Chapter XXV: Biographical History (10)

S. W. Adams and family came to Atchison from the farm in February, 1908, and engaged in the insurance business, the mother and father and family coming to the city in December of the same year. He opened his present office May 1, 1914, when Mr. Adams was appointed manager of the Aetna Life Insurance Company for northeast Kansas. His career as an insurance solicitor and manager has been very successful. The real estate and loan business conducted in the same office is in charge of Jay D. Adams.

Mr. Adams was married December 25, 1899, to Miss Mary Speck, who was born on a pioneer farm in Atchison county on Stranger creek in Mt. Pleasant township. She was a daughter of Archimides S. and Sarah E. Speck, natives of Kentucky and North Carolina, respectively, who emigrated from Indiana to Kansas, driving a team the entire distance, during the year 1855. (Further data concerning Mr. and Mrs. Speck will be found elsewhere in this volume.) To this union have been born, Dorothy M., Sarah E., Mildred J., Lorena Wilberta, Wilbor Speck.

Mr. Adams is a Republican in politics and has taken a more or less active part in political and civic affairs. For the past five years he has served the county as secretary of the Atchison County High School board. He and the members of his family are affiliated with the Presbyterian church. Fraternally he is allied with the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

GEORGE SCHOLZ.

George Scholz, farmer and stockman of Lancaster township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born in Germany, April 22, 1870, and is a son of August and Johanna (Seidel) Scholz, who were the parents of seven children: Mrs. Pauline (McCowin), Renton, Wash.; Herman, Doniphan county, Kansas; Charles, Lancaster township, farmer; Louise, wife of C. Thoren, Los Angeles, Cal.; Caroline, wife of J. W. Louthian, Lancaster township; Paul, living near Lancaster, Kansas; Mrs. Anna Stockebrand, Yates Center, Kan.; August, farming with his brother, John, in Lancaster township, and John, farmer, Lancaster township; Robert, Lancaster township. The family was reared on the father’s farm where all the sons were taught farming. The father was born November 25, 1835, in Schlesien, Germany, and learned the blacksmith trade from his father, and worked at that trade until he left Germany in 1870. He was a son of George Frederick Scholz. His mother died when he was an infant. Coming to America with his family of six children, August Scholz resided in St. Joseph, Mo., for a time and then bought a farm of 160 acres in Doniphan county, Kansas, which he worked about six years. He broke this place with oxen and made all necessary improvements himself. After leaving Doniphan county he bought 480 acres of prairie and timber land in Atchison county, Kansas. This was in 1882. He bought the farm of Morgan Osborne and paid $15,000 for it. The place is known as the “Three Springs Farm.” It is located on the northwest quarter of section 9. The name comes from the fact that the farm has a fine natural water supply from springs located on it. The springs supply water for the stock on the farm even in the longest drought.

The father bought an unusually large farm for the reason that he wanted his boys to grow up on his own farm. He did not want to see them go out and work for strangers. His capital was limited but he and his sons were industrious, and they were able to go into debt to acquire more land, and the farm was paid for in due time and improvements were made as rapidly as possible. The father farmed his place until his death, in 1901. The mother of George Scholz was a daughter of Godfred and Rosanna (Schwartzer) Seidel, and was born in Schlesien, Germany, April 10, 1840, and is now living with her son, John. The father was a farmer in his native land.

George Scholz attended the Atchison county schools, finishing at the Rock district school. He remained at home until he was twenty-six years old, when he rented a farm which he operated in partnership with his brother, Charles A. In 1905, George bought the farm which he now owns, and which consists of 120 acres in section 24, Lancaster township. The place was comparatively unimproved, having only an old house and barn. Since then he has built a modern eight-room house, electric lighted and modern in all respects. In addition, he has erected a fine barn, 40×36 feet in size. It is electric lighted and equipped with up-to-date conveniences. Mr. Scholz keeps graded stock on his farm and is a progressive farmer and conducts his farm in an efficient manner. When he and his brother were farming together, ten or more years ago, they sold corn from the field as low as fourteen cents per bushel.

Mr. Scholz was married to Anna Buttron, February 10, 1909. She was born October 20, 1877, and is the daughter of Henry and Rosanna Buttron. Mr. and Mrs. Scholz have two children: Gilbert, born December 31, 1909, and Karl, born January 16, 1914. Mr. Scholz is an independent voter. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge, of Lancaster, No. 355, and attends the Lutheran church, of which his wife is a member. Mr. Scholz made his first investment in 160 acres in Sheridan county, Kansas, for $1,100 in 1902, and sold it three years later for $2,400.

THOMAS E. HORNER, M. D.

Diligence in the pursuit of success is inevitably rewarded, be it in the marts of finance or in the ranks of the learned professions. The profession of medicine has from earliest times offered opportunity for honor and social prominence, as well as giving its members a chance for bettering the condition of mankind in general as well as physical. The physician is at once the friend in need who alleviates our ills and is often the family adviser. To him very frequently are intrusted the secret troubles which beset his patients many times and he thus becomes a benefactor to mankind in more ways than one. Thus, the needs of this noble profession require a high type of individual who is at once a learned and skilled practitioner and gentleman in whom the people can place their trust. Dr. Thomas E. Horner is of the type of physician in whom one can have confidence and whose ability in his life work is marked, the best evidence of which is his large practice in and near the city of Atchison.

He is a native born Kansan, born on a farm on Independence creek in Doniphan county August 8, 1875, a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Farrell) Horner, natives of Ireland. His father was born in 1836 in the town of Coleriyne, Ireland, and his mother is a native of County Cavan, North Ireland, born in 1842. Isaac died in Atchison county in 1911. He immigrated to America with his father, James Horner, who bought a farm near New York City, returning to Ireland where he resided for twelve years, after which he located in western Pennsylvania. From there Isaac removed to Kansas in 1859 and became a freighter across the plains, operating his own outfit. He married in 1866 and settled on Independence creek. Isaac left the farm in 1880 and removed to Atchison where he engaged in buying and shipping live stock until his death. He became well-to-do and was the owner of over 1,000 acres of land in Doniphan and Atchison counties. He was an excellent business man and a keen trader who was honest in his dealings and enjoyed the respect and esteem of those with whom he came in contact during his long life. Coming of an excellent Irish family, he was a younger son and had a brother named Samuel who was educated in Oxford University, and was an early settler in Atchison county, dying in Jackson county, Kansas, in 1886. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Horner are as follows: Mrs. Elizabeth McGurk, Frankfort, Kan.; Mrs. Ella St. Peters, Denver, Colo.; James, who married Nellie Deigan and resides in Parnell, Kan.; Rose, at home with her mother, and Dr. Thomas E. Horner, with whom this review is directly concerned; Mrs. Marie Farrell, widow of James Farrell, of Atchison; and Samuel, who married Mollie Butler, and resides at Jarbalo, Leavenworth county.

Dr. Horner was educated in the parochial schools and Christian Brothers College at St. Joseph, Mo., from which academic institution he graduated in 1893 with the highest honors of his class. He then pursued the study of medicine and graduated from the Kentucky College of Medicine in 1897. For two years he practiced medicine at Vliets, Marshall county; then at Severance, Doniphan county, for a period which ended in 1911, prior to his location in Atchison. He has built up an excellent practice and has a beautiful home at 1114 Santa Fe street.

In politics Dr. Horner is a Democrat; he is a member of the Catholic church, and is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Fraternal Aid Societies, the Mystic Workers, and the Knights of Columbus. He is likewise associated with the Atchison County, the Kansas State and the American Medical associations. He served as police surgeon of the city of Atchison.

Dr. Horner was married January 11, 1898, to Sadie E. Armstrong, and to them have been born three children: Elizabeth, aged fifteen years; Mary, fourteen years of age, and Thomas, aged seven years. The mother of these children is a daughter of Thomas T. and Mary J. (White) Armstrong. Thomas T. Armstrong was born in 1846 in Canada and came to Kansas when a young man and entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific railroad. He is now living a retired life in Atchison. His wife, Mary J., died January 9, 1902, leaving one son, Fred, a resident of Seattle, Wash.

JOSEPH E. GIBSON.

Joseph E. Gibson, farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, Kansas, and a widely known breeder of Shorthorn cattle, has one of the attractive and well kept farm homes in Atchison county, located directly on the White Way, a much traveled and fairly well kept highway, crossing Atchison county from east to west. Mr. Gibson was born August 22, 1861, in Union county, Ohio, and is a descendant of good old Virginia stock. His parents were John and Susannah (Westlake) Gibson, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of the Buckeye State. John Gibson, the father, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, June 17, 1824, and was the son of Leven and Mary (McClure) Gibson, who were among the early settlers of the State of Ohio, migrating from their old homestead in Virginia in 1833 and settling in Ohio, where they lived on a pioneer farm the remainder of their days. John Gibson was reared to young manhood on his father’s farm, and after his marriage settled on a farm of his own in Union county, Ohio, where Joseph was born and reared. John Gibson was the father of seven children, namely: Arthur, a farmer living in Union county, Ohio; Joseph E.; Mattie, deceased; Mrs. Rosa F. Staley, of Union county, Ohio; Thomas, a farmer and sawmill operator in Louisiana; Mrs. Lizzie Schuler, residing in New Dover, Ohio; and Asa, a farmer, of New Dover, Ohio. The father of these children died in 1899. The mother was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1829 and departed this life in 1907. She was a daughter of Josiah and Christena (Knughouf) Westlake.

Joseph E. Gibson, of whom this review directly treats, was brought up on his father’s farm in Union county, Ohio, and there attended the district school. He remained with his parents until 1891 and then migrated to Kansas, to become a foreman in the fruit orchards owned by J. W. Parker in Atchison county. Eight years later he rented a farm three miles north of Shannon, Kan., and in 1901 purchased the farm of eighty acres which he is now cultivating in Center township. This tract of eighty acres lies in sections 10, 6 and 19 of this township and is well improved. The improvements which Mr. Gibson has placed on his farm since buying it will exceed $1,400. For some years he has been a breeder of pure bred Shorthorn cattle and ships the product of his farm to all parts of the country. He has a herd of high grade Shorthorn cattle to the number of twenty-eight head. The cattle bring good prices at private sale, the buyers visiting the farm for the purpose of purchase. He also is a breeder of Big Type Poland China hogs of the best breed obtainable.

Mr. Gibson was married November 8, 1888, to Miss Virginia I. Weaver, and to this union the following children have been born: Imogene, a graduate of the Atchison County High School; Walter S., at home, attending business college at Atchison; one child died in infancy. The mother of these children was born on April 17, 1864, near Lockburn, Franklin county, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Isabella (Gavel) Weaver, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter a daughter of German parents. The mother of Mrs. Gibson is aged eighty-one years and makes her home with her daughter.

Samuel M. Weaver was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, May 20, 1826, a son of George and Isabel (McConnell) Weaver, who were the parents of six children. The father, George, was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1806, when he came west and located in Pickaway county, Ohio, near where the city of Circleville is now located. He was a tailor by trade, and for many years held the office of deputy sheriff of that county. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. He died in 1848. Samuel Weaver was well educated. When twenty years of age he went west and traveled in different states for ten years. When thirty years old, while traveling in Iowa he met Isabel Gavel, to whom he was married December 16, 1856. She was born in Germany and immigrated with her parents to America when one year old and was reared in Franklin county, Ohio. She was born April 3, 1835. Samuel and Isabel Weaver were the parents of five children: Mrs. Catharine E. Cunningham. She died at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1911; Mrs. Virginia I. Gibson; Mrs. Mary F. Southern died at Marysville, Ohio, in 1900; George H. and Samuel, deceased. Samuel, after a residence in Franklin county, located in Delaware county, Ohio, in 1869 and farmed until his death, July 26, 1904.

Mr. Gibson is a Democrat who has taken an active interest in political and civic affairs in the county, and is now serving his third term as trustee of Center township. It is needless to remark that he is satisfying the people of the township and is an efficient and capable official who looks after the township affairs as carefully as he does his own personal affairs, he is fraternally affiliated with the Odd Fellows lodge, the Modern Woodmen, and the Central Protective Association.

Mrs. Gibson takes a just pride in keeping the place in spick and span condition and she has a beautiful lawn fronting the White Way road which attracts the attention of travelers.

BENJAMIN PATTON CURTIS.

Benjamin Patton Curtis has been for sixty-one years a Kansan. Looking back what wonderful changes do these years present to the onlooker! The privations, vicissitudes and perils of those days in which the State was born; the beginning of her commerce when the ox team and flat-boat were the principal means of transportation; the five long drawn-out years of civil strife in which the Union was preserved; the era of agricultural development, when the wild prairies were transformed into fruitful fields of golden grain; the epoch in which railways were keeping pace with the settler, the merchant, the manufacturer, and steam and electricity displaced the ox team and stage coach. Sixty-one years in Kansas, from the days of the prairie schooner, flat-boat and pony express, to the days of the automobile, air-ship and telephone; to have done his share in connection with these great developments; to have through his unaided efforts and with determination and energy achieved success to have so lived that he is honored by his friends and neighbors, entitles the man whose name initiates this review to a prominent place in this publication, the history of the county in which he is passing the sunset years of his life.

Benjamin Patton Curtis, pioneer, successful farmer and Civil war veteran, since 1904 a resident of the city of Atchison, was born on the twenty-seventh day of March, 1839, while his parents were encamped in the wilderness of Missouri, a terrific snow storm having interrupted their journey to Illinois. His father, John M. Curtis, was a native of southern Tennessee. He had married when a young man, Mary Ann Warren, also of that State, and with his young wife had settled in Missouri. They were both of Scotch-Irish ancestry and came from a remarkably long- lived line of forebears, one of whom lived to the age of 104 years. In 1839 the family removed from Missouri and settled in Adams county, Illinois, where they remained until 1854, when they came to Kansas Territory, settling just across the Missouri river from St. Joe. John M. Curtis became a stanch Republican after seeing the abuse of slaves while in Missouri, and he was one of the fearless men who came to Kansas for the purpose of making her a free State. He preëmpted a quarter section of land and then engaged in “following the river,” as it was then termed, flat-boating, rafting and steam-boating. His three sons, among whom was our subject, also followed that occupation for a time.

Ben P. Curtis spent the first fifteen years of his life in Adams county, Illinois. His schooling was scant and that little was acquired in the country schools. In his fifteenth year he came to Kansas Territory with his parents, as has been previously stated, and within a short time was employed on the Missouri river. The free life of the plains called him, but as his two brothers had run away from home, and he was the only son left, his longing to become a freighter was unsatisfied, as he preferred to remain with his father. He was one of the first in his section of the State to heed President Lincoln’s call for volunteers, and in May, 1861. he enlisted in Company A, First Kansas Volunteer infantry, under Capt. B. P. Chenowith. He was with his regiment in all its engagements, and is Atchison’s only survivor of the battle of Wilson’s Creek. After the burning of Holly Springs with $2,000,000 worth of supplies; the First Kansas was compelled to live off the country. During the march to Memphis, and while out foraging, Ben Curtis was captured and taken to Ripley, Miss. He was paroled, and while waiting to be exchanged he and a companion, Alverton Abbey, decided to exchange their uniforms for the rebel grey and join the Union lines as deserters and reënlist in some regiment other than their own, knowing full well they would be shot if they were again captured while serving with the First Kansas. They were successful in securing the rebel uniforms and gained the Union lines, Curtis taking the name of C. F. Barker and his comrade, Abbey, that of William Payne. He enlisted in the Fifth Illinois cavalry, and Ben Curtis, under the name of C. F. Barker. At the time of his capture he was serving as sergeant, and when enlisting under Captain Chandler he showed him his parole as Sergeant B. P. Curtis. The captain assured him he would not lose his rank and he was accordingly made a sergeant and served as such until mustered out in February, 1864.

On conclusion of his military service he returned to Doniphan county and resumed his old employment of “following the river,” remaining in this field of occupation until 1867, when he bought a quarter section of land in Doniphan county and engaged in farming. He made a success as an agriculturist, was an active and influential factor in the life of his section and reared a family of six daughters, all of whom are women of education, intellectuality and refinement. In 1901 Mr. Curtis’ health failed and he disposed of his farming interests and became a resident of Troy, and in 1904 came to Atchison, where he has since resided.

On July 23, 1865, Mr. Curtis married Mary Eliza Ashcraft, a daughter of Jeddiah Ashcraft. She was born July 23, 1844, in Larue county, Kentucky, her marriage being on the twenty-first anniversary of her birth. The first eight years of her life were spent in her native State, the following three in Missouri, and in 1855 her father brought his family to Kansas and took up a claim near Mt. Pleasant, where she lived until her marriage with Mr. Curtis. She was for a time a teacher in the Doniphan school. They are the parents of the following children: Bird, the wife of Judson F. Thayer, of Stormsburg, Neb.; Anna, the wife of Julian Tait, of St. Joseph, Mo.; Mable, the wife of William Maynard, of Cologne, S. D.; Maude, the wife of A. W. Toole, of St. Joseph, Mo.; Jessie, the wife of C. H. Allison, of Chicago, Ill.; and Frances, the wife of A. E. Williamson, of Troy, Kan.

On July 23, 1915, their children, sons-in-law, grandchildren, friends and acquaintances gave them signal honor in a fitting observance of their golden wedding anniversary. The _Atchison Globe_ of that date says in part: “Fifty years ago today Miss Mary Eliza Ashcraft and Benjamin Patton Curtis were married in Doniphan.” Of their first meeting it states: “The Ashcraft home was on the old Military road, and when Ben Curtis, a soldier in the Civil war, passed there Mary Ashcraft handed him a cup of water which he drew up from the well. However, that was not the beginning of the love affair which culminated in the marriage of Mary Ashcraft and Ben Curtis. They fell in love with each other in Doniphan, where Miss Mary Ashcraft went to teach school, and Mr. Curtis does not accuse his wife of ‘chasing’ him. He asked for an introduction to the pretty school teacher. After he received it he never took another girl.” Mrs. Curtis is the type of woman everyone admires. Her home is her kingdom and she rules it wisely and well. She has never belonged to a woman’s club, but when there is sickness or trouble at her own home, or in the neighborhood, Mrs. Curtis is on hand, capable, gentle and sympathetic. She rules her home with a velvet hand, and her husband says that he notices as the years glide by he gets off at the stations for which she has bought the tickets, not because he has to, but because he wants to.

Of Mr. Curtis it states: “If you don’t know Ben Curtis there is missing from your acquaintance one of the most companionable of men. Friends who have hunted and fished with him say that he is a seventy-seven year old prince. A lover of wild life, he has thoroughly enjoyed his retired life, which has now covered a period of fourteen years. In the summer he hunts the best game and fishing resorts of the North, and the winter is liable to find him down around Corpus Christi, Texas, or some other locality that is attractive when this climate isn’t. At Leach Lake, Minn., a famous resort on Leach Lake, if you tell the people that you are from Atchison and a friend of Ben Curtis, the place instantly belongs to you.” Without sons of his own, he has naturally taken a great interest in his nephews and is justly proud of the position attained by the following, all of whom are Doniphan county boys: Edward Franklin, formerly of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, now professor of chemistry at Leland Stanford University; Thomas Franklin, a prominent insurance underwriter, of Chicago; and Professor Will Franklin, of Lehigh University. The latter is also the author of several text books which are in general use.

Mr. Curtis has been a life-long Republican, and during his residence in Doniphan county took an active part in its political affairs. Political office has never appealed to him, and, although often urged by his friends to accept nomination, he refused. He is a member of Severance Post, No. 391, Grand Army of the Republic, and is prominent in Masonic circles. He has attained the Knights Templar degree and is affiliated with Abdallah Temple, Mystic Shrine.

JOHN W. ABNER, M. D.

John W. Abner, M. D., although recently locating in Atchison, his skill and ability as a capable and painstaking physician has met with ready recognition and he has a large and growing practice. Dr. Abner is a native of Kentucky. He was born in Clay county, in 1867, a son of John and Matilda (Robinson) Abner, both natives of Kentucky. Dr. John W. Abner was one of a family of three children whose parents died when they were very young and the children were reared by friends and neighbors.

When Dr. Abner was fifteen years old he started out to make his own way in life. He was always of a studious turn of mind and by his own efforts obtained a very good education. At an early age he determined to be a physician and bent his every effort in that direction. He learned the carpenter and cabinet maker’s trade, and after working at his trade for some time he entered the Eclectic Medical College of Kansas City, where he was graduated in the class of 1912 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy. He engaged in the practice of his profession in Kansas City. Mo., where he remained until February, 1915, when he located in Atchison, Kan. He has a fine suite of offices at 712 1–2 Commercial street and is meeting with well merited success. Doctor Abner was married in 1902 to Ada Pearl Wade, of Kansas City, Mo., and they have one child, Dorothy, born January 6, 1905. Dr. Abner is a member of the Christian church and takes an active part in the work of his denomination and has served on the board of trustees. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World. Dr. Abner is a past noble grand and senior warden of Subordinate Lodge, No. 577, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and past chief patriarch of Encampment, No. 27, of Kansas City, Mo., and is a member of the Patriarchs Militant, No. 14, Kansas City, Mo.

Politically, he is an independent Republican and takes a keen interest in political as well as current events generally. He is a close student of the science of his profession and aims to keep himself thoroughly posted in the rapid advances that are constantly being made in the world of medicine and surgery.

WILLIAM HENDERSON.

William Henderson, one of the most industrious farmers of Benton township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born December 29, 1872, in the locality where he now lives. His parents, George and Amelia (Stockwell) Henderson, had six children, of whom the subject is the oldest. The others are James, Atchison, Kan., in the employ of the International Harvester Company; Josie married Walter Kelsey, and now dead; Ella married Clayton Davidson, of Effingham, Kan.; Etta, wife of Arthur Olinger, Jefferson county, Kansas; Iva, married Elmer Grabiel, Garden City, Kan.; George Henderson was born in Platte county, Missouri, in 1844, and came to Leavenworth county, Kansas, with his parents when eleven years of age. Seven years later he came to Atchison county, where he has since lived, and is now retired, making his home in Effingham. The mother of William Henderson was born in Missouri in 1846.

William Henderson was reared on the farm and attended the district school near the farm, and the Effingham high school one year. He worked for his father until he was married to Nettie R. Jenkins September 5, 1900. His wife was born in Mitchell county, Kansas, in 1883, and is a daughter of James Q. Jenkins, who came to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1894, from Nebraska, but was born in Illinois. Mr. Henderson owns 180 acres of land which is all well improved, the improvements costing $5,000. Of four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, three died in infancy. The living child, Floyd, was born May 28, 1904.

Mr. Henderson is a Democrat. He belongs to the Elks lodge of Atchison, Kan., and the Masonic lodge at Effingham. Though not a church member, he attends regularly. Mr. Henderson has made a success by hard work and good management. He is always in favor of movements which benefit the community and is a public-spirited citizen.

LUMAS M. JEWELL.

Potter is one of the coming and enterprising towns of Atchison county and Kansas. During the past few years the town has taken wonderful strides in the matter of public improvements and new buildings. A considerable portion of this push and enterprise is directly due to the energy and influence of Lumas M. Jewell, retired merchant and banker, who can well be called the “father of the present day Potter.” Mr. Jewell has been a consistent booster for the town ever since his advent in the town, and has given of his time and money toward its development. Mr. Jewell is a self-made Kansan, who has had an interesting career, and whose rise from a poor boy to a position of comparative wealth and affluence is well worth recording in the annals of Atchison county.

_L. M. Jewell_,
_Potter, Kan._
]

L. M. Jewell was born on a farm in Wayne county, Kentucky, December 3, 1861, a son of Heman S. and Susan Mary (Weaver) Jewell. His father was a native of Vermont, who immigrated to Kentucky when a young man, and engaged in farming operations. He followed farming during his life, until a few years before his demise, at the home of his son, G. W. Jewell, at Kidder, Mo., in 1913. L. M. Jewell received a meager education in the schools of his native State, and his later success in life has been due entirely to his own efforts. His greatest education has been received in the stern school of experience, which is the best after all, and most useful, in developing the real attributes of a man. When he was seventeen years of age, he left home and went to the home of an uncle in Michigan, where he attended school for a time. When he had attained his majority in 1882, he went to South Dakota and homesteaded a tract of prairie land. He stayed in South Dakota for two years and developed his homestead to such an extent that he was able to dispose of it for a good round price, and he then moved to Caldwell county, Missouri, and bought another farm, which he cultivated with a fair degree of success. Later, he embarked in the mercantile business in Marvel, Mo., for a period of three years, disposing of his business in 1892, and locating in Potter, Kan. His first employment in Potter was with the general merchandise firm of Paxton & Kemper. Three years after entering the employ of this firm, Mr. Jewell purchased Mr. Paxton’s interest for $1,500, paying $400 cash, and borrowing the remaining $1,100 with which to complete his purchase. It is remarkable that he could have so established a reputation for business ability and integrity in that time as to be able to command that amount of capital to swing his first business deal in Kansas. His later successes date from that time on, and in the short time of three years he was out of debt, and the business had taken on larger proportions. W. T. Kemper, his partner, then sold his interest in the store to a cousin, Madison Kemper, from whom Mr. Jewell purchased the remainder of the business and became the sole owner. During this time the stock of the store had been increased, and the business had taken on a wider and a more general scope through Mr. Jewell’s enterprise and the exercise of his decided business ability. He became sole owner of the store in 1897, and during the next three years the business was placed upon a permanent and stable footing, which yielded large profits for its owner. In 1900 Mr. Jewell conceived the idea of engaging in the real estate business, primarily for the purpose of building up the town of Potter and attracting more residents to the place. He acquired several business lots and began to erect buildings to such an extent that Potter soon began to take on the airs of a growing city. Where there was but one store building on the side of the street occupied by the Jewell store, he erected five new store buildings, which are occupied by merchants who have moved into the town in the past fifteen years. It is due to Mr. Jewell’s enterprise in this regard that the business part of Potter has been developed. Whereas, when he first came to Potter the town boasted but three stores— his own store, a small hardware shop, and a grocery. All the stores were small and the town did not have a bank. At the present time Potter has two banks and every line of business is represented. As Mr. Jewell’s business expanded his enterprises included a lumber yard, furniture stock and a grain elevator. Seeing the need of a bank, he started a plan of organizing the Potter State Bank in 1899, and after almost a year’s effort, he received the assistance of O. A. Simmons in effecting the organization, and Mr. Simmons was the first cashier of the bank. Mr. Jewell later served as cashier, and is now the president of this bank. In 1910 Mr. Jewell disposed of his mercantile interests, and is interested mainly in real estate and farm lands in Jackson county, Missouri, and Atchison county, Kansas. He has also made a number of large trades in merchandise stocks.

Mr. Jewell was married in 1897 to Sinnie M. Shaw, a daughter of Henry Shaw, who was an early settler of Kansas. One child was born to them, Edna Fern Jewell, born in 1901. Mr. Jewell is a Democrat in politics, and Mrs. Jewell is a member of the Methodist church.

Mr. Jewell’s efforts to advance Potter among the Kansas municipalities have not been confined to commercial activities alone, but he has always had in mind the welfare of the people along other lines. He had not been a citizen of the town but a few years when he conceived the idea that a newspaper would be of great benefit to the community in more ways than one. Consequently, he used every effort to have a paper established in the town, and the _Potter Kansan_, one of the best edited small weeklies, and one of the most prosperous newspaper enterprises in the State, is the result of his dream. He has been foremost in the cause of education, and he worked unremittingly toward the erecting of the present modern school building and the establishment of a graded school system in the town. Such men as Mr. Jewell are the kind of citizens every town needs, and Potter has been the gainer for his civic enterprise and the fostering of the growth of his adopted city.

WILLIAM R. DONNELLAN.

William R. Donnellan, hardware merchant and postmaster of Lancaster, Atchison county, Kansas, was born June 25, 1868, at Lancaster. He is one of six children of John and Mary J. (Davidson) Donnellan, as follows: Anna A. (Ostertag), of Atchison; Thomas E., Parsons, Kan.; William R., the subject of this sketch, Lancaster, Atchison county, Kansas; Emma B., Atchison, Kan.; Margaret (A. Manglesdorf), Atchison, Kan.; Junia (J. Cleary), Shannon township farmer. John Donnellan, the father, was born in Ireland in 1827. When twenty years of age he left the Emerald Isle to trust his fortunes in America. Landing at Ellis Island, N. Y., he set out for the interior of New York State and found employment on a dairy farm. After a few years of hard labor there he went to Crawfordsville, Ind., and worked in a hardware store. In 1856 he left Crawfordsville and came to Kansas, where he preëmpted 160 acres of land in Lancaster township, Atchison county, and built a small, four room house and lived in the most primitive way. When he first broke the soil on his farm he used oxen, but later, as he prospered, he used improved methods of farming. He died on his farm in 1893. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and died in 1892, a year preceding the death of her husband.

William R. Donnellan was born and reared on his father’s farm in Lancaster township. He attended the public schools of Lancaster, and at the age of twenty-one went to Kansas City, Mo., and secured employment as a motorman and conductor in the service of the Street Railway Company there. Three years later he became shipping clerk for the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company of Atchison, Kan., and a year later returned to his home and engaged in farming on the home place. He remained on the farm until 1903 when he moved to Lancaster and purchased the hardware stock of H. O. Whittaker. This is a large store, carrying $8,000 worth of stock. In politics Mr. Donnellan is a Republican. He was elected mayor of Lancaster in 1907 and served until 1911. In 1903 he was appointed postmaster.

Mr. Donnellan was married in 1893 to Lillian M. Sanders, who was born February 12, 1870, at Lewisburg, Pa. She is a daughter of George L. and Elizabeth (Harrison) Sanders, both natives of Pennsylvania. They have one child, Eva M. (Carson), living in Lancaster. She is a graduate of the high school and business college. Mr. Donnellan is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, and the Knights and Ladies of Security lodges.

LAFAYETTE T. HAWK.

The biographical annals and the history of Atchison county, Kansas, record three distinct periods of settlement in Kansas and Atchison county. The first was the real pioneer era, when an influx of settlers came, who were the first to break the prairie and lay the foundation for future development. The second was directly after the Civil war, when many people came from all parts of the East and European countries. The later period was in the eighties, when there came from Ohio and Pennsylvania many excellent American families who have prospered and taken leading places in the civic and agricultural development of the county. The Hawk family, of old Pennsylvania German stock, came to this county in the latter era. Lafayette T. Hawk, substantial and well respected, and prominent farmer of Benton township, was among this number, who can be reckoned among the latter-day old settlers of the county, and who has resided here for over thirty-four years, and has worked his way upward from the station of comparatively a poor man to a position of affluence in the county.

L. T. Hawk was born August 22, 1849, in Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of Jonathan and Margaret (Neede) Hawk, both of whom were born and reared in the Buckeye State. Jonathan Hawk was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1822, and was a son of Leonard Hawk, born in Pennsylvania, of German parents. Leonard Hawk was an early immigrant in Coshocton county, Ohio, and settled in that county when the whole region was a wilderness and carved a farm from the dense woods which covered that part of the Buckeye State in the early part of the nineteenth century. He first came to Ohio in 1814. Jonathan Hawk came into possession of the old home place of his parents’ in Coshocton county, but sold out in 1883, and came to Kansas, to join his son, Lafayette T., who had preceded him to Atchison county by one year. During the first year of his residence here, he made his home on his son’s farm, and then purchased the Shell property in Effingham, where he made his home until his demise in December, 1889. He was the owner of eighty acres of land which he farmed. Jonathan Hawk was the father of eight children, namely: Sarah died in Ohio; Lafayette T., of whom this review is written; Mary Jane Roll, widow of Samuel Roll, and residing in Effingham; Samuel, living in Oklahoma; Mrs. Margaret Denbow, of Great Bend, Kan.; George Leonard, of Oklahoma; Edith Elzina died at the age of four years; John, deceased. The mother died in January, 1891, at the age of sixty-six.

Lafayette T. was reared on the ancestral farm in Coshocton county, Ohio, and received his education in the district schools of his neighborhood. He learned in his youth to do the hardest kind of farm work and was taught by his parents the best methods of tilling the soil. When a young man he became imbued with the desire to locate in the West where opportunities seemed to be greater than in his home State, and he saved his earnings toward this purpose. Not long after his marriage he came to Kansas, in 1882, and located in Benton township, Atchison county. His cash capital being limited to the sum of $300, he deemed it advisable to rent land for the first year, then bought his first farm of 160 acres at the purchase price of $25 per acre. This farm was necessarily bought on time, but with good management and industry, Mr. Hawk was enabled to pay out and add considerably to the improvements of his place, which is one of the most attractive in the county and one of the most fertile and productive. Mr. Hawk also added ninety acres to his land holdings in later years, and invested his surplus in western land which he traded for the Effingham Hotel property which he now owns. He is a stockholder and director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Effingham, he is also a stockholder in the Midnight Oil Company, a producing concern with headquarters at Morris, Okla.

Mr. Hawk was married March 21, 1874, to Miss Harriet Pitt, of Coshocton county, Ohio, and who was born in Kentucky. To this union have been born the following children: Charles, who served in the Twenty-second regiment, United States infantry, during the Spanish-American war, and is at present chief of police at Shawnee, Okla.; John D., a prosperous and progressive farmer in Benton township; Margaret, wife of Clem Higley, a farmer living in Center township, near Pardee; Homer, who was killed in a railway accident in October, 1913; Fred, died in April, 1913, and who had held the position of cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Effingham prior to his death; Wilbur D. Hawk, business manager of the _Atchison Daily Champion_, and former deputy warden of the Federal penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga.; Mrs. Mary Foster, of Trenton, Mo.; Robert, a farmer in Benton township; Clifford, a farmer and auctioneer in Benton township, and Vera, at home with her parents. The mother of these children was born, November 8, 1851, in Kentucky, a daughter of William and Frances (Phillips) Pitt, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Vermont. In 1853 Mrs. Pitt and their children removed to Coshocton county, Ohio, Mr. Pitt having died when Mrs. Hawk was an infant. Two of the three children were reared: Mrs. Hawk and Mrs. Lenore (Miller), who died in September, 1915, at Carlton, Ohio. Mrs. Pitt’s second marriage was with Dr. Ephraim P. Stewart, of Coshocton county, Ohio, where he practiced after moving from Carroll county, Ohio, his birthplace.

With the exception of a few years spent in Atlanta, Ga., with his son, Wilbur D., when on duty as deputy warden of the Federal Penitentiary, Mr. Hawk has lived continuously in Atchison county, since 1882, and has taken an active and influential part in the affairs of the county. He is a stanch Republican in his political affiliations, but has never sought political preferment. He and the members of his family are affiliated religiously with the Lutheran denomination, which was the faith of his father. He is prominent in lodge circles and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He is one of the original Central Protective Association members and is a charter member of Sunny Hill Lodge, No. 158, of Effingham, and is prominently connected in Central Protective Association circles throughout the State of Kansas, having organized seven lodges in this State.

JAMES R. GRAGG.

For nearly fifty-nine years James R. Gragg, wealthy farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison county, Kansas, and the present township treasurer, has lived in Kansas, and is one of the real pioneers of the State. Since a lad six years of age he has been a resident of Atchison county, and has lived to see the once wild and barren prairie become one of the garden spots in America, and has seen the towns and cities grow within the borders of the county where once was a wild, unbroken waste. When a boy he was taught by his father that the greatest returns from the pursuit of agriculture could be obtained by the raising and feeding of live stock, and he has endeavored to follow his father’s teachings in this respect and has met with success, resulting from following a definite plan of getting the best results from his efforts. He is a descendant of a southern pioneer family, who were among the original settlers of eastern Tennessee, and again were pioneers in Clay county, Missouri, early in the nineteenth century. It is a topic of interest to compare the comfortable residence and farm buildings of Mr. Gragg, at this day, to the log cabin in which he was reared, and the stock shed made of poles and slough grass, which his father was forced by necessity to erect in the early days of the settlement of Kansas. Few families settled in Lancaster township as early as the Graggs, and in point of years of residence, James R. is probably the third oldest living settler of the township.

James R. Gragg was born February 5, 1851, in Clinton county, Missouri. He is a son of Jefferson and Mary (White) Gragg, to whom fifteen children were born. Four children, two sons and two daughters, are still living, as follows: Mrs. Mahala Martin, Gower, Mo.; James R.; Mrs. Alice Muks, near Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Bishop or Bascomb Gragg, Stafford, Kan. The Graggs are of Irish descent. The father of James Gragg was born in 1814 in eastern Tennessee. When he was a child his parents removed to Clay county, Missouri, where he grew up as a farmer. In the spring of 1856 Jefferson Gragg came to Kansas and settled in Leavenworth, where he had taken a claim. He sold this a year later and came to Atchison county, and preëmpted 160 acres in section 24, Lancaster township, on which James R. is now living. He paid $1.25 an acre. As soon as he took charge of the land he built a log house, twelve feet square and also erected a hay barn with a slough-grass roof. He brought a covered wagon to Kansas and lived in it until the log house was ready for occupancy. During the border war he was forced to return to Missouri for three months, but at the end of that time came back to Kansas and continued to improve his farm. It was slow work, as he did most of the plowing with oxen and this took a great deal of time, but he was able to accumulate a little money slowly, and in ten years erected a better house on his place. He had a hard fight for existence the first few years in the face of crop failures, droughts and grasshoppers, but when he retired, about 1890, he owned 640 acres of land which he divided among his children, and lived with them until his death, April 10, 1910. His wife, the mother of James R. Gragg, was born in Clinton county, Missouri, in 1816, and died in 1912. She was the daughter of Robert White, and her mother bore the maiden name of Cooley. Both parents were members of the South Methodist church, and helped to organize and build the Bethel church in Grasshopper township, which was one of the early Methodist churches in Kansas. Both parents are buried in old Huron cemetery.

James R. Gragg, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm where he now lives, and attended school in Lancaster and Huron, Kan., although his early educational opportunities were limited. In early days the father and his son were stock buyers on a large scale. The father did the actual buying, and the son had charge of the herds on the prairie. They did a large business in trading and buying and selling stock, and the son has continued this until the present time. James has always lived on the Gragg land and was with his father until the latter retired in 1890 and the land was divided. James later bought out the other heirs and now owns 1,040 acres in Atchison and Wabaunsee counties, 560 acres of this land being located in Atchison county, with three sets of farm buildings. He gives a great deal of attention to the stock selling part of his business, and feeds and winters 150 head each winter. On December 25, 1872, Mr. Gragg married Mrs. Viola A. Norris, who was born May 26, 1855, in Buchanan county, Missouri. She is a daughter of David and Martha (Cook) Norris. The father’s family came from Kentucky and the mother’s from Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Gragg have two children: Jefferson K., born February 23, 1875, in Atchison county, Kansas; married in October, 1894, to Ella Walls, and has two children, Paul, aged twenty years, and George, aged twelve years. He is now engaged in the live stock commission business in Kansas City, Mo., and Arch, born May 3, 1889, who is farming on the home place, married March 11, 1914, to Edna Wilson, of Lancaster township, a daughter of J. E. Wilson. Jefferson, the older son, completed a course in the Atchison Business College. Mr. Gragg is a Democrat, and has been a member of the school board, and is now treasurer of Lancaster township. He is a member of the Methodist church and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America.

URI SEELEY KEITH.

Uri Seeley Keith is one of the grand old men of Atchison. His career has been interesting, and borders upon the romantic, when many incidents in which he has figured are recounted. A valiant soldier of the Union during the Civil war, it fell to him to perform the arrest of Vallandingham in Ohio when his activities in favor of the Confederacy had rendered him obnoxious to the State and Federal governments. Few men in Atchison have had a more varied or active life than Mr. Keith. He was born June 27, 1841, in Massillon, Ohio, the son of Fordyce M. and Parthena J. (Seeley) Keith, natives of New York and the Western Reserve of Ohio, respectively. Mrs. Keith was a daughter of Uri Seeley. Fordyce M. Keith was born in 1816 and died May 14, 1906. He was a son of Ansell Keith, a native of New York. The Keith family is descended from two brothers who were sons of General Keith, at one time a field marshal in the Russian army. He was a Scotch-Englishman, who quarreled with Queen Elizabeth and left England to take service under Peter the Great of Russia. His two sons immigrated to America in 1690, one settling in New York and the other going to the Southland. Two branches of the family thus sprang from these sons of Marshal Keith. Brigadier General Keith served under General Washington during the Revolution and the General lived at the Keith home in New York for a time. Ansell Keith served in the War of 1812. The Seeley family originally settled in Connecticut. Uri Seeley was born in 1791 and settled in the Western Reserve on a land grant of 100 acres where he died. Ansell, the father of Fordyce M., and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, settled in Lorain county, Ohio, in 1832, near Elyria and was a contractor and builder. Data regarding the members of the family is as follows: Ansell Keith was born June 24, 1786, and Betsy M., his wife, was born January 2, 1794; Uri Seeley was born May 25, 1791, and died August 10, 1877, and his wife, Abbey, was born October 23, 1792.

U. S. KEITH
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C. H. BURROWS.
Commander G. A. R. Post No. 93.
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CHARLES WILSON
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MARY K. WILSON
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