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Barton County Biographies
AMEND name: Eldon R. AMEND birth: 1877 in Iowa parents: Mr. and Mrs. John W. AMEND other information: Dentist. Came to Great Bend in about 1907. Complete biography found in: Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas. Great Bend, Kan. : Great Bend Tribune, 1912.AMEND name: Leslie L. AMEND birth: 1882 in Missouri other information: Dentist. Came to Great Bend, Kansas, in about 1912. Complete biography found in: Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas. Great Bend, Kan. : Great Bend Tribune, 1912.AMEND name: Walter A. AMEND birth: 1884 in Brown County, Kansas. other information: Dentist. Came to Great Bend, Kansas, in 1901. Complete biography found in: Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas. Great Bend, Kan. : Great Bend Tribune, 1912.ANDERSON
John ANDERSON
[From: Handbook of the Kansas Legislature, 1897. Topeka, Kan. : Crane & Company, Topeka, 1896 - Senate Biography Section]
Barton, Rice and Stafford counties constitute the Thirty-fifth Senatorial District, and John ARMSTRONG, an engineer, machinist and farmer, whose post-office is Great Bend, is the Senator, this being his second term in the Senate. Mr. ARMSTRONG was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, fifty-one years ago, and served the Union as a soldier in Company K, Eighteenth, and Company B, Ninth Michigan Infantry, during the Great Rebellion. He had always been a Republican until the organization of the
People's Party, when he joined it, and has been fairly active in doing his share of the party work. Mr. ARMSTRONG is married, and has two sons and two daughters. His family are Methodists.
BARDWELL
Silas Washington BARDWELL
born May 11, 1843 in Tunkhannock Township, Pennsylvania For more information on Silas Washington Bardwell and his family check out:
http://www.ksgenweb.org/barton/fam/bardwell.htmlCOBUN
Marshall W. COBUN
[From: Handbook of the Kansas Legislature, 1901. Topeka, Kan. : Crane & Company, Topeka, 1900 - House of Represenatives Biography Section]
Barton county is District 82, and has elected to represent her interests M. W. COBUN, who is a Populist and a farmer, residing near the enterprising city of Hoisington, in the north part of that county. Mr. COBUN was born in West Virginia; is no 62 years of age, and received his education in the common school. He has a wife and six children living, and is a believer in the doctrines of the Methodist Church. From 1862 to 1865 he was Captain of Company H, Tenth West Virginia Infantry, and made a good as a soldier. Captain COBUN is not without legislative experience, for before coming to Kansas he was in the State Senate of West Virginia, and he was in the Kansas Legislature as a member of the House in '91 and again in '93. He was also President of the Board of the World's Fair Managers at Chicago. He was elected by the Populists and Democrats, but prior to 1888 he was a Republican. He came to Kansas from West Virginia in 1886, and is engaged in farming and stock-raising.
COLE
Elrick C. COLE
[From: Handbook of the Kansas Legislature, 1895. Topeka, Kan. : Crane & Company, Topeka, 1894 - House of Represenatives Biography Section]
Barton county, the Seventy-ninth district, is represented by Elrick C. COLE, of Great Bend, who was born at Burlington, Racine county, Wisconsin, and is thirty-eight years old. He received a common-school education and then studied law, which he commenced practicing upon his arrival in Kansas, in 1879. Mr. COLE has always been active in politics, and was Clerk of the Circuit Court of Kenosha county, Wisconsin. He has also served two terms as County Attorney of Barton county. He was a delegate to the State convention of 1882 and 1894. He was also chairman of the Congressional Convention of the Seventh district in 1892. In every campaign since 1880 he has taken the stump for Republican nominees. In 1894 Republicans of his county nominated him for the House and although his county had an opposition majority of 300, he was elected by 500 majority. Mr. COLE was married in November, 1880, at LaCrosse, Wis., to Minnie O. WEBB, and has one daughter.
FRY or FRYE
Cyrus FRY [or Cyrus FRYE]
Taken from: Directory of the State Government of Kansas for the years 1877 and 1878. Topeka, Kan. : Geo. W. Martin, Kansas Publishing House, 1877
Cyrus FRY, Kansas House of Representatives, One Hundred and Twentieth District, Barton County, of Great Bend, was born in Pottsville, Schuylkill county, Pennssylvania, May 13, 1850. Removed to Freeport, Stephenson county, Illinois, when six
years old; received a common school education and entered the State University at Champaign, and graduated in the class of 1869; removed to New York and engaged in the commission business until 1872; removed to Chicago, thence to Kansas, in 1873, and located in Barton county, and engaged in farming and sheep-raising; was elected to the House in 1876 as a Republican. [Note.... In the book's table of House members the surname is listed as FRYE. In the biographical section the surname is listed as FRY]
HUFF name: William Manly HUFF birth: December 1, 1885, in Industry, Dickinson County, Kansas. parents: Andrew Jefferson and Addie (MANLY) HUFF spouse(s): Married June 3, 1914, to Fleda Estelle TINKLER (She was born in Gypsum, Kansas, February 3, 1892). children: Robert, Wayne, Richard, Christine, Donald, and Carol other information: editor and publisher of the Claflin Clarion. Complete biography found in: Illustriana Kansas. Hebron, Neb. : Illustriana, Inc., 1933.MECKLEM name: L. G. MECKLEM born: in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania parents: G. F. MECKLEM spouse(s): Married 1st to Rheta WILKINS; Married 2nd to in 1886 to Clara BALDWIN. children: From 1st marriage: Ira and Jennie (wife of Henry BOYLE); From 2nd marriage: Mollie (wife of Walter WALLERSTEDT), Marie and Bess other information: Came to Barton County in 1870 Complete biography found in: Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas. Great Bend, Kan. : Great Bend Tribune, 1912.MOSES name: George Nelson MOSES birth: April 15, 1844, in Olean, New York. death: September 10, 1911, in Great Bend, Kansas. spouse(s): Married in 1873 to Ida MITCHELL Complete biography found in: Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas. Great Bend, Kan. : Great Bend Tribune, 1912. (p. 27-30)SCHROEDER
Henry W. Schroeder
Information on Mr. Schroeder and his family, of Rice and Barton County, is available in the online edition of A STANDARD HISTORY OF KANSAS AND KANSANS, written and compiled by William E. Connelley (Chicago : Lewis Pub., 1918), brought to you by the KSGenWeb Project.
WALTER
Joseph Andrew WALTER
In August 1861, at fifteen years of age, Joseph Andrew WALTER enlisted from Allegheny County Pennsylvania to serve three years in the Civil War, and was mustered in the United States service at Washington DC.,
Sept. 23, 1861 as private in Company I, and was later transferred to Co. G., 74th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers. The regiment was mustered into U.S. service Sept. 14, 1861, as the 35th Pennsylvania.. He fought at The Battle of Cross Keys, June 8, 1862., Freeman's Ford and Grovetown Virginia. which included fighting on the battle line at Gettysburg, for three days, at Chancellorsville and other places. He received a honorable discharge from the service at Grafton, West Virginia on Oct 17 1864,
Joe Walter married Magdalena FURST in Allegheny County Penn. on June 2, 1867. He brought his wife and five children on a railroad to Topeka Kansas March 4, 1878. He left his wife and family in a boarding house and
continued on to Great Bend on a train, he located land and bought a man's entry rights and moved his family into a one-room dugout in the side of a hill. The land was the NE/4 Section 18, Township 21, Range 13, about 10 miles south of Great Bend.
Joseph A. WALTER and Edward W. DEWEY, organized the town of Seward and promoting the construction of the Denver Memphis and Atlantic Railway through Stafford County.
Although Joe Walter was a coal miner in Pennsylvania and a Farmer in Kansas, he was also a politician and his service for years as a Notary Public and Justice in his home township, and his work as a member of the
legislature had made him a sort of a advisor and leader to many who preferred his judgement and advice, particularly a number who were unable to speak English well, and who used their old country speech as a rule. He served the public and his friends, and particularly the G.A.R. Many Lawsuits were tried before him in his home, including jury trials.
Sometime after the turn of the Century, he moved his wife and two youngest children to Great Bend Kansas, and resided at 1216 Stone St., where the Great Bend Recreation office is now located.)
He died, October 24, 1942. He and his wife are buried in the Great Bend Cemetery, in Great Bend Kansas.
Submitted by Jim WalterWEBER
Henry W. WEBER
Information on Mr. Weber and his family, of Russell, Ellsworth and Barton County, is available in the online edition of A STANDARD HISTORY OF KANSAS AND KANSANS, written and compiled by William E. Connelley (Chicago : Lewis Pub., 1918), brought to you by the KSGenWeb Project.
WINSTEAD name: Willis W. WINSTEAD birth: 1844 in Dukedom, Tennessee spouse(s): Georgia STONE (daughter of T. L. STONE) children: Wirt W., George M., and Thomas E. other information: Came to Barton County in 1873 Complete biography found in: Biographical history of Barton County, Kansas. Great Bend, Kan. : Great Bend Tribune, 1912. (p. 66)WRIGHT
Isom WRIGHT
Taken from: Handbook of the Kansas Legislature, 1897. Topeka, Kan. : Crane & Company, 1896 - House of Representatives Biography Section)
Isom Wright, by whom District No. 79, is represented, came to Kansas from his birthplace, Greencastle, Indiana, in the spring of 1890. He completed the common-school course, and then graduated from the Normal College at Danville, Indiana, and afterwards finished the commercial course at the Bryant & Stratton Business College at Indianapolis, Indiana. He then
taught school for ten winters, and farmed in the summer. He has lived on his farm since coming to Kansas. Prior to coming to Kansas he was a Democrat, but when he came here became one of the charter members of the Alliance, and became County Lecturer. Mr. WRIGHT held the office of Justice of the Peace, and was a delegate to the State convention at Ablilene. He is a member of the Christian church. Barton county constitutes the district. Mr. WRIGHT's post office is Great Bend.
