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CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS BIOGRAPHIES HENRY COLTON Henry Colton is a progressive farmer and one of
the most extensive breeders of hogs in the county. He has at this writing (November, 1901) one hundred and ten
head of fine thoroughbred Chester Whites that are his especial pride. Among this number are fifty-two which he
is feeding for the market. He has six brood sows whose increase aggregates fifty-six pigs. He has one pedegreed
sow and nine thoroughbred pigs. Mr. Colton raises on an average from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and seventy
pigs annually. During the month of September, 1900, he sold ninety-three April pigs for six hundred dollars; lumped
them off to a Kansas City hog buyer. The proceeds of his sales in 1900 were $1,285. Mr. Colton is a native of Jefferson county, New York, born February 12, 1838. He is a son of William Henry and Lucretia (Felt) Colton. His father was a Canadian by birth and served in the Patriot war of 1838, from which he never returned and was presumably killed. He was a blacksmith and wagon maker by occupation. The Felt ancestry were from the Green Mountain country of Vermont, and subsequently settled in Jefferson county, New York. To this union three children were born. Edward and Edwin, twins. Edwin was a resident of Ottawa county for twenty-six years. In 1898 he moved to Oklahoma, where he now lives on a farm near Kingfisher. When her family of boys were small Mrs. Colton broke up housekeeping. Edward was placed with a family with whom he became dissatisfied, ran awav from home at the age of fifteen years and has not been heard from since. Mr. Colton received a limited education, working in summer and at-tending school in winter. He located in Indiana when nineteen years of age and began farming for himself. In 1866 he emigrated to Benton county, Iowa, where he farmed until coming to Kansas in 1884. Mr. Colton was married in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1862, to Esther Clark, a daughter of D. L. Clark, of Huron county, Ohio. Mrs. Colton was a successful school teacher in Ohio and Indiana. Her mother died when she was three years old and her father when she was nine. To Mr. and Mrs. Colton have been born six sons and six daughters, viz.: James H., a farmer of Meredith township, married to Lydia Bates; they are the parents of one child, Neva. Edwin, employed as fireman on the Rock Island railroad, married Mary Hurley, a daughter of James Hurley (see sketch) they are the parents of three children, Ray, Frank and Theresa. Eva, the widow of William Mantz, is the mother of three children, Nona, Stella and Constance. Nellie, wife of Edwin Throckmorton, residents of Golden, Colorado, where he is employed as clerk in a store. He is a printer by trade. They have two children, Clare and Esther. Cynthia, wife of A. Q. Holbert, a farmer and stockman of Meredith township; their family consists of two children, Fred and Lottie Marie. George, a member of the police force of Denver, Colorado, married Isabella Berry, of Denver, formerly of Lincoln, Nebraska. Adelia. Lawrence and Laura, twins, (the latter died in infancy); Lucretia and Lenard, twins (the latter died in infancy), and Lester Grant, who was born on the anniversary of President Grant's birthday, and was named for that statesman. Adelia and Lucretia, prepossessing young women, are members of the household. Mr. Colton is a Populist, politically. He has served his township two years as trustee, three years as treasurer and a member of the school board for several years. One of the prosperous farmers of Solomon township, who has helped to demonstrate what a poor man can do in Kansas, is Hans Asmussen, an industrious Dane. He was born in Denmark in 1853. When a boy he was apprenticed to a miller and worked in a flouring mill three years. When twenty-one years of age he entered the military service, as is the custom of his country, and served one year. In 1882, he left his native land to find a home in Kansas. He came direct to this state and bought the original homestead of Moses Louthan, on Third creek. The land was under a fair state of improvement, but he built a substantial stone residence of six rooms the same year. In 1895 he built an excellent barn thirty-four feet square. This farm of two hundred and twenty-two acres is an exceptionally good one, well watered and well timbered. Mr. Asmussen was married, in 1883, to Mary Hansen, a sister of Mrs. Fred Beck. Their family consists of four boys and one daughter. Chris, a young man of seventeen years, assists with the work on the farm; Henry, Anna Maria, Jens Peter, and Carl, are aged fifteen, thirteen, eleven and nine years, respectively. The subject of this sketch, Bert Porter, is one of the enterprising young men of Cloud county, who within a short period of time has risen from a farm hand to one of the most prominent farmers and stockmen in the Solo-mon valley. He has made a wonderful record, perhaps no man in the county can produce a better one. Ten years ago, Mr. Porter's worldly possessions consisted of a span of horses. He became associated with his father and bought the Vance Thompson homestead in 1891. In 1899 he purchased his father's interest in the farm and now owns four hundred and eighty acres of land with two hundred and eighty acres under cultivation. Eighty acres of this lies along Fisher creek, is heavily timbered and is a very valuable piece of ground; the other two hundred and forty acres are in Summit township. Mr. Porter married at the youthful age of eighteen years, December 28. 1888, Florence, one of the five daughters of Henry Stout, at this time a farmer near Simpson, but now living in the vicinity of Clyde. Her sisters are, Minnie, wife of Frank Campbell, a farmer of Republic county, ten miles north of Concordia; Maggie, wife of James Joslyn, a farmer of Republic county; Nellie, wife of Ulysses Nicols, a farmer near Randall, Randall county, Kansas; Myrtle, who was adopted into the family of D. Joiner, her mother having died when she was an infant two weeks old. The Joiners live on a farm near Virgil, New York. Mrs. Stout was Mary Long, of Iowa. Mr. Porter is a son of Major and Eliza (Forgy) Porter. Major Porter was born in Thelma, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1833. In his early life he was a carpenter and shoemaker. In 1875, he located in Clay county, Illinois. In 1884, he came to Brittsville, where he worked for five years at carpentering, then began farming, which occupation he followed until his wife's death, when failing health caused him to retire, making his home with his sons until his death in the autumn of 1901. Bert Porter is one of two sons; his brother E. H. is a blacksmith and wheelwright, located in Glasco. When Mr. Porter was married he began the stockraising business with one cow, a calf and a hog presented to Mrs. Porter as a wedding gift. He now raises from two to three hundred hogs annually and keeps on an average one hundred head of cattle. He has placed nearly all of the buildings on the farm, as it was in an unimproved state when he bought it. In 1900, he built a large basement barn, 32x64 feet in dimensions. The basement (used for feeding purposes) is 32x52. His farm is equipped with al! sorts of modern farming implements and machinery. It is said the largest and best span of mules ever in Cloud county were raised on his farm. Many buyers pronounced them the best they ever saw. They were seventeen and one-half hands high and weighed one thousand five hundred pounds each. They were dead matches, Mr. Porter being the only person who could distinguish them, and he did not want to be very far away. He sold them when the mule market was low for three hundred and forty dollars. One year later they would have brought an advance of one hundred dollars. If Mr. Porter accumulates in the same proportion in the next ten years he will certainly be one of the best demonstrates of what energy can do in Kansas without capital. Anton Sparwasser, an industrious German farmer of Solomon town-ship, is a fair representative of his thrifty and enterprising countrymen. Though Mr. Sparwasser is American born, the German largely predominates and he can scarcely speak the English language. Illinois is his native state. born in Monroe county, in 1847. His father was Anton Sparwasser and his mother before her marriage was Christine Kern, both natives of Nassau, Germany. They came to America in 1834, and settled in Monroe county, Illinois. The father died in the spring of 1877, and the mother the following autumn. Mr. Sparwasser is one of seven children, six of whom are living. They are all residents of Monroe county, Illinois, except himself. Mr. Sparwasser came to Kansas in the autumn of 1890, with a capital of $2,500. He bought two hundred and sixty acres of land (the Turkeson homestead) for a consideration of $3,000, and built a house at a cost of $1,000; he also bought teams, farm implements, two cows and a few calves. The famous possibility of a Kansas fanner had been recited to him and Mr. Sparwasser had no hesitancy in becoming involved. He, with his sons, farmed one hundred and sixty acres of rented land in addition to his own and fortunately had a large yield of wheat and corn that year, which he fed to cattle and hogs and doubled his investment; another illustration of the hundreds of farmers who have done likewise. Mr. Sparwasser has been married twice. He was married in 1871, to Anna Buck, who died, leaving four children, only one of whom is living, Caroline, wife of Phillip Ritzel, a farmer of Illinois. In 1878, he married Louisa Pape (a sister of Mrs. Berneking); their family consists of the following children: Henry, a bright and intelligent young man who has just attained his majority, is interested with his father in farming. He is a member of the Order of Woodmen, at Glasco. Herman, Fred, Anton, August, Emma, Lucy, Edward and Phillip, are the other members of the family. Mr. Sparwasser is a Democrat, but cast his vote for McKinley. The family are members of the Lutheran church at Glasco. J. V. Cunningham is one of those intelligent farmers and stockmen with whom it is a pleasure to converse. He came from Daviess county, Missouri, where he had farmed from 1857 to 1883 - to Cloud county, and bought the farm he now owns and lives on in Lyon township. He is a native of Belfast, Highland county, Ohio, born in 1836, and a son of William M. and Sarah Ann (White) Cunningham. His father was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1808. He was a farmer and stockman by occupation, and when quite a young man he moved to Ohio. After a short residence in Gallia county he settled in Highland county, and in 1857 emigrated to Daviess county, Missouri, where he died in 1875. J. V. Cunningham's paternal grandfather and great-grandfather emigrated from the Emerald Isle to America in 1778, but were taken back by the British. They returned in 1784, and settled in Pennsylvania, and subsequently in Ohio, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. Cunningham remembers having attended both of their funerals. His grandfather enlisted in the war of 1812, but was rejected for nearsightedness. He was born in 1772, and died in 1854 at the age of seventy-two years. His great-grandfather, who died at the age of one hundred and four, was born in Scotland in 1740, and died in 1844. Mr. Cunningham's maternal ancestry were also of Scotch origin. His maternal grandfather was a Caldwell, and was with the Cunninghams when they were returned by the British. Both families came later and settled at Belfast, Ohio, an Irish and Scotch settlement. Almost the entire population of this vicinity are descendants of these colonists. His grandfather White's homestead was purchased by the county to be used as an asylum for the poor and has become one of the most noted institutions of this kind in southern Ohio. Mr. Cunningham received his early education in the old log school house near his home in Ohio and began his early career by learning the painter's trade. At the age of twenty-two he began farming, which he has followed ever since. He served his country in the late war and was one of Company D, Twenty-seventh Missouri Infantry, enlisting in 1862, and was in active service for two years. He was in the division of the Western army, and participated in the battles of Vicksburg and Chattanooga. Near the close of the war he fell sick and was discharged for disability. Mr. Cunningham is one of the few who never received nor made application for a pension. He was married in 1872, to Ebrala Frances Severe, a daughter of John D. Severe, a farmer of Daviess county, Missouri, formerly of Knox county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham are the parents of an engaging family of nine children, six girls and three boys, viz : Charlie O., Annie B., Orda A., Ora S., Maud M., Jessie E., Erma E., Mary L., and Ruth. Mr. Cunningham's farm consists of two hundred and eighty acres, upon which he raises hogs extensively and keeps an average herd of one hundred and fifty head of native cattle. They have considerable fruit of a great many varieties, and a fine orchard that yields regularly and abundantly. Mr. Cunningham was a Democrat, but in recent years has affiliated with the Populist party. In Daviess county Missouri he served as undersheriff and assessor. He has held the office of treasurer of Lyon township and is the present justice of the peace. He and his estimable family are members of the Church of Christ, of the New Range Line organization, which convenes in the school building of district No. 56. He is a prominent member of Glasco Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Charles Smitley, an old soldier and resident of Cloud county, was born in Mercer county, Ohio, in 1838. He is of German origin. His grandfather and .four brothers crossed the water to America during the Revolutionary war, took diverging paths and never met again. Mr. Smitley's father was Frederick Smitley. He was born in Ohio in 1807, and, died there in 1894. Mr. Smitley's mother was Katherine Hanger, of Ohio. She was born in 1815, and died in 1884. She was of Ohio birth and German origin. The Hangers were Vermonters and her mother's people, the Eagles, were early settlers in Pennsylvania. Mr. Smitley was living in Ohio when the war cloud arose over the country and at the age of forty years he enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain James and Colonel Alexander Piatt. He entered the service in 1861, and served three years." He was in the army of the Shenandoah, which confined its principal operations to the states of Virginia and West Virginia. The hardest warfare he ever encountered was on Hunter's raid at Lynchburg. They were without rations and when retreating were on the verge of starvation. Raw potatoes, raw onions and green apples no larger than hazel nuts were staple articles of food for several days. He was in the two battles of Winchester, Charleston (South Carolina), Fayetteville, Salem, Martinsburg, Chapmanville (West Virginia, Long Bridge, second battle of Princeton, Cotton Hill, Charlestown (West Virginia), Manassas Gap, Wytheville, Cloyd Mountain, Cove Mountain, New River, Panther Gap, Piedmont, Buffalo, Lexington, Buckhannon, Otter Creek, Lynchburg, Liberty, Monocacy, Snickers Gap, Snickers Ferry, Kerntown, Summit Point, Halltown, and Berryville. His regiment was known as the Piatt Zouaves. They were mustered in September 2, 1861, at Dennison, Ohio, by T. W. Walker, captain of the Third Infantry United States Army, and were mustered out in July, 1865. His company was in the enemy's land the entire time and saw continued and active service. After the war Mr. Smitley returned to Ohio, where he farmed until coming to Kansas. He has never claimed any other home than these two states. He took up a homestead in Arion township, where he now lives with his son, who practically owns the farm. Mr. Smitley was married in 1873, to Sarah Francis Custer, of Ohio. To them have been born four children, two daughters, Mary and Grace, who were bright and promising young girls, died at the ages of sixteen and seventeen years. Allen G., was born in Mercer county, Ohio, in 1878, and came with his parents to Kansas when an infant six months old, and has grown to manhood on the farm where he now lives. He received his education in Glasco, and began life by making egg cases at one and one-half cents each, when about nine years of age. He then worked on a farm by the month and secured a team; from this he has grown to be a successful man and one of the most useful citizens of Arion township. June 24, 1901, he married Miss Mary Owen, a most estimable young lady and an excellent housewife. She is a daughter of Nefi and Elzira Owen, who came to Kansas from Indiana, and settled on a farm in Mitchell county, where Mrs. Smitley was born. Her mother died in 1882. Her father and sister, Opal D., aged fifteen, are residents of Topeka. The subject of this sketch, the late venerable George Shafer, one of the old pioneers of Cloud county, came to Kansas in the autumn of 1867, and was in the Solomon valley during the turbulent Indian raids. He was born in the "Keystone" state in 1818, and has always been a tiller of the soil. He was of German origin. His parents were John and Susan (Kellar) Shafer. When one year old his father moved from his native town, Hamilton, Pennsylvania, to New York, and settled in Allegany county. In 1850, Mr. Shafer emigrated to Illinois, and later in the same year entered land in the state of Iowa, when that country was very sparsely settled. Seventeen years subsequently he came to Kansas and homesteaded the land upon which he resided at the time of his demise. With his wife and nine children he lived in a dugout until the Indian raid on the 14th day of August. He had lumber on the ground for the purpose of erecting a dwelling. As the militia, that had been formed to protect the settlers, rode up the building burst into flames. They could get no water as the Indians had cut the well rope, and their dugout and its contents, including the lumber on the ground were destroyed. A large can of kerosene was supposed to have been poured over things which aided them in burning more rapidly. The family of E. J. Fowler was with the Shafers when they discovered the band of marauders roaming around, and, knowing there was immediate danger threw a supply of bedding and provisions into a wagon, huddled together in the one vehicle and drove rapidly away. As they did so they saw five Indians approaching and the fire was the result of the latters' visit to the dugout. The two families joined the stockade at Minneapolis, thankful to have escaped with their lives. Mr. Shafer lost property to the amount of $1,200, including a horse stolen by the redskins. This was a severe blow to the family's prospects, and it was several years ere Mr. Shafer regained what he lost in the raid. Later the settlers established another stockade on Gilbert creek, where they would club together, plant and till their crops and return to the place of safety at night. Mr. Shafer was married, October, 1848, to Laura Belcher. They lived forty-eight years and seven months of happy wedded life together, and to this union fourteen children were born, all but one of whom are living, - ten daughters and three sons - viz.: Alpha J., wife of J. G. Lancaster, a farmer and stockman of Lincoln county; Eliza Ann is her father's housekeeper, and is an industrious and excellent woman; Mary Lovina, wife of J. Harshbarger, a farmer and stockman of Lincoln county; Susan Helen, died at the age of five years in Iowa; Lucy Elmira, wife of W. P. Doty, a farmer of Cloud county; Olive Adell, wife of J. R. Clarke, a farmer, stockman and railroad man, and at the present time depot agent at Milo, Lincoln county, Kansas; George Washington; Rachel Irene, wife of J. B. Sage, an extensive farmer and stockman of Lyon township; Emma Lucretia, wife of O. C. Harris, a miner of Jamestown, Colorado; Frances Arvilla, wife of A. C. Greeley, a farmer near Longmont, Colorado; Oliva Amadella, wife of W. M. Clark, a farmer and stockman near Delphos (Mrs. Clark was the first child of the family born in Kansas) ; Laura Luna, wife of E. C. Greely, a miner of Goldhill, Colorado; William Henry, a farmer of Lincoln county, Kansas, married Emma Jones; John Freeman, the youngest child, is a farmer and married Bertha Diehuel. The Shafers were members of the Congregational church, but when they settled in Iowa the church of their choice did not exist there and they joined the Methodist Episcopal church. After locating in Kansas they joined the congregation of United Brethren. It became disorganized and they united with the Christian church, and are regular attendants and active workers. By the death of Mr. Shafer a long and useful life has been brought to a close. He was. a man of many admirable traits of character. He lived an honorable life of four score and four years ere he joined the hosts of the unknown where many of the snowy-headed pioneers have gone on before, and where his wife preceded him on June 7, 1898. He was a devoted friend of every good cause and in his passing the community lost one of its most highly respected citizens. An old landmark of Solomon township, who emigrated to the Solomon valley in the spring of 1867, and settled two and one-half miles south of where Glasco now stands, is J. P. Studt. He and a brother, Jacob Studt, who was with him, took up homesteads and "bached" together in a dugout fourteen years, where they endured many hard experiences. They were compelled to go to Minneapolis to get their plows sharpened and to Solomon City to mill, and upon their return would distribute their breadstuff among their neighbors, who were far apart. During the Indian raid of 1868, J. Studt was out hunting horses and came near being captured. During this raid the savages approached within a quarter of a mile of their dugout. Mr. Studt and his brother assisted in the burial of the victims of the massacre. Mr. Studt was born in Danish Prussia in 1843, and when ten years of age came to America with his father's family and settled in Monroe county. Illinois. Although Mr. Studt did not attend school in America, he reads and writes English and has a good German education. He learned English by reading the Junction City Union. He was interested in what the papers said of the new West, its railroad prospects, emigration, Indian troubles, etc. A desire for procuring this information led him to pursue English literature. Mr. Studt's father died in Illinois on October 7, 1864. His mother died in Germany when he was a youth nine years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Studt were the parents of eleven children, only two of whom are living. The brother who came to Cloud county, died in January, 1892. Mr. Studt was married in 1879, to Miss Augusta Wislimsky. Their family consists of five children, viz.: Phillip, a young man of twenty. Charlie, aged eighteen. Henry, aged sixteen. Anna, a young girl of fourteen. Fred, a boy of thirteen years. Mrs. Studt was born in Germany and at the age of twenty-four years came to America. Her father died when she was two years of age. The mother came to America in 1884, and died in 1898 at the home of Mrs. Studt, where she had lived for several years. Mr. Studt owns three hundred and sixty acres of fertile land. In 1891 he sold the homestead and bought his present farm, upon which he keeps from fifty to sixty head of native cattle. He votes the Republican ticket. The family are members of the Lutheran Church. D. F. Sheffield, a farmer and stockman of Lyon township, five miles east of Glasco, is a native of Indiana, born in 1861, in Kosciusko county, twelve miles from Warsaw. When nine years of age he came with his father's family to Kansas, and settled in Linn county, and in 1876 came to Cloud county. His parents are Charles and Cynthia (Funk) Sheffield. His father was born in Rochelle, New York, in 1833, and came to Indiana with his parents when a lad. He farmed in Indiana, but in his earlier life was a school teacher. He took up a homestead in Cloud county, four miles north of Glasco, where he lived nine years, sold and then went to Topeka, where he worked in the repairing department of the Santa Fe railroad shops, and the last three years of his life was foreman there. He died in April, 1901. He was a bright and educated man. He was a Republican in politics and when the Santa Fe had any business to transact they had confidence enough in his ability to make him their representative and sent him out to campaign for them. He was an old and popular employee; had been with them thirteen years and by his kindly disposition made many friends, who were shocked to hear of his demise. He died suddenly of heart trouble after a few days of indisposition. He was of English parentage. His ancestors were seafaring men, his paternal grandfather having been captain of a British merchantman. Charles Sheffield moved to Indiana when a boy and received a high school education. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and a great reader. He was connected with the Cloud County Empire as a solicitor for subscriptions and advertisements and contributed articles to the newspapers which won for him commendation. He served in the Union army as a private in the Thirty-first Indiana Infantry. He was a member of the Second Presbyterian church of Topeka, of the Grand Army of the Republic and a Mason. The Monday prior to his death six children and ten grandchildren and a number of friends assembled to celebrate their forty-sixth anniversary. D. F. Sheffield's mother is a native of Ohio, of German origin. He is one of seven children, viz.: Mrs. W. C. Scott, of Oklahoma; Mrs. F. H. Hood, of Topeka; Mrs. J. N. Hughes, of Kansas City; Charles Sheffield, of Kansas City, a conductor on the Fort Scott & Memphis railroad; J. S. a carpenter in the Santa Fe shops of Topeka; and R. E., a painter with residence in Topeka. D. F. Sheffield has always been a farmer. He began by renting land, and in 1894 bought the splendid farm where he now lives. It then consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, but in June, 1901, he bought an adjoining quarter section, built a nice little cottage of four rooms, good cellar, ice house, etc. He has a good young orchard and fruit of every description started. He has been very successful in growing evergreen trees and has a fine lot of them started. His ground is mostly wheat land. He keeps a herd of about forty Hereford and Shorthorn cattle. In 1887, he married Frances X., a daughter of A. Newell (see sketch). Mr. Sheffield is a Re-publican in politics and is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge. He is one of the rising young farmers of the Solomon valley. Miss Susannah Bond, the subject of this sketch, settled in the Solomon valley, when it was in its primitive state and is one of the oldest remaining settlers. Miss Bond is a native of Lawrence county, Indiana, born in 1825. Her parents were John and Alice (Nelms) Bond. Her father was a native of North Carolina and her mother of Georgia. They both died in Orange county, Indiana, her mother in 1854, and her father in 1857. Miss Bond is the youngest and only living member of a family of fourteen children. She emigrated to Kansas with two brothers and a sister and all lived together. Nathan was deceased December 11, 1871, Sarah M., in 1889, and John N. in 1891. They came to Kansas in 1866, and filed on the land included in her present farm in 1867, The year previous they spent in Dickinson county, and during the Indian uprisings they located in Daviess county, Missouri. In the meantime other parties made an effort to secure her claim and in 1869 she returned, contested her right, and again returned to Missouri. In 1870 she again came to Kansas, settled on her homestead and has since resided in Cloud county. Miss Bond was here during the first Indian raid, and witnessed some of the results of their depredations-the dead and wounded settlers. She lived in a dugout until her present residence was erected about fifteen years ago. She has experienced the hardships incident to life on the frontier. One-half of her dugout fell in during a heavy rain storm, and her efforts were many times seemingly baffled trying to keep the wolf from the door. Miss Bond has always taken a great interest in church work and has lived the life of a consistent Christian woman. She has* been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church during the greater part of her seventy-seven years. Her father was a local Methodist Episcopal preacher. The Methodist Episcopal church of Glasco was organized in 1870, and Miss Bond was the first to unite with the congregation. Mrs. Adrastus Newell, William Abbott, Miss Bond's two brothers, her sister and herself composed the entire membership at the time of organization. Miss Bond lives on the old homestead and a niece, Mrs. D. D. Hannum, and family live with her. Conrad Romeiser, like all the old pioneers of Cloud county, has made interesting history. He landed in Solomon City, March 3, 1869. He was born in Hessen, Nassau, Germany, in 1846, and has inherited the thrift of his nation. His father, Nicholas Romeiser, served twelve years in the service of his native country, entering the army when but seventeen years of age, and remaining until discharged on account of disability. He then followed farming and later engaged in the butcher and meat market business. He died August 20, 1866. Mr. Romeiser's mother died when he was an infant, leaving himself and brother, Peter M., who has risen from obscurity to prominence as a citizen and enterprising man of Belleville, Illinois, where he is a wholesale and retail merchant, doing an extensive business. Their father by a previous marriage had two children and by a third, five children. Mr. Romeiser was educated in the schools of his fatherland and just prior to attaining his majority set sail for America. His destination was St. Louis, where his brother had preceded him. He arrived in Chicago with one dollar and a ticket to St. Louis, and borrowed one dollar from a stranger he had traveled with. He had served an apprenticeship as butcher in Germany, but not speaking English it was difficult to secure work at his trade, and he resorted to the country, where he became a farm hand near Waterloo, Illinois, and where he earned his first salary on American soil. He shook with ague for many months, was bitterly discouraged and would have returned to his native land could he have paid his passage. In 1869 he and his brother came to Kansas. They
had heard many fabulous stories of the homestead lands and through correspondence with the Studt brothers and a
friend they were induced to try their fortunes in the "New-West." They selected claims in the Solomon
Valley, returned to Solomon City, walked from there to Junction City, filed on their claims and walked back to
their new lands feeling like kings and princes. In the summer of 1870 the country was rapidly filling up with settlers and he built a dugout on his claim. He would return occasionally and build a big fire so that the emigrants and neighbors could see the spiral smoke curling upward from his chimney and know that "Cooney" was home and would not jump his claim. In 1870 he hired Mr. Misell and Mr. Grittmann to break some prairie land. At that time these men were not as expert with the plow as they became later in life, and, with their oxen as animal power, made very crooked rows. This same Grittmann walked and carried a gallon bucket of lard all the way from Junction City to his claim on the Solomon. He was slightly weary, perhaps, but as he thought of the delicious gravy they could make, it became a precious burden and comparatively light, Mr. Romeiser paid four dollars per acre for the turning of his sod. The next year he traded and succeeded in getting more done. For five years he did not have a horse or animal of any description and operated his farm by working for his neighbors, and in return getting their horses or oxen with which to till his ground. Five years from the time he homesteaded he bought at forced sale an old mare, so balky at times she would not pull "the hat off his head." For this, his first article of stock, he paid sixty-six dollars and fifty cents. Charles Horn loaned him part of the money for his investment, which after all proved a good one, she being an excellent brood mare and from her he raised fine colts. In 1874 Mr. Romeiser began to prosper. He traded around and got two ponies, took a trip, and was flourishing when the grasshoppers and drouth overtook the country. But the grasshopper year proved the "fattest" for him as he left his homestead that winter, went to Marysville, where he had friends, and secured a place to work where he could get all he wanted to eat and drink, returning to his claim in the spring with his face as round and slick as an onion. On account of the grasshoppers and drouth he sold to Allen Teasley seventy-five dollars worth of hogs and donated some poultry for good measure. In the meantime Mr. Teasley died and Mr. Romeiser was sorely distressed, thinking the deceased might not have made provision for the payment of this bill or it might not be understood by the wife and sons. But upon inquiry he found the good wife had saved the money for him. With this he bought plows and other things needed on the farm. He now began to add other land to his homestead, in the meantime borrowing four hundred dollars for one year, paying fifteen per cent interest. He engaged in stock raising and has made his money in feeding and shipping hogs and cattle. He now owns three hundred and twenty acres of fine land, and in 1894 built a commodious house of six rooms and two wide halls. He has a large bank barn 36x80, one of the finest in the county. He lived in a dugout for about eight years and in 1882, built a small stone house over the cellar which was then considered a pretentious home. His first dugout was on the bank of the creek. During a wet season he was drowned out. It had been raining several days, but he did not anticipate an overflow and was sleeping soundly. He was awakened by D. W. Teasley shaking the door of his hut and hallooing. He inquired the meaning of their excitement and as he looked about, saw the dugout was flooded with water several feet deep, his trunk and "baching" utensils floating around the room, and the creek, a roaring, booming river. Mr. Romeiser at once repaired to the little hog pen, kicked the boards loose and let the hogs out. The struggling and half drowned swine were sticking their noses upon one another's back to keep from drowning. Mr. Romeiser was married in 1878 to Caroline Gnatkowsky, a native of Germany, who came with her parents to America in 1871 and settled in New Baltimore. In 1877 they came to Kansas and took up a homestead on the divide, where her mother died in 1895, and her father in 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Romeiser have a family of six children, viz: Herman, a farmer; Henry, with his father on the farm; and four exceedingly bright little girls, Margaret, Mary, Louise and Ignore. Now while looking over his little home Mr. Romeiser can have some satisfaction in recalling the hardships endured while procuring it. The subject of this sketch is John Eberhardt, a farmer and stockman of Lyon township and a native of Germany, born near Frankfort-on-the-Rhine in 1834. He had not yet attained his majority when he touched the soil of the Western Hemisphere in 1848, and settled in Washington county, Wisconsin. His father was Valentine Eberhardt, a thrifty German farmer. He emigrated from Wisconsin to Kansas in 1874, and bought a farm adjacent to the city of Salina, where he died in 1890. Mr. Eberhardt's mother was Anna Maria Steele; she died when our subject-their only child- was a small lad. His father then married Catherine Artz, a half-sister of his first wife. To them were born six children, five sons and one daughter, four of whom are living. Mr. Eberhardt removed from Wisconsin to Illinois, and at the call for volunteers he enlisted in Company H, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, under Captain Hooker and General Stone. They were most actively engaged in Virginia. He served three years and during that period was under fire fifty-four times. Mr. Eberhardt was in the hospital for one year, suffering from an accident occasioned by his horse falling while crossing a creek near Alexandria, Virginia, and disabling him, in fact, he has never fully recovered from the effects; has been a physical wreck since the war and at times suffers intensely. Receives a pension of but eight dollars per month. He is entirely deaf on the right side from a blank cartridge fired against his ear by an Irishman. Mr Eberhardt emigrated to Iowa in 1868, and from there to Kansas in 1873, where he took up a homestead and later traded for the place he now lives on. Mr. Eberhardt is a horticulturist and has one of the finest peach orchards in the county, and a fine bearing apple orchard of two hundred trees. His farm consists of one hundred and sixty acres and is under a high state of improvement. The beautiful wooded little stream. Chris creek, runs through his place. Mr. Eberhardt was married in 1857 to Eveline McHorn, and in 1867 to Miss Mary Ann Surgeon. By this second marriage there are five boys and two girls: Frank G, a farmer of Bourbon county, Kansas; Albert M., a farmer of Lyon township; Valentine, Grant and John H. are interested in the farm and stock at home; Lizzie, the widow of Clint Cossell, and Leola May, aged fourteen. Mr. Eberhardt is a man esteemed for his worth and strict integrity, being possessed of many worthy traits of character, he has a large circle of ardent friends. Among the early settlers who came to Kansas in the fall of 1870 is J. H. Neal, who lived during the winter of that year on the Solomon river near Solomon City, in the spring time of 1871, moving to Cloud county and homesteading the farm where Charles Pilcher now lives. During the grasshopper year he was forced to return to Ohio in order to make a living for his family. He worked in the Champion shops at Springfield until the autumn of 1878, when he again returned to Kansas, remaining two years, returning the second time to Springfield. In the meantime he decided that with the drouth and grasshoppers there was no better place than Kansas, and accordingly returned in 1886. In 1875 he traded his homestead for the place where he now lives, which is one of the best farms in the community. Much of it is wheat land and in 1901, he had eighty-five acres which yielded twenty-two bushels per acre, and the year prior the average was twenty-eight bushels per acre. Mr. Neal is a native of Ohio, born in 1834 on a farm near Urhana, Champaign county. His father was St. Ledger Neal, a native of Maryland, born near Hagerstown in 1805, but who came to Ohio when a young man, where he lived until his death in 1865. Mr. Neal's grandfather, Aquilla Xeal, was also a native of Maryland. The Neals were of English and Irish descent. Mr. Neal's mother was Clarissa (Pearce) Neal, born and reared in Urbana, Ohio, her father having moved there from Kentucky in 1801. Her brother, Milton, was the first white child born in Urbana, then an Indian village. Mr. Neal's mother died in 1891. He is one of eleven children, ten of whom lived to maturity. Mr. Neal lived on the farm until the age of nineteen years, when he went into a machine shop as an apprentice, working at his trade most of the time until 1886. He was married in 1863 to Sarah Jane Pitzer, daughter of Jacob and Almeda (Rexford) Pitzer. Her father was born in Kentucky and when two years old came to Ohio with his parents and settled in Brown county, on the Ohio river, where he grew to manhood. He learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed along with hunting arid trapping, for several years, then moved to Indiana and later to Illinois, where he died in 1844. Early in life he lost a limb. The Pitzers were of German origin, Mrs. Neal's grandfather coming from Germany. Almeda (Rexford) Pitzer was born in Jefferson county, New York. When four years of age she went with her parents to Michigan, and the following spring the war of 1812 began, during which time they were stationed at Fort Huron for protection from the Indians. Peace was made when she was seven years old, which event she remembers distinctly and about this time her father moved to Lower Sandusky, Ohio, where she was reared and married. She was married in 1826 to Jacob Pitzer, who died in 1844. She was again married in 1847 to John D. Armstrong, who died August 21, 1853. Mrs. Armstrong is the mother of twelve children, ten of these by the first marriage and two by the second. Five of them are living. Mrs. Armstrong is living with her daughter, Mrs. Neal, at the age of ninety-five years. She has a sister in Fort Collins, Colorado, who is eighty years of age, and a brother two years her junior, Philander Rexford, whose address is 408 Park avenue, Syracuse, New York. The following was clipped from an October 1, 1901, issue of the Post-Standard, Syracuse, New York: "Philander Rexford. of 408 Park avenue, this city, was not only alive at the time of Perry's great victory over the British on Lake Erie in 1813, but he lays claim to have been practically an eye witness of the famous naval battle. He was within hearing distance of the guns, and although he is now a man ninety-two years of age, his recollection of the engagement and the events surrounding it seem quite distinct. "Mr. Rexford was born in Sandy Creek, Jefferson
county. New York. September 5, 1809, and in 1811 moved to Detroit, Michigan, with his parents. In the following
year the war of 1812 was declared, and subsequently Detroit and the entire Michigan territory was taken by the
British. The Rexfords were forced to leave their home with many others of Detroit and found refuge in Fort Huron,
at the mouth of the Huron river. "It was while at Fort Huron on- Lake Erie that Mr. Rexford heard the booming guns of the battle. He was then a boy of four years and the engagement occurred but a few miles from the fort. "He says he remembers distinctly the excitement in the fort and the remarks of the American soldiers as broadside after broadside shook the air: "There goes another broadside," they would say, or "There's a breaker for Barkley's ribs" Barkley was the British commodore. Many such ejaculations Mr. Rexford remembers and also the scenes of rejoicing at the announcement of the victory. The men and women in the fort went wild with joy and excitement. Guns were fired and drums beaten. "Hull was immediately forced to retire from Detroit and the refugees were allowed to return. The grandmother of Mr. Rexford had been taken prisoner at the capture of Detroit by Hull, and was forced by the British soldiers and Indians, who composed his force, to walk from the homestead into the city, carrying her six-year-old child. The distance was long and she suffered many hardships. "Ohio at that time was filled with British soldiers and the scarlet coats were common sights. At the close of the war many of the soldiers in the northern territories were discharged and found their way to England by traveling across the country. Mr. Rexford remembers seeing many of them. In many cases, he says, the American settlers extended courtesy to them, but in many other cases it was hard for Americans to treat them as anything but enemies. "Mr. Rexford was at Fremont, Ohio, when Major Crawn with one hundred and thirty men in Fort Stevenson, defeated seven hundred Indians and several hundred British and their allies. It was thought by the attacking party that a breach had been made in the walls of the fort and hundreds of men were poured into the trench which surrounded it. While in this trench the Americans opened fire with a gun stationed in a block house so situated that its fire swept the trench. The gun which did the execution was known as "Betsy" and is still at the fort. "Mr. Rexford says that he remembers the remark of an Irishman taken prisoner at the battle. "Sure" said Pat, "I thought it was a hog pen we were attackin", and I found it a hornets' nest." "Mr. Rexford visited the coal fields of Pennsylvania, where he made a study of the economical use of that fuel. In 1863 he came to Syracuse, where he was engaged by the salt companies to instruct their firemen in the use of coal, it at that time being a new fuel. "Since then he has been engaged in the same business, although his present age prevents his engaging as actively in it as formerly. His pet theme is the lessening of the smoke which curls from the chimneys of the city factories. "Although the brother and sisters have not seen each other for twenty-five years, they correspond regularly. AH are well preserved and active, considering their great age and bid fair to live many more years." To Mr. and Mrs. Neal have been born three children, two of whom are living viz: Philander Rexford, traveling salesman for the S. F. Baker Medicine Company, of Keokuk, Iowa, and who was formerly a farmer of Lyon township, where he still owns land. He is a very successful salesman and collector. Some ten years ago he was married to Miss Addie Jones, a Glasco girl. They have one child, Paul Rexford, a bright little boy of nine years. Clara, wife of Price Baker, of Glasco, salesman for the Champion Machine Company. They have three daughters, Lois N., Lottie May, and Margaret Maud. Mr. and Mrs. Neal lost a daughter, Olive E., a promising young lady of seventeen years, who died December 3, 1891. She was a graduate of the Glasco schools, and died of spinal meningitis, brought on by overstudy. Mr. Neal is a Republican and cast his first vote for Salmon P. Chase for governor of Ohio. It was not his fault that he did not serve in the late war as he was examined and rejected three times. Mr. Neal was the first trustee and assisted in laying out the first roads in Lyon township. Mr. and Mrs. Neal are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Another of those old landmarks of Solomon township is Adrastus Newell, whose present good financial standing has been attained entirely through his own perseverance. His reputation for honesty and integrity is an enviable one, his hospitality is well known and his friends are legion. He lives one mile east of Glasco in one of those good old-fashioned farm houses whose exterior and interior bespeak all the comforts a well-to-do farmer and his family can enjoy. His home is presided over by Mrs. Newel 1, who is a true helpmate to her husband and who possesses that most desirable attribute, an excellent housewife, as the neatness of their home testifies. Mr. Newell is a native of Jefferson county, New York, born near Sackett's Harbor in 1831. He is a son of Origen Stores and Sarah (Baker) Newell. His father was born in Vermont, October 4, 1802, and when five years of age moved with his parents to the state of New York. Arriving at mature years he became a farmer, emigrated to Wisconisn and settled in Jefferson county, forty-five miles distant from the city of Milwaukee, where he died in 1868. Mr. Newells grandfather was in the war of 1812. Mr. Newell says he remembers him distinctly, as he occasionally applied the chastening rod to him. an occurrence often made indelible on the memory of a boy. His paternal great-grandparent emigrated from England to Vermont and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Mr. Newell can only recall his mother as she was robed for burial. She died when he was but four years of age. He remembers his maternal grandfather who was very much of a recluse, hence Mr. Newell knows but little of his maternal ancestors other than- they were of Holland origin. Mr. Newell was one of eleven children. There were seven by a second marriage. Of these he only knows of a brother, living in Wisconsin, and a sister in Idaho. Mr. Newell began at the foundation when he entered upon a career for himself. He worked at anything he could find to do, on the farm, teaming, and gathering wood ashes for a soda factory (in those days ashes were col-lected for the manufacture of soda). Later he worked in the Wisconsin pineries for $17 per month. Out of his earnings he saved enough to buy the undivided half of a three hundred and twenty acre tract of land seventeen miles from Green Bay, and fourteen miles from Appleton, Wisconsin. He paid $150 in gold for a yoke of oxen. The land was heavily timbered. He cleared one hundred acres in one year, employing five men. Mr. Newell says he worked so hard and tried to accomplish so much that he shingled a barn by moonlight. He would start to market with a load of wheat at 5 A. M. Perhaps his breakfast would l)e a biscuit frozen so hard he could scarcely eat it. There he lived thirteen years and in 1866 came to Kansas. He had served his country the last year of the war in Company A, First Wisconsin Cavalry, under General Wilson of Cuban war fame, who had command of all the cavalry of the army of the Tennessee. Mr. Newell was promoted to commissary sergeant. He was discharged in Wedgefield. Georgia, returned to Wisconsin and the following year sold his farm. Mrs. Newells people had preceded them to Kansas and he had heard a great deal about the state during the war. These were the inducements which brought them here, and at the persuasion of friends he filed on a homestead three miles north of Glasco, which he sold later with the intention of going to California, but when the opportunity presented itself he realized more forcibly than ever before that Kansas was a great and prosperous state, and, concluding to remain, he bought his present valuable farm in 1883. Mr. Newell has improved this place, making it one of the finest in the country. His residence is a commodious one of eight rooms, splendid barns, sheds for vehicles and implements, shelter for his cattle and a capacious granary. When in Wisconsin, Mr. Newell with his sisters, attended the Oneida Mission church, where he met Mary A. Frost, a teacher in the Mission school, whom he married in 1856. Mrs. Newell was born in the state of Ohio. When she was five years of age her parents moved to New York where they remained seven years and then removed to Wisconsin. Her father was Aaron Frost, a native of New Hampshire. He emigrated to New York, where he married, and afterward settled in Ohio. He was burned to death in 1845 along with his residence or burned so badly that he died as a result. A band of robbers were infesting the neighborhood. A man whom he knew to be one of the party was tolled into the Frost residence and his attention occupied until another party who had received a signal from Mr. Frost summoned an officer. The man was arrested, found guilty and sen-tenced to five years in prison. At the expiration of his term Mr. Frost's residence was burned to the ground and six weeks later his saw mill, un-doubtedly the work of an incendiary. Their home was in Ashtabula county, on the shores of Lake Erie. Her mother was Almira Sterling of New York. Mrs. Newell's maternal grandmother was a Whittlesly, who was married in Connecticut, and made the trip to Vermont four times on horseback. The first time she traveled alone, the second with one baby, the third with two; after that they became too numerous to travel on horseback. Mrs. Newell's great grandfather was a member of the famous "Boston Tea Party," a name popularly given to the famous assemblage of citizens in Boston, December 16, 1773, who met to carry out the non-importation resolves of the colony. Disguised as Indians, they went on board three ships which had just arrived in the harbor, and threw several hundred chests of tea into the sea. The Whittleslys were of English origin, as were also the Sterlings. To Mr. and Mrs. Newell five children were born, four daughters and one son, viz: Alice, wife of Gilbert Fuller (see sketch). Helen Agnes, wife of James Pilcher (see sketch). Fannie A., wife of D. F. Sheffield (see sketch). Hattie H., wife of Elsworth Woodward, a farmer of Os-borne county, Kansas. Seth Paul is associated with his father on the farm. He is a graduate of the Glasco high school and took a two year's preparatory course in the Wesleyan College at Salina. The two eldest daughters took a two years course in the Concordia Normal School and taught until their marriages. The daughters are intellectual women, good wives and mothers. Mr. Newell is a Republican and takes an active interest in political issues. The family for years have been members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The Newell residence is a home for all the pastors. When the church is in need of finances or work to be done, Mr. Newell is called upon. He is generous, public spirited and a supporter of every worthy cause. Has been post commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Glasco for the past five years. Mr. Newell is one of the few pioneers left of 1868, who gathered to-gether for work while others stood guard upon some high point of ground where they could scan the country over for a glimpse of the wily red man. The first thing in the morning, with gun in hand, was to take a survey for the Indian and at night the same thing was repeated: During the times of Indian scares they would often join the settlers at the stockade. The buffalo and antelope furnished an abundance of meat. On one hunt Mr. Newell and his party brought in several quarters of buffalo and seventeen wild turkeys. Their first Christmas dinner in Kansas was distinguished
by wild turkey, and no finer roast could be produced from out the barnyard flock of do-mestic fowls. The country
resounded with the yelp of hungry coyotes and often while milking the cows these hungry beasts would come within
a few feet of ihem and lick their chops like dogs. |
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