1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

David A. Vincent, one of the old and highly esteemed citizens of Girard, Kansas, has been an inhabitant of Crawford county for over thirty years, and is at present and has been for a number of years engaged in the conduct of a meat market and in stock-buying in Girard. He belongs to the progressive and public-spirited class of citizens who have been mainly responsible for the great growth and development of Crawford county since its pioneer times of hardly a third of a century ago, and his diligence and business push have brought himself a fair amount of worldly prosperity. He is a man of character and high personal worth, and is so regarded among his many business associates.

Mr. Vincent was born in McDonough county, Illinois, September 20, 1838, being a son of Michael and Harriet (Tinsley) Vincent, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. His parents came to Illinois about 1835, where his father was a farmer, and where he lived until his death at the age of eighty-five years, in June, 1871. His wife survived him until 1880.

Mr. David A. Vincent was educated and reared in McDonough county, Illinois, and remained on the home farm until August, 1862. He then enlisted in Company I, Seventy-eighth Illinois Infantry, and was in the service till the end of the war. He was in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, and at the battle of Chickamauga was taken prisoner. He was conveyed to Richmond, and thence to the prison pen at Andersonville, and underwent the horrible experience of southern prison life for nineteen months and seven days, until the close of the war. He was released in Jacksonville, Florida, and from there went north to Maryland, and then home to Illinois, with a most creditable war record in the cause of his country. He was engaged in farming in Illinois for a few years, and on February 1, 1871, arrived in Crawford county, Kansas. He bought a farm on Hickory creek, twelve miles west of Girard, and for the next eleven years was an active and successful farmer and stock-raiser. He then moved to Girard and began buying stock, and in 1886 went into the meat market business. He still continues the buying and shipping of cattle. His son John M. became his partner in the market in February, 1903.

February 18, 1868, Mr. Vincent married Miss Jennie A. Jackson, a daughter of Jerry J. and Catherine Jackson, of Virginia. They have five children: Michael and Jerry were twins, and the former is now sheriff of Crawford county, and the latter is in the wood, coal and feed business in Kansas City; Cassie is the wife of Dana Barker, of Girard; Allie is the wife of Charles McCune, of Chanute, Kansas; John M. is married, and is his father's partner. The family are Methodists in religion. Mr. and Mrs. Vincent are members of the Sons and Daughters of America and of the Fraternal Aid. He is a staunch Republican in politics.