J. B. Spangler, a Butler county pioneer and one of the most substantial citizens of Fairmount township, has been a resident of this county for forty-five years. He has contributed his share towards converting this section of the State, from an unpeopled plain, the future of which at times seemed uncertain, to one of the populous and prosperous counties of Kansas.

J. B. Spangler was born in Carroll county, Indiana. January 30, 1844, a son of Samuel and Katherine (Louther) Spangler, both natives of Indiana, where they spent their lives. He was reared in Indiana, remaining in that State until 1880, when he went to Minnesota and was, shortly afterward, married to Miss Julia Olinger. She was born in Carroll county, Indiana, March 25, 1840, a daughter of George and Mary (Ferguson) Olinger, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Tennessee, and of Scotch ancestry. The father died in Indiana, and the mother spent the last few years of her life at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Spangler, and died in 1881.

Mr. and Mrs. Spangler remained in Minnesota about two years, but were not favorably impressed with that section of the county on account

of its rigorous climate. In 1870, they drove from Minnesota to Missouri, settling at Pleasant Hill, Cass county, and remained there until April, 1871, when they came to Butler county, driving across the plains from Missouri with two yokes of cattle and a wagon, the trip requiring two weeks. They homesteaded eighty acres of land in Fairmount township, which has been the family home since that time, and an unusual thing in connection with the record of this place, is that it has never been incumbered by a mortgage or any other form of lien, and it is the only place in Fairmount township of which this can truthfully be said. Some years after settling here, Mr. Spangler bought eighty acres more, three quarters of a mile north of his homestead, and his son now resides on that eighty.

When the Spangler family came to Butler county, their earthly possessions consisted of their two yokes of cattle and the covered wagon with a few household goods; and from March 22 to April 22, they camped on the bank of the Whitewater, while they were building a little shack on their claim into which they moved on the latter date. They endured many hardships and inconveniences in the early days, but with all, they have never had reason to regret taking up their home in Butler county. They have prospered and are now of the influential and well to do people of this county, and recognized leaders in their locality. When the Spanglers settled here the country was in quite a primitive condition; prairie fires were frequent and their little cabin home was threatened on numerous occasions by the flames that swept over the plains. During the first few years here Indian stragglers frequently happened along the trail, begging for food at the few cabins along the wayside, the Wichita trail being within half a mile of the Spangler home. In those days great herds of cattle were driven over this trail, and the cowboys on their ponies and the cattle as they moved across the plains presented a picturesque sight which is still fresh in the memory of the early pioneers

To Mr. and Mrs. Spangler have been born the following children: Mary Ellen, married B. D. Cooper, lives in Butler county; Amy, married Scott Kelsheimer of Marion county, Kansas; Lewis F., farmer, Fairmount township, and Ida J., married S. R. Holden, Elbing, Kans. Mr. Spangler is a Democrat and since casting his first ballot, has steadfastly supported the policies and principles of that party.

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