Cloud County
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REVEREND JOSEPH PERRIER.
The Reverend Joseph Perrier is a native
of Savoy, France, born in 1839. His parents were John and Petronilla
Perrier, of Savoy. His paternal grandfather was a sutler or army
furnisher under Napoleon.
Father Perrier's childhood was spent at
Savoy, one of the loveliest spots in the universe, where many of the
crown heads of Europe have castles. He was a student from the age of six
to twenty-four years, a graduate of the College of St. Pierre I Albigny
at eighteen years of age, then entered the University of Chambery, where
he took up the science of philosophy and at twenty-three became a
professor of languages.
One year later he became a priest and was
sent to Gresy sur Aix, a famous resort established by Julius Caeser, and
celebrated for three thousand years. Napoleon had a castle there, also
Queen Victoria. When twenty-seven years of age Father Perrier came to
Lawrence, Kansas, as a missionary and as a recruit to the call of Bishop
Miege. He came to Topeka as a teacher of classics in the Catholic
seminary in 1871.
He was soon afterward sent to Emporia, where he
organized about forty missions in a circuit of four hundred miles long
and one hundred wide. The territory that he covered by his individual
labors is now occupied by about twenty-five priests. He was with General
Sheridan when he routed the Indians from the frontier, and administered
to the sick and wounded soldiers. He also administered to the railroad
forces from 1868 to 1875. He endured many hardships; there were no
railroads, scarcely any wagon roads over some parts of the district. The
streams were not bridged and on horseback he swam the swollen rivers and
creeks.
In 1880 he came to Concordia, then a town of about eight
hundred people, and where a church had been established by the Reverend
Father Mollier, one of the first missionaries in northwest Kansas.
Reverend Father Perrier was the first resident pastor of Concordia and
has labored incessantly and untiringly for the good of his church ever
since. He is held in reverence and distinction as a citizen and
churchman by all classes of society.
OSCAR W. PETERSON.
Oscar W. Peterson, one of the prosperous farmers of Grant township,
came to Kansas in 1878 and bought one hundred and sixty acres of Normal
school land five miles northwest of Jamestown, where he has built one of
the most pretentious and desirable homes in this section of the country.
Mr. Peterson paid one-tenth of eight hundred dollars, the consideration
to be paid for the land, which consumed all his capital save a wife, who
was possessed of equally as much courage and ambition as himself, and
two small children. He owned a span of mules but they were not paid for.
Between their first humble abode and the handsome residence that now
graces the wide lawn there is a marked contrast.
The little house
of sod with its board roof, dirt floor and no windows, sheltered them
for months. Its furniture consisted of two chairs, a bedstead brought
through on the wagon from Iowa and a few other articles of home make.
Here they underwent many hardships and were reduced to less than the
price of a postage stamp. With his mules Mr. Peterson did breaking among
the neighbors and in this way earned enough to tide them over until
better days dawned. While their larder was often reduced to small
quantities and few varieties of food they did not actually suffer. Mr.
Peterson invested in one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining his
farm on the north but during the hard times had to surrender it, and
also lost some real estate in Jamestown during the panic. He was land
hungry and when he came to Kansas coveted all the land in sight.
Mr. Peterson was born in a suburb - now included in the city of Chicago
- in 1855, and when an infant six months old emigrated with his parents
to eastern Iowa and settled on a farm in Jefferson county. His father,
Andrew Peterson, came to Cloud county in 1884, and died near Jamestown
in 1893. He was a native of Sweden and emigrated to America in 1852. His
wife and her two children died of cholera during the scourge in Chicago.
He was then married to Sophia Swanson, the mother of our subject. To
this marriage four children were born. A brother, Alfred, lives in
Portland, Oregon and a sister, Mrs. Johnson, of Phelps county, Nebraska.
A son died in infancy. Mrs. Quick, of Thomas county, Kansas, was a
daughter by a former marriage of our subject's mother - but she was
reared with the children of the second union and was a devoted sister.
Oscar W. Peterson was married in 1876 to Mary E. Simmons of
Jefferson county, Iowa, the place of her nativity and where she grew to
womanhood. Her parents were W.R. and C.J. (Crenshaw) Simmons. Her father
died in 1897. Her mother still lives in Jefferson county. To Mr. and
Mrs. Peterson six children have been born, two sons and four daughters.
The eldest daughter, O. Edna, is a teacher in the fourth grade of the
Washington building in Concordia. She was a teacher last year (1901) in
the Jamestown schools. She is self-educated, graduated from a four years
course in the Concordia high school and holds a first grade certificate.
She possesses exceptional ability as a teacher and has achieved well
deserved success. Flora L. is living with relatives in Iowa and has not
been home but once in a period of four years. Lyda M., an estimable
young woman, is a dressmaker by trade but spends much of her time at
home. Roy C., an industrious young man of twenty, assists with the farm
duties. Ella I., a little daughter of twelve years, and Oscar W., Jr.,
nine years of age, are students of the home district and have neither
been absent nor tardy during the present year nor all of last year
(1901).
The commodious residence of nine rooms, built in 1902, is
modern in design and architecture, with pantry, bath room, and closets,
and is one of the best appointed houses in the vicinity of Jamestown. A
model poultry house, built of stone and smoothly plastered, is in course
of completion which is one of the most modern the writer has ever seen.
No accessory of a perfect country home will be lacking when the barn
under contemplation is completed. The first story will be a basement of
stone and the rock is on the ground ready for dressing. The lawn is wide
and deep bordered by flowers and shade trees. Mrs. Peterson is a
cultured woman and presides over their pleasant home with gracious
hospitality. Mr. Peterson's judgment and good common sense, coupled with
the same excellent qualities of his wife, have assisted him iin gaining
prosperity and the coveted beautiful country place where amid pleasant
surroundings they may enjoy with ease and rest the home won by long
years of activity. Mr. Peterson is a Democrat politically, has served as
clerk and treasurer on the school board for about a dozen years, and has
held various township offices. The family are members and active workers
of the Jamestown Methodist Episcopal church congregation.
W. H. L. PEPPERELL.
Few men in Cloud county have risen from
obscurity and gained the prominence accorded W.H.L. Pepperell. The
interesting story of his life strikingly illustrates what a man can
accomplish when he possesses ambition and the energy and the
steadfastness of purpose to execute them. From poverty, a "little
bootblack," as he is pleased to call himself, our subject has risen to
prosperity, occupies a high standing as a citizen and is admired for the
broad learning and scholarly attainments he has acquired - from where
and when it would be difficult to determine exactly - for he began his
career ere his school days had fairly dawned. But with the same
determination that he has hewed down every obstacle in his path, he
gained knowledge and acquired much of his book learning while in the
employ of Mrs. Truesdell; furthermore it was of a practical kind, the
quality that is a boon to the boy who turns pathfinder.
Mr.
Pepperell was born in Plymouth, England, in 1862. In 1870 he came to
America with his parents, who settled in Junction City, Kansas. As a
mere child he evinced the same sort of emotion and ambition that beats
in the breasts of more mature and restless humanity. His extreme youth
nor the influence of his parents, who were in limited circumstances, did
not prevent him from taking the "world by the horns." He learned through
a traveling salesman, that a position awaited him at the "Truesdell
House" in Concordia. The conditions were, a "rustler," and, in addition,
could earn fees blacking boots, doing errands, etc. As a result of
having fasted all day, Mr. Pepperell arrived in the new town of
Concordia with twenty-five cents in his pocket. He left home with enough
to pay his car fare from Junction City to Clyde and started to finish
his journey on foot, but a kindly farmer gave him a ride in his wagon.
Mr. Pepperell says should he live a century he could never forget the
appearance of Mrs. Truesdell, in her silken gown, as she summoned him
into her presence. He had expected to be ushered into a hearing with a
grim-visaged landlord instead of this gracious woman, who appeared to
him like a queen. She was a handsome woman and her grace appealed to the
little stranger, as she mapped out a routine of duties for him to
perform. Late in the afternoon Mrs. Truesdell discovered a look of
weariness on the boy's face and thinking he may not have dined, true to
her kindly nature, ordered a lunch prepared for him. Mr. Pepperell
asserts that was the most sumptuous meal he ever partook of in his life,
not excepting the scores of banquets he has since attended. He found a
home with Mrs. Truesdell, a home in all that the word implies, and for a
half dozen years lost his identity and was known as "Billy" Truesdell.
In the meantime our subject had established a reputation for shrewdness,
coupled with honor and integrity, the first requisites to success, and
when the hotel burned down he was offered a clerkship, but refused a
position with a salary to enter the law office of Laing & Wrong, that he
might satisfy his longing for knowledge, an exceptional sacrifice for a
penniless boy, but a wise one, for here he acquired, his business
education, and at the expiration of one year had gained enough knowledge
to form an association with N.E. Carpenter, an attorney and justice of
the peace, in the real estate business. From this period he began to
rise and in 1882, before having reached his majority, he was elected
chairman of the Democratic county convention, and turned down an
appointment, under Governor Glick, because, he had aspirations to become
postmaster in Concordia. In 1884 he was elected a delegate to the
national convention and also a member of the Democratic central
committee, with which body he is still identified and has been secretary
of for twelve years. This body comprises five counties. He became a
candidate for postmaster in 1885 and, succeeding a hard fight, which
continued through eleven months, Mr. Pepperell was placed in official
position, under President Cleveland's first administration, and served
with marked satisfaction for three years. Being among the following who
believe "to the victor belongs the spoils," Mr. Pepperell resigned,
under President McKinley's reign, six months prior to the expiration of
his term. He was again chosen a delegate to the National convention that
convened in 1892 and nominated ex-President Cleveland the second time.
No better evidence of the efficient service he gave the people could be
given than his second appointment to the position of postmaster in 1893,
with virtually no opposition, and held the office another four years.
His popularity among political circles is shown by repeated gifts of the
people and those in office. July 1, 1898, he was appointed a director of
the penitentiary by Governor Leedy and filled that office one and a half
years. Mr. Pepperell also has an enviable fraternal record. He has been
through all the chairs of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has
been a delegate to the grand lodge for sixteen consecutive years,
without missing a session.
In December, 1886, Mr. Pepperell was
married to Miss Josephine Paradis, a popular Concordia young woman. Mrs.
Pepperell is receiver for the auxiliary department of the Ancient Order
of United Workmen for the state of Kansas. They are the parents of one
son, William Earl, aged fourteen, who has a fine school record. Since he
began his school career his report cards have ranked first in every
instance but two; in these they ranked second. Mr. Pepperell's parents
are both deceased, his father dying in 1897 and his mother in 1884. They
died in Grand Junction, where they settled upon coming to America. He
has two older brothers, Thomas L. and Andrew, and one sister, Mrs. Sarah
Jane Mannering. Mr. Pepperell has continued in the real estate business
through his political career and has been exceptionally successful;
large sums of money are placed through his agency and he is entrusted to
the management of extended interests. He represents several of the
leading insurance companies, and whoever gives Mr. Pepperell their
patronage is sure of courteous and careful consideration - the key to
his success and popularity. No citizen has done more for the upbuilding
of Concordia than he. No project is promoted that he is not a
conspicuous figure and he has conducted the politics very acceptably to
the Democracy of Cloud county.
SAMUEL CARPENTER PIGMAN,
M. D.
As a representative of the medical fraternity and as a
progressive citizen Dr. Samuel C. Pigman is entitled to a prominent
place in the annals of Concordia. He was born in Wheeling, West
Virginia. He studied medicine in the Jefferson Medical College and
graduated from that distinguished institution in 1879. Dr. Pigman began
the practice of his profession in the east, but three years subsequently
emigrated west and settled four miles south of Jamestown. In 1888 he
removed to Concordia, where his success as a general practitioner is
apparent.
Dr. Pigman descends from an old and eminent Maryland
family, several of his ancestors being patriots and brave defenders of
the colonial honor. On the maternal side he is transcended from a race
of medical men, there having been eight or nine in the profession during
the same period. He is from a long line of legal lights on the paternal
side. His paternal grandfather was a noted attorney and numbered such
men as Calhoun and Webster among his colleagues. He was a member of the
Maryland upper house for a dozen years. He married Cloe Hansen, a sister
of John Hansen, president of the Continental congress.
Dr. Pigman
treasures a package of letters written by his distinguished grandparent.
They are scholarly productions, replete with the thought of the age, and
from their transmission it is definitely determined he was a Whig and
disfavored bond-service or the subjection of one person to the will of
another, for he writes: "I prefer western Maryland, for there are no
slaves there." Our subject's father, Nathaniel Pigman, was born in
western Maryland, but early in life removed to Wheeling, West Virginia,
and opened the office of the Adams Express Company in that city in 1854,
and remained the company's agent until his death in 1865.
Dr.
Pigman was married in 1885 to Miss Mary Moore, a daughter of Dr. D.B.
Moore, who was a resident of Cloud county for several years and during
its early settlement. He is now a citizen of Osage county, Kansas. Mrs.
Pigman was born in the Sac and Fox agency, while her father was
stationed there as government physician. Three children have been born
to Doctor and Mrs. Pigman, a daughter and two sons, Eleanor, Craig and
Nathaniel.
Politically Dr. Pigman is a pronounced advocate of
solid Republican principles. He was appointed coroner by Governor John
A. Martin to fill a vacancy, and was later elected to that office one
term. Being interested in educational progress, Dr. Pigman was a worthy
member of the board of education in Concordia for a period of four
years. He was appointed secretary of the board of examiners for pensions
by President McKinley, during his first administration, and continues in
that capacity. He is a member of the American Medical Association, of
the State Medical Association and of the Cloud County Association. He
has been prominent in Masonry for seventeen years, belonging to the
Chapter, Commandery, Knight Templar, Royal Arch and has passed through
all the chairs of the order with the exception of past commander. Dr.
Pigman is not only prominent in his profession, but he has advanced the
interests of his fellow citizens and the progress of the city. During
the active years of his life he has been a thoughtful student and has
acquired a broad fund of knowledge, and this, coupled with his humorous,
jocose manner and witticisms, make him a companionable and popular
fellow.
CHARLES H. PILCHER.
The subject of this
sketch is Charles H. Pilcher, a progressive farmer and stockman of Lyon
township. Mr. Pilcher was born in Livingston county, Illinois, in 1865.
He is a son of Robert and Ery Ann (McCashlan) Pilcher. Robert Pilcher
was a native of Ohio, born in Clinton county in 1822. In his early
manhood he moved to Wayne county, Indiana, where he married in 1843 and
four years later moved to Illinois.
In 1877 Mr. Pilcher with his
family emigrated to Cloud county and bought the relinquishment of the
Thomas Jones claim, which he homesteaded and where he lived until a
short time prior to his death. He was stricken with a paralytic stroke
in 1892, and another on July 22, 1895, from which he did not recover. He
was a highly respected citizen and his last days of suffering were
marked by his fortitude and patience. Mrs. Pilcher, the wife and mother,
was born in Frederick county, Virginia (now West Virginia), on the same
day of the same year as her husband, October 7, 1822. She died of heart
failure in 1891, at the age of sixty-eight years and three months. Mrs.
Pilcher became a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church at
the dawning of womanhood and her life was characterized as that of a
consistent Christian woman.
To this worthy couple eight children
were born, six of whom are living, viz: Charles H., the subject of this
sketch: Mary, wife of Donald Gray, a carpenter of Glasco; William, a
farmer five miles cast of Glasco; James, a farmer of Lyon township;
Rilla, wife of William Mathews, a farmer of Lyon township, and Robert,
who conducts a barber shop in Glasco.
Charles H. Pilcher is the
youngest child, and lives on the old homestead, having bought out the
other heirs to the estate. He has one hundred and sixty acres on Chris
creek. His farm is well improved, well timbered and has two splendid
springs that afford ample water for stock. He has fifty-five head of
native cattle and keeps from thirty to forty head of Poland China hogs.
Mr. Pilcher has been twice married. His first wife was Alice Eberhart,
who died in 1891 at the age of twenty years. They were the parents of
three children, two of whom died prior to the mother's death, while the
other, an infant, followed shortly after. In 1894 Mr. Pilcher was
married to Adah Maud Snyder, one of the estimable daughters of Captain
Snyder, an old settler of the Solomon valley. They are the parents of
two children, Leta Bell, born in Cloud county, Kansas, December 5, 1897,
and Clifford Leroy, born October 1, 1899.
JAMES F. PILCHER.
The subject of this sketch is J.F. Pilcher, a brother of
Charles Pilcher, and like him is one of those hard working, progressive,
self-made farmers. J.F. Pilcher left his birthplace, Livingston county,
Illinois, where he was born in 1855, and emigrated to Cloud county with
his father's family. When he arrived at his majority he began his career
as a farm hand and the same year filed on a homestead, his present farm
in Lyon township, eight miles northeast of Glasco. He bought the
relinquishment of a man by the name of Correll, who had broken a few
acres and built a dugout, for which Mr. Pilcher paid three hundred and
fifty dollars. From this raw claim of prairie he has developed one of
the finest wheat farms in the Solomon valley, and it is under an
excellent state of improvement and cultivation. In 1879 Mr. Pilcher
built a small stone residence and in 1899 added a two-story front, which
makes a commodious residence of eight rooms.
Mr. Pilcher was
married in 1879 to Helen A. Newell, one of the amiable daughters of
Adrastus Newell (see sketch). She was a teacher in the early settlement
of the country and is an intellectual and cultured woman. They are the
parents of seven children living, and one deceased. Myrtella, the eldest
daughter, is married to Allen Everley, a farmer of Lyon township. The
eldest son, Robert, who has not attained his majority, assists his
father on the farm. The younger children are Stella, Claude, Arthur Lois
and Glen.
Mr. Pilcher is a sympathizer with the Democratic party
and socially is a member of the Woodmen order of Glasco. The Pilchers
are all industrious, honest people, and good, reliable citizens, - the
kind to be depended upon when any enterprise is on foot for the good of
the community.
JAMES H. D. PILCHER.
A prosperous
and progressive farmer of Lyon township is J.H.D. Pitcher. whose advent
in Cloud county was in December of 1871, and on the 8th of January,
1872, he homesteaded his claim. Mr. Pitcher is a native of La Salle
county, Illinois, born January 5, 1850. When about five years of age the
family moved to Livingstone county, Illinois, where they continued to
live until coming to Kansas. Mr. Pilcher is a son of John Wesley and
Eliza (McIntosh) Pilcher, who were married in 1847.
J.W. Pilcher
was born in Ohio in 1821; his father was born in the state of Maryland
in 1793 and died when his son J.W. was three years of age. His mother
was Margaret Courtney, came from Ireland to America and settled in
Virginia in the colonial days of that state, and in that portion now
included in West Virginia, where numerous antecedents still live. J.W.
Pilcher's parents were married in Virginia and went to Ohio, where he
was born in 1821; his father died in 1850, at the age of fifty-seven
years; his mother died in 1868, at their home in Livingstone county,
Illinois, where they had moved in 1847. J.W. Pitcher emigrated to Kansas
in 1873 and took a homestead in Lyon township, about six miles northeast
of Glasco, where he lived until three years ago, when he retired from
farm life and moved into Glasco, where he now lives at the age of
eighty-one years.
Our subject's mother was a daughter of Daniel
and Cornelia (Cressfield) McIntosh, of Ohio, born in 1825. Mrs. McIntosh
was the widow of John Crouch, who died in Indiana, where they had
located, - leaving his wife and a daughter, who died unmarried at the
age of forty-three years. Her second husband, John Crouch, of Ohio, died
at the age of thirty-six years, leaving his wife and two daughters, one
of whom is Mr. Pilcher's mother, and the other is a resident of Ottawa,
Illinois. Mrs. Crouch removed to Illinois and died in that state in
1850.
J.H.D. Pilcher is one of six children: Ella, who had lived
and cared for her aged parents, died unmarried in 1895, at the age of
forty-three years. Josephine, wife of James Fletcher, a farmer and
veteran of the Civil war, living in Lyon township. Cornelia Belle, wife
of J.B. Rice, a farmer near Fairmount, Nebraska. Eugenia, deceased at
the age of twelve years, and Alice deceased at the age of twenty-one
months.
The Pilchers lived like the average settler, in a dugout,
cooked over a fireplace and endured all sorts of inconveniences for a
period of six years. He then built a more modern house, with floor and
roof, the cellar of which is now under his present residence. The first
year he did not own a team, but managed to hold down his government
claim and live; though he was reduced in currency until he could not buy
a postage stamp. For the last few years Mr. Pilcher has made wheat
raising his chief pursuit. He has raised a good many hogs and has always
had some cattle to sell. Mr. Pilcher has forged to the front and today
owns two hundred and forty acres of fine land. In 1878 he built a
comfortable stone house and in 1891 a substantial barn. His country
place is neat and attractive and has every appearance of thrift and
enterprise.
He was married in October, 1877, to Sarah R.
Courtney, who is entitled to her share of the credit for the success of
her husband. She is a daughter of Robert W. and Lydia (Smyth) Courtney.
Her parents were both of West Virginia, - Monongalia county, near
Morgantown, - where Mrs. Pilcher was born. Her father was a farmer and
when Mrs. Pilcher was eight years old the family moved to Livingston
county, Illinois, and settled on a farm. In 1872 they came to Kansas and
homesteaded land in Meredith township. Her father died in 1885, and her
mother resides in Delphos, with a daughter, - Mrs. Ida St. Clair. Mrs.
Pilcher is one of twelve children, nine of whom are living and all in
Kansas, except one, Samuel, who returned to their old Virginia home.
To Mr. and Mrs. Pilcher ten children have been born and all are
living, viz: Lewis and Frank are interested with their father in farming
and stock raising. Harry, Chloe, Grace, Lester, Raymond, Bert, William,
McKinley and Gay. Mr. Pilcher votes the Republican ticket, and is a
member of Delphos Lodge, Ancient Order United Workmen. Mr. Pilcher is an
honest, industrious farmer, who commands the respect and esteem of all
who know him. He is liberal and progressive and a man that benefits a
community by his living example of pluck and energy. - [Since the above
sketch was written, Mr. Pilcher's venerable parents have passed over the
"Great Divide." They died but a few hours apart, after a happy wedded
life of fifty-five years. They were aged eighty-one and seventy-six
years, respectively, and had been residents of the Solomon valley for
more than thirty years. They were universally respected and consistent
Christians - members of the Methodist Episcopal church. - Editor.]
BERT PORTER.
The subject of this sketch, Bert Porter,
is one of the enterprising young men of Cloud county, who within a short
period of time has risen from a farm hand to one of the most prominent
farmers and stockmen in the Solomon valley. He has made a wonderful
record, perhaps no man in the county can produce a better one. Ten years
ago, Mr. Porter's worldly possessions consisted of a span of horses. He
became associated with his father and bought the Vance Thompson
homestead in 1891. In 1899 he purchased his father's interest in the
farm and now owns four hundred and eighty acres of land with two hundred
and eighty acres under cultivation. Eighty acres of this lies along
Fisher creek, is heavily timbered and is a very valuable piece of
ground; the other two hundred and forty acres are in Summit township.
Mr. Porter married at the youthful age of eighteen years, December 28,
1888, Florence, one of the five daughters of Henry Stout, at this time a
farmer near Simpson, but now living in the vicinity of Clyde. Her
sisters are, Minnie, wife of Frank Campbell, a farmer of Republic
county, ten miles north of Concordia; Maggie, wife of James Joslyn, a
farmer of Republic county; Nellie, wife of Ulysses Nicols, a farmer near
Randall, Randall county, Kansas; Myrtle, who was adopted into the family
of D. Joiner, her mother having died when she was an infant two weeks
old. The Joiners live on a farm near Virgil, New York. Mrs. Stout was
Mary Long, of Iowa.
Mr. Porter is a son of Major and Eliza
(Forgy) Porter. Major Porter was born in Thelma, Fulton county, Ohio, in
1833. In his early life he was a carpenter and shoemaker. In 1875, he
located in Clay county, Illinois. In 1884, he came to Brittsville, where
he worked for five years at carpentering, then began farming, which
occupation he followed until his wife's death, when failing health
caused him to retire, making his home with his sons until his death in
the autumn of 1901.
Bert Porter is one of two sons; his brother
E.H., is a blacksmith and wheelwright, located in Glasco. When Mr.
Porter was married he began the stockraising business with one cow, a
calf and a hog presented to Mrs. Porter as a wedding gift. He now raises
from two to three hundred hogs annually and keeps on an average one
hundred head of cattle. He has placed nearly all of the buildings on the
farm, as it was in an unimproved state when he bought it.
In
1900, he built a large basement barn, 32x64 feet in dimensions. The
basement (used for feeding purposes) is 32x52. His farm is equipped with
all sorts of modern farming implements and machinery. It is said the
largest and best span of mules ever in Cloud county were raised on his
farm. Many buyers pronounced them the best they ever saw. They were
seventeen and one-half hands high and weighed one thousand five hundred
pounds each. They were dead matches, Mr. Porter being the only person
who could distinguish them, and he did not want to be very far away. He
sold them when the mule market was low for three hundred and forty
dollars. One year later they would have brought an advance of one
hundred dollars. If Mr. Porter accumulates in the same proportion in the
next ten years he will certainly be one of the best demonstraters of
what energy can do in Kansas without capital.
CHARLES VAN TRABUE POTTS.
The subject of this sketch is the eldest
of the four sons of Captain John Potts, one of the old pioneers of the Solomon
valley, who, after a residence of thirty-five years on his homestead
near Glasco, removed to southeastern Kansas, in the vicinity of Parsons.
He was one of the most highly esteemed citizens of the community and his
removal was regretted. He had the honor of captain conferred upon him by
Governor Crawford, during the Indian uprisings on the Solomon. He with
others organized the company which he commanded.
Charles Potts
was born in the "Hoosier" state in 1863 and emigrated with his parents
to Kansas in 1866, during the turbulent Indian times. He has been
educated and grown to manhood in the vicinity of Glasco, where he owns
eighty acres of land, and with his brother, A.F. Potts, the fifth son,
operates a threshing machine. They do an extensive business, handling
from thirty to seventy thousand bushels of grain in a season. A.F. Potts
was born near Glasco in 1875. He was married in July, 1901, to Miss Ella
Hunt Gregg, a daughter of G.W. Gregg, a farmer with residence in Glasco.
There are two other brothers - Joseph C., who is interested in a mineral
water establishment in Kansas City. He was a successful Cloud county
teacher for several years. In 1888-9 he was principal of the Lincoln
school in Concordia. Morton Elmer is a prosperous farmer of Labette
county, Kansas. A brother, sixteen years of age, was accidentally killed
on August 19, 1876. On his return from hunting he stopped at a neighbors
to procure a drink of water; the gun which he had rested against the
curbing, fell to the ground and was discharged, the young man receiving
the contents just below the knee. Before the services of a physician
could be obtained he almost bled to death. The leg was amputated, but
the unfortunate boy died under the operation.
The accompanying
illustration shows the original Kansas home of Captain Potts, which was
supplanted by a commodious and modern residence several years ago. This
old landmark has been torn down since the photo was taken by Mr. Soule
specially for this volume. The old cabin which sheltered the family
during the stirring Indian scenes, when dangers menaced them upon every
side and where they spent anxious days and nights momentarily
anticipating the dread warwhoop, has sunk into oblivion. Again there are
doubtless many pleasant memories clustered around its fireside, for
pioneers are a unit when giving expression to the sympathy, neighborly
kindness and good cheer that prevailed in the early days. There is a
pathos in the obliteration or blotting out of these monuments of pioneer
days; however, the conditions seemingly demand it and they are
ruthlessly torn down and forgotten.
LARS POULSEN.
Lars Poulsen, one of the successful farmers of Cloud county, came to
Buffalo township in August, 1870, selected the land he now lives on and
at once repaired to Junction City, where he filed on the homestead. From
this uncultivated tract of prairie he has developed one of the best
farms in the country; but not without suffering many privations. Mr.
Poulsen is a native of Denmark, born in 1847. He emigrated to America
just at the close of the Civil war leaving his native land just before
reaching his twenty-first year and like many of his countrymen, rather
than enter the army against his own country he crossed the ocean to
build a home and become an American citizen. He was penniless, but
succeeded in borrowing the price of passage and joined some Danish
friends at Racine, Wisconsin, where he labored as a farm hand until
coming to Kansas.
His parents were Poul Knutsen and Christina,
Sorenson's "dotter." They followed their son to Kansas three years later
and homesteaded land where the father died about five years ago and
where the mother still lives with her two daughters and one son. The
Poulsens were in very limited circumstances and upon one occasion were
on the verge of actual starvation. They were reduced to the point of
digging up potatoes they had planted and preparing them for food. This
appeased their hunger until they received returns from a brother whom
they had appealed to in Denmark. When they wrote him of their pitiless
condition he at once forwarded them two hundred dollars instead of one
hundred dollars, the amount asked for, which proved a God-send, for when
the remittance came the potatoes were exhausted. They struggled on for
several years, our subject going to Junction City where he worked each
winter, as money was more plentiful there. One season he engaged for
twenty-two dollars per month, the proceeds to be taken in wheat. In the
meantime Mr. Poulsen fell in and by the time his father who was sent as
a substitute reached Junction City wheat had gone up to two dollars per
bushel and his employer charged him accordingly.
He afterward
worked for J.P. King, who proved a benefactor, always treating him with
consideration. While in his employ he took in exchange a cow, but before
returning with his ox team to bring her home the cow unfortunately died.
Mr. Poulsen began to feel his fate was cast along hard lines when his
flagging spirits were raised by the appearance of Mr. King saying he
could take his choice among three others. It was through this employer
that Mr. Poulsen got his start in the world, earning a cow and a team.
He now owns one hundred and fifty-five acres of finely improved bottom
land, intersected by Buffalo creek; raises wheat and corn in about equal
proportions; and seldom has a failure. The Missouri Pacific Railroad
runs through his farm. In 1898 he built an addition to their dwelling,
making a comfortable house. He has a good barn and other improvements.
Mr. Poulsen has been very unfortunate in his marital relations,
having buried two wives. His first wife was walking over the railroad
bridge, fell through and died from the effects along with her infant
child. The second wife caught a severe cold which resulted in her death.
She left an infant which was deceased four months later. His present
wife was Kate Mary Madsen, an industrious young Danish woman. They are
the parents of five girls and two boys, viz: Minnie, the eldest daughter
is sixteen years of age. The others are Ida, Arvig, Esther, Mary, Inez
and Moody.
Although Mr. Poulsen has been very unfortunate in many
ways, under gone many of the viccisitudes of life and experienced many
hardships while the wolf knocked at the door of his primitive dugout, he
is now prosperous and happy without a debt to his charge. He is at
present a Republican but for several years affiliated with the Populist
party. The family are members of Saron Baptist church. It was through
"Father" Nelson, the founder of this congregation that the Poulsens
emigrated to Kansas. Mr. Poulsen has become a thorough American citizen
and is as loyal to Kansas as if born and bred on her soil. He says
nothing could induce him to seek a home elsewhere. Like most of his
countrymen, he is an industrious, honest man and a good citizen.
HONORABLE H. J. PRENTISS.
The subject of this sketch is
H.J. Prentiss, the present mayor of Miltonvale and dealer in grain and
coal. Mr. Prentiss has been a resident of Miltonvale since the autumn of
1890. He was at that time manager for the Chicago Lumber Company, having
been transferred from their yards at Glasco to Miltonvale. He was in
their employ from 1885 until 1895, when he became associated with Frank
Stanton, in the Miltonvale Grain Company. In 1899 he bought the interest
of a Mr. Stanton. He leases and operates the H.G. Light elevator, which
has a storing capacity of five thousand bushels.
Mr. Prentiss is
a son of Kentucky, born in Monterey in 1860, but was practically reared
in Frankfort, where he was educated in the common schools and learned
the trade of miller. In the autumn of 1884 he came to Kansas and after
stopping in Centralia a few months, entered the employ of the Chicago
Lumber Company at Belleville. Mr. Prentiss' father was Luther S.
Prentiss, of Massachusetts, born in 1815. He was an engineer on a
Mississippi river steamer. In 1849 he went overland to California, where
he was employed to put in mining machinery. He came to Kansas in 1888
and died in January, 1896.
Mr. Prentiss is one of eight children,
three of whom are living: A brother in Kentucky and a sister in Kansas
City. His mother was Charlotte A. Ross, of Frankfort, Kentucky, born May
25, 1821, and died July 3, 1891.
The Prentiss and Ross families
were slaveholders in Kentucky. Luther S. Prentiss was a Union man and
after he freed his slaves they stayed with him. H.J. Prentiss learned
his alphabet from a slave, who cut them on a shingle.
Mr.
Prentiss was married in August, 1886, to Virginia A. Graber, of Iowa.
She was visiting an uncle when she met and was married to Mr. Prentiss.
They have two daughters, Nora, aged twelve, and Ruth, aged ten. In 1901
Mr. Prentiss bought the residence property of C.E. McDaniel, one of the
best homes in Miltonvale a cottage of eight rooms, modern bath room and
water connections, a fine lawn and trees, irrigated from the well. Mr.
Prentiss has thirty-three acres of ground with residence adjacent to
Miltonvale. Politically he is a Democrat and has been a member of the
council several times and served as police judge. He is a member of the
Ancient Order United Workmen and has been through all the chairs of that
order, being at present overseer. He is also a member of the Triple Tie.
JAMES VOSS PRICE.
The subject of this sketch, James
Voss Price, is the venerable father of Sylvester Baily Price, one of
Cloud county's able commissioners. Mr. Price descends from an ancient
and patriotic English family, a branch of which settled on the Little
Peedee river in the state of North Carolina, prior to the period of the
Revolutionary war. He is a grandson of the patriotic John Price who
served all through the Revolution under General Marion. His father, John
Lowry Price, demonstrated his valor by shouldering a musket and
rendering duty as a soldier all through the war of 1812, and was
slightly wounded. He was born on the Little Peedee river but emigrated
to Barnes county, Kentucky, in the early settlement of that state and
where James Voss Price was born in 1812. In December, 1852, he, with his
family drove through the country to southern Illinois and arrived at
their destination, what is now known as "Little Egypt," on Christmas
day.
Our subject's maternal grandfather Voss, from whom Mr. Price
received his Christian name, was also a soldier of the Revolution. The
Voss and Price families settled in North Carolina and in the same
community almost simultaneously. Like his distinguished ancestry, Mr.
Price was a patriot. When Company H, Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, was instituted he responded to the call for more troops by
enlisting in their ranks August 12, 1862. He entered as second
lieutenant and was promoted to first lieutenant, but after receiving his
commission was compelled to resign on account of a crippled foot and
ankle that would not admit of participating in the march. The patriotism
of the Price antecedents has been handed on down the line. The two sons
of Mr. Price were both soldiers of the Civil war and members of the same
company with their father.
Mr. Price began his career by working
on a farm near Bowling Green, Kentucky, where for three years he
received five dollars per month. He was next installed as overseer of
the McCutcheon plantation, a large southern estate in Logan county,
Kentucky, for the remuneration of one hundred dollars per year, which
was considered fair wages in those days of cheap labor. His services
proved so satisfactory his employer offered to Increase his salary to
one hundred and fifty dollars per year if he would continue in charge,
but Mr. Price bought forty acres of land, married February 10, 1835, and
established a home. His wife was Lucinda Hall, whose people were among
the earliest settlers in Sussex county, Virginia, and were slaveholders,
she receiving two slaves upon her marriage with Mr. Price as a dowry
from her father. To their union three children were born, all of whom
are deceased. The wife and mother died in August, 1840. His second wife
was Frances Jane Weathers, also of Virginia birth, and from one of the
pioneer families of Dinwiddie county. Many of her father's people were
in the confederacy, but the maternal side furnished several Union
soldiers. Mrs. Price was a near relative of General Albert Sidney
Johnson, who was killed in the first day's battle at Shiloh. By this
union four children were born, two sons and two daughters. The eldest,
Frances Ellen, is the wife of Doctor Dabney, of Denver. S.B. Price,
whose biography follows that of his father, is the second child and
first son. E.R. Price is one of the representative farmers in the
vicinity of Hollis. The youngest child, Mary Melissa, is the wife of
Fred Kunkle, and resides in Concordia. Mrs. Dabney is the original
Fannie Price, for whom Mr. Carnahan named "Fanny" postoffice.
Mr.
Price was a practical farmer all his life until he retired from labor to
enjoy the ease and comfort due a well spent career of usefulness. He
emigrated with his father's family to Illinois and bought a squatter's
right in "Little Egypt," for which he paid one dollar and twenty-five
cents per acre, and where he resided until coming to Kansas in 1886.
Thus it will be seen Mr. Price was a pioneer of two states and almost
three, for Kentucky was yet in its infancy. He first settled in
Pottawatomie county, but in 1868 pushed further westward and located a
homestead near where the town of Hollis now stands, where he continued
to reside until he sold the farm in 1884.
Since the death of his
wife in 1886, Mr. Price has lived with his children. He is now with his
son, S.B. Price, in Concordia, and where likely he will spend the rest
of his days. Before the organization of the Republican party Mr. Price
was a Whig. He has been prominent in politics and was personally
associated with such men as John A. Logan and grows animated as he
interestingly converses of the days when Stephen A. Douglas aspired to
the presidency. Those times of anxiety and factional strife seem as
vivid in the mind of this aged veteran, over whose snowy head a century
has almost dawned, as if that memorable period were but yesterday. The
fires of enthusiasm kindle within his breast and illumine his
countenance as he intelligently narrates the proceedings of the
Republican state convention held in Decatur in 1860, when Richard Yates
was nominated for governor of the state of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln
endorsed for president. Mr. Price was honored by the appointment of
delegate to this distinguished body along with Griffin Garlin and John
Russell.
Mr. Price is perhaps the oldest Mason in the county, and
one of the few in the state who have been identified with the order
since 1847. He was initiated into the mysteries of Free Masonry in
Bowling Green, Kentucky. He has not lost his love and consideration for
the order, but declining years do not admit of his attending the lodge
meetings.
SYLVESTER BAILY PRICE
S.B. Price is another pioneer of Cloud county that has
prospered and attained a prominent place in the citizenship of the
community. He is a son of James Voss Price, of the preceding sketch and
was born in the state of Kentucky in 1845, removed to southern Illinois
in 1852, and as stated in his father's sketch, enlisted in Company H,
Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, August 12, 1862, and in his
country's cause until October, 1864, when he was discharged for
disability. His brother, E.R. Price, served until the close of
hostilities. They were in the army of the Tennessee, General John A.
Logan being their corps commander and General McPherson division
commander. He participated in the siege of Vicksburg, Franklin and the
Red river expedition. They were subsequently transferred to the
Sixteenth Corps and served in the extreme south. Their last duties in
the army were performed at Mobile. Their company was mustered out of
service at Montgomery, Alabama, and discharged in Chicago. Mr. Price
came with his father's family to Kansas in 1866, and homesteaded land
near the present site of Hollis two years later, where he married Miss
Isabell S. Powell, formerly of Pike county, Illinois, reared a family of
five children and became independent in his possessions of the world's
goods. Fannie, their eldest daughter, is the wife of A.B. Cole, a
successful farmer living near Hollis. Flora Lillian is the wife of Reed
Scott, a contractor of Concordia. Florence Gertrude is the wife of Loren
Ashcraft, a railroad man with residence at Wymore, Nebraska. James A.,
their only son, is employed as clerk in the grocery of Price & Moore. He
received a business education and training in the Great Western Business
College of Concordia. He is a hard student and to his natural ability
extended travel has added experience which can be obtained from no other
course. Blanche, the youngest daughter and child, is aged fifteen years.
She is a pupil in the eighth grade of the Washington school. She
exhibits a decided talent in music, being especially gifted in that
accomplishment. Mr. Price retains his old homestead near Hollis, along
with two other quarter sections. His land is finely improved, with
commodious residence and one of the most modern and complete barns in
the country. This valuable estate illustrates much more forcibly than
words could do the tireless industry and excellent management of its
owner. In March, 1901, Mr. Price retired from farm life, bought the
Haskell residence property on Ninth and Cedar streets and removed his
family there. Shortly after this event Mr. Price became associated with
A.R. Moore, under the firm name of Price & Moore, and purchased the Key
stock of groceries. The principals in this combination are both well and
favorably known, and have already built up a prosperous business.
During the early settlement of the county the Price family endured
all the incidents due to frontier life and for months were in constant
dread of the savages who committed depredations in near by settlements,
but the people of this locality fortunately escaped. The Wards that were
massacred on White Rock came from southern Illinois, and from the same
vicinity as the Prices, whose intentions were to join them on the White
Rock, but hearing of the Indian uprising along that creek, they stopped
in Lawrence township. Mr. Price was on horseback, carrying a plow share
to a neighbor one day when he sighted three Indians mounted on their
ponies, who were riding rapidly in his direction. The dismayed settler
put the spurs to his horse and hurriedly gained entrance to the house of
a neighbor by the name of Hodge. A moment later the savages came pell
mell and suddenly halted at the door. Mr. Hodge had told our subject
when the command was given to fire he was to instantly respond. With an
eagle eye and quivering with excitement, Mr. Price mistook a movement
for a signal to fire and brought his gun into position, whereupon Mr.
Hodge, with a sudden motion knocked the gun aside. The act was a bit of
strategy on the part of the frontiersman, who was familiar with Indian
characteristics. They saw the gun, thought there was more in reserve and
beat a hasty retreat, as he anticipated they would.
During the
uprising in 1868, William Christy, a brother-in-law (now of Concordia),
loaded their wagons with household effects and started for a place of
safety, he and his family going to the Lawrence homestead, where they
found Mrs. Lawrence at home alone. His brother, Henry Christy, drove the
oxen that were drawing the load of goods and when he reached the
vicinity of Upper creek he discovered an object which he felt assured
was an Indian, and, believing in the old adage, "He who runs away, will
live to fight another day," turned the oxen loose, left the wagon and,
with the swiftness of a hunted deer, flew on foot to Lawrenceburg. Upon
reaching the Lawrence home he hurried the inmates of the little dwelling
into a skiff. Mrs. Lawrence, while making her exit, detained the
frightened party by sticking fast in the mud. Mr. Christy pulled her out
in due time, just as the supposed Indian rode up with the gun Henry had
left on the prairie in his flight, and was picked up by this neighboring
settler, who was watching for the appearance or movements of the Indians
from this high point of land.
Mr. Price passed through the Otoe
village in 1866 and ate dinner with the agent. The camp was deserted,
the Indians being off on a hunting expedition. They visited the burial
ground and found three cottonwood coffins on the top of oak trees. He
and his comrades were boys, and, having a curiosity to know if the
warriors' guns were buried with them, pried one end of the coffin off,
but found nothing had accompanied the body to the happy hunting grounds.
On this same trip Mr. Price and his two companions gave an Indian some
tobacco for the use of his pony to ride to Marysville, twelve miles
distant. The suspecting savage walked directly in front of them all the
way, saying, "White man mean; can't trust him." When they arrived home
they found the doors barred, in consequence of what proved to be an
unfounded report that the savages were coming through on the warpath,
and their reinforcement was gladly welcomed. But when they came, the
family figured they had been hunted down and run in, as the mischievous
boys led them to believe, and after listening to their hairbreadth
escape, Ed. Powell, a brother-in-law, turned to his wife and hopelessly
remarked, "Well, Margaret, hear that; no use staying here any longer.
Let's go back." This circumstance he was often reminded of later.
Politically Mr. Price is a Republican and is one of the county
commissioners. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and
takes an interest in the organization of old veterans. Mrs. Price is a
member of the Christian church and a very estimable woman.
W. R. PRIEST, M. D.
The skill of Dr. Priest, as a physician
and surgeon, is acknowledged by all who know him and has placed him in
the front rank of not only the medical fraternity of Cloud county but of
the state. He owes his success in some degree, perhaps, to the fact that
his life has been spent in the two greatest commonwealths of the
country, Ohio and Kansas. Ohio is the place of his nativity and the
latter his adopted state since 1886. Dr. Priest began the study of
medicine in the Ohio Medical College, which is located in the city of
Cincinnati, and graduated from there the same year and just prior to
coming to Kansas in 1886. He is a post-graduate from the Chicago
Post-Graduate Medical College in 1895. It may be a revelation to many of
Dr. Priest's friends to learn that, as a youth, he had aspirations and
strong tendencies toward a ministerial career, being inclined in that
direction for several years, or until he had reached his majority.
Had the visionary idea clung to him Dr. Priest would, in all
probability, have discharged his duties as conscientiously and labored
as indefatigably to have promoted the welfare of the souls of his
parishioners as has been dominant in his character toward saving the
lives of the patients entrusted to his care. At the age of twenty-two
our subject began reading medicine and in the meantime taught several
terms of school very successfully. In the city of Concordia Dr. Priest
laid the foundation of a practice that has increased steadily until it
extends far over this section of the country. The success he has
attained as a skillful and expert surgeon has elicited favorable comment
from all classes of people, and his time and strength are taxed to the
utmost in attending to his professional duties. For several years Dr.
Priest has supplied the only hospital service in Concordia, which will
be discontinued inasmuch as he will be identified as the attending
physician and surgeon at the hospital now being instituted by the
Sisters of St. Joseph. Dr. Priest takes a profound interest in all the
plans for the usefulness of this long needed enterprise. Besides his
general practice Dr. Priest is the physician for the Ancient Order of
United Workmen of the State of Kansas, examining surgeon of the Missouri
Pacific Railroad, and has filled the same position for the Santa Fe
Railway for about a dozen years. He is vice-president of the National
Railway Surgeons and ex-president of the Kansas Medical Society. Dr.
Priest has recently added fresh laurels to his career by being elected
general medical examiner of the Fraternal Aid Society during the session
of their national convention, which convened in Topeka in May, 1903, and
this honor was not won without rivalry, for there were six candidates in
the field.
Dr. Priest was married in 1887 to Miss Mary
Fitzgerald. To their union a son has been born, an extremely precocious
and interesting little fellow, J. Michael Priest, aged five. Socially
Dr. Priest is identified with almost every lodge and order except the
Woman's Relief Corps. Coupled with our subject's acknowledged ability as
a professional man are other qualities that render him popular among his
friends. He is genial, frank and honorable, with a generous sprinkling
of humor that has been transmitted from his Irish ancestry, for the
grandparents of Dr. Priest, both paternal and maternal, were emigrants
from the Emerald isle.
Dr. Priest has three brothers, one of them
a prosperous merchant, another an attorney and the third a successful
member of the medical fraternity, of Emerson, Iowa.
To Dr.
Priest's good qualities will be added last but not least a tribute to
the professional aid he has rendered the young and aspiring physicians,
several of Cloud county's rising practitioners owing much of their start
in life to his sincere friendship and advisement.
FERD PRINCE.
Ferd Prince, the editor and publisher of the Glasco Sun,
is a native of Wisconsin, born in 1857. After several removals during
his youthful days, his father settled in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where
Mr. Prince was educated in the high school and grew to manhood. He began
life in the avocation of teaching school, but his career in this line
was brief. One year later he came to Kansas and entered the State Normal
School of Concordia for two terms, and in the spring of 1876 apprenticed
himself as a printer in the Expositor office at Concordia, then edited
by J.S. Paradis. One year later he filled the position of "devil" in the
Empire office and a few months afterward was promoted to foreman,
remaining in this capacity until the paper was sold to Honey & Davis in
1880. Mr. Prince then leased the jobbing department of the Blade, during
J.M. Hagaman's reign, and in 1883 bought an interest in the Critic. The
following August he became owner and publisher of the Glasco Sun. On
January 1, 1889, he sold this paper to Miss Kate Hubbard, and purchasing
the Cawker City journal, removed to that city and successfully operated
a paper there for a period of one year and three months. He then moved
the plant to Concordia, where he started a paper under the name of
Alliant, the first Alliance paper published in northern Kansas. In 1895
he returned to his farm near Glasco, a small tract of land which he had
secured while a resident of that city. October 1, 1899, Mr. Prince again
assumed control of the Glasco Sun, buying the interests of George
Wright, and has since operated that paper. The Glasco Sun is a local
paper giving the general news and is non-partisan in politics.
Mr. Prince was married in 1879 to Miss Della A. Guffin, of Concordia.
Her father was J.C. Guffin, an old resident of Concordia, locating there
in 1872, and where Mrs. Prince finished her education in the State
Normal School. She was a teacher one year before her marriage. To Mr.
and Mrs. Prince four children have been born.
Mr. Prince resides
on his little farm one mile cast of Glasco. He is a thorough
horticulturist, has an irrigating plant in course of construction and
raises some of the finest fruit in the country, including peaches,
grapes, raspberries, etc. Mr. Prince's parents are old settlers of Cloud
county, and live on a farm five miles northwest of Glasco. Mr. Prince is
an only child. His paternal grandfather, while serving in the
Revolutionary war, was taken prisoner and carried to England, with the
choice of staying in prison or a voyage on a whaling vessel. He chose
the latter and when the ship returned the war had ended. His ancestors
were all seafaring men. - [Mr. Prince recently sold his interest in the
Glasco Sun and has retired from newspaper work. He remains a citizen of
Glasco, however, and is engaged in the confectionery and restaurant
business. - Editor.]
CHARLES PROCTOR.
The subject
of this sketch is Charles Proctor, one of the old landmarks of
Miltonvale who has gained prominence both in the business arena and in
politics. Mr. Proctor was born in Joe Daviess county, Illinois, in 1835,
where he was educated and as soon as he attained his majority he
accepted a position as traveling salesman with the Manny Reaper Company
until he responded to his country's call for men at the breaking out of
the Civil war. He served three years in the Twentieth Wisconsin
Regiment, under Colonel Henry C. Bertram. On the 2d day of March, 1863,
he was promoted from first sergeant to section lieutenant of his
company, and served with distinction all through the war. His brother
George was a member of the same company. Their greatest loss occurred
December 7, 1862, at Prairie Grove, Arkansas. Of the four hundred and
eighty men of his regiment they lost two hundred and sixty-two. Of his
immediate company of forty-eight men thirty-two were killed and wounded.
Mr. Proctor was taken to Fort Smith from this battle as a prisoner and
detained two weeks when he was exchanged. After this engagement they
returned to St. Louis, and down the Mississippi river to Vicksburg and
then to Yazoo City, which they captured and on to New Orleans and across
the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville, Texas, where they laid nine months
until the attack on Mobile. His company were engaged in the taking of
Fort Morgan and again in the spring of 1865 in the city of Mobile. Mr.
Proctor took part in several battles that will live in history so long
as records endure. They were mustered out July 17, 1865. A younger
brother, Henry, served a few months at the closing of the war - a lad of
only fifteen years.
Immediately after the war Mr. Proctor located
in Macon City, Missouri, where he became established in the implement
business and later in the insurance business and subsequently engaged in
farming in the same locality. In 1876 he emigrated to Cloud county,
driving a herd of cattle through, and took up a homestead where his
son-in-law, A.J. Culp, now lives. This part of the country was sparsely
settled at that time and the outlook was not altogether encouraging. As
an illustration of the newness existing here at that time Mr. Proctor
was discussing the matter of building their dugout near the section
line, explaining to his wife "some day there would be a road there." She
archly replied, "I would like to know where it would go to," evincing
little faith in the resources and development of the country.
In
1886 Mr. Proctor moved to Miltonvale and engaged in the drug business.
At the expiration of one year he traded the store for land in Ottawa
county. He then conducted a real estate and insurance business until
elected clerk of Cloud county in 1888, which office he held until 1892.
His official record was one of pride to his constituents and
satisfactory to all regardless of party affiliations. He was also county
commissioner from 1878 until 1881. He is a man of unquestionable
principles and who holds the administration of office a sacred trust.
Mr. Procter has acquired a competency of this world's goods. He owns
eight hundred and forty acres of land, most of which he has accumulated
since coming to Cloud county and feeds from one hundred to two hundred
head of native cattle. The Proctors have a suburban residence near
Miltonvale which they have improved and made a desirable home.
Mr. Proctor's parents were Abel and Mary (Moffatt) Proctor. Abel Proctor
was born in Vermont in 1800. He had one brother and three sisters. They
were of English and Scotch ancestry. When Abel Proctor attained the age
of twenty-one years he started off with a one horse vehicle and sold
shoes through the south until he landed at New Orleans, from which point
he secured the position as clerk upon a steamboat plying the Mississippi
river. In June, 1827, he landed in Galena, Illinois, when the lead mines
were flourishing and when the Indian was more numerous than the white
man. He was married In 1829, to Mary Moffat, a native of Maine, and
whose father was driven out of Canada by the British during the
rebellion. The Moffats moved to Peoria, Illinois, in 1823, and later to
Galena. Mrs. Proctor died in 1865. Abel Proctor sold his interests in
Illinois and settled on a farm in Wright county, Iowa, where he died in
1888 at the age of eighty-eight years.
Charles Proctor was one of
seven children, all of whom are living except the eldest sister, who
died at the age of sixty-seven years. Catherine, widow of Samuel C.
Noland, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Elizabeth, wife of John M. Brooks,
of Wright county, Iowa. George, a miner of Joplin, Missouri. Mary Ann,
wife of Duncan McKinley, of Iowa. Henry, a resident of Hampton, Franklin
county, Iowa.
Mr. Proctor was married in 1859, to Caroline
Hundley, a daughter of Josiah and Julia A. (Avery) Hundley, an old
English family who came to New York in an early day and settled near
Galena, Illinois, in 1826. The Moffat and Avery families were neighbors
in Peoria in 1823. Josiah Hundley died in California, in 1851 where he
had gone during the gold excitement of 1849. His wife survived him until
1896. She was born in St. Louis and the Averys were the only American
family in the town at that time.
To Mr. and Mrs. Proctor three
children were born, viz: Eva S., wife of James Neill (see sketch); Ada
C., wife of A.J. Culp (see sketch); Charles A., a young man of nineteen
years, associated with his father in farming and stock raising. Mrs.
Proctor died in April, 1892, and in 1894 Mr. Proctor was married to
Emily E. Hundley, a sister of his former wife. Mrs. Proctor, who is a
most estimable woman, was a teacher in her earlier life but ten years
prior to her marriage was engaged in the millinery business in Nesla,
Pottawatomie county, Iowa.
Mr. Proctor is a staunch Republican
and takes an interest in all legislative affairs, but is practically
retired from public life and devotes a greater portion of his time to
the domestic felicity of his home. He is an active member of the Grand
Army of the Republic, and was the first commander of the Miltonvale post
and is its present adjutant.
WILLIAM PROSSER.
William Prosser, the subject of this sketch, is one of the most
prosperous farmers of Meredith township. He was born in Schuylkill
county, Pennsylvania, in 1835. His parents were Edward and Mary (Reese)
Prosser. His father was of Welsh origin and born in 1806. His mother
died when our subject was a mere child and he was reared by his
grandfather, who was a farmer. Mr. Prosser's mother was a native of
Wales and emigrated to America with her husband in 1829; her father was
a miller.
At the age of ten years Mr. Prosser moved with his
parents to Bloomsburg, Columbia county, PennsyIvania, and early in life
learned the shoemaker's trade. In the spring of 1857 he emigrated west,
settling in Mt. Carroll, Illinois, where he worked at his trade and
attended school until the spring of 1859, when, in company with a
brother and several friends, he started overland for Pike's Peak. They
arrived at Little Blue river and at this point began meeting "earIy
starters" who seemingly were in a hurry to return and informed Mr.
Prosser's party that the road was crowded with people all on the "back
track." They were loth to believe the report and remained by the wayside
for several days to investigate and as a result they also retraced their
journey and were very anxious to return where they could find
employment. Arriving in St. Louis Mr. Prosser obtained work, which
proved unsatisfactory, and he returned to Illinois, locating in
Caseyville, where he remained until the breaking out of the Civil war.
His brother located at Union City, Tennessee, where he worked at his
trade, that of a plasterer. However, he had tarried too long and when he
desired to leave they questioned his right. The condition of things was
critical even at St. Louis, where martial law was in force. Mr. Prosser
wrote him to the effect that if he would join him at Caseyville they
would emigrate to the mountains together and thus avoid the "present
trouble," but in the event that he joined the Confederate army our
subject would become a Union soldier. The vigilance committee presented
the letter, stating they must know its contents, and after they were
satisfied that the brother would leave the state, they gave him leave of
absence and he made all haste to get away.
He joined Mr. Prosser
at Caseyville, and together they returned to Pennsylvania and enlisted
in Company D, Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, under
Captain Torick, with Colonel Murray as regimental commander. Mr. Prosser
served almost four years, but his brother was killed in their first
battle at Winchester, March 23, 1862. Mr. Prosser received a flesh wound
in the arm and was sent to the hospital at Philadelphia, remaining until
August. They left Harrisburg December 29, 1861. Their colonel was also
killed at Winchester. Mr. Prosser participated in the battles of Bull
Run September 2, 1862, Fredericksburg December 11-12, and
Chancellorsville May 2-3, where he was taken prisoner and detained in
Richmond, Virginia; thirteen days later he was paroled and sent to Camp
Washington, where he remained until rejoining his regiment the following
September. He was in the battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania,
Petersburg, Virginia, and various other engagements until August 16,
1864, when he was again captured at Deep Bottom and cast into Libby
prison, remaining two weeks. From there they were taken to Belle Isle
and two months later to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he suffered
intensely from hunger and exposure. In this prison there were nine
thousand men on November 1 and the latter part of January, but four
thousand remained. They were deceased at the rate of fifty per day,
piled on wagons like cord wood and hauled out. After leaving Libby they
expected better treatment, but with every change their condition grew
worse and upon reaching Salisbury the crisis came and was fearful in its
enormity. On their camp, which consisted of seven acres of ground, the
prisoners made bricks of mud and erected places of shelter, which melted
with the first rain. So ravenous were they for food the starving victims
chewed the dried stumps of sorghum cane, extracted soup from meatless
bones and afterward baked, broke and ate them. They were physical wrecks
and suffered all the horrors of a southern prison, but these brave men
would rather die than enter the rebel ranks or go on to the
fortifications. They had no shelter, but dug holes and piled sand over
them for protection. Their rations consisted of raw flour with no means
of cooking it and they were forced to eat paste. Mr. Prosser was
released from this place of incarceration February 21, 1865, and placed
in the hospital at Richmond, where he remained two weeks. He was
mustered out July 6, 1865, at Philadelphia, returned to Bloomsburg,
Pennsylvania, and two years later emigrated to Collinsville, Illinois,
where he worked at his trade. After various removals to different parts
of that state, in 1884 he came to Cloud county and purchased the old
Solomon Pace homestead in Meredith township, which he has improved and
made one of the finest farms in that vicinity. He owns two hundred acres
of land and makes wheat raising his chief industry.
Mr. Prosser
was married in 1871 to Martha Medora, a daughter of Simon Smith, an old
settler of Johnson county, Missouri, formerly of Tennessee. To Mr. and
Mrs. Prosser six children have been born, viz: The eldest son, William
F., a farmer in Meredith township, married Gertie Upjohn (they are the
parents of one child, a little daughter, Ada); Mary, their only
daughter, is the wife of Wilbur F. Powell, an Ottawa county farmer;
Edward is a farmer of Lyon township; Howell is interested with his
father; the two younger sons are Oliver and Emmett, aged seventeen and
fourteen years, respectively.
Mr. Prosser is a Republican in
politics and takes an intelligent interest in political affairs. The
family are members and active workers in the Bethel Methodist Episcopal
church, of which Mr. Prosser is steward and trustee. He is a member of
the Grand Army of the Republic Post of Delphos. The Prosser home is a
pleasant one and as the passerby approaches, his attention is attracted
toward the neat and freshly painted cottage that bespeaks the comfort of
its inmates and a fine bank barn that insures his stock are also well
cared for. Mr. and Mrs. Prosser are good people and the class that every
community needs more of.
PARK B. PULSIFER.
The
legal profession is represented in the city of Concordia by some
exceptionally bright talent and among those who have won marked
distinction as a leading member of the bar within the space of a
comparatively few years is Park B. Pulsifer. For five years prior to
casting his future with that of Concordia Mr. Pulsifer was associated in
the office of the well-known attorneys, Taylor & Pollard, of St. Louis,
one of the leading firms of that city. Mr. Pollard, an ex-congressman
from the Tenth Missouri district, is an uncle of Mr. Pulsifer. Mr.
Pulsifer has come to the front rapidly since he came to Cloud county in
1885 and proven himself especially adapted to the profession. He is a
popular and logical speaker, has been engaged in many important cases
and is regarded as one of the most shrewd attorneys in northwest Kansas.
RAINES & NELSON.
The firm of Raines & Nelson is
composed of Dr. T.E. Raines and Dr. George E. Nelson, of the homeopathic
school of medicine. Dr. Raines, the senior member of the combination,
began his professional work in Concordia in the early 'eighties. His
practice has steadily increased since that time until his services are
constantly in demand. Dr. Raines is a skilled physician and surgeon and
when his attention is not engaged in attending his patients he is
delving deeper into the researches of science, thus keeping abreast of
the times. Raines & Nelson constitute the health officials of Cloud
county. The Raines residence is one of the most comfortable homes in the
city; while modest without it is elegant in its interior appointments.
He and his family are accorded a conspicuous place in the social ranks
of Concordia's citizens.
Dr. George E. Nelson is a native of
Republic county, Kansas. He is a son of James Nelson, a prominent farmer
and stockman well known through his specialty as a breeder of pure
Poland China hogs, having made one of the best records in this line as
far west as Republic county. He is a grandson of the late Reverend Nels
Nelson, Sr., of whom an extended account is given in the data of the
Jamestown vicinity. James Nelson settled in Grant township, Cloud
county, in 1869, but a year or more later traded his homestead for a
team and pre-empted eighty acres of land in Republic county, two miles
north of the Cloud county line. Dr. Nelson's mother was Mary Hansen
before her marriage, and is a sister to John O. Hansen, the popular
Jamestown postmaster. Dr. Nelson is the second of four children: Minnie
is the widow of C.M. Houghton, who died 1902, leaving his wife, two sons
and two daughters. Charles R., the third child, is a student of the
Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College, where Dr. Nelson matriculated,
and will complete his course in 1903. Dr. Nelson has been given superior
educational advantages. After leaving the common school he entered the
Manhattan Agricultural College, where he pursued a scientific course
during the sessions of 1894-5, 1895-6 and 1896-7. To further his
knowledge of Latin he entered the Emporia State Normal School. Medicine
was Dr. Nelson's chosen profession; from boyhood he had dreamed of
becoming a physician. In 1898 he entered the Kansas City Homeopathic
Medical College and graduated from that institution in March, 1901; came
to Concordia directly afterward and became associated with Dr. Raines,
with whom he had practiced the year prior, on a student's license. Thus
it will be seen Dr. Nelson has not had the obstacles to contend with
that confront many young men. He seems to be one of fortune's favored
ones, reaping the harvest sown by his prosperous father and
distinguished grandfather. To many self-made young men his life would
seem "a happy song."
Drs. Raines & Nelson have handsome office
quarters on the second floor of the Caldwell Bank building.
HONORABLE JOHN F. RANDOLPH.
J.F. Randolph is one of those
individuals who realize that "life is real." The contest for wealth and
position grows more and more the object to be desired, and to gain a
position in the world a man must possess both intellect and natural
ability. In the struggle essential to success in life Mr. Randolph has
not only benefitted himself, but others. The original name is
Fitzrandolph. He is a grandson of Joseph Fitzrandolph who emigrated with
the loyalists to Nova Scotia, where he subsequently became one of the
foremost citizens of Higby county and for several years was a member of
the legislative council of Nova Scotia. He owned a large tract of land
called "Belle Farm," at Bridgetown, where he carried on general farming
until his death, at the age of three score and ten years. He belonged to
the denomination of Quakers or Friends. He reared four sons and a
daughter, none of whom are living. The Randolphs are of distinguished
ancestry. A relative, the Honorable A.F. Randolph, of Frederickton, New
Brunswick, who died May 14, 1902, was held in great esteem and as a
tribute to his memory, business was suspended, flags flying at half mast
and hundreds followed his remains to their last resting place and many
distinguished people among his circle of friends were in attendance.
Governor Snowball, who was absent from the city, sent as
representatives, Private Secretary Barker and Captain Lister, A.B.C.
A.F. Randolph acquired great wealth, rising from a clerk. In 1855 he
established a small general merchandising business and from this date
his rise was rapid and he became one of the most prominent men in
business, political affairs and social circles. He was a leader among
men and achieved the splendid result from a career that in the beginning
was fraught with the usual vicissitudes that surround one's start in
life.
J.F. Randolph, the subject of this sketch, is a native of
Nova Scotia, born on a farm near the town of Bridgetown in 1849. He
received his education in the common schools and finished an academic
course in the academy at Bridgetown. He moved to Boston in 1866, where
he remained as clerk in a store until coming to Kansas, in 1871. In
company with some friends he came to Waterville, the terminus of the
railroad, and westward to Clyde when that town was in its infancy. Mr.
Randolph enjoys the distinction of having assisted in surveying the
first railroad in the Annapolis valley in Nova Scotia, as well as the
first streets in the town of Clyde, Kansas. He was one of the body of
select men who served as the first board of councilmen, has since been
elected member of the council several times and was mayor in 1890. He
has been associated with and owned several merchandising enterprises,
among them an extensive furniture store, a shoe store and hardware
business, and was once owner of the "Regulator," Clyde's most extensive
department store. In 1873 he became interested in a general
merchandising business, at Kirwin, and in 1879, at Clayton and Norton,
removing his family to the latter place, but returned to Clyde in 1883.
He was associated with R.F. Herman for several years and in the meantime
turned his attention in sundry different directions; became a stockman
and drove horses through from Texas. He has had a taste of western life
in various capacities, among them the association of the cow-boy and
buffalo hunts on the plain, in which capacity he acted for pleasure and
profit. Being of a speculative and adventurous nature he drove through
to the mountains and mining camps with wagon loads of supplies. He
visited Denver in 1875, the Black Hills in 1877, and Leadville in 1879.
When Mr. Randolph returned to Clyde in 1883, he opened a loan and real
estate office. Land near Clyde was worth from eight to fifteen dollars
per acre and money on real estate at that time was ten per cent and
often times a commission added to that. Personal loans were three per
cent per month.
Mr. Randolph was married in October, 1872, to
Emma Kirkpatrick, who is conceded to have been the second white child
born in the city of Leavenworth. Her father, James Kirkpatrick, assisted
in laying out the city of Leavenworth, and was a pioneer of St. Paul,
Minnesota. They were the first white settlers of St. Paul and owned the
first store established there, where the older sisters and brothers of
Mrs. Randolph were born. Mr. and Mrs. Randolph are the parents of four
children, three of whom are living. Grace died at the age of two years;
Blanche is a graduate from the Clyde High school; she is an accomplished
young woman, possessing considerable literary talent. Frank is the wife
of William Decker, of Hollis, Kansas. John F., Jr., assists his father
in the office. He has not yet finished his education but was compelled
to forego his school work on account of illness.
Mr. Randolph is
a Mason of twenty-one years standing, and for the past five years has
been high priest of the chapter and has filled the chair of master. He
is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He takes an
active interest in political affairs and is a member of the state
central committee. On April 1, 1902, he received the appointment of
deputy revenue collector and is a most efficient officer. He is a man
who takes much interest in educational matters and has been a member of
the school board in Clyde for the past eight years and holds that office
at the present writing. The Randolphs occupy the Rice residence, one of
the most desirable properties in Clyde. Mr. Randolph was with Mr. Rice
on his Dennison, Texas, trip, and with that financier, who is mentioned
elsewhere on these pages, took the toboggan slide financially. No man is
more popular or more deserving of popularity among his acquaintances
than Mr. Randolph, for he possesses those admirable personal qualities
that make him friends whereever known. His brothers and sisters are now
residents of Boston, Massachusetts, which place he considers his family
home.
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