at Greensburg; Grace is the wife of Donald Frazier, a farmer in Alberta, Canada; Sheldon saw service with the Expeditionary Forces in France; Guy is a farmer in the Province of Alberta; Paul has a farm at Moscow, Kansas; Sadie is the third member of the family to respond to the call of patriotism and served as a trained nurse in an army camp at Indianapolis, Indiana; Nancy is the wife of Glenn Cloyd, a farmer in Kiowa County; Josie married Benjamin Paxton, a Kiowa County farmer; Nettie, the youngest, is a junior in the Kiowa County High School.

Pages 2428-2429.