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CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS BIOGRAPHIES WILLIAM DAVIDSON. The subject of this sketch, William Davidson, is the eldest of E. C. Davidson's family. He was one of the first white children born in the Solomon valley and is loyal to the place of his nativity. He was born June 3, 1871, on the old homestead, where he grew to manhood. He was educated in district No. 58. He farmed with his father until 1897, when he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land known as the Cal Lawrence homestead. Mr. Davidson remembers when the Solomon valley was one vast prairie covered with the big stem blue grass and when there were neither fences nor trees. Bornjn a dugout, he grew up with the prosperity of his native state. He also recalls "hiding out" from the savages, who fortunately turned out to be emigrants in search of homes in the far West. "Wid," as he is called, is a big hearted fellow who never seems to get tired and is a hustler without limit; another one of those typical hale-fellow-well-met western men, whose hospitality is proverbial. He owns one of the good farms of the Solomon valley, adjoining his father's land, which is rapidly undergoing improvement. Their residence is a neat cottage home. His family consists of a wife and two bright little children, a daughter and a son; Vera, aged five, and Bryan R. aged three. Mrs. Davidson was Arvilla Williamson, a daughter of Enoch Williamson, (see sketch.) She is a women of refined tastes and matron over the domestic affairs of the farm. They were married in 1892. Mr. Davidson has just finished a large and substantial barn which, standing as it does on a prominence of ground, can be seen for miles around the country- It is a basement bank barn fifty-four by thirty-six feet in dimensions. In seeking for water Mr. Davidson met with rather a strange phenomenon. He bored down seventy-five feet and struck a vein of strong salt water. A few feet to the west of this he bored down with a common post auger and struck water at the depth of eighteen feet, which is of a fine quality and quantity, supplying water sufficient for all his stock. He keeps about twenty-five head of cattle and raises hogs, but his chief industry is wheat growing. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member of the I O. O. F. and A. O. U. W. lodges at Glasco. HONORABLE LOREAN FOREST DAVIDSON. The Davidson Hardware company is not a corporation. It is the style under which E. C. Davidson and his sons L. F. and J. M. conduct business. They represent one of the leading firms of the city of Glasco and have contributed very liberally to the town's prosperity. L. F. Davidson is at the head of the management. His business sagacity coupled with his pleasing and cordial manner make him as popular as he is prominent. He has been reared in the Solomon valley and inherits the dauntless spirit of his father. When this company organized in 1897, its assets consisted of $2,000 and its stock was principally farm implements. Their place of business was a basement room. In the autumn of 1898, they purchased the Geiger stock of hardware, also the building they now occupy, known
as the Glasco State Bank building, a large stone structure fifty-two by eighty feet in dimension and two stories
in height. The front rooms on the second floor are occupied as offices and the rear is fitted up for an opera house.
They now have in course of erection another building adjoining the one they already have and occupied by their
stock of hardware. It is of stone, forty-six by one hundred and fifteen feet, and two stories in height. It is
to be used for a wagon, carriage and implement house to their rapidly increasing business. The second floor will
have a row of offices in the front, something much needed in Glasco, for there are few available office rooms in
the city. Their buildings are lighted by acetelyne gas from their individual plant. They carry in stock a full line of shelf hardware, tinware, cutlery, paints and oils. Being amply supplied with capital this company buys direct from the manufacturers in large quantities, and practically controls the sale in the Solomon valley, transacting an enormous business. Mr. Davidson was one of the fifty-five hardware men of Kansas that were recently so royally entertained by the Avery Manufacturing company of Peoria, Illinois. The keys of the city were given them, they were badged and everything they demanded was forthcoming. Mr. Davidson was born on the old homestead in 1874. He received his early education in district fifty-eight and the graded schools of Glasco, followed by a course in the Ottawa University. After leaving that distinguished seat of learning he taught a few terms of school very successfully, but was destined for a business career rather than that of an educator. He was married in 1898, to Sadie Burnett, who was a Cloud county teacher. She is a daughter of L. C. Burnett,
dealer in general merchandise and one of Glasco's old residents and highly respected citizens. Mrs. Davidson is
a cultured woman of literary tastes and considerable musical talent. The walls of their home resound to the laughter
and frolic of two children; Keith Bruce, a little fellow of two years and Fay lima. He is prominent in lodge work and is a member of the following orders: Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Wobdmen, and Knights of Pythias. He is council in the camp of Woodmen order, and holds the office of chancellor in the Knights of Pythias. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson are members of the Baptist and Christian churches respectively. Mrs. Catherine Hubbard, widow of the late Thomas Storm Hubbard, who was one of Glasco's most eminent citizens, is a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, born in 1818. She is the daughter of Charles Kessler, a native of Germany, who came to America in about 1800, and settled in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he edited one of the first papers circulated in that city, The Reading Eagle, which is still published by descendants of the Hubbard family. When Mrs. Hubbard was eighteen years of age she came with a younger sister to Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1837, just after the Black Hawk war, to Dixon county, Illinois, then on the frontier. Here she met and married Mr. Hubbard, who was born in the city of New York in 1815, and lived there until about twenty-five years of age. In 1837, he emigrated to Dixon county, Illinois, where he took up government land. In 1840, he emigrated further west, beyond the frontier into the wilderness of Iowa, among the Indians and buffalo. In 1879, they came to Cloud county, and bought the Whitebread homestead, where they built one of the best homes in the community. Mr. Hubbard, who died in February, 1899, in his eighty-fifth year, was a very remarkably well preserved man, retaining all his faculties. He was a man thoroughly posted on politics, took an ardent interest in all political affairs and was public spirited and enterprising. To Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard four children have been born, two sons' and two daughters; Catherine, who lives at home with her mother, was editress of the Glasco Sun from 1888 until 1893; she had previously worked in the office; in her earlier life she was a school teacher. Victor operates the farm; Florence, wife of John Lawrence, a farmer near Dixon, Illinois; Charles, whose wife was Margaret Sutton, a sister of Mrs. Lon Ainsworth. Their residence is Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Hubbard's farm consists of one hundred and twenty acres. In connection with their residence is a handsome lawn with many beautiful flowers and shrubs, surrounded by a fine avenue of cedars, which they have set out and witnessed the growth of. They have planted and distributed more flowers perhaps than any one in the vicinity of Glasco. The opportunity which Kansas offers to young men of resolute character is exemplified in the brief but successful career of Doctor Newton, of Glasco, one of the rising physicians of Cloud county. He was born in the state of Iowa, in 1877, but was reared on a farm near Glasco and received his elementary education in the Bethel district school and the graded schools of Glasco, and entered upon a career of teaching more as a stepping stone to his profession than with an idea of pursuing that vocation. Doctor Newton is entirely a self made man; he has derived the best possible results from the excellent talents with which nature endowed him and his success is more noticeable and praiseworthy because of the limited opportunities afforded him, for the training and assistance, which are oft-times considered indispensable when entering upon a career in the professional world. He early learned self reliance, also to be judicious, and these qualities have been leading factors in his character. In April 1896, he began the study of medicine in the office of Doctor Priest, of Concordia, and two years later entered upon a course of medicine in the Central Medical college, of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was also surgeon in the St. Joseph Sisters Hospital for two years. He graduated in the spring of 1900 and began the practice of medicine in Glasco. In the autumn of 1900 he entered upon a post-graduate course of medicine In the University of Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in March 1901. Doctor Newton then located permanently in Glasco where his practice is steadily increasing, and it may safely be said the future years hold for him professional honors as well as a high rank among the citizens of his town and the universal regard of his friends and acquaintances. Doctor Newton was married May 22d, 1901, to Miss Emma Delaplain, a cultured and estimable woman; she is a sister of Mrs. Judy and Mrs. Kelley, of Concordia, where Mrs. Newton has practically been reared. Doctor Newton is a Republican in politics; fraternally he is an Odd Fellow; a member of the Maccabees of Concordia; the National Aid Association; Ancient Order of United Workman; Ancient Order of Pyramids; Modern Woodmen of America, and Royal Neighbors of America. The subject of this sketch is J. H. Moger, a liveryman of Glasco, an old timer and one of the organizers of Oakland township, which was formerly part of Meredith, where he used his homestead right, and lived on the east branch of Pipe creek until the year 1893. Until this date he had always been a farmer except the three years he worked in the service of "Uncle Sam/' He was a member of the First Brigade First Division of the Fifteenth Corps of the Army of the Tennessee, under command of that illustrious old war horse, John A. Logan, or "Black Jack," as he was familiarly known to the soldiers. Mr. Moger enlisted August 2, 1862, in the Thirty-first Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company D, under Colonel Smith, who was succeeded by Colonel Jerry Jenkins. They operated in the west and down the Mississippi to Vicksburg and with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. He was a participant in the historical battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge. Atlanta, siege of Vicksburg and many other important engagements. After the war he settled in Iowa, where he farmed until 1873. Mr. Moger is a native of Rockford, Illinois, born November 21, 1843. He is a son of J. J. and C C. (Sheppard) Moger. His father, a farmer by occupation, was born in the state of Pennsylvania in 1812. The Mogers are of French origin and the original name was spelled Mojer. There was a Moger estate in England said to represent several millions of dollars. A brother started for England on a tour of investigation and was lost in a shipwreck at sea. The Mogers originally came from France to England. J. J. Moger moved from Pennsylvania to New York, where his brothers operated a line of boats on the Erie canal. In 1841 he emigrated to Illinois, where he died in 1888, at the age of seventy-five years. Mr. Moger's mother died at the home of her son James Moger in Ottawa county, in 1897, at the age of eighty-five years. Mr. Moger is one of five children, four sons and one daughter. Sarah Ellen, wife of Jacob Kirby, a farmer of Ottawa county, Kansas; Charles A., whom Mr. Moger had not seen since 1866, died near Bozeman City, Montana; he was a confectioner;' Edward, a farmer and stone mason, of Iowa; James F., recently of Ottawa county, Kansas, now a farmer near Spring Water, Oregon. In 1893 Mr. Moger moved to Minneapolis, Kansas, where he engaged in the livery and hotel business. Though these wert hard years-1893-4-5 -he was fairly successful. At the end of that period he came to Glasco, formed a partnership with Ed. Oakes, his son-in-law, and assumed charge of the Spaulding Hotel, with a livery in connection. In 1900 Mr. Oakes sold his interest in the livery to Dick Wood. Mr. Moger retired from the hotel and the following July became sole proprietor of the livery and has built up a paying business. Mr. Moger was married October 3, 1867, to Susan Rosetta Robinson, a native of Spencer, New York. The Robinsons emigrated to Illinois and settled in DeKalb county and subsequently Iowa, where she met and married Mr. Moger. Mr. and Mrs. Moger are the parents of six daughters. The two eldest children were born in Iowa, and the four younger daughters in Kansas. Hattie, wife of S. A. Barnes, a farmer near Clifton, Washington county, Kansas; Lenora, wife of Ed. Oakes (see sketch) ; Ella, wife of Frank Morey, a liveryman of Clay Center, Kansas; Alma, wife of George Pagan, a farmer of Ottawa county, but for several years a liveryman, located in Minneapolis, Kansas; Edna Celestia, on last year's course in the high school of Glasco, and Millie Philancie, aged fourteen. Mr. Moger votes the straight Republican ticket. He served as deputy sheriff, under Ed. Marshall, two years, has filled various township offices arid has been a member of the school board. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic post, of Minneapolis, and the Knights and Ladies of Security, Minneapolis lodge. The subject of this sketch is W. E. Oakes, who, until the fall of 1901, was for years a resident of Cloud county. He began a business career with seventy-five dollars in his pocket and if not mistaken the author believes Mr. Oakes reported having even borrowed that capital; but a more willing pair of hands and a more industrious nature to assist in the struggle for fortune and fame could not present themselves than in the person of Mr. Oakes. Mr. Oakes and his wife were much needed factors in the hotel at Glasco and their removal was severely felt by the residents of that little city. Under their control it was converted into one of the neatest and most desirable hotels in the county. When this property came into their hands it was badly in need of repairs and they remodeled, refurnished and transformed it into a hotel which received a patronage consistent with its management. Shelby county, Missouri, is the birthplace of Mr. Oakes. He was born in 1869. His parents are Emery and Hester
(Short) Oakes. His father was born in Vermont, but was reared in the states of Michigan and Iowa. His parents having
died when he was a boy, he drifted about considerable. In 1879 he emigrated to Decatur county, Kansas, where he
homesteaded land. In 1882 removed to Cloud county and bought land near Miltonvale. In 1893 became a resident of
Oklahoma, where he now lives on a farm. Mr. Oakes' mother was of Kentucky parentage and German origin. Her father
was a Methodist Episcopal minister, and two of her brothers were clergymen. One brother, John Short, is an ex-sheriff
of Decatur county, Kansas. Hon. R. O. Elting, the representative of Ness county, is a brother-in-law. She was previously
married to Aljournal Vaniver, a soldier of the Civil war, who was massacred by Ouantrell's band at Centralia, Missouri,
while the troops were en route home. There were two children by her first marriage, a son and daughter. The son,
Marion McClelland, was deceased from lead poisoning in 1887, while working in the lead mines. Laura Virginia is
the wife of Madison Warring, superintendent of a street railway at Seattle, Washington. In 1892 he returned to Kansas and the following April was married to Miss Lenora Moger, a daughter of John Moger, of Glasco (see sketch). This prosperous and happy couple embarked on the sea of matrimony with none of this world's goods, but their perseverance and good management have been rewarded by a handsome competency. They are both endowed with the qualities essential to success in life. The first year after their marriage Mr. Oakes rented two hundred acres of land and was thwarted in this undertaking by a failure of crops. At the opening of the Strip in 1893 he went to Oklahoma, took up a claim and the following spring moved his family there, remaining until the autumn of 1896. With eighty-five dollars he came to Glasco and in partnership with his father-in-law established a livery stable, under the firm name of Moger & Oakes, which was the starting point of a turn in his fortunes. January 16, 1897, the firm leased the Spaulding House. One year later Mr. Moger withdrew and Mr. Oakes assumed full control. The hotel was scantily furnished but under his management was put in good and comfortable condition. During the summer of 1897 Mr. Oakes secured a position with the Deering Implement Company, working in Oklahoma and holding down his claim, proving up on it that autumn, and rented the land. His share of wheat the first year was twenty-three hundred bushels, which averaged seventy-five cents to the bushel. In 1894 this ground threshed out forty-two bushels to the acre and the following year he had a yield of from twenty-eight to thirty bushels per acre. He rented three years; each of them were fruitful seasons. In 1899 he sold the livery business. The following year he sold his farm and purchased the hotel property, in the meantime continuing on the road selling machinery. Mrs. Oakes superintended the hotel operations, building up a substantial trade and making it a financial success. They made many improvements in the hotel, refurnishing, painting and papering the interior, and a large veranda added greatly to the comfort of their guests. In April, 1901, they sold this valuable property to Nick Klein, of Beloit. Mr. Oakes bought the building for a consideration of one thousand dollars, expended about twelve hundred dollars in repairs and sold for forty-eight hundred dollars. The family then moved to Beloit with the intention of making that pretty little city their permanent home. But Mr. Oakes had opportunities presented whereby he would be remunerated for making a change, hence he sold his handsome home in Beloit and settled near Walter, Oklahoma, where he bought a claim and after he has secured a title will in all probability make a home in Walter or some nearby town. The Oakes home is blessed with two interesting children, a son and a daughter: Lawrence LeRoy, a manly little fellow, aged eight years, and Statia Pauline, a bright little girl, aged six. By the removal of Mr. and Mrs. Oakes, Glasco lost two of her most useful and highly esteemed citizens, who, by their enterprise and natural ability, had drawn around them a circle of warm friends. They had a hard struggle the first few years of their married life and fully deserve all the future promises them. M. L. Woodward, an old resident of Cloud county, now living in Glasco, is a native of Coshocton county, Ohio, born December 25, 1839. His parents were Mahlon and Mary A. (Darby) Woodward, both natives of Maryland, who emigrated to Ohio in an early day and on to Iowa in the early settlement of that state. His father was a farmer and homesteaded in Cloud county, near Glasco, in 1871, and where he died in 1891. The Woodwards were of French origin. The Darbys were southern' people. The Darby ancestors were among the early settlers of Virginia, near Alexandria, and were slaveholders. Mr. Woodward is one of ten children, seven of whom are living. Mrs. George W. Bartow, of Lyon township, is a sister, and Rezin D. Woodward, a farmer near Clyde, is a brother. Mr. Woodward began his career as a farmer and came to Kansas in May, 1870. After a sojourn of a few months in Washington county, took up a homestead, the farm where Michael Dillon now lives. He lived on this homestead sixteen years and changed his residence to Glasco. Mr. Woodward, with two of his brothers, enlisted in the army. Mr. Woodward enlisted in the Forty-fourth Iowa Infantry, Company G, under Captain Shaw. and Colonel Henderson, the latter a brother of the speaker of the house of representatives. He enlisted in March, 1864, and served one year. Most of the time they were quartered in Mississippi and Tennessee, doing guard duty. His brother, Rezin, of Company I, Fourteenth Iowa Infantry, was wounded at Fort Donelson, disabled for service and discharged. James was a member of the Third Iowa Infantry. He entered at the first call and served until the last. Mr. Woodward was married December 6, 1871, to Sarah Lavinia Jordan. To Mr. and Mrs. Woodward have been born seven children, six of whom are living, viz: Allie L. has been a Cloud county teacher for about eight years. She is now employed in the LaVeta (Colorado) public schools. She graduated from the Glasco graded school in 1894, and afterward took a teacher's course in the Salina Normal. She has literary tastes, is poetically inclined and finds inspiration in the mountains of Colorado. Nelie is a successful Cloud county teacher now employed in District No. 6. She is a graduate of the Glasco school and was a student of the Salina Normal in 1901. She is talented in music and has been organist of the Christian church in Glasco for several years. Myrtella has been engaged in teaching six years. She is now employed in District No. 93, near Concordia. She is a graduate of the Glasco schools. Orpha is one of the most successful teachers in the county. She is now employed at Superior, District No. 100, one of the best schools in the county. The first month her school made an attendance of 99.8; the enrollment is thirty. She is a graduate of the Glasco high school of the class of 1899. In 1900 she graduated from the Baker Academy and took part of a year in the freshman course of Baker University. During her school course her work ranked best for seven years and received four scholarships offered as premiums, Bethany, Ottawa, Salina Wesleyan and Baker; she chose the latter. She represented Solomon and Lyon townships in the county contest in mathematics. This was in 1893 before she entered the high school. She brought back the prize from the Glasco school. The Woodward daughters are highly educated, intelligent young women of refined tastes. Hanson S., their eldest son, aged seventeen years, is a student of the Chillicothe (Missouri) Business College. Morris, a little son six years of age, is the second boy and youngest child. Mr. Woodward is a Populist in politics but his daughters take issue against him politically and are Republicans. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic of Glasco and has held the chair of adjutant for ten years. The family are members and regular attendants of the Christian church. The Woodwards have a comfortable residence and pleasant home in Glasco, and are among that city's most esteemed citizens. The subject of this sketch, G. R. Colwell, a farmer of Lyon township and representative citizen, is a native of Nova Scotia, born on a farm near Kentfield, in 1848. He is a son of James and Eunice (Jordan) Colwell. James Colwell died in 1888, never having removed from Nova Scotia, where his wife still lives. G. R. Colwell is one of nine children; two sisters and a brother in Kansas, the former in Wyandotte county and the latter, William Colwell, a prominent farmer of Lyon township, Cloud county. One sister is in Oklahoma and the other members of the family are in Nova Scotia. In his earlier life Mr. Colwell had some very interesting experiences. When he came to the United States he was a mere lad. His destination was the west. He arrived in Jefferson City, Missouri, penniless, pawned his trunk to pay his fare to Kansas City, and from there he traveled around until he found work. The experience was a new one for him, never having been more than thirty miles from home. When he arrived in Kansas City he had seven cents, and five of that was required to post a letter to his mother, the remaining two cents being all the money he had in the world, and his trunk in Jefferson City. He tramped three days ere he found work. Too honest to steal, too proud to beg, he ate raw corn for sustenance. He finally applied to an old man by the name of Breyfogle to work for his board, who hired him at fifteen dollars per month. Out of his savings he bought a team. In th6 winter of 1871 he emigrated to Cloud county and homesteaded the farm he still owns, four miles east of Glasco, section 9. The same year he returned to Nova Scotia and was married to Sarah McConnell, who died in 1873, leaving a son, who was also deceased at the age of ten years. In 1877 he was married to Hester Wilson, who came to Kansas with her father, Frank Wilson, when she was a small girl. Mr. and Mrs. Colwell have two children: Ellen, wife of Cecil Martin, living on the old homestead. She was a student of the Concordia high school two years, and is talented in music. Frank, sixteen years of age, is in his third year in the Glasco high school. He is a farmer from choice but will not have the difficulties to surmount that his father had. In the early 'seventies Mr. Colwell had hard rustling to keep the wolf from the door. He freighted and worked at various things; prospered perhaps as much as his neighbor, but accumulated very slowly until 1877. In the early part of the 'eighties he added one hundred and sixty acres of land to the homestead and a few years later another quarter section, until he now owns four hundred and eighty acres with good mprovements, a fine apple orchard of two hundred trees which are sixteen or seventeen years old and fine bearers. Most of his land is wheat ground. In 1900 Mr. Col well built a handsome cottage of six rooms in Glasco, where he now lives but still operates the farm. Politically Mr. Colwell is a Populist. Himself and family are members of the Christian church. Mr. Colwell is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Aid. One of the old residents of Glasco, the first operator and station agent, and proprietor of the first hotel in the town, is E. R. Haynes, who located in Glasco in 1879. Mr. Haynes rode on the first train that came through from Solomon. He was appointed station agent November 1, 1879, and has held the position continuously until the present time. He had formerly been in the employ of the railroad as agent at Medina, Jefferson county, Kansas. Mr. Haynes is a native of Lorain county, Ohio, which borders on Lake Erie. His father, Elijah Haynes, a blacksmith, was a native of Vermont. His paternal grandfather, too old to become a soldier of the Revolutionary war, shouldered a musket at the battle of Bennington, was wounded, and died as a result The Haynes were of English origin. In 1600 three brothers came to America; one settled in Massachusetts, another in Virginia and the third one in Illinois. Mr. Haynes' mother was Martha Stanton, born and reared in Penn Yan, New York. She was an own cousin of Secretary Stanton, President Lincoln's secretary of war. Her ancestors were of English extraction and settled in the state of New York in an early day. Mr. Haynes was educated in the common schools of Ohio. Soon after attaining his majority Mr. Haynes enlisted in Battery B (which was later merged with Battery K), Ohio First Regiment Artillery, serving two and one-half years or until his services were no longer required. He participated in the battle of Nashville. He did garrison work on the railroad from Nashville to Sherman's Front, guarding the work and was in numerous skirmishes. While at Chattanooga in 1864 Battery B was transferred to Battery K. After the close of the war Mr. Haynes took a year's course in the Commercial College of Oberlin, Ohio. In September, 1868, he accepted the principalship of the North Lawrence schools, and a year later became principal of the Medina schools. In 1871 he engaged in the mercantile business in Medina and subsequently performed the duties of station agent in the same town. In November, 1879, he located in Glasco, where, as before stated, he became agent, his duties consisting of operator, express and station agent. He also opened the Haynes House, a stone structure, the first hostelry in Glasco, and did a thriving business, trains at that time stopping for meals. Mr. Haynes was married to Miss Eliza Love, of Bowling Green, Ohio, in 1870. She died November 18, 1895. To this union have been born four children, viz: Mattie, wife of J. W. Mahoney, of Grand Island, Nebraska, state agent for the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Portland, Maine. They are the parents of three children, Wilber, Lewis and Susan. Mrs. Mahoney was a popular Cloud county teacher before her marriage. Seymour R., mail clerk on the Rock Island Railroad from Kansas City to Phillipsburg, Kansas. Grace L., who assists her father in the office, was a student of Oberlin College two years and took a course of music at Bethany College, Topeka. Lawrence, a young man of sixteen years, is a student pursuing a classical course at Oberlin College, Ohio. Mr. Haynes is a Republican in politics and a prominent member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Glasco. He is also an active member in the Grand Army of the Republic post of Glasco. J. A. Nicol, a grain and stock buyer, now of Simpson, Mitchell county, but until recently identified with the interests of Cloud county since 1893, is the senior member of the firm of Nicol & Nicol; the junior member is a son, James Herbert. Mr. Nicol is a native of Marion county, Missouri, but when ten years of age he moved with his father's family to Shelby county, where he was educated and lived until twenty-two years of age. He then started westward and went on to the Pacific coast, mining and teaming at Austin, Nevada, and Calusa county, California. He was interested in the livery business at the latter place and when three years elapsed he returned to his Missouri home and engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1883. Deciding to go west again he went to Nebraska and settled in Otoe county; one and a half years later he removed to Nuckolls county and in 1893 came to Kansas, and settled in the southern part of Cloud county, where he farmed successfully and raised and fed stock extensively. The firm of Nicol & Nicol began business in Simpson in the month of July, 1900. They purchased the elevator, stock and trade of Ira A. Foote, a merchant of Simpson, who established the enterprise about eighteen years ago. The capacity of the elevator is about three thousand bushels. In connection with the grain business they buy and ship hogs and cattle. Mr. Nicol owns and operates a farm in Cloud county, comprising three hundred and twenty acres and one of the best improved properties in that vicinity. He has one hundred and sixty acres of wheat this year (1901) and forty acres of alfalfa. His land is well watered by three never failing wells and two windmills. His farm house is a commodious stone residence of six rooms. Mr. Nicol's father was Henry N. Nicol, a native of Rappahannock county, Virginia, born in 1810. He moved to Marion county, Missouri, in 1834 and died in Shelby county, Missouri, in 1868. Mr. Nicol's paternal grandfather came with his parents from Germany in his infancy and settled in Pennsylvania. He later settled in Virginia. Mrs. Nicol's people were Virginians. Mr. Nicol was married in 1871 to Louisa Cochran, a daughter of J. W. Cochran. Her father came from Kentucky in his boyhood and settled in Missouri in 1832. He returned to Kentucky and married Margaret A. Martin. To Mr. and Mrs. Nicol three children have been born: John, a pharmacist of Walsenburg, Colorado, is a graduate of the Lawrence University, class of 1900. James H., who is associated with his father, took a two years' course in the Ottawa University. Lydia is a teacher in the primary grade of the Simpson schools. She taught two terms in District No. 39. She was a student of the Lawrence University one year. She and both her brothers were graduates of the common schools at Simpson and she and John W. are graduates of the Glasco high school. Politically, Mr. Nicol is a Democrat. The family are members of the Baptist church at Simpson. He is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security, Asherville Lodge No. 361. Mr. Nicol is a public spirited man, has had a successful business career and is ranked among the best citizens of his community. His children have had good educational advantages, and are useful members of society. Mr. Nicol has recently purchased the handsome Duby residence property in Glasco, where his estimable family will be an acquisition to the social circle. One of the most successful and highly respected citizens of Glasco is Charles Horn, a retired farmer. Mr. Horn is a son of Christopher Horn, a farmer who died in Illinois in 1852. Mr. Horn came with his parents from near Weisbaden, Germany, where he was born, to America when nine years old and settled in St. Clair county, Illinois, where he grew to manhood. His father having died, Mr. Horn was thrown upon his own resources early in life, hence received a limited education. When he came to Kansas in 1869 his possessions consisted of a wife, one child and five dollars in money, but by careful management which did not admit of luxuries they lived comfortably. During the Indian uprisings he carried a brace of pistols for protection as he followed his plow. They committed serious depredations above and below the river from the point where they were situated, but his family providentially escaped. The Horns lived in a dugout for one year and upon occasions of severe storms it rained about as hard in the interior as upon the outside of their abode. The inmates stood over the stove with an umbrella over their heads, with mud six inches deep over the floor. A year later they built a log house of one room, with dirt roof and floor. Not until three years later did they live under a shingled roof and on a board floor. In 1879 ^r- Horn built a comfortable house, where they resided until 1899, when he bought the desirable Courtney residence, with its avenue of beautiful trees and wide lawn, where they live and expect to spend the rest of their days, reaping the comforts they are so justly entitled to. Mr. Horn's homestead was the original claim of Isaac Dalrymple. It lies just south and adjacent to the town of Glasco. He has added other lands and now owns a tract of four hundred and eighty acres in the same vicinity. Mr. Horn was married in 1867 to Julia Bittner, a daughter of Henry Bittner, an Illinois farmer. To Mr. and Mrs.
Horn seven children have been born, five of whom are living, viz: Louisa, wife of Samuel Crow, a farmer of Mitchell
county; Adeline, wife of Frederick Dimanoski, a successful farmer of Solomon township; Otto, a farmer with residence
near Glasco; Henry, also a farmer with residence near Glasco, and Fritz, who farms and operates a threshing machine
engine. Mr. Horn advocates the principles of the Democratic party, but votes for the man rather than the party.
He was reared in the Lutheran church and himself and family are leading spirits of the Glasco congregation.
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