Curtis Randall

CURTIS RANDALL, a prominent farmer of Cherokee County, residing on his farm of 160 acres in section 9, township 33, range 23, in Salamanca township, and a leading and influential member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which there is a flourishing branch in the township, came to the county March 21, 1871. He was born in Chautauqua County, New York, in 1832.

Curtis and Sarah (Bailey) Randall, his parents, left New York when the subject of this sketch was five years of age. They stopped in Erie County, Pennsylvania, for a period of six years, and then removed to Boone County, Illinois, where they spent the rest of their lives. They were respected middle-class farmers, and reared a family of eight children, to whom they left as a legacy a name unstained by any dishonest act. The children were: Curtis; Oliver B., William, Mary and Martha, deceased; James, a farmer in Fremont County, Iowa; Marvin J., of Antelope County, Nebraska; and John, a farmer of Janesville, Wisconsin.

Curtis Randall passed his young manhood in Illinois, engaged in farming. His operations, although carried on with a fair degree of success, were not such as to satisfy a man of his ambition, and in 1871 he yielded to the inducements held out by the "Sunflower State" in the matter of cheap lands, and joined the stream of settlers that had been flowing past him in ever increasing volume, since the close of the war. Southern Kansas had begun to lose its claim to distinction as an exclusively cattle country, and the tide of population was pouring into the southern tier of counties at a rapid rate. After carefully looking over the ground, Mr. Randall entered a claim in Cherokee County in section 17, township 33, range 23, now owned by David Coble, and began the hard labor of reclaiming it from its wild and virgin condition. Three years later, however, he saw fit to sell out, and purchased his present farm of 160 acres from its original owner. It was little better than bare prairie, few improvements having been placed upon it, so that its present highly improved condition is due almost entirely to the labors of Mr. Randall and of his family.

Mr. Randall was first married in Illinois, being wedded to Sarah Cecilia Alderman. She was born in 1834 in Connecticut, from which State her parents moved when she was a young girl. She died in 1874, shortly after the family had settled on their present farm, leaving four children, as follows: Euretta I., who married William Martin, and died in the Indian Territory, about 15 years ago, leaving four children,—Ethel, Bertha, Morris and Allie; Charles, who is conducting a dray line in Columbus; Newton John, of Webb City, Missouri; and Orson Oliver, who lives in Iowa. William Martin is now in the meat business at Webb City, Missouri.

Mr. Randall's present consort was Sallie E. Rhynearson, formerly of Ohio. She has had four children as follows: Cora E., Ida, Ada and Curtis, Jr. Cora E. is the wife of F. H. Haynes, a farmer residing at Sherwin Junction; they have three children,—Lloyd, Artie and Rosie. Ida is the wife of James Davis, a farmer residing near Angola, Labette County, Kansas; they have two children,—Opal, aged four years, and Viola Mabel. Ada died when six years old. Curtis, Jr., is 13 years old. An adopted son, Herman, was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Randall about three years since.

Formerly a Populist, Mr. Randall now acts independently in politics. For a number of years he has been identified with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In this organization he has acted in the capacity of a priest of the Aaronic priesthood, and has been influential in collecting a membership of 64 in the local church.

Throughout the county Mr. Randall is known as a man of the strictest probity of character, and he is a citizen whom all esteem most highly.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, instructor from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 6-27-97