Joseph T. Hall, of Rock Creek township, was the second settler to locate in that part of Butler county which is now Rock Creek township. He came here in 1868, when Douglass consisted of two little log cabins, and the present site of Wichita, was occupied by only two log cabins also, or rather two cabins built of cottonwood poles. Wichita then was the headquarters of the Wichita tribe of Indians, and the chief lived in his tepee there.

Joseph T. Hall was born near Greenfield, Dade county, Missouri, May 4, 1845, a son of George Washington and Martha Jane Hall, the former a native of Illinois, and the latter of North Carolina. George W. Hall, the father, was left an orphan when he was seven years old, and was reared by relatives. He grew to manhood in Dade county. He served in the United States army during the Mexican war, and marched with his regiment from his home in Missouri to Mexico, and served under General Scott. His regiment marched through Butler county over the Sante Fe trail, and camped on the banks of the Walnut river, about four miles from El Dorado, where they celebrated the Fourth of July, and had buffalo meat for dinner.

At the close of the Mexican war, George W. Hall returned to his home in Dade county, Missouri, where he lived until the Civil war broke out, when he enlisted in the Confederate army and was killed at the battle of Wilson's Creek.

In 1866 Joseph T. Hall was united in marriage with Elender Bell, a native of Tennessee, born June 3, 1849. She was a daughter of Silas and Elizabeth Bell, members of prominent Tennessee families, and her father was a Mexican war veteran. About two years after their marriage, in the fall of 1868, Mr. Hall fitted up a prairie schooner, and he with his young wife, in company with five others, started west in search of future homes. Their outfit was hauled by two yoke of oxen, and the trip required about fifteen days. After looking the country over in the vicinity of where Wichita now stands, they decided that was too sandy, but after reaching the rich, broad bottom land of the Walnut valley, they decided to go no farther, and here they staked their claims in Rock Creek township. Mr. Hall erected a little log cabin, 12x14 feet, which was finished in the most primitive style, and proceeded to make his home on the plains of Butler county, and has never had occasion to regret the selection that he made at that time. He has been engaged in the cattle

business on a moderate scale, and has met with very satisfactory results. He has bought more land from time to time, and now owns 436 acres, part of which is located in Cowley county.

To Mr. and Mrs. Hall have been born the following children: Cordelia, married Wallace Parsons, a prosperous farmer of Cowley county; John T., a well-to-do farmer of Rock Creek township; Sarah Ann, married Clarence Littell, of Cowley county; Robert Lee, lives near his father's place in Rock Creek township, and works the home farm; James C., died in infancy.

Mr. Hall is a member of the Masonic lodge, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Anti Horse Thief Association, holding membership in all of the above orders at Douglass. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church, and Mr. Hall is a lifelong Democrat. Mr. Hall is one of the pioneers of Butler county, who has seen much of the development of this section of Kansas, and is entitled to no small amount of credit for the part he has taken in reclaiming the desert and building the empire of the West, and, notwithstanding all the hard times of the early days, Mr. Hall says that they enjoyed themselves.

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