G. K. Sipple

HON. G. K. SIPPLE. During 1910 the retired colony of Neodesha was augmented by the arrival of G. K. Sipple, whose activities have been centered in Wilson County since the year 1881, and whose career is expressive of the possibilities of country life when directed by a well-trained mind, an earnest purpose and a keen appreciation of its benefits and prerogatives. Mr. Sipple is a Union veteran of the Civil war, and a citizen who has contributed to his community's welfare. That his worth has been appreciated is evidenced by the positions of public trust which he has filled, his public service culminating in his election as a representative to the Kansas Legislature.

G. K. Sipple was born in Grant County, Kentucky, March 12, 1844, and is a son of Rev. W. H. and Nancy (Ashcraft) Sipple. The original member of the family in this country was Caleb Sipple, who took part in the settlement of Delaware with Lord Delaware's party. John Sipple, the grandfather of G. K. Sipple, was born in 1780, in Delaware, where as a young man he engaged in schoolteaching, and subsequently turned his attention to farming. He went as a pioneer farmer to Harrison County, Kentucky, and in 1862 removed to Tuscola, Illinois, where his death occurred two years later. He was a stanch whig.

Rev. W. H. Sipple was born in 1813, in Harrison County, Kentucky, where he was reared and educated, and as a young man joined the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he labored for many years as a circuit-rider. He was married in Grant County, Kentucky, and in 1857 removed to Tuscola, Douglas County, Illinois, where he became one of the prominent men of his community, serving as superintendent of public instruction for two years and as county judge for several terms. He was a stanch democrat in politics and a member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1868 he removed to near Fulton, Calloway County, Missouri, retired from active life, and there died August 6, 1873. Reverend Sipple married Nancy Ashcraft, who was born at Williamstown, Kentucky, in 1815, and died in Grant County, Kentucky, August 26, 1855, and they were the parents of the following children: Amelia Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of the late William Beverly, who was a farmer of Grant County, Kentucky, where both passed away; Martha Ann, who died in 1914, near Williamstown, Kentucky, as the widow of the late W. A. Ashcraft, a farmer of Grant County; Caleb Walker, who died at the age of thirteen years; William H., who was a merchant of Neodesha, Kansas, until October, 1893, since which time no record has been kept of his movements; John I., who is a retired merchant of Parsons, Kansas; G. K.; Mary Beverly, who died at the age of six years; Sarah Jane, who is the widow of Reverend Barnett, late of the St. Louis Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and resides at Gillam, Saline County, Missouri; and Lewis Harper, who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Fayette, Missouri.

G. K. Sipple was educated in the public schools of Grant County, Kentucky, and Tuscola, Illinois, and left school and home at the age of seventeen years to become a soldier of the Union. He enlisted, in 1861, in Company D, Twenty-first Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, in 1865, and received his honorable discharge at Springfield, Illinois. During his long period of service Mr. Sipple participated in numerous hard-fought engagements, the Twenty-first always being in the thick of the fight. Among his more important battles were Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. following which he was with the troops of General Sherman on the famous campaign from Dalton, Georgia, to Atlanta, and he then took part in the bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. He at all times bore himself bravely and courageously and established a record as a faithful soldier, deserving of the honor of wearing his country's uniform.

When his military service was completed, Mr. Sipple returned to Douglas County, Illinois, and engaged in farming, but in the spring of 1872 came to Labette County, Kansas, and took up a claim of 160 acres, which he deeded. He remained on that property until 1881, when he came to Wilson County, and here followed farming and stockraising successfully until 1910, when he retired from active life and moved to Neodesha, where he has a comfortable home at No. 207 South Fifth Avenue. He is still the owner of 120 acres of good land four miles east of Neodesha. Mr. Sipple made a success of his agricultural operations through industry and good management and the period of rest which he is now taking has been fairly and deservedly earned.

Mr. Sipple is a democrat. He has been prominent in public affairs for a number of years, and while residing in Labette County served as township trustee of Liberty Township. In Neodesha Township he acted as township treasurer, and in 1907 was sent as the representative of his district to the Kansas Legislature, in which he served his constituents faithfully and well. In that body he was a member of the committee on judiciary; introduced and had passed a bill compelling traveling druggists to pay an annual license of $50; and another to provide for the examination of veterinary surgeons before allowing them to practice, and had a hand in much legislation affecting the interests of his community and its people. His record in the legislative body was an excellent one. Mr. Sipple is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is steward and class leader. He is a popular comrade of Neodesha Post, Grand Army of the Republic.

On January 3, 1871, at Tuscola, Illinois, Mr. Sipple was married to Miss Molly Brady, daughter of the late Henry and Carrie Brady, farming people. To this union there were born four children: Ida B., who is the wife of W. A. Rankin, a farmer of the vicinity of Neodesha; Elmer W., who died at the age of three years; Hulbert L., who is identified with the Prudential Life Insurance Company, at Portland, Oregon; and Clarence E., who is an employe of a railroad and resides in Oakland, California.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOLUME 1 & 2
BIOGRAPHIES — VOLUMES 3, 4, & 5
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