Cloud County
KSGenWeb
ROBERT McLEAN.
When the homestead law was enacted and rumors of
the wonderful resources of this great western country were carried
north, south and eastward, Robert McLean determined to emigrate to
Kansas, and since 1868 this original and interesting character has been
making history in Cloud county. He got his first glimpse of frontier
life in Meredith township, where he joined his brother, the late Thomas
McLean, and later homesteaded a quarter section of land, one mile
northwest of the hamlet of Meredith. Instead of leaving the country
during the Indian uprising, as most of the settlers did, Mr. McLean
sought safer quarters with his brother, the late Alex. McLean, who had
located just over the line in Ottawa county. He was undoubtedly a
welcome visitor, for while his brother plowed corn our subject, with a
gun in hand ready for action, stood as sentinel keeping a close
vigilance on the developments of savage warfare.
Mr. McLean is of
Scotch Irish origin, born in the Dominion of Canada in 1848. In 1872 he
returned to his former home and was married to Miss Mary Smith, who was
also a native of Canada, born in 1852. After having equipped himself
with a helpmate, they repaired to their new western home and in 1874
bought the Morgan Grant stock of general merchandise and prospered as
everybody did in those days, who had wares to sell. In 1884 he returned
to Canada and secured a farm, but two years later came to Kansas, and
bought the same store in Meredith; but again became restless and thought
there must be a country more to his liking, consequently sold his store
and sent his family to Canada, while he prospected for fairer fields,
and, although he spent four years in various parts of the country,
including California, so great was his "hankering" to again be a
merchant on the broad prairies of the Sunflower state, that a few months
later he, for the third time resumed business in the old place. About
twelve months later, however, he sold and left the village of Meredith
for the fourth and last time. He bought the store of James Clithero, of
Concordia, and a year later sold his interest to James Hubert Hodge,
bought the Murphy homestead in Meredith township and engaged in the
stock business very successfully. Retaining the farm, he bought the Jake
Fetters store located at Hollis, and one year subsequently conducted a
general merchandise business in Cuba, Republic county. In 1901 he bought
one hundred and sixty acres of land in Sibley township, his present
home. A great deal of real estate has passed through Mr. McLean's hands,
having bought and sold almost a score of farms. He is now interested in
stock and says he is raising "yellow corn and black hogs." He has at
present thirty-four brood sows, and buys and sells constantly. In
January, 1897, "The Sample Case," a paper devoted to the interests of
the United Commercial Travelers, appears the following comprehensive
"take off" on Mr. McLean, which was evidently written by "A Brother" who
saw him as others see him.
A WESTERN GENIUS.
Away out West in Kansas, two hundred miles or more -
Some twenty miles from no place, stood a little country store,
And the man who ran the shanty (a Canadian by birth)
Just worked the store and people for all that they were worth.
A regular museum, where was kept for sale or trade,
A general stock of every earthly thing that e'er was made;
Dry goods, bacon, jewelry, molasses, plus and soap,
Sulky plows and parasols, tobacco, silk and rope.
Feathers, flour and sailer kraut, and calico, and nails,
Buggies, beans and baling twine, and needles, knives and pails.
He dealt in hogs and cattle, and the various kinds of grain,
And he made every edge to cut, did this same Bob McLean.
Now Robert was a genius of the most emphatic kind,
Just as plain and blunt in manner as any man you'd find;
Was brave and broad and honest, and had within his breast
As big and warm and soft a heart as could be found out West.
He wore a pair of pantaloons made out of cottonade,
A pair of cowhide boots outside, a hickory shirt, home-made,
And one well greased suspender held his pantaloons in place,
An old wool hat, turned up behind, projected o'er his face,
But Bob got tired of keeping store, he hankered for a farm
A "quarter" of rich prairie dirt would fit him like a charm,
And so he struck a granger who was asking for a trade,
And hayseed took the yardstick, while Bob shouldered the spade.
If any of Bob's hosts of friends should stray out into Cloud county,
they will find him husking pumpkins, and as proud of raising hogs
and cabbages and cockle-burs and corn,
as any man that's farmed it every day since he was born.
A. BROTHER.
Though a genial, kind-hearted man, Mr. McLean
is a little high strung, and viewed from a duelist standpoint, he is
rather fierce, as the incident related here implies: The seeds of
rebellion had been planted by a preacher of the Free Methodist faith,
who had farmed our subject's land and who, it is claimed, was hauling to
market more than his share of the corn. Mr. McLean remonstrated with the
divine, but his continued efforts were unavailling; he remained
obdurate, and hot and hotter words ensued until Mr. McLean supplemented
his persuasions by letting loose the flood gates of his wrath and
transfixing the expounder of the gospel with a slap beside the head with
a shovel. But there was an unpleasant sequel to his pugilistic
tendencies, for his opponent was in a vindictive frame of mind and did
not hesitate to institute legal proceedings against his assailant, and
on account of the prominence of the individuals, considerable notoriety
was given the affair, Mr. McLean was arraigned for assault and battery,
found guilty and fined one hundred dollars and costs, which amounted to
more than seven hundred dollars - rather an expensive slap.
Mr.
McLean talks interestingly of the early days in Kansas. He was a true
pioneer and enjoyed the wild freedom of the plains. While on a buffalo
hunt his party found the skeleton of a man, and the bones of his ox
team, with the wagon which had drawn the luckless frontiersman to his
death on the lonely prairie, at the hands of some murderous Indian hand.
They carried away with them the skull and an arrow that held together
two joints of the backbone.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. McLean
consists of seven children. Mark, the eldest son is one of the
proprietors of "The Oxford," a popular restaurant in El Reno, Oklahoma.
He is prosperous and an adept in the business, having been connected
with prominent places in Deliver and San Diego. Mary, the eldest
daughter, is the wife of A. Richards, a farmer of Sibley township.
Frank, the second son, is of an agricultural turn of mind and the prime
mover in farm and stock interests. James, a young man of seventeen
years, exhibits special talent for music. Anna, aged fifteen, graduated
from District No. 16, in 1902, with the highest grades and won three
scholarships, namely: Baker, Ottawa and Great Bend Universities. Thomas,
their youngest son, was named for his uncle, Thomas McLean, the founder
of Meredith and well known to all old settlers of that locality, where
his widow, who survives him, still lives. Their youngest child, who
bears the good old Quaker name of Prudence, is aged ten.
Mr.
McLean is a Republican of pronounced type. He is not identified with any
denomination, but contributes to the Catholic church, of which his wife
and children are members. Hidden in a bower of trees on a knoll near the
center of the farm, a few rods distant from pretty Lake Sibley, stands
the pleasant home of the McLeans, where stranger or friend will always
find their "latch-string hanging out," for their hospitality is as
proverbial as Mr. McLean's individuality.
B. F. McMILLAN, D. D.
There are few clergymen better beloved by
their congregations and by the people of all classes in a community, than
Reverend B.F. McMillan, the pastor of the Presbyterian church of Glasco.
He wields an influence that is far reaching in its strength. He is a
forceful speaker, but is guarded in his utterances and does not assume
the aggressive, nor antagonize his religious assemblies, but rather
lives his religion that others may accept of their own volition. He is a
close and constant student by both instinct and habit, and a devoted
pastor that has developed an interest in Christian work far above the
average minister.
Reverend McMillan was born in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, in 1844, and when a lad of about eleven years of age
removed with his parents to Polo, Illinois, where he was reared, and
enlisted in Company E, Ninety-second Illinois, while a mere youth. He
was in a company of mounted infantry, under Colonel Smith D. Atkins, who
was afterward promoted to brigadier-general. Mr. McMillan served three
years and one month; acted as orderly for Major-General David Cruft, and
also served as sergeant and corporal. He was in the battle of
Chickamagua on the 19th and 20th of September, 1863; battles of
Ringgold, Dalton, Resaca, and Jonesboro, Georgia (where they lost
one-half of their regiment); Lovejoy Station, Trenton and skirmished all
through Georgia. They were in the battle of Waynesboro, under
Kilpatrick, and the battles of Savannah, Averyboro, Aiken, South
Carolina, Bentonville and Lookout Mountain. His regiment was in the
front at all times, having been first in line at Lookout Mountain, and
also when Chattanooga was taken.
Reverend McMillan received a
common school education before entering the United States service and
directly after his return he entered the Northwestern College at
Naperville, Illinois, where he remained until taking a theological
course at home and afterward under the direction of all uncle, Reverend
J.H. Pratt, D.D., who was a minister at Allentown, New Jersey. He had
turned his attention in the direction of education before entering the
army and while in the service, as time permitted. For a brief time he
engaged in the study of medicine, but again resumed his ministerial
studies, taking the Princeton course. He began his labors as a pastor in
Mitchell county, Kansas, in the year 1874, continuing until the year
1883, and then removed to New Jersey, where he engaged further in
theological studies. He came to Kansas with his father's family and
homesteaded land near Beloit in 1872; his father, brothers and one
sister all secured claims. His parents both died on the homestead eight
miles south of Beloit. His father died in 1898 at the age of ninety-two
years, and his mother in 1899 at the age of eighty-six. By a previous
marriage there were three children; by the second there were nine, all
of whom are living excepting one sister. A brother in Philadelphia is a
civil engineer; the other members of the family all live in Mitchell
county, Kansas.
Reverend McMillan's paternal ancestors were of
Scotch Covenanters and Dutch Reformed sects, while his maternal
ancestors were German Lutherans. His maternal grandfather was educated
in the University of Berlin, and was by profession a teacher, attorney
and surveyor. His paternal grandfather was a captain in the war of 1812.
It was in 1883, 1884 and 1885 that Reverend McMillan took a two years'
theological course under Doctor J.H. Pratt, of Allentown, New Jersey.
While in the east he visited in 1901 the old cemetery containing the
ashes of his ancestry and found graves that were marked 1735. Many
others were unmarked and moss-grown. His maternal grandfather was the
sexton of the Lutheran church built early in the seventeenth century,
which was later merged into the present German Reformed Church. Reverend
McMillan has in his possession the key to this primitive old house of
worship. After preaching several years in Mitchell county, Reverend
McMillan became pastor at Lincoln, Kansas, in the meantime laboring at
Vesper, Lucas and other neighboring towns. He assumed charge of the
Glasco congregation in 1896, and ministers to the congregations at
Simpson and Fisher Creek.
Reverend McMillan was married in April,
1877, to Julia S. Pratt, of Saltville, Mitchell county. Her father,
Doctor R.W. Pratt, graduated in medicine at Athens College, Ohio. Her
ancestors were of English origin and early settlers in Ohio, while it
was included in the northwestern territory. Her paternal grandfather was
Colonel Pratt. Her maternal grandfather, General John Brown, was
treasurer of the State University of Athens, Ohio. They were prominent
and well known pioneers. Mrs. MeMilian's parents located in Green
county, Illinois, in 1852, where she was born. After living in Kansas
twenty-five years they removed to Los Angeles, California, where her
mother still lives and where her father died in 1888. Mrs. McMillan is
the second eldest of ten children, all of whom are living. One brother
is a Presbyterian minister in Portland, Oregon, and one brother is a
physician in Alaska. All of her ancestors were professional men,
ministers and educators. Mrs. Julia P. Ballard, the well known author,
was her father's sister. Mr. Ballard is still a professor of the
University of New York and has almost reached the mark of four score
years.
Mr. and Mrs. McMillan are the parents of two sons and one
daughter. Robert W., aged twenty-three, is a graduate of Brown's
Commercial College, Kansas City, is a bookkeeper and stenographer by
profession and taught school successfully three seasons. He was given a
position in the First National Bank, Beloit, Kansas, but on account of
falling health was forced to give it up and seek outdoor employment. He
now occupies a good position in the Bank of California, Los Angeles,
California. The second son, John P., aged eighteen, is a student In the
second year of a high school course in Glasco. Jennie, a little
daughter, aged fifteen years, attends the Glasco school.
Politically, Mr. McMillan is a Republican and served one term as
collector in Ogle county, Illinois. The McMillans own their home, a neat
little cottage in Glasco, and in the two acres which surround it they
are cultivating choice fruits and have given considerable attention to
poultry and have some fine blooded varieties. Mrs. McMillan retains the
homestead she filed on in Mitchell county. twenty-eight years ago.
Reverend McMillan is a worthy Christian gentleman, universally esteemed,
not by the few, but by all classes of society.
HONORABLE EDWARD J. MESSALL.
E.J. Messall has made a good record for
himself as a public official. During the turbulent joint movements the
mayor of a city does not have altogether smooth sailing. He is expected
by many to do the whole thing, condemned by some if he does, and by
another element if he doesn't. Mr. Messall is courteous, accommodating,
intelligent, far seeing and strictly conscientious in the discharge of
his official duties, and has not been a disappointment to the people of
Concordia, who elected him.
Mr. Messall is a native of Prussia,
Germany, born in 1857. He is a son of Gotlieb and Karoline (Siegelhagel)
Messall, of Prussia. His father died in 1855, on the farm in his native
country, where he had spent his lifetime. His mother came to America in
1871, and settled in Marysville, Marshall county, Kansas, where she died
in 1892. Mr. Messall is one of seven children, four sons and three
daughters, all of whom are residents of this state, except one brother
who lives in Wisconsin. Mr. Messall's brothers were in the
Franco-Prussian war.
In 1871 Mr. Messall and his youngest sister
accompanied their mother to Kansas. He received his education in the
high school of Prussia and the district schools of Marshall county,
Kansas. He was employed on a farm until seventeen years of age and then
entered a flouring mill. In the latter part of his service there he
operated the elevator that was in connection with the mill, bought
grain, etc.
In 1883 he established the Concordia Bottling Works,
manufacturing all kinds of soft drinks, which has been an excellent
source of revenue to him. He has a brisk trade in this line during the
summer months, having a large wholesale trade. He ships goods to all
parts of the state. He is also a wholesale dealer of cigars. In 1888-9
he was associated with Parker & Company in a cigar factory under the
firm name of Messall, Parker & Co. He afterward assumed full control of
the concern and did an extensive business.
Mr. Messall was
married in 1879 to Lena Stettnisch, a young German woman who came with
her parents to America in 1866 and settled in Marshall county, Kansas.
She is a daughter of Carl Stettnisch, a farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Messall
four children have been born. Their only son, Louis, died at the age of
fourteen years. Their three daughters, Bertha, Mollie and Bessie, are
intelligent and talented young ladies. The eldest daughter, Bertha,
after a course in the Concordia high school entered the Agricultural
College of Manhattan, and in 1900 entered upon a business course in the
Great Western Business College of Concordia.
Until recent years
Mr. Messall affiliated with the Democrats, but transferred his
convictions to the Republican party. He has been identified with the
city's affairs almost continuously since his residence in Concordia, as
a member of the school board and one of the city councilmen. In April,
1901, he was elected to his present office after a hard fight, by a
majority of one hundred and ninety-four, the largest ever given a
candidate for that office in Concordia. Mr. Messall owns a handsome
residence property with a spacious lawn of five lots, on the corner of
Washington and Seventh streets. His factory is in the rear of this
property. The family are regular attendants' and members of the
Presbyterian church. Mr. Messall is one of the trustees of the church.
ROBERT MISELL.
Robert Misell, one of the successful
business men of Concordia, is engaged in real estate and insurance and
is one of the most reliable agents in the city. He is thoroughly posted
on the property of Concordia and surrounding localities, which is
essential to success in his line.
His father, Thomas Misell, is
of English birth, born in 1819. He enlisted in Company B, Fourth West
Virginia Volunteers, and served his adopted country for a period of
three years. Thomas Misell came to the Solomon valley in March, 1868,
and took up land near Glasco, on the Solomon river. He now resides at
the home of his son, the subject of this sketch. Robert Misell's mother
was of Irish nativity. She died in 1863. Robert Misell was born in White
Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in 1858, and was but ten years of age
when he came to Kansas. After several removals his parents settled in
the Solomon valley in 1868, during the unsettled times. His brother was
killed in the Indian raid of that year, an account of which is given
elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. Misell was reared on their western
homestead and lived there until 1880. For three years he followed
various pursuits and in 1883, located in Concordia and engaged in the
loan, real estate and insurance business. He was married in 1890, to
Emma Seavey, a daughter of Dr. John Seavey, a veterinary surgeon of
Concordia. To Mr. and Mrs. Misell one child was born, a little son,
Robert L., aged five years. Mr. Misell has been prominently identified
with the political affairs of Cloud county and affiliates with the
Republican party. He is ranked among the most progressive men of
Concordia and is a public spirited citizen. Socially he is a member of
the Knights of Pythias and is exalted ruler of the Benevolent Order of
Elks.
JOHN H. MOGER.
The subject of this sketch is
J.H. Moger, a liveryman of Glasco, an old timer and one of the
organizers of Oakland township, which was formerly part of Meredith,
where he used his homestead right, and lived on the east branch of Pipe
creek until the year 1893. Until this date he had always been a farmer
except the three years he worked in the service of "Uncle Sam," He was a
member of the First Brigade First Division of the Fifteenth Corps of the
Army of the Tennessee, under command of that illustrious old war horse,
John A. Logan, or "Black Jack," as he was familiarly known to the
soldiers. Mr. Moger enlisted August 2 , 1862, in the Thirty-first Iowa
Volunteer Infantry, Company D, under Colonel Smith, who was succeeded by
Colonel Jerry Jenkins. They operated in the west and down the
Mississippi to Vicksburg and with Sherman on his famous march to the
sea. He was a participant in the historical battles of Lookout Mountain,
Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, siege of Vicksburg and many other important
engagements. After the war he settled in Iowa, where he farmed until
1873.
Mr. Moger is a native of Rockford, Illinois. born November
21, 1843. He is a son of J.J. and C.C. (Sheppard) Moger. His father, a
farmer by occupation, was born in the state of Pennsylvania in 1812. The
Mogers are of French origin and the original name was spelled Mojer.
There was a Moger estate in England said to represent several millions
of dollars. A brother started for England on a tour of investigation and
was lost in a shipwreck at sea. The Mogers originally came from France
to England. J.J. Moger moved from Pennsylvania to New York, where his
brothers operated a line of boats on the Erie canal. In 1841 he
emigrated to Illinois, where he died in 1888, at the age of seventy-five
years. Mr. Moger's mother died at the home of her son James Moger in
Ottawa county, in 1897, at the age of eighty-five years. Mr. Moger is
one of five children, four sons and one daughter. Sarah Ellen, wife of
Jacob Kirby, a farmer of Ottawa county., Kansas; Charles A., whom Mr.
Moger had not seen since 1866, died near Bozeman City, Montana; he was a
confectioner; Edward, a farmer and stone mason, of Iowa; James F.,
recently of Ottawa county, Kansas, now a farmer near Spring Water,
Oregon.
In 1893 Mr. Moger moved to Minneapolis, Kansas, where he
engaged in the livery and hotel business. Though these were hard years -
1893-4-5 - he was fairly successful. At the end of that period he came
to Glasco, formed a partnership with Ed. Oakes, his son-in-law, and
assumed charge of the Spaulding Hotel, with a livery in connection. In
1900 Mr. Oakes sold his interest in the livery to Dick Wood. Mr. Moger
retired from the hotel and the following July became sole proprietor of
the livery and has built up a paying business.
Mr. Moger was
married October 3, 1867, to Susan Rosetta Robinson, a native of Spencer,
New York. The Robinsons emigrated to Illinois and settled in DeKalb
county and subsequently Iowa, where she met and married Mr. Moger. Mr.
and Mrs. Moger are the parents of six daughters. The two eldest children
were born in Iowa, and the four younger daughters in Kansas. Hattie,
wife of S.A. Barnes, a farmer near Clifton, Washington county, Kansas;
Lenora, wife of Ed. Oakes (see sketch); Ella, wife of Frank Morey, a
liveryman of Clay Center, Kansas; Alma, wife of George Pagan, a farmer
of Ottawa county, but for several years a liveryman, located in
Minneapolis, Kansas; Edna Celestia, on last year's course in the high
school of Glasco, and Millie Philancie, aged fourteen.
Mr. Moger
votes the straight Republican ticket. He served as deputy sheriff, under
Ed. Marshall, two years, has filled various township offices and has
been a member of the school board. He is a member of the Grand Army of
the Republic post, of Minneapolis, and the Knights and Ladies of
Security, Minneapolis lodge.
REVEREND LOUIS MOLLIER.
To no man is more credit due than to the Reverend Louis Mollier, of
St. Joseph, Cloud county, whose long life has been one of devotion to
the best interests of his church and the people of his faith which is
that of a Catholic. Reverend Louis Mollier was born in the diocese of
Chambery, Savoie, France, the 29th of October, 1846. He came to Kansas
in 1869 and settled in Topeka with the avowed purpose of devoting his
life to church work. Through the influence of Bishop John B. Meige, who
came first to America from Savoie, Father Mollier's birthplace, where
they had been friends and brothers of their church, Father Mollier
entered the seminary at Topeka and in April, 1873, was ordained a priest
at the age of twenty-five years and immediately afterward was sent to
St. Joseph by the Right Reverend Bishop Fink, of the diocese of
Leavenworth, Kansas, therefore Father Mollier bears the honor and fame
of being the pioneer priest of northwestern Kansas. The first services
were held at the school house, consultors were elected and active work
begun. Father Mollier secured a room of Eli Lanoue until the parish was
able to build a parsonage wherein to make his home, which was done in
1874. The missions extended from Washington to the Colorado line and
from Clay Center and Glasco to the Nebraska line. His labors were not
required any further west than Norton county, owing to the scarcity of
inhabitants, but the field was a large one and the Holy Father traveled
long distances, covering many miles on horseback over roadless, bleak
and uninhabited prairies, minus landmarks of any description.
The
villages dotted along the route were Clyde, Concordia, Elm Creek,
Delphos, Clay Center, Strawberry and Parsons Creeks, Palmer, Greenleaf,
Beloit, Lawrenceburg, Cawker City, Jewell City, Stockton and other
places, making his start from St. Joseph. In many of these places his
spiritual guidance was needed, and Father Mollier has been known on
several occasions to travel a distance of one hundred and twenty miles
to give church consolation to sick and dying persons. At the time Father
Mollier came to western Kansas, Clyde was a very small village and
Concordia numbered a population of about three hundred. At that period
the land office was the central attraction.
Father Mollier
commenced the first church edifice at Elm Creek in 1874, which has
recently been taken down. Mass was said at St. Joseph in a small school
house until a church could be erected, and in this small edifice the
good seeds were sown to ripen into bountiful harvests. Father Mollier
began and had the St. Joseph and Concordia churches under course of
construction at the same time. The church at St. Joseph was erected at
an expense of about ten thousand dollars and four thousand dollars for
the edifice at Concordia. The money was obtained through his efforts,
the parishioners cheerfully giving for the privilege of a place of
worship to hold the increasing population. A part of the parsonage was
built in 1875 and in 1885 an upright addition to the building was
erected, which is now a commodious and convenient residence.
The
dimensions of the St. Joseph church are forty by one hundred feet, a
fine building of which the town is justly proud. In 1880 Father Mollier
built the Jamestown church and has erected mission churches at
Greenleaf, Palmer, Clyde, Concordia and Clay Center. At the same time
lots were secured at Beloit and Cawker City and building material put on
the ground. The first school at St. Joseph was organized as district No.
35. The settlement is made up from the French people who first located
in Kankakee, Illinois, which is a French speaking town. A few families
emigrated to Kansas, others followed and through this medium, in turn,
others came, thus making almost a branch of Kankakee. There is but one
Protestant family in the entire parish.
In the year 1885, a new
school building was constructed, two stories high, containing four
rooms. At the present time three teachers are busily employed, but as
the season advances a fourth one is added. Sister Euphrasia, Sister
Dorothy, and Sister Anthony are the present teachers. These kind,
gentle, patient Sisters are of the St. Joseph order of Concordia. Sister
Euphrasia teaches the French language, as many descendants of the French
family are English speaking. The enrollment of the academy in 1902 was
one hundred and thirteen, and the previous year numbered one hundred and
seventy-five pupils. The school is a parochial one and the Sisters are
the only teachers employed. The parish consists of one hundred and sixty
families and the population is nine hundred and eleven. The parish
extends three miles north, four to the west, eight to the south and six
miles east.
Father Mollier could never dream of or dare hope to
see a bishop in charge and at the head of the diocese at Concordia, so
few families, numbering only about twenty when his labors began, and a
portion of them belonged to Jamestown, but the increase can scarcely be
numbered. In the early days there were but a few Catholics in Clyde and
they went to St. Joseph to attend services. The church grounds contain
ten acres donated by John B. Cardinal, who made an exchange with William
Berland for the cemetery grounds in order that it might be adjacent to
the church.
St. Joseph is situated six miles south of Clyde,
surrounded by fine farms, showing the march of improvement time has
made. The church, school and additional buildings can be seen for miles.
Father Mollier still lives at St. Joseph, where he has devoted so many
years to the education of children and the salvation of souls. When his
work is ended and he lays down his worldly cross, the crown that awaits
him will have been faithfully earned, for this good father has given a
whole lifetime, unselfishly to the good and holy cause of the church and
the beautiful teachings of Christto follow in his footsteps. Father
Mollier has faithfully followed his command.
A. H. MONTGOMERY.
A.H. Montgomery, one of the most highly respected
citizens of the Macyville community, first saw the light of day in the
great commonwealth of Ohio, Adams county, in 1826. It was no fault of
Mr. Montgomery that he did not win laurels on the battle field for he
offered his services and was rejected upon the grounds of disability.
Early in life he learned the tanner's trade, following that occupation
several years and later became associated with Jesse Grant, the father
of President Grant. This combination existed under the most pleasant and
successful operation for a dozen years. The latter part of this period
Mr. Grant's son Orville, succeeded his fathers interests. The
establishment consisted of one hundred and sixty vats and an extended
beam house where they finished and unhaired the hides. This important
enterprise was run by steam and furnished labor to ten men, and was
subsequently sold to New York parties who operated it for a series of
years, when it was burned to the ground and never rebuilt.
The
Montgomerys and Grants were on friendly social terms. Mr. Montgomery
relates an amusing incident which is perhaps hitherto unwritten history.
In speaking of General U.S. Grant he says: "Fred Grant (his son) secured
the services of a little darkey to tie his horse, act as body servant,
and wait on him in true southern style. Soon after General Grant
returned home one evening, Fred, with his valet following closely upon
the heels of his master, put in an appearance. General Grant inquired
somewhat sternly, 'Fred, what have you been doing with a "nigger"
running around after you all afternoon?' The next moment he summoned the
dusky lad to stand up before him and said, 'Cuffie, did Fred hire you?'
'Yes, sir,' was the prompt response. 'What did he say he would pay you"'
'A quarter,' was the reply. Ulysses paid it and delivered the following
order. 'Fred, get your horse.' When he had complied, General Grant
turning to the darkey, said, 'Cuffie, take that horse,' and to Fred,
'Take that "nigger" home and bring the horse back.'"
In the year
1861, Mr. Montgomery emigrated to Jefferson county, Iowa where he lived
until 1879, - ten years too long he says. In the spring of 1879 he came
to Kansas and settled near Macyville on the farm where he now lives. Mr.
Montgomery's parents were Adam and Jane (Hayes) Montgomery.
Mr.
Montgomery was married, in 1847, to Rebecca A. Wright of Ohio. She is a
daughter of Isaac Wright, a farmer of Adams county, Ohio. To this worthy
couple, three sons and three daughters have been born, viz: Mary Alice,
widow of Jacob Hutten, of Omaha, Nebraska; Ida, wife of R.J. Wilson, a
farmer of Summit township; John Harvey, who was a railroad man until two
years ago, when he located in St. Louis, where he has charge of a
stationary engine; Andrew, of Jamestown (see sketch); Cora, wife of C.W.
Amspacher, a former merchant of Simpson, Kansas. James M., a farmer
whose wife died three years after their marriage and he has since lived
at home with his parents.
Politically Mr. Montgomery is
non-partisan and votes for the man. Mr. Montgomery and his wife, who is
a kind, motherly woman of refined instincts, are members of the
Macyville Methodist Episcopal church.
HONORABLE ANDREW R. MONTGOMERY.
One of the hale-fellows-well-met, of Jamestown, is
A.R. Montgomery, the elevator man. He has been one of the most prominent
citizens for fifteen consecutive years, with the exception of one year
spent in Clyde, where he owned and operated the livery stable now owned
by E. Peck. His first nine years in Jamestown were associated with his
brother James, in the mercantile business now owned by McGaugh Brothers.
In 1879, he bought the Pence & White stock of furniture and after a
successful period of one year, sold to R.Y. Tidball. During this
interval he went to Clyde.
In 1898, he built the large elevator
where he now holds forth, and is one of the most entensive grain dealers
in the county. Besides his grain interests he retails large quantities
of coal, and buys and ships horses. His elevator has a capacity for
twelve thousand bushels. In 1901, he handled about two hundred and fifty
thousand bushels of wheat. He at all times pays the highest market price
for grain and has made a success of this enterprise. Mr. Montgomery has
handled horses and mules for ten years, averaging about one hundred head
annually. He keeps a buyer out from August until May.
Mr.
Montgomery is a native of Adams county, Ohio, born in 1858. His father
is A.H. Montgomery, one of the reliable farmers of the Macyville
locality, and an old settler of Cloud county. (see sketch.)
Mr.
Montgomery was married in 1880, to Carrie Evans, of Ottumwa, Jefferson
county, Iowa. She was a daughter of the late Dr. Evans. To this union
have been born, six children, viz.: Mamie, the eldest daughter, has been
a successful Cloud county teacher three years. She is a graduate of the
Jamestown high school. Ethel, employed as a clerk by McGaugh Brothers,
is also a graduate of the Jamestown high school. Richard, aged sixteen
years is still in school and assists his father during vacation. Carrie,
aged thirteen, a graduate of the Jamestown high school of June, 1902.
and Lawrence, aged eight. The happiness of the family circle was
shadowed by the death of a beautiful little daughter - Merril, aged six
years-in the autumn of 1902.
The Montgomerys have a pleasant
home, the Owens residence property, which they purchased in 1901. Mr.
Montgomery is a Republican first, last and all the time. Is public
spirited, has been mayor of his town, a member of the council for
several years and an efficient member of the school board. He has been
associated with the Masonic order for fourteen years, the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows for nine years, is a member of the Modern Woodmen
of America and Eastern Star.
ALBERT R. MOORE.
The
subject of this brief sketch is Albert R. Moore, who has, for the past
five years, filled the important office of county clerk of Cloud county.
He was born March 30, 1860, in the state of Iowa, his parents moving to
Ohio while he was yet a babe. Four years later they emigrated to
Missouri, where they remained until October, 1883, when they located in
Cloud county, Kansas. His father was a farmer, a native of Iowa, a
sojourner in Ohio and Missouri, but settled on a farm in Arion township,
Cloud county, Kansas, in November, 1883, where he died ten years later.
His mother's maiden name was Kennedy; she was born and reared in the
state of Ohio, where she died when Mr. Moore was but three years of age.
From this marriage three children were born, Laura B., Albert R. and
Alonzo G.
Previous to his election as county clerk, Mr. Moore's
entire life was spent upon the farm, where neither time nor opportunity
afforded the necessary schooling so needful to the youthful mind. During
the political whirlwind that swept Kansas in the early 'nineties and
caused such transformation of public sentiment, he studied closely the
various problems of general interest and was thoroughly conversant with
the most intricate questions of national importance and magnitude.
Politically Mr. Moore has always been a Republican, and was nominated by
that party and elected in 1897, when his three colleagues were defeated
and the opposition party was at its zenith. During his term of office
his cheerful, pleasant and obliging manner won for him many new friends,
and he was re-elected in 1899 by a much larger majority, while his three
political colleagues were again defeated. In the spring of 1900 he was
elected a member of the city council, but resigned in a short time that
he might devote himself more fully to other important matters.
In
December, 1897, Mr. Moore was united in marriage to Millie, the youngest
daughter of Alfred and Elizabeth Dotson, who emigrated from West
Virginia in 1870 and settled on a homestead in Arlon township, Cloud
County, Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore three children have been born,
viz: Norman, Ross and Lawrence.
Mr. Moore is also an earnest
advocate of Christianity and preaches for the Church of Christ at
Concordia, as well as other points. He is one of the few who assisted in
the erection of a house of worship in the city of Concordia, which is
neither sectional, factional or denominational. This house was built by
worshippers alone, for the purpose of worship alone. In business Mr.
Moore is clever, progressive and enterprising. He has acquired more than
the average degree of knowledge and is a man of recognized ability and
authority on various questions of vital interest and importance. In
religion he sees no creed but the Bible, no faith but the Christ. In his
official capacity he is competent, courteous, kind and obliging, and
those who know him best are his warmest friends.
BOYD R. MOORE.
B.R. Moore, a farmer, stockman and extensive wheat grower
of Lyon township, is a native of Warren county, Illinois. At the age of
fifteen Mr. Moore went to Colorado, where he spent several years. In
1881 he came to Cloud county and now owns three hundred and twenty acres
of fine land in a high state of cultivation, with good house, barn, etc.
He was married in 1883 to Mrs. Morris, the widow of Edward Morris,
by whom she had three children, viz: Frank, a telegraph operator of
LuVerne, Minnesota; Guy, on his fourth year in Campbell University at
Holton, Kansas, where he is taking a general course and will enter the
State University of Kansas the coming year; Maude, a graduate of the
common schools. By her marriage with Mr. Moore there is one son, Claude,
who received a common school diploma and is now on his first year in the
high school at Delphos. Mrs. Moore was a Courtney and her paternal
ancestors came from Ireland.
BENJAMIN P. MORLEY.
The Morleys were a New England family. The paternal grand-parents
settled in Ohio in an early day where B.P. Morley was born in 1835, and
where he lived until coming to Kansas in July, 1863. Mrs. Morley was
born in the state of New York but moved with her parents when an infant
six months old to the state of Ohio, and settled in Ashtabula county, on
the shores of Lake Erie, where her father operated a saw mill and woolen
factory near Kingsville. Mr. Morley obtained employment at her father's
mill and this was the beginning of an acquaintance which brought about
their marriage August 1, 1859. They emigrated to Kansas in 1863, With
their little family of two children and stopped enroute at Junction
City, where Mrs. Morley had a sister living. They visited her family
while Mr. Morley located a homestead in Washington county. Returning to
Junction City, he filed on his land and removed his family to their new
western home. Mr. Morley's parents were filled with a desire to join
them on the frontier and followed their son soon afterward. Father
Morley while driving up the cows one evening saw his first buffalo. He
became very excited and though a pious man not given to profanity or
rough language, shouted out, "Benjamin! come and bring your gun if you
want to see the devil." There were two of them and the next day they
killed them both, and feasted for days on buffalo meat, that would have
brought forth praise from the most epicurean taste.
The Morleys
lived in a log house with the Brooks family while their house was in
course of construction. While unpacking dishes they moved the barrel
containing them from its corner and there lay coiled beneath it a huge
rattler. Mrs. Morley made a hasty retreat, but upon being told the grass
was full of them she chose the least of the two evils and returned.
During their first autumn in Kansas the winds blew so furiously they
were compelled to put up their hay at night and served midnight suppers
for the hay makers. The following April they attended divine services
for the first time, in the new settlement in an old log hut where
Clifton now stands. R.P. West ministered to the congregation; and he was
described as dressed in blue denim overalls and a blue checked shirt.
The women of the congregation wore shawls over their heads; blankets and
every conceivable sort of thing were donned as wraps. Mrs. Morley wore
her usual "go to meeting clothes," and the settlers gazed at her with
astonishment as if she might just have escaped from a menagerie, but
withal they were an excellent people. This day is remembered by the
pioneers as the "Black Sunday." On their return from church just as the
team was being cared for an inky darkness overspread the sky, the rain
came down in torrents and necessitated the lighting of candles, which
were made of buffalo tallow. Almost every old settler has some
particular kindness or incident to relate of R.P. West, whose name was a
household word in every pioneer's home. The Morleys' little daughter was
ill and they had resorted to everything their wits could supply, and had
given up all hope of her recovery, when that good man visited their home
and through his skillful efforts the child was saved.
When Mr.
Morley had secured his homestead he did not have a dollar left, but
those goodly settlers gathered together and helped erect their cabin.
They were neighbors in the truest sense of the word, and when one killed
a hog or a beef, each of the settlers for a radius of miles came in for
his share. The Morleys came to Clyde in 1877, and in 1892, bought the
Judge Borton residence, a commodious house of ten rooms.
Mr. and
Mrs. Morley are the parents of eight children. They have buried three
sons; one an infant, one at the age of eleven years and one a young, man
of promise. Their eldest son, Charles, is a newspaper man and edited a
paper in Clyde for several years. He is at present in the office of the
Clyde Voice. William M., is a resident of Omaha. Their three daughters
are married. One is living in Omaha, one in Arkansas and the other in
Clyde.
Mrs. Morley's paternal ancestors were from England and
emigrated to America in the early settlement of this country. She is a
daughter of Martin M. and Esther Jeaneth (Reynolds) Manning. The
Reynolds were of Scotch origin. Mrs. Morley taught several terms of
school in the early settlement of the country. The district then
included a part of Washington, Clay and Cloud counties. Mr. Morley's
father was Anson Morley. He was born April 7, 1798, in Barnstable,
Massachusetts, and emigrated with his father's family to Ohio in early
manhood. From Ohio he walked to the state of Vermont where he met and
married Lorenz Cutting on October 30, 1822, and from this union ten
children were born. They left Vermont in their early married life and
settled in eastern Ohio where he cleared his land and tilled the soil
for forty-one years. They came to Kansas in 1863, and settled in what is
now Elk township. Mrs. Morley died March 15, 1877, and her husband
January 29, 1885.
NADEAU BROTHERS.
The Nadeaus Shoe Store,
of which the accompanying cut is the interior, is composed
of the brothers, Joseph D. and H.G. Nadeau, who began business in
Concordia in August, 1902, or rather succeeded George Mohr, who
established the store in the early days of Concordia and remained
continuously until 1902. Their stock is clean and well selected and they
are receiving what they merit - their share of the trade - for they are
energetic and reliable men.
The Nadeaus came to Cloud county in
1885, and located in Lincoln township on a farm, where they lived until
1900. They are originally from Canada. The senior member of the firm,
Joseph D., is a man of family - a wife and four children. The Nadeaus
are prominent fixtures and rank with the best and most progressive firms
in Concordia
JAMES H. NEAL
Among the early
settlers who came to Kansas in the fall of 1870 is J.H. Neal, who lived
during the winter of that year on the Solomon river near Solomon City,
in the spring time of 1871, moving to Cloud county and homesteading the
farm where Charles Pilcher now lives. During the grasshopper year he was
forced to return to Ohio in order to make a living for his family. He
worked in the Champion shops at Springfield until the autumn of 1878,
when he again returned to Kansas, remaining two years, returning the
second time to Springfield. In the meantime he decided that with the
drouth and grasshoppers there was no better place than Kansas, and
accordingly returned in 1886. In 1875 he traded his homestead for the
place where he now lives, which is one of the best farms in the
community. Much of it is wheat land and in 1901, he had eighty-five
acres which yielded twenty-two bushels per acre, and the year prior the
average was twenty-eight bushels per acre.
Mr. Neal is a native
of Ohio, born in 1834 on a farm near Urbana, Champaign county. His
father was St. Ledger Neal, a native of Maryland, born near Hagerstown
in 18o5, but who came to Ohio when a young man, where he lived until his
death in 1865. Mr. Neal's grandfather, Aquilla Neal, was also a native
of Maryland. The Neals were of English and Irish descent. Mr. Neal's
mother was Clarissa (Pearce) Neal, born and reared in Urbana, Ohio, her
father having moved there from Kentucky in 1801. Her brother, Milton,
was the first white child born in Urbana, then an Indian village. Mr.
Neal's mother died in 1891. He is one of eleven children, ten of whom
lived to maturity. Mr. Neal lived on the farm until the age of nineteen
years, when he went into a machine shop as an apprentice, working at his
trade most of the time until 1886.
He was married in 1863 to
Sarah Jane Pitzer, daughter of Jacob and Almeda (Rexford) Pitzer. Her
father was born in Kentucky and when two years old came to Ohio with his
parents and settled in Brown county, on the Ohio river, where he grew to
manhood. He learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed along with
hunting and trapping, for several years, then moved to Indiana and later
to Illinois, where he died in 1844. Early in life he lost a limb. The
Pitzers were of German origin, Mrs. Neal's grandfather coming from
Germany.
Almeda (Rexford) Pitzer was born in Jefferson county,
New York. When four years of age she went with her parents to Michigan,
and the following spring the war of 1812 began, during which time they
were stationed at Fort Huron for protection from the Indians. Peace was
made when she was seven years old, which event she remembers distinctly
and about this time her father moved to Lower Sandusky, Ohio, where she
was reared and married. She was married in 1826 to Jacob Pitzer, who
died in 1844. She was again married in 1847 to John D. Armstrong, who
died August 21, 1853. Mrs. Armstrong is the mother of twelve children,
ten of these by the first marriage and two by the second. Five of them
are living. Mrs. Armstrong is living with her daughter, Mrs. Neal, at
the age of ninety-five years. She has a sister in Fort Collins,
Colorado, who is eighty years of age, and a brother two years her
junior, Philander Rexford, whose address is 408 Park avenue, Syracuse,
New York. The following was clipped from an October 1, 1901, issue of
the Post-Standard, Syracuse, New York:
"Philander Rexford, of 408
Park avenue, this city, was not only alive at the time of Perry's great
victory over the British on Lake Erie in 1813, but he lays claim to have
been practically an eye witness of the famous naval battle. He was
within hearing distance of the guns, and although he is now a man
ninety-two years of age, his recollection of the engagement and the
events surrounding it seem quite distinct.
"Mr. Rexford was born
in Sandy Creek, Jefferson county, New York, September 5. 1809, and in
1811 moved to Detroit, Michigan, with his parents. In the following year
the war of 1812 was declared, and subsequently Detroit and the entire
Michigan territory was taken by the British. The Rexfords were forced to
leave their home with many others of Detroit and found refuge in Fort
Huron, at the mouth of the Huron river.
"Detroit at that time.
Mr. Rexford says, was but a small village. It was, however, the key to
the northwestern part of the United States and its surrender by Hull was
a blow to the American army.
"It was while at Fort Huron on Lake
Erie that Mr. Rexford heard the booming guns of the battle. He was then
a boy of four years and the engagement occurred but a few miles from the
fort.
"He says he remembers distinctly the excitement in the fort
and the ramarks of the American soldiers as broadside after broadside
shook the air: 'There goes another broadside,' they would say, or
'There's a breaker for Barkley's ribs.' Barkley was the British
commodore. Many such ejaculations Mr. Rexford remembers and also the
scenes of rejoicing at the announcement of the victory. The men and
women in the fort went wild with joy and excitement. Guns were fired and
drums beaten.
"Hull was immediately forced to retire from Detroit
and the refugees were allowed to return. The grandmother of Mr. Rexford
had been taken prisoner at the capture of Detroit by Hull, and was
forced by the British soldiers and Indians, who composed his force, to
walk from the homestead into the city, carrying her six-year-old child.
The distance was long and she suffered many hardships.
"Ohio at
that time was filled with British soldiers and the scarlet coats were
common sights. At the close of the war many of the soldiers in the
northern territories were discharged and found their way to England by
traveling across the country. Mr. Rexford remembers seeing many of them.
In many cases, he says, the American settlers extended courtesy to them,
but in many other cases it was hard for Americans to treat them as
anything but enemies.
"Mr. Rexford was at Fremont, Ohio, when
Major Crawn with one hundred and thirty men in Fort Stevenson, defeated
seven hundred Indians and several hundred British and their allies. It
was thought by the attacking party that a breach had been made in the
walls of the fort and hundreds of men were poured into the trench which
surrounded it. While in this trench the Americans opened fire with a gun
stationed in a block house so situated that its fire swept the trench.
The gun which did the execution was known as 'Betsy,' and is still at
the fort.
"Mr. Rexford says that he remembers the remark of an
Irishman taken prisoner at the battle. 'Sure,' said Pat, 'I thought it
was a hog pen we were attackin', and I found it a hornets' nest.'
"Mr. Rexford visited the coal fields of Pennsylvania, where he made
a study of the economical use of that fuel. In 1863 he came to Syracuse,
where he was engaged by the salt companies to instruct their firemen in
the use of coal, it at that time being a new fuel.
"Since then he
has been engaged in the same business, although his present age prevents
his engaging as actively in it as formerly. His pet theme is the
lessening of the smoke which curls from the chimneys of the city
factories.
"Although the brother and sisters have not seen each
other for twenty-five years, they correspond regularly. All are well
preserved and active, considering their great age and bid fair to live
many more years."
To Mr. and Mrs. Neal have been born three
children, two of whom are living, viz: Philander Rexford, traveling
salesman for the S.F. Baker Medicine Company, of Keokuk, Iowa, and who
was formerly a farmer of Lyon township, where he still owns land. He is
a very successful salesman and collector. Some ten years ago he was
married to Miss Addie Jones, a Glasco girl. They have one child, Paul
Rexford, a bright little boy of nine years. Clara, wife of Price Baker,
of Glasco, salesman for the Champion Machine Company. They have three
daughters, Lois N., Lottie May, and Margaret Maud. Mr. and Mrs. Neal
lost a daughter, Olive E., a promising young lady of seventeen years,
who died December 3, 1891. She was a graduate of the Glasco schools, and
died of spinal meningitis, brought on by overstudy.
Mr. Neal is a
Republican and cast his first vote for Salmon P. Chase for governor of
Ohio. It was not his fault that he did not serve in the late war as he
was examined and rejected three times. Mr. Neal was the first trustee
and assisted in laying out the first roads in Lyon township. Mr. and
Mrs. Neal are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
E. D. NEELY.
E.D. Neely, now of Crowley, Texas, was one of the
pioneers of the Republican valley and for a long time the outside
settler on the north side of the Republican river where the buffalo
grazed around his house. His old homestead was the farm now owned by
Peter Pistch. Mr. Neely was the first probate judge of Cloud county and
figured all the incidents of the early settlement of the county. Was one
of the party who discovered the awful fate of the Lew Cassel party.
HENRY NELSON.
The subject of this sketch, Henry
Nelson, of Jamestown, is the fourth son of the late Nels Nelson and was
born on the Island of Zealand in 1847. His parents came to America in
May, 1865, and settled near St. Louis. In the meantime Kansas was being
widely advertised and three years later he emigrated west to Silver
Lake, Shawnee county, which was then a flag station. He found employment
on the farm of a half-breed Indian whose wife was the daughter of a
Pottawatomie chief. The old chief had two wives, a white woman of French
origin and a squaw. His employer's Indian wife would often relate the
customs of her tribe. Among many strange incidents the following
grewsome transaction was graphically related to Mr. Nelson by the
chief's daughter:
Two braves of the same tribe engaged in a duel
and fought until one of the warriors fell mortally wounded under a blow
from the murderous tomahawk. The assassin was brought before the
Pottawatomie chief and bound down to the earth, while in two long lines
each of the duelists' kinsmen were arranged upon either side of the
doomed savage. Each faction "rounded up" their ponies, brought blankets,
beads, and all sorts of Indian valuables, and a treaty was begun. Each
side contributed alternately until much wealth of its kind was stacked
up in two huge piles. Finally the palm was yielded to the friends of the
slain warrior who had bought him for the purpose of wreaking revenge
upon the blood-thirsty Indian for the slaying of their brave kinsman.
They did not remove the victim, but there, pinioned to the earth in the
presence of their chief, braves, squaws and papooses, they proceeded to
establish vengeance by taking clubs and beating the hapless Indian until
life was extinct.
In the autumn of 1869 Mr. Nelson came to Cloud
county, homesteaded in Buffalo township and lived there until removing
to his present farm, which consists of eighty acres adjoining the
townsite of Jamestown, where he has a pleasant home. Mr. Nelson came to
Kansas minus both money and experience, lived in a dugout and endured
many hardships. His first team was obtained by buying two suckling
calves and when they were two years old he broke fifty-five acres of
prairie with them and a yoke of three-year-olds-besides some plowing.
There were some buffalo in the vicinity at that time, mostly old ones
that ranged over the salt marsh; but a short distance further west they
were numerous.
Mr. Nelson was married in April, 1878, to Ellen
Lathrop, a daughter of Bela C., and Samantha W. (Worden) Lathrop, both
of New York birth; her father was of Otsego county and her mother of
Neversink, Sullivan county. Mrs. Nelson is descended from the
distinguished house of Lathrop. The emigrant to America was the Reverend
John Lathrop of Cherry Burton, County York, England. Having joined the
deserters, he was sorely persecuted and took refuge in the New World
across the seas. The crest of the family name dates as far as 1101 A.D.
Their emblem of a fighting cock was used to denote the highest honor. It
is still found on the monument of the brave Captain Lathrop, who was
killed by the Indians in 1675, and lies buried in the Granary burial
ground in the city of Boston. It is further recorded that the family
coat of arms was an eagle displayed, from which our national coat of
arms was taken, and which is not only found on every American flag, but
upon every old American coin. Mrs. Nelson's grandfather, Henry Lathrop,
was born in Connecticut, in 1786. He was from the ancient and royal
family of his name, who were descended from the Rev. John Lathrop of
whom honorable mention is made in the early histories of the settlement
of America. Mrs. Nelson's father, Bela C., the youngest son of Henry
owned twenty acres of the townsite whereon the city of Chicago now
stands. Mrs. Nelson retains the deed which is dated Feb. 9, 1843. He
died in the state of Michigan in 1864.
Mrs. Nelson was born in
the southern part of Michigan, Shiawassee County, in 1852. She is the
youngest of a family of four, two sons and two daughters. After her
father's death, a son-in-law, who conducted his business affairs,
emigrated to Clay county, Kansas, secured a homestead in town 7, at the
head of Maul creek, and built a small house, preparatory to the advent
of the family. Mrs. Nelson's two brothers took adjoining claims; one of
them died and Mrs. Nelson held the land he had filed on. She was brave
enough to ride a pony from the school she was teaching to her homestead
every Friday night, spending Saturday and Sunday there. She used her
saddle for a pillow and slept soundly with nothing to disturb her
slumbers but the occasional yelp of the coyote, the ominous hoot of the
owl or the sighing of the Kansas zephyr, and in this way earned the
title to a quarter section of land.
Mrs. Nelson was a pioneer
teacher. She taught her first term in Riley county and "boarded around,"
and she taught the first school in Highland township, Clay county. The
district at that time extended over into Riley county, some two miles.
The school house was a combination dugout and sod hut which was overrun
with mice until the snakes made it their rendezvous and drove them from
the premises, an effective, but unpleasant remedy. Mrs, Nelson's only
brother, Alonzo Lathrop, fives near West Plains, Howell county,
Missouri.
To Mr. and Mrs. Nelson five children have been born;
three sons died in infancy. Their daughters are: Jennie, the wife of
Will D. Hobson, foreman of the Beloit Times, and Florence, who is
teaching her first term of school one and one-half miles south of
Beloit. She graduated from the Jamestown High School April 21, 1900.
When Gilbert Frederick, a Swedish boy, was but three years old, he found
a home in the Nelson family to supply the loss of their own sons, as it
were and grew up in their household as one of their own. He was married
in December, 1901, to Miss Lena French, a daughter of Benjamin French.
They are the parents of a little daughter, Merl.
Mr. Nelson with
his wife and family visited Denmark in April, 1893; but he asserts,
after having breathed the freedom of this country, he prefers America
and could not again conform to the laws and customs of Europe. While
abroad Mrs. Nelson represented the Kansas State Historical Society. They
made brief visits to Ireland, Scotland and Norway, and brought home many
interesting views and souvenirs of their travels. Mrs. Nelson is an
intellectual, cultured woman of considerable literary ability. She takes
an active interest in educational work; was elected clerk of district
No. 19 in 1886 and resigned to visit Europe six years later. She was the
first woman to serve in this capacity in Cloud county.
Mr. and
Mrs. Nelson are members of the Kackley Baptist church. They were first
united with the "Saron" Church but the services of that congregation are
all in the Danish tongue which Mrs. Nelson does not speak, hence the
family transferred their membership.
Socially Mr. Nelson is a man
honored and esteemed for his good citizenship. Politically he is a
Republican and has always stood for the principles of his party.
NELS NELSON, JR.
Nels Nelson, Jr., was a son of the late
Reverend Nels Nelson of the preceding sketch. He was a native of
Denmark, born in 1838, and served a military school term in the Danish
regular army. But after the death of Frederick VII, rather than take
sides with the militia arrayed in battle against his own country, he
left the Kingdom of Denmark in 1863 and came to America, "The land of
the free." After a residence of about five years in St. Louis he
emigrated to Kansas where his home was devastated by the Indians and
where for several years afterward he with his family spent many a
sleepless might keeping watch lest the savages should suddenly swoop
down and exterminate them. Under the head of "Indian Raids" appears an
account of the attack made June 2, 1869, as told the author in a very
graphic way by the subject of this sketch, a short time prior to his
demise. After the memorable raid of the above date, the Nelsons had a
struggle to keep above actual want, as their clothing was all
confiscated, not even having shoes to wear; but during the tide of
emigration that flooded the country at that time, the incoming settlers
all had flour and Mrs. Nelson baked much of their bread. This may seem a
trivial circumstance in this day of peace and plenty, but to the anxious
pioneer those opportunities were golden. Mr. Nelson was married in 1866
to Christine Anderson, also a native of the Kingdom of Denmark and a
very estimable woman. She came with her parents to America in 1862 and
settled in Wisconsin. They later removed to Minnesota and subsequently
came to Kansas where they both died, and are buried in the church yard
at Saron.
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were the parents of six children
and reared an adopted son, Daniel Peterson, who came to live with them
when five weeks old. He is now sixteen and a young man of exemplary
character. Their two sons, Foster T. and Christ W. live near Ames and
are prosperous young farmers. Anna, their eldest daughter, is the wife
of N.C. Nelson, manager for the Continental Creamery Company at
Scottsville. Carrie, before her marriage to Frank Fickle, was a teacher
in the district schools. Mr. Fickle is a farmer of Republic county.
Lillie is the wife of Bert Morehouse, a farmer near Hollis. Ida, the
youngest daughter, is the wife of Charles Cooke.
In 1898 Mr.
Nelson sold his old homestead and bought the William Poole farm near the
Danish Church. Prior to this, however, he lived in Clyde and conducted
the Iowa Hotel for one year.
In February, 1902, Mr. Nelson laid
down the burdens of an arduous life find passed to his eternal home. By
his death, the community lost one of its most highly respected citizens
whose memory will be cherished more especially among his own countrymen,
as one of the pioneers along with his revered father, who was
instrumental in bringing them into this prosperous country. Mr. Nelson
was buried in the Saron cemetery where the body of his father rests and
which to them was a hallowed spot.
REVEREND NELS NELSON.
The citizens of Cloud county who honor the memory of the old
pioneers, of the state cannot overlook this memoir of the late Reverend
Niels Nelson, better known to his countrymen as Neils Neilson. He did
much toward attracting the attention of Danes to the resources and
opportunities to be found in this western country, and the greater part
of the Danish settlements in Grant and Buffalo townships came through
his influence.
Reverend Nelson was born in the town of Galbjerg,
on the Island of Funin, Kingdom of Denmark, on the 23d day of November,
1809. His father was a well-to-do farmer; industrious and strict in all
his dealings; especially so in all the doctrines pertaining to the
Lutheran religion. He gave his seven children the benefit of a common
school education.
Our subject possessed a retentive memory which
enabled him to rank first in his studies. At the age of thirteen years
he was confirmed in the faith of the Lutheran church. About this time
his father died and Mr. Nelson with a younger brother assumed the
management of the farm, maintaining their mother and five sisters. Being
of an active and inquiring turn of mind, Mr. Nelson was not satisfied
with what he could see of religion; he wanted to feel a change of heart
and constantly endeavored to find his way. He asked the older members of
the church, receiving from those in authority the same response - "If
you do all the church requires of you that is enough." But he was not
satisfied and sought what his soul longed for by attending evangelistic
meetings, studied the church books, prayed for more light, and finally
at the age of seventeen years, he and his brother were truly converted
by the power of the Holy Spirit and their minds enlightened in regard to
the Bible. The doctrines embraced by the two young men were not popular
at that time in the Kingdom of Denmark, and they suffered many
persecutions; not only from the enemies of the gospel, but from their
own mother, who was a zealous follower of the Lutheran church. She was
extremely radical in her religious views and was so incensed that her
sons should deviate from the beaten path, that upon hearing her boys
were attending divine services which were being held at a private house
in the neighborhood, she hastened thither, murmuring the while - "I will
get that out of their heads." As she shook the staff threateningly at
the young converts, in tones of bitterness she asked the dispenser of
the gospel - "How much he charged for leading minors astray?"
Wishing to avoid a scene, the boys hastened out into the street, closely
followed by their parent, but as they were deaf to all her persuasions
that salvation was of faith, and not of works, she drove them from her,
saying "They were willful and stubborn and she would have no more to do
with them." They wandered through the village seeking shelter for the
night but no one would take them in; they were told in tones of mockery
and derision they were "Too holy to mingle with common people.
But
the mother, true to maternal instinct, was troubled, and as she tossed
upon her pillow that night was visited by a dream in which her deceased
husband seemed to stand beside her and looking sorrowfully down upon her
said - "Will you drive my boys from their home?" This remonstrance was
more than her mother heart could withstand; she awoke, arose, hastilly
sought her boys and brought them home. They then thanked the Lord for
his goodness to them and earnestly besought him for their mother's
salvation, which in his good time he granted.
Reverend Nelson
remained a member of the Lutheran church fourteen years after his
conversion; ten years of that time he was an earnest worker among his
people for the cause of Christ and his influence for good was felt. His
spare moments were not all spent in the pulpit; he visited the sick,
looking after their physical and spiritual needs, reading to them from
the Bible; praying with and for them. He also visited the prisons,
speaking words of comfort and encouragement often obtaining the
assistance of wealthy and influential citizens in gaining the release of
some inmate.
He afterward moved to Zealand and resided in the
town of Gimlinge, where he married Miss Anna Pederson, April 11, 1838.
She was a conscientious young woman of good and pious parentage and with
such an earnest companion as he found in her, it stimulated him to
greater efforts in his "Master's vineyard." They became convinced that
immersion was the only true baptism, and January 24, 1842, they united
with the Missionary Baptists and were two of the twenty-four which
constituted at the time of their baptism the whole membership of the
denomination of Baptists in the Kingdom of Denmark, The Reverend Adolph
Monster performed the rites of baptism.
Reverend Nelson was
ordained a minister of the gospel in Hamburg, Germany, the following
spring, by the Reverend J.G. Oucken and sent out as a missionary under
the direction of the German Missionary Association. His journeys were
mostly accomplished on foot. He visited different parts of the country,
his work extending over into Norway and Sweden; these trips were not
made without great peril, especially in winter when facing the blinding
snow storms of that region. While passing from one to another of the
islands of Denmark he made use of an ice boat and sometimes on account
of the thinness of the ice, he would be plunged into the water, reaching
his destination with his clothing frozen on his body; but such trials he
considered trivial when he thought of what Christ had suffered.
His growing family required some of his time as he was not sufficiently
remunerated for the missionary labors to support them. He would work in
the field all day and at nightfall would hasten away on foot to fill an
appointment made for the next day some forty miles distant; often making
the entire journey between two suns. After making his family comfortable
he often started out to preach with scarcely a cent in his pocket. While
upon one of these expeditions footsore and weary, he wandered on with no
house open to him and only four skillings in his pocket. (About three
cents in American coin.) He entered a village where he spent his last
cent for a loaf of bread. He passed on, eating the loaf as he went
feeling thankful to be thus able to appease his hunger, and after he had
nearly finished his repast rejoiced to find embedded in the loaf a piece
of money of the same value as the one just expended.
The power of
God through his teachings began to be felt throughout the land so much
that the authorities began to inquire the cause and as a consequence he
was accused of working against the state church and ordered before a
magistrate to give an account of his doings. This occurred several times
but nothing could be proven against him and he was sent away with the
admonition to withdraw from his labors for he was disturbing the peace.
The judge told Reverend Nelson that he ought to have sense enough to
see, if he did not stop his religious work he with his family would be
crushed. The undaunted reply was - "God will provide for his own. I
ought to obey him rather than man." Whereupon the judge grasped him by
the shoulder and shook him. Not regarding their threats he continued,
and complaint was made to the King, Christian the VIII, petitioning him
to appoint some person as a leader of the Baptists and hold that person
responsible for all their wrong doings.
In the year 1842,
Reverend Nelson was appointed by the King to fill that position. He was
ordered before the judge and given his choice between imprisonment or
ceasing to administer baptism. He was allowed to preach but not to
baptize nor celebrate the Lord's Supper. To see that this was observed,
he was required to notify the justice of the peace. The urgent requests
for baptism became so frequent that he determined to give them. He might
be compared with Moses and the Israelites, as "the man of God who stood
between the King and the people." He selected from their number one
worthy for the service and under cover of darkness the rites were
performed. But Reverend Nelson was ordered before the judge and not
being able to pay the fine imposed, his property was confiscated and his
family left destitute. His ever patient wife united her efforts with
those of her husband, and through persecution and disaster succeeded in
sustaining their family. Nor did Reverend Nelson lose faith in God; his
confidence remained unshaken, and again labored in his cause until the
authorities ordered him with others before the judge, and he was fined a
second time, the amount being for each about $275. It was not
immediately collected and in the meantime King Christian the VIII died,
and was succeeded by Frederick the VII, who gave the people Christian
liberty, and therefore the fine was not collected.
Being no
longer persecuted but free to work, Reverend Nelson organized nine
congregations in Denmark and built seven houses for worship. For
twenty-four years he was pastor of one church, doing active outside work
at the same time. During this period, in the year 1857, he published in
the Danish language a collection of hymns, many of them being his
translation from the Swedish and German languages. In 1859 he published
a second and enlarged edition of the same collection. In 1861 he wrote
and published two tracts, namely: "The Lutheran Church and the Bible."
"What is Baptism and Who Shall be Baptized?" In 1863 he wrote and
published a third tract called "The Golden Ring." About the same time he
gave to the world a fourth called "The Law or the Ten Commandments."
His family now being large and some of them having left the parental
roof to try their fortunes across the water in the "New World" the heart
of the father yearned to see his children once more and with his wife,
two sons and one daughter he came to America where five sons and one
daughter had preceded him. "Father" Nelson arrived in New York City in
August, 1865, and came direct to St. Louis, where he joined his children
twelve miles south of that city. The two years he lived there were spent
principally in gaining a knowledge of the English language.
The
church he had served in Denmark for so many years became involved some
doctrinal difficulty and the thoughts of the congregation immediately
reverted to their old pastor and they sent for him with the promise of
paying his fare there and return, and remunerate him in addition if he
would return and help them for a short time; but Reverend Nelson had
accepted a call from the First Scandinavian Baptist Church, of Chicago,
and had been commissioned by the American Home Mission Association to
labor in Chicago and the surrounding country; hence, could not accept
their proposition but wrote them instructions with Bible references.
In 1867 taking his wife and four youngest children with him,
Reverend Nelson moved to Chicago. After two years of missionary labor he
conceived the desire of having his family settled near each other and
started for the frontier, that they might take homesteads in the same
settlement. He with others visited Kansas in the autumn of 1868 and
while in Junction City looked over the map with other of his countrymen
and through an agent homesteaded a quarter section of land then
inhabited by the buffalo and the Indian. The Nelsons were the second
settlers west of the Republican river and north of Buffalo creek.
Several Swedes in Chicago interested other of their countrymen who were
a laboring but progressive people and formed a colony. They started the
movement in 1867 but in 1868-9 others came and the town of Scandia was
founded and a colony house was built. (This was afterward used as a
school house.)
The colonists settled on both sides of the river
from Lake Sibley north to the Nebraska line. Many other nationalities
settled there, as many who filed delayed coming and their claims were
contested; again some grew discontented, returned to their homes or went
elsewhere. Something near four hundred farms were secured in a strip of
land extending one mile back from the river and they also bought the
state land in that vicinity. Of this number only about one hundred and
fifty actual settlers came. The leaders of this scheme gave out the
impression, if improvements were made they could hold their lands; they
were people who were tied up with business affairs in Chicago and they
trusted these agents, but their claims were contested and lost as a
matter of course.
When the Reverend Nels Nelson came to the
country and saw the condition of things he at once withdrew his support
and in the meantime with other Danish emigrants established a colony. In
1869 his property was destroyed by the Indians as told in another part
of this history. "Father" Nelson was the "Good Samaritan" of the pioneer
settlement. His humble home on the frontier was open to all new comers;
he followed the injunction - "Freely ye have received, freely give,"
until his hospitable dwelling was widely known as the "Free hospital and
church," for he also held divine service there.
On July 30, 1871,
the Reverend Nels Nelson organized a Danish Baptist church, - the first
Baptist church west of Atchison, - with eleven members and later built
the Saron Church, where, as long as his health permitted, he preached to
his beloved people, and where all that is mortal of this reverend
gentleman lies peacefully sleeping. He officiated at the Lord's table in
the little Saron Church until the winter 1886, when his health failed,
and March 10, 1887, the doors closed upon one of the most eventful lives
recorded in these pages. "Father" Nelson was an elderly man when he left
his fatherland. Upon coming to America he made the church his chief
cause, was the spiritual advisor of the community of Danes and through
his influence much is due for the settlement and prosperity of his
people. The Saron Church is the only Danish Baptist Church in the
Association. "Father" Nelson organized a Swedish Baptist Church ten
miles east of his homestead and ordained August Johnson, pastor.
"Mother" Nelson, the life-long counselor and companion of the subject of
this memoir, died February 27, 1902, at the age of eighty-six years. She
was laid to rest in the Saron Church cemetery, by the side of her
husband and son, Nels Nelson, Jr., whose demise preceded her own but a
few weeks. She was active in mind and body, and until a short time
before her death often walked to a son's home, four miles distant. She
lived with her son, James Nelson. Both Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were life
members in the American Home Missionary Society.
Besides the two
sons, Nels Nelson, Jr., and Henry Nelson, whose sketches follow, there
are three sons and two daughters. Charles, a resident of St. Louis,
Missouri; Caroline, wife of Martin Olsson, a farmer living three miles
east of Hollis; James, the father of Doctor Nelson, of Concordia, is a
well-to-do farmer of Republic county, and Mary, wife of O.E. Garder, a
prosperous farmer of Buffalo township, two miles north of Yuma. The two
younger sons, Christ and George, are thrifty farmers and stockmen,
residing four miles northeast of Jamestown.
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