Chapter XXV: Biographical History (4)

The late Jared Copeland Fox was one of Atchison’s ablest citizens, public spirited, a successful financier and a familiar figure in the leading circles of the city for many years. Merchant, banker, scholar, a kind husband and father, his demise left a void which can never be filled. Coming of a distinguished family, born October 30, 1841, in Chili, N. Y., his life bears out the oft repeated assertion that lineage and birth have something to do with shaping a man’s destiny, and influencing his career. His parents were Jared Ware and Mercy Chapman (Copeland) Fox. Jared Ware Fox was a son of Alanson and Elizabeth (Ware) Fox. His maternal grandfather was Jonathan Copeland, who married a Miss Wells at Charlton, Mass., who was a direct descendant of Ruth, a daughter of John and Priscilla Alden. On April 2, 1816, Jonathan Copeland was commissioned a captain in the militia and adjutant on the governor’s staff of Massachusetts in 1816. In 1819 he was appointed a brigadier commander of the State militia. After his marriage he removed to New York and was there a colonel in the State militia of New York. He held five different commissions in Massachusetts and New York. The Fox family is of English descent and originally settled in Connecticut. The maiden name of the wife of Col. Jonathan Copeland was Rebecca Edwards and she was a connection of the family of which Rev. Jonathan Edwards was a member. Colonel Copeland had three children: Mercy, Elizabeth and the Rev. Jonathan Copeland, a Congregational minister of New York, who conducted an academy in that city and one of whose pupils was Philip Armour of beef packing fame. Jonathan was born October 16, 1786, died in 1858 in New York; Rebecca was born in 1790, died February 6, 1863, in Kansas.

_Eng. by E. G. Williams & Bro. N. Y._

_A. C. Fox_
]

Alanson Fox, grandfather of Jared C., removed from Connecticut to a farm near Sherburne, N. Y., and here Jared Ware was born December 5, 1810. Rev. Jared Ware Fox was educated for the ministry, studying four years in Oneida Institute and one year in a seminary in New York City, and for fifty years preached the Gospel according to the Congregational faith. In the early days he was sent to Kansas by his church to establish and organize churches in the new towns and cities building up on the broad prairies. He formed a church at Burlingame and Ridgeway, Kan., making his home at the latter place and preaching throughout the country serving churches at Kunwaka, Waveland, Valley Brook and one year at Lawrence. He spent one year in Topeka in charge of a church in the capital city. He was a strong abolitionist and was in his natural element when he first came to Kansas in 1860, the year of the “great drought.” He took an active part in the relief work in Kansas at that time and sent his son, Jared C., then but eighteen years of age, back to Galesburg, Ill., where an old friend of the family resided, to gather potatoes and produce for the sustenance of the drought suffers. He died March 2, 1898, leaving the following children: Charles G., on the old homestead at Ridgeway, Kan.; Jared C.; Irving Dwight, deceased; Herbert Everett, of California; Herman Elliot, Davenport, Iowa. The mother of these children, Mercy C. (Copeland) Fox, was born February 16, 1816, and died April 11, 1893.

Jared C. Fox received an academic education in New York and accompanied his parents to Kansas. At the age of nineteen years he was first employed in a general store conducted by Crosby Brothers at Valley Falls, Kan., at a salary of $150 per year and his board. He yearned for a larger field and came to Atchison in 1862, entering the employ of William Smith, who owned a dry goods store. During a part of the Civil war he served as clerk in the commissary department at Rolla, Mo., under Major Grimes for two years. After the close of the war he was deputy county treasurer under Sam C. King, and upon Mr. King’s resignation from the county treasurership, he was appointed to serve for six months finishing out Mr. King’s unexpired term. He then served as deputy United States marshal under Charles Whiting. For some years previous to embarking in the drug business he was associated in the real estate business with H. Clay Park, former postmaster of Atchison and editor of _The Patriot_, and now one of the editors of the _St. Joseph News_. In 1869 Mr. Fox made the business venture which was the turning point of his fortunes and launched him on the high road to financial success. He entered into partnership with W. C. McPike, S. C. King and Frank Allen in the wholesale drug business. Later Mr. Fox and Mr. McPike became the sole owners of the business, Mr. Fox disposing of his interest to T. M. Walker and the firm removed to Kansas City, where it is still doing business under the name of the McPike Drug Co. Mr. Fox became interested in banking and at the time of his death was vice-president of the Atchison Savings Bank, the oldest State bank in Kansas. He conducted a loan business as his financial resources increased in strength and he became one of Atchison’s wealthy citizens.

On December 22, 1868, Mr. Fox was married to a charming southern lady, Miss Virginia Alexina Tortat. This union was blessed by the birth of five children as follows: Jared Copeland, Jr., manager of the Howard Manufacturing Co., of Atchison, and father of eight children, Virginia Parker, Marjorie Parker, Jared Copeland, Jr., Parker, Amelia Joanna, Lawton, Edith and William Horan; Edith Fox Jackson, wife of Judge W. A. Jackson, and mother of two children, Jared Fox and Edmund Valentine; Henry Irving, wholesale druggist at Wichita, Kan., and father of Everett Cranson, Florence, Mary Anne and Sarah Virginia Fox; William Tortat, assistant cashier in the Atchison Savings Bank, and father of one daughter, Mary; Florence, at home with her mother. The mother of these children, Mrs. Virginia Fox, was born at Eufaula, Ala., December 20, 1847, a daughter of Henri Sylvest and Nancy (Decker) Tortat. Henri S. Tortat was born in October, 1811, in France. He was destined to be a clergyman by his parents, but, having no intention to enter the priesthood, took part in the three days’ revolution against Charles X. He left home and joined an uncle who was an officer in the French army of occupation in Algiers in 1833. He came to America in 1836 when a young man and was married at Wiscassett, Me., to Nancy Decker, whom he met at Boston, Mass. After his marriage he took his bride to Charleston, S. C., and thence to Eufaula, Ala., and conducted a merchandise store there until he was induced to join a colony of southern people who were going to Kansas in May, 1857. When he came to Kansas he first took up a homestead claim and then purchased a bakery at Tecumseh, Shawnee county, but died July 6, 1858, before he could get fairly settled in the new country. Seven children were born to and reared by Henri and Nancy Tortat: Henri Alexis, deceased; Mrs. Amelia Caroline Barry, deceased; Mrs. J. C. Fox; Jean Paul, deceased; Augusta makes her home with Mrs. Fox; William Marshall, Peabody, Mass.; Mary died at the home of Mrs. Fox. Six years after Mr. Tortat’s demise, the mother and children removed to Atchison, where she died December 20, 1864.

In his younger days Mr. Fox was a Republican, but later became a Democrat and was a strong Cleveland adherent. He was a supporter of President Theodore Roosevelt during his first administration. He was a staunch supporter of Woodrow Wilson when Wilson was a candidate for the Presidency, but was generally broad minded in his political views. He was a member of Washington lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Knights Templar, a Mystic Shriner and an Odd Fellow; he was reared in the Congregational church atmosphere but after marriage chose to attend the Episcopalian church with his wife. His death occurred August 23, 1914, when a strong and noble character passed to the great beyond. Mr. Fox was blessed with a singularly happy temperament which manifested itself even on his bed of illness; he was always good humored and had a strong sense of humor which, combined with a kindly disposition, made him a prime favorite with his friends and acquaintances. He was a great reader, an expert accountant, possessed a strong memory and was a Shakespearean scholar, quoting from Shakespeare while lying on his couch awaiting the last summons, and also quoting the Twenty-first Psalm on his last day on earth. He served the city as a member of the city council and was president of the school board for a term, being of material assistance in handling their financial affairs, because of his genius in this direction.

JAMES EMERY PENNINGTON.

The _Western Advocate_, Mankato, Kan., in an issue of July, 1899, has this to say in part regarding one of the most remarkable family reunions ever held in Kansas or anywhere in the country: “Without doubt the most remarkable family reunion ever held in Jewell county has been for the past week at Burr Oak and among the various members of the family in that vicinity. It is the reunion of the eleven children, together with many of the sixty-four grand children of the late James Pennington and Susan Wisdom Pennington. The Pennington family is a Southern family, the elder Pennington being a native of Tennessee, and his wife of North Carolina. All of the eleven children, however, with the exception of the oldest son, were born and raised in Missouri. The Pennington family is remarkable in that there were just eleven children and they are all living and enjoying good health, although the youngest is now fifty years of age, the eldest being a little past seventy. These family reunions, which are an annual event, prove that the family tree, nourished by the good old warm Southern blood, is still bearing the fruits of hospitality and good cheer. Once a year they get together, parents, children and grand children, and the ties of family, of kinship, and affection are drawn a little closer. Hearts are cheered, lives are brightened and days are lengthened.” Speaking of the gathering on Saturday of the reunion week, the _Western Advocate_ goes on to say: “On this day a company of one hundred gathered around the banquet board, and the eleven brothers and sisters were weighed and their combined weight found to be 1,832 pounds, an average of 166 pounds each.”

The father of this remarkable family was James Pennington, a native of Tennessee, born in that State in 1822, and was there married to Susan Wisdom. They migrated to Missouri in the early thirties and settled in Nodaway county, developing a fine farm until the discovery of gold in California. James then set out across the plains and mountains to the gold fields of the New Eldorado in quest of fortune. While in California he became a freighter and transported flour and provisions to the mining camps afoot. He would carry a fifty pound sack of flour a distance of sixteen miles and was paid at the rate of $50 per sack for transportation, the flour costing $50 per sack at the point of purchase and being valued at $100 when it was taken to its destination by the carrier. James, Sr., remained in California until 1851 and then returned to his home and family in Missouri, where he lived the remainder of his days, dying in 1878, in Platte county. James and Susan Pennington were the parents of eleven children as follows: William W., born in 1837, died February, 1913, at Lebanon, Kan.; John Thomas, California, born in 1839; Mrs. Telitha Thorp, Marysville, Mo., born in 1841; Mrs. Julia Denney, Benedict, Kan., born in 1842; Mrs. Clementine Conner, Santa Ana, Cal., born in 1844, a widow; Mrs. Nancy Miller, California, born in 1845, a widow; James Emery, with whom this review is directly concerned; Mrs. Sarah Robertson, Elk City, Okla., born in 1849; Mrs. Mary Robertson, Burr Oak. Kan., born in 1853; Mrs. Cynthia Jane Judy, Burr Oak, born in 1855; Mrs. Rocksinah Graves, Burr Oak, Kan., born in 1857.

James Emery Pennington, retired farmer of Potter, Kan., was born on a farm in Nodaway county, Missouri, October 30, 1847. He was reared on the farm in Missouri until seventeen years of age, and he then left home and crossed the plains. The occasion of his going was because of the fact that two brothers and three brothers-in-law had already enlisted in the Union army for service in the Civil war, and the father felt that he could not spare his son, James E., so it was agreed between father and son that the boy should go west for a time. He made his way across the Missouri to Ft. Leavenworth and there joined an overland freight train which was bound for Salt Lake City, Utah. At that time all the freight and merchandise west of the Missouri river was transported in wagons, drawn by horses, mules or oxen. These wagons were loaded with from six to twelve thousand pounds of merchandise and were drawn by teams ranging in numbers from twelve to twenty-four animals. From twenty to forty men, wagons and teams constituted what was then known as a “freight train.” The train to which young Pennington attached himself consisted of forty wagons, forty teamsters, two wagon masters, four assistants, two night herders, and two extras, in all, fifty men, four hundred and ninety oxen and a few horses for herding purposes. Being a farmer boy and having a working knowledge of animals, young Pennington soon made himself indispensable to the outfit and received the name of “Our Boy” from the other men in charge of the train. The train proceeded its long way over the plains of Kansas and followed the valley of the South Platte to the Rockies without mishap, other than a few Indian skirmishes. In October of 1864, “Our Boy” stood on the crest of the Rockies with one foot on the Atlantic and one foot on the Pacific slope. Winter soon came on and stock perished and they arrived at their destination in the dead of severe winter. Young Pennington spent the winter in the home of a Mormon family, consisting of a Mormon and his seven wives. From Utah he went north into Idaho and Montana, and in that region took up his favorite pursuit of freighting, which he followed for four years. His operations were mainly from Ft. Benton, the head of navigation on the Missouri river, to which point the river steamers carried the freight destined for the mining camps of the mountain regions. He, with others, transported the first quartz mill to the mining camp, later widely known as Butte City, Mont. He returned home in 1869 and lived there for three years, coming to Kansas in 1872. He had saved some capital which he brought with him to Atchison county, and invested this money in a herd of cattle which he grazed upon the free ranges, in this manner getting his first real start in life, and which was the beginning of his later prosperity. After his marriage in 1872 to Elizabeth Snoddy, he and his wife settled on the home farm of the Snoddy’s, and at the end of one year the father of Mrs. Pennington deeded the young couple eighty acres of land which became the nucleus of their present acreage. This land is four miles east and one-half mile south of Potter. Leavenworth county, and the farm has been increased to 320 acres of well improved land. Mr. Pennington removed to Potter in the spring of 1916, from the farm in Leavenworth county, and has recently completed a fine, modern, ten-room residence which will serve as his future domicile during the remainder of his days.

James E. Pennington was married February 1, 1872, to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Brown) Snoddy, the former a native of Tennessee, and the latter a native of Missouri. Thomas Snoddy first came to Kansas in 1854, and preëmpted the farm which he improved and where his children were reared. He was a Mexican war veteran and the Government gave him for his services a grant of land in northwestern Missouri, which he sold for $1,600, and with the proceeds of the sale built his home on his preëmption in Kansas. The upper part of the house was used as headquarters for the Kickapoo Masonic lodge for many years. Thomas Snoddy was born August 27, 1825, and died October 8, 1909. His remains were interred in the Round Prairie cemetery. A remarkable fact about the Snoddy house is, that the roof existed without repairs for over fifty- five years and at the time of its repair by Mr. Pennington, the excellence of the material which went into the building of the house excited newspaper comment. Mrs. Pennington was born on September 25, 1856, and lived her whole life on the farm which her father preëmpted.

The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. James Emery Pennington: Rebecca, wife of William Ehart, of Atchison county, Kansas; Bessena, wife of Joseph James, of Atchison county, a farmer and horse and mule dealer; Roxie, wife of John Goff, of Potter, Kan., a thresher and farmer; Thomas W., living on the home farm; Frank P., a lumber merchant, of Burr Oak, Kan., who was associated with his father in the grain business in Potter, in 1906; George, a farmer living in Leavenworth county; Mamie, a student in the Potter High School.

Mr. Pennington, with others in his neighborhood, organized and placed in operation the Farmers’ Elevator Company, of which he was president. This concern built the Potter grain elevator and later sold it to H. A. Ode. He has long been identified with the Democratic party, but has never sought political preferment of any kind. At the time of the organization of the Potter High School district, Mr. Pennington was one of the prime movers in the building of the new high school building. Perhaps the best known trait of this grand old pioneer is his inherent hospitality, which has made him famous and one of the best loved men in his section of the State. Concerning a great Christmas celebration held at the Pennington home in 1911, the _Atchison Globe_, of December 27, 1911, says:

“J. E. Pennington, a well known farmer of the Round Prairie neighborhood, south of town, always provides a big entertainment for his immediate friends and relatives every Christmas, and spares no pains or expense to make these annual affairs highly enjoyable. The late holiday was no exception to the rule. On Monday quite a crowd gathered at Mr. Pennington’s home, as usual, and spent a day of merriment. A big Christmas tree loaded with almost everything conceivable in the way of holiday gifts, was provided by Mr. Pennington; a big dinner was also served, and in the afternoon the men indulged in a hunt. A long wire was stretched across a field, with a horse hitched to each end of it. The wire was thus dragged across the field and in this manner all of the rabbits were scared up. The men followed behind the wire and shot the rabbits as they jumped out. Four jack rabbits were scared up and one of them killed; also many cottontails. It is said that Mr. Pennington expended nearly $200 on this affair. He is a very prosperous farmer and is noted for his hospitality.”

DR. EARL A. GILMORE.

Dr. Earl A. Gilmore, veterinary surgeon, of Effingham. Kan., was born September 27, 1887, at Ames, Iowa, a son of William T. and Jerusha (Norton) Gilmore. His father was born in 1850, in New York State, and when an infant accompanied his father, George Gilmore, to Iowa. His mother was born at Zearing, Iowa, November 10, 1855, and died March 7, 1898. William J. was reared on the pioneer farm in Iowa, and was able when a young man to take advantage of the opportunity to amass wealth in the new and rich State, which was being developed during his day and lifetime. He was married September 5, 1869. He became one of Iowa’s most prosperous farmers, and in his later days, when he retired from active farm work, he traveled extensively throughout the country, visiting many points in the West, and the Philippine Islands. On February 1, 1915, while aboard a Missouri Pacific train en route to Kansas City, the train was wrecked, and he was injured to such an extent that he was laid up in the hospital at Kansas City for several weeks, and then returned to his home at Ames, Iowa. There were ten children in the Gilmore family: Mrs. Uretta Stevens, of Star City, Mich.; Mrs. Maria Pellersells, of Grand Rapids, Wis.; Maines Gilmore, now in Alaska; Charles, of Greeley, Colo.; George, living in Iowa; William, a college professor at Winnipeg, Canada; Earl A., the subject of this review; Mrs. Eva Burton, of Ames, Iowa; Ella, deceased: one child died in infancy. The mother of these children was a daughter of Isaac Gilmore, a native of Ireland. The Gilmore family is also of Irish descent, all four of Dr. Gilmore’s grandparents having emigrated from the Emerald isle.

Earl A. Gilmore was educated in the Nevada (Iowa) High School, and studied at Drake University for one year; the Iowa State College at Ames for two and one-half years; then studied for two years in the Kansas City Veterinary College, graduating April 16, 1912. His funds being exhausted, when he decided to become a veterinary surgeon, he found it necessary to work his way through his final college course, by doing reportorial work on the staff of the _Kansas City Star_. Upon his graduation he immediately located in Effingham and has built up an extensive practice in his profession, covering a territory of twelve miles, north and south, and nine miles, east and west.

Dr. Gilmore is a member of the Missouri Valley Veterinary Association, and the National veterinary fraternity, the Kansas City chapter of the Delta Alpha Psi. He is a Republican in politics and is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge and the Knights and Ladies of Security. Dr. Gilmore takes a keen and active interest in the civic welfare of Effingham and is usually found in the forefront of undertakings which are intended to promote the best interests of the city.

ALFRED JONATHAN HARWI.

In writing the history of a city and county such as Atchison, the reviewer very naturally finds that among the large number of men who have had much to do with the upbuilding of the community, and who can be counted among the really successful men of the period covered, there are few who stand out preëminently among their fellows, and whose individuality looms far above the average, and who are noted not only for their individual accomplishments on their own behalf, but who have performed deeds which have endeared their memory to posterity for generations to come. In this respect we must consider the late Alfred Jonathan Harwi, founder of the great A. J. Harwi Hardware Company, millionaire, statesman, and philanthropist, of Atchison. Mr. Harwi will long be remembered as one of the leading figures in the business world of Atchison. He was a pioneer in the establishment of the great wholesale houses which have made Atchison famous over the western country. Beginning his career a poor man, endowed with financial and business ability of a high order, blessed with a keen foresight into the future, having confidence in the ultimate development of the country, tireless and industrious in all his undertakings, he achieved a truly remarkable success, and through it all he was a man among men, who never lost the respect and regard of his fellow men because of his great success in the realms of business and finance.

_A. J. Harwi_
]

Alfred Jonathan Harwi was born at Ritterville, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, January 21, 1847, the eldest of four sons, born to Michael and Lucretia Harwi. One of the children died in infancy, and the others, Edwin C. and W. H., followed Alfred J. to Atchison and became associated with him in the hardware business which he had established. Edwin C. died September 4, 1903, and Wilson H. Harwi died May 30, 1911. A sister died in Pennsylvania when but a child. Michael Harwi followed the trade of carpenter in heavy construction work during his life, and was engaged in the building of canal locks in the days when the construction of internal waterways was in vogue. He was also a farmer, and at the time of his death was engaged in quarrying and contracting for slate. His sons having all come to the West, he made preparations to join them here in Atchison, but on the point of his departure on October 8, 1882, he was taken ill and died. His widow, Lucretia Harwi, then came to Atchison and resided here with her children until her demise, in November, 1904.

A. J. Harwi received his education in the schools of his native State, attending the district school of his neighborhood until ten years of age, then becoming a student at a Moravian school in Bethlehem, which was located four miles from his home and required him to walk the distance across a mountain both morning and evening. After spending two years in diligent study in this institution he entered a general store at Bethlehem for the purpose of acquiring business experience. However, while learning the art of barter and trade over the counters of the general store he did not neglect the cultivation of his mind. He read, listened and learned, and in his spare time continued his studies until his mind was broadened and he became a man of advanced thought, learned to read and judge his fellow men, and acquire a refinement and polish which in later years assisted him in his undertakings and enabled him to command the respect of his fellows. His ambition was to eventually engage in business for himself, and he saved his money to this end, and in 1868, when he was twenty-one years of age, he became a partner in the furniture business with J. B. Zimmele, but sold out two years later and hearkened to the advice of Horace Greeley, who said: “Go west, young man, go west, and grow up with the country.” While at Bethlehem Mr. Harwi married Cora Wheeler, with whose father he became associated in the hardware and implement business at Butler, Mo. When this partnership was dissolved a few years later, Mr. Harwi went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and for a few months was a clerk in a hardware store. In the year 1875 he came to Atchison equipped with considerable commercial experience, but having little capital. He and C. H. Dearborn began a retail hardware business in a small way in the building at 408 Commercial street. The concern prospered from the start and its success was undoubtedly due to Mr. Harwi’s intelligence and common-sense business methods and his wonderful capacity for hard and unremitting work. This hardware business soon became one of the leading local business enterprises of the rapidly growing city of Atchison. Like other men who have been successful in life, Mr. Harwi was visionary, but his vision did not take on the dream- like character. It was practical and foresaw the inevitable development of the western country and an increased demand for all kinds of products as the country became more and more settled. He believed in common with others of the period that Atchison was destined to become the gateway and the distributing point for a large section of territory. Acting upon this sound, practical belief in the early eighties when the retail business had assumed large proportions and necessitated expansion in other ways, he conceived the idea of engaging in the jobbing business. He did so, and again his wonderful business acumen and ability came into play, with the result that the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company is known throughout the West and middle West, and has done a noteworthy part in making Atchison famous as a wholesale center. The result of its founder’s vision and industry is one of the great wholesale houses of the West, represented by about twenty traveling salesmen covering four States, while over fifty local employes are engaged to handle the vast amount of office work and the great warehouse and shipping details incident to such an important commercial institution as the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company has developed into within thirty-five years. Their commodious four-story office and warehouse building, located on the corner of Commercial and Ninth streets, is one of the handsome modern business houses of Atchison. One can begin to realize the scope and extent of this business when he stops to think that it requires 75,000 feet of floor space to afford ample warehouse facilities. In 1889 the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000.

Mr. Harwi was three times married. His first wife, Cora Wheeler, whom he married in Bethlehem, left one daughter, Mrs. E. P. Ripley, of Boston. His second marriage was with Elizabeth Whitehead, of Atchison, in 1873, to which union two children were born: Mrs. H. P. Shedd, of Bensonhurst, Long Island, and Frank E., president of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company. The mother of these children died October 14, 1907. Mr. Harwi’s third marriage occurred June 3, 1909, to Mrs. Mary E. Holland, who survives him. Mr. Harwi passed away September 5, 1910. During his later years the stress of business and the ceaseless activity which had been his lot during life began to tell upon him, and for over twenty-five years prior to his demise he was a sufferer from locomotor ataxia. The things which he accomplished necessarily demanded that he be a hard and tireless worker, but he never spared himself, and at a time when he should have begun to conserve his bodily strength he worked the hardest, with the result that his span of life was shortened under what it might have been.

It is not alone through the magnificent mercantile concern which Mr. Harwi conceived and built up that he is known, but he was a public spirited gentleman who contributed generously to charity and philanthropic work. Although he accumulated wealth outside of his business to exceed a half million dollars and loaned out considerable money on mortgages, he was never known to have taken advantage of a debtor and to foreclose a mortgage. Although he was a member of the Congregational church, he was a trustee of Midland College, Atchison, and established and endowed the Harwi scholarship prizes, which have been of inestimable benefit to many young students. He was one of the trustees of the Atchison County High School at Effingham, and was also a warm advocate of providing well for the education of the youth of the community. Mr. Harwi was elected State senator from the Atchison district in 1884, but did not allow his duties as legislator to interfere with his business affairs, it being his custom while the legislature was in session to spend the day in the legislative halls at Topeka, return home and spend the greater part of the night in the supervision of the business. His ability as a legislator came naturally into the limelight, and there was talk of running him as the party’s candidate for governor of the State, but this talk met with little encouragement from Mr. Harwi, inasmuch as he was wrapped up heart and soul in the reorganized Harwi Hardware Company at the time, the project demanding all of his time and energy.

FRANK EDWIN HARWI.

Frank Edwin Harwi, president of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company, is one of Atchison’s live young citizens who is following in the footsteps of his highly successful father. Mr. Harwi is in charge of the extensive wholesale hardware concern founded and built up by his father, A. J. Harwi. Frank E. Harwi was born October 11, 1884, in Atchison. He received his education in the public schools of his native city and in the Andover Preparatory School at Andover, Mass. He matriculated as a freshman at Yale University, but was called home by the illness of his father, and he became his father’s assistant for the ensuing year. In 1905 he entered the sophomore class of Kansas University, but gave up his college course in 1906 to enter his father’s hardware establishment, and upon his father’s demise took over the active management of the concern and became president of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company.

Mr. Harwi was married September 30, 1908, to Miss Florence Cain, a daughter of John M. and Lucy Cain. To this union two children have been born: Alfred J., born August 22, 1909, and Lucy E., born January 12, 1912. John M. Cain, father of Mrs. Harwi, was born July 30, 1839, at Castletown, Isle of Man. He was educated in the select schools of his native island, learned the carpenter’s trade and emigrated from the Isle of Man in 1856, locating in Kansas, where he was successively farmer, soldier, merchant and banker. He was a volunteer soldier in the company organized by A. S. Speck and Asa Barnes, and was accepted for service in 1862, enlisting in Capt. P. H. McNamara’s company, of which he became sergeant, and upon the organization of the regiments of colored troops he was appointed first lieutenant of a company in the Eighty-third regiment, colored infantry. He was afterwards commissioned a captain and did splendid service throughout the Civil war. After the close of the war he farmed in Atchison county, became a merchant, and was connected with the old Atchison State Bank. He died in 1897. Mr. Cain was married May 15, 1879, to Lucy Neerman, a daughter of Frank and Isabella (Rust) Neerman. The following children were born of this marriage Eva, wife of Foster Branson, of River Forest, Ill.; Ralph R., a banker, at Ada, Okla.; Florence, wife of Frank E. Harwi; John Milton, with the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company: William O., an attorney in Atchison, and Alfred Neerman, deceased.

Mr. Harwi is an independent in politics. He was one of the organizers of the Atchison Commercial Club and served as president of this thriving organization in 1913, and is at present a member of its board of directors. He is a member of the board of trustees of Midland College and is a member of the Atchison city board of education. He has likewise been one of the trustees of the Atchison city hospital since its establishment. While the responsibilities connected with the conduct of the great business establishment thrust upon his shoulders at the demise of his father have been such as would probably daunt the young man of average ability, Mr. Harwi has shown that he fully measures up to the requirements of his important position in the mercantile world and has made a reputation on his own individual account as a business head of decided executive ability of a high order.

JOSEPH TROMPETER.

When Joseph Trumpeter departed this life Effingham lost one of its best and most-highly respected citizens and his family suffered the lost of a kind and industrious husband and father, whose sole ambition in life was to provide well for his kindred and those dependent upon him for a livelihood, and to accomplish his purpose in the most honorable and upright manner possible. To him fell the task of erecting the first county high school building in Effingham, and many of the most pretentious dwellings of the city were built by him. He was one of the widely known and successful contractors of the county, whose operations extended over a wide stretch of territory, and whose work was always strictly up to a certain high standard and honestly performed.

Mr. Trompeter was born June 15, 1857, in Prussia, Germany, and when ten years of age he accompanied his parents to America. His father was Maurice Trompeter, who settled on a farm in Illinois and who went from Illinois to Texas, but after a short residence in that State returned to Illinois, where he passed the remainder of his days. Joseph was reared to young manhood in Illinois and there married Hannah Sowers. He also went to Texas and removed from there to Horton, Kan. His father before him was a carpenter and Joseph learned his trade and followed it, becoming a contractor and builder when a young man. He erected several court houses in Texas, and built several school buildings and church edifices in Kansas. His first wife died in Horton, Kan., eight children being born to this union, of whom two are living, namely: Mrs. Tina Demmer, of Effingham. Kan.; Mrs. Bertha Wallace, also residing in Effingham. Mr. Trumpeter removed to Effingham, and at once engaged in building and contracting on an extensive scale. He erected all the buildings on the main street of the town, on the north side of the street, running from the banners and Merchants Bank building to the newspaper office, at the end of the block. He also built the greater part of the finer residences in Effingham and it is due to his handiwork and taste that the city presents such an attractive appearance to the visitor. In the spring of 1912 he and the family moved to his farm of 160 acres southeast of Effingham on which with his own hands Mr. Trompeter erected a handsome farm dwelling and fitted it with all modern improvements, adding an attractive barn at the same time. He did not live to enjoy the comforts of his new home long, however, as illness brought on by overwork, caused him to take to his bed and his demise occurred August 19, 1915.

His second marriage was with Louise Richter, on November 8, 1892, at Effingham. Four children were born of this marriage, namely: Amelia, John, James and Mary, all of whom are at home with their mother. Mrs. Trompeter was born in Austria, in 1874, a daughter of John, born September 2, 1852, and Amelia (Wohletz) Richter, born May 31, 1849. The Richters are of German birth and immigrated to America in 1882, first residing in Atchison and then coming to Effingham. For twenty-eight years Mr. Richter was employed in railroad work on the Central Branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad. Mr. and Mrs. Richter now make their home with their daughter, Mrs. Trompeter, and assist in the farming operations. The Richter children are as follows: Mrs. Joseph Trompeter; Domineck, conducting a meat market in Effingham; Leapold, living at Tacoma, Wash., also a builder and contractor; Mrs. Amelia Hansen, residing in Texas; Mrs. Anna Royer, Tacoma, Wash. There are eleven grand children in the Richter family.

Mr. Trompeter was affiliated with the Democratic party, but was never a seeker after political preferment. He was a member of the Catholic church, and was fraternally connected with the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen. Throughout his life he was an industrious and hard- working citizen who did his duty as he saw it and lived an upright and honest life. He was prominently identified with the civic life of Effingham and was highly respected for his many excellent qualities.

JOSEPH N. ARTHUR.

Joseph N. Arthur, automobile salesman and garage proprietor, of Effingham, Kan., is one of the progressive and enterprising business men of the second city of Atchison county. Signal success has attended his efforts during the years he has been a resident of Atchison county. He embarked in the automobile business and established a garage in Effingham, despite the fact that predictions were made that the venture would not be a success, and Mr. Arthur as a result is the recognized pioneer automobile man of his part of the county. Since taking the agency for the Ford cars in 1912, he has sold over half the total of Ford cars sold in the county and vicinity. Mr. Arthur first started in business in 1910 and established a small garage in the rear of his real estate office. His business grew to such an extent that larger quarters became necessary, and in 1913 he erected a large concrete building, forty by eighty feet in extent, in which is incorporated his office, display and repair rooms. He employs a skilled mechanic, assistant and driver. Mr. Arthur handles the Dodge Brothers, the Maxwell, and Ford automobiles.

J. N. Arthur was born June 3, 1869, near Corning, Adams county, Iowa, and is a son of John and Martha Arthur, natives of Ohio. Both parents were reared in the old Buckeye State, and were early pioneer settlers in Iowa, coming from Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1855, and driving overland via the ox team route, with all their movable possessions loaded on wagons en route from St. Joseph, Mo., to their destination in Adams county, Iowa. John Arthur homesteaded Government land in Adams county and preëmpted along the river where timber and water were plentiful. He prospered as the years went on and the country became more and more settled, and he became the owner of over 800 acres of excellent Iowa farm lands. He resided in Adams county, Iowa, until his demise, in 1907.

John Arthur settled on the banks of a river for the purpose of having timber, fuel and water, three essentials in keeping alive in the then sparsely settled country in the southwestern part of Iowa. He built a log cabin of logs hewn from trees chopped down with his own hands and chinked the cracks and crevices with mud. When he preëmpted his first tract of land in Iowa he had a yoke of oxen, $10 in money and a favorite bull-dog, things which he was fond of telling about as he grew older and more prosperous. During his fifty-two years of residence in Iowa he accumulated 800 acres of land and had money loaned out to the amount of $10,000. He was the father of eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity, each of whom as he married was assisted by the father to settle on a farm of his own, and all have prospered—an enviable record for a pioneer family to make.

Joseph N., with whom this review is directly concerned, was reared on the Iowa farm, and knew something about the hardships of the pioneer days in his boyhood. He attended the district school in his neighborhood, and followed farming until he engaged in the implement business in his home county for some years, with a fair degree of success. He left his native State in 1904 and came to Effingham, Kan., purchasing 120 acres of land about one and one-half miles distant from Effingham in Atchison county. One year later he embarked in the real estate business, in partnership with B. F. Snyder. This partnership lasted for two years and then Mr. Arthur engaged in the business for himself. He also began to write insurance, and was reasonably successful in both the real estate and insurance business. He erected a brick building for his office quarters, and, when automobile owners multiplied in Effingham and vicinity he foresaw the need of a repair shop and established one in the rear of his real estate office. He soon afterward rented an abandoned garage and hired a mechanic to do the repair work. It was not long until larger quarters became necessary, and he built as told in a preceding chapter. In July of 1915, Mr. Arthur disposed of his insurance business, and has since devoted his energies entirely to the automobile business.

He was married in 1892 to Lillie M. Ramsey, daughter of Newton Ramsey, a pioneer settler of Adams county, Iowa, and a Union veteran of the Civil war. Four children have blessed this union: Pearl, aged twenty-one years; Jennie, aged eighteen years, and a teacher of music, and an accomplished musician; Le Roy, nine years of age; Charles, three years old. Three children are deceased: Chester A. died at the age of eight years; Milton died at the age of eighteen months; Blanche died at the age of nine months.

Mr. Arthur is a Republican in politics, and has identified himself more or less with the civic life of his adopted community, and is considered as one of Effingham’s best boosters and live wires. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, contributes to the support of the same, and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows lodge and the Knights and Ladies of Security.

DON CARLOS NEWCOMB.

It is a pleasure for the biographer to write a story of the life of a man who has arrived at the evening of life and be able to record something really worth while for the benefit of posterity. The life annals of a man who has succeeded in making a name for himself, achieving a well deserved competence, and been of some use to his community, and has arrived at the time of life when he can look back over the vista of the busy years that have passed, is interesting to a high degree. In D. C. Newcomb, pioneer merchant and patriarch, of Atchison, we find embodied that spirit of the West which enabled men to build up this great country and to achieve things of importance in the business and civic world. Mr. Newcomb loves his home city, its people and prestige and is proud of its standing among the cities of the West. He has had no small part in the upbuilding of Atchison, and it would have been better in the days gone by if the city had more men like him to assist its growth. Ever ready to contribute to any enterprise which might help the growth of the city, his liberality and boosting proclivities became proverbial, and it has oft been a saying of his that Atchison could just as well have been a city of fifty or sixty thousand inhabitants as to be its present size. Such men as he are of decided benefit to any community.

_Eng. by E. G. Williams & Bro. N. Y._

_D. C. Newcomb_
]

D. C. Newcomb, a pioneer merchant of Atchison, perhaps has had as much to do with the commercial development of Atchison county for the past half century as any other man within its borders. When Mr. Newcomb came to Atchison county in 1858 it was a difficult matter to tell whether Atchison, or its rival town, Sumner, was to be the chief town of the county. Sumner was a thriving frontier town, but Mr. Newcomb picked Atchison as the winner and time has demonstrated that his judgment was sound. D. C. Newcomb was born in Washington county, Vermont, on Friday, July 13, 1836, and is a son of Hosea and Harriet (Bixby) Newcomb, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter a native of Roxbury, Mass., born in 1805. Hosea Newcomb was born in 1803 and came from a prominent New England family of English descent. The Newcomb family was founded in New England in 1635 by Francis Newcomb and his wife, who came from England and located in New England at that time. It is recorded that they made the voyage on a sailing vessel named “Planter.” Hosea Newcomb, the father of D. C., was prominent in the affairs of his native town, Waitsfield, Vt., where he remained until 1859, when he came to Kansas, settling at the new town of Sumner, now extinct, in Atchison county. He took an active part in the early-day development of that promising frontier town and served as postmaster there. However, he returned to Vermont in 1873, where he died in 1889, at the age of eighty-six, and his wife passed away March 17, 1903, age ninety-seven years, eight months and one day.

Residence of D. C. Newcomb, Atchison, Kan.
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D. C. Newcomb was one of a family of five children and is now the only one living, except a sister, Mrs. Lydia M. Shephard, of Minneapolis. A brother, Dan J. Newcomb, was a very early settler in Atchison county, coming here some time before D. C. arrived. He was prominent in the organization of Atchison county and was the first register of deeds of the county, D. C. serving as his deputy. D. C. Newcomb was reared in the town of Waitsfield, Vt., where he attended the public schools and later was a student at Newbury Seminary. In early life he clerked in a store at Johnson, Vt., and also clerked for a time in Montpelier, Vt. In 1858 he came to Atchison county and first landed at Sumner, but immediately went to Atchison, and, although the latter town was also in its early stages of development, the location impressed Mr. Newcomb so favorably that he determined to locate there. Soon after coming here he was appointed deputy register of deeds and served in that capacity for three years. He then engaged in clerking in a store, and in 1864 entered into partnership with Samuel Gard, who had been a fellow clerk of his, and they organized the firm of Gard & Newcomb and engaged in the mercantile business. Their capital was limited, perhaps less than $2,500, but they were two industrious young men and had a reputation for honesty and square dealing, which was an important asset. Mr. Newcomb went to New York and bought a stock of goods valued at about $15,000, mostly on credit, and at the end of the first year they had paid for every dollar’s worth of goods which they had bought in the meantime and had a stock of about $15,000 worth on hand. The partnership arrangement continued about four years, when Mr. Newcomb purchased his partner’s interest, who desired to dispose of his business on account of failing health. Mr. Newcomb continued in business alone and conducted the great Newcomb department store, the business of which developed far beyond his most fanciful dreams. Mr. Newcomb continued in the mercantile business until 1905, and for years was the leading merchant of Atchison. He sold his business to Ed Lake, who has conducted it since 1905.

Mr. Newcomb has not only been a merchant prince in northeastern Kansas, but has been identified with the growth and development of Atchison from many standpoints. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank and was closely identified with that financial institution for fifteen years. He served successively as director, vice-president and president, but when he went out of business he disposed of his banking interests.

Mr. Newcomb was united in marriage in 1866 with Miss Anna E., daughter of Capt. George W. Bowman, an early-day steamboat captain, but later engaged in the mercantile business at Atchison. He was a native of Brownsville, Pa. To Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb have been born two children: Hattie May, now the wife of Maj. Harry A. Smith, U. S. A., a graduate of West Point Military Academy. During the Spanish-American war he held the rank of major in the Twenty-first regiment, Kansas infantry, and is now major in the Twenty-eighth regiment, United States infantry, doing duty on the Mexican border. To Major Smith and wife have been born two children: Newcomb, a cadet in the United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y., and William A., a graduate of Shattick’s school, Fairibault, Minn., now a student in the University of Minnesota. George Edgar, the youngest child born to Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb, born March 19, 1869, died March 25, 1909, aged forty years. He was married in October, 1895, to Miss Dorothy Jones, a native of Wisconsin, and three children were born to this union: Clara Forest, D. C., and Charles Jones. Mr. Newcomb has been a life-long Republican and has always supported the policies and principles of that party. He has had many flattering inducements to enter politics, but has refused to accept, preferring to follow his commercial career in which he has been so successful. Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and for years have been active in the work of their congregation and both have lived exemplary Christian lives. Mr. Newcomb has held every office within the gift of the church, all of which have come to him without solicitation. In fact, every preferment has come to him unsolicited. In 1896 and 1900 he was elected a lay delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church held at Omaha in 1896 and Chicago in 1901.

WILSON R. SMITH.