The Pickens Family

Pickens Family of Torrance, Kansas

Samuel Pickens was born February 20, 1844 in Tennessee, He passed away September 2, 1920.

Elizabeth Jane Fountain was born March 22, 1843 in Davis County Iowa and passed away October 20, 1927. Both are buried in the Burden, Kansas cemetery.

Samuel Pickens came from Tennessee to Davis County, Iowa at an early age. Here he met and married Elizabeth Jane Fountain. They moved to Worth County, Missouri where two sons, Levi Pickens and Joseph B. Pickens were born. In 1883 the family moved to the Torrance, Kansas area.

Thomas Jefferson Hughes was born in Hendricks County, Indiana October 1, 1854. He passed away September 2, 1929 in Kay City, Oklahoma, where he had resided since 1910.

Julia Ann Rebecca Lewis was born in Indiana, November 16, 1857. She passed away January 1, 1899.

Thomas Hughes came to Kansas in 1872. In 1876 he returned to Indiana where he and Julia Ann Rebecca Lewis were married. They returned to Kansas and settled in Chautauqua County. In 1878 they moved to the Torrance, Kansas area in Cowley County. There was born to this couple eight sons and four daughters. Torrance was a small town on the Santa Fe Railroad between Cambridge and Burden, Kansas.

Joseph B. Pickens and Julia Maud Hughes were united in marriage May 21, 1901. They made their home in Burden, Kansas where they raised ten children. They were: Marie who married Grover Adams and lived in Winfield until their deaths. They had no children; Herbert H. Pickens who married Margaret E. Varns. They had no children. They operated a meat processing plant in Burden for thirty years; Alice Pickens married Charles W. Ryan and they were in business in Burden for thirty years. They had four children. They are Joe Ryan, Lorene Ryan Cunningham, Leola Ryan Teel, and Lucille Ryan Gardner: Thelma Pickens who passed away when she was only four years old; Clara Pickens Wright married Claud Wright who was an engineer for the Texaco Company. She was a graduate nurse. They had one son, George J. Wright who is in the Air Force; Henry D. Pickens married Helen M. Young. They had no children. He served in the army in World War II; Williams W. Pickens and wife Margie have lived in California as a pipe fitter; John Joseph Pickens married Kathryn Mayfield. They have two children, Bart Pickens and Julia Pickens. Joseph Pickens served in the Air Force then worked for the Texaco Company; Reva Pickens married Edwin Reynolds. They lived in Wichita where he was in business. He served in the Air Force. They have two sons, William and Richard.

Submitted by H.H. Pickens
Scanned out of the Cowley County Heritage book, pg 262.