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CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS BIOGRAPHIES BYRON M. WIARD. All the various lines of business considered, there is none dearer to the feminine heart than an elegant, well-selected stock of jewelry, all the latest fads and designs like those found in the elegant show cases of Byron M. Wiard's store, or the valuable and delicately chased patterns of silverware exhibited on the commodious plate glass encased wall shelves. It is one of Mr. Wiard's characteristics to recommend only such goods as merit an investment, and this admirable trait has gained for him the confidence of his customers and its natural following-a wide patronage. In the watch repairing department he has secured the services of "Billie" Nyman, whose reputation as a jeweler is well established in Concordia. Mr. Wiard originally hails from central Illinois, where he was born in 1856. His parents were Rolland and Mary (Wright) Wiard, both of New York birth. Norman Wiard, manufacturer of the Wiard gun, is a relative. The Wiards settled at Elgin, Illinois, in an early day. Mr. Wiard's father, died in 1875, and his mother was deceased in 1881. Mr. Wiard is a twin, and one of a family of seven children. His twin brother, Myron, is a jeweler of San Diego, California. At the age of seventeen years Mr. Wiard began his career and after three years in a cigar store with a brother in Waukegan, he decided the jewelry business would be more to his tastes, and consequently joined another brother in Breckenridge, Colorado, in 1880. Four years subsequently he came to Kansas, when the state wras booming and its many virtues being heralded abroad, and after looking over several probable points he favored Concordia. Of the jewelers who were here at that time he is the only one remaining. Mr. Wiard has prospered. He erected the building he now occupies, in 1887, a two-story brick, twenty-two by one hundred feet in dimensions, but he expects to occupy the spacious rooms where the Kelly stock of goods is being closed out, on Main street, first door east of Layton & Xeilson's drug store. Mr. Wiard was married to Miss Ida Wones, a Concordia young woman, who was educated in the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph. After having spent two years of study in optics Mrs. Wiard entered the McCormick Optical School of Chicago in 1901, and, graduating from that institution in ophthalmplogy, she returned to Concordia and established a complete line of optics, in connection with the jewelry store, and has had the entire management of that department ever since. Dr. Wiard has given a very able series of "Eye Talks" through the columns of the Kansan, describing various defects of that organ, followed by the mode of treatment required to rectify the deficiency. In former years a woman was seldom known prominently in the professional world, but among instances where they have succeeded Dr. Wiard is distinctively one of that number, pursuing optics with the greatest efficiency. She is a woman of charming personality, as well as skill and ability, and assuming the responsibilities of a profession have not detracted from her refined womanhood. Dr. Wiard is a member of the American Association of Graduates in Ophthalmology. Mr. and Mrs. Wiard are the parents of one child, a bright and winsome little daughter, aged nine. When the homestead law was enacted and rumors of the wonderful resources of this great western country were carried north, south and eastward, Robert McLean determined to emigrate to Kansas, and since 1868 this original and interesting character has been making history in Cloud county. He got his first glimpse of frontier life in Meredith township, where he joined his brother, the late Thomas McLean, and later homesteaded a quarter section of land, one mile northwest of the hamlet of Meredith. Instead of leaving the country during the Indian uprising, as most of the settlers did, Mr. McLean sought safer quarters with his brother, the late Alex. McLean, who had located just over the line in Ottawa county. He was undoubtedly a welcome visitor, for while his brother plowed corn our subject, with a gun in hand ready for action, stood as sentinel keeping a close vigilance on the developments of savage warfare Mr. McLean is of Scotch Irish origin, born in the Dominion of Canada in 1848. In 1872 he returned to his former home and was married to Miss Mary Smith, who was also a native of Canada, born in 1852. After having equipped himself with a helpmate, they repaired to their new western home and in 1874 bought the Morgan Grant stock of general merchandise and prospered as everybody did in those days, who had wares to sell. In 1884 he returned to Canada and secured a farm, but two years later came to Kansas, and bought the same store in Meredith; but again became restless and thought there must be a country more to his liking, consequently sold his store and sent his family to Canada, while he prospected for fairer fields, and, although he spent four years in various parts of th& country, including California, so great was his "hankering'' to again be a merchant on the broad prairies of the Sunflower state, that a few months later he, for the third time resumed business in the old place. About twelve months later, however, he sold and left the village of Meredith for the fourth and last .time. He bought the store of James Clithero, of Concordia, and a year later sold his interest to James Hubert Hodge, bought the Murphy homestead in Meredith township and engaged in the stock business very successfully. Retaining the farm, he bought the Jake Fetters store located at Hollis, and one year subsequently conducted a general merchandise business in Cuba, Republic county. In 1901 he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Sibley township, his present home. A great deal of real estate has passed through Mr. McLean's hands, having bought and sold almost a score of farms. He is now interested in stock and says he is raising "yellow corn and black hogs." He has at present thirty-four brood sows, and buys and sells constantly. In January, 1897, "The Sample Case," a paper devoted to the interests of the United Commercial Travelers, appears the following comprehensive "take off" on Mr. McLean, which was evidently written by "A Brother" who saw him as others see him. A WESTERN GENIUS. Away out west in Kansas, two hundred miles or more-
Some twenty miles from no place, stood a little country store, And the man who ran the shanty (a Canadian by birth)
Just worked the store and people for all that they were worth. A regular museum, where was kept for sale or trade,
A general stock of every earthly thing that e'er was made; Dry goods, bacon, jewelry, molasses, pins and soap,
Sulky plows and parasols, tobacco, silk and rope." Feathers, flour and saner kraut, and calico, and nails,
Buggies, beans and baling twine, and needles, knives and pails. He dealt in hogs and cattle, and the various kinds
of grain, And he made every edge to cut, did this same Bob McLean. He wrore a pair of pantaloons made out of cottonade, A pair of cowhide boots outside, a hickory shirt, home-made, And one well greased suspender held his pantaloons in place, An old wool hat, turned up behind, projected o'er his face. But Bob got tired of keeping store, he hankered for a farm- A "quarter" of rich prairie dirt would fit him like a charm, And so he struck a granger who was asking for a trade, And hayseed took the yardstick, while Bob shouldered the spade. If any of Bob's hosts of friends should stray out
into Cloud county, they will find him husking pumpkins, and as proud of raising hogs and cab Mr. McLean talks interestingly of the early days in Kansas. He was a true pioneer and enjoyed the wild freedom of the plains. While on a buffalo hunt his party found the skeleton of a man, and the bones of his ox team, with the wagon which had drawn the luckless frontiersman to his death on the lonely prairie, at the hands of some murderous Indian band. They carried away with them the skull and an arrow that held together two joints of the backbone. The family of Mr. and Mrs. McLean consists of seven
children. Mark, the eldest son is one of the proprietors of "The Oxford," a popular restaurant in El
Reno, Oklahoma. He is prosperous and an adept in the business, having been connected with prominent places in Denver
and San Diego. Mary, the eldest daughter, is the wife of A. Richards, a farmer of Sibley township. Frank, the second
son, is of an agricultural turn of mind and-the prime mover in farm and stock interests. James, a young man of
seventeen years, exhibits special talent for music. Anna, aged fifteen, graduated from District No. 16, in 1902,
with the highest grades and won three scholarships, namely: Baker, Ottawa and Great Bend Universities. Thomas,
their youngest son, was named for his uncle, Thomas McLean, the founder of Meredith and well known to all old settlers
of that locality, where his widow, who survives him, still lives. Their youngest child, who bears the good old
Quaker name of Prudence, is aged ten. Charles D. Avery, the subject of this sketch, is one of the old residents and honored citizens of Sibley township, who emigrated to Kansas in 1872. The first year of his residence in the state he lived on a rented farm six miles south of Blue Rapids. The following winter (1873) he came to Cloud county and paid John Taggart, a brother of Oscar Taggart, of Concordia, eight hundred dollars for his homestead right and moved his family on the farm, where he continued to reside, and where he has acquired a commodious home, after long years of privations and reverses incident to grasshoppers, prairie fire and drouth. The former did not damage him as seriously as the prairie fire that came in March of that year and burned the corn in his cribs, along with some hogs. In scorching the latter, forty or fifty little motherless pigs were more or less ruined; a new harvester, for which he had just paid one hundred and twenty-five dollars, his new wagon, fanning mill, wheat and oats in the granary; all were consumed and the house only saved by the most strenuous efforts. This was a serious loss to a man just starting in a new country and several hundred dollars in debt, but upon this foundation Mr. Avery has gained a competency and a desirable home. Mr. A very is a native of Niagara county. New York, born in 1839. He is a son of Daniel and Almeda (Lewis) A very. His father lived in Vermont, the place of his nativity, and that of many generations of Averys until after his marriage, when he removed to the state of New York, where he resided until his death in 1880. He was a blacksmith and farmer by occupation. Mr. Avery's mother died in i860. Our subject is the second youngest child in a family of thirteen children, only one of whom besides himself is living. Mr. Avery was reared in the family of a paternal aunt and drifted away from the hearthstone of his parents. When the contest between the north and south was inaugurated, Mr. Avery joined the Twelfth New York Independent Battery Light Artillery, with its quota of one hundred and twelve men under Captain W. H. Ellis. He enlisted November 20, 1861, for three years, and when his time expired re-enlisted and demonstrated his patriotism by serving until the close of hostilities. His company were in the front rank at the battle of the Wilder-ness and Shelton Farm. They had four guns taken by the enemy at Jerusa-lem Plank Road. They participated in the engagement at Ream's Station, one of the hardest fought small battles in the history of the Civil war. While they were stationed at Fort Haskell in front of Petersburg a shell was sent in their midst. They saw it advancing and as they dodged behind various places of protection the iron sphere exploded, sending its missiles in every direction, but fortunately no one was hurt. Mr. Avery was slightly wounded from the explosion of a shell. The soldiers were quartered in a bomb-proof retreat where they slept. It was a sort of dugout. The earth was excavated to a depth of five feet and covered with dirt, well packed down. Each apartment consisted of four bunks, with three men to each berth. Mr. Avery had been doing guard duty and had repaired to this place of safety for a few hours' rest and sleep. He had just retired in one of the bunks, when with a terrific noise a shell of about sixty pounds weight came crashing through. As it exploded he was struck on the wrist, which cracked the bone and disabled him for duty for about five weeks, but instead of going to the hospital he remained in the battery.. Mr. Avery, with two cousins, were comrades, all going into the service and returning together. Their company was under the charge of three different captains. The first was discharged for disgraceful conduct; the second was George F. McKnight, and he was succeeded by Charles A Clark. The two latter were from Buffalo, New York. Soon after the war Mr. Avery settled in Jackson county, Michigan, where he was married to Miss Mary E. Wilcox in 1867. To their union seven sons and three daughters were born, viz: Charles Avery, their eldest child, is a well known photographer of Concordia. Several illustrations in this volume show the excellent character of his work. Arthur, whose personal sketch follows this of his father. Lewis is a farmer of Sibley township. Myrtle is the wife of John Taylor, of Sprague, Nebraska. Guy is a jeweler of Hanover, Kansas. Cecil, who was recently married and lives on the homestead. Lulu is the wife of William Clark, a prominent and well-to-do young farmer of Sibley township. Ralph, a young man of twenty, who is teaching his first term of school in district No. 95. He graduated from the Great Western Business College in 1902. Roy, the youngest son, is aged sixteen and Juanita, a little daughter, aged eleven. Mrs. Avery, who was a very estimable woman, was deceased in May, 1894. The Averys are highly respectable people, as well as prosperous. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of district No. 95. Mr. Avery is a Republican politically and has held various township offices. He is an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic. William Layton, an enterprising farmer of Buffalo township came to Kansas as early as 1863, when the state was designated as "bleeding, suffering Kansas/' and settled in Nemaha county, near the Brown county line. He freighted in 1865 from Nemaha county to Fort Collins, over the unsettled plains when the mail was carried from Atchison to Denver, Colorado, in stage coaches. Marysville, Kansas, was about the size of Jamestown, and Beatrice, Nebraska, could not boast of much more than a dozen houses. Possessed of the restless spirit that pervaded most men at that time, Mr. Layton sold the land he bought in Brown county, and in 1873, in company with his brother, pushed westward into Cloud county, where he bought the relinquishment of Charles H. Salters. They were visited by a heavy rain soon after moving into their new quarters-a combination dugout and log hut with dirt covered roof, which was practically dissolved and washed away under a three days' pouring down of the elements. They spent six weeks in that abode, and as if to make it more uninhabitable the place was infested with myriads of fleas. The house was then enlarged by adding a few logs, covered by a shingled roof, and pronounced one of the best dwellings in the country; not without a little sarcasm, perhaps, for the settlers began to feel a little envious of the new comer who located in their midst and did a little too much "fixin' up." Although Mr. Layton has experienced numerous discouragements, withstood two grasshopper raids-for the one that visited Nemaha county in 1866 exceeded the ravages of this insect in Cloud county in 1874-he is loyal to the state, came to stay and does not regret it. Taking his own experiences as a basis, he asserts anyone coming to Kansas with a stock of perseverance and well directed energy, can make a success, and also contends when all the advantages are considered there is no better country on earth. Mr. Layton's farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres. For several years he carried on diversified farming, but of recent years he has given his attention to wheat raising and the growing of alfalfa. One season he had a tract of two hundred acres that yielded twenty-eight bushels of wheat per acre. He has a field of fifty-five acres of alfalfa and considers this one of the best crops grown in this part of the country, from a financial standpoint. Mr. Layton has an interesting war record. On January 1, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the following September, when he was discharged for disability, occasioned by a gunshot wound received in the evening of the first clay's fight at Shiloh. His right arm was broken, but with his left he picked tip his gun, resolving he would not leave it for the rebels. He also received a gunshot wound in the thigh and still carries the ball. During the few months he served in the army he was taken at a rapid gait and experienced hard fighting. After the battle, our subject was numbered with the slain, but instead of being dead, he, with others, were thrown into a cotton gin, which was converted into a temporary hospital, its puncheon floor strewn with wounded soldiers. Had he been left there for any length of time, Mr. Layton would have succumbed, for his wounds were of a dangerous character. But a boat came cruising down the Ohio river for the purpose of rescuing the boys of the "Buckeye" state who were in the improvised hospitals. Realizing that a little strategy meant salvation for him, Mr. Layton feigned he was from that commonwealth and was tenderly carried on board. m Upon arriving at Cairo, he acknowledged the deception, revealed his identity and beat his way home on a train. But his ardor had not cooled, and #as he stood watching the soldiers marching to the front great tears would well up in his eyes because he could not join their ranks again. The Thirty-second was a depleted regiment. Every commissioned officer went down in the first battle of Shiloh; also every non- commissioned officer with the exception of two. The regiment was almost exterminated, but Mr. Layton's brother, Preston, came through without a scratch. Mr. Layton was a sufferer from his wounds for a period of fifteen years. Just after the close of the war our subject was married to Mary Good-pasture, whose father, John Goodpasture, was one of Nemaha county's pioneers, having settled there as early as 1859. He had sold his farm in Illinois during the war, but the parties to whom he sold were unable to meet the payments and the property reverted to him. Later on he returned to Illinois, where he died in 1891. The Goodpastures descended from an old Holland family. Mrs. Goodpasture's maiden name was Emily Long, and she was of southern lineage. Mrs. Layton was a small child when her mother died, and she was reared by a step-mother, who is still living. Mrs. Layton is one of six children, four of whom are living: Mrs. Jobe, of Prescott, Arizona; Mrs. Sarah McCarthy, who resides on a farm near Jacksonville, Illinois, and Samuel Goodpasture, of Concord, Morgan county, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Layton five children have been born. Their eldest child and only daughter married Robert Jones. She was a woman of gentle, attractive character, and her death in January, 1902, was mourned not only by her husband and family, but by a large circle of friends and acquaintances. George, their eldest son, is a successful business man and a member of the firm of Layton & Neilson, druggists, Concordia. Their second son, William Waldo, died at the age of six years. John M. and Roy B., the two younger sons, are practical farmers. In 1884 Mr. Layton erected a handsome two-story residence of nine rooms, and in 1892 a fine basement barn. Anxious to have their home surrounded by a grove of trees, Mr. and Mrs. Layton planted six hundred box-elders, and many of these are living. Later they planted elms, ash and cedars with good results. While they were planting the switches that later developed into trees, their little family of children, now grown to manhood, watched the proceedings through the windows. Mr. Layton is a man esteemed for his sterling worth of uprightness. His career has been one of industry and perseverance, and his methodical system of farming has brought its returns in the development of a beautiful country place, where, surrounded by his excellent family, he enjoys the fruits of his labors. Socially, he has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows about twenty years, and also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic. Politically, he is a staunch Democrat. Among the young men of Concordia who are fitting themselves to suc-ceed in business enterprises on their own responsibility, as numerous others have done, is Walter Scott Foster, a trusted employe in the drug store of W. F. Neitzel, a position he has occupied for three years. Mr. Foster has not always been engaged in this capacity, but learned the harness trade in Scotland, his native country, and was in the employ of Thomas Lamay, of Concordia, for two years. Mr. Foster is one of nine children born to George and Hannah (New) Foster. The late John New, one of Clyde's old residents, was an uncle of our subject, having been his mother's brother. Mr. Foster's father was formerly a druggist and chemist and owned a drug store in the city of Hull. He was also in the civil service for about fifteen years as revenue collector, but on account of ill health is retired from a business career. Mr, Foster has two brothers in Kansas and one in Missouri, but the other members of the family are in England. Mr. Foster was born in Scotland but is of English parentage. When a youth his parents removed to Yorkshire, England, where they still reside. Socially Mr. Foster is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a member of the Episcopal church of England. Mr. Foster is an ambitious young man, for whom it is not improbable the future holds marked success, for he is honorable, trustworthy and capable-qualities never overlooked in the business world. The subject of this sketch is one of the prosperous sons of Charles D. Avery, of the preceding sketch, and one of the most well-to-do farmers and stockmen of Sibley township. Mr. Avery was born in Jackson county, Michigan, near the town of Parma, in 1870, and was but two and a half years old when the family emigrated to Kansas; hence he is practically a product of the state. He was educated in the old Sibley school house, No. 16, on the original Sibley townsite, and taught school for three years, two years in Lawrenceburg and one year near Aurora. With the exception of this school work he has always been a farmer. Mr. Avery was married in 1805 to Miss Mary Anna Iverson, a very deserving and amiable young woman whose parents were old settlers in Sibley township. She is a daughter of the late Louis and Christine (Hanson) Iverson, who homesteaded section eleven, the farm where Mr. and Mrs. Avery now live. The Iversons were of Danish birth. Her father was born in Schleswig-Holstein, March 28, 1827. He was a seafaring man for some years, making voyages from San Francisco around to Cape Horn, He subsequently located temporarily in California and engaged in the alluring occupation of gold mining, owned valuable properties and acquired a fortune, but lost the greater part of it in unwise speculation. After his wealth became shattered he gathered the fragments of his successes together, and acting upon Shakespeare's lines, There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," he came to America, sanguine that good results would yet follow his undertakings. He made two trips across the United States and had selected a site near Omaha, Nebraska, for a home, but fell in company with some of his countrymen in Junction City, who were coming to Cloud county, Kansas. He joined them, established a home, returned to Denmark and married. Mr. Iverson prospered in Kansas and founded a permanent home where he died, surrounded by the comforts of life, July 19, 1899. Mrs. Iverson was born in Denmark June 12, 1846. She was deceased March 1868, leaving two daughters. Two sons were born to their union, both of whom were deceased in early youth. Ida Christine has gained prominence as an educational worker and a teacher of music. She is now pursuing a classical course in Stanford University. The rudiments of her education were acquired in joint district No. 1, Cloud and Republic counties, and she taught two terms of school before going to California eight years ago. She was one of a party of tourists who visited the Paris Exposition, including a trip to Austria, Ireland, England Scotland, Germany, Italy and many other places of interest. Her present aim and ambition is to complete a University course as a means of obtaining higher and more responsible positions. Mrs. Avery was educated in the home school and is possessed of considerable talent in both music and art. She is a woman of many admirable qualities, and the interior of their home suggests the refined taste of its matron. After the mother's death, Mrs. Avery was her father's housekeeper. To Mr. and Mrs. Avery two children have been born Lloyd Lawrence and Helen Christine. Aside from the homestead Mr. Avery owns four hundred and forty-four acres of fertile bottom land along the Republican river that is in a highly cultivated state. He keeps a herd of about one hundred and twenty-five head of native cattle and has a pasture of eighty acres along the river. He raises on an average over one hundred head of hogs and has made his money in stock. Like most of the farmers along the Republican he raises corn and ships it in the form of cattle and hogs. Mr. Avery has enlarged .the residence, built commodious sheds and otherwise improved the homestead. From one of his adjoining farms Mr. Avery sawed thirty thousand feet of cotton wood lumber from a grove and avenue of trees that have sprung up into giants within a little more than a quarter, of a century. Politically Mr. Avery is a Republican. He has been treasurer of the school board for five years. Mr. and Mrs. Avery are among the representa-tive people of the community, are members of the district No. 95 Methodist Episcopal church and associated with all worthy measures for the improve-ment of the locality in which they live. William Baker Williams, better known to Kansans as ''Greenback Will-iams/' is one of the characters of Cloud county. When he came into the community in 1878 the currency question was at its zenith and he was an ardent "Greenbacker." There were four individuals in the vicinity of his home who bore the name of Williams. They were about the same age and were christened with similar initials. All these "Williams" received their mail through the Concordia postoffice, and to designate him from the others of like cognomen, and in accordance with his enthusiastic interest in the finan-cial question, he was given the sobriquet that made him famous. He is known far and wide, his name often appearing in the eastern papers, giving descriptions of him and his surroundings. A new York paper recently pictured him as an eccentricity living on an island in the Solomon river. Since the currency question is a dead issue he votes the Socialist ticket. He has always been on the side of reform and his persistent views have been widely commented on. Though on the unpopular side politically, Mr. Williams is highly esteemed by his neighbors and is a good citizen. He was born in Muhlenburg county, Kentucky, February 13, 1834. He received a limited education in his native state, but in his boyhood days the public school system was not what the bright boys and girls of to-day are favored with. To learn to read, write and spell, and perhaps "cipher" a little, was considered an accomplishment for a country bred boy. His parents were William and Lydia (Studebaker) Williams, of the same lineage as the noted wagon manufacturer. Our subject's paternal grandfather, also William Williams, was an American born and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was one of a family of twelve sons and one daughter. They all arrived at maturity, but during the Revolution became separated and lost to one another (although he was the only patriot of the family) and many of them were never reunited. "Blue Jeans" Williams, of Indiana, a noted politician and attorney, is of the same ancestry. He was a bright man in his day, but eccentric. He insisted on wearing blue jeans long after that particular weave was out of date. This and other peculiarities won him the title that was never dispelled. Mr. Williams' father was a South Carolina planter and a slaveholder. He disposed of his slaves in 1847, but some of the family held them until the rebellion. The sentiments of his people were divided and represented both sides. His paternal ancestors were of Welsh origin, but as most Amer-ican born people whose forefathers settled in this country, he is a mixture of several nationalities-Welsh, English, Scotch and German, the latter predominating, perhaps. When nineteen years of age Mr. Williams located in Woodford county, Illinois, where he worked on a farm until the winter of 1855, when he was married to Miss Esther Arrowsmith on the 24th day of December. She was a young English woman who came with her parents to America when she was twenty years of age and settled in Illinois. After the war Mr. Williams removed to Buchanan county, Missouri, where he resided until 1870. In July of that month he located in Jewell county, Kansas, and homesteaded land. After a happy wedded life of thirty-six years Mrs. Williams died August 23, 1891. To their union thirteen children were born; seven lived to maturity, two sons and five daughters, all of whom are married and have families. The two sons and one daughter are in Cloud county, two daughters in Nebraska and one in Iowa. A young German woman who was orphaned when a child, lives in the family of Mr. Williams, who was administrator of her father's estate. There were two sisters, Amelie and Martha. They were bathing in the river when the latter got in the water beyond her depth and was drowned. She was aged ten years. Mr. Williams was married May 19, 1892, to Mrs. Maggie Harrison, of Jewell county, who is a most estimable woman. In 1877 Mr. Williams sold his farm in Jewell county and bought the original homestead of W. C. Williams, who contested the right to the claim, taken back in the 'sixties. He has placed all the improvements on the farm, which consists of one hundred and twenty acres in Buffalo township, five miles west and three and one-half miles north of Concordia. A commodious residence, substantial barns, orchards, a well kept blue grass lawn and fine shade trees; an ideal home, where Mr. and Mrs. Williams, who are praiseworthy citizens and neighbors, can spend their declining years, surrounded by many comforts. The subject of this sketch is Edward Marshall, now of Barnard, Lincoln county, Kansas, but for years one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Cloud county, both socially and politically. Mr. Mar-shall is a native of "Merrie England," the land that has sent many of her stalwart sons and daughters across the blue waters of the Atlantic to assist in making this great commonwealth one of the foremost among the nations of the world. Mr. Marshall was born in 1843, and when a youth of twelve summers emigrated with his father's family to Nova Scotia, and two years later to Wisconsin, where he received a common school education, and when but eighteen years of age responded to the call of his adopted country for men and enlisted in Company H, First Wisconsin Infantry, serving three years under the distinguished General Thomas, in Sherman's army. After he was discharged he returned to Nashville, Tennessee, just as Hood made an attack on that city, and Mr. Marshall was commissioned captain of a company in the quartermaster s forces. He regained one year at Nashville, but finding himself at a disadvantage and unpopular because of his northern proclivi-ties, he returned to his former Wisconsin home and bought an interest in a stage line. Four years subsequently he removed to Dodge Center, Dodge county, Minnesota, where he, with other interested parties, established a grain, livery and implement business. During most of this time he served as city marshal. In 1872 he emigrated to Kansas and located in the unsettled territory now included in Oakland township, which Mr. Marshall helped to organize in the summer of 1874. It included thirty-six sections of land, or six square miles. Here Mr. Marshall took adavntage of his homestead right and filed on one hundred and sixty acres of "Uncle Sam's" broad domain. He did not need to sing with the poet any more, "No foot of land do I possess, a pilgrim in the wilderness." Everything had a thrifty appearance and Mr. Marshall wanted quality rather than quantity, and so did not use his soldier's right and pre-empt a quarter section. This year was followed by drouth and grasshoppers and he witnessed the Arcadia transformed into a fruitless desert and underwent the hardships and discouragements of the average settler. Entering upon a political career, he left the farm in 1885, but retained his land until 189S. In 1895 Mf- Marshall was elected to the office of sheriff of Cloud county on the Republican ticket. The tem-perance question was before the people at this election and Mr. Marshall promised if elected he would close every saloon in Cloud county. This promise was carried out within four months after he took his office, the saloon interest being completely routed. He was re-elected two years later and the joints and saloons under his jurisdiction suffered severely. In 1898, when he sold his farm, Mr. Marshall engaged in mercantile pursuits in Concordia. One year later he removed his stock of goods to Barnard, where, associated with his son J. C, they are doing a prosperous business. His stock consists of a full line of merchandise and in connection they handle the Deer-ing goods and do a large trade in the implement line. They do business under the firm name of Marshall & Son. Mr. Marshall was married in Ravenna, Ohio, in 1868, to Mrs. Elizabeth Hart. To this union three sons and two daughters were born. The eldest son, J. E., is traveling salesman for a Topeka paper company; J. A. is editor and publisher of the Jamestown Optimist; J. C. is associated in business with his father; Ada is employed as saleslady in the general merchandise store of Scott & Lintz, of Concordia, and Lida is house-keeper for her father, the mother having died in 1888. Mrs. Marshall was a member of the late President Garfields church at Ravenna. She was a cultured woman and to her counsels her children doubtless owe much of whatever honor or success they may attain. Mr. Marshall is a member of the Christian church, while his children attend the Baptist church. The subject of this sketch is Mrs. Hilda Elfstrom, of Arion township, whose experiences in life are marked by accident and coincidence, but she has gathered up the scattered threads of destiny and woven them into a beautiful combination. The woof of the busy shuttle in the loom of life is not always smooth and fine, or rose-colored in its hue. "Mistakes she made not few, yet wove perchance as best she knew." Mrs. Elfstrom is the widow of Gustaf Elfstrom, who came to Kansas in 1869, and settled on a homestead, their present farm in Arion township-Mr. Elfstrom was born in the central part of Sweden in 1840. His original name was Alonson. His father died when he was a youth and his mother married a man by the name of Elfstrom. According to an established rule of that country a student whose name ended in "son" could not be admitted, consequently when Gustaf Alonson entered the Lund University, where he graduated at the age of nineteen years, he adopted his step-father's name; He has two half-brothers, one of whom is very wealthy, being proprietor of a drug store in Stockholm, valued at eighty thousand dollars. The other brother lives on the old estate in Sweden. Mr. Elfstrom began his career as first mate on an American vessel and for several years following was a seafaring man. He was in New Orleans when the south seceded and was filled with a desire to enter the army, but Captain Waite fell ill and Mr. Elfstrom, "at Captain Waite's earnest solicitation and offer of a lucrative salary, became commander of the latter's vessel, remaining in that capacity for three years, sailing from Calcutta to New Orleans, His life at sea was an eventful one and during the ten years thus passed he experienced two thrilling ship wrecks. While on the high seas enroute from Calcutta to Australia they came in contact with a pirate vessel and at once raised the American stars and stripes, while almost simultaneously the robbers hoisted the black flag, and both ships prepared to make ready for warfare; but the plunderers' force was inferior and they withdrew. Mr. Elfstrom's vessel carried cargoes to Melbourne, Australia, and while in the city he artd some friends went out with a guide who conducted them into the midst of a band of brigands. Mr. Elfstrom was a linguist and spoke Italian and French and several other languages fluently, and in this way discovered the plot, revealed the scheme to his comrades, overpowered the freebooters and made their escape. Mr. Elfstrom finally grew tired of adventures at sea. He had read in the papers and various other literature that was scattered broadcast over the land, of the fertile fields of America, and more especially of the new state of Kansas, and of the productiveness of her vast acres that could be secured for a mere pittance-a land of promise where things grew without cultivation. With these alluring prospects he gave up his life on the "briny deep" and sought a home in the far, far west. About the same time Mrs. Elfstrom's father decided to build a home for himself and family in the far-famed western country, and the two men met in Junction City, the destination of many home seekers at that time. In company with a guide, the tourists who were destined to later become mutually interested, journeyed together looking over the country in quest of homesteads, and upon arriving in Arion township they found their goal, the end of their final purpose. Mr. Elfstrom secured the homestead where his family now live and his wife's father, Carl John Reyrriers, filed on land four miles further north. Mrs. Elfstrom did not come with her father's family to their new home, but remained at Fort Riley in the family of Colonel Hamilton, that she might learn to speak the English language. Her father died the following autumn, September 15, 1869. A letter sent to Mrs. Elfstrom, apprising her of her father's death did not reach her for two weeks, but Colonel Hamilton sent her home under an escort of six soldiers and a sergeant. Soon afterward Colonel Hamilton was ordered by President Grant to change his quarters to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. and Mrs. Elfstrom accompanied them, and through this association she gained an English education. Mrs. Elfstrom's place of nativity is Stockholm, Sweden, where she was educated in a private school and under a governess in her father's home. The Reymers were of German origin. Her great-grandfather settled in Sweden, where he died, leaving a large estate which became involved in litigation and was lost to her father, who was an intelligent and well educated man. He was an extensive farmer in Sweden and operated a brickyard and a tannery. She has two brothers who reside at Grant's Pass, Oregon, and are prosperous men-Napoleon, a fruit grower and shipper, and Victor, a gardener. Mr. and Mrs. Elfstrom were married in Clyde, Kansas, in 1870, editor J. B. Rupe performing the ceremony. Their early married life was spent in a log house, but they had some finance and were comfortable, happy and sanguine of the future bringing them merited returns. Owing to the grasshoppers, the drouth and the high price of provisions, they saw their means vanish like snow under the rays of a warm sun, and like all the settlers of that period, they were reduced to very economical living, but by constant and assiduous labor, coupled with frugal domestic management, they had acquired a comfortable home, when, in 1880, the husband and father, in the prime of his full manhood was cut down by the "grim reaper" Mr. Elfstrom was a powerful man and his love for sport frequently induced him to compete with his comrades and friends in a test of strength. On the fatal occasion which caused his death, several members of a threshing crew who were at a neighbors, engaged in pulling "hand-holds" and Mr. Elfstrom was matched against Julius A. Belo, another man of great strength. The strain of this test produced the rupturing of a blood vessel and he died as a result. Mr. Elfstrom was a man of more than ordinary intelligence, a rare conversationalist, spoke several different tongues, and having had early educational advantages, was a fine scholar, and through the knowledge gained by extensive travel in various parts of the world he possessed a broad fund of general knowledge. Mrs. Elfstrom kept her little brood together, and although she met with many reverses, has been rewarded with prosperity. In 1883 they erected a large stone residence, one of the best in the vicinity, which was destroyed by fire the following year. With the assistance of neighbors and kind friends they built a small frame building. There were discouragements, but her boys were growing strong each day and the school of industry in which they were reared made it possible for them to manage the farm work early in life and as they grew to manhood, better days dawned until now they occupy one of the most beautiful country homes in the community. The sons are practical farmers and stockmen and are adding other lands to the homestead. Evar, the eldest son, bought eighty acres adjoining in 1897, and in 1901 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres near Maceyville. Harold, the second son, owns a quarter section in the same locality. The brothers also rent land and are extensive wheat growers, having on an average two hundred and sixty acres. They have made their money raising wheat, cattle and hogs. Besides the two sons mentioned, there is a third, Emile, who, like his brothers, is an industrious young farmer. The daughters, four in number, are prepossessing and refined young women. Annie is married to James Johnson, and the are the parents of three children, Ralph, Hilda and an infant. Olga is the wife of Frank Moore, by whom she has had two little daughters, Allie and Myrtle. Florence is the wife of Arthur Spicer; she,was a student of the Concordia High school one year. Alice, the youngest daughter, is unmarried and lives at home. The children have been educated principally in district No. 17. Thomas Malone was the first teacher of this district and taught the term preparatory to drawing the state fund and was paid in pork, flour, sorghum and sundry other articles. All three of the sons-in-law are farmers of Arion township. The Elfstrom boys are all Republicans of staunch tendencies and are sober, honest and trustworthy young men who will make life a success. Mrs. Elfstrom is not a woman given to extravagant expenditure, but her home is one of comfort and suggests a peaceful, happy abode. Personally she is gifted with a bright intellect and is a woman of education and accomplishment. |
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