EMANUEL M. WARK
South Kansas Tribune, Wednesday, June 30, 1915, Pg. 3:
The county lost by death on June 24, one of its well known pioneers and public spirited citizens. Mr. Emanuel M. Wark after a long illness and much suffering. He was born near Canton, Ohio, Sept. 1, 1842, of Scotch ancestry, who took him at 12 years of age to pioneer in the then Owen, one of the new counties of Indiana. When the war to preserve this Union was thrust upon us the young man not 20, answered the Lincoln call for 300,000 in July, and was mustered in Company F, Seventy-first Indiana Infantry, but cavalry was greatly needed and soon that body of troops was mustered out, and immediately mustered in as the Sixth Indiana cavalry and he was engaged for more than three years in the service of the Union being mustered out at Pulaski, Tenn., fifty years ago June 17. On Feb. 3, 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Lydia M. Long of Patricksburg, Ind., and the following September they took the Kansas fever and drove through in a prairie schooner and located a claim among the Osage Indians in what is now Liberty township. They became well known sterling citizens and there their family was reared and they became successful, and leaders in all that went to build up good social conditions until three years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Wark then went back to visit the old home and friends in the Hoosier state and on their return located in our city, but for a year past his health has been bad at times and the past eight weeks his death not unexpected any day, and their children were with their mother almost constantly. He is survived by his bereaved widow, daughter Nelleah, Mrs. E. E. Jones, north of Independence, Mrs. T. W. Hurst, Yates Center, and Mr. George H. Wark of Caney.
The funeral was held Friday at the home, and was very largely attended by the friends of the family, old soldiers and the County Bar Associations and many old neighbors from Liberty and from Caney and other parts of the county. Service in charge of Rev. Floyd Poe of the Presbyterian church, and interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.
Independence Daily Reporter, Thursday, June 24, 1915, Pg. 5:
CAME HERE YEARS AGO
Farmed for Years Near Liberty and Was a Good Citizen in Every Way
E. M. Wark, an old and highly respected citizen of this county, passed away this morning at 8:30 o’clock at his residence in this city, after an illness of eight weeks. He was born near Caton, Ohio, Sept. 1, 1842. He was an old soldier and served in the Union army for more than three years.
In 1870 he came to Liberty township and settled on a farm. A man of strong character and fine business abilities, he soon became identified with the affairs of his township and county and while never seeking political preferment he always took a lively inter in public matters and exerted an influence in favor of those things he deemed essential for the benefit of the people. He still owned a large farm in Liberty township on which he resided until three years ago when he removed to this city.
Up to a year ago Mr. Wark was an active, rugged man and would have passed for a man much younger than he really was. He was pleasant and agreeable and made many friends by his kindness and consideration for others. A well informed man, he was an interesting companion and an upright, honorable citizen.
He is survived by his wife and four children, three girls and one boy, George Wark of Caney, the well known attorney, is his son and has been constantly at his side during the several weeks of his serious illness. The other children are Mrs. T. W. Hurst of Yates Center, Mrs. E. E. Jones, living near this city, and Meleah Wark, who is at home.
The funeral will take place from the family residence at 311 South Penn avenue tomorrow afternoon at 3 o’clock. Dr. Floyd Poe of the First Presbyterian church will have charge of the services.
Transcribed from volume III, part 2 of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed December 2002 by Carolyn Ward. This volume is identified at the Kansas State Historical Society as microfilm LM195. It is a two-part volume 3.
George Henderson Wark, of Caney, a strong and able member of
the Montgomery county bar, was born on a farm near Liberty, Montgomery county,
Kansas, Dec. 19, 1878. He is a son of Emanuel G. and Lydia M. (Long) Wark, the
former of whom was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1843, and the latter in
Owen county, Indiana, in 1846. The Wark family was first established in America
by ancestors who immigrated from Scotland to America prior to the Revolutionary
war.
The Long family is of English lineage. Emanuel G. Wark was but seventeen years old at the opening of the Civil war and, in 1862, he enlisted in the cause of the Union in Company G, Sixth Indiana cavalry, which was first organized as the Seventy-first infantry. This regiment was sent to Kentucky to assist in repelling the invasion by Kirby Smith, and later engaged in the battle of Richmond, where it lost heavily in killed, wounded and captured. It was changed into a cavalry organization Feb. 23, 1863, and thereafter saw hard service. It was engaged in the siege of Knoxville, Tenn.; in the operations against Longstreet on the Holston and Clinch rivers; and after being remounted at Mt. Sterling, Ky., in the spring of 1864, it moved to join Sherman's army at Dalton, Ga. It was assigned to the army of the Ohio, and with it participated in the battles at Resaca, Cassville, Kenesaw Mountain, and other engagements of the movement upon Atlanta. It aided in the capture of Allatoona pass in Georgia and was the first to raise a flag upon Lost Mountain. It took part in Stoneman's raid to Macon, Ga., and then returned to Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 28, 1864, where it was remounted and sent in pursuit of Wheeler's cavalry. It took part in repelling Forrest's invasion of Middle Tennessee, was engaged in the battle of Nashville, and joined in pursuit of Hood after the battle. The regiment was mustered out at Murfreesboro, Tenn., Sept. 15, 1865.
After receiving his honorable discharge Mr. Wark returned to Indiana, where he married and then removed to Illinois. A year later, or in 1870, they removed to Kansas, making the journey in a covered wagon, locating near Liberty, Montgomery county, where they settled on a claim and have since resided in the same locality. There the senior Mr. Wark has followed farming and stock raising, especially the raising of fine horses, in which he has been very successful. In politics he is a Republican. He and wife are the parents of four children—one son and three daughters: George Henderson; Edith May, the wife of T. W. Hurst, a miller of Yates Center, Kan.; Marian Ethel, the wife of E. E. Jones, a farmer and stockman of Independence, Kan.; and Nelleah, a teacher of music.
George Henderson Wark was reared on the farm and attended the district schools and the Montgomery County High School, from the latter of which he was a graduate in 1900. He then matriculated in the law department of the University of Kansas, at which he was graduated in 1903, and the same year was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of Kansas. In October, 1903, he located for the practice of his profession at Caney, Kan., where he has already gained a representative clientage and a lucrative practice, and is attorney for the Cherryvale, Oklahoma & Texas railway. He has taken an active part in the public life of Caney since his residence there, and is now serving his fourth term as city attorney. He has also held various other city offices, was secretary of the Commercial Club and a first lieutenant in the Kansas National Guard.
Mr. Wark is an adherent of the Republican party and takes an active and prominent part in that party's work, having for two years been a Congressional committeeman from Montgomery county, and now being secretary of the Republican committee of Montgomery county. He is also a prominent figure in fraternal circles, being a Royal Arch Mason; a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Sons of Veterans, and the Phi Delta Phi Legal fraternity of the University of Kansas. Mr. Wark is a member and active worker in the Presbyterian church of Caney.
Pages 1233-1234 from volume III, part 2 of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed December 2002 by Carolyn Ward. This volume is identified at the Kansas State Historical Society as microfilm LM195. It is a two-part volume 3.
Contributed by Mrs. Maryann Johnson a Civil war researcher and a volunteer in the Kansas Room of the Independence Public Library, Independence, Kansas.