Cloud County
KSGenWeb
JOHN S. ABBEY.
J.S. Abbey, the subject of this sketch, came to Cloud
county in 1877, and settled in Summit township where he is familiar with each
feature of progress made during his existence there. Mr. Abbey's experiences
have been varied and numerous. He is a very interesting narrator of "war
romance" and takes great pride in relating them. He and his excellent wife have
proved themselves to be people essential to the success and prosperity of the
vicinity in which they reside. They are foremost in every worthy cause or
enterprise that tends to the advancement of their community.
Mr. Abbey
was a native of Lake county, Ohio, President Garfield's birthplace, born in
1839. He is a son of William and Sarah (Wallace) Abbey. His father was born in
Yorkshire, England, in 1807. His mother was also born on English soil. Her birth
was in 1803. They were the parents of two sons at the time they crossed the
water, the eldest of whom died while enroute to America and was buried at sea.
They emgrated to America and settled on a farm in Lake county, Ohio. In 1841,
they emigrated to Nebraska, and settled at Salem where he died in 1881. Of the
family of eight children there are but four living, one sister in Fairmont,
Nebraska and one in Warren, Illinois and a brother in Falls City, Nebraska.
Mr. Abbey had just attained his majority when the call for men to protect
the stars and stripes was made and he was among the first to respond. He hastily
repaired to Chicago, where he enlisted in Company A, Fourth Illinois Cavalry, in
1861, serving three years and three months. His company won honors and
distinction as General Grant's escort. They joined his forces at Cairo,
remaining with him until Vicksburg was taken, and then went to Meridian,
Mississippi and back to Vicksburg and up the Red river with General A.J. Smith.
They were on detached service the greater part of the three years. President
Garfield was on General Rosecran's staff and Mr. Abbey was one of the orderlies
who carried despatches from Grant to Rosecrans. Mr. Abbey was at Holly Springs,
Mississippi when General Forrest marched in. Mr. Abbey experienced a wild and
dangerous ride of seventy-five miles. He started just as old "Sol" was sinking
to rest and arrived at the pickets of General Sherman's ranks just as the sun
arose above the horizon. He demanded an audience with General Grant but was
refused until he could prove his identity, and then was made the hero of the
hour, for he was prostrated from fatigue and the excitement occasioned by
meeting a band of guerrillas twelve miles out from General Grant's quarters, who
began a fusilade of firing on sight, but the brave orderly put the spurs to his
horse - a fine animal of the French-Canadian breed and as they pursued him the
twelve miles the bullets whizzed near and all around him, but he kept running
and gained the pickets unharmed but completely overcome physically.
After
the war Mr. Abbey returned to his home, married and settled on a farm in
Nebraska near Salem, where he lived until coming to Kansas in 1877, when he
bought the J.F. Stevens homestead, one of the oldest claims in the township. The
improvements have all been made by Mr. Abbey.
Mrs. Abbey was Miss N.L.
Tisdal, a daughter of Thomas A. Tisdal, who was a drover in an extensive way in
a time when shipping facilities were very different from the present age. The
Tisdals were early settlers in Connecticut from Scotland. The original name
which she has on a receipt dated 1806, is Antisdal, but was changed during her
grandfather's time to Tisdal.
Peres Antisdal of Scotland came across the
water early in the last century. He was stolen when twelve years old by a family
of wealthy people and brought to America. They settled at Norwich, Connecticut
where he married Mary Armstrong. She died in the year 1808, and lacked but one
week of having lived a century. Phoebe Tisdal, Mrs. Abbey's great-grandmother
attended her funeral. She also lived to be almost a centenarian. The children of
Peres and Mary, were Plimens, Lawrence, Silas and Dorcas. Plimens married, lived
and died at Willington, Connecticut. His son Chester, moved to Ohio, where he
died at middle age, leaving three sons, Lucien, James and Martin, who lived in
St. Joseph, Michigan, where their families still reside. Silas Antisdal, a
brother of Plimens (Mrs. Abbey's great-grandfather) lived at Willington,
Connecticut, and with his wife Betluah, and their sons, Curtis and Silas and one
daughter, Betluah, emigrated to what was then called New Connecticut, the
western reserve of Ohio, where they bought land and when Buffalo, New York was
their nearest milling point.
This was in the beginning of the war of
1812, and they endured many hardships on the way. It was a great undertaking to
make such a journey in those days as northern Ohio, now so densely settled was
then one vast forest. The roads were made by blazing trees. They emigrated into
this country with two wagons, one drawn by horses and the other by oxen. Upon
reaching Lake Erie, they traveled over the ice to their destination, Madison,
Ohio. It required the entire winter to make the journey from Connecticut.
Silas Antisdal died September 13, 1817, and his wife in 1824. They were both
buried at Madison, Ohio, where there is a large cemetery about half of whose
dead are Mrs. Abbey's ancestors. They had nine children. Mrs. Abbey's
grandfather was the eldest child. Curtis Antisdal, who changed the name to
Tisdal, came to Ohio with his father. He was born in 1779. He was married in
1800, and he with his wife, Sarah Parker, lived at Willington, Connecticut and
removed to Ohio in 1812, where he died in 1837, and his wife in 1865. Both he
buried in the cemetery at Madison, Ohio.
Mrs. Abbey's father, Thomas, was
one of their seven children born at Willington, Connecticut, September 13, 1809,
and was married to Marie Stowe of Astabula, Ohio, in 1833. She died March 24,
1837, leaving one child, Harriet, wife of J.W. Leverett of Griesel, Missouri,
where they are both retired from a career as educators. In May, of 1842, Thomas
Tisdal was married to Lois Day Gill, who died ten years later at the age of
thirty-three years leaving five daughters, all of whom are living. Mrs. Abbey's
father was a prominent man of Lake county, Ohio; bought cattle from all over the
country and drove them through to New York and other eastern cities. Mrs. Abbey
was his favorite child, often accompanying him on his trips. His pet name for
her was "Moses." He died October 5, 1852, of consumption, and the wife and
mother died twenty-nine days later. The daughters are Nancy Louise (Mrs. Abbey),
who was educated in the Willoughby College, Ohio, and was a teacher for six
years: Mary Elizabeth, wife of D.L. Wyman of Paynesville, Ohio; Sarah Parker,
widow of H.C. Jennings, of Salem, Nebraska; Phoebe Ellen, widow of H.Q. Storer
and Emma Lois, wife of J.J. Watchter, a merchant of Verdon, Nebraska.
To
Mr. and Mrs. Abbey have been born five children: Don Wyman, married Clara Coen
and they are the parents of four children, two of whom are living: Fred Almond
aged nine and Oscar Tisdal, aged three. He is a prosperous farmer of Summit
township. Sarah Lois, wife of C.A. DeLong, an extensive farmer of Osborne
county, where he owns four hundred acres of land. They are the parents of two
children; Myrtle Leola, aged seven, and Jessie May, aged one and one-half years.
William Herman Abbey, the second son, is a giant in proportion, standing six
feet, six inches, in height. He is a postal clerk on the Missouri Pacific
Railroad from Atchison to Stockton, is married to Myrtle E. Kingston and resides
in Atchison. Fred Wallace, married Ida Belle Thompson and they are the parents
of two children, Howard Soule and Walter Wallace, aged four, and one and
one-half years, respectively. Jessie Ellen is the wife of Byron Wheeler, a
farmer living near Concordia. They are the parents of one child, an infant, Ruby
Margurite. Both of these daughters, Jessie Ellen and Sarah Lois, are talented in
music and intellectual women.
Mr. Abbey is a staunch Republican. He is a
member of the Scottsvile Grand Army of the Republic. The Abbeys are members,
ardent workers and pillars of the Summit Free Baptist church organization, which
owes much of its prosperity to their ardent interest. They have a neat and
commodious farm residence where this estimable couple will in all probability
spend their declining years.
LESLIE E. ABBOTT.
The subject
of this biography is Leslie E. Abbott, proprietor of the Concordia Steam
Laundry, and successor to Abbott Brothers, having purchased the interest of R.J.
Abbott in 1901. This enterprise is one of Concordia's most successful
industries, both from a financial view and from the character of its work. In
February, 1896, Robert J. and Leslie E. Abbott purchased the machinery of the
Barons House laundry and removed it to a building on West Sixth stree.[sic] In
1898 they erected a commodious stone, building on Fifth street, near Washington,
forty-four by seventy feet in dimensions, with a basement in the rear. They had
grown out of their quarters on Fifth street, and when they established their new
plant the facilities were increased about one-half. But a short time had
elapsed, however, when their growing trade called for another increase of
capacity and an addition was built, new and modern machinery added and among
other improvements a cistern of five hundred barrels' capacity - a very
important feature, because this enables them to exclude the use of chemicals or
acids. The plant is thoroughly equipped for the highest grade of laundry work.
Their service is uniform in excellence and approaches perfection as nearly as
can be done by experts operating the latest improved machinery. A large portion
of their trade comes from the outside. They receive shipments of laundry bundles
regularly from many of the surrounding towns, and also draw trade from the
country districts. The annual cash receipts of this progressive business exceeds
ten thousand dollars. They employ about one dozen people.
Mr. Abbott is a
native of Hamilton county Kentucky, but when a youth his parents emigrated to
Ottawa county, Kansas, and settled on a farm near Delphos, where they lived
until coming to Concordia in 1889, eight years later. Mr. Abbott began his
career as a printer and after working in various offices at Bennington,
Minneapolis and Concordia, he engaged in the laundry business, being prompted
because of the growing need of that enterprise in the city. Prior to venturing
into business for himself he had been manager of the Barons House laundry for
about three years, which was the means of rendering him competent to assume the
responsibility of a plant of his own, as he had gained five years of experience,
having worked in the laundry two years before assuming the management.
Mr. Abbott was married in 1892 to Miss May Scott, a daughter of W.C. Scott, and
a sister of M.D. Scott, of the enterprising firm of Scott & Lintz. They are the
parents of one child, a little son, born in November, 1893. Politically Mr.
Abbott has followed in the footsteps of his father and is a Democrat. He is a
member of the Concordia encampment of Odd Fellows. Mr. Abbott has one of the
most pleasant cottage homes in the city, situated on Washington street near
Eighth. Mr. Abbott has invested much of the proceeds of the business in the
improvement and equipment of the plant and with the precedence he has gained it
is doubtful if another laundry could establish a trade in the city.
MARGARET ACKERMAN.
Margaret Ackerman, widow of the late John Ackerman, an
industrious and frugal German farmer of Meredith township, is a native of
Germany, born June 13, 1834. She came when a young woman to America with her
parents and located in the German settlement of Guttenburg, Iowa. They
afterwards moved to Grant county, Wisconsin, where she was married to Mr.
Ackerman and resided until 1883.
That year they came to Kansas and bought
land which they put under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Ackerman was an
extensive traveler. He spent two years in England, one year in France, one year
in Algiers and one year in Africa. He had followed the occupation of mining
until after his marriage, never having plowed a furrow or harnessed a horse. His
wife had been reared on a farm in Germany and she assisted him very materially.
Mr. Ackerman was one of the group of eighty-four relatives who came to America
on the same vessel; all young Germans who prospered and are representative
people. Mr. Ackerman died September 30, 1898.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman
four children have been born, viz: Annie Mary, who lives on a farm in Ottawa
county. Peter, unmarried, lives with his mother, controls her business interests
and operates the farm. Gertrude, wife of Patrick O'Reily. Rosa, the youngest
child, deceased in 1895.
Mrs. Ackerman and her son own a tract of four
hundred and eighty acres of land all under cultivation. They have been raising
corn extensively until the present year (1901) when they have sowed one hundred
and seventy acres of wheat. They raised one thousand five hundred bushels of
corn on two hundred and seventy acres of ground in 1901, when the crop was
almost a failure. They keep from seventy-five to one hundred head of Shorthorn
cattle; have raised and fed as high as five hundred hogs, and keep on an average
two hundred head. They owe their financial success to cattle and hogs.
Their land is situated on Pipe creek and no more fertile soil can be found in
the country. In 1898, this farm produced fourteen thousand bushels of corn; two
rows eighty rods in length shucked out twenty-eight bushels. They have had
ground that produced one hundred bushels to the acre. The Ackermans are members
of the Catholic church, St. Peter's congregation.
EDWARD J. ALEXANDER.
The present county clerk of Cloud county, Edward J. Alexander, who
was elected to fulfill the requirements of that office by the Republican party
in November, 1902, has been a resident of Concordia since the autumn of 1885,
when he accepted a clerkship in the Hinman dry goods store and continned in that
capacity until, as a candidate, he started on his electioneering tour. Mr.
Alexander is a native of Kankakee, Illinois, born in 1860, of French Canadian
parentage. His family consists of a wife and the daughter of a brother, whose
wife is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander adopted the little girl, who is now
thirteen years of age. The family are members of the Catholic church. Mr.
Alexander is identified in a prominent way with the Catholic Order of Foresters.
He has represented the order as a delegate to different conventions for several
years. Mr. Alexander is an accommodating official and worthy of the office
bestowed upon him by the people of Cloud county.
EATON ANDERSON.
The subject of this sketch is Eaton Anderson, an old resident of Elk
township and one of the many prosperous farmers of that locality. Mr. Anderson
was born on the Western Reserve, Portage county, Ohio, May 18, 1845. His
paternal grandfather was of Scotch birth. He emigrated to America early in life
and settled on the Reserve three miles south of Ravenna, and not many miles
distant from Canton, the home of our late martyred President, William McKinley.
The grandmother and aged wife survives, quietly waiting at the old homestead for
the messenger that will summon her to join the husband of her youth.
Mr.
Anderson is a son of James Anderson, who was born, reared and married in
Pennsylvania. His mother, Sarah Eaton, was born in the same state. Her
grandfather left England, his native land, and settled in Pennsylvania at an
early day. Mr. Anderson's parents removed to Ohio and subsequently to Kosciusko
county, Indiana, near the town of Warsaw, where they both passed away, his
mother in 1856 and his father in 1873. Mr. Anderson and a sister, Mrs. Rebecca
Romine, of Newton county, Indiana are the only surviving members of a family of
twelve children.
Mr. Anderson was married in 1869 to Wilhelmina E.
Hanolds, a daughter of Bowman Hanolds. Her paternal grandfather, who had
followed the sea as a "jolly tar," emigrated to America and settled in Salem,
New Jersey, where her father was born. Bowman Hanolds removed to Ohio and was
married in that state and reared a family of nine children, but four of whom are
living, three daughters and one son. The brother cast his lot and fortunes in
Alamosa, a thriving little city in the San Luis valley of Colorado. He is a
railroad man. There is one sister in Nebraska and one in Michigan. In 1874 Mr.
and Mrs. Anderson removed to Colorado and resided for two and one-half years in
Colorado Springs, while Mr. Anderson freighted through and over the mountain
districts of the southern and western part of the state when the great railroad
system that now intersects that region was unknown beyond Pueblo. In 1877 he
removed to the San Luis valley and located four miles west of Monte Vista, where
he operated a dairy very successfully, one year's output amounting to seven
hundred and fifty poands of butter. Mrs. Anderson's health becoming impared by
the high altitude of that country, they sold their interests there and started
on an overland journey without any special destination in view. Uppermost in
their thoughts was a desire to locate where their children would be accorded
educational advantages. The fame of Kansas, her school privileges, the bulwark
of independence, attracted their attention and September 7, 1881 found them
located in Cloud county, a consummation they have never regretted, for continued
prosperity has been their recompense.
Mr. Anderson's farm is the original
homestead of Walter G. Reid, the present register of deeds of Cloud county. A
small creek runs through his land, and the trees that grow along its banks
impart a pleasing effect to the landscape. The little cottonwood house has been
razed to the ground and supplanted by a comfortable seven room residence. The
principal product of the farm is corn and Mr. Anderson has never had a total
failure of that crop. In 1889 he had eighty acres that yielded five thousand and
two hundred bushels. He raises cattle, hogs and horses. Of the latter he is
pardonably proud of a span of four year old trotters of pure Hambletonian stock.
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson: Maud, their first
born, died when two years of age in the state of Michigan. Walter F., is a
resident of North Dakota. Lulu Belle, is the wife of George C. Packard, who is
connected with the Lumber, Milling and Mercantile Company, of Mansfield,
Arkansas, an extensive concern. Grace Ellen, a sixteen-year-old daughter, is a
student of district No. 96.
In politics Mr. Anderson is a stalwart
Democrat. He has been a valued member of the school board of District No. 96,
more commonly known as the "Boggs district," for twelve years. The family are
members of the Clyde congregation of the Christain church, and among the most
esteemed citizens of the community. Mr. Anderson is a broad-minded man, "with
malice toward none and charity for all," a man of pleasing address and an
interesting conversationalist. He has established for himself a good name which
"is better than apples of gold and pictures of silver."
CHARLES
H. ANGEVINE, M. D.
The subject of this sketch, Doctor C.H. Angevine,
traces his lineage back to the old Huguenot family who originated from Anjon,
France, where the Angevine Castle stills stands as a monument to the race. One
branch of the family were wine merchants of Bordeaux and the wine that bears
their name originated with them in the vineyards of that locality. Doctor
Angevine's paternal grandfather was a weaver of silk and followed that
occupation after their advent in the state of New York, and our subject
remembers hearing the merry hum of the spinning wheel and witnessing the deft
fingers transform the silken threads into beautiful shimmering cloth. He was a
personal friend of Tom Payne, the celebrated author. He was also a seafaring man
for many years and gathered many relices from different countries and ports. Of
these interesting heir-looms a number are in possession of Doctor Angevine;
among them his old log books, giving detailed accounts of shipwrecks,
experiences at sea, etc. He was among the early settlers in the primeval forests
of Ohio before there was a shadow of the now populous city of Cincinnati. A
portion of the old estate is still retained by the Angevine family. He lived to
be a very old man and with his venerable wife of fifty years celebrated their
golden wedding. On this important occasion he exchanged a $100 bank note for one
hundred gold dollars, presenting one to each of his guests who congratulated
them. He had two left, the aged couple each keeping one for themselves. Dr.
Angevine was a guest of this memorable golden wedding.
Doctor Angevine
has an ancient Bible which contains a list of the contributors who subscribed
towards having the volume published. He also has a silver plate that was a
bridal present to his grandmother over a century ago. His father was one of
seven sons, none of whom ever reared a male child except the father of our
subject. The great commonwealth of Ohio was the birth place of Doctor Angevine.
He was born in the month of July, 1856. At the age of eleven years he removed
with his parents to Ottawa, Illinois. In 1872 he returned to Cincinnati and
apprenticed himself to A.C. Hill, a druggist of that city and subsequently
entered the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, graduating from that instituion[sic]
in 1876.
He came to Clyde in May, 1887, and became associated with E.S.
Pitzer in the drug business. In 1890 he purchased Mr. Pitzer's interest, became
sole proprietor and in addition to his profession continues to conduct an
extensive drug business. Doctor Angevine's preliminary medical studies were
pursued while engaged in pharmacy and supplemented by a regular course. In
December, 1901, he was granted a certificate to practice medicine by the Kansas
State Board of Medical Examiners. His aim has been to keep abreast with the
advances made in the science of the medical world and with this commendable
object in view he has been a careful student and reader of current literature
along those lines. His life has been an active one and he is now in the prime of
his useful career with bright prospects for increasing success.
Doctor
Angevine was married to Miss Julia Leland, of Ottawa Illinois, in June, 1889.
Their beautiful and modern home is brightened by the presence of three children,
two sons and a daughter, viz: Leland Charles, Dorothy Lou, and Monfort Edward,
aged eleven, eight and five years, respectively. Doctor Angevine is a staunch
supporter of the Democratic party and takes an active interest in political and
legislative affairs.
HENRY M. ANSDELL.
Our subject is a
brother of William Ansdell, mentioned elsewhere. Henry M. Ansdell was born in
the state of Wisconsin, in 1851, and with his brother came overland with ox
teams to Kansas; their destination was the southern part of the state but when
they arrived at Waterville they fell in company with other emigrants who were
coming to this part of the country and through the influence of these
homeseekers they came to Cloud county instead. They were not long in arriving at
the conclusion that no better place could be found and Mr. Ansdell filed on the
land he sold to Christ Christianson in 1877. He then bought the original
homestead of Frank Bowe, where he has made one of the best homes in the
community and all the comforts of life are theirs. In 1892 he erected a handsome
residence of fourteen rooms. His farm consists of one hunderd[sic] and sixty
acres of land. Mr. Ansdell raised corn altogether until his neighbors by raising
wheat compelled him to engage in the same industry on account of the chinch
bugs: however, the present year he has a thirty acre field of corn that is
yielding from thirty-four to forty-six bushels per acre; also a field of
eighteen acres of oats that yielded forty-eight bushels per acre. There are
several varieties of fruit, apples, plums, peaches and strawberries. They have a
strawberry bed which yields plentifully and is one of the few in this locality.
Mr. Ansdell was married in 1882, to Annie Moreland of Lawrence township. Her
father, Joseph Moreland, settled in Cloud county in 1879. They first settled in
Grant township and lived on the Ansdell homestead; our subject having to look
after his father's interests met Miss Moreland and in due time they were
married. To their union one child, a son Winfred H., has been born. He is an
intelligent young man of superior education. He was instructed by his mother at
home and did not attend school until prepared to enter upon a high school course
which he finished in the Jamestown school at the age of thirteen years.
Mrs. Ansdell was a teacher in her native home, Athens county, Ohio, before her
advent in Kansas. The son is gifted in mathematics, grasping the most intricate
problems without application. Mr. Ansdell is a public spirited citizen, takes an
interest in legislative affairs and in substance stated that when the Populists
organized, it only strengthened his faith in the Republican party.
WILLIAM R. ANSDELL.
William R. Ansdell, who came to Cloud county in
the year 1870 stands as one of the "tried and true," and after being weighed in
the balance has not been wanting. Upon his arrival in the "garden spot of the
world," he selected the homestead whereon he now resides, but the home of then
and now bears little resemblance. "The prairie shall blossom like the rose," is
most surely fulfilled at the Ansdell farm. Mr. Ansdell's father, Frederick F.S.
Ansdell was a man well known to all the old settlers of the county as having
established the first store in 1870, which was the only one in the vicinity
until the city of Jamestown was founded, and as that seemed a good location for
business he was one of the first to open an extensive general merchandise store;
almost simultaneously Myron M. Strain and H.W. Hansen were competitors for the
town and country trade.
F.F.S. Ansdell was a native of England and upon
attaining his majority emigrated to America. He spent a few months in New York
City where he met and married Miss Mary E. Patterson, and emigrated to Wisconsin
when that state was sparsely settled; Indians committed many depredations and
wolves made the night hideous with their blood-thirsty howls. Here their eight
children were born, grew and thrived making the silent woods ring with their
glad and happy shouts, laughter and song. Five of these children are still
living. Their nearest neighbor was six miles distant and as the telephone system
was not in effect those days the women of the family could not hang over the
back fence to have a bit of gossip nor could a choice morsel be transmitted over
the 'phone.
In 1870, Mr. Ansdell decided to emigrate to Kansas for two
reasons; the first one to secure more land for his three growing sons and to
seek a more salubrious climate. He found a number of claims taken but only a few
settlers living on them. His two sons, William R. and Henry M., and James Carter
are the only citizens remaining that were in the township at the time of his
arrival. Mr. Ansdell was one of the representative men of the county, but was
not a politician. He was the second postmaster of Jamestown and also postmaster
at Arena, Iowa county, Wisconsin, during the war and until he removed to Kansas.
Mr. Ansdell was the first station-agent at Jamestown. Was appointed and held the
position several months without salary, in the meantime not selling many
tickets. Several years afterward he put in a claim to the railroad company and
they remitted the usual salary paid to agents without hesitation or comment. He
was deceased in 1887, and his wife in 1893.
William R. Ansdell was
married in 1884, to Miss Ida E. Prince, of Concordia, Kansas, who is a sister of
Mrs. "Jack" Billings. They are the parents of six children, four of whom are
living; Richard, a young man seventeen years of age is on his last year in the
Jamestown high school preparatory to taking a business course in the Great
Western Business College, of Concordia, Kansas, one of the most thorough schools
in the state. Fred, aged fourteen, George, nine years of age, and Margaret, a
winsome little daughter of eighteen months, complete the family.
Mr.
Ansdell owns two hundred and thirty-four acres of excellent land all first and
second bottom, principally first, Buffalo creek intersecting the north eighty.
His crops consist principally of wheat and alfalfa, seldom averaging less than
twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre. He considers alfalfa a leading crop as
it brings him more remunerative and quicker returns than any other branch of
farming in which he has experimented. After cutting and garnering three crops in
one season he has had a field of ten bushels per acre of seed which netted him
four dollars per bushel. In politics Mr. Ansdell is a Republican. He has held a
number of township offices and is now chairman of the central committee of the
Republican party and has filled that office several terms at different times. He
is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of twenty-two years
standing, a member of the Rebecca lodge, an Ancient Free & Accepted Mason of
twenty-four years membership and belongs to the Beloit Commandery. Mr. Ansdell
justly prides himself on his well improved acres even though it has taken years
of toil to develop this fine farm with its comfortable house and commodious barn
which have supplanted the primitive dugout and sheds. Mrs. Ansdell is a woman of
education and culture and taught five years in the schools of Cloud county. Mr.
Ansdell and family are much respected. They have conquered a checkered fate and
the road which they travel seems broad and easy in comparison with the rough and
hilly one of the past.
JOHN H. ASHLEY.
The subject of this
sketch, John H. Ashley, came to Kansas in 1879, and bought one hundred and sixty
acres of State Normal school land in Buffalo township for a consideration of
eight hundred dollars. Mr. Ashley possessed but little capital other than
courage and industry, those important factors essential to success in Kansas and
from these accessories he has built one of the best country homes in the county.
Mr. Ashley came from the state of Michigan, where he had followed the occupation
of farming. He chartered a car through to Concordia, shipping a team of horses,
about a year's supply of provisions and being in a timbered country, he had
lumber on hand which was also brought through in the car. This they used in
building their first residence, a house sixteen by twenty-four feet, in
dimensions, one and one-half stories high with boards up and down and a barn of
the same architecture. A brother-in-law, the Honorable S.C. Wheeler, had
preceded them and through his glowing description of the state and its
possibilities Mr. Ashley was prompted to follow and has not regretted the
venture. He has been prosperous from the beginning, although he has met with
some reverses, prominent among which was the burning of his barn in 1880 by
prairie fire, including a year's supply of corn for feeding purposes.
Mr.
Ashley's paternal grandparents were Leonard and Sally (McDougal) Ashley, of
Canada. His parents were James and Polly L. (Magee) Ashley. His father, the
Reverend James Ashley, a Free-Will Baptist minister, wasborn in Toronto, Canada,
November 18, 1815. In the year 1826 the family emigrated to Huron county, Ohio,
where, amidst advantages and disadvantages, the boy who had not yet attained his
majority developed into manhood. His father was a farmer and unable to give his
son superior educational advantages, apprenticed him to a blacksmith that he
might weld a livelihood out of that avocation. At the age of fifteen years he
was converted to the Baptist faith and in 1841 began a successful ministerial
career. He was an earnest advocate of Christian principles and his sympathy,
affability and colloquial gifts attracted all classes of people. New fields were
opened, churches instituted and the Seneca quarterly meeting organized, where
most of his pastoral and evangelical work was done and much good accomplished.
In 1855 he removed to Cass county, Michigan, where the remainder of his
useful life was spent, laboring there for more than twenty-five years. During
this period he preached twelve years in Sumnerville and in the meantime traveled
a distance of eighteen thousand miles. In 1860 he was elected to the
legislature, but would not consent to a second term because of the crookedness
and corruptness of political affairs. He died March 23, 1882. Polly L. Magee was
of Scotch ancestry and by her marriage with the Reverend James Ashley she became
the mother of twelve children.
Our subject was born in Huron county,
Ohio, in 1842 and was married in 1864 to Harriet Stephens, a daughter of David
R. Stephens and the granddaughter of Lyman Stephens, who settled in Cass county,
Michigan, in 1835, having emigrated from Oneida county, New York, via the Erie
canal to Buffalo and thence to Detroit by boat, where they procured an ox-team,
traveled overland and settled in Cass county. Mrs. Ashley's father was at that
time thirteen years of age and drove a "breaking team" for the compensation of
twenty-five cents per day. The state at this time was new and their place of
abode was a cabin roofed with bark peeled from the trees with which it was
densely surrounded. Their wordly possessions consisted of a yoke of oxen, a
wagon and twelve dollars in cash, but they went bravely to work and with strong
arms and willing hands transformed the wooded land into tillable and cultivated
ground. During the first winter five hundred Indians camped near their house but
were of a peaceable and friendly tribe. Mrs. Ashley's father was a successful
farmer and, with the exception of one, the oldest settler of Mason township,
Cass county, Michigan. He ran a threshing machine for more than twenty-four
years and purchased the first grain elevator in that locality. In 1867 he
brought the second portable steam engine into the county. He died in 1896, one
year following his golden wedding, leaving a wife who still survives and lives
on the old homestead in Michigan, where all her married life has been spent.
Before her marriage she was Ellen E. Roberts. The two sons, George L. and John
L., both reside at the old homestead.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ashley four
children have been born, viz: Arletta May, the eldest daughter, is the wife of
Lee Judd, a carpenter with residence in Oakland, California. Frank W., the
eldest son, was married to Atha Gilbert, a daughter of J.H. Gilbert. who settled
in Cloud county in 1883, and nine years later moved to Oklahoma, where he still
resides near Hitchcock. Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert were both teachers, the former
having taught between twenty-five and thirty years and is well known in the
schools of Cloud county. Frank W. Ashley owns eighty acres of land near his
father's place. The second son, Will S., is unmarried and assists his father on
the farm. Mary LeEtta, a promising young girl of fourteen years, is at home.
Mr. Ashley served the last tell and one-half months of the Civil war in
Company C, Second Michigan Cavalry, under Captain H.L. Hempstead and Colonel
Johnson. During this time he saw active service and was in the battles of
Franklin and Nashville. He was promoted corporal about a week after enlisting.
His company won laurels during their brief existence as the recruits of Company
C, which was organized in 1861. During his war experience Mr. Ashley had two
horses shot from under him.
From the original little box house erected at
the time of locating in Cloud county a commodious residence of nine rooms has
grown, surrounded and enhanced by a luxuriant grove composed mostly of
box-elders. Under the cooling shadows of these trees the old veterans and
members of the Grand Army of the Republic of Concordia assemble annually to
rehearse experiences and extend the hand of fellowship to old comrades. Mr.
Ashley follows diversified farming and also gives considerable attention to
fruit growing, and his prosperity is the result of his welldirected energies. He
is a public-spirited man, a staunch Republican in his political views and takes
an interest in everything pertaining to the promotion of all worthy causes. Mrs.
Ashley is a woman of refinement and has been a true helpmate to her husband,
assisting very materially in acquiring their present competency. The Ashley home
is one of perfect harmony. FranK W. and his wife, since their marriage of ten
years ago, have lived at his father's home as members of one family, hence,
instead of losing their son they gained a daughter.
HANS ASMUSSEN.
One of the prosperous farmers of Solomon township, who has
helped to demonstrate what a poor man can do in Kansas, is Hans Asmussen, an
industrious Dane. He was born in Denmark in 1853. When a boy he was apprenticed
to a miller and worked in a flouring mill three years. When twenty-one years of
age he entered the military service, as is the custom of his country, and served
one year.
In 1882, he left his native land to find a home in Kansas. He
came direct to this state and bought the original homestead of Moses Louthan, on
Third creek. The land was under a fair state of improvement, but he built a
substantial stone residence of six rooms the same year. In 1895 he built an
excellent barn thirty-four feet square. This farm of two hundred and twenty-two
acres is an exceptionally good one, well watered and well timbered.
Mr.
Asmussen was married, in 1883, to Mary Hansen, a sister of Mrs. Fred Beck. Their
family consists of four boys and one daughter. Chris, a young man of seventeen
years, assists with the work on the farm; Henry, Anna Maria, Jens Peter, and
Carl, are aged fifteen, thirteen, eleven and nine years, respectively.
F. J. ATWOOD.
F. J. Atwood began his career in the First National
Batik of Brandon, Vermont. of which Governor N.F. Sprague was president. Mr.
Atwood came to Concordia and assumed the position of cashier in the Cloud County
Bank until he promoted the organization of the First National Bank in 1883. He
is one of the very best financiers and bankers known throughout the country, is
proficient in all the various branches of the great banking system of both
continents and where profound calculations are required he is able to cope with
and surmount all difficulties. Socially and personally he is a man of superior
ability, possessing confidence of his friends and colleagues. He is a man of
marked literary talent and likewise a close student, but his retiring nature has
retarded the prominence he is entitled to in the literary world.
Mr.
Atwood's first wife before her marriage was Miss Jessie Hawkins, of Vermont. She
was a woman cultured in the gifts of nature, music and literature and endowed
with an intellect which enabled her to keep pace with her talented husband. This
young wife and her infant child were separated by death but a few hours. His
present wife was Miss Kate Tyner, who is a woman of refined instincts and
possessed of many personal charms. Music is her special accomplishment. She has
a well trained, high soprano voice. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood are members of high
standing in the Presbyterian church. Mr. Atwood is the faithful president and
active worker of the Christian Endeavor Society. He is one of the most
philanthropic men of Concordia, contributing liberally to the support of all
public enterprises of a worthy nature designed for the promotion or benefit of
his fellow men. The Atwoods reside in a beautifully appointed home, situated on
the corner of Eleventh and Republican streets.
ARTHUR AUGUSTIN AVERY.
The subject of this sketch is one of the prosperous sons of
Charles D. Avery, of the preceding sketch, and one of the most well-to-do
farmers and stockmen of Sibley township.
Mr. Avery was born in Jackson
county, Michigan, near the town of Parma, in 1870, and was but two and a half
years old when the family emigrated to Kansas; hence he is practically a product
of the state. He was educated in the old Sibley school house, No. 16, on the
original Sibley townsite, and taught school for three years, two years in
Lawrenceburg and one year near Aurora. With the exception of this school work he
has always been a farmer.
Mr. Avery was married in 1895 to Miss Mary Anna
Iverson, a very deserving and amiable young woman whose parents were old
settlers in Sibley township. She is a daughter of the late Lotus and Christine
(Hallson) Iverson, who homesteaded section eleven, the farm where Mr. and Mrs.
Avery now live. The Iversons were of Danish birth. Her father was born in
Schleswig-Holstein, March 28, 1827. He was a seafaring man for some years,
making voyages from San Francisco around to Cape Horn. He subsequently located
temporarily in California and engaged in the alluring occupation of gold mining,
owned valuable properties and acquired a fortune, but lost the greater part of
it in unwise speculation. After his wealth became shattered he gathered the
fragments of his successes together, and acting upon Shakespeare's lines,
"There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads
on to fortune,"
he came to America, sanguine that good results would yet
follow his undertakings. He made two trips across the United States and had
selected a site near Omaha, Nebraska, for a home, but fell in company with some
of his countrymen in Junction City, who were coming to Cloud county, Kansas. He
joined them, established a home, returned to Denmark and married. Mr. Iverson
prospered in Kansas and founded a permanent home where he died, surrounded by
the comforts of life, July 19, 1899. Mrs. Iverson was born in Denmark June 12,
1846. She was deceased March 1868, leaving two daughters. Two sons were born to
their union, both of whom were deceased in early youth.
Ida Christine has
gained prominence as an educational worker and a teacher of music. She is now
pursuing a classical course in Stanford University. The rudiments of her
education were acquired in joint district No. 1, Cloud and Republic counties,
and she taught two terms of school before going to California eight years ago.
She was one of a party of tourists who visited the Paris Exposition, including a
trip to Austria, Ireland, England Scotland, Germany, Italy and many other places
of interest. Her present aim and ambition is to complete a University course as
a means of obtaining higher and more responsible positions.
Mrs. Avery
was educated in the home school and is possessed of considerable talent in both
music and art. She is a woman of many admirable qualities, and the interior of
their home suggests the refined taste of its matron. After the mother's death,
Mrs. Avery was her father's housekeeper. To Mr. and Mrs. Avery two children have
been born Lloyd Lawrence and Helen Christine. Aside from the homestead Mr. Avery
owns four hundred and forty-four acres of fertile bottom land along the
Republican river that is in a highly cultivated state. He keeps a herd of about
one hundred and twenty-five head of native cattle and has a pasture of eighty
acres along the river. He raises on in average over one hundred head of hogs and
has made his money in stock. Like most of the farmers along the Republican he
raises corn and ships it in the form of cattle and hogs. Mr. Avery has enlarged
the residence, built commodious sheds and otherwise improved the homestead. From
one of his adjoining farms Mr. Avery sawed thirty thousand feet of cottonwood
lumber from a grove and avenue of trees that have sprung up into giants within a
little more than a quarter of a century.
Politically Mr. Avery is a
Republican. He has been treasurer of the school board for five years. Mr. and
Mrs. Avery are among the representative people of the community, are members of
the district No. 95 Methodist Episcopal church and associated with all worthy
measures for the improvement of the locality in which they live.
CHARLES DANIEL AVERY.
Charles D. Avery, the subject of this sketch, is
one of the old residents and honored citizens of Sibley township, who emigrated
to Kansas in 1872 The first year of his residence in the state he lived on a
rented farm six miles south of Blue Rapids. The following winter (1873) he came
to Cloud county and paid John Taggart, a brother of Oscar Taggart, of Concordia,
eight hundred dollars for his homestead right and moved his family on the farm,
where he continued to reside, and where he has acquired a commodious home, after
long years of privations and reverses incident to grasshoppers, prairie fire and
drouth. The former did not damage him as seriously as the prairie fire that came
in March of that year and burned the corn in his cribs, along with some hogs. In
scorching the latter, forty or fifty little motherless pigs were more or less
ruined; a new harvester, for which he had just paid one hundred and twenty-five
dollars, his new wagon, fanning mill, wheat and oats in the granary; all were
consumed and the house only saved by the most strenuous efforts. This was a
serious loss to a man just starting in a new country and several hundred dollars
in debt, but upon this foundation Mr. Avery has gained a competency and a
desirable home.
Mr. Avery is a native of Niagara county, New York, born
in 1839. He is a son of Daniel and Almeda (Lewis) Avery. His father lived in
Vermont, the place of his nativity, and that of many generations of Averys until
after his marriage, when he removed to the state of New York, where he resided
until his death in 1880. He was a blacksmith and farmer by occupation. Mr.
Avery's mother died in 1860. Our subject is the second youngest child in a
family of thirteen children, only one of whom besides himself is living. Mr.
Avery was reared in the family of a paternal aunt and drifted away from the
hearthstone of his parents.
When the contest between the north and south
was inaugurated, Mr. Avery joined the Twelfth New York Independent Battery Light
Artillery, with its quota of one hundred and twelve men under Captain W.H.
Ellis. He enlisted November 20, 1861, for three years, and when his time expired
re-enlisted and demonstrated his patriotism by serving until the close of
hostilities. His company were in the front rank at the battle of the Wilderness
and Shelton Farm. They had four guns taken by the enemy at Jerusalem Plank Road.
They participated in the engagement at Ream's Station, one of the hardest fought
small battles in the history of the Civil war. While they were stationed at Fort
Haskell in front of Petersburg a shell was sent in their midst. They saw it
advancing and as they dodged behind various places of protection the iron sphere
exploded, sending its missiles in every direction, but fortunately no one was
hurt.
Mr. Avery was slightly wounded from the explosion of a shell. The
soldiers were quartered in a bomb-proof retreat where they slept. It was a sort
of dugout. The earth was excavated to a depth of five feet and covered with
dirt, well packed down. Each apartment consisted of four bunks, with three men
to each berth. Mr. Avery had been doing guard duty and had repaired to this
place of safety for a few hours' rest and sleep. He had just retired in one of
the bunks, when with a terrific noise a shell of about sixty pounds weight came
crashing through. As it exploded he was struck on the wrist, which cracked the
bone and disabled him for duty for about five weeks, but instead of going to the
hospital he remained in the battery. Mr. Avery, with two cousins, were comrades,
all going into the service and returning together. Their company was under the
charge of three different captains. The first was discharged for disgraceful
conduct, the second was George F. McKnight, and he was succeeded by Charles A.
Clark. The two latter were from Buffalo, New York. Soon after the war Mr. Avery
settled in Jackson county, Michigan, where he was married to Miss Mary E. Wilcox
in 1867. To their union seven sons and three daughters were born, viz: Charles
Avery, their eldest child, is a well known photographer of Concordia. Several
illustrations in this volume show the excellent character of his work. Arthur,
whose personal sketch follows this of his father. Lewis is a farmer of Sibley
township. Myrtle is the wife of John Taylor, of Sprague, Nebraska. Guy is a
jeweler of Hanover, Kansas. Cecil, who was recently married and lives on the
homestead. Lulu is the wife of William Clark, a prominent and well-to-do young
farmer of Sibley township. Ralph, a young man of twenty, who is teaching his
first term of school in district No. 95. He graduated from the Great Western
Business College in 1902. Roy, the youngest son, is aged sixteen and Juanita, a
little daughter, aged eleven. Mrs. Avery, who was a very estimable woman, was
deceased in May, 1894. The Averys are highly respectable people, as well as
prosperous. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of district No.
95.
Mr. Avery is a Republican politically and has held various township
offices. He is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
CARL E. AXELSSON.
C.E. Axelsson is a son of Axtel Peterson, taking
the Christian name of his father for his surname, as is the custom in their
country. Axtel Peterson died a half century ago in Sweden, never having left his
native land.
C. E. Axelsson was born in Kalmer, Sweden, in 1840. In 1869
he came to America and settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he lived ten years.
April 25, 1879, he emigrated to Kansas and after a stay of three months in
Mitchell county, came to Jamestown, when there were but few houses, and at the
beginning of the building of the railroad. He bought lots near where the Central
Hotel is located, returned for his family and has since made Jamestown his home.
Mr. Axelsson is a shoemaker by trade. In 1887 he opened an exclusive shoe
store, buying the building he now occupies in 1889. He had learned the trade in
Sweden, where he served as apprentice about six and one-half years, in the
meantime learning every branch of the trade, cutting, fitting etc. Before coming
to America he had worked at Stockholm, Hamburg, Germany and Hull, England. While
in Brooklyn he became one of a corporation in a boot and shoe manufacturing
establishment, where he remained six years.
Mr. Axelsson is a linguist,
reading and speaking several different languages: Swedish, German, English,
Danish and Norwegian. In 1874 he was married to Christine Smith, a native of
Schleswig, Danish America. Their family consists of seven children. Mary
Christine has occupied the position of book-keeper in a candy store in Chicago
for six years. She is one of the leading employes of this large concern,
practically at the head of the business, owing to the continued illness of her
employer. John A., was for three years a brakeman on the Central Branch
railroad, but is now located in Illinois, near Chicago. Caroline is taking a
course in telegraphy in the city of Chicago. Alma is also in the same school.
Otto, Carl, and Esther, aged thirteen, eleven and eight years respectively.
In politics Mr. Axelsson is a Republican, and was a member of the first city
council in Jamestown. The family are members of St. Luke's Lutheran church.
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