Isaac Newton Walton Mooney, a member of one of the pioneer families of Butler county, who settled at Towanda nearly half a century ago, is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1859, and is a son of Rev. Isaac Mooney, a more extensive sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Isaac N. W. Mooney was one of the following children born to his parents: S. R., Towanda, Kans.; Vol. P., El Dorado, Kans.; Margaret (deceased); Mrs. Celia Swiggett, Wichita, Kans.; Isaac N. W., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Sarepta Spaulding, Benton township; Joseph, Wichita, and Mrs. Luella Orbon, Whittier, Cal.

Mr. Mooney received his education in the public schools of Butler county, first attending a log school house, furnished with plain, rough benches. A Mr. McFarland was the first teacher here. Mr. Mooney

followed the mercantile business in Chase county, Kansas, for about eight years, when he went to Stevens county, Kansas, and homesteaded a claim. He conducted a grocery store at Hugoton, Kans., and was there during the stirring days of the county seat fight between Hugoton and Woodsdale, the affair ending in the shooting of Samuel Wood by Sam Brennan. Mr. Mooney went from Stevens county to Colorado, where he remained about two years, and in 1890 returned to Towanda, Kans. In 1897 he was appointed postmaster by President McKinley, and faithfully and efficiently discharged the duties of that office until February 15, 1915. He has been identified more or less with Towanda and Butler county since his boyhood.

Mr. Mooney was united in marriage September 23, 1885, to Miss Jane A. Turner, of Towanda. She is a daughter of John and Agnes (Elwood) Turner, natives of Grasmere, England. They were pioneers of Butler county, coming here in 1874, locating near Towanda, on the west side of the Whitewater. The father died in 1883, and the mother passed away in 1908, and their remains are buried in the Towanda cemetery. To Mr. and Mrs. Mooney have been born three children, the eldest of whom died in infancy, and the others are as follows: Eulala died at the age of eleven years, and Myrtle, married William Bloir, of Towanda township, and they have three children, Vinita, Olive and Clifford.

Mr. Mooney is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Citizens, and he and Mrs. Mooney are members of the Christian church. Mr. Mooney and his wife have grown up with Butler county, and are familiar with many reminiscences of pioneer days. They suffered considerable loss from the cyclone which struck Towanda and vicinity in 1892. Their residence was completely destroyed and much of their household goods was blown away and destroyed, and Mrs. Mooney was severely injured. The family Bible, which had been a present to Mrs. Mooney a year before the cyclone, was one of the articles which they found in the neighborhood after the storm, and its pages still bear mute testimony of the wind and rain of that memorable, devastating storm.

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