Cloud County
KSGenWeb
JACOB SOHLINGER.
One
of the old settlers of Cloud county and one of the few city residents
who came to Clyde in the autumn of 1869, and when that town was on the
frontier, is Jacob Sohlinger. He emigrated in company with Truellis
Stephens who came to start a pottery and with whom he had worked in
Missouri. In 1873 he started an establishment of his own which he
conducted until after the railroad came into Clyde, having an extensive
trade from the wide scope of country to the west. When the railroad came
in, competition became heavy, coal was high and he discontinued
business. W.B. Mosier conducted a business a short time after but he too
gave way under the strong competition. The ware was sold at eighteen
cents per gallon and had been sold by Stephens at twenty cents. It was
of a good quality, equal to any manufactured at that time. One jugger
and three turners were employed, also eight other workmen, Mr. Sohlinger
being on the road and his own salesman. In 1882, he entered the employ
of Condon & Riley as traveling salesman and later Riley Brothers, who
established a biscuit factory. He is still on the road, and has been
continuously with the exception of an interim of five years. He now
represents the Clyde Milling Company.
Mr. Sohlinger is one of the
veterans of the road and of the late Civil war. He was a soldier in
Company F, 115th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted with Captain A.J.
Ware in Stark county, Ohio, August 1862. Captain Ware died in Colorado a
few years ago. Their second captain was W.A. Thompson; they were most of
the time under the command of General Thomas. Mr. Sohlinger was taken
prisoner in Tennessee about the time of the battle of Nashville, but
made his escape after nineteen days. Most of the time he was on detached
duty; was in the engagements of Franklin and Nashville; did active
service and was in many skirmishes while guarding bridges and railroads.
Mr. Sohlinger was born in New York, May 20, 1842, where he lived
until the breaking out of the war, when the family moved to Stark
county, Ohio. He received his education in New York and Ohio. His
father, John Nicholas Sohlinger, was a cabinet maker before the days of
machinery. Our subject remembers when his father manufactured chairs by
taking a piece of timber and with an adz chipped a horizontal surface,
bored holes in the improvised board, inserted legs and called it a
chair, for the simple reason one could sit down on it and it would not
collapse, and looked more like furniture than a box. Mr. Sohlinger's
parents were natives of Germany where they were married and came to
America. A brother came with them and settled in Philadelphia, where he
died. Our subject's mother was Margaret Andrews.
Mr. Sohlinger
was married in 1872, to Jennie Blair, from the north of Ireland and of
Scotch-Irish origin. Her death occurred at Clyde, leaving a devoted
husband and five children to mourn the loss of a wife and mother. John
Alfred, the eldest son is manager of the Telephone Company and traveling
salesman for the Parkhurst-Davis Company, of Topeka. He has been with
them six years and two years prior filled his father's place on the
road. He is a graduate of the Salina Commercial School, class of 1893.
Daisy Ella, her father's housekeeper, is a graduate of the Clyde High
School. Maggie Stella, the second daughter, is working for her brother
in the central office of the Clyde Telephone Exchange; she is also a
graduate of the Clyde High School. Myron Blair and Byron Clair, twins,
who own and operate a grocery store are doing a thriving business
receiving a justly deserved patronage. These young men are honorable and
honest in all their dealings, not forgetting the poor have needs. There
is a strong personal resemblance between these two brothers, who are
popular in society and universally esteemed.
Mr. Sohlinger, like
the rest of the early settlers, enjoyed the excitement of buffalo
hunting. His companions were Decker, Ed Statt, Max Alwins, Smith and
Lake. In Rooks and Graham counties buffalo were numerous and the
sportsmen killed many of them, bringing the meat into camp, a trophy of
their skill as hunters and brave men; but two of this party survive,
himself and Alwins. Mr. Sohlinger is a Republican all the time and a man
must be thoroughly mean if he does not vote for him, and yet he was born
and reared a Democrat, but changed his political views while serving
"Uncle Sam." He has an honorable standing in the following social
orders: The Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Mystic Shriners,
Knight Templars, Woodmen, Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Grand
Army of the Republic.
HARRY L. SOULE.
The Soule
family trace their ancestry in America back to the time the "Mayflower"
made its way across the Atlantic in 1620. Among the passengers was
George Soule, who cast his lot with the Pilgrim Fathers and lived to an
advanced age, dying in 1679. To George Soule and wife was born John
Soule, who lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The settlement of his estate
was dated March 1, 1707, and it is probable he died about 1706.
His son Benjamin Soule married Sarah Standish, a daughter of Alexander
Standish and grandaughter of Captain Miles Standish. Benjamin Soule died
December 1, 1729, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife died March
14, 1740, aged sixty-three years. Zachariah, a son of Benjamin, born
March 21, 1694, was married June 9, to Mary Eaton. Zachariah died March
3, 1751, at the age of fifty-seven years.
Ephraim, son of
Zechariah, born May 11, 1729, was married February 10, 1754, to Rebecca
Whitewash, a daughter of Richard Whitewash. He died January 24, 1817,
aged eighty-seven years. His wife died September 5, 1805, aged
seventy-five years. His son, Daniel Soule, was born November 16, 1757.
He was married to Sarah Cushman, seventh daughter of Josiah Cushman, of
Plymouth, Massachusetts, a lineal descendant of the fourth generation of
Hider Thomas Cushman, one of the Mayflower pilgrims, May 1, 1783. Daniel
died in 1836, at the age of eighty-one years.
Josiah, his son,
born January 13, 1794, married Sally Young, of Wareham, Massachusetts,
and died March 9, 1872. The sons of Josiah Soule were Josiah, Isaac,
George, Plimpton, James, Harrison and Warren. The daughters were Julia,
Clarissa, Emily and Clara, all of whom are dead but Julia, who resides
at Warren, Ohio. Harrison, the fifth son of Josiah, was born August 3,
1836, and married Adelaide Sandford. Harrison Soule died September 22,
1884. To this union three sons were born, Seymour, Harry, the subject of
this sketch, and Jesse.
No branch of art has been more rapidly or
scientifically developed in recent years than photography. Glasco is
fortunate in this respect, as she has a photographer in Mr. Soule of
more than ordinary ability, several of whose photographs are reproduced
in this volume of history. His work has won for him a reputation not
only in his own city and vicinity but in neighboring towns'. deriving a
large patronage from them. There are many cities of far greater
population that are less fortunate in this line. Mr. Soule is
conscientious and endeavors to give satisfaction in his work.
He
cast his lot with the Kansas people in the early 'eighties, traveling
about for several years over various portions of the state. In 1890 he
located in the enterprising little city of Glasco, assuming charge of
the Bischoff Brothers' gallery. A year later he decided to roam again,
but in 1895 concluded Glasco was one of the most desirable points for
his business and a residence, and opened his present gallery. His work
is characterized for the fine finish given his photos and the artistic
posing of his subjects. He makes many landscape and river views,
photographs homes, interiors, stock, etc.
Mr. Soule is a native
of LaHarpe, Hancock county, Illinois born May 17, 1802. He is a son of
Harrison Soule, a farmer of Trumbull, Warren county, Ohio, who located
in Illinois before the war and became a drummer boy In the Eighty-fourth
Illinois Volunteer Regiment. The name Soule is of French origin. Mr.
Soule's mother was Adelaide O. Sanford, and like the Soules traces her
ancestry back to colonial days. Her maternal great-grandmother was a
cousin of the distinguished George Bancroft of colonial fame. Her
father, M.D. Sandford, was a deputy sheriff in Hancock county, Illinois,
at the time of the killing of Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader. He was
born in 1810 and was a soldier in the Mexican war. He was among the
forty-niners who went to California, and made six overland trips across
the plains. His last trip was made to Leadville, where he engaged in
mining, and in the hotel business, until his death. Mr. Soule's mother
died at Joplin, Missouri, where she lived with a son (now deceased) in
July, 1890.
Mr. Soule and a sister by his father's second
marriage are the only surviving members of his family. She is the wife
of Doctor Charles Hurdle, D.D.S., and resides at LaHarpe, Illinois.
Seymour, the eldest brother, died at Joplin, Missouri, of miner's
consumption. He left three sons, Jesse, Claude and Clyde. Jesse W., the
second brother, died at LaHarpe, Illinois, leaving two sons, Ralph and
Kenneth.
Mr. Soule was married in the spring of 1891 to Florence
(Ott) Hampton, widow of Jasper Hampton, by whom she had three children,
Eddie, Oscar and Teresa. To Mr. and Mrs. Soule one child has been born,
Harry Soule, Jr. Politically Mr. Soule is a Democrat and a member of the
city council. The Soules are active members of the Christian church.
SOUTHWORTH BROTHERS.
Charles and Conch Southworth,
successful farmers of Grant township, left their former home in Henry
county, Illinois, where they were born and reared, and located in Cloud
county in 1881.
Their father was James Southworth. he was a
native of PennsyIvania, but was reared on Lake Chautauqua, New York.
When he emigrated to the then new country of Henry county, Illinois, in
1837, they started on a flatboat via the Allegheny river, down the Ohio
and from the mouth of the last named river embarked on a steamer on the
Mississippi for Rock Island. In the winter of 1878-9 he visited Kansas
and purchased a section of school land and subsequently removed to the
farm where he died in 1893. Their mother, who was Miss Elizabeth Hanna
before her marriage, died In 1901. Four children survive them: Mrs. Mary
McCauley, of Scottsville, Kansas; Mrs. Nannie Keeley, of Lacey Springs,
Virginia, and the subjects of this sketch.
The brothers own
jointly three hundred and twenty acres of excellent land - none better
on the face of the earth. Their chief products are wheat and alfalfa.
Their field of the latter is probably of the longest standing in the
township, having been seeded in 1885. Charles Southworth was married in
1895 to Miss Nannie Guinn, of Pennsylvania, whose parents came to Kansas
but returned to their eastern home. They have one child, Ruth, aged
five. The Southworth farm is well improved, the commodious residence is
surrounded by a wide lawn and many shade trees, and is situated on a
prominence of ground which overlooks the agricultural splendor of their
fine farm.
HAMILTON MACK SPALDING.
Cloud county is
much indebted to H.M. Spalding for the interest he manifests in every
worthy project, and there is no one man more distinctly associated with
the progress and advancement of Concordia than he. H.M. Spalding was
born at Lockport, Niagara county, New York, December 14, 1852, and has a
lineage that might well be a source of pride and ambition. His ancestors
were represented in a prominent way during the colonial settlement of
the United States. He is a son of N. Mack and Sarah (Ellicott) Spalding.
N.M. Spalding was an old and well-known business man of western New
York. H.M. Spalding is a direct descendant of Edward Spalding, who came
from England with the distinguished Sir George Yeardley in the year
1619, and was a member of the Virginia colony. Edward Spalding afterward
emigrated to Massachusetts. This branch of the Spalding family has been
noted for the number of successful business men in it.
Through
his mother Mr. Spalding traces his lineage back to the Ellicotts,
another family prominently identified with the early history of this
country. Andrew Ellicott was the first surveyor general of the United
States. It was he who surveyed and laid out the city of Washington,
District Columbia, and was the first instructor of mathematics in the
United States West Point Military Academy. His brother, Joseph E.,
surveyed and laid out the city of Buffalo, New York. Ellicott square of
that city was named for him. Mr. Spalding prides himself on being an
American citizen and also in the fact that both his paternal and
maternal ancestors took an active part in the Revolutionary war.
Mr. Spalding came to Concordia, Kansas, in 1872 and engaged as clerk in
the store of H.A. Lockwood, which occupied his time for fifteen months.
In the summer of 1874 he purchased an interest in this stock of general
merchandise and the firm assumed the name of Lockwood & Spalding. Upon
the death of Mr. Lockwood two months later, Mr. Spalding purchased his
late partner's interest in the business and continued until the spring
of 1878, when he sold to W.G. Patrick and engaged in farming and stock
raising. In 1878 he formed a partnership with John Tate, under the firm
name of Spalding & Tate, for the purpose of shipping live stock and
grain, raising cattle and dealing in real estate. May 22, 1880, they
brought into Cloud county six head of blooded cattle - one bull and five
cows. This firm was the first to ship in and keep up a herd of
registered short horn cattle; Mr. Spalding kept a large herd of fine
cattle for twenty years and took much interest in blooded stock.
In 1879 he was elected county treasurer and was the first Democrat
elected to a county office in Cloud county, assuming the duties of this
office from October, 1880, to October, 1882. In 1883 Mr. Spalding helped
to organize the First National Bank of Concordia and was its first
president. In 1884 he bought an interest in and took charge of the
Concordia flouring mills, and later became sole proprietor, operating
them for eight years. He also put in the electric light plant in
Concordia, which he controlled for years, keeping it up to date by
constantly adding modern improvements. He is now president of the
Concordia Electric Light Company and its principal stockholder.
He was again elected county treasurer in the autumn of 1893 and in 1897
received evidence of recognition of his having served the people with
general satisfaction and with credit to himself by being re-elected. He
is the only man elected to and holding this office three terms in Cloud
county. Mr. Spalding has long since established himself as a man capable
of assuming various lines of important industries. His natural ability
along with enterprising spirit and capacity for work have gained him a
record as a prominent business man and semi-public character.
He
was married to Martha E. Sherman, of Wrights Corners, Niagara county,
New York, March 29 They are the parents of two promising sons, Edward H.
and Merrill E. The former is taking a complete course in mechanical
engineering at the Rose Polytechnic Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana, and
the latter, Merrill E., is a cadet of the United States Military Academy
at West Point. Mr. Spalding and family occupy a pleasant home on West
Sixth street, where they have lived for the past twenty-five years.
AARON HUDSON SPAULDING.
The late A.H. Spaulding, one
of Glasco's brightest and most distinguished citizens, and an old
pioneer who settled in the Solomon valley in 1865, was an Ohioan by
birth, born in Belmont county in 1843. He was one of six brothers and
five sisters, children of William and Mary Spaulding, all of whom lived
to be grown. Of the brothers known in Cloud county is Henry H., who was
one of the very first residents of Glasco, but now living in Salem,
Oregon, and Joseph, a well-to-do farmer near Wamego.
A.H.
Spaulding homesteaded the place known as the William Thompson farm. on
Fisher creek, in the meantime working on the extension of the Union
Pacific Railway west from Junction City, along with Thomas Jones, of
Glasco. Later he engaged, in a general merchandise store with J.M.
Copeland and A.F. Bullock.
Mr. Spaulding was elected commissioner
of Cloud county in 1877, serving three years. In the autumn of 1883 he
was elected to the office of registrar of deeds, and as an evidence of
his popularity he received all but six votes in Solomon, and about the
same in Lyon, an adjoining township. In 1886 he positively declined a
nomination which was equivalent to an election, and returning from
Concordia built the pleasant home just north of the city limits of
Glasco, where he enjoyed life until his death in 1896.
Mr.
Spaulding's memory is held sacred by his friends and comrades at Glasco,
and it has been recorded that his was a life singularly free from the
taint and contamination of sins which beset, entangle, and capture so
many erring mortals along life's pathway. He was a very excellent man, -
modest, retiring, conscientious and well informed, - and a man of
pleasing address and of unusual good judgment. At his death the family
lost a kind husband, an indulgent father and Glasco a citizen who went
down into the valley of the shadow of death with a page clean and fair.
Mr. Spaulding was connected with every worthy enterprise for the good of
the community. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and was buried by the rites of that order.
Mr. Spaulding was
married April 14, 1872, to Caroline E. Copeland, a most excellent woman,
who survives him. Mrs. Spaulding was born near Vienna, Illinois, where
she lived until twenty-one years of age. Her parents were Isaac and
Ellen (Cove) Copeland, who died within the same week and when Mrs.
Spaulding was but an infant four weeks old, leaving a family of five
children, the eldest of whom was but twelve years old, a daughter, who
married at the age of fifteen. Mrs. Spaulding lived with this sister
until twenty-one years of age, when she came to live with a sister and
brother, the latter J.M. Copeland, then a merchant of Glasco; where she
met and married Mr. Spaulding.
Five children were born to Mr. and
Mrs. Spaulding: The eldest, a son, died in infancy. The four living are,
Maud, wife of S.R. Haynes, a mail clerk on the Missouri Pacific Railroad
from Atchison to Downs, married August 17, 1901. Mrs. Haynes until the
spring of 1902 was engaged in the millinery business for about six years
and very successfully. She was the leading milliner during that time,
carrying a stock of about fifteen hundred dollars, with annual sales of
twenty-five hundred dollars. Mrs. Haynes bought the Studt stock of
millinery in 1806, assuming the responsibility without any capital, paid
for the stock within two years from the proceeds of sales, and also
bought the building where her store was located. Mrs. Haynes is a
graduate of the Glasco high school and attended the high school at
Concordia one year. She is accomplished in music and for several years
has been the organist at the Presbyterian church and Sabbath school. The
Spaulding boys are, Elmer, a resident of Oregon, located at Heppner,
where he is employed as clerk in a store. Frank and George rent and
operate the farm.
George Spaulding served two years in the
Philippine war, and was a member of Company D, Forty-fourth Kansas
Regiment, under Captain Curtis and Generals Smith and Hughes. He
enlisted in 1899 and returned July 4, 1900. They were mustered into
service at Beloit and were mustered out of service in San Francisco,
June 30, 1901. He was in the battles of Tinanawan, Negros Island,
Valencia and Ormoc (the two latter on White Island) and in many other
skirmishes and minor engagements. He was in the hospital four months
from a severe attack of dysentery, followed by throat trouble, which
reduced his weight from one hundred and thirty-nine to ninety pounds.
Mr. Spaulding enlisted at the age of eighteen years, and was the only
Glasco boy to respond to the call for volunteers.
ANTON SPARWASSER.
Anton Sparwasser, an industrious German farmer of
Solomon township, is a fair representative of his thrifty and
enterprising countrymen. Though Mr. Sparwasser is American born, the
German largely predominates and he can scarcely speak the English
language. Illinois is his native state, born in Monroe county, in 1847.
His father was Anton Sparwasser and his mother before her marriage was
Christine Kern, both natives of Nassau, Germany. They came to America in
1834, and settled in Monroe county, Illinois. The father died in the
spring of 1877, and the mother the following autumn. Mr. Sparwasser is
one of seven children, six of whom are living. They are all residents of
Monroe county, Illinois, except himself.
Mr. Sparwasser came to
Kansas in the autumn of 1890, with a capital of $2,500. He bought two
hundred and sixty acres of land (the Turkeson homestead) for a
consideration of $3,000, and built a house at a cost of $1,000; he also
bought teams, farm implements, two cows and a few calves. The famous
possibility of a Kansas farmer had been recited to him and Mr.
Sparwasser had no hesitancy in becoming involved. He, with his sons,
farmed one hundred and sixty acres of rented land in addition to his own
and fortunately had a large yield of wheat and corn that year, which he
fed to cattle and hogs and doubled his investment; another illustration
of the hundreds of farmers who have done likewise.
Mr. Sparwasser
has been married twice. He was married in 1871, to Anna Buck, who died,
leaving four children, only one of whom is living, Caroline, wife of
Phillip Ritzel, a farmer of Illinois. In 1878, he married Louisa Pape (a
sister of Mrs. Berneking) their family consists of the following
children: Henry, a bright and intelligent young man who has just
attained his majority, is interested with his father in farming. He is a
member of the Order of Woodmen, at Glasco. Herman, Fred, Anton, August,
Emma, Lucy, Edward and Phillip, are the other members of the family.
Mr. Sparwasser is a Democrat, but cast his vote for McKinley. The
family are members of the Lutheran church at Glasco.
HONORABLE JOHN STEWART.
John Stewart, the wholesale produce man
of northwestern Kansas, owes his substantial position in life to his
untiring energy and perseverance. The progress connected with his
business operations and their magnificent results evidences what a man
with courage and enlightened views can accomplish. Mr. Stewart's
experiences have been varied. He has not attained his present financial
standing without great labor, excellent financiering and an indomitable
will that would not recognize the word defeat. The word "fail" does not
occur in his vocabulary of thought.
He is a son of the "Auld
Sod," born in the little village of Malin, County Donegal, November 8,
1861. His parents were James and Margaret (Kalhoun) Stewart, both
natives of Ireland. His father early in life learned the carpenter
trade, but later engaged in mercantile pursuits. Mr. Stewart's mother
died in 1885. After her death his father emigrated to America. where his
children had preceded him. He visited Colorado, remaining two years,
spent one year with his son in Concordia, and went to Philadelphia,
where he died at the home of one of his daughters in 1901. Mr. Stewart
is one of six children, five of whom are living, a brother in Idaho and
three sisters in Philadelphia.
Mr. Stewart was educated in the
National schools of his native country and finished in the academic
institution at Londonderry, when fifteen years of age. His choice of a
profession was engineering. His parents had aspirations for him to
become a clergyman, but Mr. Stewart became neither. He left his native
country to make a home for himself in the land o'er the far distant
seas. He sailed for America May 18, 1882, one year before he had
attained his majority. His attention was attracted toward the far famed
silver mines of Leadville, Colorado.
Upon arriving in that city
he found work in an iron mine, where he remained four years. In the
spring of 18,86, he came to Ellsworth, Kansas, in the employ of a
Leadville poultry firm, returning in the autumn of the same year to
Leadville, where he resumed work again in the mine. The following March
he went to the Pacific coast, intending to visit Alaska. He traveled
over various parts of California and visited Vancouver's Island, where
his mother's only sister resides, but retraced his steps to Colorado,
where he engaged in the poultry and produce business under the firm name
of Stewart & Company. The enterprise was not a financial success. They
suspended business in December and for the third time Mr. Stewart
entered upon mining - a last resort, it would seem.
The following
March he was again sent to Kansas to buy butter, eggs and poultry. He
came to Concordia in 1888, and was at once attracted toward the town as
an opening for a produce business. Mr. Stewart established himself in a
cellar, under where the New York grocery now is, on a very limited
capital; but his business increased and he soon located in larger
quarters, and subsequently finding these too small he found more
commodious ones, and later his enterprise assumed such proportions that
he leased ground from the Union Pacific Railroad Company and erected a
three-story brick building, where this concern transacts a magnitude of
business that is surprising in a city the size of Concordia.
Mr.
Stewart ships goods all over the United States, perhaps the bulk of
which goes to the Pacific coast. During the winter and early spring
months he ships into British Columbia and east to Boston, New York City,
Albany, Troy, and many other eastern cities. He transacts over five
hundred thousand dollars annually and employs in the produce house
upwards of thirty men, makes his own tubs, boxes, etc. He employs about
ten agents as buyers in various localities.
Within three years
from the time of starting operations he built up a trade that footed two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually. Thus as the world grows
older and more progressive we see on every side proof of the assertion
that the "self-made" man is the most prosperous and highly esteemed, and
from this class many of the best citizens and leading men of our country
have been taken. Mr. Stewart is in sympathy with the Republican party,
but too much occupied to give a great deal of attention to political
matters. However, he was a valued member of the city council in 1893-4,
and in 1898 was elected mayor of the city of Concordia serving two
years.
In 1896, Mr. Stewart was married to Lillian, a daughter of
the late Cornelius Archer, a well known citizen of Concordia. He was
elected sheriff of Cloud county and served several years. The Archers
came from Ohio to Kansas in 1872 and located on a farm five miles west
of Concordia, where Mrs. Stewart was born the first year of their
arrival. Mrs. Stewart's mother died in 1882, and her father in 1892.
After his death she lived with a brother in Kansas City until her
marriage with Mr. Stewart. Mrs. Stewart is an educated woman of refined
tastes. She received her education in the Concordia graded schools and
in the academy of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
The commodious and
substantial home of the Stewarts is brightened by the presence of two
children, a son and daughter: John Archer, aged three, and baby
Margaret. Mrs. Stewart is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
ROBERT E. STIMSON.
An old resident of Clyde and
vicinity, and an old veteran of the Civil war, who served his country
well, is R.E. Stimson, of Clyde. He visited Kansas in the spring of
1866, en route home from Utah, where he was a member of General Custer's
brigade. Mr. Stimson experienced nearly five years of United States
service. He enlisted directly after the battle of Bull Run in July,
1861. He participated in the battles of Winchester in 1862, Culpeper
Court House, Cedar Mountain, the second battle of Bull Run,
Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Gettysburg. He was in the cavalry fight at
Brandy Station, covering Meade's retreat, where from twenty to
twenty-five thousand cavalry were engaged. Also at Mine Run, Bucklin's
Mill and through the entire series of the battles of the Wilderness. He
remained with the campaign until the explosion of the mine at
Petersburg. After this event he went with General Sheridan to the valley
of the Shenandoah and was in the battles of Fisher Hill and Cedar Creek.
He spent the next spring with Grant's army in front of Petersburg. Mr.
Stimson had many narrow escapes from death. He was wounded in a saber
charge at Gettysburg and taken prisoner at Five Points, Virginia, just
prior to the surrender of General Lee. He was wounded on the 3d of July,
but entered the service again December 21, 1863. During the summer of
1864 three horses were shot from under him: one of them at Bethseda
church, near Cold Harbor. At the close of hostilities between the north
and the south Mr. Stimson's regiment was taken across the plains by the
Colonel commanding Fort Bridger, where they were on duty until March 24,
1866. Immediately afterward he started with a party of nine comrades who
emigrated along the valley of the Platte river, through Kansas to his
home in Michigan, where he resumed farming and married Miss Helen
French. In 1868 they emigrated to Highland, Kansas, and to Cloud county
in May, 1870, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land
three miles north of Clyde. He sold his farm in 1886 and removed to
Clyde, where he has since resided.
Mr. Stimson was born in
Ontario county, New York, in 1843. When sixteen years of age he went to
Michigan, where he had an older brother and began life as a farmer. To
Mr. and Mrs. Stimson have been born three sons: Clarence, aged
twenty-eight, a baker with residence in Concordia; his family consists
of a wife and one child, Roland, aged twelve months. Ernest, aged
twenty-six, is night central line man for the Clyde Telephone Company.
Louis, aged twenty-four, is an employe of the Santa Fe Railroad in
Topeka. Politically, Mr. Stimson is a Republican; is the carrier of the
rural free mail delivery, Route No. 1. He is a member of the Modern
Woodmen and the Grand Army of the Republic.
MARTIN ALEXANDER STOCKTON.
M.A. Stockton, the subject of this sketch,
was one of the old residents of Summit township until his removal to
Oklahoma in the spring of 1902. Cloud county can illy afford to lose
such valuable citizens as M.A. Stockton and his estimable family. He was
one of the hardy and persevering pioneers who helped in a tangible way
to develop this country.
The Stocktons were sanguine, full of
hope that a farm in Kansas would some day honor their drafts. Mr.
Stockton came with his father's family to Cloud county, in 1871. Their
house was a half way place between Concordia and Beloit, and the first
frame house in the vicinity. This old landmark still stands. Mr.
Stockton's parents were Hiram and Lucretia (Barber) Stockton.
Hiram Stockton was a native of Kentucky, of German origin. His
grandfather emigrated from Germany to America and settled in Kentucky in
an early day. Mr. Stockton was a blacksmith and wagon maker and followed
that trade in his earlier life, but coming west filed on government land
for himself and his boys. There were ten children in the family, eight
of whom are living - a daughter died in infancy - nine boys lived to
manhood.
Mr. Stockton and five of his sons homesteaded land in
Summit township; of these A.J. Stockton of Summit township is the only
one remaining. They were in limited circumstances, and came overland
from Kentucky with ox teams. Their first house was of logs with dirt
roof and the first above ground between Glasco and Jamestown. This
domicile housed a family of eleven. The buffalo and antelope supplied
them with meat. Hiram Stockton died in 1882 at the age of sixty-three
years.
Lucretia Barber was of English origin. She was born in
Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1826, and came with her parents to Clinton
county, Kentucky where she married H.C. Stockton in 1864. She died at
the residence of her son D.M. Stockton in 1893.
M.A. Stockton's
brothers are Andrew Jackson, a farmer of Summit township. William Riley
was killed in a well in 1871. They had discarded work on the well for a
few days. He was let down by ropes and was overcome with damps, falling
about forty feet and was killed instantly. M.A. Stockton descended,
thinking it might have been the fall that killed him. He, too, was at
once overcome, and was pulled up, barely escaping with his life. They
then removed the damps by drawing sheets up and down and recovered the
body.
Daniel Marion Stockton is a cattle man of Oklahoma. Levi
Madison, a farmer of Saline county, Kansas. James Carroll, a farmer and
stockman of Oklahoma. George Washington, John Wolford and Lewis Sherman,
all farmers in Oklahoma near the city of Stillwater. The Stocktons are
all prosperous farmers and stockmen. They are self made, enterprising
and good managers.
M.A. Stockton lived on his original homestead
and owned a half section of land, feeding and shipping Shorthorn cattle,
and hogs until his removal to Oklahoma. He was married in November 1877
to Miss Olive Ethalina Webster of Saline county. She is a Kansan, born
in Neosho county near Council Grove. Her father is Theodore Webster, an
early settler and one of the most prominent cattle men in the state. He
is a New Yorker by birth. Came with his parents to Illinois and located
near Galesburg. Later they came to Kansas with an ox team. A sad
accident occurred during this overland trip. The oxen ran away with a
heavily loaded wagon, throwing out two little girls, the wagon running
over and killing one of them. They were early settlers near Council
Grove; so primitive that one of the settlers was compelled to take the
partition out of his house to improvise a coffin.
This was in the
early 'fifties. They became discouraged and left Kansas for a period of
five years but returned and took up a residence in Saline county, where
her mother died in 1872. Her father now lives in Illinois. Mrs. Stockton
is one of four children. Josephine Marie, wife of B.G. Schriven,
elevator man, land owner, and stockman; also engaged in the implement
business with residence in Lucas, Lincoln county, Kansas. Jennie, wife
of R.W. Jay, a Saline county farmer, and Jessie, wife of William Kyle,
an elevator man in the state of Washington.
To Mr. and Mrs.
Stockton four children have been born. David Webster, associated with
his father in farming and stock raising. Hiram Franklin, Jessie
Lucretia, aged thirteen and John Martin.
HONORABLE JAMES STRAIN.
The late Honorable James Strain was
one of the most able attorneys Concordia has ever known. He was a man
of rare ability, one of the first members and the first ruling elder
(which office he held nine years) of the Presbyterian church. The news
of his death cast a gloom over the community where he had lived ten years
and assisted in every public enterprise. He was a man of rare ability and
brilliant attainments. He died January 25, 1880.
JOHN O. STRAIN.
John O. Strain, the subject of this sketch, is a son of the late
Judge Strain, who was one of the best known and most efficient jurists
of Cloud county. Mr. Strain is the youngest of four brothers and was
born in Monmonth, Illinois, in 1865. He came with his parents to Cloud
county in 1871, and located in Concordia, where they lived until the
death of his father, in January, 1880. His mother before her marriage,
was Miss Nancy Y. Brown. After Judge Strain's demise she made her home
with her son, the subject of this sketch, until her death, in February,
1896.
The eldest son, M.M., occupies a position in the hardware
store of his brother, John O. George is a salesman for the Monarch
Manufacturing Company, and resides in Chester, Nebraska. J.A., who bears
his father's name, has made a clerical record of considerable
prominence. He was one of the charter members of the Presbyterian church
of Concordia, and until recently was engaged in missionary work in
Ecuador, South America. On account of failing health and a desire to
educate his children, he recently returned to the United States and
accepted a position as bookkeeper with the A.J. Harni Hardware Company
of Atchison.
J.O. Strain was educated in the Concordia high
school and lived on his father's farm near that city, until coming to
Jamestown in 1884. March 1, 1888, he established a hardware and
implement business in the latter named place, on a capital of one
thousand five hundred dollars, and during the panic of 1893, practically
lost everything he invested. About this time the strip was opened in the
Indian Territory and many who owed him removed to that quarter and left
their bills unsettled. He suffered financial losses but the business
never completely collapsed; he managed to keep his head above the tide
of misfortune and in 1896, began to prosper, increase and strengthen
until he gained a solid footing once more.
In March of 1902, he
formed a partnership with J.D. Hills, who, with his family, came from
Carthage, Illinois, and became citizens of Jamestown. In February, 1903,
the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Strain again assuming full control.
His stock consists of shelf and heavy hardware, farm implements, wagons,
buggies, pumps and machine oils. He operates a tin shop in connection,
employing a competent workman and manufactures steel tanks. He is agent
for the Acme, Champion and McCormick harvesting machinery; the Canton
line of agricultural implements; the Mitchell, Bain, and Fish wagons;
Canton, Rhodes and Carmine buggies; Fairbanks, Dandy and Woodmanse
windmills. Their trade in the latter line averages from two to three car
loads annually. In 1901, they sold fifty-five harvesting machines; their
sales amounting to $60,000, and exceeded that number in 1902. Mr. Strain
has been very successful in his sales of buggies the past year (1903),
having sold about seventy-five vehicles.
In 1902 he bought the
building and machinery of the Fitzgerald implement house, who retired
from that business. He established a branch store in Norway, Republic
county, and since opening a business there, the first of the present
year (1903) his trade has fully justified the movement. Mr. Art
Ledbetter, formerly with him in Jamestown, has the management of the
Norway store.
The late W.S. Tipton worked for Mr. Strain in the
capacity of tinner for fourteen years, dating back to the opening of his
hardware house in Jamestown. Mr. Tipton was an old resident of Cloud
county. He died in December 1902, and was buried in the cemetery of
Highland church, Summit township, on Christmas day. The present tinner,
Ed. Flannery, formerly of Beloit, was connected with the hardware house
of W.T. Branch, of that city.
Mr. Strain was married April 8,
1891, to Miss Anna M. Wherry, of Smith Center, a daughter of D.G.
Wherry, a Smith county farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Strain are the parents of
three children: Elsie May, aged nine years; Helen, who was named for
Helen Kellar, the blind girl, is aged seven, and John A., a bright and
interesting boy, aged three. Mrs. Strain served as mayor one term, as
mentioned elsewhere in the history pertaining to Jamestown. She taught
school successfully for several years; one year in Republic county and
was a member of the faculty of the Jamestown schools in 1890.
Mr.
Strain is a Republican and takes an interest in political affairs. He
has been a member of the council, of the school board and has held
various township offices for several years. They are members, regular
attendants and among the most active workers of the Presbyterian church.
The Strains are all men of high moral standing, industrious,
enterprising and contribute to every movement instigated for the best
interests of their town or county. Mr. Strain and his family occupy a
pleasant home and are among the best citizens of Jamestown.
J. P. STUDT.
An old landmark of Solomon township, who
emigrated to the Solomon valley in the spring of 1867, and settled two
and one-half miles south of where Glasco now stands, is J.P. Studt. He
and a brother, Jacob Studt, who was with him, took up homesteads and
"bached" together in a dugout fourteen years, where they endured many
hard experiences. They were compelled to go to Minneapolis to get their
plows sharpened and to Solomon City to mill, and upon their return would
distribute their breadstuff among their neighbors, who were far apart.
During the Indian raid of 1868, J. Studt was out hunting horses and
came near being captured. During this raid the savages approached within
a quarter of a mile of their dugout. Mr. Studt and his brother assisted
in the burial of the victims of the massacre.
Mr. Studt was born
in Danish Prussia in 1843, and when ten years of age came to America
with his father's family and settled in Monroe county, Illinois.
Although Mr. Studt did not attend school in America, he reads and writes
English and has a good German education. He learned English by reading
the Junction City Union. He was interested in what the papers said of
the new West, its railroad prospects, emigration, Indian troubles, etc.
A desire for procuring this information led him to pursue English
literature.
Mr. Studt's father died in Illinois on October 7,
1864. His mother died in Germany when he was a youth nine years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Studt were the parents of eleven children, only two of whom
are living. The brother who came to Cloud county, died in January, 1892.
Mr. Studt was married in 1879, to Miss Augusta Wislimsky.
Their
family consists of five children, viz.: Phillip, a young man of twenty.
Charlie, aged eighteen. Henry, aged sixteen. Anna, a young girl of
fourteen. Fred, a boy of thirteen years. Mrs. Studt was born in Germany
and at the age of twenty-four years came to America. Her father died
when she was two years of age. The mother came to America in 1884, and
died in 1898 at the home of Mrs. Studt, where she had lived for several
years. Mr. Studt owns three hundred and sixty acres of fertile land. In
1891 he sold the homestead and bought his present farm, upon which he
keeps from fifty to sixty head of native cattle. He votes the Republican
ticket. The family are members of the Lutheran Church.
G. W. STUDT & BROTHER.
A cut of the commodious and handsome new
store building of J.W. Studt & Bro. of Glasco is shown on following
page. This enterprising firm demonstrated their faith in Glasco and the
Solomon valley, their intention to remain there permanently and the
magnitude of business they control by the erection of this costly
building.
Their increasing trade had outgrown their former
quarters and in the summer of 1902, they erected a fine stone structure
44 by 100 feet in dimensions, two stories in height, and a basement
under the entire building. It is of modern and extremely substantial
architecture, full plate glass front, iron ceiling and steam heated
throughout. There is an elevator from the basement to the first floor to
be used in handling, heavy goods. The room is well lighted and
ventilated, the whole front being glass, and windows above the shelving.
The upper floor is owned and used by the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows and is handsomely equipped for that purpose. The valuation of
this property would reach $10,000 at a low estimate. The Studt Brothers
increased their stock of merchandise when they established themselves in
their new quarters and have one of the most complete general stores in
the country.
One illustration shows the exterior and the other
the interior of the building, the photo of the latter having been taken
before the goods were moved in, gives a view of the handsome fixtures
and equipments of this modern, upto-date business house.
The firm
of Studt Brothers, dealers in general merchandise, is composed of J.W.
and Adam Studt. This enterprising firm embarked in business in Glasco in
the year 1887, with a capital stock of about $4,000. They have gradually
increased their stock to $15,000, and do a business of about $35,000
annually. They employ two clerks and own the building they occupy, a
stone structure 24 by 80 feet in dimensions with a basement. The
building was erected in 1886, by Hare & Welch. They first occupied the
Dopp building where Hager & Company now are, remained two years and
removed to their present quarters.
The Studt Brothers are natives
of Iowa, of German origin. They came to Kansas in 1879, and located in
Glasco where they have become leading citizens and one of the most
enterprising firms of that city. Their father was Jacob Studt who died
in Iowa in 1872, Their mother by a second marriage became the wife of
Jacob Studt, a distant relative of her former bushand. To this union two
children were born.
Adam Studt was married in 1885, to Maggie, a
daughter of his stepfather. To this marriage two children were born, Leo
and Mamie. Mrs. Studt was deceased in April, 1889. In 1895, he was
married to Miss Clarissa Clark. Adam Studt owns one hundred and sixty
acres of land three miles west of Glasco; well improved, good bottom
land in the south side of the river.
J.W. Studt was married in
1889, to Miss Ota Hussey who died May 31, 1902, after a long illness.
She was a member of the first graduating class from the Glasco high
school and taught successfully for three years, one year in the Glasco
schools. Mrs. Studt died at the age of thirty-one years. She was a woman
universally beloved; a devoted mother and wife, Nearly one thousand
people attended the obsequies and more than one hundred carriages
followed to her last resting place. They were the parents of two sons,
Roy George and Even J. The latter died at the age of six weeks. J.W.
Studt has one hundred and sixty acres of bottom land adjoining Glasco.
It is a well improved farm with good buildings. The Studt brothers each
own residence properties which are among the most desirable of Glasco.
Politically they are Republicans and are members of the Lutheran church.
They are industrious, enterprising men and rank among the foremost
citizens of Glasco.
HONORABLE JOHN SQUIRES.
Among
the prominent men of Miltonvale is John Squires, the subject of this
narrative. He started on a business career in Miltonvale along with W.W.
Bright in 1884, under the firm name of Bright & Squires, dealers in
implements, coal and grain. In 1889 Mr. Bright withdrew from the firm
and in 1892 E.M. Squires became a partner and the father and son have
since conducted the business, the extent of which takes in a radius of
many miles. In the same year (1892) they added to their stock, pumps and
windmills and have done an extensive business in this line. They have
also operated a well drilling machine with successful results. This firm
is agent for the Champion Buckeye Harvesting machinery, the J.I. Case
thresher and the Dempster windmill.
Mr. Squires was born in
Kentucky, near the city of Lexington, January 4, 1840. When five years
of age he went with his parents to Wabash county, Indiana, where he was
reared and received a common school education. He had scarcely attained
his mnajority when he responded to his country's call for volunteers and
in and in 1862 enlisted in Company A, seventy-fifth Indiana Volunteer
Infantry, under Captain Samuel Steel, who resigned and was succeeded by
Captain Isaac McMillan. Mr. Squires saw active service throughout the
war. Starting at Louisville, Kentucky, he was in the army of the
Cumberland under the noted General Rosecrans and at Chattanooga under
General Thomas and with General Sherman on his famous march to the sea.
Mr. Squires entered the service as a corporal and was promoted to first
sergeant. He was a non-commissioned officer a greater part of the time
during the war. He participated in the battles of Chickamaugua,
Missionary Ridge, Atlanta skirmishes and was almost continuously under
fire during the entire campaign.
The Squires ancestry were early
settlers in Virginia. Mr. Squires' maternal ancestors were related to
the prominent Taylor family, of Connecticutt. He is one of six children,
three of whom are living, including himself. A brother, William Squires,
is a farmer living in South Dakota, and a sister Mrs. Flory, is living
in Indiana. Mr. Squires' parents both died in 1862, his father in
February and his mother the following December.
After the war Mr.
Squires farmed in Benton county, Iowa, for ten years. In 1877 he came to
Kansas and bought the relinquishment of a homestead in Ottawa county,
five and one-half miles south of Miltonvale, where he lived until he
became identified with his present interests.
He was married in
1860 to Mary O. Sampson, of Indiana. To their union have been born four
children, two of whom are living. Cora A., wife of Joseph Neill, a
farmer living two miles north of Miltonvale. Mrs. Neill is a high school
graduate and taught in the schools of Miltonvale; has been organist at
the Christian church for several years and has considerable musical
talent. E.M., who is associated with his father, was married in 1892 to
Josephine Trople. They are the parents of two children, Lois and Emery
V.
Mr. Squires and his family are members of the Church of
Christ. Mr. Squires is a pillar in the church, has filled the office of
mayor, police judge, councilman and a member of the school board. In
political faith he is a Republican and in all his busy and useful career
has discharged his duties faithfully, religiously, socially and
politically. He has been chaplain of the Miltonvale Grand Army of the
Republic Post almost since its organization.
Mr. Squires is a man
of unquestionable character and one who contribtutes liberally by
industry and his stores of a worldly nature to the prosperity of public
enterprises. Mr. Squires' residence is located on Main street, a
comfortable seven room house built in 1883.
HONORABLE F. W. STURGES.
The author believes it is voicing the
sentiment of the people to say not a man in Cloud county commands the
confidence and regard of the people in a greater measure, nor is there one
who, when selected by their ballots, has done more to merit the preferment
tendered than Judge Sturges.
He is a plain, straightforward,
honest man of unquestioned integrity, a forceful and eloquent speaker
and stands pre-eminent among the attorneys of Cloud county. In politics
he is a broadminded Republican. As judge of the Twelfth judicial
district, elected in 1888, he served an eventful career of twelve years
and was universally admitted to be one of the most impartial and
unprejudiced judges Cloud county has ever had.
He was a partner
with Judge Strain, one of Concordia's most prominent and esteemed
citizens, in the practice of law until the death of that able jurist in
January, 1880. The combination was a strong one and two more
philanthropic, generous, honorable and capable men were never associated
together in the city of Concordia. Judge Sturges is a native of
Connecticut. He early drifted westward and in 1871 located in Concordia,
where he has since been prominent in every worthy enterprise. In 1883 he
was chosen to the legislature of Kansas and served one term.
CHARLES EDWIN SWEET.
C.E. Sweet, one of the old residents and
best known business men of Concordia, is a native of Hornellsville, New
York, born in 1848. His father, E.D. Sweet, came from New York, his
native state, to Kansas in 1872, and located in Greenleaf, Washington
county, Kansas, where he lived until his death in 1895. His mother died
in 1872. Both his paternal and maternal antecedents were of New York.
Mr. Sweet's early education was limited to a few months' schooling.
When a youth of seven years he drove a team on the canal, where his
father owned two boats and from this occupation he went on to a farm.
When he came to Kansas in 1872, he carried the mail from Waterville to
Washington, and later bought the stage line that operated between those
two points, which he drove for several years. He then employed the
services of a driver but retained the line until the railroad was built
through in 1878, when he came to Concordia and formed a partnership with
Mr. Burtis, under the name of Burtis & Sweet, and established a general
stock of hardware and implements. Two years later Mr. Burtis sold his
interests to J.A. Wyer and the firm became Sweet & Wyer, and continued
under this management for a period of ten years, and were succeeded by
Robinson & McCrary. Mr. Sweet was then on the retired list for about
nine years, but retained his residence in Concordia. In connection with
Mr. Bloom he opened a hardware store in his present quarters on the
corner of Sixth and Broadway in 1884, under the firm name of Sweet &
Bloom. Mr. Sweet bought Mr. Bloom's interests in 1888, assuming control
and has conducted the business continuously and very successfully ever
since.
When the firm of Wyer & Sweet retired from the hardware
business they organized a bank at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, and also
purchased a flour and grist mill as a sort of speculation, and retained
their principal interests there for about five years. He was also
interested for a number of years in a foundry, the firm of Sweet &
Crider. These enterprises were not a financial success, owing to the
approaching hard times and inability of men in their employ. Mr. Sweet
erected the building occupied by his present business in 1880. It is a
large, two-story brick structure, one hundred and thirty-two by
forty-four feet. He carries an extensive stock of shelf and heavy
hardware, implements, harness department, paints and oils, tin shop and
plumbing. He is interested largely in real estate and owns several
business blocks and residences in the city of Concordia. Mr. Sweet is a
self-made man but has not gained his wealth without his share of early
struggles.
Mr. Sweet was married in 1873 to Emma Height, who was
deceased in 1880. In 1893 he was married to Clarissa Coleman, of
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mr. Sweet is a believer in Republican
principles and always votes that ticket. They are members and active
workers of the Methodist Episcopal church. - [Shortly after the above
article was prepared, the Sweet Hardware Company went under the control
of Foote & Ossmann, Mr. Sweet withdrawing from the firm.]
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