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CLOUD COUNTY, KANSAS BIOGRAPHIES WILLIAM THOMPSON. The subject of this sketch is the late William Thompson, who was one of the early settlers of the Solomon valley, and a man whose memory is held in reverence by all his neighbors and friends. He was the founder of the first Sabbath school in the vicinity known as Fisher Creek; the promoter of the first school, instrumental in the building of the first school house, and active in every enterprising project. His was a life full of good and noble impulses, and to such men as Mr. Thompson the Solomon valley country owes much of its development. William Thompson was a son of Joshua and Anna (Likes) Thompson. He was a native of Harrison county, Ohio, born in 1815. In his early manhood he moved to Vanceville, Pennsylvania, and shortly afterward received the appointment of postmaster and kept a village store for seven years. In 1855 he emigrated to Ogle county, Illinois, where he kept a hotel, or rather tavern, as they were called in those days. In 1871, during that period of emigration when every road was thronged with prairie schooners, freighted with families and their belongings, bound for the land of Kansas, the Thompsons came to the Solomon valley and took their places in the rank and file of those hardy early settlers. Mr. Thompson bought the Aaron Spalding homestead, now owned by Mr. Louthan, and where they lived through sunshine and cloud until 1892, when they sold the farm and moved into Glasco, buying the home where Mrs. Thompson and her daughter now live. Mr. Thompson was stricken with paralysis and died in T892, at the age of seventy-seven years. Our subject was married February 29, 1839, to Mary Thompson, who is a native of Flushing, Belmont county, Ohio, born in 1817. When Mrs. Thompson was ten years old her mother died and she was reared by her maternal grandmother. In those days there were no railroads and she, in company with a brother, walked to her grandmother's home, the distance being one hundred miles. Mrs. Thompson's paternal grandmother was a Canon, and the city of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, was named for her brother. Her maternal ancestry were French. Her mother was Ann Groseau. Mrs. Thompson is a well preserved woman and though nearing the century mark, she is active in both mind and body. She is the only living member of a family of seven children. A brother, Samuel Thompson, died about two years ago, at the age of eighty-eight years. Her brothers were all tradesmen, noted for their honor and integrity. Mr. Thompson was one of ten children, none of whom survive him. A sister, Martha Marsh, visited him a few years prior to his death, after a separation of forty years. She had learned of his residence through inquiry and without announcing her intention of doing so came on a visit. Before making her identity known she stopped a couple of days at the Haynes House, in Glasco, for the purpose of determining whether her relatives were desirable acquisitions. She drove out with a neighbor and asked for a night's lodging; when the name was announced a joyful meeting followed between brother and sister who had met as strangers. When talking over childhood days each remembered instances that recalled their youth. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were the parents of seven children. Rachel is unmarried and lives with her mother. She taught in a dugout that had been a bachelor's residence, the first school in the Fisher Creek settlement before the organization of the district. It was a subscription school of perhaps a dozen pupils. She also taught the first term in the new school house for a salary of twenty dollars per month. The aged, mother and her daughter have a very comfortable home. They are members of the Presbyterian church.- [Miss Rachel Thompson was deceased in December, 1902.-Editor.] The late A. H. Spaulding, one of Glasco's brightest and meet distinguished citizens, and an old pioneer who settled in the Solomon valley in 1865, was an Ohioan by birth, born in Belmont county in 1843. He was one of six brothers and five sisters, children of William and Mary Spaulding, all of whom lived to be grown. Of the brothers known in Cloud county is Henry H., who was one of the very first residents of Glasco, but now living in Salem, Oregon, and Joseph, a well-to-do farmer near Wamego. A. H. Spaulding homesteaded the place known as the William Thompson farm, on Fisher creek, in the meantime working on the extension of the Union Pacific Railway west from Junction City, along with Thomas Jones, of Glasco. Later he engaged in a general merchandise store with J. M. Copeland and A. F. Bullock. Mr. Spaulding was elected commissioner of Cloud county in 1877. serving three years. In the autumn of 1883 he was elected to the office of registrar of deeds, and as an evidence of his popularity he received all but six votes in Solomon, and about the same in Lyon, an adjoining township. In 1886 he positively declined a nomination which was equivalent to an election, and returning from Concordia built the pleasant home just north of the city limits of Glasco, where he enjoyed life until his death in 1896. Mr. Spaulding s memory is held sacred by his friends and comrades at Glasco, and it has been recorded that his was a life singularly free from the taint and contamination of sins which beset, entangle, and capture so many erring mortals along life's pathway. He was a very excellent man,-modest, retiring, conscientious and well informed,-and a man of pleasing address and of unusual good judgment. At his death the family lost a kind husband, an indulgent father and Glasco a citizen who went down into the valley oi the shadow of death with a page clean and fair. Mr. Spaulding was connected with every worthy enterprise for the good of the community. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was buried by the rites of that order. Mr. Spaulding was married April J4, 1872, to Caroline E. Copeland. a most excellent woman, who survives him. Mrs. Spaulding was born near Vienna, Illinois, where she lived until twenty-one years of age. Her parents were Isaac and Ellen (Cove) Copeland, who died within the same week and when Mrs. Spaulding was but an infant four weeks old, leaving a family of five children, the eldest of whom was but twelve years old, a daughter, who married at the age of fifteen. Mrs. Spaulding lived with this sister until twenty-one years of age, when she came to live with a sister and brother, the latter J. M. Copeland, then a merchant of Glasco; where she met and married Mr. Spaulding. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding: The eldest, a son, died in infancy. The four living are, Maud, wife of S. R. Haynes, a mail clerk on the Missouri Pacific Railroad from Atchison to Downs, married August 17, 1901. Mrs. Haynes until the spring of 1902 was engaged in the millinery business for about six years and very successfully. She was the leading milliner during that time, carrying a stock of about fifteen hundred dollars, with annual sales of twenty-five hundred dollars. Mrs. Haynes bought the Studt stock of millinery in 1896, assuming the responsibility without any capital, paid for the stock within two years from the proceeds of sales, and also bought the building where her store was located. Mrs. Haynes is a graduate of the Glasco high school and attended the high school at Concordia one year. She is accomplished in music and for several years has been the organist at the Presbyterian church and Sabbath school. The Spaulding boys are, Elmer, a resident of Oregon, located at Heppner, where he is employed as clerk in a store. Frank and George rent and operate the farm. George Spaulding served two years in the Philippine war, and was a member of Company D, Forty-fourth Kansas Regiment, under Captain Curtis and Generals Smith and Hughes. He enlisted in 1899 and returned July 4, 1900. They were mustered into service at Beloit and were mustered out of service in San Francisco, June 30, 1901. He was in the battles of Tinanawan, Negros Island, Valencia and Ormoc (the two latter on White Island) and in many other skirmishes and minor engagements. He was in the hospital four months from a severe attack of dysentery, followed by throat tremble, which reduced his weight from one hundred and thirty-nine to ninety jx mnds. Mr. Spaulding enlisted at the age of eighteen years, and was the only (ilasco boy to respond to the call for volunteers. The services of Doctor Brierley among the citizens of Glasco and the Salomon valley who have been in need of medical assistance have been of incalculable value, and countless sufferers can testify to the potent charms of IT is professional skill. He is the pioneer physician of Glasco, and has obtained a reputation placing him in the front rank of the medical fraternity. He is possessed of far more than average ability and since he entered upon the study of medicine it has received his almost undivided attention. Doctor Brierley is profoundly popular, both professionally and socially, and is one of those individuals found in every community who wield an extended influence among their fellow men, politically and otherwise. Lockport, New York, is his birthplace, his birth occurring in 1849. He is of English parentage: his father, John Brierley, was born in the city of Oldham. When Doctor Brierley was nine years of age his father moved from Lockport to Springfield, Ohio, and five years subsequently to Dayton, his present residence. Doctor Brierley's mother, before her marriage, was Harriett Bates. She was born on the edge of Wales, in the city of Shrewsbury; she was deceased in 1899. When Doctor Brierley arrived at the age of twelve years he began working higher education, and entering Denison University, Granville, Ohio, he graduated in the arts from that institution in 1875. He then entered upon a medical course in the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, Ohio, finished that line of progress and was granted a diploma February 25, 1878. The following year he emigrated west to " inscribe his name on this goodly state of Kansas/' and after a brief sojourn in Atchison, came to Cloud county and located in the then new town of Glasco, where in reality he began his career as a practitioner and where he has been so successful. During the four and twenty years Doctor Brierley has been dispensing medicine to the sick and afflicted of the Solomon valley there has been no contraction or abridgement in the exercise of his profession. He did not make a mistake, when prospecting, to decide in that fair field opportunities were offered for an ambitious and enterprising physician. He has practiced in this vicinity continuously since 1878, with the exception of two years spent in Kansas City as meat inspector, an office established by the United States government in the interests of agriculture and pure foods. Doctor Brierley takes an active interest in politics and is one of the wheel-horses of the Republican party. He served six years on the pension board, is vice-president of the Young Men's Republican Club, was made president of the Cloud County Medical Society, which was organized in Concordia May 20, 1902, and in the summer of 1902 he had the honor of being elected president of the State Medical Society, which convened at Topeka. Mrs. Brierley's record as an educator and educational worker is one of the brightest in Cloud county. She was a teacher one year in the fifth grade of the Clyde schools and one year in the sixth and seventh grades of the Concordia schools. From 1884 until 1887 she was principal of the Glasco schools, succeeding Mr. Mitchell, and in 1894 was elected to succeed Mr. Emick, resigned. Mrs. Brierley was elected county superintendent in 1894 and resigned the principalship of the Glasco schools to assume the duties of that office; she served four years, being re-elected the following term. During each year she visited all the schools in the county and in 1896-7 visited each district twice. She is now practically retired, but her interests in educational work have not waned and she manifests a lively concern in anything pertaining to school matters. The pretty residence of Doctor and Mrs. Brierley is an attractive cottage home, admirably appointed, heated with hot air and fitted throughout with modern conveniences. The subject of this sketch is L. M. Duvall, one of the most successful educators in this section of the country, and few have inspired their pupils with greater or better influence tending toward a desire to excel in a higher education, or infused into their minds those impressions that are never effaced and with this training even under the most adverse circumstances men and women do not often recede from their purpose. Mr. Duvall came to Clyde as principal of the high school, retaining that position four years with much credit to himself and universal satisfaction to the scholars and patrons. His work there was principally in the high school department; his specialties are mathematics, history, botany, economics and the sciences. Mr. Duvall came to Kansas in 1887, and that year and the two following he taught the Sibley school. In 1895 he was employed in District No. 47 and during the two years he was engaged there, several of Cloud county's best teachers were sent out. Miss Kate Butler, of the Concordia high school, and her sisters, Rose and Frances, are among this number. Mr. Duvall substituted another teacher and taught an unfinished term as principal of the Glasco schools. He was chief instructor of the Nevadaville (Colorado) schools for one year. Mr. Duvall graduated from the Central Normal College, of Indiana, where D. M. Bow-en, Professor Miller, of the Holton schools, and other prominent educators received their knowledge. Mr. Duvall began his career as a "Hoosier" school master in Union county, Indiana, where he was born and bred. Early in life he began reading law with the intention of becoming a legal practitioner, but was drawn into other channels. He read Blackstone when a mere youth and was admitted to the bar in Indiana; to the district court and subsequently to the supreme court of Colorado. Politically Mr. Duvall is a Republican and has been a candidate for office. In 1895 he received the nomination for county surveyor and was defeated by the Populists, but ran one hundred ahead of his ticket. In 1902 he aspired to the office of county clerk, subject to the Cloud county convention, and though he ran well did not receive the nomination. Had Mr. Duvall been elected he would doubtless have filled the office with the same excellent result that characterizes his efforts as a teacher, but by his ambitions being thwarted the schools of Glasco, where he is employed the present year, are insured of a superior instructor, who will contribute very materially to the wisdom and welfare of the rising generation of their city. In 1898-99-1900 and 1901 Mr. Duvall was a member of the examining board of Cloud county. Our subject is a son of Ira P. Duvall, of Indiana. The Duvalls came to Pennsylvania and settled there in the pioneer days of that state. His father was a farmer and in his earlier life a potter by occupation. His mother was Elizabeth Gard, of Ohio. Her ancestors were early settlers in Virginia. He is the eldest son and second child of a family of nine children, all of whom are living, except the oldest sister. Four members of this family are teachers. Mr. Duvall has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for ten years. There are few clergymen better beloved by their congregations and by the people of all classes in a community, than Reverend B. F. McMillan, the pastor of the Presbyterian church of Glasco. He wields an influence that is far reaching in its strength. He is a forceful speaker, but is guarded in his utterances and does not assume the aggressive, nor antagonize his religious assemblies, but rather lives his religion that others may accept of their own volition. He is a close and constant student by both instinct and habit, and a devoted pastor that has developed an interest in Christian work far above the average minister. Reverend McMillan was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and when a lad of about eleven years of age removed with his parents to Polo, Illinois, where he was reared, and enlisted in Company E, Ninety-second Illinois, while a mere youth. He was in a company of mounted infantry, under Colonel Smith D. Atkins, who was afterward promoted to brigadier-general. Mr. McMillan served three years and one month; acted as orderly for Major-General David Cruft, and also served as sergeant and corporal. He was in the battle of Chickamagua on the 19th and 20th of September, 1863; battles of Ringgold, Dalton, Resaca. and Jonesboro, Georgia (where they lost one-half of their regiment) ; Lovejoy Station, Trenton and skirmished all through Georgia. They were in the battle of Waynesboro under Kilpatrick, and the battles of Savannah, Averyboro, Aiken, South Carolina, Bentonville and Lookout Mountain. His regiment was in the front at all times, having been first in line at Lookout Mountain, and also when Chattanooga was taken. Reverend McMillan received a common school education before enter in the United States service and directly after his return he entered the Northwestern College at Naperville, Illinois, where he remained until taking a theological course at home and afterward under the direction of an uncle, Reverend J. H. Pratt, D. I)., who was a minister at Allentown, New Jersey. He had turned his attention in the direction of education before entering the army and while in the service, as time permitted. For a brief time he engaged in the study of medicine, but again resumed his ministerial studies, taking the Princeton course. He began his labors as a pastor in Mitchell county, Kansas, in the year 1874, continuing until the year 1883, and then removed to New Jersey, where he engaged further in theological studies. He came to Kansas with his father's family and homesteaded land near Beloit in 1872; his father, brothers and one sister all secured claims. His parents both died on the homestead eight miles south of Beloit. His father died in 1898 at the age of ninety-two years, and his mother in 1899 at the age of eighty-six. By a previous marriage there were three child/en; by the second there were nine, all of whom are living excepting one sister. A brother in Philadelphia is a civil engineer; the other members of the family all live in Mitchell county, Kansas. Reverend McMillan's paternal ancestors were of Scotch Covenanters and Dutch Reformed sects, while his maternal ancestors were German Lutherans. His maternal grandfather was educated in the University of Berlin, and was by profession a teacher, attorney and surveyor. His paternal grandfather was a captain in the war of 1812. It was in 1883, 1884 and 1885 that Reverend McMillan took a two years theological course under Doctor J. H. Pratt, of Allentown, New Jersey. While in the east he visited in 1901 the old cemetery containing the ashes of his ancestry and found graves that were marked 1735. Many others were unmarked and moss-grown. His maternal grandfather was the sexton of the Lutheran church built early in the seventeenth century, which was later merged into the present German Reformed Church. Reverend McMillan has in his possession the key to this primitive old house of worship. After preaching several years in Mitchell county. Reverend McMillan became pastor at Lincoln, Kansas, in the meantime laboring at Vesper, Lucas and other neighboring towns. He assumed charge of the Glasco congregation in 1896, and ministers to the congregations at Simpson and Fisher Creek. Reverend McMillan was married in April, 1877, to Julia S. Pratt, of Saltville, Mitchell county. Her father. Doctor R. W. Pratt, graduated in medicine at Athens College, Ohio. Her ancestors were of English origin and early settlers in Ohio, while it was included in the northwestern territory. Her paternal grandfather was Colonel Pratt. Her maternal grandfather, General John Brown, was treasurer of the State University of Athens, Ohio. They were prominent and well known pioneers. Mrs. McMillan's parents located in Green county, Illinois, in 1852, where she was born. After living in Kansas twenty-five years they removed to Los Angeles, California, where her mother still lives and where her father died in 1888. Mrs. McMillan is the second eldest of ten children, all of whom arel iving. One brother is a Presbyterian minister in Portland, Oregon, and one brother is a physician in Alaska. All of her ancestors were professional men, ministers and educators. Mrs. Julia P. Ballard, the well known author, was her father's sister. Mr. Ballard is still a professor of the University of New York and has almost reached the mark of four score years. Mr. and Mrs. McMillan are the parents of two sons and one daughter. Robert W., aged twenty-three, is a graduate of Brown's Commercial College, Kansas City, is a bookkeeper and stenographer by profession and taught school successfully three seasons. He was given a position in the First National Bank, Beloit, Kansas, but on account of failing health was forced to give it up and seek outdoor employment. He now occupies a good position in the Bank of California, Los Angeles, California. The second son, John P.. aged eighteen, is a student in the second year of a high school course in Glasco. Jennie, a little daughter, aged fifteen years, attends the Glasco school. Politically, Mr. McMillan is a Republican and served one term as collector in Ogle county, Illinois. The McMillans own their home, a neat little cottage in Glasco, and in the two acres which surround it they are cultivating choice fruits and have given considerable attention to poultry and have some fine blooded varieties. Mrs. McMillan retains the homestead she filed on in Mitchell county, twenty-eight years ago. Reverend McMillan is a worthy Christian gentleman, universally esteemed, not by the few, but by all classes of society. There is always a universal feeling of interest and respect for a man who, by his own exertions and natural ability, has won for himself a prominent place in either professional or commercial circles, or as a tiller of the soil. Mr. Biggs has done this and occupies a place among the successful men of the Glasco vicinity. Rufus R. Biggs is a son of Joseph Biggs, upon whose original homestead the city of Glasco was built. He settled there in 1869, and was one of the organizers of the town. A brother, Isaac Biggs, was Glasco's first postmaster, and for years engaged in general merchandise. Isaac Biggs died in 1888. R. R. Biggs received a common school education in Iowa, the state of his nativity, in the vicinity of Cedar Rapids. When he was fourteen years of age his father's family moved to Missouri, and the following year to Kansas, where Mr. Biggs began a career of farm life. In 1882, he engaged successfully in the livery business in Glasco; discontinued in 1890. and bought a farm north of that city, where he lived two years- 1893-4. and in 1894 bought part of the old H. H. Spaulding homestead. It was a bare wheat field of ninety-seven acres adjacent to Glasco. Mr. Biggs put this land under a high state of improvement; built a comfortable six room cottage, substantial barns, etc. Mr. Biggs was married, in 1885, to Mary Emma Haddock, a popular Cloud county teacher. She was educated in the graded schools of Concordia and a student one year in the State Normal of Emporia. The Haddocks were old settlers in Cloud county and homesteaded what is now the Mess-more farm near Glasco. Her father died in 1898, and her mother in 1884. Mrs. Biggs was a teacher in the old stone school house of Glasco; entered as a substitute for one day and taught for a period of five years. She began her school work as a teacher at sixteen. Mr. and Mrs. Biggs are the parents of one child, a little daughter, Wilma Inez, aged four years. Mr. and Mrs. Biggs have reared two daughters of their deceased brother, Isaac Biggs. Ida is a graduate of the Glasco High school and is married to Charles Wall. The youngest daughter, Oral, remains one of their household. Socially Mr. Biggs is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is considerable of a sportsman; goes to Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma or Arkansas annually for a seasons hunting. He is progressive in his views and contributes to all worthy enterprises, either by his personal efforts or from his stores of a worldly nature. The Biggs have a modern, desirable home, and are among the representative people of their community. The subject of this narrative is J. W. Head, of Glasco, a retired farmer, lumberman and an old veteran of the Civil war. Although a born southerner and his father once a slave owner, true to his convictions, Mr. Head took up arms against the south. Some of his father's slaves are now living in Kansas City, and in Nicodemus, Kansas. Mr. Head was born in Scott county, Kentucky, in 1849. His parents were James G. and Martha Ann (Sebree) Head. His grandparents' place of nativity was the historical county of Culpeper, near the Culpeper court house, where the Heads settled among the colonists of Virginia. His grandfather emigrated to Kentucky when that state was in its infancy, and where his son, J. G. Head, was born May 4, 1807. He was reared and married in Scott county and here his family of eight boys and two girls were born, five of whom are living, all in eastern Kansas, except the subject of this sketch. Mr. Head's mother passed away when her children were yet young, but his father kept them together and never
married again. He died May 28, 1884, in the seventy-seventh year of his age in Miami county, Kansas, where he emigrated
as early as 1858. He was a farmer by occupation. After the war Mr. Head resumed farming in Miami county until 1885, when he came to Glasco and became associated with Charlie Hatcher in the lumber yard, which they subsequently sold to the Chicago Lumber Company. Since then Mr. Head and his sons have farmed together. In 1899 he bought the handsome Parks residence property, one of the most imposing homes in Glasco. Mr. Head was married in 1869 to Sarah E. Hull, a member of one of the old Kentucky families of Lexington. Mr. and Mrs. Head's family consists of three children, two sons and a daughter. James R., the eldest son, is married to Nellie, daughter of Ferd Prince, of Glasco. They are the parents of a little daughter, the first grandchild in the Head family. The other children are Ivan F. and Sarah F. In political principles Mr. Head is a Democrat. In tearing he is a true southerner, possessing that chivalrous and courteous manner that years in the western country could not efface. The enterprising firm of M. F. Duby & Company is composed of M. F. and George Duby. They are dealers in' gentlemen's furnishing goods, boots and shoes, and represent the Royal Tailors of Chicago, one of the largest tailoring establishments in the world. Beside the above named stock they carry a full line of optical goods, are both registered opticians and are building up an excellent reputation and lucrative business in this line. They established their present business August 1, 1901, by buying the stock of J. W. Hare & Son. Their capital stock is about six thousand dollars, and they own the building they occupy-a two story stone structure, 28x80 feet in dimensions. M. F. Duby, the senior member of the firm, is a native of Missouri, born in East St. Louis. His father, Charles Duby, was a school teacher, expert accountant and bookkeeper. He was employed in the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company's office three years. He served three years in the Civil war with an Illinois regiment. While in the service he was transferred from the army of the West to the South; mails were very uncertain at this period and not hearing from him for more than a year, and supposing him dead, the mother with her little family emigrated to Nebraska, arriving in Omaha, April 14, 1865, the day President Lincoln was assassinated. Assuming that she was the head of the family, she took up a homestead on an island in the Platte river. They were the first settlers on this island and it took their name apd still remains known as "Duby's Island." It consists of one thousand five hundred acres. After the war the father returned to Missouri, where he had left his family, and learning they had settled in Nebraska, he repaired to that country, luckily appealed to a man who knew the family, and found the mother with her four sons and one daughter settled on their homestead. This was during the early settlement of that state, when the Indians were numerous, and game and fur-bearing animals plentiful, but the Indians were pretty well civilized and gave the settlers but little trouble. Mr. Duby's grandparents emigrated from France to Canada, where Charles Duby was born. Mr. Duby's mother s people were of Ohio birth; her ancestors were of Scotch origin. M. F. Duby was reared on a farm and received his education in the common schools of Nebraska, where his father taught several terms. In 1883 he moved to western Nebraska and from there to Alabama, where he became a cotton planter. Two and a half years later he emigrated west, locating in Washington, where he operated a logging camp very successfully, employing from eighteen to twenty men. After selling his interests there he traveled extensively in search of a suitable location and in 1901, he with his brother, and their families, came to Glasco and embarked in their present business. Mr. Duby was married in 1877 to Clara E. Long, of Pennsylvania birth, who came with her parents to Nebraska in 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Duby's family consists of six children, three daughters and three sons, viz: Everard Forest, aged twenty-four, is an attorney located in Seattle, Washington. He is a graduate of the State University at Seattle and a member of the law firm of Steiner, French & Duby. Charles Ferdinand, twenty-one years of age, is proprietor of a restaurant and lunch counter in Glasco. May Agnes, aged nineteen; Jesse James, aged seventeen; Pearl Maud, aged ten, and Eva Elsie, a little girl of three years. The two last named were born in the state of Washington. Politically Mr. Duby is a populist. They occupy one of the best residence properties in Glasco-an imposing two-story nine-room modern house. G. S. DUBY, the subject of this sketch, is the junior member of the firm of M. F. Duby & Company. He is a native of Marysville, Illinois, and like his brother received his early education in the common schools of Nebraska. He completed a course in optics in the Omaha Horological and Optical School, graduating in 1803. Prior to this he had taken a correspondence course in the Chicago Optical Institute. Mr. Duby has fitted hundreds of pairs of glasses in Nebraska and has also worked extensively in Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri He lived in Nebraska from 1863 until August, 1901, when he located in Glasco. He traveled nine years with optical goods and jewelry. He has taught thirty-seven pupils and most of them are practicing. Mr. Duby was married to Mary E. Gilbert, who was reared in Memphis, Tennessee. They are the parents of three boys and one girl. Mildred, William, Forest and Otis. Politically Mr. Duby is a populist. By their, courteous and accommodating manner and a desire to please the public. , M. F. Duby & Company have built up an excellent trade. They are energetic and reliable business men who deserve to succeed.-[In May, 1902, the Dubys disposed of their Glasco interests and returned to the state of Washington, their former home.-Editor.] Perhaps no individual of the Solomon valley is better known than G. B. VanLandingham. He is a public spirited, enterprising man and has done his full share toward the improvement of his section of the country, and is ranked among its most trustworthy citizens. The place of his nativity is Palmyra, one of the most beautiful little cities in the state of Missouri. He was born September 30, 1845, and lived in his native state until coming to Kansas in 1871. Mr. VanLandingham received his earlier education in the common schools of his county and afterward took a course in the Palmyra College. In 1863 he was enrolled in the state militia under Federal authorities and again in 1864, but was each time rejected for active military service by the examining surgeon on account of a crippled ankle. Since coming to Kansas he has been engaged in various enterprises- agricultural and mercantile. He homesteaded a claim in the Solomon valley, farmed successfully for many tears and was associated with his brother-in-law, Owen Day, in the hardware business at Glasco, for a period of about ten years. He is also a stock auctioneer and has conducted many sales, extending over this and adjoining counties and is acknowledged as one of the best in the country. Throughout his life Mr. VanLandingham has been a devoted worker in the interests of the Democratic party, and in 1887 received from his constituents the nomination for sheriff of Cloud county against Edward Marshall, and made a formidable foe, but was on the wrong side to be elected in this county. The vote stood one thousand five hundred and forty-three for Marshall and one thousand four hundred and forty-one for VanLandingham. Although he has a "will of his own" he is not aggressive. He is a philanthropic, honorable, high minded man, full of generous impulses and his career is marked by many kind deeds. He is extensively known over Cloud county and none of her citizens possesses the general good will of the people to a greater extent than he, and he is one of the old-timers who witnessed the marvelous growth of this fair state, and is pretty well satisfied with the world as it is revealed in Kansas. A prosperous and progressive farmer of Lyon township is J. H. D. Pilcher. whose advent in Cloud county was in December of 1871, and on the 8th of January, 1872, he homesteaded his claim. Mr. Pilcher is a native of La Salle county, Illinois, born January 5, 1850. When about five years of age the family moved to Livingstone county, Illinois, where they continued to live until coming to Kansas. Mr. Pilcher is a son of John Wesley and Eliza (Mclntosh) Pilcher, who were married in 1847. J. W. Pilcher was born in Ohio in 1821 ; his father was born in the state of Maryland in 1793 and died when his son J. W. was three years of age. His mother was Margaret Courtney, came from Ireland to America and settled in Virginia in the colonial days of that state, and in that portion now included in West Virginia, where numerous antecedents still live. J. W. Pilcher's parents were married in Virginia and went to Ohio, where he was born in 1821; his father died in 1850, at the age of fifty-seven years; his mother died in 1868, at their home in Livingstone county, Illinois, where they had moved in 1847. J. W. Pilcher emigrated to Kansas in 1873 and took a homestead in Lyon township, about six miles northeast of Glasco, where he lived until three years ago, when he retired from farm life and moved into Glasco, where he now lives at the age of eighty-one years. Our subject's mother was a daughter of Daniel and Cornelia (Cress-field) Mclntosh, of Ohio, born in 1825. Mrs. Mclntosh was the widow of John Crouch, who died in Indiana, where they had located,-leaving his wife and a daughter, who died unmarried at the age of forty-three years. Her second husband, John Crouch, of Ohio, died at the age of thirty-six years, leaving his wife and two daughters, one of whom is Mr. Pilcher's mother, and the other is a resident of Ottawa, Illinois. Mrs. Crouch removed to Illinois and died in that state in 1850. J. H. D. Pilcher is one of six children: Ella, who had lived and cared for her aged parents, died unmarried in 1895, at the age of forty-three years. Josephine, wife of James Fletcher, a farmer and veteran of the Civil war, living in Lyon township. Cornelia Belle, wife of J. B. Rice, a farmer near Fairmount, Nebraska. Eugenia, deceased at the age of twelve years, and Alice, deceased at the age of twenty-one months. The Pilchers lived like the average settler, in a dugout, cooked over a fireplace and endured all sorts of inconveniences for a period of six years. He then built a more modern house, with floor and roof, the cellar of which is now under his present residence. The first year he did not own a team, but managed to hold down his government claim and live; though he was reduced in currency until he could not buy a postage stamp. For the last few years Mr. Pilcher has made wheat raising his chief pursuit. He has raised a good many hogs and has always had some cattle to sell. Mr. Pilcher has forged to the front and today owns two hundred and forty acres of fine land. In 1878 he built a comfortable stone house and in 1891 a substantial barn. His country place is neat and attractive and has even- appearance of thrift and enterprise. He was married in October, 1877, to Sarah R. Courtney, who is entitled to her share of the credit for the success of her husband. She is a daughter of Robert W. and Lydia (Smyth) Courtney. Her parents were both of West Virginia,-Monongalia county, near Morgantown,-where Mrs. Pilcher was born. Her father was a farmer and when Mrs. Pilcher was eight years old the family moved to Livingston county, Illinois, and settled on a farm. In 1872 they came to Kansas and homesteaded land in Meredith township. Her father died in 1885, and her mother resides in Delphos, with a daughter,-Mrs. Ida St. Clair. Mrs. Pilcher is one of twelve children, nine of whom are living and all in Kansas, except one, Samuel, who returned to their old Virginia home. To Mr. and Mrs. Pilcher ten children have been born and all are living, viz: Lewis and Frank are interested with their father in farming and stock raising. Harry, Chloe, Grace, Lester, Raymond, Bert, William, McKinley and Gay. Mr. Pilcher votes the Republican ticket, and is a member of Delphos Lodge, Ancient Order United Workmen. Mr. Pilcher is an honest, industrious farmer, who commands the respect and esteem of all who know him. He is liberal and progressive and a man that benefits a community by his living example of pluck and energy.-[Since the above sketch was written, Mr. Pilcher's venerable parents have passed over the "Great Divide." They died but a few hours apart, after a happy wedded life of fifty-five years. They were aged eighty-one and seventy-six years, respectively, and had been residents of the Solomon valley for more than thirty years. They were universally respected and consistent Christians-members of the Methodist Episcopal church.-Editor.] The subject of this sketch is J. F. Pilcher, a brother of Charles Pilcher, and like him is one of those hard working, progressive, self-made farmers. J. F. Pilcher left his birthplace, Livingston county, Illinois, where he was born in 1855, and emigrated to Cloud county with his father's family. When he arrived at his majority he began his career as a farm hand and the same year filed on a homestead, his present farm in Lyon township, eight miles northeast of Glasco. He bought the relinquishment of a man by the name of Correll, who had broken a few acres and built a dugout, for which Mr. Pilcher paid three hundred and fifty dollars. From this raw claim of prairie he has developed one of the finest wheat farms in the Solomon valley, and it is under an excellent state of improvement and cultivation. In 1879 Mr. Pilcher built a small stone residence and in 1899 added a two-story front, which makes a commodious residence of eight rooms. Mr. Pilcher was married in 1879 to Helen A. Newell, one of the amiable daughters of Adrastus Newell (see sketch). She was a teacher in the early settlement of the country and is an intellectual and cultured woman. They are the parents of seven children living, and one deceased. Myrtella, the eldest daqghter, is married to Allen Everley, a farmer of Lyon township. The eldest son, Robert, who has not attained his majority, assists his father on the farm. The younger children are Stella, Claude, Arthur Lois and Glen. Mr. Pilcher is a sympathizer with the Democratic party and socially is a member of the Woodmen order of Glasco. The Pilchers are all industrious, honest people, and good, reliable citizens,-the kind to be depended upon when any enterprise is on foot for the good of the community. The subject of this sketch is Charles H. Pilcher, a progressive farmer and stockman of Lyon township. Mr. Pilcher was born in Livingston county, Illinois, in 1865. He is a son of Robert and Ery Ann (McCashlan) Pilcher. Robert Pilcher was a native of Ohio, born in Clinton county in 1822. In his early manhood he moved to Wayne county, Indiana, where he married in 1843 and four years later moved to Illinois. In 1877 Mr. Pilcher with his family emigrated to Cloud county and bought the relinquishment of the Thomas Jones claim, which he home-steaded and where he lived until a short time prior to his death. He was stricken with a paralytic stroke in 1892, and another on July 22, 1895, from which he did not recover. He was a highly respected citizen and his last days of suffering were marked by his fortitude and patience. Mrs. Pilcher, the wife and mother, was born in Frederick county, Virginia (now West Virginia), on the same day of the same year as her husband, October 7, 1822. She died of heart failure in 1891, at the age of sixty-eight years and three months. Mrs. Pilcher became a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church at the dawning of womanhood and her life was characterized as that of a consistent Christian woman. To this worthy couple eight children were born, six of whom are living, viz: Charles H., the subject of this sketch: Mary, wife of Donald Gray, a carpenter of Glasco; William, a farmer five miles east of Glasco; James, a farmer of Lyon township; Rilla, wife of William Mathews, a farmer of Lyon township, and Robert, who conducts a barber shop in Glasco. Charles H. Pilcher is the youngest child, and lives on the old homestead, having bought out the other heirs to the estate. He has one hundred and sixty acres on Chris creek. His farm is well improved, well timbered and has two splendid springs that afford ample water for stock. He has fifty-five head of native cattle and keeps from thirty to forty head of Poland China hogs. Mr. Pilcher has been twice married. His first wife was Alice Eber-hart, who died in 1891 at the age of twenty years. They were the parents of three children, two of whom died prior to the mother's death, while the other, an infant, followed shortly after. In 1894 Mr. Pilcher was married to Adah Maud Snyder, one of the estimable daughters of Captain Snyder, an old settler of the Solomon valley. They are the parents of two children, Leta Bell, born in Cloud county, Kansas, December 5, 1897, and Clifford Leroy, born October 1, 1899. J. H. Libben, an industrious and frugal German, came to America in 1874. After farming in Iowa two years, Mr.
Libben came to Lyon township, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, and he is now one of the most prosperous
farmers and stockmen of that community. He has purchased adjacent lands until he owns seven hundred and fifty acres
in Lyon township and one hundred and thirty-five in Solomon township, most of which is wheat and pasture land.
He keeps a herd of about seventy-five head of native cattle, and seldom has less than one hundred head of hogs.
The first two years on the homestead were spent in a dugout which then gave place to a new frame dwelling that
has been enlarged and is now a comfortable and commodious country residence. In 1901, true to the German characteristic,
he erected an excellent barn. Mr. Noel located in Glasco July 1, 1884, where he has lived continuously ever since, and became one of the business men of the Solomon valley, Mr. Noel is a native of Iowa, born in Henry county in 1853. His parents were early settlers, coming from Tennessee to Iowa. Mr. Noel began his career as a painter in a wagon factory, following that vocation for twelve years. He came to Glasco with a small capital and bought an interest in the elevator of W. R. West & Company. In 1892 he bought their interest. The elevator was established in 1878, but has been repaired and enlarged until its present capacity is storage for twenty-five thousand bushels of grain. Mr. Noel owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres of land one and one-half miles northwest of Glasco, and is president of the Glasco State Bank. January 17, 1884, Mr. Noel was married to Martha McCormick, of Iowa. To this union three children have been born, Eva, Edgar and Sidney, aged fifteen, nine and six years respectively. Mr. Noel was a Democrat until the adoption of free silver, and as there were no gold Democrats here he affiliated with the Republican party. He has held a membership in the Knights of Pythias lodge of Glasco for fifteen years, has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for more than twenty years, and is a member of the Order of Woodmen. The subject of this sketch is Enoch Williamson, of Solomon township. He is a native of Indiana, born on a farm twelve miles distant from the city of Indianapolis. He is a practical and thorough farmer of life-long experience and has been successful. His father was James Williamson, born in Ohio, on the Scioto river, and in the countv that bears that name. He was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1853. When quite a young man he settled in Indiana, bought eighty acres of land and paid for it by applying his wages, eight dollars per month, which he received as a farm hand. He was killed while felling a tree. His son, the subject of this sketch, was chopping near by when the accident occurred. He found his father unconscious, remaining in that condition until he died four hours later. Mr. Williamson's mother was Christina (Shafer) Williamson. At the time of her husband's death she was left with nine small children, the youngest a babe in her arms, four months old. They lived in Indiana in the pioneer days of that state and when the woods were infested with wild animals. Bear were numerous and the wolves howled in their door yards. The homestead is still in possession of the family and is now occupied by a niece. Mr. Williamson, the second eldest child, was one of his mother's chief supports and operated the farm, hence he received a limited education. He is one of twelve children, eight of that number living. Three died in infancy. Wesley returned from the war broken down in health and died several years later, leaving a wife and three children. The other children are: Peter, a retired farmer and stockman of Bell county, Texas; Rosanna, widow of Martin Phelps (they have two daughters and live near the old homestead in Indiana); Barbara, wife of John Sharpe, a farmer of Champaign county, Illinois; Asa is a retired farmer of Indiana (he was a soldier in the Civil war) ; Frank, a farmer of Indiana; John, a farmer and stockman of Collingsworth county, in the Panhandle country of Texas; his wife died in August, 1900, leaving a daughter fifteen years of age. He was an educator of considerable prominence and was principal of the Quaker high school of Hamilton, Indiana, and taught in the schools of Terre Haute. Margaret is the wife of Richard Power, and resides near the town of Nora, Indiana. Mr. Williamson's mother came from Germany when twelve years old. Her parents were very poor and during their voyage to America she with two of her sisters were sold to work out the price of their passage across the water. They were left in Baltimore while the other members of the family went on into Ohio. The consideration was seven, five and three years labor, according to their capacity for work. She being the youngest was given over for seven years. The two eldest served their allotted time and sought their parents. His mother served her time out and entered the home of an English-speaking family, where she had a good home, but lost her native language entirely. During this period her mother died and she remained with this family until she was twenty-four years of age. She resented the act of her father having sold her and did not return home. She visited her sisters in Ohio and found two of them married to the Williamson brothers. She married a third brother, Mr. Williamson's father, and the three families moved to Indiana. She died on the old homestead, where they first settled, at the age of ninety years. She was a widow for over forty years. Mr. Williamson removed from Indiana to northeastern Iowa in 1865 with an invalid wife, who died of pulmonary
disease, leaving four children, three boys and one girl, but one of whom is living,-Frank B., an employee in the
treasury department in Washington, District of Columbia. He made the best record in the civil service examination
of any applicant in the state. He has held his present position two years. Prior to entering upon this work he
was a traveling salesman. After his wife's death Mr. Williamson returned to Indiana and resumed his farming operations. To Mr. and Mrs. Williamson five children have been born: James R., superintendent of a department for the Swift Packing Company in Chicago; he occupies one of the best positions in this extensive concern, where he entered as an ordinary laborer. His industry and integrity are responsible for this lucrative position. He has been in their employ for about ten years. He visited his parents in 1901; Arvilla, wife of William Davidson, (see sketch); Charles W. is interested in farming with his father; he is married to Mary D. Abrams, an orphan girl, who was reared by her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. William Doyle; Mary E., wife of William Benson, a farmer of Solomon township; Mr. Benson is a successful young man, industrious and progressive, and gives promise of becoming one of the leading farmers in the community; Guy, a progressive young fellow, is interested in a laundry in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When Mr. Williamson left Indiana he settled in Moniteau county, Missouri, remaining ten years. In 1879 he came to Kansas and farmed one ye:\r in Lincoln county, where he sunk considerable money and then came to the beautiful Solomon valley. He bought a farm of Dan Teasley, and in 1804 purchased the finely improved place where he now lives. The first three years he rented land on the river bottom. His farm, which is one of the very best in the Solomon valley, consists of three hundred and twenty acres of land, a part of which is the original homestead of Anderson Bagwell. Prior to its purchase by Mr. Williamson, it was owned by the Bracken heirs. It is a well watered and well timbered farm and produces wheat and corn. He has given considerable time to horticulture and is rewarded by an abundance of excellent fruit. Their commodious home is beautifully situated near a timber bordered creek and the buildings indicate thrift and enterprise. A new barn just completed at a cost of $800 adds to the attractiveness of the place. Mr. Williamson belongs to the Populist party. He has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons since 1863, a period of thirty-nine years. He was a charter member of both the Glasco and Simpson lodges. He and his family are strong exponents of the Methodist faith and Mr. Williamson has been a steward in the church for almost half a century. Mr. and Mrs. Williamson are excellent people. She is a refined, gentle woman and he is a Christian gentleman and an honest man whose word is as good as his bond. B. R. Moore, a farmer, stockman and extensive wheat grower of Lyon township, is a native of Warren county, Illinois. At the age of fifteen Mr. Moore went to Colorado, where he spent several years. In 1881 he came to Cloud county and now owns three hundred and twenty acres of fine land in a high state of cultivation, with good house, barn, etc. He was married in 1883 to Mrs. Morris, the widow of Edward Morris, by whom she had three children, viz: Frank, a telegraph operator of LuVerne, Minnesota; Guy, on his fourth year in Campbell University at Holton, Kansas, where he is taking a general course and will enter the State University of Kansas the coming year; Maude, a graduate of the common schools. By her marriage with Mr. Moore there is one son, Claude, who received a common school diploma and is now on his first year in the high school at Delphos. Mrs. Moore was a Courtney and her paternal ancestors came from Ireland. The subject of this sketch is J. C. Chase, a farmer, stockman and chicken fancier of Solomon township, two miles southeast of Glasco. Mr. Chase was born on Third avenue, in the city of New York, October 18, 1854, but in appearance is ten years younger. His father, William Henry Chase, was a carpenter by trade and a native of New York, with residence in New York City and Brooklyn. He died in 1874, in his forty-eighth year. The Chase ancestry came from Wales and were early settlers in New York. His mother was Maria L. (Johnson) Chase; born and died in the city of New York. The Chase family consisted of himself and two sisters. The eldest sister, Elizabeth E. Lane, is a widow,-having buried two husbands She resides in the city of New York and has one daughter, Priscilla, by her first husband. The other sister is Mrs. Ida M. Satterlee, of New York City. Mr. Chase learned the alphabet in the city of New York with one hundred or more other children; as the teacher pointed to the charts they screamed out the letters. He then attended school in winter and in this way received a good common education. He was at one time a pupil of John Ridpath, the historian. Mr. Chase left the city of New York when seven years of age and with some race horse owners went to Indiana, where he began to exercise and train for a jockey, and soon afterward rode in the races, and subsequently became well known among the turfmen. He has been connected with the Homer & Crouch stables near Lebanon, Indiana, and with Samuel Hine, near Greencastle, Indiana, Long & Allen, of Bloomington, Illinois, and with General Price, a son of General Sterling Price, of Missouri, for four years. Mr. Chase rode his famous horse, "Bill Bass," at the head of the Tennessee wagon in the procession at the ratification of Cleveland's election. General Price took an active part in the celebration, allowing his handsome milk white horse to lead the procession, but had voted against Cleveland. Mr. Chase was with Kellar & Tracy, of St. Louis, and went with them to Denver, remaining one year. He was with Sam Trowbridge, of Wellington, Kansas, and with D. W. Covington. In 189T he shipped a brood mare to Cloud county, intending to move on to St. Louis for the purpose of training some horses and riding in the races. He had friends in Cloud county, who persuaded him to ride at meetings in Concordia, Clyde, Clay Center and other towns. Mr. Chase has won big stakes. He won a handsome purse on "Pete Willis," General Price's horse, at St. Louis. He has been more or less interested in horses all his life. Mr. Chase has five young horses that have been bred for the track. He has one of the best bred stallions in the world, "Frances Hennessey" His sire, "Sid Arthur/' was imported by Pierre Lorillard. His dam was "Murtillo," bred by Milton Young, of Lexington, Kentucky. "Francis Hennessey" is a half-brother of "Our Nellie/' the famous mare which holds the two-mile record, 3 32 4, and a number of other record breakers. She made this record at Memphis in 1899. In color "Francis Hennessey" is a very dark seal brown horse, with two white heels. He is a superbly magnificent animal. Mr. Chase also has a strictly thoroughbred mare, "Lucy," from "Longbow" by "Longfellow." She is now eighteen years old and he has raised six colts from her. He has retained one of her colts, a brood mare, "Vina I-ong" by "Okema." The latter is by "Reform," out of the dam of "Iroquois" that went to England and won the English derby, the only American bred horse that ever captured it. Mr. Chase takes delight in poultry breeding, but horses are his "long suit." He has been breeding the Brown Leghorns and the Black Minorcas five years. Judge Rhodes, of Topeka, at the Delphos poultry show in 1900, affirmed they were the highest he had ever adjudged, and carried away the blue ribbon. He supplies eggs for hatching and his patrons are sure of getting the pure article. He keeps about a half dozen pit game chickens and when it comes to a "show down" they prove themselves champions. He has taken his share and the biggest end of the blue ribbon wherever he has exhibited,-Beloit, Delphos, Minneapolis and Glasco, and they have been scored by as good judges as there are in the country: L. P. Harris, of Nebraska, Judge Rhodes, of Topeka, and other competent authority. Mr. Chase also has some fine bred shorthorn cattle, but for lack of pasture does not keep a large herd. He has been successful in hog raising during the corn years. His fine farm consists of one hundred and eighty-five acres of bottom land, intersected by the Solomon river. Mr. Chase was married in 1894 to Pauline (Knatkowsky), the widow of Jacob Studt, by whom she had six children. The two younger were twins, -one of them died at the age of three months. Jacob Studt was a native of Germany, born in 1840. When a small boy he came to America with his parents and settled in Illinois, near Waterloo, and in 1867 came to Cloud county, where he died January 26, 1891. Their children are Margaret C, Augusta S., Elizabeth K. A., Herman A., and Clara H. The Chdse farm is the original homestead of Mr. Studt, where he and his brother lived in a dugout for several years, and built the first log house in the neighborhood, which was then deemed commodious. The house still stands. In 1890 Mr. Studt built a good frame house of nine rooms. To Mr. and Mrs. Chase has been born one child, Priscilli Cornelia, a beautiful little girl of five years. Mr.
Chase takes an active part in political affairs and votes the Republican ticket. He is a member of the order of
Woodmen of Glasco. Mrs. Chase is a member of the Lutheran church. The Soule family trace their ancestry in America back to the time the "Mayflower" made its way across the Atlantic in 1620. Among the passengers was George Soule, who cast his lot with the Pilgrim Fathers and lived to an advanced age, dying in 1679. To George Soule and wife was born John Soule, who lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The settlement of his estate was dated March 1, 1707. and it is probable he died about 1706. His son Benjamin Soule married Sarah Standish, a daughter of Alexander Standish and grandaughter of Captain Miles Standish. Benjamin Soule died December 1, 1729, at the age of sixty-three years. His wife died March 14, 1740, aged sixty-three years. Zachariah, a son of Benjamin, born March 21, 1694, was married June 9, 1720, to Mary Eaton. Zachariah died March 3, 1751, at the age of fifty-seven years Ephraini, son of Zachariah, born May 11, 1729, was married February 10, 1754, to Rebecca Whitewash, a daughter of Richard Whitewash. He died January 24, 1817, aged eighty-seven years. His wife died September 5, 1805, aged seventy-five years. His son, Daniel Soule, was born November 16, 1757. He was married to Sarah Cushman, seventh daughter of Josiah Cushman, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, a lineal descendant of the fourth generation of Elder Thomas Cushman, one of the Mayflower pilgrims, May 1, 1783. Daniel died in 1836, at the age of eighty-one years. Josiah, his son, born January 13, 1794, married Sally Young, of Ware-ham, Massachusetts, and died March 9, 1872. The sons of Josiah Soule were Josiah, Isaac, George, Plimpton, James, Harrison and Warren. The daughters were Julia, Clarissa, Emily and Clara, all of whom are dead but Julia, who resides at Warren, Ohio. Harrison, the fifth son of Josiah, was born August 3, 1836, and married Adelaide Sandford. Harrison Soule died September 22, 1884. To this union three sons were born, Seymour, Harry, the subject of this sketch, and Jesse. No branch of art has been more rapidly or scientifically developed in recent years than photography. Glasco is fortunate in this respect, as she has a photographer in Mr. Soule of more than ordinary ability, several of whose photographs are reproduced in this volume of history. His work has won for him a reputation not only in his own city and vicinity but in neighboring towns, deriving a large patronage from them. There are many cities of far greater population that are less fortunate in this line. Mr. Soule is conscientious and endeavors to give satisfaction in his work. He cast his lot with the Kansas people in the early 'eighties, traveling alxmt for several years over various portions of the state. In 1890 he located in the enterprising little city of Glasco, assuming charge of the Bischoff Brothers' gallery. A year later he decided to roam again, but in 1895 concluded Glasco was one of the most desirable points for his business and a residence, and opened his present gallery. His work is characterized for the fine finish given his photos and the artistic posing of his subjects. He makes many landscape and river views, photographs homes, interiors, stock, etc. Mr. Soule is a native of LaHarpe, Hancock county, Illinois, born May 17, 1862. He is a son of Harrison Soule, a farmer of Trumbull, Warren county, Ohio, who located in Illinois before the war and became a drummer boy in the Eighty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Regiment. The name Soule is of French origin. Mr. Soule's motlier was Adelaide O. San ford, and like the Soules traces her ancestry back to colonial days. Her maternal great-grandmother was a cousin of the distinguished George Bancroft of colonial fame. Her father, M. D. Sandford, was a deputy sheriff in Hancock county, Illinois, at the time of the killing of Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader. He was born in 1810 and was a soldier in the Mexican war. He was among the forty-niners who went to California, and made six overland trips across the plains. His last trip was made to Leadville, where he engaged in mining and in the hotel business, until his death. Mr. Soule's mother died at Joplin, Missouri, where she lived with a son (now deceased) in July, 1899. Mr. Soule and a sister by his father's second marriage are the only surviving members of his family. She is the wife of Doctor Charles Hurdle, D. D. S., and resides at LaHarpe, Illinois. Seymour, the eldest brother, died at Joplin, Missouri, of miner's consumption. He left three sons, Jesse, Claude and Clyde. Jesse W., the second brother, died at LaHarpe, Illinois, leaving two sons, Ralph and Kenneth. Mr. Soule was married in the spring of 1891 to Florence (Ott) Hampton, widow of Jasper Hampton, by whom she had three children, Eddie, Oscar and Teresa. To Mr. and Mrs. Soule one child has been born, Harry Soule, Jr. Politically Mr. Soule is a Democrat and a member of the city council. The Soules are active members of the Christian church. The subject of this sketch is Nicolas Weaver, an old settler, farmer and stockman of Solomon township. He is a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, thirty miles distant from the city of Pittsburg. He was born in 1847, and is a son of David B. and Jane (Henry) Weaver. His ancestors were of German origin and among the early settlers of that state. His father was born in Westmoreland county, where he lived on a farm until his death by accident, which occurred August 1, 1879. He was walking on the tracks of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad and was struck by the fast express. There were cars standing on the three tracks and though accustomed to walking there daily, he did not see or hear the approaching train that caused his death. Mr. Weaver's mother died when he was four years old, leaving eight children, five of whom are living; one in Streator, Illinois, two in Palmerville, Pennsylvania, and one in Boston. By a second marriage there were two children. At the age of nineteen years Mr. Weaver began to map out a career for himself and emigrated to Livingston county, Illinois, where he farmed until coming to Kansas in 1871, and homesteaded the land where he now lives. Mr. Weaver began at the foundation, as seven dollars was his cash capital when he arrived in Cloud county. The same year he was married and moved into the 13x13 dugout, where they continued to live seven years and experienced many hardships; but their hospitality was not wanting and they kept any wayfarer that came their way. Although often without flour or milk, they lived for days on shorts minus fat enough of any kind to grease a bread pan, often drank coffee made from parched corn and burnt molassess. There was no market for eggs or butter when they had them, and many times they did not have a cent in their possession for weeks, not so much as a postage stamp. They had just arrived at the point where they could exist with some comfort when the grasshoppers put in an appearance. In 1878 he built a small frame house of one room; two years later he added a kitchen, and in 1893 a one-and-a-half-story addition, making a comfortable residence. In 1897 he erected a barn 26x36 feet. Mr. Weaver now owns three hundred and twenty acres of land and has a wheat field this year (1901) of one hundred acres. He has had some very large yields of wheat and corn, and raises the latter when it fails in other localities. Mr. Weaver was married in 1871 to Isabella Boyd, a native of Hancock county, near Findlay, Ohio. She is a daughter of Alexander Hamilton and Anna (Overholdt) Boyd, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they were married and later settled in Ohio, and subsequently moved to Illinois. Her father was a miller and a farmer. He died July 27, 1901, at the home of his daughter, where he had lived since December, 1900. The Boyds were of Irish origin. Mrs. Weaver's great-grandfather came from Ireland. Her paternal grandfather was a physician and had practiced medicine in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he lived for years and until his death. Her maternal ancestors were German. Her maternal grandfather was a minister of the Mennonite faith. She is one of seven children, five of whom are living,- one brother near Fremont, Iowa, and three sisters with residence in Streator, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Weaver five children have been born, four of whom are living. Their eldest child. David B., died on Christmas Eve, 1897, at the age of twenty-five years. He was stricken with typhoid fever while in the employ of a publishing company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and died after an illness of two weeks. He graduated from Streator (Illinois) Commercial College in 1892; worked and paid his own tuition. He was an expert penman and taught classes in penmanship. He had considerable artistic talent and executed some creditable work in black and white. He also took a course of penmanship in the pen department of Dixon College. He was a bright, intelligent boy of much character and firmness of purpose. He was an exemplary member of the Christian church. Frances, wife of A. J. Franks, a farmer of Solomon township; they are the parents of one child, a little daughter Odrey. Reno and Christopher are associated with their father on the farm. Ralph, the youngest son, is farming in Iowa. Mr. Weaver is a Democrat. His sons who have attained their majority vote the Republican ticket. The family are members of the Baptist church. J. A. Coleman cast his lot with the people of the beautiful and fertile Solomon valley in 1886. He is a shrewd business man, bestirs himself early and late, one of the get-up-and-hustle kind that never fails to grasp a good bargain or take advantage of opportunities that come in his way; another good example of what pluck and ambition can do in this fair commonwealth. He came to Kansas practically a poor man but possessed of that heritage, energy and grit which is of far more value than titles to land, minus these attributes. He has forged to the front and ranks as a successful farmer and stockman. Mr. Coleman is still in the prime of life, having been born in Keytesville, Missouri, in the year 1856; but his cordial manner and good humored witticisms imply he might be ten years younger. His parents were John Henry and Elvira (Moss) Coleman. J. H. Coleman was a Virginian by birth, born in Prince Edward county. He emigrated to Missouri in his earlier life, where he died in the early 'seventies. He was of English origin. Mr. Coleman is one of seven children, four of whom are living, all in Sheridan county, Missouri, except himself. William Edward, a farmer; Martha J., wife of Charles Edison, a farmier, and Jennie, V., wife of W. L. Brown. Mr. Coleman began his career on a farm. His mother died during the war and he was thrown on his own resources very early in life. He was married in 1880 to Annie Alice Wells, of Sheridan county, Missouri, where she was born and reared. Her father was Freeman Wells. He left Virginia, his native state, when a young man and settled in Missouri, where he died in 1882. Her mother was Polly Huttsell, of Kentucky birth. She died in 1880. Mrs. Coleman is one of nine children, six of whom are living. John Edward, a carpenter with residence in Concordia; William L., a retired farmer of Concordia; Mattie J., wife of Jeff Hulse, a farmer of Solomon township; Sena, wife of Wesley Cline, an Oklahoma farmer; Susan, wife of William Crook, a farmer of Solomon township. Mr. Coleman came to Kansas with small capital and at the end of two years, owing to partial failure of crops and bad management, he had practically nothing. He had not adapted himself to the country and the ways of the people-thought he was in Missouri. However, shortly afterward he bought eighty acres of the Ezra Calhoun homestead, built a neat cottage and improved the place. Two years later he bought forty acres adjoining it on the south; two years subsequently added eighty acres on the west side, and in 1899 secured forty acres adjoining on the east side. Has improved the latter, built a comfortable house of six rooms, located on the edge of Fisher creek, which furnishes beautiful shade of natural forest trees. Our subject raises wheat, alfalfa and corn. In 1896 he had a fifty-acre field of wheat that yielded forty-two and one-half bushels per acre. He has made the bulk of his money in cattle and hogs. He has a fine feed lot with a never-failing spring that would afford water for one thousand head of stock. Mr. Coleman's family consists of a wife-who is a very estimable woman,-and four children, viz: William Edward,
aged seventeen. Lessie Olivia, Marshall Luella and Sena Eulalia. Mr. Coleman is a Democrat and a member of the
Woodmen Lodge of Glasco. The family are members of the Methodist church.
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