Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 339 - 340

WILLIAM LITTLE, a well-to-do farmer of Valley Center Township, established himself on a good farm of 165 acres on section 30, in 1880. His first lessons in agriculture were acquired upon the soil of the Buckeye State, where he first opened his eyes to the light on the 17th of June, 1830, in Guernsey County, where his honored father still lives, and has now reached the advanced age of ninety years. The mother died in Ohio in 1873.

     Francis Little, the father of our, subject, was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, whence he emigrated early in life, about 1817. He was a stonecutter by trade, which he followed for a period of twenty-seven years, and in the meantime also succeeded in accumulating a fine property in the Buckeye State, consisting of a good farm, on which he operated extensively, and largely devoted himself to cattle-raising. He retired from active labor in 1860, but is still hale and hearty and able to superintend his business affairs. He took an active interest in township affairs, and from the first voted the straight Republican ticket.

     Francis Little was married in Guernsey County, Ohio, to Miss Rebecca McDonald, a native of that State, and they became the parents of eight children, three sons and five daughters: Mary, the eldest sister of our subject, became the wife of Robert Glass, who came to this county in 1882, and is carrying on farming in Union Township; Isabella, Mrs. Thomas G. Foster, is living on a farm with her husband in West Virginia; Martha Jane, the wife of M. L. Kennedy, is a resident of Ohio, where her husband carries on farming; Rebecca, now Mrs. James Smith, is also living in Guernsey County, together with Johanna, who is married to Theodore F. Braninger, a carpenter by trade, and also carrying on farming; William, of our sketch, was the eldest of the family; George married Miss Nancy Orr, and John married Miss Mary Craver; both are farming in Guernsey County.

     Our subject continued under the parental roof until twenty-four years of age, acquiring his education in the district school and assisting his father in sowing and reaping. His first venture upon his own account was on a farm near the old homestead in Guernsey County, which he rented three years, and then purchased 120 acres in that locality. He was successful in his labors of tilling the soil, and continued there until the spring of 1880, when he resolved upon a change of location, and crossed the Mississippi into Southern Kansas. In addition to general farming he is giving especial attention to the raising of swine, feeding annually from fifty to 140 head, dealing mostly in Poland-Chinas.

     Mr. Little, while a resident of his native State, and when about twenty-three years of age, was married, Oct. 31, 1853, to a lady of his own county, Miss Mary Lanning, who was born July 1, 1830, and is the daughter of Isaac and Lydia Lanning, who were natives of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and among the earliest settlers of Guernsey County. They are now both deceased, the father dying in 1866, and the mother in 1882. Their family consisted of six sons and two daughters, namely: Robert, Jerry, Zaven, Oakley, John, George, Mary and Martha. The latter, now deceased, was the wife of David Fisher, and the mother of three sons - Isaac, Jacob and Perry, who are all farming in Guernsey County, Ohio. Mrs. Fisher died in 1881.

     To Mr. and Mrs. Little there have been born eight children, three sons and five daughters. The eldest son, Oakley, married Miss Eldora White, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, and located in the latter place, where his wife died on the 23d of October, 1887; she was the mother of one daughter, Mary Belle, a bright little girl now two years of age. Melissa is the wife of John Lanning, who is farming in Tennessee; Alice married Melvin Stofer, a well-to-do farmer of this county; they have one child, a son Frederick, born Sept. 9, 1885. The other children of our subject - Viola F., Isaac M., Lydia Jane, Charles S. and Martha E. - are at home with their parents.

     Mr. Little cast his first Presidential vote for Buchanan, and has since voted the straight Democratic ticket. In his native county he held the office of School Treasurer, and holds the same in his present district. He was elected Justice of the Peace, of Valley Center Township, in 1883, of which office he is still the incumbent, receiving at the last election the unanimous vote of his township. As a business man he possesses excellent judgment, is skillful and enterprising in his farming operations, and in all respects accounted a useful and desirable member of society. We present a view of the Little homestead in this volume.

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