Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 191 - 192

 EDWIN ARTHUR DORSEY, a representative and leading farmer and stock-raiser of Waco Township, is a fair specimen of the sturdy agriculturists who have so largely assisted in the development of Sedgwick County, and who are drawing from the soil the important elements of their future fortune.  His homestead, which embraces a trifle over 196 acres, lies on sections 5 and 32.  He is a native of Vermont, born Jan. 21, 1853, and is the son of Henry and Julia (Vaughn) Dorsey.

      The father of our subject was born in Canada, Dec. 31, 1826, and was a blacksmith by trade.  He was a man of superior education, and died in Iowa, Feb. 18, 1880.  His wife, who was a native of the State of Vermont, died when the subject of our sketch was quite a child.  They were the parents of two children--Edgar A., and Edwin A.  After the death of his first wife, Henry Dorsey was again married, this time to Miss Mary Wall, who became the mother of eight children, as follows: Julia E., who died in 1875, at the age of thirteen years;  Henry, a resident of Wichita; Charles, who died in infancy; Hart and Hattie, twins, the latter of whom died in infancy, while the former is a book-keeper of Wichita; Samuel, now in Clarinda, Iowa, attending school; Minnie, who died in 1884; and Sadie, living in Clarinda, Iowa.  Again Mr. Henry Dorsey was called upon to mourn the death of his wife, and some time afterward wedded Miss L. E. Purdy, who survives him, and is a resident of Clarinda.

      The subject of our sketch received his education in the common schools of his native county, continuing on his father's farm where he assisted with the work in the summer, until he had attained the age of fifteen years.  At that time he rented the place of his father, and raising good crops and getting fair prices, he soon accumulated some money, and was thus enabled to buy a team.  In April, 1876, he came to Kansas, and traded for a farm in Union Township, and carried on farming operations upon that and upon his brother's farm, at one and the same time.  He was enabled to do this by hiring a man and his family to assist him in his labors, with whom he boarded for about a year.  Having proved by this experience the remunerative nature of farming in this fertile country, he felt constrained to establish a home of his own, and accordingly, June 21, 1879, he was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Bowman, a native of Woodford County, Ill., born Dec. 21, 1861. She is the daughter of John and Jane (Mouse) Bowman, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively, who were the parents of the following five children: Ellen, Mrs. Dorsey; Daniel, who is engaged in farming in this county; Sarah, who was choked to death at the table, Dec. 25, 1871; Jacob, a farmer of this county, and Emma, at home.  Her parents are residents of Illinois Township, in Sedgwick County, having come to this State in 1876.

      Mr. Dorsey has a very fine farm that covers nearly 200 acres of ground, all of which is finely improved and highly cultivated.  Twenty-five acres of his farm he disposed of to a Quaker institution, receiving for it the sum of $200 per acre, and has refused more than that price for the whole farm.  His  residence, which stands upon section 5, is one of the handsomest and finest in the township, and was erected at a cost of over $3,000.  His barns and out-buildings are of a neat and substantial character, and the entire property, which is pleasantly located in the suburbs of Wichita, that wonderful city in the Arkansas Valley, whose development has been so startlingly rapid, is one of the most valuable pieces of agricultural property in this vicinity.  In his political views Mr. Dorsey strongly adheres to the principles of the Republican party, and is decidedly opposed to the organization known as Prohibitionists.  He is one of the active and progressive men of the county, and takes great interest in all matters that are calculated to enhance its value, or to benefit his fellowman.

      To Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey there have been born a family of four children, as follows: Edgar A., whose birth took place April 4, 1880; Julia E., who was born April 4, 1883; Edwin Arthur, born Oct. 5, 1886; Carrie Lamine, whose birthday was July 27, 1885; and William, born Jan. 10, 1888.

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