Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 832 - 833

MARTIN L. SARGENT, senior member of the firm of Sargent & Robertson, is, with his partner, carrying on the leading livery and sale stable of Wichita. A man of energy and good judgment, and finely adapted to his present business, he takes pride in conducting it upon the best-known plans. His stock and vehicles are of first-class description, and thus he enjoys a fine patronage and is popular with the best classes of people in the city.

            Our subject is the offspring of an excellent old family, who have wisely preserved their record through several generations. His great-grandfather, John Sargent, a native of Massachusetts, sprang from an old Puritan family, who settled in the Bay State about 1630 or 1640. Their descendants have since been scattered through New England, where the name is a very prominent and familiar one.

            John Sargent was the father of six children, namely: William, John, Jr., Culverson, Ann, Betty and Patty. William, the eldest son, and the grandfather of our subject, was born in Massachusetts, whence he emigrated to Ohio about 1800, locating near the present site of the city of Cincinnati. He was a brickmaker by trade, and married Miss Dolly, daughter of Jonathan Robertson, who settled in that region in 1805. Of this marriage there were born five children who lived to maturity, namely: William, Lewis, Martin, John and Harriet. Three died young. Mr. Sargent prospered and accumulated a good property, and was a man of great benevolence, giving liberally of his means to the poor. He died in Cincinnati at the age of fifty-four years. During his later life he was a stanch Republican, politically, a gentleman of importance in his community and greatly respected. He possessed in his makeup the peculiar characteristics of the better class of English people.

            The father of our subject was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1830. He received a common-school education, and learned in early life the trade of brick-layer. In 1852 he married Miss Susan, daughter of William and Abbie (Williams) Nash, and they became the parents of six children. These were named respectively: Albert J., Martin, George H., Katie G., Maude L. and Doily M. Mr. Sargent in 1857 came to Kansas with his family, and was one of the pioneers who settled in Leavenworth, where he lived until 1887. He then came to Wichita. In Leavenworth he had been engaged as a contractor, and superintended the erection of many of the business blocks there. He has always been a stanch Democrat, politically, and the mother is a member in good standing of the Baptist Church.

            The subject of this biography was born in Leavenworth, this State, April 22, 1861. His early education was conducted in the common school and he learned the livery business in his youth. At the early age of fourteen years he began business for himself in Denver, Col., where he shipped two carloads of horses, which he subsequently sold at a good figure. Later he went into the freighting business in New Mexico, and after a sojourn of two years in that region, returned home to Leavenworth and engaged in business with his father. During his wanderings he engaged in the cattle trade in Idaho, Oregon and Montana, and has thus seen the larger part of the Western country. He established himself in business at Wichita in the spring of 1887, and by his promptness in meeting his obligations, and his straightforward course, is securing for himself a good position, both socially and financially.

[ Home ]