JAMES VOSS PRICE
The subject of this sketch, James Voss Price, is
the venerable father of Sylvester Baily Price, one of Cloud county's able commissioners. Mr. Price descends from
an ancient and patriotic English family, a branch of which settled on the Little Peedee river in the state of North
Carolina, prior to the period of the Revolutionary war. He is a grandson of the patriotic John Price who served
all through the Revolution under General Marion. His father. John Lowry Price, demonstrated his valor by shouldering
a musket and rendering duty as a soldier all through the war of 1812, and was slightly wounded. He was born on
the Little Peedee river but emigrated to Barnes county, Kentucky, in the early settlement of that state and where
James Voss Price was born in 1812. In December, 1852, he, with his family drove through the country to southern
Illinois and arrived at their destination, what is now known as "Little Egypt/' on Christmas day.
Our subject's maternal grandfather Voss. from whom
Mr. Price received his Christian name, was also a soldier of the Revolution. The Voss and Price families settled
in North Carolina and in the same community almost simultaneously. Like his distinguished ancestry, Mr. Price was
a patriot. When Company H, Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, was instituted he responded to the call for
more troops by enlisting in their ranks August 22, 1862. He entered as second lieutenant and was promoted to first
lieutenant, but after receiving his commission was compelled to resign on account of a crippled foot and ankle
that would not admit of participating in the march. The patriotism of the Price antecedents has been handed on
down the line. The two sons of Mr. Price were both soldiers of the Civil war and members of the same company with
their father.
Mr. Price began his career by working on a farm
near Bowling Green, Kentucky, where for three years he received five dollars per month. He was next installed as
overseer of the McCutcheon plantation, a large southern estate in Logan county, Kentucky, for the remuneration
of one hundred dollars per year, which was considered fair wages in those days of cheap labor. His services proved
so satisfactory his employer offered to increase his salary to one hundred and fifty dollars per year if he would
continue in charge, but Mr. Price bought forty acres of land, married February 10, 1835, and established a home.
His wife was Lucinda Hall, whose people were among the earliest settlers in Sussex county, Virginia, and were slaveholders,
she receiving two slaves upon her marriage with Mr. Price as a dowry from her father. To their union three children
were born, all of whom are deceased. The wife and mother died in August, 1840. His second wife was Frances Jane
Weathers, also of Virginia birth, and from one of the pioneer families of Dinwiddie county. Many of her father's
people were in the confederacy, but the maternal side furnished several Union soldiers. Mrs. Price was a near relative
of General Albert Sidney Johnson, who was killed in the first day's battle at Shiloh. By this union four children
were born, two sons and two daughters. The eldest, Frances Ellen, is the wife of Doctor Dabney, of Denver. S. B.
Price, whose biography follows that of his father, is the second child and first son. E. R. Price is one of the
representative farmers in the vicinity of Hollis. The youngest child, Mary Melissa, is the wife of Fred Kunkle,
and resides in Concordia. Mrs. Dabney is the original Fannie Price, for whom Mr. Carnahan named "Fanny"
postoffice.
Mr. Price was a practical farmer all his life until
he retired from labor to enjoy the ease and comfort due a well spent career of usefulness.
He emigrated with his father's family to Illinois and bought a squatter's right in "Little Egypt," for
which he paid one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and where he resided until coming to Kansas in 1886. Thus
it will be seen Mr. Price was a pioneer of two states and almost three, for Kentucky was yet in its infancy. He
first settled in-Pottawatomie county, but in 1868 pushed further westward and located a homestead near where the
town of Hollis now stands, where he continued to reside until he sold the farm in 1884.
Since the death of his wife in 1886, Mr. Price
has lived wtih his children. He is now with his son, S. B. Price, in Concordia, and where likely he will spend
the rest of his days. Before the organization of the Republican party Mr. Price was a Whig. He has been" prominent
in politics and was personally associated with such men as John A. Logan and grows animated as he interestingly
converses of the days when Stephen A. Douglas aspired to the presidency. Those times of anxiety and factional strife
seem as vivid in the mind of this aged veteran, over whose snowy head a century has almost dawned, as if that memorable
period were but yesterday. The fires of enthusiasm kindle within his breast and illumine his countenance as he
intelligently narrates the proceedings of the Republican state convention held in Decatur in i860, when Richard
Yates was nominated for governor of the state of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln endorsed for president. Mr. Price
was honored by the appointment of delegate to this distinguished body along with Griffin Garlin and John Russell.
Mr. Price is perhaps the oldest Mason in the county,
and one of the few in the state who have been identified with the order since 1847. He was initiated into the mysteries
of Free Masonry in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He has not lost his love and consideration for the order, but declining
years do not admit of his attending the lodge meetings.
SYLVESTER BAILY
PRICE.
S. B. Price is another pioneer of Cloud county
that has prospered and attained a prominent place in the citizenship of the community. He is a son of James Yoss
Price, of the preceding sketch and was born in the state of Kentucky in 1845, removed to southern Illinois in 1852,
and as stated in his father's sketch, enlisted in Company H, Eighty-first Illinois Volunteer Infantry, August 12,
1862, and served in his country's cause until October, 1864, when he was discharged for disability. His brother,
E. R. Price, served until the close of hostilities. They were in the army of the Tennessee, General John A. Logan
being their corps commander and General McPherson division commander. He participated in the siege of Vicksburg.
Franklin and the Red river expedition. They were subsequently transferred to the Sixteenth Corps and served in
the extreme south. Their last duties in the army were performed at Mobile. Their company was mustered out of service
at Montgomery, Alabama, and discharged in Chicago. Mr. Price came with his father's family to Kansas in 1866, and
homesteaded land near the present site of Hollis two years later, where he married Miss Isabell S. Powell, formerly
of Pike county, Illinois, reared a family of five children and became independent in his possessions of the world's
goods. Fannie, their eldest daughter, is the wife of A. B. Cole, a successful farmer living near Hollis. Flora
Lillian is the wife of Reed Scott, a contractor of Concordia. Florence Gertrude is the wife of Loren Ashcraft,
a railroad man with residence at Wymore, Nebraska. James A., their only son, is employed as clerk in the grocery
of Price & Moore. He received a business education and training in the Great Western Business College of Concordia.
He is a hard student and to his natural ability extended travel has added experience which can be obtained from
no other course. Blanche, the youngest daughter and child, is aged fifteen years. She is a pupil in the eighth
grade of the Washington school. She exhibits a decided talent in music, being especially gifted in that accomplishment.
Mr. Price retains his old homestead near Hollis, along with two other quarter sections. His land is finely improved,
with commodious residence and one of the most modern and complete barns in the country. This valuable estate illustrates
much more forcibly than words could do the tireless industry and excellent management of its owner. In March, 1901,
Mr. Price retired from farm life, bought the Haskell residence property on Ninth and Cedar streets and removed
his family there. Shortly after this event Mr. Price became associated with A. R. Moore, under the firm name of
Price & Moore, and purchased the Key stock of groceries. The principals in this combination are both well and
favorably known, and have already built up a, prosperous business.
During the early settlement of the county the Price
family endured all the incidents due to frontier life and for months were in constant dread of the savages who
committed depredations in nearby settlements, but the people of this locality fortunately escaped. The Wards that
were massacred on White Rock came from southern Illinois, and from the same vicin-ity as the Prices, whose intentions
were to join them on the White Rock, but hearing of the Indian uprising along that creek, they stopped in Law-rence
township. Mr. Price was on horseback, carrying a plow share to a neighbor one day when he sighted three Indians
mounted on their ponies, who were riding rapidly in his direction. The dismayed settler put the spurs to his horse
and hurriedly gained entrance to the house of a neigh-bor by the name of Hodge. A moment later the savages came
pell mell and suddenly halted at the door. Mr. Hodge had told our subject when the command was given to fire he
was to instantly respond. With an eagle eye and quivering with excitement, Mr. Price mistook a movement for a signal
to fire and brought his gun into position, whereupon Mr. Hodge, with a sudden motion knocked the gun aside. The
act was a bit of strategy on the part of the frontiersman, who was familiar with Indian characteristics. They saw
the gun, thought there was more in reserve and beat a hasty retreat, as he anticipated they would.
During the uprising in 1868, William Christy, a brother-in-law (now of Concordia), loaded their wagons with household
effects and started for a place of safety, he and his family going to the Lawrence homestead, where they found
Mrs. Lawrence at home alone. His brother, Henry Christy, drove the oxen that were drawing the load of goods and
when he reached the vicinity of Upper creek he discovered an object which he felt assured was an Indian, and, believing
in the old adage, "He who runs away, will live to fight another day," turned the oxen loose, left the
wagon and, with the swiftness of a hunted deer, flew on foot to Lawrenceburg. Upon reaching the Lawrence home he
hurried the inmates of the little dwelling into a skiff. Mrs. Lawrence, while making her exit, detained the frightened
party by sticking fast in the mud. Mr. Christy pulled her out in due time, just as the supposed Indian rode up
with the gun Henry had left on the prairie in his flight, and was picked up by this neighboring settler, who was
watching for the appearance or movements of the Indians from this high point of land.
Mr. Price passed through the Otoe village in 1866
and ate dinner with the agent. The camp was deserted, the Indians being off on a hunting expedition. They visited
the burial ground and found three cottonwood coffins on the top of oak trees. He and his comrades were boys, and,
having a curiosity to know if the warriors' guns were buried with them, pried one end of the coffin off, but found
nothing had accompanied the body to the happy hunting grounds. On this same trip Mr. Price and his two companions
gave an Indian some tobacco for the use of his pony to ride to Marysville, twelve miles distant. The suspecting
savage walked directly in front of them all the way, saying, "White man mean; can't trust him." When
they arrived home they found the doors barred, in consequence of what proved to be an unfounded report that the
savages were coming through on the war path, and their reinforcement was gladly welcomed. But when they came, the
family figured they had been hunted down and run in, as the mischievous boys led them to believe, and after listening
to their hairbreadth escape, Ed. Powell, a brother-in-law, turned to his wife and hopelessly remarked, "Well,
Margaret, hear that; no use staying here any longer. Let's go back." This circumstance he was often reminded
of later.
Politically Mr. Price is a Republican and is one
of the county commis-sioners. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and takes ap interest in the organization
of old veterans. Mrs. Price is a member of the Christian church and a very estimable woman.
J. D. FELL.
The subject of this sketch, J. D. Fell, came to
Concordia about nineteen years ago in the interests of the Howell Brothers' Lumber Company. In 1881 he removed
to Colorado to assume charge of their yard there, They failed in July of that year and Mr. Fell returned and accepted
the position that he has filled with recognized ability for about a dozen years- the management of the Chicago
Lumber Company's Yards at Concordia.
Mr. Fell is a Canadian by birth. When four years
old he removed with his parents to Ogle county; Illinois, where he received a high school education, alternating
his pursuit of knowledge with work on the farm, for his father, Erastus Fell, was a tiller of the soil.
At the age of nineteen our subject began his career by working in a lumber yard. He was with a firm in Greenleaf,
Kansas, prior to coming to Concordia. He has practically grown up in the lumber business and is a valued employee.
In social and fraternal orders Mr. Fell is particularly prominent, having made an enviable record, much to the
delight and approval of his brother co-workers. In less than a year after he was initiated into the mysteries of
the Knights of Pythias Lodge, he was elected presiding officer and served as outer and inner guard of the grand
lodge for two years. There was no opposition to his further advancement, but Mr. Fell's duties would not permit
of his serving in the capacity of presiding officer, consequently he retired in favor of a brother knight. He served
one term as master workman of the Ancient Order of United Workman, three years as master of St John's Lodge No.
113, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, two years as commander of the Commandery No. 42, and during both of these
years the commandery ranked first in the state. This honor was awarded them by Inspector E. W. Wellington, their
present official, who ranks among the most proficient in the country. Mr. Fell now holds the office of grand captain
of the guard in the lodge of the Grand Commandery. His promotion has been rapid, as he has only been a member of
the order about three years. He is also serving at the present time as king of Concordia Chapter No. 45, and royal
vizier of the Knights of Khorassan of Concordia. Mr. Fell is also a member of the Order of Elks, Zabud Council
No. 4, Topeka, Kansas, Eastern Star, Woodmen, Degree of Honor and Royal Neighbors. Politically Mr. Fell is a Republican.
He was elected a member of the Concordia board of education on the independent ticket and served one year.
Mr. Fell was married in 1883 to Miss Laura Mahaffey, of Washington county, Kansas, but formerly of Ohio. Their
family comprises three children: Nina, their only daughter, who finished a course in the Great Western Business
College, is a stenographer and bookkeeper and is employed in her father's office. Claud and Ralph are school boys
aged fifteen and ten years respectively. Mr. Fell maintains a modern residence at 521 West Seventh street.
The character of citizenship that marks the career
of Mr. Fell is of the highest type. He is a polished, kindly gentleman, public-spirited, generous and progressive,
the sort of man that would make friends anywhere.
THE DUDLEY LUMBER COMPANY
The yards of the Dudley Lumber Company were established
in Con-cordia by a Mr. Greene, who was succeeded by H. C. Dudley, and subse-quently incorporated under its present
title. Owing to failing health Mr. Dudley returned to his eastern home in the state of Maine and was succeeded
by C. \V. Browning, who in turn yielded the place to its present manager, S. C. Ainsworth, in July, 1902. The company
represent a paid-up capital of fifteen thousand dollars and carry a complete line of building lumber, cement and
coal. Mr. Ainsworth was reared among the lakes of Wisconsin, where he was an expert yatchsman. He has followed
the lumber business from the tree on down the line until he can manufacture any article in woodwork. Mr. Ainsworth
settled in eastern Kansas in 1871, but later removed to Missouri. His return to Kansas verifies the statement that
all who leave, "no matter where they roam, will return.
MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
A record of any one of the pioneers of Cloud county
can not but afford interest to the present generation and furnish material for thought and reflection. They are
not only the heirs, but also the debtors to these hardy men and women who left their eastern homes and associates,
the friends of their happy youthful days, to traverse the plains to the frontier, where with brave hearts and frugal
habits they materially assisted in the development of a truly great state. To this class belongs Michael Schwartz,
whose name will be perpetuated as one of the earliest settlers of Sibley township. He located his homestead in
the autumn of 1865 and has been a resident of the township a greater length of time than any of its present citizens.
Mr. Schwartz is a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, born in 1834. His parents were John and Margaret (Wolfe) Schwartz.
Having been deprived by death of a mothers counsels and care, our subject early in life acquired a tendency to
wander and when eighteen years of age emigrated to America and settled in Chicago when the "Windy City"
was of much less importance than her millions on top of millions represent today. He did various and sundry things
for a livelihood until i860, when, having accumulated a small bank account, he removed to the state of Iowa and
secured eighty acres of land in Buchanan county, but when the call for volunteers was issued the young German,
who had adopted America as his home, rented his land, responded to the first appeal and enlisted in Company A,
Fifty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and remained in the service until the last bugle call. Within two weeks
from the time of his enlistment his company was stationed in the front rank. He was fortunate enough to participate
in the hard-fought battles of Ft. Donelson, Pittsburg Landing or Shiloh, Corinth and many other engagements and
skirmishes, where hundreds of brave men fell, a prey to the enemy's bullets, and escape without a wound. During
his soldier life Mr. Schwartz was married. , He returned, home oh a furlough and reclaimed the "girl he left
behind him"-Miss Rosina Free, a young woman of his native land from the kingdom of Wurtemburg but whom he
first met in America. * Mrs. Schwartz came with her parents to the United States, when ten years of age, and settled
in Buchanan county, Iowa, in 1853. In 1865 our subject fitted up a team, a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and
with his wife started in quest of a new country, which they found in all the term implies. When they arrived in
the vicinity of Leaven-worth they met members of the militia, who told them of the new settlement at Fort Sibley
and directed them thither. They found the fortress on section 21, just one-half mile east of their present home,
and occupied by the families of Byron Cross and Dennis Taylor. The soldiers had departed and Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz
also moved into a cabin, all of which were fortified with logs. Mrs. Schwartz was fated to spend all the earlier
part of her life on the outskirts of civilization and became almost immune to the usual Indian scares and braved
the dangers alone for days at a time and when there were five different tribes of savages in the vicinity of their
homestead. It was truly on the frontier in 1865, the hills being covered with herds of buffalo and antelope and
the wild turkeys came in droves around the door of their sod-covered cabin.
Mr. Schwartz started from Iowa with eleven hundred dollars, but as flour was ten dollars per hundred, corn meal
five dollars and with other articles of provision in proportion their little fortune disappeared like mist before
the sun. After the Indian uprising in 1867-8 Mr. Schwartz, like most of the settlers, left, temporarily, for safer
quarters, and not having raised a crop they were in reduced circumstances until 1869, when he had corn to sell.
With the year 1871 they began to prosper, and after that period, notwithstanding the grasshopper visitation, they
assumed measures for building a comfortable and permanent home. In 1871 he bought the forty acres where his present
residence now stands and erected a habitable dwelling, which he has remodeled, added to and continues to reside
in. Mr. Schwartz's home is . near the new river channel, two miles north of Concordia, in Sibley township, section
20. He now owns two hundred and three acres in this locality and a quarter section in Aurora township, all under
a fine state of improvements. He has been successful as a stockman and has made the bulk of his estate in raising
hogs; he has also prospered in producing cattle and horses.
Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz,
all of whom but one are living. They lost their third daughter, Lucy, at the age of nine-teen years. Caroline is
the wife of Charles Beahm, a successful farmer of Sibley township. They are the parents of four children, Roy,
Edith, Ivy and Ray. Susan is the wife of William Pickering, of Martin, Missouri. They are the parents of one child,
Willie, aged* five. Delia is the wife of William Finley, a Sibley farmer. The other daughters are unmarried and
live at home. They are Eliza, Rosa and Lizzie, prepossessing young women. Mr. Schwartz's daughters being in the
majority, they have very substantially assisted in the duties pertaining to farm life and are accorded much credit
for their share of the prosperity. Their son, Albert, is the second child, a young man of twenty-two years.
Mr. Schwartz is a Republican and takes an interest
in political issues. The entire family are industrious, enterprising people, who have contributed their quota toward
the development of local resources.
CHICAGO LUMBER COMPANY YARDS OF THE CHICAGO
LUMBER COMPANY.
The extensive yards of the Chicago Lumber Company
were established in Concordia as early as 1872. The principal owners of this vast corporation are S. H. Fullerton,
of St. Louis, and Robert Fullerton, of Des Moines, Iowa. Their brother and traveling auditor, E. H. Fullerton,
is interested and is one of the directors of the enterprise. W. H. Fullerton, another brother who was associated
with them for years, and was their western manager, has recently withdrawn. The company represents a capital of
two and a half million dollars- one of the most extensive lumber corporations in the entire United States-and do
the largest business. They operate about fifty retail yards, practically speaking, all in Kansas. Their general
offices are in St. Louis, with branch offices in Chicago, Louisville, Minneapolis, Ta-coma and Des Moines. The
company was inaugurated in
1866. M. T. Greene, who was drowned in Lake Michigan
about four years ago, was the principal stockholder at the time of its organization.
The Fullertons held but small interests up to the time of locating yards in Kansas. They carry everything in building
material and have coal yards in connection. Most of their yellow pine lumber comes from the south and also their
cypress. Their spruce and cedar that fifteen years ago was shipped in from the Michigan and Wisconsin pineries
is now furnished from the west. J. D. Fell, their present manager, took charge of the Concordia yard October I,
1891. That this is one of the best retail plants in the state is in no small degree owing to the progressive spirit
of Mr. Fell. Their investment in Concordia represents about thirty thousand dollars. There are four men employed.
The yards comprise nine blocks, the buildings and sheds are modern in character and sport freshly painted, which
gives them an air of prosperity.
HONORABLE GOMER TALIESIN
DAVIES
For more than a score of years Gomer T. Davies
has been at the head of a western newspaper, and notwithstanding the political animosities that have arisen from
time to time, he has stood firm and steadfast by the convictions he deems best for the people and the country.
Mr. Davies has been intensely devoted to his chosen field, and the result of his close application is obvious in
the well-edited columns of the Kansan and the patronage it receives from the citizens of Cloud county.
In an article contributed to the official report
of the seventeenth annual convention of the National Editorial Association, which convened at Hot Springs, Arkansas,
April 15-18, 1902, George \V. Martin, secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, among other fetching things,
with reference to Mr. Davies, says: "The country newspaper publisher is a man unto himself. There is no other
like him. His wrestle for the provender which supports life, his contests -with the world and the devil in behalf
of all that is good, necessitates a variety of talents, a vigilance and an industry, wholly unnecessary with Mr.
Morgan or other mergers, who simply float along- with millions and billions accumulated near the mouth of the great
river of com-merce and industry. It is the man at the head of the stream, with nothing but what nature has given
him, who performs miracles with this old world of ours, and who gives to the current its direction for usefulness
that causes the wheels of production to go round.
'The country newspaper publisher is the most important of all the factors at the beginning of things. It is he
who gets near the home, who is known and read in every household of his bailiwick. Every line in a country newspaper
is read by the grown folks and the children alike in each household where it enters, and not merely skimmed over,
or only headlines read, as is the case with the city papers. Hence there is no overestimating the sway of the rural
newspaper."
At this convention Mr. Davies was honored by one
hundred and seventy-seven of the two. hundred and seventy-seven votes cast that elected him second vice-president
of the association, and, referring to this considera-tion, Mr. Martin further says: "It is a matter of interest
to all, and of great judgment upon the part of the National Editorial Association, that, at its late meeting, it
came to central Kansas for one of its vice-presidents. The association is to be congratulated that in its selection
of Gomer T. Davies, of the Concordia Kansan, it has an all-around bunch of Kansas nerve and inspiration, of editorial
and business ability, and of general usefulness to the fraternity and to the public/' And the state at the meeting
of their last Editorial Association recommended Mr. Davies for the office of first vice-president, to be determined
when they meet in Omaha, in July of the present year (1903). He was president of the Kansas North Central Editorial
Association in 1896, and for 1901 was president of the Kansas State Editorial Association.
He is prominent in various social orders, has passed
through all the chairs of the Odd Fellows lodge and is one of four candidates for grand master of the order. He
is a member of the Ancient Order of United Work-men, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of America and the Order of Elks.
Mr. Davies is a significant member of the Concordia Commercial Club and one of the directors of the Kansas Historical
Society, in which he and every loyal citizen of the state takes pardonable pride.
Mr. Davies' success has been phenomenal. He started
in the newspaper business with but two dollars in his pocket, but he appealed his case to the enterprising people
of Kansas, to win or lose his small capital-and won. His standing, socially and financially, indicates the verdict.
He owns his office, a two-story brick building, ninety feet deep, equipped with the most modern machinery; a farm
within a mile of Concordia, and a comfortable home in the city.
The birth of Mr. Davies occurred at Pont-y-pridd,
Glanmorganshire
South Wales, January 25, 1855. Mr. Martin says:
One would not think this of him at all, for he is just as rational as though born in Podunk township, Pennsylvania;
Posey county, Indiana, or on the White Rock in Kans is. He emigrated to America in 1863. After a residence of a
few years in Pennsylvania he removed to Livingston county, Missouri; but, imbued with the same spirit as many foreign-born
people adopting America for their home, he left the scenes of older civilization and moved further westward, into
Iowa, where he lived from 1869 until 1882, when he wisely turned his attention towards northwest Kansas and in
1883 purchased the Republic County News, his first newspaper venture. While editor-in-chief of this paper Mr. Davies
was twice elected by the Republican party to represent his district, which comprised the north half of Republic
county, in the state legislature sessions of 1887 and 1889. November 18, 1896, Mr. Davies bought the Kansan and
removed to Concordia. He was married in 1879 and his family consists of a wife and seven children.
The journalistic career of Mr. Davies is characterized
by his sense of discrimination between right and wrong, and his acuteness along these lines is evinced by the abiding
good will of the people, who demonstrate their approval by a renewal of their subscription annually. There are
few homes the Kansan does not reach.
GEORGE E. HIBNER.
One of the old settlers of Cloud county is George
E. Hibner, who located three miles west of Concordia in 1867, and was the second sheriff of Cloud county, Quincy
Honey having preceded him two terms. Mr. Hibner served with honor to himself and when his term expired he stepped
clown and out with the good will and best wishes of the people. He has been engaged in farming since that time
(January, 1872,) has prospered abundantly and is ranked with the best citizens of Sibley township.
NADEAU'S SHOE STORE.
The above firm, of which the accompanying cut is
the interior, is com-posed of the brothers, Joseph D. and H. G. Nadeau, who began business in Concordia in August,
1902, or rather succeeded George Mohr, who established the store in the early days of Concordia and remained continuously
until 1902. Their stock is clean and well selected and they are receiving what they merit-their share of the trade-for
they are energetic and reliable men.
The Nadeaus came to Cloud county in 1885, and located
in Lincoln township on a farm, where they lived until 1900. They are originally from Canada. The senior member
of the firm, Joseph D., is a man of family- a wife and four children. The Nadeaus are prominent fixtures and rank
with the best and most progressive firms in Concordia
RICHARD COUGHLEN.
The impressive arch observed over the gateway as
one advances near the long avenue, lined by trees, announces the approach of "Prairie Lea," the modern
country home of Richard Coughlen. Of the prosperity inherited by the settlers of the early 'sixties none are entitled
to a more substantial claim than Mr. Coughlen. He came to the vast area of prairie when in its true pioneer state-when
on the frontier in the real meaning of the term. He remained all through the strenuous times of its sister hood
and endured years of anxiety ere conditions assumed good working order. He came to the state in May, 1862, and
pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land on Elm creek, built a cabin and lived there seven years. The settlement
was comprised of but four families, Hagaman, Thorp, Fenskie and Czapanskiy. In 1870 Mr. Coughlen rented his land
on Elm creek, homesteaded on section 26, and later sold the former. Our subject's dreams of broad acres, far reaching
in agricultural splendor, herds of cattle and horses, droves of hogs (that when sold upon the market add very materially
to his ducats), vast fields of corn, huge bins of wheat and a comfortable, happy
home are realized. The Coughlen residence is situated
in a bend on the bank of Oak creek and is surrounded on three sides, north, east and west, by the timber of this
stream-a charming location. This was one of the first good dwellings in the community, built in 1874. The lumber
in part was hauled from Waterville, the terminus of the railroad, and a portion was obtained by drawing logs to
Concordia and having them sawed at Mr. Lanoue's mill. While engaged in this stage of the work Mr. Coughlen found
his labors arduous and met with many reverses: among them he was upset in the river while hauling logs, but a ducking
was the least of this misfortune. The external membranous covering of his own body was impervious to the waves
of the Republican river, but they were demoralizing to the buckskin pantaloons he wore, which shrunk into so small
a compass as to necessitate their being cut from his body. But "it is an ill wind that blows nobody good."
Mr. Coughlen changed the relative position and value of his contracted garments by braiding them into an ox whip.
Mr. Coughlen is a native of county Kings, Ireland,
born in 1838. When a small lad he emigrated to America with his parents and settled in Madison county, New York,
where his father and mother died. Having been left an orphan he subsequently began to roam and resided temporarily
in various parts of the United States. He is the second youngest of a family of seven children. Three sisters survive
and live in Iowa, Chicago and Streator, Illinois, respectively. Mr. Coughlen came from LaSalle county, Illinois,
to Nemaha county, Kansas, in 1859. He and a nephew had started for the famous gold fields of Pike's Peak, but as
they encountered the returning crowds, traveling in various modes, walking, wheeling barrows, carts, etc., the
fields elysian seemed less alluring, and discouraged many people en route to the Eldorado. When our subject and
his comrade arrived at Ft. Kearney they decided to turn their faces toward the new prairies of Kansas, which, if
less illusive, seemed a safer proposition, and they retraced their journey over the Little Blue to Nemaha county.
From this point the actual career of Mr. Coughlen found its beginning. With three yoke of oxen he freighted over
the plains from the Missouri river to the gold diggings known as "Buck Skin Joe," across South Park,
near Hartzell, Colorado, and continued in this intrepid traffic all through and after the war. After coming to
Cloud county he made one overland trip; he moved his family to Nehama county to protect them from the Indians and
hauled freight from Missouri to Colorado. During this period Mr. Coughlen experienced some hairbreadth escapes.
In 1865 two men were massacred within one hundred yards of Mr. Coughlen's camp. They were night-herders; the savages
shot and wounded the men and then scalped them while still alive. The second boss of the crew had two arrows fired
into his body, but recovered. The two victims survived long enough to give the details of the assault. After firing
all the cartridges in the chambers of their revolvers the Indians came so dose the wounded men threw their guns
at them. The band was pursued by soldiers and many of them were killed.
Their camp, with its government quota of sixty
armed men was aroused one starlit night on the Platte river by an attempted attack. The mules on the grounds gave
evidence of hearing or scenting danger, as the Indians were seemingly after the stock with the intention of running
it off. The entire party was ordered to lie close to the earth, a moment later the outlines of the redskins were
sighted against the horizon, the signal was given and when the volley of deadly shot and bullets was turned into
the advancing band of savages, from shotguns loaded with buck-shot and long-range rifles in the hands of unerring
marksmen, they beat a hasty retreat from what was evidently one of the most complete surprises they had ever been
treated to in their thieving expeditions. The freighters could not discern their movements through the smoke-laden
atmosphere, but hastily reloaded to prepare for the second fusilade if necessary. Many a dead warrior would have
been left on the field if he had not been strapped to his pony, as is their custom, that their slain may be carried
away. Mr. Coughlen was a member of the Kansas militia and wielded his Springfield musket and Smith's carbine for
several years on the frontier. He retains the Remington six-shooter that he carried during those days; it is a
formidable looking weapon, and he has killed buffalo with it. Mr. Coughlen was one of the fourteen men who were
organized to rescue Miss White from captivity among the Indians.
Mr. Coughlen was married to Mary Robertson in 1861.
Of their four children, all lived to maturity. William Lincoln was deceased at the age of seventeen years. Jenette
is the deceased wife of John Empire; two children survive her, Flo and Clarence. The two living children are a
daughter and a son. Lizzie is the widow of William Townsdin, an Oak creek farmer; she is the parent of one child,
a son, William Ira.
Mr. Coughlen at one time owned two sections of
land but he deeded to Mrs. Townsdin one hundred and sixty acres in Osborne county, a quarter section in Washington
county, another near Aurora and one hundred and sixty acres in the Solomon valley. The son is David R. Coughlen,
who was a prosperous Cloud county farmer and stockman, until compelled to leave the farm and seek returning health
in the southern clime of California.
In 1884 Mr. Coughlen was married to Miss Eliza
Moore, a daughter of William Moore, who emigrated from Vermont to Wisconsin, where Mrs. Coughlen was born: She
was visiting a relative in Kansas, where she met and married Mr. Coughlen. She is a refined woman who possesses
the admirable trait of making home attractive.
Politically Mr. Coughlen is an out-and-out dyed-in-the-wool
Republican. He has been identified with the Odd Fellows for a quarter of a century.
EDGAR MARTIN KENYON.
To the large per cent, of emigrants who came to
Kansas without capital and have forged their way to prosperity and prominence, belongs the subject of this sketch,
Edgar Martin Kenyon. From the original wilderness of prairie his homestead and possessions have increased until
he owns five hundred and sixty acres of finely cultivated land, herds of cattle and hogs, a residence of modern
architecture that would do credit to a city, and barns fashioned after the commodious structures of the east.
Mr. Kenyon continues to live on the homestead that
has undergone all these changes since he located his claim in 1870. He came to the new west alone, and after building
a very unpretentious house and purchasing a sack of flour, for which he paid seven dollars per hundred pounds,
the settler, remote from his eastern home and family, was left on the sparsely inhabited prairie with but fuur
dollars in his pocket-his cash capital; but he was not discouraged, felt no reluctance, for he was young, sanguine
and ambitious, and believing the future held golden harvests, he spent the summer prepar-ing for the arrival of
his wife and son, Orlin (their only child at that time), with a light and happy heart. He secured employment hauling
freight at $1.25 per hundred, for Sibley's pioneer merchant, J. D. Robertson. Mr. Kenyon had nothing to lose, but
prospered from the beginning, notwith-standing reverses brought about from grasshoppers and hot winds. When bountiful
harvests began smiling on their little western home, a substantial and imposing residence sprung into existence
and the primitive dwelling vanished. In addition to the spade, the scythe and the plow, with which he carried on
farming, his estate is abundantly supplied with every implement known to agriculture for planting and garnering
the grain with economy and profit.
Mr. Kenyon is a native of Canada. He is a son of
Amos and Caroline Cordelia (Blanchard) Kenyon. Amos Kenyon, of Vermont birth and English origin, emigrated to Iowa
in 1855, settled in Delaware county, where he died May 5, 1891. Mr. Kenyon's mother was of New York .birth; she
died in Iowa, July 22, 1889. Mr. Kenyon is one of nine children, seven of whom are living, all in Iowa, excepting
our subject and a sister in Denver. In 1868 Mr. Kenyon was married to Miss Cordelia Smith, who was born in the
state of New York. Her father, Samuel Hastings Smith, removed to Concordia in 1872 and died there in 1900, at the
age of eighty-five years. Her mother, who survives him, is also four score and five and lives with her daughter
in Concordia. Mrs. Kenyon is a refined gentlewoman. The atmosphere of refinement is one of the fundamental elements
often overlooked in the country home, but this is not lacking in the Kenyon residence. where everything bespeaks
cultivated taste. Mrs. Kenyon taught the second term of school in Joint District No. 1, Cloud and Republic counties.
She taught one term over the line in Republic county, which was the first school held in Norway township. Mr. and
Mrs. Kenyon's family consists of four children, two sons and two daughters. The two sons, Orlin and Arthur, are
prosperous farmers, and are both married. The daughters are educated young women, well qualified for the important
positions they occupy. Helen, who is teaching on her second school year at Valley Falls, graduated from the Emporia
State Normal in 1901, receiving a life diploma. June is a graduate from the Wesleyan Business College of Salina
and is employed as stenographer and bookkeeper at the Soldiers' Orphans' Home in Atchison.
Politically Mr. Kenyon votes with the Republican
party. He has served as treasurer of his district for almost a quarter of a century. The teachers in this school
have all been fortunate enough to find a home with the Ken-yons. Socially Mr. Kenyon has been an Odd Fellow for
thirteen years and is identified with the Order of Elks in Concordia.
CHESTER DUTTON.
Almost concealed by the overhanging boughs of the
surrounding park, picturesquely situated on a semi-circular curve of the Republican river, in the midst of a bower
of foliage, where all nature seems hushed to a solemn stillness, except the sighings of the Kansas zephyrs or the
music of the birds, that supply an orchestra each hour of the summer days, is the primitive dwelling, which the
author will affectionately christen "The Cabin," of that distinguished citizen and pioneer, Chester Dutton.
There is no palatial residence, but the old-fashioned
hewed log house awakens a train of emotions beyond the power of some stately edifice to impart. Mr. Dutton chose
this location because the high, perpendicular banks, cut by the current of the river, formed an insurmountable
barrier to a sudden attack of the murderous Indian bands that roamed along the frontier. The interior of the quaintly
rustic home is wholly in harmony with its environments and eloquent in its simplicity. Potted plants adorn the
broad window sills, and the profusion of books, periodicals and papers reveal the assertion that its inmates are
conversant with good literature. Tradition reveals the original Dutton was a Norman. A countryman from that kingdom
once said, the name Dutton was not Norwegian, but this is accounted for by the descriptive title having been given
after cognomens were acquired. In 1630 John Dutton wandered from the enclosure of the fold and became a Puritan.
The greater part of the family are descended from him. Another branch came from John Dutton, of England, who settled
in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and purchased six hundred acres of land from William Penn. The subject of this
sketch originates from the Puritan division, seven generations remote in America. An individual, who was gathering
names of Duttons, had found over two thousand, but among the Christian names of the representatives he had secured
there were no Chesters.
Joseph Dutton, of the second generation of Duttons,
settled on the Connecticut river, in the state of Connecticut, where our subject's father, grandfather and great-grandfather,
with their wives and children, all lived, and were buried from this same homestead. The two former were born there.
Four generations resided there at one time. The estate is still in the hands of relatives, but not a Dutton. Mr.
Dutton's great-great-grandfather, whose name was Thomas (as the two following were), when a very aged man came
to live with his son on the farm. The venerable father longed to visit a son in Vermont, but in those days of horseback
travel over mountain-ous roads, the journey proved too arduous for his failing strength and he did not live to
return. Thomas is a family name; the Quaker of that title lived a century and two years. As the Duttons emigrated
westward the two families became associated together. The Dutton ancestors were valiant patriots and served in
the Revolution. Mr. Dutton's three great-grandfathers commanded companies-Thomas Dutton, John Woodworth and Stephen
Mathews. The mothers of Mr. and Mrs. Dutton were cousins, hence John Woodworth, their grandfather, was the great-grandparent
of each. The former led a company in the defense of New York city; his son, our subject's grandfather, shouldered
a musket and went to war at the age of sixteen years, and was also in the resisting forces of the present great
metropolis. The father of our subject was Daniel Punderson Dutton, a New England farmer, and a brother of the Honorable
Henry Dutton, who was governor of Connecticut and judge of the supreme bench. Ex-Governor Dutton's son was killed
while leading a charge on a battery in the battle of Cedar Mountain in 1862.
Mr. Dutton's mother was Nancy Mathews. Thomas Mathews,
her great-grandfather, was horn in 1700. The inscription on the headstone that marks his grave in the ancient cemetery
of Watertown, Connecticut, reads: "He was a magistrate for over fifty years," which would take his service
partly under the crown. He died in 1798 Chester
Dutton was born March 24, 1814. He is the eldest child and only surviving member of eleven children. They all lived
to maturity and all but two reared families. William Dutton, the fifth child, was a West Point graduate, but resigned
and followed farming until 1861, when he valiantly led a regiment, commanding a brigade of five thousand New York
raw recruits. The brigadier general was ill and the entire command was thrown on Colonel Dutton, the senior officer.
The vigorous action involved consumed his strength and he died of fever brought on by overexertion. He died in
New York city, where he had been brought by his wife, on a boat that was sent up the Chickahominy river. One of
Colonel Dutton's closest friends at West Point was "Stonewall" Jackson, who was one degree below him
in scholarship. But when war was declared, the two gallant soldiers, who had been comrades and classmates, took
up arms against each other, and the ranks of the New England officer were cut to pieces by General Jackson's regiment.
Chester Dutton is the oldest of four surviving members who graduated from Yale College in 1838. His fellow collegiates
are Reverend William Thomas Doubleday, a brother of General Doubleday, of Binghamton, New York, Theodore Sedgwick
Gold, who was secretary of the Connecticut board of agriculture from the time of its organization until 1902, and
the fourth member Henry Parsons Hedges, of Bridgehamp-ton, Long Island, who is an attorney, a judge, dispenser
of the gospel and a farmer. These venerable collegians have all passed the milestone of four score years and all
except Mr. Dutton attended the bi-centennial of Yale.
The principal ambition of Mr. Dutton's early life
was to acquire a knowledge of the law. With this ardent desire interwoven and uppermost in his heart, and at the
earnest solicitation of an uncle, who thought his kins-man particularly adapted to the profession, our subject
entered Yale. But just as he had laid the foundation for the development of his career, the conditions were hopelessly
changed, the result of a physical ailment that caused an incurable affection of the throat, rendered him unable
to make use of the fine oratorical powers he possessed-one of the first requisites of the advocate in the practice
of law. That Mr. Dutton was compelled to resign his chosen pursuit was a painful disappointment is apparent by
the shadow that overspreads his kindly face when referring to his blighted hopes. Mr. Dutton was reared on a farm.
He taught school both before and after his graduation from college. He was principal of the classical department
of a proprietary school in Alexandria, District of Columbia.
Mr. Dutton was married in 1842 to Miss Mary Ann
Mellen, who was born and reared at Wolcott, Wayne county. New York, where she was mar-ried and resided until coming
to Kansas-the only removal they have made during their wedded life. Mrs. Dutton comes from Puritan stock. Richard
Mellen was the emigrant; he came over about ten years after the Mayflower, and settled in Vermont, where Mrs. Dutton's
father was born. Her mother was of Connecticut birth. To Mr. and Mrs. Dutton ten children have been born, six of
whom are living. Their eldest son is unmarried, and after an absence of twenty years in the far western country
he returned to the old home and is living with his parents. Chester and Judson Mellen are twins, born July 4, 1852.
The latter married Mary Elizabeth, the only daughter of James Taggart. Their farm is his old home-the original
Van Natta homestead. They are the parents of four children, May, Effie, James Lee and an infant daughter. There
are thirteen years between the ages of the third and fourth child. John, with his family, lives on an adjoining
farm and has the management of the homestead. Henry Lambert Button lives just over the line in Republic county.
His wife, before her marriage, was Lucy Dickerhoff, of Maryland. Their family consists of three sons and three
daughters, among them a pair of twins, which is remarkable for having been born on July 4, 1882, on the anniversary
of the birth of the twins in his father's family, just thirty years prior. Minnie, their eldest daughter, is the
wife of William E. Brewer, and they are the parents of a little daughter, Mary Henrietta, aged four. Lucy is the
wife of Frank Crosson, a descendant of one of the old Dutch families that settled near Philadelphia two hundred
years ago. Mrs. Crosson has been given a musical education and is an accomplished young woman. Charles William,
the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Dutton, is the present treasurer of Dewey county, Oklahoma, and also served two
years as county clerk of Cloud county. They have been unfor-tunate in the death of their daughters. Mary Arnot,
whose husband was a son of James Taggart, married and removed to near Knoxville, Tennessee, where she was deceased
in 1896. Mrs. Taggart taught the first school in the Dutton district. Death had previously claimed another daughter,
Julia, the wife of Stiles Platte. She died in Sibley township in 1887. Thomas, a son, died at the age of six years.
In 1900 George Dutton was deceased, leaving a wife and four children. The Dutton family is among the most highly
esteemed households in the county. The name carries with it a guarantee of sterling qualities. The sons are all
men of honor, industry and public spirit, always arrayed on the side of right and justice.
During the troublesome Indian uprisings Mr. Dutton's
keen intuition rendered him a valuable citizen. When they came to Kansas in 1867 their home became a camping ground
for the emigrant and the location had previously been headquarters for the Indian. The families were supplied with
various kinds and calibers of guns and were prepared to fire two hundred rounds. Had the savages not been aware
of their defense they would have been wiped out of existence. Mr. Dutton improvised a dugout to tide them over
until they could prepare the logs for a home, but the Indian troubles came upon the settlers and retarded operations,
hence they lived there until 1870, when they erected their present quarters. One would suppose the grove of trees,
which almost conceals their home, was a natural forest, but Mr. and Mrs. Dutton planted them and under their personal
supervision the tiny sprouts have grown to towering heights. Personally Mr. Dutton is a man of acute perceptive
faculties and strong convictions; his opinions command respect from his friends and acquaintances and are sought
in matters of public and private import. He takes a keen interest in all the topics of the past and present and
is a brilliant conversationalist. His countenance glows with kindness, amiability and benevolence. He continues
to be a close student. He is rather diminutive in stature, and as sprightly in his movements as a youth. He is
a vigorous, polished, comely gentleman of the old school; his long beard and well crowned head of hair are snowy
white, and he enjoys life at the venerable age of eighty-nine years. His personality impresses one with the thought
that he might have swung into the present from another era. Mrs. Dutton is a gentle, refined woman, whose eighty-six
summers have set lightly on her brow, although she is practically blind. They are an interesting couple, and happy
is the guest who whiles away a few hours beneath their hospitable roof. Although they have passed the milestone
of four score years-almost four score and ten-they are not aged, for old age is associated with decreptiness. The
relentless hand of time has not borne them down with a weary load of years, for they are as active as the average
person at sixty. They will evidently continue in their cottage of the early days until "gathered to their
Fathers in the little cabin so charmingly situated, where the river, as it wanders on, seems murmuring of its peaceful
quietude and good will toward men.
