Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas Charles W. Stratford Bio

BUTLER COUNTY'S EIGHTY YEARS BIOS

EDWARD D. STRATFORD

(Transcribed by Peg Luce)

Edward D. Stratford, a pioneer school teacher, lawyer and legislator of Butler County, was born near Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, on October 15, 1852, the son of John and Sarah (Lewis) Stratford. He died in El Dorado, January 22, 1926.

John Stratford, father of Edward D. Startford, was born in Pennsylvania, June 6, 1808. John and Sarah (Lewis) Stratford were the parents of three sons – the late Rev. Jeptha Lewis Stratford, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, born May 24, 1854 and died in 1931; Joseph Curtis Stratford, born February 9, 1857, now living in Creswell, Oregon; and Edward D. Stratford, subject of this sketch. Edward Stratford also had five older half-brothers: John Miles, Isaac Warren, Thomas Wesley, Alfred Knox and Aaron, sons of John Stratford and his first wife, Mary (Miles) Stratford.

Edward D. Stratford was educated at Howard College, Kokomo, Indiana, and at the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia. He came to Butler County in 1873, was city clerk at Douglass, taught school several terms, and after reading law with the late Judge A. L. L. Hamilton in El Dorado was admitted to the bar in 1878. Shortly after being admitted to the bar, he was elected state representative in the legislature, from Butler County. At about the same time, he was for three years a member of the Board of Regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College (the present Kansas State College) Manhattan. All his five sons later attended that college; his daughter is a graduate of University of Kansas.

At the expiration of his term in the legislature, Mr. Stratford and his family moved to Roseburg, Oregon, where he became owner and editor of a Republican newspaper, The Plaindealer. While there, in 1898, he was appointed as special agent of the Federal Land Office, at that time the best federal position that had ever been held by a Butler County citizen. His duties in this position took him to Alaska in 1898 and 1899, during which time he wrote letters still kept by his family because of their clever and interesting content. Later he was sent to Oklahoma and Arkansas. In 1903, unwilling to be away from his family so much of the time, he resigned from the federal service, returning to Kansas and resuming the practice of law in El Dorado with his former associate, Volney P. Mooney. This partnership continued many years.

In 1917, Judge Stratford was elected police judge of El Dorado, holding that office until his death in 1926. The excellent service he gave while presiding in that office during the hectic years of the oil boom was accorded state-wide editorial commendation.

Judge Stratford was widely known and beloved in Butler County. He was a community builder, strongly in favor of any project that promised to be of benefit to the people in general and gave generously of his money as well as time to worthwhile enterprises. On several occasions he gave substantial financial gifts to the Edgar Dale Post of the American Legion. He was intensely patriotic and it was a source of pride to him that two of his sons enlisted and served overseas in the World War. There was no better read person in El Dorado, for Judge Stratford was always seeking new information. Besides collecting a large library for himself, he gave many books to the public library.

On March 5, 1932, R. A. Clymer said, editorially, in The El Dorado Times:

“It was an El Dorado lawyer speaking today and what he said was something forceful and fine and true. This is it:

“’When I came to El Dorado after the war, along with half a dozen other young lawyers who hung out their shingles here, I doubt if there was another place in the country where so many fine, upstanding lawyers of the older generation were in active practice. These older men were not only an inspiration and an example to all of us, but a practical help as well. I marvel now that they gave so much time to us youngsters – all of us just young cubs fresh from the army or law school, who were seeking to get a foothold on the ladder. The oil boom was running high here and there was lots of legal business. These older men were busy day and night, but never too engrossed to give a word of encouragement to a young lawyer or a bit of friendly advice that helped us over the rough spots.

“’The memories of such men s the late C. A. Leland, H. W. Schumacher, T. A. Kramer, G. P. Aikman, and E. D. Stratford come readily to mind. Joined with them must always be the name of A. L. L. Hamilton, who died this week, and who will always be remembered by us with love and esteem. Every one of these men ranked at the top in the profession of law, and all were animated by the highest ethical principals in the conduct of that profession. They held the torch of achievement and of honor high for the younger members of the bar – and any who emulate their examples in the slightest cannot help being better men and better lawyers. There were others who were just as friendly and just as helpful to us, but the memories of these older men who have passed on will always be tinged with gratitude and reverence. They have written some beautiful pages in the book that is El Dorado as men, as citizens, as lawyers. Fortunate was the town that could call them its citizens, blessed were those who could call them neighbors and friends. The younger generation in law will have to exercise all its professional attainments and the highest principals of character ever to reach to their level.’”

February 27, 1883, Edward D. Stratford married Jane Whatkinson Robson Long, who was born in Livingston County, Illinois, January 1, 1857.

Mr. and Mrs. Stratford had six children, five of whom are living. The late Charles Wesley Stratford, who was born in El Dorado December 24, 1883 and died November 24, 1922, married Nina Elsie Howe and had two children, Charles Russel Kent and Frank Burnette. Oscar Edward, now living in El Dorado, was born October 9, 1885, married Jessie Clara Cleveland Perry and has one daughter, Mercedes Ruth. The only daughter, Jane Augusta, is now a teacher in Hamakuapoka, Maui, Hawaii. John Robert, of Wichita, was born January 24, 1894, married Leota Warrander and has three children, Donald Richard, Marguerite Virginia and Carol Ann. Ray Allen of El Dorado was born December 30, 1896, married Audrey Lucille Newton and has two daughters, Mary Allene and Erma Virginia. Clark Oliver of Gary, Indiana, born August 2, 1900, married Gertrude Maybelle Sloane.

When Charles W. Stratford died on November 24, 1922, R. A. Clymer wrote this editorial, published in The El Dorado Times:

“The summons this time has come for one of the town’s brightest, most virile sons. El Dorado can ill afford to lose him. He was just rounding into an era of usefulness whereby he would contribute a strong man’s full share to the up building of the community where he was born and reared and where he spent most of his days. He had the heritage of good birth behind him, he possessed a modern man’s concept of the present. While he was filled with the joy of living and had much to live for, he had no desire of taking out much and putting back little. Charley Stratford had caught the vision – he wished to serve, he was ready to help. This was a delightful characteristic; his associates knew he would do his whole part in helping the job along. He had a keen and orderly mind and a passion for details. He was thorough. As oil and gas assessor of Butler County, he was wonderfully efficient. His records are marvels of accuracy, of painstaking thoroughness and of good judgment, while the oil companies knew that he would give them a square deal. In this capacity, Charles Stratford filled a most important role of public service during critical years. It must not be forgotten.

“But it is as a good pal that his absence will be most seriously felt. He was of the old town, yet also indissolubly of the new. He stood with that group of younger men who are weaving new traits and new color into the rich warp and wool of El Dorado’s historical fabric. And because he was of both old and new, he was destined to play an important part in the town that shall go on through the years. It is hard to become reconciled to his taking – seemingly at the fullness of his powers – bitterly hard for his bereaved wife and little sons, heart-breakingly so for his parents and sister and brothers, and sorrowfully for the many who were proud to call him a friend. But death is only an incident in life for the valiant, and we who are left know that Charley Stratford went without fear into that new state where his readiness to serve and be helpful shall find an ineffably broader sphere for action.

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No woman is living in El Dorado today who was here when Mrs. Edward D. Stratford, then Jane (Jennie) Whatkinson Robson Long, arrived in February, 1870, from Dwight, Illinois. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Jane Long (Mrs. E. H. Clark), became postmistress of El Dorado, accepting that office in 1871, when the incumbent, J. W. Kellogg, threatened to “throw it into the street,” if some one did not take it.

The postoffice had been in Dr. Allen White’s drug store, but Mrs. Clark moved it into her one-room home, which stood on the lot just south of the present Powell hardware store. The mail was received by stage from Emporia, on Thursdays and Sundays of each week. Often times the stage arrived as early as two o’clock of mornings and then Mrs. Stratford would arise with her mother and, in the stinging cold, assort letters, packages and newspapers – so precious to the few residents of the tiny frontier town. The assorting was accomplished by the light of a coal oil lamp. The postmaster’s salary then was $24 a year, or $2 per month. Alex Blair drove the stage four-horse team and hauled supplies and mail from Emporia.

Mrs. Stratford taught the Coppins School, east of Potwin, and H. A. J. Coppins and his wife - then Dora Worley, and James Ledbetter were among her pupils. It was in 1874, while Mrs. Stratford was teaching school in Brownlow community, that the historic grasshopper deluge came. Mrs. Stratford recalls that she had washed and hung a perfectly good dress on a clothesline and the grasshoppers ate every shred of it. That was a year of hardship as all crops and vegetation were destroyed by the grasshoppers, and the chief rations were wild gooseberries – which the invaders did not like – and parched wheat and coffee. For teaching the school Mrs. Stratford received $25 monthly. Her board and room were $14 per month.

Mrs. Stratford attended El Dorado’s first school. Her mother had the first book store in El Dorado. At that time the late Frank Frazier and John Betts had a store where the present El Dorado National Bank stands and W. W. Pattison was a pioneer hardware merchant.

On June 16, 1871, a tornado’s terrific force blew an adjoining store building against the house-postoffice, debris blocking front and back entranceways. The trapped members of the family pushed a panel from the door and escaped. That was the night that the three-year-old son of Dr. and Mrs. J. A. MacKenzie was blown from his mother’s arms into the storm; his body was found in a stream several blocks away when the wind abated. Rebuilding was slow, and there was so much wreckage to be cleared that mail was handed out and received through the door panel for a week.

Mrs. Stratford owns the block officially platted as Stratford Place and now lives in the house that has been the Stratford family home for thirty-two years.