1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Christopher Hornaday, who finds an interesting and profitable occupation in the tilling and managing of his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 4 of Osage township, two miles northeast of McCune, is an old and honored resident of Crawford county and has been prominently identified with its agricultural development and progress for over thirty years. He is a public-spirited and progressive gentleman, able in his endeavors, and his fellow citizens have always held him in high esteem for his sterling integrity and genial personal character.

Mr. Hornaday was born in Warren county, Ohio, October 1, 1843. His father, Christopher Hornaday, was born in North Carolina and came with his parents to Ohio when he was a boy, grew up in that state, and married Miss Lucinda Zentmyer, a native of Ohio and of German parentage. He died when a comparatively young man, in 1843. His wife afterward married Thomas Simmons and moved to Indiana, where she resides, a widow, at the age of eighty-three. She had three children by her first husband: John, deceased; Germina Rominger and Christopher; and two by her second marriage: Sarah Simmons and George E. Simmons.

At the age of twelve years Mr. Hornaday went with his mother to Indiana, and during the remainder of his boyhood days attended the country schools and did farm work. In July, 1862, when in his nineteenth year, he enlisted in Company I, Sixty-seventh Indiana Infantry, and served for three years of the hardest period of the war. He was captured at the battle of Mumfordsville, Kentucky, and was afterwards paroled. He was in the battles of Chickasaw Bayou and Arkansas Post, thence to the siege of Vicksburg, and at Jackson, Mississippi, and at Port Gibson and Fort Blakely. He was struck by a spent ball at Vicksburg, but not injured sufficiently to keep him from duty. He was discharged at Galveston, Texas, in May, 1865, and went home with a creditable record as a soldier of the Union. He was married in the following year, and in 1873 he brought his family out to Crawford county, Kansas, and after two changes located on the farm which has been the scene of his profitable labors to the present time. His place is well located, convenient to market, the land is productive and well cultivated, and the large house and barn and other buildings are surrounded by delightful groves of fruit and shade trees, so that altogether it is one of the prettiest farmsteads in the country roundabout. He does general farming and stock-raising, and his efforts have always been very successful.

May 25, 1866, Mr. Hornaday married Miss Ella Rominger, who was born in Bartholomew county, Indiana, a daughter of Charles and Mary A. Rominger. Seven children have been born to them: Harry E., who died August 5, 1904, was county superintendent of public instruction, and his sketch appears elsewhere in these pages; Estella Silliman, of Colorado; Martha F. Kegga, of Illinois; Ethel, who was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun; Bertha, who died at the age of two years; and Jessie and Charles, at home. Mr. Hornaday affiliates with the McCune lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in politics is a Republican.