Biographies Index

BUTLER COUNTY, KANSAS

BIOGRAPHIES

AIKMAN, CHRISTOPHER LEONIDAS

Christopher Leonidas Aikman was born at London, Ky., October 22, 1865, and is a son of William A. and Martha A. Aikman. He located at Towanda, Butler county, Kansas, with his parents in 1871, and attended country school, and school at Augusta and El Dorado for a number of years, and afterwards he attended Fort Scott Normal College, Fort Scott, Kans.

Mr. Aikman taught school for a number of years at Towanda, Haverhill, Rosalia and White Station. He was admitted to practice law in 1889. For two years he was a partner in the practice of law with the late Major Kilgore at El Dorado. Afterwards he became a partner with Judge G. P. Aikman, when in 1905, the partnership was dissolved by the election of G. P. Aikman to the office of district judge of the Thirteenth judicial district.

In 1905 C. L. Aikman was elected county attorney of Butler county, and was re-nominated for the same office in 1907 without opposition and was reelected. In 1912 Mr. Aikman was again nominated without opposition for the office of county attorney, but he declined to make the race. In 1915, he and his brother, Judge G. P. Aikman, again formed a partnership in the practice of law. Their practice is second to none at El Dorado, and they enjoy a large practice in different parts of the State. Besides being a lawyer, Mr. Aikman is a lover of thoroughbred Jersey cattle and has some of the best to be found anywhere.
Mr. Aikman was married to Anna D. Gilbert December 31, 1894, at Nevada, Mo. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Page 477)

BROWN, W. E.

W. E. Brown, cashier of the Geo. W. Brown & Son State Bank, Augusta, Kans., is one of Butler county's substantial bankers, and is identified with one of the oldest financial institutions in the county. W. E. Brown is a native of Illinois and a son of Geo. W. and Mary J. (Weaver) Brown, natives of New York. They were the parents of three children, W. E., the subject of this sketch, being the only surviving member of the family. George W. Brown, the father, was a Butler county pioneer and established one of the first banks in the county.

In 1870, he came to Augusta to build the land office building for the Government, an institution which was located at Augusta for several years before its removal to Wichita. About the time that he completed his government contract, in 1870, George W. Brown and his brother, C. W., organized Brown Brothers Bank at Augusta which was the beginning of the Geo. W. Brown & Son State Bank which is doing business in Augusta today. This is one of the substantial banks of Butler county and has a long and honorable business record to its credit. It might be said of this bank that it is big enough to accommodate its customers and not too big to appreciate them. George W. Brown, one of the founders of this institution, was the pioneer banker of Butler county. The bank did business under the firm name of Brown Brothers until 1887, when it was changed to Geo. W. Brown & Son and later incorporated under the name of the State Bank, George W. Brown remaining president of the bank until his death December 25, 1914.

While Mr. Brown remained a dominant factor of the institution during his lifetime, he spent the last fifteen years of his life in travel and maintained his home at Daytona, Fla. In 1902, he made a trip around the world, starting from San Francisco and visiting Honolulu, Japan, . China, Philippine Islands, and returning home by way of the Mediterranean and New York. George W. Brown was not only a pioneer banker of Butler county but was also a prominent factor in the early day settlement and development of Augusta. He was one of the incorporators of the town of August and took a keen interest in the social, moral and industrial development of the town during his lifetime. He was a capable business man and known for his methodical methods in the daily conduct of his vast business affairs. He was a quiet, unassuming man, and while best known as a successful financier, he possessed many noble qualities of mind and heart that towered above any sordid nature and was best liked by those who knew him most intimately.

W. E. Brown, whose name introduces this sketch, came to Butler county with his parents in 1870. He received his education in the public schools of Augusta, the Western Military Academy, Alton, Ill., and Baker University, Baldwin, Kans. He then engaged in the jewelry business in Baldwin, Kans., which was his first business venture. In 1886 he entered his father's bank at Augusta, in the capacity of bookkeeper, and shortly afterward was made cashier, which position he has since held. Mr. Brown has had a broad experience in the banking world, besides having had the advantage of a careful training in the intricate field of finance under the supervision of his father. He is recognized as one of the able financiers of southern Kansas. Notwithstanding his busy career in the private field of finance, he has taken a commendable interest in public affairs and when twenty-four years of age was elected mayor of Augusta and as such conducted the affairs of the city in such a commendable way that at the expiration of a term of three years, he was re-elected. He has also been a member of the city council Mr. Brown was united in marriage at Augusta, February 4, 1891, to Miss Icy M. Rodgers, of Augusta, whose parents were pioneers of Walnut township. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown have been born three children, as follows. George W., Jr., died at the age of two years; Pauline and Dorothea, both of whom reside with their parents. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 478-479)

GREGG, M. M.

M. M. Gregg, a Kansas pioneer who had much to do with the early development of Butler county, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Washington county, May 21, 1847, and is a son of John R. and Elizabeth (Maxwell) Gregg, the former a native of Washington county, Missouri, and the latter of Washington county, Virginia. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living, as follows: Theodore lives in Arkansas; Marshall, Decatur, Tex.; Walter, Decatur, Tex.; Philo, Olympia, Wash.; Lucien, Willow, Cal; Mary Alice, Olympia, Wash.; and M. M., whose name introduces this review.

M. M. Gregg received his education in the common schools of Arkansas, where the family resided until the Civil war broke out. The Greggs were loyal to the Union, and the neighborhood in which they resided was pretty generally confederate, and the Gregg family experienced considerable hardship and financial loss on account of their loyalty to the Union. However, they remained firm in their sympathy, and active in the cooperation of the Union cause. Their home was burned and various other depredations committed against them by the secessionists.

When Mr. Gregg was about nineteen years old, in 1866, he came to Kansas and settled in Jefferson county on what was then the Delaware Indian reservation, and in 1871 removed to Marion county where he took a homestead. In 1877 he came to Butler county, settling in Rock Creek township near Muddy Creek. Pine Grove postoffice was established here, and Mr. Gregg served as postmaster for seven years. When he took the office, the mail service in that section was meager and irregular, but through his efforts good service was soon obtained, and he served as postmaster of that place until 1885, when he removed to Augusta in order that his children might have better educational facilities. It has been one of Mr. Gregg's ambitions that his children might have every opportunity to obtain a good education, a privilege that was denied him in the wilds of Arkansas where he spent his boyhood days. Since coming to Augusta Mr. Gregg has followed stone construction work and plastering.

M. M. Gregg and Miss Mary E. Seed were united in marriage at Harris Grove, Jefferson county, Kansas, in 1869. Mrs. Gregg's father was S. P. Seed, a native of New York. Her mother was Lucy Shew, a native of Indiana. She has a sister, Mrs. Anna Elliott, Norwich, Kans., and four brothers, J. W. Seed, Tumwater, Wash.; William, a Methodist minister, Olympia, Wash.; Philip, Montana, and Albert, Skiatook, Okla. To Mr. and Mrs. Gregg were born the following children: W. H., an electrical engineer, Kansas City, Mo., married Miss Sarah McNabb, Parsons, Kans.; Mrs. Angie May Thomas, Bloomington township; Mrs. Effie Clark, who lives near Haverhill, Kans.; Mrs. Mattie Morris, Winfield, Kans.; P. H., tool dresser in the oil field, married Miss Nora Fanning, of Bartlesville, Okla., and they now reside in Augusta.

Mr. Gregg came to Kansas at a time which gave him an opportunity of experiencing many of the vicissitudes of pioneer life on the plains. He relates many instances of the trials of early days. During one of the bad years in Kansas in the early eighties like many others, he was hard up and although he had plenty of food, he had no money with which to buy clothing. A friend of his, James Bell, who resided on Rock Creek, told Mr. Gregg that he could have all the walnuts on his place, which were in abundance, if he could make any use of them. Mr. Gregg immediately proceeded to gather them up and hauled about forty bushels to Wichita, which he sold for $1.00 a bushel with the hulls on, which tided him over the winter. Mr. Gregg says that as soon as his neighbors throughout that section learned of his lucky strike, they all immediately proceeded to gather walnuts and within a week the whole population was hauling walnuts to Wichita and flooding the market, to such an extent that they were absolutely worthless. Mr. Gregg and his family are well known in Augusta where they have many friends and are highly respected. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 479-480)

MURDOCK, THOMAS BENTON

Thomas Benton Murdock - In 1841 Thomas Benton Murdock was born in the mountains of Virginia. He was one of five children who lived to maturity, of Thomas Murdock and Katherine Pierrepont. From the mother's side came the pride of the Pierreponts; from the father's the insurgent instincts of the Irish Murdocks who left Ireland after the Irish rebellion failed in 1798. So, even though reared in the mountains among most simple people and most primitive surroundings, the Murdocks who have dominated Kansas for half a century have been proud soldiers of the militant democracy. They have been fighters who led naturally, by instinct and training but never fighters for the old order. They always were pioneers, always moving out into new territory of thought and action, looking forward. Thomas and Katherine Murdock could not endure the iniquity of slavery so in 1849 they freed their slaves and left the slave country for Ohio. They settled near Ironton but lost everything they had in the panic of 1855 and loaded their household goods on a boat, went down the Ohio to the Mississippi and journeyed as far west as Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. There the family spent the winter and the father went to Kansas and found a location. He brought his family to Topeka in the winter of 1856-1857. They rented a little hotel and kept tavern, among others having for guests, Jim Lane and A. D. Stevens, famous as a border fighter under Montgomery and afterwards killed at Harper's Ferry under old John Brown. Going and coming in the little Kansas town of the Virginia abolitionist were the men who made Kansas free and famous in the great conflict that began at Lawrence and ended at Appomattox.

In this atmosphere of strife and patriotism young Benton Murdock, a youth in his late teens, grew up. In i860 the family homesteaded at Forest Hill, near Emporia, and the father and mother lived in Emporia the remainder of their lives; the father died in 1896 and the mother in 1887.

When the Civil war broke out Thomas Benton Murdock enlisted with his father and brother, Roland, in the Ninth Kansas Cavalry and served until the end of the war. He served in the Rocky Mountains in 1863 and there met J. H. Betts, now of El Dorado. When they met seven or eight years later in El Dorado John Betts kept eying Murdock and finally said: "Say, aren't you the chap that relieved me of that army overcoat out west?" Murdock's company was confiscating Government property wherever he found it. Murdock looked at Betts and replied: "Well I guess I am. But I'm here to start a newspaper. What's the chance?" "Bully," returned Mr. Betts, willing to let bygones be bygones, and they remained friends for forty years.

Returning from the army where he had gone snow blind on the plains-a calamity that hung over him all his later days-young Murdock who had been a hod carrier and general workman as a youth around Topeka, learned the printing trade. He worked in the office of the Emporia "News," then owned by P. B. Plumb and Jacob Stotler who had married Leverah Murdock during the war. His brother Marshall who had worked at the printers trade during the war was running the Burlingame "Chronicle" at the end of the war. Young Benton went back to Ironton, Ohio, married the sweetheart of his boyhood, Frances Crawford, and came to El Dorado, March 4, 1870, and founded the Walnut Valley "Times" with J. S. Danford. His wife lived only a tew years leaving at her death their daughter, Mary Alice, editor of the El Dorado "Republican."

From the first Mr. Murdock became a leader of politics in Kansas. He stood for the Walnut Valley and the Kingdom of Butler. In 1876 he was elected a member of the State senate. He served with such men as E. N. Morrill, Charles Robinson, J. M. Hadley, father of the former governor of Missouri; Benjamin F. Simpson, J. R Hallowell, D. W. Finney, W. A. Johnston, chief justice of Kansas, all members of the senate, while in the house were Lyman U. Humphrey, John Gilmore, A. W. Smith, L. B. Kellogg, P. P. Elder. His political career was fostered and guided by Mrs. Antoinette Culbreth-Murdock who for a generation has been wife, friend, comrade, guide and inspiration, who bore him five children of whom Ellina Culbreth only now is living. Mrs. Murdock survives him with his two children. In 1880 he ran for the senate again but was unfairly defeated he thought. He sold the "Times" and moved to Topeka and became connected with the Topeka Daily "Commonwealth," then controlled by the Baker family. But El Dorado held his heart and he returned in 1883 and founded the El Dorado weekly "Republican." The Daily followed the Weekly in 1884 and the paper at once took a prominent place in the affairs of Kansas.

Mr. Murdock was, during the late senator's life time, a friend and ally of P. B. Plumb. He and Plumb were young men together in Emporia, thought alike and had much in common in training and inspirations. And so after Plumb died the courage and independence and progressive Kansas spirit that made Plumb an insurgent who voted against the adoption of the McKinley bill, lived on in Kansas through Mr. Murdock. He was politically always with the scouts, with the pioneers, ever with the skirmish line. It was the spirit of i860 in his soul, the rebellion of the ancestral Murdocks in his blood.

In 1888 he was again elected to the State senate. He served until 1892 and was on the committee that tried Theodosius Botkin and went over the old county seat troubles of western Kansas. He was defeated for reelection by the Populist wave, and until appointed fish and game warden by Governor Stubbs never held public office of any kind again.

But he was a public man all the time. His influence on the State has been more rather than less because of the fact that he was not in office. In every Republican State convention for forty years Mr. Murdock has been a power of the first class. Yet he sacrificed that power and worked for the primaries which put convention politicians out of power. He was never selfish, never little, never mean and so it happened that he was large enough to retain his influence in the State and multiply it through the primary. Gradually he has grown in strength with the people of Kansas, and since 1902-his last alignment with the old political machine-he has been easily the leader of the forward movement in Kansas Republicanism. Others have had the honor; but he has made them. He has expressed, as no other man has been able to express it, the sentiment of popular protest against the wrongs of government by ring rule. He has been the voice of the people-an indignant people clamoring for a larger part in their State government.

He fought with arms for freedom in his youth; he offered his body then; he gave his life to freedom in this latest struggle, and fought with his spirit-a brave, successful fight.

As an editor he was equipped as few men are equipped-with an individual style. He expressed something more than an idea. He reflected an ideal plus a strong, unique personality. He therefore in a way dramatized whatever he wrote-made it the spoken word of a combatant in the conflict, the defiance of a partisan in the contest. So thousands of people knew him as a voice, who did not know him as a man as we of his home town have known him for forty years.

Here was his real life, his real friends, his real success. For before he was a Kansan he was a Butler county man, an El Dorado man. He always stood by the home folks. Of course he took part in local matters, and having taken part had to take sides. He was never neutral in any important contest here at home. But he always fought in the open, and he always fought fair. He never abused a man. He attacked causes, movements, orders, administrations, organizations and principles of his opponents-but the personal character of the men he opposed there was the limit. He never returned abuse for abuse. He had no newspaper fights. He never made his personal enemies objects for newspaper ridicule. He had no office black list. Every man or woman in Butler county received exactly the same treatment from the "Republican" under Mr. Murdock that every other man or woman received, no matter whether he or she was friend or enemy. He strove to be fair. Many is the politician in this county in the old days who has fought Mr. Murdock knowing he could always depend on Mr. Murdock to be fair, to keep to the issue, to be silent on old scores, to leave personal matters out of the question. Men have risen to power in this community opposing Mr. Murdock who have capitalized his innate decency, and have risen more by reason of his charity and humanity than by their own ability. He was a gentleman of the old school, was Thomas Benton Murdock, and that fact has given more power to those who opposed him often than their own worth should have given to them.

As his best qualities grew intenser as people grew nearer to him, as they who knew him best here in his home community thought more of him than those who knew him in the State,, so even better than they knew and loved him in the town, did they know and love him in his home. Mr. Murdock was a home man clear to the core. Some men are least known at home. He was best known there, and best beloved, for there he showed always his best side. He kept the finest part of his heart and mind and soul for those who met him in his home. There he was in his kindest, his gentlest, his most human aspect. Home was his heaven. There he brought all his joy. There he left the world behind. When blindness threatened him, as it did for a quarter of a century off and on, it was in his home that he found his only solace. When enemies pursued him, when cares overcame him, when troubles compassed him about, he turned always up the hill-always homeward. There he drank the elixir of life, and returned full armed, anew and strong to the contest.

When his soul went out into the Greater Soul that gave it, how lovingly he must have followed the last ride of his shattered clay tenement as it journeyed through the Kansas that he loved, down the West Branch into the Walnut valley that loved him, up the hill and through the gloaming into the home that was his first heaven. For it was a journey with a climax in love. And when those whom he knew best and loved best gathered about his wasted body of death, his soul triumphant in the new life must have felt glowing even through the dark veil the warmth of an affection too deep for words and tears.

So his last wish was granted. And after "taps" had sounded we left all that was mortal, only a withered husk of the exalted and risen soul of Thomas Benton Murdock under the prairie grass out in the sunshine. Sunshine and prairie grass-and the end. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 480-484)

WARRENDER, GEORGE

Dr. George Warrender, a prominent veterinary surgeon of Augusta, Kans. is a Butler county pioneer in his profession, and comes from a family of veterinary surgeons of three generations, his father and grandfather having been veterinary surgeons of prominence. Dr. Warrender was born at Garbetsville, N. Y., in 1851 and is a son of Dr. Robert and Anna (Pearson) Warrender, both natives of England.

Dr. Warrender, of this review, was born about three weeks after his parents came to America and is one of a family of four, as follows: Mary, married William Layman, now deceased; George, the subject of this sketch; Robert, lives at Douglass, Kans.; and Jane, married William Henry Thornley, and they live in Iowa. The Warrender family removed from New York to Illinois, settling in Cass county, when George was a child. Here he was reared on a farm, attended the public schools and later studied veterinary surgery. He practiced his profession in Illinois until 1885, when he came to Kansas, settling near Douglass, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, and at the same time was interested in farming, until 1904, when he located at Augusta, and has since devoted himself exclusively to the practice of his profession.

Dr. Warrender has been uniformly successful in his professional work and is recognized as the leading veterinary surgeon of Butler county. He is not only well known in Butler county, but has a State wide reputation among extensive stock men and his fellow practitioners.

Dr. George Warrender was united in marriage at Mason City, Ill. in 1870 to Miss Sarah A. McCluggage, and five children were born to this union, three of whom are living, as follows: James O., married Ella Boucher, and lives seven miles west of Augusta; Charles, married Myrtle Johnson and lives near Mulvane, Kans., and Leota, a successful Butler county teacher, resides with her parents. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Page 484)

GALLAGHER, GUSTAVUS F.

Gustavus F. Gallagher, Augusta, Kans.- This Civil war veteran, and his pioneer wife, belong to that noble band of men and women whose courage and industry knew no limitations in the early days when they came West, and contributed their youth and energy to conquering the wilds of the plains. Gustavus F. Gallagher was born at Fremont, Ohio, or where Fremont is now located, in 1830, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Foose) Gallagher, the former a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Kentucky, who came to Ohio with her parents when she was four years old. Thomas and Elizabeth (Foose) Gallagher were the parents of four children, as follows: William W., John D., Thomas M., and Gustavus F. Gustavus F. Gallagher bears the distinction of having been the first white child born in Fremont, Ohio, and he recalls with pride that Rutherford B. Hayes, who later became president of the United States, was one of his boyhood friends and playmates.

Mr. Gallagher was reared and educated in the State of Ohio, and in early life went to Illinois, and was about thirty-one years of age when the Civil war broke out. He enlisted at Danville, Ill., in Company D, Twenty-fifth regiment, Illinois infantry, and for three years and three months, fought beneath the stars and stripes in defense of the Union. He was mustered out of service and discharged at Springfield, Ill., and shortly afterwards settled in Indiana where he remained until 1881. He then came to Kansas, settling two miles north of Augusta, where he bought 200 acres of land, and six years later removed to Augusta and has since made his home there. Mr. Gallagher was married in Vermillion county, Indiana, January 1, 1856, to Anne Foose and to this union four children were born, as follows: Mrs. Elizabeth Anne Crane, Augusta; Gustavus, Jr., married, Cella Carpenter and lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. Jessie Wishard, lives at Alvin, Texas; and Clarence D., married Estella Markham, and lives at Johnson, Stanton county, Kans. The wife and mother of these children died December 13, 1890, and Mr. Gallagher married for his second wife Mrs. Charlotte Gardner, widow of John R. Gardner, of Augusta, who died August 5, 1887. Mr. Gardner was a soldier of the Civil war, and for ten months and twenty-seven days languished in the Confederate prison at Andersonville.

The present Mrs. Gallagher was a daughter of Elijah and Welthy (Lamb) Weston, the former a native of New York, and a cousin of Payson Walker who has walked himself to fame, and the latter a native of Connecticut and a member of the Lamb family of that State, noted for their wealth and commercial prestige in the early days. Mrs. Gallagher was born at Troy, Geauga county, Ohio, and was one of the following children, born to her parents: Charlotte, now Mrs. Gallagher, wife of the subject of this sketch ; Barnabas, deceased ; Thankful, deceased ; John, deceased ; Mrs. Mary Bower lives in Oregon; Mrs. Hannah Auxer lives in Ohio, and Mrs. Elzora Scott also lives in Ohio. Mrs. Gallagher was educated in the public schools of Ohio, including one term at Abie's High School, Troy, Ohio, and at the age of seventeen married John R. Gardner at Bundysburg. They were the parents of two children: Elijah II., who died in 1890 at Augusta, Kans., leaving one son, Lile F. Gardner; Mrs. Effie Brewer, of San Luis Obispo, Cal. She has one son, Frank R. Powell, by a former marriage.

In 1851 they removed to Noble county, Indiana, settling in the wilderness of that section where they remained until i860 when they went west again, this time settling in Logan county, Illinois. In 1868 they came to Kansas, settling in Crawford county, on what was known as the neutral lands. After some difficulty they secured a clear title to their land, and in 1871 removed to Butler county, and took a claim in Douglass township, or that part of it which is now Richland township. After residing on their claim about two and one-half years, they removed to the town of Douglass, in order that they might have better educational advantages for their children.

Mrs. Gallagher relates many interesting incidents of pioneer life in Butler county. She remembers distinctly when the grasshoppers came, destroying everything in their wake in 1874, and she tells how she saved her small fruit trees from destruction by the pests by tying sheets' over the trees. They escaped the destruction of the hoppers much better than did many of their neighbors, who were left absolutely destitute. They had twenty-five acres of corn which happened to be ripe-too ripe to be palatable for the grasshoppers, which as a fuel are not particular, and the following winter found ready market for all the corn they had to spare at $1.00 a bushel They also had a good crop of wheat that year and taking everything into consideration, they were about as prosperous grasshopper year as it any other time. In 1876 the Gardners removed to Augusta and bought the National Hotel, which they conducted for a number of years.

In 1907 Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher went to Stanton county, Kansas, and filed on a claim, five miles south of Johnson and lived there for two and one-half years when they returned to Augusta, where they are now spending their declining years in ease and comfort in their cozy home on Main street. Mrs. Gallagher takes an active part in local historical work, and is keenly interested in the preservation of the early history of Butler county. Mr. Gallagher has been a Republican since the candidacy of John C. Fremont and is a staunch supporter of the policies and principles of the Republican party. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 484-486)

MOYLE, HENRY

Henry Moyle. The ranks of the vanguard that led the way to the opening and settlement of Butler county are rapidly thinning, and Henry Movie, of Augusta, stands out conspicuously as a Butler county pioneer, who did his part in the sixties and seventies in laying the foundation of this empire, of itself, which now ranks as one of the foremost political subdivisions of the great State of Kansas. Henry Moyle was born in Cornwall, England, in 1846, and is a son of Matthew C. and Elizabeth (Treloar) Moyle, both natives of the mother country. They were the parents of the following children: Eliza Ann, deceased; John, deceased; Henry, the subject of this sketch; Julia, deceased; Mary, married Alexander Petrie, and they reside in Pasadena, Cal.

Henry Moyle emigrated to America with his parents in 1848, and they located at Gold Hill, N. C, where the boy was reared and received a fair education. "He lived the peaceful life of the average boy until the great Civil war broke out, and naturally when the great struggle came on, his sympathies were with his own State, and he enlisted in the First North Carolina infantry, and fought beneath the stars and bars, following the vicissitudes of war for four years and ten days, or until the hope of the Confederacy was placed in the catalogue of the world's lost causes. While in the line of duty Mr. Moyle participated in many of the important and hard fought battles of that great struggle. At the battle of Rig Bethel Church, Va. he was seriously wounded below the right knee by a musket ball.

After the clouds of war had passed away he returned to his home where he remained until 1867, and on May 20, 1869, he came to Butler county, Kansas, locating on a claim near White Station on the Walnut river. This was long before the railroad was built. He erected a primitive log cabin on his claim and proceeded to break prairie for himself and his neighbors with ox teams, for which he received five dollars per acre while breaking for others. This proved to be a fairly remunerative vocation, but was a little over exercise if anything, both for the man and oxen. He remained on his claim until 1875 when he sold it and engaged in the hardware business at Augusta, a place which had assumed quite pretentious proportions by this time. However, when Mr. Moyle located in Augusta township in 1869, Augusta was not the hustling oil town that it is today. The entire residence and business district at that time consisted of one log house and C. N. James and Shamlever conducted a store in that building, which, by the way, is still standing but has been sheeted with boards so that it presents the appearance of a frame building, with the exception of its unusually thick wall, and it is now used as a residence. Mr. Moyle was one of the first hardware men to locate in Augusta, and later engaged in the grocery business which he conducted for thirty-four years. However, he has not confined himself entirely to a mercantile life, but about 1895 he began investing in farm lands extensively, which has proven to be a successful financial move. He and his sons now own 720 acres of valuable farm land which is located in the heart of the rich gas and oil belt of Butler county, the future possibilities of which cannot be estimated at this time.

Mr. Moyle was united in marriage in 1870 with Miss Josephine Sanders at Augusta, Kans., and six children have been born to this union, as follows: Grace, married Arthur Skaer, Augusta, Kans.; John, Augusta; Matthew, married Pearl Purcell, and resides in Walnut - township; Beulah, married R. Y. Alexander, Wichita Falls, Texas, and Harry and Anna, residing at home. Mrs. Moyle belongs to a pioneer Butler county family who came from Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1869.

During Mr. Moyle's business career he has found time occasionally to devote himself unselfishly to the cause of public affairs. In 1885 he was elected mayor of Augusta, an office which he filled with credit to himself and entire satisfaction to the electors of the city. Mr. Moyle has seen great changes in the life of Butler county since coming here, and perhaps has as rich a fund of early day reminiscences as any pioneer of the county, and he possesses the faculty of relating the stories of pioneer days in an entertaining way. When he came here there was plenty of game such as deer, antelope and wild turkeys, and prairie chickens by the thousands. The great herds of buffalo, however, had drifted a little farther west and were in abundance not far from where Wichita is now located. He remembers, though, of one buffalo being killed in this county on Turkey creek, after he came here. He thinks, though, that that buffalo was just a little unfortunate and failed to heed Horace Greeley's warning to go west and escape the fate that overtook him. Henry Moyle will be long remembered as one of the grand old men of Butler county to whom future generations will ever owe a debt of gratitude for the part that he has played in laying the foundation for the enjoyment of the great institutions of today. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 486-488)

PALMER, M. A.

M. A. Palmer, Civil war veteran and one of the earliest settlers in Butler county, bears the distinction of having been one of the founders of the town of Leon. Mr. Palmer was born in Washington county, Ohio, July 8, 1837, and as the only living child of a family of five. He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and when the Civil war broke out he was in Kansas, where he enlisted in the Fifth Kansas regiment at Topeka, and participated in many important battles and skirmishes throughout Missouri and Arkansas. He was at the battle of Morristown where the colonel of his regiment, Hampton P. Johnson, was killed. He was also in the engagement at Helena, Little Rock and Pine Bluff, and altogether was under fire seventeen times,

In 1867, Mr. Palmer came to Butler county, and preempted a claim in Little Walnut township, where he was engaged in general farming and stock raising until 1884, meeting with uniform success in his undertaking. He then removed to Leon, and has lived there practically all of the time since. He assisted in laying out the town of Leon, and opened the first drug store there which he conducted for a number of years-He and two other men organized the Leon Bank and he became the first cashier of that institution and later sold his interest in the bank to J. Bennington. For eighteen months, he was superintendent of the Leon Creamery, and has been active in the commercial life of the town since it was founded.

Mr. Palmer has always taken a prominent part in local politics and has been an active and influential factor in Butler county, in a political way. He served one term as county commissioner of Butler county by appointment, and was elected to two other terms, and has held various township offices of trust and responsibility. In 1876, he was elected a member of the State legislature, and served in that session with satisfaction to his constituents and credit to himself. In 1892, he was elected register of deeds of Butler county, serving one term. Since boyhood he has been a Republican and has been a close adherent to the policies and principles of that party, and is not inclined to be led along political byways by false prophets.

Mr. Palmer was united in marriage January 22, 1865, with Miss. Susan C. Berry, of Topeka, Kans., a daughter of G. W. and Nancy (Stewart) Berry. The Berry family came to Kansas from Missouri in 1854, during the territorial days, and settled at Topeka, which was then a small hamlet on the frontier. Mrs. Palmer has two brothers and one sister living, as follows: James Berry, Burlingame, Kans.; G. W. Berry, Topeka; and Mrs. M. A. Fleak, Atchison, Kans. To Mr. and Mrs. Palmer have been born the following children: Mrs. Mary F. Hogue, resides on the old homestead; Mrs. Susan May Sandford, Rock, Kans.; Charles F., Leon; Mrs. Abigail Carroll, El Dorado, Kans; Mrs. Leola Pearl Rigg, Leon, Kans.

Many changes have taken place since Mr. Palmer first came to Butler county. In the early days, his nearest trading points were Emporia and Topeka, and the nearest grist mill was at Cottonwood Falls. He was one of the few early settlers who out-generaled the grasshoppers when they marched across Kansas in 1874. He was at Leon at the time, and hurrying home, cut and shocked his corn and thus saved it from the devastation of the greedy hoppers.
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Grand Army of the Republic and the Christian church. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 488-489)

RIFFE, J. W.

J. W. Riffe, a Civil war veteran and Butler county pioneer, who has been a factor in the affairs of this section of Kansas for nearly half a century, is a native of Kentucky. He was born in 1844, and is a son of P. B. and Julian (Wadkins) Riffe, also natives of Kentucky. They were the parents of ten children, only two of whom are now living: Mrs. Rowena Tucker of Springfield, Mo., and J. W., the subject of this sketch.

J. W. Riffe was educated in the public schools of Kentucky and St. Mary's College near Lebanon, Ky. When the Civil war broke out, J. W. Riffe, then a boy of only sixteen years, enlisted in the Union army at Lebanon, Ky., and became a member of Company D, First regiment, Kentucky cavalry, serving three years and four months, and was mustered out and discharged at Camp Nelson, Ky., December 24, 1864. He took part in a great many battles and important campaigns, among which were the engagements at Camp Wildcat, Ky.; Mill Springs, Ky.; Kenesaw fountain; Resaca, Ga.; Cass Station, Ga.; Rocky Ford, Tenft.; siege of Knoxville, Tenn.; Bean Station, Tenn.; Strawberry Plains, Tenn.; General Stoneman's raid, Macon, Ga. An unusual thing concerning the engagement at Macon is that General Stoneman surrendered, but it seems that the First and Eleventh regiments, Kentucky cavalry, under the command of Colonel Adams, regardless of the commanding general's surrender, cut their way through the rebel lines and succeeded in getting to Marietta, Ga.

After Mr. Riffe was discharged from the service, he settled at Lebanon, Ky., where he followed farming until 1870, when he came to Butler county, Kansas, locating in Bloomington township. He first located a claim which he lost through the artifice of a "claim jumper," which was a common occurrence in those days. In 1872 he bought a farm on Hickory creek, eleven miles southeast of Augusta. He was successfully engaged in farming there until 1883, when he removed to Augusta and engaged in buying and shipping live stock, principally to the St. Louis markets. In 1900 he engaged in the real estate business at Augusta and has successfully conducted that business to the present time. During the past sixteen years Mr. Riffe has handled a great deal of property, and is one of Butler county's extensive real estate dealers.

In 1868 Mr. Riffe was united in marriage at Jeffersonville, Ind., with Miss Sarah (Texas) Withrow, a native of Marion county, and of Kentucky parentage. To Mr. and Mrs. Riffe was born one child, Norma, who died at the age of twenty, and Mrs. Riffe died in 1891. She was a high type of Christian woman and she and her husband were very much devoted to each other. Mr. Riffe married Mrs. Mattie McRoberts, of Liberty, Ky., in 1904, while at the world's fair at St. Louis, Mo.
Mr. Riffe is a Democrat, and since coming to Butler county has been an active factor in the fight for Democary in nearly every political campaign. He is not what might be termed a fair weather Democrat, but has stayed with his party in defeat as well as in victory. He bears the distinction of having been chairman of the first Democratic convention ever held in Butler county, which was held at El Dorado in 1872. At that time the numerical strength of the Democratic party in Butler county was only four or five hundred voters, while the Republicans numbered fully three times that many. In 1876, Mr. Riffe was his party's candidate for the legislature against L. C. Palmer, Republican, and was defeated by only eighty votes. In 1889 he was elected trustee of Augusta township over John Middleton, Republican, and re-elected to that office, defeating Charles Hawes. Mr. Riffe relates many interesting and amusing incidents concerning the history of early Butler county politics at a time when political feeling was bitter. He still takes an active part in politics and is one of the influential men of Butler county. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 489-490)

WALKER, J. C.

J. C. Walker, a Kansas pioneer, who was one of that great army of patroits who defended the Union in the early sixties, and whose ranks are now rapidly thinning, is living retired mt his comfortable home at Augusta. J. C. Walker was born at Nelson, Shelby county, Illinois, in April, 1844, and is a son of Isaac and Mary (Elder) Walker, natives of North Carolina and Tennessee, respectively. - J. C. Walker was one of a family of three children, and is the only one known to be living now. He received his education in the common schools of Shelby county, Illinois, and when seventeen years of age enlisted in Company B, Forty-first regiment Illirois infantry, and served until after the close of the war. He was discharged at Louisville, Ky., in July, 1865. During his term of service he participated in many hard fought battles and skirmishes. He was at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth and was at the siege of Vicksburg, being present when the city was surrendered. He was with Sherman on his memorable march to the sea and after the surrender of Lee marched to Washington and was later mustered out of the service and discharged as above stated.

At the close of the war he located in Moultrie county, Illinois, remaining there until the fall of 1872, when he came to Butler county, Kansas, and after spending about two years at El Dorado, he returned to Illinois. After remaining in that State until 1882, he came to Butler county again, this time locating at Leon, where he lived three years on a farm. He then went to St. Joseph, Mo., and shortly afterwards came to Augusta, where he engaged in farming. When he first came to Butler county, the country was one broad, unfenced range that stretched in every direction as far as the eye could see, without an object in view but plain prairie everywhere. The roads, or trails as they were then called, were laid out on the principle that "a nearly straight line is about the shortest distance between two points." Mr. Walker has been thrice married, his first wife being Sarah Cornwell, of Sullivan, Ill., and to this union four children were born, three of whom are living: W. S., Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. Zoda Suits, Augusta, and C. A., a grocer at Wichita, Kan. The wife, and mother of these children, died in March, 1884. He was married a second time to Mrs. Margaret Reeder, October 8, 1891. She died in March, 1901. In 1903 Mr. Walker married Mrs. Louisa Pay-ton, widow of Thomas Payton. She bore the maiden name of Louisa Old-berry and was a daughter of George and Matilda (Venard) Oldberry, the former a native of England, and the latter of Indiana. The Oldberry family were very early settlers in Kansas, locating in Chase county about a mile east of Cottonwood Falls, in the fall of 1858. Prior to coming to Kansas they had lived in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri, and when they came to Chase county they drove through from Missouri with ox teams. Mrs. Walker was a real pioneer girl of the plains, and says when her people located in Chase county that there were only five girls in the county, and she relates, with much amusement, many of the early day social events. She says it was not an uncommon occurrence to drive ten miles to a dance with ox teams, and that they often had to start in the middle of the day to get there on time, and then, after dancing until about midnight, that they usually reached home after daylight the next morning. When her people came to Kansas, they wanted to stop at Emporia for some purpose or other, and as they were driving along the trail, they were on the lookout for the town. After driving by a house that stood by the wayside, they inquired of someone, whom they met, where Emporia was, and he told them that the house that they had just passed was "it," that being the postoffice and only house in town.

Mrs. Walker was first married September 21, 1862, to Thomas Payton at Cottonwood Falls, the marriage ceremony taking place in a primitive cabin, with a dirt floor, that her father had built in 1859. To this union were born ten children, five of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. Lucy Pennybaker, Strawn, Kan.; Mrs. Mary Lowe, Seton, Col.; Mrs. Jennie Cochran, Hartford, Kan.; Edward Payton, Augusta, Kan., and Weaver Payton, near Augusta. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are among the honored pioneers of Butler county, and are highly respected by their friends and acquaintances. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 490-492)

FELL, T. J.

T. J. Fell, a Butler county pioneer, residing at Augusta, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Trumbull county in 1843, and is a son of John R. and Sarah (Rathburn) Fell, the former of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. They were the parents of ten children, four of whom are living, as follows: Mrs. Winnie Howe lives in Alabama; Jasper, a merchant, at Linneus, Mo.; Allen, a farmer in Livingston county, Missouri, and T. J., the subject of this sketch.

T. J. Fell received a common school education in the State of Ohio and in 1864 removed to Missouri with his parents and the family settled in Livingston county. While there Mr. Fell served in the Forty-third regiment, Missouri State militia, from October, 1864, until the close of the war, in April, 1865. After the war he followed farming in Livingston county until 1870, when he came to Kansas and settled near Osage Mission, Neosho county. After remaining there about two years, he returned to Missouri. In 1874, he went to Harvey county, Kansas, and from there he came to Butler county and took a claim six miles southeast 6f Augusta, near Pine Grove postoffice, and also rented a farm in that vicinity. When he first visited Augusta it was a very small settlement, there being but two stores there. In 1885, he sold his Butler county claim and went to western Kansas, where he bought a half section of land, but the bottom soon fell out of the boom and he lost his investment. He then came back to Butler county, and after renting land a few years, bought 160 acres, seven miles east of Douglass, where he lived for seventeen years, and in 1912 removed to Augusta, where h^ has since lived practically in retirement.

Mr. Fell has been twice married. In 1867 he was united in marriage in Lynn county, Missouri, to Miss Sarah Shifflet. Mrs. Fell died at Linneus, Mo., in 1872, leaving three children, as follows: Mrs. Ida Smith, of Montgomery county, Kansas; Walter, a ranchman near Beaumont, Kans., and Mrs. Katy Leavis, Seattle, Wash. In 1876 Mr. Fell married Miss Mary Primm, of Bradford Mills, Butler county, and to this union have been born four children: Cora, Rose, Mabel and Leah, al 1 living at home except Mabel, who is now Mrs. Powell, and resides at Enid, Okla.

Mr. Fell is one of the Kansas pioneers who has experienced many incidents in the early day life of this State. He vividly recalls the year of the great grasshopper plague, when many of the early settlers left their claims, and returned to their former homes in the east and elsewhere. He says that in 1876, Butler county had a frog year, that deserves honorable mention in connection with the grasshopper carnival which preceded it by two years. When he speaks of the epidemic of frogs, he doesn't mean, just a few, or any ordinary aggregation of frogs, but says that they were here by the millions, and that on one occasion, he drove for a distance of twenty-five miles through a veritable sea of hopping frogs. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 492-493)

CHRISMAN, W. W.

W. W. Chisman, of Augusta, Kans., is a Civil war veteran and an early pioneer of Butler county. Mr. Chisman was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, a son of W. P. and Ann (Williams) Chisman, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of England. The Chisman family consisted of eight children, five of whom are living, as follows: W. Wm. whose name introduces this review; Mrs. Elmira Brewington, Colorado Springs, Colo.; Scott, resides in Dearborn county, Indiana; Mrs. Elda Ross, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and James N., Indianapolis, Ind.

When the Civil war broke out W. W. Chisman was still a mere boy of eighteen. Notwithstanding his youth, he enlisted at Lawrenceburg, Ind., in Company I, Eighty-third regiment, Indiana infantry, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out of service and discharged at Washington, D. C. in June, 1865. He saw much hard service and participated in many battles and skirmishes. He was at the siege of Vicks-burg under Grant, the battle of Arkansas Post, Jackson, Miss.; Champion Hills. After the siege of Vicksburg his command marched to Memphis, Tenn. and from there to Chattanooga and was at the battle of Missionary Ridge. He was with Sherman on his march to the sea and participated in the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Ezra Church, Jonesboro, Atlanta and the storming of Fort McAllister. From Savannah, he went to South Carolina, participating in the battle of North Edistow river. Here the Union troops waded the river, running with ice, and marched through the swamps for days. Mr. Chisman says that when the soldiers wanted drinking water, they would brush the scum aside and fill their canteens, and in drinking the water nothing smaller than a lizard was considered unpalatable. From the swamps of Georgia they marched through to Columbia, S. C, and from there to Bentonville, N. C, thence to Raleigh, N. C, Petersburg, Va. Richmond, Va., and finally to Washington, D. C. where he was mustered out of service June 12, 1865.

At the close of the war Mr. Chisman returned to Indiana and engaged in farming, near Aurora, where he remained until 1872, when he came to Butler county, Kansas, and settled on a claim, three and one-half miles south of Augusta. Later he added eighty acres to his original 160, and still owns the place. This is one of the best farms in Butler county, and in addition to its normal value as farm property it is considered valuable oil and gas land, in view of the recent developments of the Augusta field, and Mr. Chisman has leased his farm for development.

Mr. Chisman was united in marriage in 1884, to Miss Mary Clouse, of Augusta, and three children have been born to this union, as follows: Mrs. Lottie Bruce, Dearborn county, Indiana; Roy and Myra, both of whom live at home. By a former marriage to Louisa Bruce at Aurora, Indiana, May, 1867, the following children were born: Alia Miller, now of Oklahoma City; Sherman, Feslton, Okla.; Sumner, Hanover, Colo.; Seymour, who was killed in April, 1892, by the horse he was riding falling on him.

Mr. Chisman is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Augusta Post, No. 105, and is post commander. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having been identified with that lodge for twenty-five years. Mr. Chisman is one of the substantial citizens of Butler county, and has ever been ready to do his part in furthering any cause for the betterment of his county or State. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 493-494)

THOMAS, C. W.

Prof. C. W. Thomas, principal of the Augusta city schools, ranks as one of the foremost educators, not only of Butler county, but of Kansas. Mr. Thomas is a native of New York, born in Wayne county, his parents being Warren and Mary E. (Bullock) Thomas, both natives of New York. Prof. Thomas was reared in his native State, receiving his early education in the public schools and at Williamson Union School. Later he took additional work in various educational institutions and, in fact, has been a hard student all his life. At the age of eighteen, he began his career at a teacher at Williamson, N. Y., and in 1883 came to Kansas, locating at Douglass, Butler county. He taught school in that vicinity for three years, and for seven year's was a teacher in the grammar school at Douglass, and for three years following, he was principal of the Douglass schools. He was then forced to give up teaching on account of his health and after a vacation of three years, he accepted the assistant principal ship of the Douglass schools, and for eighteen years he was connected with the Douglass schools in one capacity or another.
In 1903 Prof. Thomas was elected superintendent of public instruction of Butler county, and in 1905 re-elected to that office, serving four years in all. During his administration, the public schools of Butler county were efficiently conducted and very satisfactory results obtained, and Prof. Thomas won the reputation of being a very capable administrative school officer. He brought the school system up to a high state of efficiency and kept them fully up to the standard of modern day educational methods. At the close of his term of office he engaged in the mercantile business at Douglass which he conducted for three years when he traded his business for a farm, and came to Augusta to complete an unexpired term of school. In 1911 he was elected principal of the Augusta city schools, and since that time has conducted the schools of that city in a way that has reflected great credit on him as an educator. Prof. Thomas has been active in institute work, and for ten years has been an instructor in that department of educational work. He has assisted at institutes in Arkansas City, Ashland and El Dorado. He is president of the Butler County Teachers' Association, a position which he has held for three years. He has taken an active part in all matters tending to the advancement of education, and helped establish the first consolidated high school in Butler county. He is a persistent worker, and is not an advocate of any "royal road to learning." In whatever capacity he has served in the great field of education, he has done his part conscientiously and well. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 494-495)

FENTON, T. A.

T. A. Fenton, a Butler county pioneer stockman and dairy farmer, now living retired at Augusta, is a native of New York. He was born at Hamburg, N. Y., in 1848, and is a son of Cephas and Juliet (Austin) Fenton, natives of New York. They were the parents of three children, of whom T. A. Fenton, the subject of this sketch, is the only one living. Mr. Fenton received his education in the public schools of Buffalo, N. Y., and Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1873 came to Kansas, locating in Bruno township, Butler county. When he settled there, that part of the country was all open range, and unbroken prairie, but within a few years afterwards settlers came in rapidly and section lines were soon established and regular highways laid out.

Mr. Fenton first bought 205 acres in 1873, an<* has added to his original holdings, and now owns 1100 acres of good fertile land in one body, located on Dry creek. Soon after locating in Butler county, Mr. Fenton engaged in the stock and dairy business, which he conducted for thirty-four years, and in 1907 removed to Augusta where he has since made his home. He is now taking life easy and says that he does not want to make any more money, and in fact he really does not need any more, and is one of the few men who in the wild scramble of modern day money-madness, knows when he has enough.

Mr. Fenton was one of the pioneer scientific dairy men of Butler county. He brought the first cream separator into southwestern Kansas. It was a DeLavel and came from Stockholm, Sweden. He made butter, which he delivered once a week, to special customers in Wichita. He ran his dairy in connection with the general stock business, and is a strong advocate of combining the dairy and stock business, and his successful experience in the practical application of that theory bears out his position.
On December 26, 1872 Mr. Fenton was united in marriage at Cincinnati, Ohio, with Miss Alice M. Hall, a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, and of English parentage. Five children have been born to this union, one of whom is now living, Mrs. Nellie E. Smith, who resides with her parents at Augusta. One son, Allen S., died from the result of an operation for appendicitis in 1910 and his widow, Mrs. Daisy Dwight Fenton, now lives in Augusta.

Mr. Fenton is one of the pioneers of Butler county, who came at a time when he had an opportunity to experience all the vicissitures of the early settlers on the plains. He grew up with Butler county, so to speak. Just as he was endeavoring to get a start in life, and trying to dodge dry seasons and tide over crop failures, the grasshoppers swept down upon him in 1874, and he suffered the common lot of his neighbors, and almost everything that he had in the way of growing crops was destroyed. He relates an incident of a prairie fire in 1872 which started in the vicinity of Newton, and swept everything before it for miles and miles, and he says, that for days after the fire had passed over, the air was filled with ashes and soot, wafted about by the gentle Kansas breezes made life almost as unendurable as the fire itself. But withall, and notwithstanding grasshoppers, prairie fires, hot winds, dry seasons and wet seasons, Kansas has been good to him, and like many others, he is in a comfortable financial condition, and able to spend the remainder of his days in retirement, and is one of Butler county's honored citizens.

On the seventeenth day of April, 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton started East to visit old friends. After stopping at Memphis, Tenn., Louisville, Ky., Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamilton, Ohio, and Richmond, Ohio, where Mrs. Fenton had a stroke of paralysis which proved fatal. She died there May, 19, 1916, at the residence of her niece. Her body was brought to Augusta and buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Monday, May 22, 1916. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 495-496)

FULLINWIDER, GEORGE FAIRBANK

George Fairbank Fullinwider, was born in Mechanicsburg, Sangamon county, Illinois, October 19, 1854. He is the eldest son of Marcus Lindsay Fullinwider and Sarah Calista Fairbank. His father was a native of Shelbyville, Ky., of German descent, and one of the pioneers of Sangamon county, Illinois. His mother was a native of New Hampshire of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Rev. George Fairbank, and whose name he bears, was one of the pioneers of Methodism in Illinois, a co-worker with Peter Cartwright, J. L. Crane, Hiram Buck and others of blessed memory. When George Fullinwider was three years old his mother died, and, with his infant brother, he was taken to the home of his grandparents, then at Georgetown, 111., where he remained until August, 1863, when his father having married again, George went home with him to Champaign, Ill1. In March, 1867, his father removed to Vermillion county, near Fairmount, where he had landed interests and where George remained until he came to Kansas in January, 1883. In 1871 his stepmother died, and the family was badly broken. His father remained on the farm, however, and George remained a part of the time in that vicinity and a part was spent near the old home in Sangamon county.

December 7, 1876, Mr. Fullinwider married Miss Priscilla Jester, the eldest daughter of a prominent farmer in the community. With no children of their own, they adopted a motherless baby girl in 1884, an^ she was the light of their home until her marriage to William J. Thompson, a prominent young farmer near El Dorado. The past ten years, two motherless babes, a little niece and nephew, have shared their home and love.

In August 1882 Mr. Fullinwider purchased a farm in Rosalia township, the southwest quarter of section 3-26-7. At that time the Santa Fe branch from Florence, which extended to Douglass was the only-railroad in the county. Surveys for the Missouri Pacific had been made and the stakes stood in the prairie grass, but the road had not been built west of Eureka. Track was laid to El Dorado in January, 1883. Rosalia township was but thinly settled, and much of pioneer days remained. In October, 1885, removed to the farm on which the town of Pontiac is located and remained there until the fall of 1886, when he again moved to a bottom farm on the Walnut, three miles northeast of El Dorado. He remained there until March, 1887, when he moved to El Dorado and engaged in the marble business. In March, 1890, he accepted a position on the reportorial staff of the Daily Walnut Valley 'Times' He continued in this position until April 1, 1897, when he purchased a one-half interest in "The Advocate," and later became sole proprietor. He conducted the paper for sixteen years, or until September, 1913, when he sold it. He then returned to a position on The Walnut Valley "Times," 'which position he holds at present. He has the distinction of ranking as the second oldest newspaper man in Butler, having completed twenty-six years of active work. J. M. Satterthwaite, of The Douglass "Tribune," is the oldest, in point of service.

Mr. Fullinwider, like his ancestors, is a Methodist, and for the past thirty years has been a licensed exhorter in the church. At one time he had charge of the Chelsea circuit, which then comprised Chelsea, Satchell Creek, Cole Creek, Durachen, Pontiac and Rosalia. He served these points ably and satisfactorily, doing most of his studying between the plow handles while caring for his farm. He did this extra work, that the regular pastor might be enabled to go and file on a claim in western Kansas. He has served with distinction as Sunday school superintendent, and was for several years president of the Butler County Sunday School Association. He has conducted many funerals in these years and has always been ready to go where he was needed at any time. He has always been interested in the church and Sunday school work, has been a strong advocate of temperance and a firm adherent of righteousness in all things.

In 1871 he joined the Independent Order of Good Templars, and has since remained a member of that worldwide organization. At the Topeka session of the Grand Lodge in 1893, he was elected to the office of Grand Secretary of Kansas and held that position for fifteen years. During this time he spent not only his time but his money in the promotion of the cause of Good Templary, represented Kansas in the International Supreme Lodge at Boston in 1895, and in Toronto, Canada, in 1897. In 1902, he was again elected to represent Kansas in the session held in Stockholm, Sweden, and was the only Kansan on the floor of that august assembly.

On this trip he made a tour of the continent and visited Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Holland and England. He learned much of the Old World and its people. In the line of duty, in connection with the temperance work, he has lectured many times, has traveled in thirty-six States and territories and the Dominion of Canada, has crossed the Atlantic twice, the North Sea twice, sailed hundreds of miles in the Baltic and its tributaries, has seen the Hebrides Islands, the coast of Scotland, the Shetland Islands, the coast of Ireland and the coast of Newfoundland. To him this experience has been one of the most interesting and educational of his life.

Politically Mr. Fullinwider is a democrat, and his entire sympathies and interest lie in the direction and .along the line of the interests of the common people, and especially of the laboring classes. He has been honored on several occasions by election as delegate to State conventions. Especially was this true during the Populist regime. He was very active at that time and during those years. He was a delegate to the last National convention of the Populist party, held at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and was closely associated with men of National as well as State reputation. (History of Butler County, Kansas, by Vol. P. Mooney, 1916 Pages 496-498)