Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 901 - 902

JOHN W. STARR. This gentleman may properly be numbered among the self-made men of Salem Township, to which he came in the spring of 1878 from his native State of Illinois, and located on his present farm, which comprises 160 acres of section 4. He is in the prime of life, having been born July 23, 1846, and spent his boyhood years in Vermilion County, acquiring his education in the district school.

            Our subject is the son of Adam and Sarah (Cromer) Starr, natives respectively of North Carolina and Ohio, and the mother now deceased. The father is a resident of Derby, Kan. The paternal grandparents of Mr. Starr on both sides of the house were of German ancestry. John W. was reared to manhood in his native State, and on the 26th of April, 1867, was united in marriage with Miss Emily M., daughter of Daniel and Sophia (Pricer) Benner, of Piatt County, Ill. To them have been born ten children, of whom seven are living, namely: William H., born June 14, 1870; Edward A., April 7, 1875; Elmer, Dec. 2, 1877; Effie M., Dec. 16, 1879; John A., Jan. 8, 1881; George, Dec. 4, 1883, and Ida, Nov. 19, 1886. Mary A., Charles and Laura Ellen are deceased.

            Mr. Starr, in 1878, removed from Illinois to this county, locating on his present farm in Salem Township. Here he has 160 acres of choice land, which by a course of persevering industry he has brought to a good state of cultivation. In connection with general agriculture he has for many years been engaged as a stock dealer, buying and shipping, and making his headquarters at Derby. He is one of the most reliable members of the Republican party of Southern Kansas, and besides serving as School Treasurer in his district, was appointed by Gov. Glick Justice of the Peace, in July, 1883, and elected to the same office in the spring of 1884, which he has held since that time. The farm residence of our subject, with its surroundings, is one of the attractive features of Salem Township, and the proprietor is regarded as a liberal-minded, public-spirited citizen, encouraging the enterprises calculated to benefit the people at large, and a liberal contributor to worthy objects.

            Mrs. Starr was born in Ross County, Ohio, May 15, 1849, and removed with her parents when about five years of age to Edgar County, Ill. Subsequently they took up their residence in Piatt County. Of their ten children three are deceased. Mary E. is the wife of John Mossbarger, of Nebraska, where the eldest brother, Absalom, also settled; Daniel is carrying on farming in Waco Township, this county; Wilber and David W. continue in Illinois; Celestial M. is the wife of Clarkson Daggott, of Nebraska. Mr. Benner departed this life at his home in Illinois on the 5th of February, 1874, and the mother followed her husband in the spring of 1882. A lithographic view is shown on another page of Mr. Starr's handsome residence.

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