Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 233 - 234

 ADAM GLASER. Prominent among the early settlers of Sedgwick County, as well as ranking high with the prosperous and thorough-going agriculturists of later years, is the subject of this personal narrative. There have been some very energetic and active men of large capacity and enterprise who came to this locality in an early day, and made this the most prominent field of their life work. Scarcely any of them, however, rank higher than does Mr. Glaser. 

     Born in Kur-Hessen Star-Fritz, Germany, May 5, 1830, Adam Glaser is a son of Casper and Catherine (Reter) Glaser, both of whom were natives of the same Empire. He was one of a family of eight children born to his parents, five of whom survived, as follows: Anne, the wife of Jacob Zimmerman, a resident of Jefferson County, Pa.; John, living in Douglas County, this State; Catherine, Mrs. Gottfried Zimmerman, living in Jefferson County, Pa.; Adam, the subject of this sketch, and Margaret, the wife of John Foos, residing in Indiana County, Pa. Adam remained in his native land until he attained his majority, and received the elements of an excellent education in that land of schools. In the spring of 1851, like so many other of the young men of his country, he had a longing to seek his fortunes in the New World. Taking passage on a sailing-vessel at the port of Bremen, after a stormy voyage which lasted forty-seven days, he landed at Baltimore, Md. He at once made his way to Franklin County, Pa., and for one year resided among the hills and valleys of that picturesque part of the Keystone State. Removing, however, to Jefferson County, he remained a citizen of that commonwealth until 1864, when he removed to Kansas, and settled in Douglas County. There he made his home until 1871, when he came to Sedgwick County, and the year following to Salem Township, and located on section 14. He pre-empted eighty acres of land which he at once commenced improving, and where he lived for several years, until he removed to section 15, where he now resides. When he moved upon the first-mentioned place in Salem Township, there was not a furrow turned upon it, and the land was in a state of primitive wildness, and, like all pioneers, he endured the usual hardships and privations which are the lot of all who settle on the frontier.

      While a resident of Pennsylvania, June 21, 1856, Mr. Glaser was united in marriage with Elizabeth Cemer, also a native of Germany, who was born March 4, 1834. She has been the mother of ten children, as follows: Conrad, born April 13, 1857; Mary, born Oct. 25, 1858, the wife of William Thoman, of Salem Township; John, born April 25, 1860; Margaret, born March 10, 1862, died Dec. 24, 1885; William, born Oct. 11, 1865; Emma, born in 1866, died in November, 1868; Elizabeth, born Nov. 1, 1869; Catherine, April 9, 1872; Edward, April 5, 1875, and Albert, Nov. 3, 1878. 

     Mr. Glaser is an adherent to the Greenback party in his politics, but confines his efforts in behalf of that organization simply to the discharge of his elective franchise, as he has no aspirations for political preferment. He is one of the men who have so largely contributed to the rapid and almost miraculous growth and development of Sedgwick County in the past, and no enterprise for the benefit of the community is initiated without his help. He is one of the large land-owners and prominent agriculturists of this section, having a most excellent farm of 360 acres, all of which is good arable land, and handsomely improved. Coming to the United States with no capital, except a strong constitution, a will to work, and an energy that bore up under all kind of trials, he may fully be called a self-made man. His present state of affluence is the result alone of his own efforts and those of his devoted wife. Both of them are members of the Evangelical Church, and seek to square their conduct by the rules of the Holy Scriptures. They are passing their declining years in the enjoyment of the fruits of a life spent in industry and economy, and surrounded by friends and relatives who honor, respect, and love them for their own good qualities. Ever taking an interest in all matters of an educational nature, Mr. Glaser was quite influential in the early school history of the township, and helped build one of the first school-houses in Salem Township, that which is now known as No. 35. His public-spiritedness and liberality as a citizen are almost proverbial in his neighborhood.

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