Albert Sykes

ALBERT SYKES, who settled in Labette county, Kansas, in 1872, is one of the most prominent and progressive farmers in Oswego township, where he is located in the southeast quarter of section 8. He was born in Oswego county, New York, April 13, 1817, and is a son of Daniel and Orpha (Lumbard) Sykes.

Daniel Sykes was born at Pawlet, Rutland county, Vermont, December 6, 1785, and in 1810 moved to New York State, and settled in Oswego county on a farm. He resided there until 1852, and then moved to Kenosha county, Wisconsin, where he died, April 13, 1863. January 21, 1810, he was united in marriage with Orpha Lumbard, who was born in Massachusetts, January 17, 1787, and died, in Wisconsin, in 1864. They reared the following children: Elvira and Loren, deceased; Byron, who resides at Green Bay, Wisconsin; Albert; Sumner, of Labette county; and Milo, Bloomer and Eliza (Boyd), deceased.

Albert Sykes lived in Oswego county, New York, until 1841, when he became a sailor on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and was afterward advanced to be first mate. In 1843, he went to Lake county, Illinois, and purchased a farm, but after a short time rented the farm, and returned to the lake as first mate of a vessel. In 1850, he formed a company, and on May 15 of that year started for California, where he arrived in the following August. He remained there until 1855, and then left San Francisco, by the Nicaragua route, for New York, where he arrived in May, 1855. He went directly to his farm in Lake county, Illinois, which he soon after sold, and moved to Bremer county, Iowa, where he purchased 1,400 acres of land. He resided there until 1872, when he moved to Labette county, Kansas, and settled on his present farm, - the southeast quarter of section 8, Oswego township. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising and has been very successful.

In 1860, Mr. Sykes was united in marriage with Emily Higgins, who was born in Warren county, Pennsylvania, in 1835, and is a daughter of Eugene and Susan (Smith) Higgins. Her father was born in Vermont, in 1813, and at an early day moved to Warren county, Pennsylvania, where he lived a short time.

In 1837 Mr. Higgins located in Chautauqua county, New York. In 1851, he moved to Bremer county, Iowa, and from 1868 to 1878 lived at Carthage, Missouri. Thence he moved to Scott county, Arkansas, where he lived until his death, in 1883. His wife was born in 1814, in Saratoga, New York, and died at Carthage, Missouri, in 1871. They reared 10 children, namely: Emily (Sykes); Harriet, Amanda and Hubert, deceased; Horace, of Jasper county, Missouri; Horatio, of Delta county, Colorado; Mary, deceased; Antoinette (Montague); Ida (Winkler); and Susan (Montague).

Emily Higgins, wife of Mr. Sykes, was but two years of age when she was taken by her parents from her native town to Chautauqua county, New York. At the age of sixteen years, she moved with her parents to Bremer county, Iowa, and there taught school from 1851 to 1860. By her union with Mr. Sykes, she had the following children: Harry D., deceased; Ernest, of New Orleans, Louisiana; and Bert, of Oswego, Kansas; Harry D. was a prominent business man, of Enid, Oklahoma, at the time of his death, on September 4, 1894. He was for a time a bookkeeper in an Oswego bank, and in 1888 went to Galveston, Texas, where he was identified with the Santa Fe railway. In 1893, he went into the banking business at Enid, Oklahoma, and thus continued until his death.