Edward Prosser was born in Butler county in January, 1873, and is a son of James and Susana Prosser, pioneers of Butler county, who came here in 1871. They were pioneer settlers of Union township, and two children of the family survive, as follows: Edward, the subject of this sketch, and L. L., of Latham, Kans. The father was a successful farmer and stockman, and died in November, 1914, and the mother now resides on the old home farm with Edward. She is an interesting pioneer woman, and talks entertainingly of early day events; she possesses a rich store of reminiscences. She says that her trip with her husband, from Emporia to Butler county, was her wedding tour, and was made across the plains in a lumber wagon. She recalls the first cyclone which she experienced in Butler county, and says that the next day after the storm everybody began to dig cyclone cellars. Mrs. Prosser bore the maiden name of Anderson, and is a descendant of a prominent family. After the Prosser family settled in Union township. Indians were quite plentiful in that section, and they frequently called at the Prosser home, begging for food, which was a common custom of the noble red man in the early days.

While Edward Prosser is comparatively a young man, he remembers many of the early day incidents of Butler county, which took place when he was a child. At a very early age, he began herding cattle and horses on the home place, and became accustomed to the saddle shortly after he had graduated from the cradle. He remembers when wire fences were introduced, and says the first one he ever saw consisted of just one wire. When he was a boy, they frequently had to go as far as eighteen miles for fire wood. The father bought an acre of timber land on Grouse creek, which was eighteen miles away, and all of the timber which he could not saw into lumber, he hauled home for fire wood. The frequency of early day prairie fires kept the trees killed, and wood was very scarce. The father first settled on 120 acres of land, upon which he built a small house, hauling the lumber from Emporia. He began farming and stock raising in a small way, and gradually prospered, buying more land as he was able, and at the time of his death, he owned 350 acres. Edward bought the home farm after his father's death, and now owns over 800 acres, and is one of the large cattlemen of Union township. He is a progressive business man, and knows the cattle business from beginning to end, having made a life study of that industry.

In April, 1899, Mr. Prosser was united in marriage to Rhoda Bogue, a daughter of L. L. Bogue of Beaumont, Kans. Mr. Bogue came to Kansas in 1878, first settling in Pottawatomie county. In 1891, he came to Butler county, and settled near Beaumont, and now lives at Greenwich. His wife is now deceased. The following children of the Bogue family are living: Mrs. Minnie Canfield, Clare, Mich., and Rhoda, wife of Edward Prosser, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Prosser received her education in the public schools, and walked three and one-half miles to attend school. That was a time when physical training was unnecessary in the schools, as the pupils got all necessary exercise walking to and from school. To Mr. and Mrs. Prosser, have been born two children: Edith and Wesley, both of whom are attending school. The Prossers are prominent in the community and rank among the leading pioneer families of the State.

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