Samuel H. Tindell

SAMUEL H. TINDELL. The present probate judge of Rawlins County arrived in that county in 1879, the same year that Atwood was founded, and two years before Rawlins County was formally organized. His chief interests and business affairs have always been based upon land and farming, except for two terms of official service in the county.

Judge Tindell was born in Carroll County, Indiana, June 10, 1846. His people were among the earliest settlers of Tennessee, in which state his grandfather, Nathan Tindell, was born in 1799. He moved north into Indiana, later was a pioneer farmer in Wapello County, Iowa, and he died in Ottumwa in 1864.

Vincent H. Tindell, father of Judge Tindell, was born in Tennessee in 1823. He spent his boyhood largely in Carroll County, Indiana, married there, and took up farming. He was only twenty-four years of age when he died, a year after the birth of his only son and child, Samuel H. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and was a Mason fraternally.

Vincent H. Tindell married Jane McCormick, who was born in Stark County, Ohio, in 1826, and in 1855 she and her son moved out to Story County, Iowa, and later came to Atwood, Kansas, where she died in November, 1896. Judge Tindell acquired most of his education in the rural schools of Story County, Iowa. He lived on the farm to the age of twenty-two, and in May, 1863, two weeks before his seventeenth birthday, he enlisted in the Seventh Iowa Cavalry. This regiment was detailed for border service and operations against the Indians on the plains. That gave him a knowledge of western life such as few men now living have obtained. He was with his regiment until mustered out May 17, 1866. Returning home, he soon afterward entered the Lincoln School at Ottumwa, Iowa, as a student, and subsequently farmed in Story County until he came to Kansas in 1879.

Judge Tindell homesteaded a quarter section in Rawlins County, later sold it and his present farm comprises 320 acres adjoining Atwood, and is devoted to grain, stock and alfalfa. He was called from the farm to the county seat by his election as county treasurer in 1883. He filled that office two terms, and then resumed farming. In November, 1916, was elected probate judge, and his term expires January 13, 1919. He is a republican, a member of the Congregational Church, and is affiliated with Atwood Lodge No. 164, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

In the preliminary work of organizing Rawlins County Judge Tindell circulated the petition for that purpose and was appointed by Governor John P. St. John as census enumerator for the purpose of organization. Judge Tindell's was the first marriage license issued in Rawlins County August 4, 1881.

December 17, 1868, at Des Moines, Iowa, Judge Tindell married Miss Mary Hally. She died in that state in January, 1875. In June, 1879, in Story County, he married Miss Blanche Hally, sister of his first wife and daughter of Wilson and Elizabeth Hally, Iowa farmers. His second wife died in May, 1880. In August, 1881, Judge Tindell married at Atwood Miss Mattie G. Hall, daughter of Elder A. T. and Sarah Hall, both now deceased. Her father was a farmer many years and was an elder in the Christian Church. Judge and Mrs. Tindell have one child, Clara G., a graduate of the Rawlins County High School, a successful teacher here for several terms, and now the wife of Jess J. Mather, an Atwood farmer.