1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Jesse R. Carpenter, register of deeds of Crawford county, is an old and well known citizen of Crawford county, with whose various interests he has been actively identified for over thirty years. He has been one of the successful farmers and also a business man of the county, and has also been prominent in the public affairs of his locality. He is recognized and esteemed as a substantial and progressive citizen, strictly honest and reliable in his dealings, and dependable as one who will exert his powers for the general welfare and the advancement of the community's best interests.

Mr. Carpenter was born in Union county, Ohio, March 10, 1846, and was a son of Jesse and Elsie (Ryan) Carpenter, both natives of Virginia. His father was a farmer, and followed that pursuit in Ohio from 1837 until his death in 1875, when aged sixty-six years. His wife died in 1867, at the age of fifty-six.

Jesse R. Carpenter was educated in the common schools of Union county, and followed the employments of the ordinary farmer boy, remaining under the parental roof until he was twenty-two years old. He then rented a farm and continued independent agricltural operations until 1873. He arrived in Girard, Kansas, on the 16th of May, 1873, and bought some land east of the city, which property he still owns. He successfully followed farming on this place until 1888, and in that year he was the triumphant candidate for the office of clerk of the district court. He then moved into Girard and held that office for four years, after which he was in the grocery and market business until 1895. In that year he went back to the farm and was employed in its cultivation until September, 1903, when he once more became a resident of the city and rented his farm. He was elected register of deeds in 1902, and gives his time and attention to the transaction of the duties of this office. He is a stanch Republican in politics, and has held nearly all the township offices.

March 20, 1879, Mr. Carpenter married Miss Janet McMurray, a daughter of James McMurray, of Girard. They have eight children: Gertrude I. is assistant teacher in the high school of Girard; Margaret, the wife of Edward E. McFarland, of Pittsburg, Kansas; Elsie, who is teaching southwest of Pittsburg; and John M., Clark B., Florence, Janet L. and Jesse R., at home and in school. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a member of the Knight Templar Masons.