In the year 1871, J.G. Hose arrived in Cloud county, Kansas and located the land in Elk township from which his present fine farm has developed. His financial resources at this time summed up a total of fifty cents, but by daily labor he soon saved enough to secure the homestead papers. Mr. Hose bought the relinquishment of John Garrison. There was a dugout on the claim and in this pioneer abode the settler "bached" as was the custom when the newcomer was not the happy possessor of or accompanied by his wife and family.

The birth place of Mr. Hose is Massillon, Ohio, born in the year 1848. The parents of Mr. Hose were of German birth; early in their married life they emigrated to America and settled in Ohio. While yet in his boyhood his parents removed to Indiana where our subject grew to man' estate. His father died in 1890, preceded by the mother in 1886. Mr. Hose is one of seven children, all of whom are living with the exception of one brother, who died of small-pox in Mishawaka, Indiana, in 1902. David, the eldest brother resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado; he is a carpenter by trade. Two sisters, Mrs. L.J. and F.D. Smith are residents of Clyde and two sisters live in Indiana.

Mr. Hose was married in 1866, to Sarah Steiner, whom he knew as a playmate in his Indiana home. In 1891 the husband and five children were left to mourn the loss of wife and mother. Their first born, Harry Hose, is a young farmer of Elk township, and married Miss Jennie Smock. To their union a pair of twin sons have been born, Roy and Ray, aged five years. Daniel E., the second son is a prosperous farmer living near Hollis, he married Miss Mollie Bowersock and they are the parents of a son and heir, aged about one year. Daisy, Charlie and Hattie are unmarried and live at home. The latter is her father's housekeeper and assumes the cares of a matron with grace and tact.

Early in life Mr. Hose learned the carpenter trade and many of the best residences in the township are monuments of his workmanship. As an agriculturist he ranks with the first. To be a successful farmer does not consist alone of plowing, seeding and sowing but requires far-seeing faculties, the same well balanced ideas that are essential to the prosperous merchant or banker, study of the many and varied details. For several years Mr. Hose owned and operated a threshing machine and in this calling, along with his building and farming interests, all of which he plied with diligence, Mr. Hose found himself prospering. In connection with his threshing experiences Mr. Hose referred to the grasshopper year and its effect upon the grain. One man's stacks were alive with "hoppers," a mixture of half and half, but fearful if postponed there would be no grain left he had it threshed and afterward run the cereal through a fanning mill. While the thought of the jumping insects being beaten through with the grain is not a wholesome one, those days of anxiety and strenuous times, supplies pardon for any reproof that might be offered for the offense. They found the pests very troublesome, as their oily bodies would gum and stop the belts of the machine.

In the early 'eighties Mr. Hose erected a three room frame cottage and four years later built a two story front, which makes a commodious residence of little rooms, with verandas and bay windows. This one of the best country homes in the community. His farm is well improved, with good barn, sheds, and an inexhaustible well of pure water. If pumped constantly night and day the flow would not be lessened.

In politics Mr. Hose is a Democrat. In religious proclivities he and his family are members of the Christain church, Clyde congregation, in which he is serving as a deacon. Our subject and his family are among the prosperous and representative people of Elk township and their prosperity has been justly earned.