Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 196 - 197

WILLIAM T. JEWETT, one of the oldest cattlemen of Kansas, came to this section of country when there was not a tree to be seen for miles from the present site of Wichita except along the streams.  After a season of working and waiting he is now numbered among the capitalists of Southern Kansas, and the owner of a large amount of real estate, including a fine home which occupies No. 413 North Emporia avenue.

      The Jewett family was of pure English ancestry, and was first represented on this side of the water by two brothers, who came with the Puritans at a very early date, somewhere along the middle of the seventeenth century.  The father and grandfather settled at what was subsequently known as Boscawen, N. H., on the Merrimac River, where they carried on farming and became known far and wide for their persevering industry, and the thrift which naturally followed their practice of economy and correct living.  They were people of sterling good sense and iron constitutions, imbued with strong religious convictions and unimpeachable morals.  They, like their posterity, were remarkable for longevity.

      The paternal great-grandfather of our subject was a New Hampshire farmer, who lived to the patriarchal age of over ninety years.  Like his ancestors, he was a man of fearless courage, and endured great hardships in his conflict with the elements of the new country.  He assisted in subduing the forests,  conquering the Indians and ridding the country of wild beasts.  He was the father of a fine family of sons and daughters, among whom was Mark, the grandfather of our subject.  He also spent the greater part of his earlier life on the Merrimac River near Boscawen, and like his father before him, followed agricultural pursuits successfully as the result of a clear brain and stout muscles.  His marriage resulted in the birth of nine children.  Barzilla, the eldest, was the father of our subject; Gillman died of the cholera in 1832, on his farm in the American bottom near the city of St. Louis; Jasper was a sea captain, and died at Augusta, Ga., in middle life; Louis, a farmer by occupation; Sumner, Lorenzo, Shoura and Laura, all died in Ohio. Harriet was the wife of James McMasters, formerly a wealthy resident of Pittsburgh, Pa., now deceased, and a native of Pennsylvania.  He was a great Abolitionist during the days of slavery and one of the promoters of the "underground railroad."  He operated a livery stable in the city of Pittsburgh for a period of fifty years, and it is said that he spent $1,500 in securing the escape of one slave alone.

      About 1816 Mark Jewett migrated to Jefferson County, Ohio, and located near Steubenville, where he had sons and where he continued to live the remainder of his days.  He was a great Biblical scholar, although not a churchman, and could quote Scripture fluently.  Like his progenitors he was vigorous of constitution, active and robust, never afflicted with disease, and died a natural death from old age, sitting in his rocking-chair by himself, after he had passed his ninety-fifth birthday.

      Barzilla Jewett, the father of our subject, was born in New Hampshire in 1795, and received a common-school education.  He emigrated to Ohio in 1816 and began teaching, having for one of his pupils the famous Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln during the Rebellion.  The father of Stanton was the family physician of Mr. Jewett.  The mother of our subject was in her girlhood Miss Rebecca Todd, to whom he was married about 1820.  She was of the celebrated Todd family of Ohio, the daughter of Col. William Todd, of Steubenville, who participated in the famous whisky insurrection of Pennsylvania.

      To Barzilla and Rebecca Jewett there were born eight children.  Their eldest son, Louis, is a machinist and steamboat engineer, and now a resident of Kansas City; Gillman died in Ohio; William T., of our sketch, was the second son and third child; Decatur S., who served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, was on the steamer "Maria Dean" when she was captured by Morgan, and was compelled to ferry his troops across the Ohio River; he is the only Democrat in the Jewett family.  Arthur is farming near Kansas City, Mo.; Jasper conducts agriculture in Valley Center Township, this county; two children died in infancy.

      For many years Barzilla Jewett operated a foundry on the Ohio River in company with a partner, the firm name being Philip & Jewett.  Mr. Jewett finally retired and changed his residence to Ottawa, Ill., where he died in 1870, at the age of eighty-five years.  In religious views he was a strict Presbyterian, and noted for his morality and his strong temperance principles.  He was even-tempered and of a quiet disposition, and in his frame preserved the reputation of the family for strength of muscle and endurance.

      William T. Jewett, of our sketch, was born in Steubenville, Ohio, Feb. 1, 1825.  Like most of his ancestors his education was acquired in the common school.  At the age of fifteen he commenced an apprenticeship at the trade of book-binder, which he followed until the year 1854, in the meantime being employed in the establishment of his uncle, James Turnbull, one of the first men to introduce this industry into Ohio.  The establishment was subsequently purchased by our subject.  Mr. Turnbull also conducted a publishing house in St. Louis in connection with his bindery, over which he appointed our subject foreman, and where the latter remained two years.

      While a resident of Steubenville, Ohio, William T. Jewett, in 1842, was married to Miss Ettie Brown, of Steubenville, who was born in 1828, in New Lisbon, Ohio.  Mrs. Jewett is the daughter of Robert Brown, of New Lisbon, Ohio, and by her union with our subject became the mother of ten children.  Their eldest son, Edward, is a practicing attorney of Wichita; Albert A. is farming in this county; Josephine became the wife of Frank Armint, a farmer of Washington Territory, and died there in 1883; Rebecca is the wife of Andy Hargett, a farmer of Valley Center Township, this county; Lilly is the wife of William Feighner, County Clerk of Grant County, Ind.; Martha, Mrs. James McCabe, lives in Topeka; Minnie married Harry Allen, a druggist of Goddard, this State; Grace is unmarried and living at home.

      After his marriage, Mr. Jewett purchased a farm at the mouth of the Fox River near Ottawa, Ill., where he continued from 1854 until the spring of 1865.  He then removed to Macon County, where he purchased a farm which he occupied seven years.  A cyclone finally destroyed his buildings, and he then sold his land and came to Kansas, taking up his residence in Park Township in the fall of 1870.  The year following he purchased a farm between the two Arkansas Rivers, to which he has since added until he is now the owner of 500 acres, and with his son Albert engaged extensively in the feeding of stock.  They handle annually about 200 head of cattle, and 600 head of swine.  When Mr. Jewett came to the vicinity of the present site of Wichita buffalo were feeding upon the plains and other wild game roamed over the country.  He acknowledges that Wichita has done great things, but expects to see still greater.  He assisted in planting the trees which now so plentifully dot the prairie, and form a wide contrast to its appearance when he first looked upon it.

      The first Presidential vote cast by our subject was for Gen. John C. Fremont at the organization of the Republican party.  He has taken a lively interest in everything pertaining to the general welfare of the people of both State and Nation, and while distinguishing himself as an industrious and hard-working man has sandwiched in between his labors a fine fund of general information.  A work of this kind would be wholly incomplete without the biography of a gentleman of his standing and influence.

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