This is a collection of short biographical sketches submitted by individuals with a link to the Researcher. You are invited to send appropriate sketches of early Atchison County residents for inclusion on this page

WILLIAM J. CLEM

William J. CLEM, deceased farmer and horticulturist of Shannon Township, was born June 9, 1851, in Randolph Co., VA, a son of Aaron Clem, who immigrated to Kansas in 1863 and settled on Independence Creek, near the Doniphan-Atchison county line. On the farm, which his father owned in this pioneer settlement of Kansas, William was reared to young manhood and married, after which he lived on a farm in the southern part of Doniphan County for four years then moved to the MYERS farm, which he and his wife purchased some years later and cultivated until March of 1898. In this year he purchased the fine farm which is now owned by his widow, and immediately began improving it. This farm consists of sixty acres and lays within a few miles of Atchison in a northwesterly direction. Its acreage is divided as follows: Twenty acres of apples and small fruits, and forty acres of farm land and pasture. Realizing that it was necessary to follow intensive farming on a sixty-acre farm, Mr. Clem set out an orchard of 350 trees, which have been bearing prolifically for several years. An attractive farm residence, set in a fine lawn in which shrubbery and flower beds please the eye, together with a good barn and silo, greets the eye as they stand out on a rise of land. Mr. Clem was a very industrious farmer, a good citizen and a kind father and husband and will long be remembered by those who knew him best and were aware of his many excellent qualities. He departed this life on May 26, 1906. He was a member of the Baptist Church and a Democrat in politics.

W. J. Clem and Laura E. Myers, his widow, were married June 16, 1879, and to this union were born children as follows: Mrs. Effie RANDOLPH, of Atchison, who is the mother of two children, Elizabeth and Bernice; Mrs. Clara WALTZ of Shannon Township and mother of one child, Virginia Frances; Mrs. Addie UNDERWOOD residing on a farm in Shannon Township, who has one child, Spencer Eugene; Mrs. Laura DEMMEL, living hear Rushville, MO and mother of one son, Raymond; Albert married Ella TURNER, and Edgar, at home; Mrs. Lissa Marie ALTAUF of South Tenth Street, Atchison; Frances and Jessie, at home.

Mrs. Laura E. (Myers) Clem was born June 9, 1859 in Buchanan Co., MO, a daughter of Augustus and Hulda (SNYDER) Myers, natives of Germany and Indiana, respectively. Augustus Myers was born in 1825 and died October 6, 1909. His parents with their family immigrated to this country from Germany in 1831. Augustus was reared on a farm, south of St. Joseph and was there married. His wife, Hulda, was born in 1831 and died October 8, 1907. She came with her parents to Buchanan Co., MO in 1841. There were nine children in the Myers family, namely: Hiram K., deceased; Edward S., deceased; William H., living in Doniphan Co.; Mrs. Laura E. Clem with whom this review is directly concerned; Winslow, of Gower, MO; Charles W., of Lancaster Township, this county; Mrs. Dora Augusta SAEGER, of Quincy IL; Mrs. Malinda Frances UNDERWOOD, of Shannon Township; and Ray Evans, of Seattle, WA. The Myers family came to Atchison Co. in August of 1875, living in Atchison until February 1876, and settled on a farm in Shannon Township, which he purchased from Andrew Evans, living on their place near Good Intent, until March of 1891, when the old couple sold their farm to Mr. and Mrs. Clem, and retired to a home in Atchison, where they died. Augustus Myers was a soldier in the Union army and served for a few months under Captain SNYDER, an uncle of Mrs. Clem.

Mrs. Clem and her children are all members of the Christian Church and take an active part in the social and religious affairs carried on by the large membership of the flourishing denominations. She and her sturdy sons carry on the farming operations in a creditable and profitable manner and are happy and contented. The boys are greatly interested in athletics and were an important part of the winning church baseball team during the season of 1913. A happier nor more contented family can not be found in Atchison Co. Mrs. Clem is a capable and intelligent woman who did not hesitate to take over the management of the farm upon her husband's demise and has made a success of the undertaking.

Taken from:

History of Atchison County, Kansas

by Sheffield Ingalls - 1916

Submitted by:

Clemi Higley Blackburn, July 2001

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