Biographies for Ellsworth County, Kansas

ELLSWORTH COUNTY, KANSAS

BIOGRAPHIES

JAMES A. PAULL

James A. Paull, present county treasurer of Ellsworth County, has long been identified with business, industrial and civic affairs in this section of Kansas. Mr. Paull has a very interesting ancestry. The family originated in Alsace Lorraine, immigrated to England, and from that county Richard Paull established the name in America. Richard Paull was born in 1615 and at the age of twenty, in June, 1635, embarked on the "True Love de London" for the Bermudas.

He soon settled in Massachusetts and on November 7, 1638, married Margery Turner, of Cobasset, now Taunton, Massachusetts. There are several public records concerning this Massachusetts colonist.

He was subject to military duty in 1643, was member of a jury on inquest in 1650 and again in 1653, and was surveyor of highways in 1652. His death occurred before March, 1654, when about thirty-nine years of age. James A. Paull 's grandfather was Richard Paull, a native of New York State and of the sixth generation from the original Paulls settling in America. He died in Kane County, Illinois, before his grandson was born. He married Clarinda Gooding. She had an ancestor, William Gooding, who served in the Revolutionary war. She was descended from Governor Edward and Susanna Winslow, who came over in the Mayflower and their marriage, celebrated May 12, 1621, was the first marriage ceremony in New England.

Clinton E. Paull, of the seventh generation of the family in America and father of James A., was born near Akron, Ohio, in September, 1829. He grew up there, and when a young man accompanied his parents to Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, was married there, next removed to Keokuk County, Iowa, and in 1876 to Ellsworth County, Kansas, where he was a pioneer.
He homesteaded 160 acres northwest of Ellsworth in Columbia Township, lived on it and developed a farm until 1892, subsequently sold and bought other land in the vicinity of Ellsworth and at the time of his death owned 160 acres three miles northeast of the city. This estate was subsequently sold. He died at Ellsworth February 25, 1902. He was independent in politics. Clinton E. Paull married Sarah L. Clark, who was born at Burlington, Vermont, June 13, 1830, and died at Ellsworth, Kansas, October 1, 1901. In their family of eleven children were three pairs of twins. Leon, the first born, died at the age of three years. Catherine married Albert Whaley, an Ellsworth County farmer, and both are now deceased.

Richard is a farm owner and land dealer and lives at Ness City, Kansas. His twin brother died in infancy. Lucy died at the age of twenty-one. Byron C. is a farmer seven miles south of Ellsworth. Gueva is an osteopathic physician at San Diego, California. His twin brother was named Gustave, and he died in infancy. The ninth in age among the children is James A. Paull. Victor E. is a farmer 2-1/2 miles east of Ellsworth. Vinton E., a twin brother of Victor, is a successful farmer sixteen miles north and east of Ellsworth, his farm being partly in Lincoln and partly in Ellsworth County.

James A. Paull was born in Keokuk County, Iowa, August 9, 1865, and was eleven years of age when his parents came to Kansas. He finished his education in the rural schools of Ellsworth County and lived on his father's farm until 1883. For a year he clerked in a store at Ellsworth, went west and studied music one year at San Jose, California, and on returning to Kansas taught music and did a real estate business, which he has followed more or less ever since. Mr. Paull has his residence a mile east of the City of Ellsworth. From 1910 to March, 1916, he lived at Salina, Kansas, where he was proprietor of the National Hotel. Since February, 1916, he has become importantly identified with oil development in this section of Kansas. He has taken up a solid block of leases of 35,000 acres around Ellsworth. Contracts have been made with the Carter Oil Company of Oklahoma and the J. E. Whiteside Company of Muskogee for drilling, and at this writing two wells are being sunk, with every prospect of opening up these leases into a large and abundant oil field.

For many years Mr. Paull has had much to do with public affairs. In 1897 he was chief clerk in Secretary of State W. E. Bush's office at Topeka during Governor Leady 's administration. He also did considerable work for the State Board of Pharmacy from 1900 to 1910. In his home county he was elected and served two terms, four years, as county clerk, and in the fall of 1916 was elected county treasurer, his term beginning October 1, 1917. In politics Mr. Paull is a democrat.

He is past master of Ellsworth Lodge No. 146, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and belongs to Salina Consistory No. 3 of the Scottish Rite and for nine years was worthy patron of Ellsworth Chapter No. 144, Order of Eastern Star. He is a member of Isis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Salina.

In 1893, at Holyrood, Kansas, Mr. Paull married Miss Mertie Smith, daughter of N. C. and Susan (Tebb) Smith. Her father was a farmer and her mother is still living a resident of San Diego, California. Mrs. Paull died in 1895. On September 3, 1904, at Ellsworth, Mr. Paull married Miss Merne E. Coleman. She was born at Indiana, Pennsylvania, December 29, 1884, and is the mother of one daughter, Chloris Merne, born November 10, 1907.

Mrs. Paull is a highly cultured woman and has had considerable practical business experience. Her father, Albert A. Coleman, was born in Pennsylvania in 1850, was reared and married there, became a druggist, and in 1891 came to Kansas. For a number of years he suffered ill health to the point of invalidism and died at Denver, Colorado, in 1910. He was a member of the English Lutheran Church. Albert A. Coleman married Margaret Frances Lucas. Her ancestry is connected with the Mahaffey family, and some of them came to this country in the Mayflower. Mrs. Paull 's mother was born in Ohio in 1856 and died at Joplin, Missouri, in 1914. She was a woman of splendid moral character, of gentle and beautiful disposition, and her children have always paid her a splendid tribute of respect and gratitude. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman were the parents of six children: Wilbert L. is agent for the Missouri & Iron Mountain Railway at Guyon, Arkansas. Edna married Charles Schultheis, a grocery merchant at Council Grove, Kansas; Cordelia C. is the wife of W. W. Watson, a merchant at Winfleld, Kansas; the fourth of the family is Mrs. Paull; John E. is chief clerk for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway in the commercial office of the road at Joplin, Missouri; and Theodore is city passenger agent for the same road at Joplin.

Mrs. Paull was educated in public schools in the different localities where her parents resided, and finished the junior year in the high school at Council Grove, Kansas. Before her marriage she was bookkeeper one year in the Bank of Blackwell, Oklahoma, and another year in the Mountain Park Bank. She is an active member of the Presbyterian church and is affiliated with Ellsworth Chapter No. 144, Order of Eastern Star. (A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, by William Elsey Connelly, 1918, pages 1613-1614)

MAYNARD L. MEEK

Maynard L. Meek, is the present mayor of Ellsworth, Kansas. Local citizens take a great deal of pride in referring to the efficiency and accomplishments of his administration, and express a great deal of satisfaction that Mr. Meek has consented to serve four consecutive terms.

Mr. Meek is first and last a thorough business man, and that accounts for his success in public life. Mayor Meek was born in Jones County, Iowa, September 8, 1869. He comes of an old American family, pioneers in Virginia and later in Ohio. His father, Eli C. Meek, was born in Meigs County, Ohio, in 1846. He grew up and married there, took up the vocation of farming, and in 1869 located on a farm in Jones County, Iowa, where his son was born. In 1878 he removed from Iowa to Lincoln County, Kansas, home-steading 160 acres six miles south of Sylvan Grove.

He soon had 480 acres under his ownership there, but sold out and removed to Ellsworth County in 1887. For ten years he followed the business of grain buying at Wilson, and in 1897 retired and moved to Ellsworth, and since 1915 has lived at Kansas City, Missouri. He is a republican and is affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Eli Meek made a creditable record as a soldier of the Union army. He enlisted in 1861 at the beginning of the war, when only fifteen years of age, in the Eighteenth Ohio Infantry. He was in service until just before the battle of Stone River, where he was wounded and permanently incapacitated for further active duty.

Eli Meek married Elizabeth Bissell, who was born in Meigs County, Ohio, in 1848, and died at Ellsworth, Kansas, in 1907. They were the parents of four children: Ettie is the wife of W. H. Berger, a merchant at Colyer, Kansas; Maynard L.; Mae, wife of A. R. Ogden, resident of Nevada, Iowa, Mr. Ogden being president of the Adventist Conference of that state; and Delia, wife of a railroad man at Fall City, Nebraska.

Maynard L. Meek attended the rural schools of Lincoln County, Kansas, the grade schools at Wilson, and at the age of eighteen gave up his studies to begin work as a clerk at Wilson. In 1897 he removed to Ellsworth and spent ten years very successfully in the grain business. After that he dealt in lands until 1915, and since then has conducted a very flourishing automobile business in Ellsworth. He leased a garage at the corner of First and Nebraska streets, and has the local agencies for the Ford and Studebaker cars. Mr. Meek is a republican. For four terms he was a member of the city council of Ellsworth and also filled the office of county commissioner one term. He was first elected mayor in 1911 and has been re-elected every successive two-year term. Without going into the details of his very efficient administration, it will be sufficient to refer to two notable public improvements. One of these is the public library erected in the city. The other was the construction of an elaborate form drainage sewer, put in at a cost of $35,000, and eliminating much of the inconvenience and loss occasioned by eavy rainfalls.

Mr. Meek is a very successful business man and is one of the large land owners of Kansas. He owns a farm of 160 acres in Marshall County, one of 240 acres in Saline County, and three entire sections, aggregating 1,920 acres, in Gove County. In fraternal matters he is affiliated with Ellsworth Lodge No. 146, Ancient Free and Accepted Mason. Ellsworth Chapter No. 54, Royal Arch Masons, Saint Aldamar Commandery No. 33, Knights Templar, of which he is past eminent commander, Council No. 9. Royal and Select Masters, at Ellsworth, Wichita Consistory No. 2 of the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, and is also a member of Wilson Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Wilson Lodge of the Knights of Pythias.

In 1910 Mr. Meek constructed a fine modern residence at Third Street and Missouri Avenue in Ellsworth. That is the home where he enjoys his delightful family. He married at Wilson, Kansas, in 1892, Miss Minnie Miller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Miller, both now deceased. Her father was formerly a merchant at McPherson and Chanute, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Meek have two children: Eva, a graduate of the local high school and still at home; and Lewis C., a graduate of the high school and now a student in the Kansas University at Lawrence. (A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, by William Elsey Connelly, 1918, page 1614)

BAKER, WARREN

Warren Baker, editor and publisher of the Wilson World, was born at Dublin, Indiana, October 15, 1861, son of James Augustus and Lucretia (Blanchard) Baker. His father, a farmer, was born in North Carolina, about 1837, and died in Richmond, Indiana, about 1885. The mother died about 1890.

Mr. Baker attended elementary school at Richmond, Indiana, and was graduated from high school there in 1882. In 1886 he came to Kansas, serving as superintendent of schools at Greensburg three years, at Dodge City six years, Great Bend seven years, and Eldorado four years. He is a Republican. He went into the newspaper business in Great Bend in 1908, and moved to Wilson in 1914.

On February 9, 1888, he- was married to Elizabeth Frances Gunther in Pratt County, and to them two children were born, Vernon, who is married to Laura Heath; and Lucile, who first married Dr. Ralph Lytle, now deceased, and who is now married to Claude Kitchen.

Mr. Baker is a member of the Presbyterian Church, the Masons and the Shrine. Residence: Wilson. (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 62)

JOSEPH WALMER & W. L. NESMITH

NESMITH & WALMER, dealers in groceries, queensware and tinware. They began trade in 1879, and erected their store building, 25x70 feet, two stories high, of stone, at a cost of $3,500 in 1879. They carry a general stock of about $3,500. Joseph Walmer came to Wilson in 1877, and engaged in farming until he began in trade. He was born in St. Joseph County, Ind., in 1855, and was raised and educated in his native county. W. L. Nesmith came to Wilson in 1877, and engaged in the grocery business, which he has since continued. They formed the co-partnership in 1879. Mr. Nesmith was born in Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1852, and was raised and educated in his native county. He was married in 1874 to Miss Clara H. Carhatta, a native of Missouri. They have two children--Edgar L. and Joseph Hal. (Ellsworth County, Part 7 - Wilson, submitted by Georganna Thompson Tilson)

NESMITH, WILLIAM L.

William L. Nesmith is one of the Kansas pioneers. He has lived in this state more than forty years, having come here in 1874 with his young wife and their wagon trip from Iowa was in the nature of a honeymoon journey.

For a great many years William Nesmith was engaged in merchandising and in other affairs at Wilson, and is now a resident of Salina and a member of the grocery house of Nesmith & Son. His public spirit as a citizen and his generous contributions to educational institutions and moral movements have been on a par with his notable business success.

His birth occurred April 24, 1852, in a log house on a farm in Van Buren County, Iowa. His parents were Joseph T. and Jane (Truscott) Nesmith, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of England. His father was born September 1, 1823, and spent his life as a farmer. For many years he lived in Ellsworth County, Kansas, and died at Wilson in this state December 1, 1898. He was an active member of the Methodist Protestant Church. In 1845, in Van Buren County, Iowa, he married Miss Truscott, who was born in 1829 in England, and came to America in 1836 with her parents, Stephen and Ann (Benny) Truscott, who lived to be past ninety years of age. Both the Nesmith and Truscott families were among the early pioneers of Iowa, having settled there when Iowa was still a territory. Mrs. Joseph Nesmith died in Iowa County of that state in 1904. All her life she was very sincere and devoted to the Christian religion. To their union were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely: Henry Truscott, born October 28, 1846, and died December 23, 1915; Eliza Jane, born September 3, 1850 and now the wife of S. E. Barton, a retired resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota; William L., who was the third in order of birth; Vinette, born April 5, 1854, now living at Fort Scott, Kansas, the widow of D. W. Tilton; Mary Luella, born April 20, 1856, the wife of George White, a farmer at Haigler, Nebraska; Cyrsey Ann, born October 28, 1860, and the wife of Orren Jordan, a farmer in Iowa County, Iowa; Ellwood, who died in infancy; Cora Maude, born in 1867 and the wife of I. D. Jordan, a fruit grower at Hotchkiss, Colorado; Frank Raymond, born September 15, 1870, and died October 26, 1895; and Roscoe Workman, born September 8, 1873, a merchant at Wilson, Kansas.

William L. Nesmith grew up on the old farm of his parents in Iowa. His early education was acquired in the public schools. At the age of nineteen he qualified as a teacher and began that profession, which occupied him chiefly for a number of years. Altogether he taught seven terms in Iowa County.

In April, 1874, at Sigourney, Iowa, he married Miss Clara H. Carhartt, who was born in a log house on a farm in Clark County, Missouri, February 15, 1854, a daughter of Lewis and Nancy W. (Pearson) Carhartt, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio. Mrs. Nesmith, like her husband, became a teacher and taught four years before her marriage and one year after. A few days after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Nesmith as bride and groom set out in a wagon on a wedding tour and arrived in Kansas on the 22nd of April. They remained in this state only three months, and then returned to Iowa, where Mr. Nesmith resumed his work as a teacher and farmer.

His permanent location in Kansas was in 1877. At that time he located at Wilson and for thirty-one consecutive years was actively identified with merchandising in and around that point. Both Mr. and Mrs. Nesmith know what life in Kansas forty years ago meant. Their first home was a dugout. Practically all the hardships incident to pioneer life were part of their experience. The buffaloes had not yet disappeared from the plains and much of their provender was buffalo meat. Mr. Nesmith was one of the earliest members of the Episcopal Church at Wilson, and has always borne a large share in its activities. At Wilson he served as a member of the town council and one year as mayor. For more than a quarter of a century he was superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school at Wilson. He was also a leader in the temperance movement and other reforms in his community from their inception and it has always been a great gratification to him that he lived to see these moral movements accepted is a part of the practice and creed of the great majority of the people of the state.

At the same time he prospered as a business man. In 1908 he removed to Salina, and there continued the mercantile business under the firm name of Nesmith & Sons. Mr. Nesmith owns the Nesmith Block, and was formerly owner of the well known Shaeffer cattle ranch in Lincoln and Russell counties. This ranch he sold in 1915 for $60,000.

Since 1892 Mr. Nesmith has been one of the prominent members of the board of trustees of the Kansas Wesleyan University, and for four years served as president of the board. In 1913 he started the campaign for the endowment of a Bible chair at the university, a chair whose express purpose it is to teach Bible holiness. The endowment fund was set at $25,000 and he gave his personal check for $15,000 of that amount. Mr. Nesmith has never been a member of any secret society.

He and his wife have four children all sons, and briefly mentioned as follows: Edgar LeRoy, born January 25, 1876, married April 7, 1897, Anna Greenhalgh, and their three children are named Clarence Richard, William C. and Clara Lois. Hal Joseph, born September 10, 1882, married June 6, l906, Essie Stryker, and their three children are named Frank Albert, Harold and Margie. Verne Louis, born September 9, 1886, married Vera McGuire on April 18, 1908, and they have one child named Donald Louis. Aura Case, born July 4, 1893, graduated from the Kansas Wesleyan University with the class of 1914, won the first honors as orator of his school in the Inter-State Prohibition Oratorical Contest at Clinton, Missouri, June 20th of that year, and is now an active minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married November 10, 1915, Neva Porter, and has one child, Vera Lynette, born August 28, 1916.

A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written & compiled by William E. Connelley, 1918, submitted by Georganna Thompson Tilson)

NESMITH & WALMER, dealers in groceries, queensware and tinware. They began trade in 1879, and erected their store building, 25x70 feet, two stories high, of stone, at a cost of $3,500 in 1879. They carry a general stock of about $3,500. Joseph Walmer came to Wilson in 1877, and engaged in farming until he began in trade. He was born in St. Joseph County, Ind., in 1855, and was raised and educated in his native county. W. L. Nesmith came to Wilson in 1877, and engaged in the grocery business, which he has since continued. They formed the co-partnership in 1879. Mr. Nesmith was born in Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1852, and was raised and educated in his native county. He was married in 1874 to Miss Clara H. Carhatta, a native of Missouri. They have two children--Edgar L. and Joseph Hal. (Ellsworth County, Part 7 - Wilson, submitted by Georganna Thompson Tilson)