Bios Index

JAMES ADKINS

James Adkins was elected as a pro-slavery candidate from Atchison. He was born in South Carolina and was very bitter in his feelings. His name appears in the journal only as absent or not voting. It is probable he never attended a session. In the early days he lived on a farm near Port Williams. He was appointed sheriff of Atchison county, September 5, 1856, serving until April, 1857. The record also shows that he had been appointed third lieutenant of the Kickapoo Rangers, July 28, 1856. He lived in Atchison county six or seven years and then moved to Nebraska City, Neb. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 208)

WILLIAM PRENTISS BADGER

William Prentiss Badger was born December 15, 1818, at Tamworth, N. H. He was educated in the common schools and read medicine, and was much interested in scientific matters. He came to Kansas in 1857, and settled at the site of old Muscotah, two miles northeast of the present town. He was a member of the territorial legislature of 1857-58; agent of the Kickapoo Indians from September 1, 1858, to May 31, 1861; regimental adjutant of the Thirteenth Kansas; mayor of Muscotah for several terms and commander of McFarland Post. He married Chloe Eaton Kellogg, of Montpelier, Vt., a sister of William Pitt Kellogg. They had three children, all of whom are now dead. Mr. Badger was a hatter by trade, with a large business in Montpelier, and gave it up to come to Kansas on account of lung trouble. He died at Muscotah the day after the general election in November, 1896. On the 1st of February, 1858, Badger was unseated and his seat given to Archibald P. Elliott. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 208)

FRANCIS STEADMAN BALL

Francis Steadman Ball, lawyer, was born at Hiawatha, Kansas, September 20, 1904, son of Luke Steadman and Frances Edna (Wilson) Ball. Luke Steadman Ball was born at Marshalltown, Iowa, September 19, 1871, and died at Hiawatha, November 17, 1931. Frances Edna Wilson was born at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, January 21, 1884 and now resides at Hiawatha.

Francis Steadman Ball attended public and high school at Hiawatha, and in 1926 received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Washburn College. He received the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence from Washburn School of Law in 1928. At Washburn, Mr. Ball was a member of the student council for two years, editor of the Washburn Review, 1927-28, was graduated from college with honors and with high honors from law school. He is a member of Tau Delta Pi, Pi Gamma Mu, Phi, Delta Theta, and Delta, Theta Phi.

On October 26, 1929, he was married to Eleanor Margaret Campbell at Topeka. Mrs. Ball, who is the daughter of Frank L. and Nellie (Brown) Campbell, was born in Topeka, February 23, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Ball have one daughter, Mary Louise, born March 5, 1932.

Mr. Ball is a member of the Atchison County, Kansas State, and American Bar Associations, and the Commercial Law League of America. He is advisor at the present time for the Washington chapter of the Order of DeMolay and is a Mason. He is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church of Atchison, is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association and the Chamber of Commerce. Residence: Atchison. (pages 66 & 67)

JOHN BENNETT

John Bennett, of Atchison County, was born in Gallatin County, Kentucky, in 1805. he died at Atchison, Kan., December 17, 1890. He was educated at Madison, Ind. He came to Kansas in the fall of 1855 and settled at Atchison. He was married in 1832 to Susan Parks, by whom he had seven children. Mrs. Imogine Challis of Atchison is the only one surviving. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 209)

BENJAMIN H. BROCK

Benjamin H. Brock, of Atchison county, was born in Virginia, April 4, 1808. He died near Troy, Kan., April 11, 1893. He was educated at Athens, Ohio. He came to Kansas in October, 1854 and settled in Doniphan County. He married, April 23,1 833, Elizabeth Caples by whom he had five children. Mrs. Mary Brock Montgomery of Troy, Kan., is the only one surviving. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 209)

JOSEPH P. CARR

Joseph P. Carr of Atchison county, was a lawyer by profession, and was commissioned as paymaster, Third regiment northern division, Kansas militia. May 13,1866. He was elected as a Democrat, and apparently resigned without taking his seat. In his letter of resignation to Governor Denver, under date of January 28,1868, he says: "I could be of no benefit whatever to my constituents, and it is but right, if they wish the seat occupied, to give them an opportunity of filling it." His resignation was accepted, and Governor Denver issued a proclamation calling an election for February 8, 1868, to fill such vacancy. Luther C. Challis. of Atchison was elected. Mr. Carr was a member of the railroad convention of 1860 from Atchison county. He went south at the beginning of the civil war, and was later known to be in Buffalo, N. Y. He died at Louisville. Ky. in the early '80's.. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 205)

LUTHER C. CHALLIS

Luther C. Challis of Atchison county, elected to the seat in the territorial council made vacant by the resignation of Joseph P. Carr, was born at Imlaystown, N. J., January 26, 1828. He was apprenticed to the mercantile business in Philadelphia. After remaining there some years he went to Boonville, Mo., where he lived for a time. In 1855 he moved into Kansas and was among the first permanent settlers of Atchison, joining his brother in a general merchandising trade. He afterwards became a banker; also maintained a ferry across the Missouri river until the building of the bridge, in 1876. He is generally conceded to be the father of the Central Branch Union Pacific railway enterprise, having framed the bill to authorize its construction, secured its passage, and negotiated the treaty with the Kickapoo Indians. He was also one of the incorporators of the Atchison & St Joseph railway, the first railroad built in the state, and of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway. He died in Atchison, July 26, 1884. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 205)

ARCHIBALD ELLIOTT

Archibald Elliott, of Atchison, at an evening session February 1, was given the seat occupied by William P. Badger, the finding being that the latter did not have a majority. Mr. Elliott lived about seven miles southwest of Atchison on a farm. He was born in South Carolina and came to Kansas from Missouri. The record shows he was fifty-four years old in 1861. He died on his farm about 1866. He left two sons, who sold the farm and went south. A friend writes the Historical Society: "I knew old Father Elliott well. He was also a member of the Kansas state legislature (1861) that elected James H. Lane and S. C. Pomeroy to the United States senate. He voted for both of them. General Lane was at the old Massasoit House about a year and a half after he had been elected and sworn in. Mr. Elliott called on him and told him farming was a poor business for an old man like him and Lane said, "Mr. Elliott, every man who voted for me has got a good government position but you and one other, and your commissions are on the way." Mr. Elliott was a good old man - a staunch free-state man, and a Jim Lane man all over. Only a few days after all that talk Mr. Elliott was walking around town as a government secret detective - with a nice per diem salary attached and nothing to do; a perfect sinecure." (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 210)