LINN COUNTY, KANSAS
Colonel James Findlay Harrison, formerly county surveyor and an old time citizen of Mound City, born March 9, 1825, in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the son of William Henry Harrison, a native of Vincennes, Indiana. His father's father born September 26, 1802, was the son of General William Henry Harrison, the paternal grandfather of our subject being the hero of Tippecanoe and later president of the United States. The father, educated in Transsylvania University in Kentucky, was admitted to the bar in Ohio in 1823. The mother, Jane Findlay Irwin, was the daughter of Archibald Irwin, a prosperous farmer near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. On the Harrison side the family dates back to Thomas Harrison, a major general of the Parliamentary army and once colonel of the old Ironsides Regiment of Cromwell. He was one of the judges who tried King Charles and was the one who, by orders of Cromwell, dissolved the long parliament and arrested the speaker. He was hung, drawn and quartered May 10, 1660. His son Benjamin Harrison who emigrated to America on account of political differences with his father, located in the Old Dominion, and became clerk of the council of Virginia. He died in the year 1649, and left a son Benjamin; the latter was born September 20, 1645, in Southwark Parish, Surrey county, Virginia, and died in January, 1713. His son Benjamin, born in Berkley, Virginia, and later attorney general and treasurer of the colony, was also speaker of the house of burgesses and died April 10, 1710, aged thirty-seven years.
Benjamin Harrison, also born in Berkley and a son of the last named, and sheriff of Charles City county and in 1728 a member of the house of burgesses, died in 1774. His son Benjamin likewise of Berkley, was a member of the house of burgesses from 1750-1775, and was a member of the first continental congress and a signer of the Declaration of Inde-pendence. He was three times governor of Virginia and carried the popular vote of his state. His third son William Henry Harrison born in Berkley, February 9, 1773, afterward became the famous general and later president of the United States. He served as aide-de-camp under Anthony Wayne and was secretary of the Northwest Territory. He was a delegate to congress from that Territory and a brave soldier, fought at the battle of Tippecanoe November 7, 1811. He was also engaged at Fort Meigs and participated in the battle of the Thames October 5, 1812. He was United States senator from Ohio and was minister to Columbia. He became president of the United States March 4, 1841. He expired while in office April 4,1841. His second son William Henry Harrison was the father of our subject.
IRWIN, ARCHIBALD (also part of the Harrison family)
Upon the maternal side the family dates back to
Archibald Irwin who settled in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. He was a cadet of the House of Irwin
of Bonshaw, Scotland. His son Archibald married Mary McDowell, and their son Archibald married Mary Ramsey, whose
father was a younger member of the Dalhousie family of Scotland. Their daughter was Jane Findlay Irwin, the mother
of Colonel James F. Harrison. The parents after their marriage settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the father practiced
law, and later died in his father's house at North Bend. The father and mother were blessed with two children,
James F. and William Henry. The latter, born May 5, 1828, died in Mexico in April, 1849.
Col. James Findlay Harrison was educated in a Cincinnati college. He entered West Point Military Academy in 1841
and graduated in 1845. General Fitz John Porter was in the same class. Colonel Harrison later resigned from the
Academy, but when the war broke out with Mexico volunteered in the First Ohio Infantry. He was adjutant of the
same when only twenty-one years of age and served with distinction under Colonel Alexander H. Mitchell. At the
battle of Chapultepec he rode alongside Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant and they rode together with this conquering
army through the City of Mexico.
He became an inmate of the White House at Washington during the incumbency of President W. H. Harrison and was at his bedside when that veteran soldier and statesman entered into rest, mourned by all loyal citizens as a national loss. This was prior to his going to West Point. After his return from the Mexican War Colonel Harrison entered into the study of law and later was admitted to the bar in Indiana and practiced there for a few years. He resided in Dayton, Ohio, from 1854 until 1864 and enlisted in three months service in the Civil War, being Colonel of the Eleventh Ohio Infantry. During the Chickamauga campaign he was aide-de-camp and chief of staff to General W. H. Lytle and was covered by the life blood of that general when he was killed in September, 1863. The friendship between Colonel Harrison and his chief was very strong. Their fathers had been friends, tried and true, as had likewise been their grandfathers. For a short time Colonel Harrison served on the staff of General Phil H. Sheridan, but after the sad demise of General Lytle resigned from the army.
During the last call of President Lincoln Colonel Harrison re-enlisted as a private in the First Ohio cavalry and was transferred as lieutenant to the One Hundred Eighty-Fifth Ohio Infantry. Later as Captain of the One Hundred Eighty-Seventh Ohio he went to Georgia and remained until the close of the war. During the squirrel hunter campaign in Ohio Colonel Harrison was the recipient of the following order, September 12, 1862: "Colonel Harrison, First Regiment State Militia, has been placed in charge of the defense of the Ohio river west of Cincinnati to the Indiana line. He will be obeyed and respected accordingly. By order of Major General Lew " Wallace, Major J. M. McDowell, A. D. C." Colonel Harrison served through the campaign and was discharged by order of David Tod, governor of Ohio. Colonel Harrison raised a company in Dayton, Ohio, in a half hour and was placed in command of a regiment. The same day he was given charge of a brigade, being then engaged for two weeks in the service of the government.
In 1866 Colonel Harrison settled in Linn County, where for many years he was county surveyor and one of the most popular men in his locality. In the year 1848 he was united in marriage with Miss Caroline M. Alston of South Carolina. This estimable lady died in the spring of 1863 and the three children of the union are now deceased. The colonel was married again in December, 1864, to Miss Alice Kennedy, a native of Mississippi and a daughter of John Kennedy, formerly of Belfast, Ireland, originally a Scotch merchant removing to Belfast in mature life. Unto this second union were born six children, five of whom are now living: John Scott, (now in charge of government surveys in Helena, Montana), William Henry (now a successful real estate dealer at Kansas City, Missouri), Mary Randolph Farrar, James Findlay, jr., and Archibald Irwin. Colonel Harrison was a member of the Episcopal church, associated fraternally with Montgomery Post No. 33, G. A. R., of Mound City who had charge of the burial service and was laid at rest by the side of departed heroes in our beautiful National cemetery. He was a member of the Veterans' Association of the Mexican War.
The relationship between Colonel Harrison and ex-president Benjamin Harrison is that of cousin, there being relationship on both the father's and mother's side. The descendant of honored ancestry and himself personally faithful to all his obligations as a man and citizen, Colonel Harrison won a high place in the regard of a wide acquaintance and throughout Linn County, is esteemed as a man of fine attainments, superior ability and sterling integrity of character. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 340-343)
One of the beautiful characters of Mound City and who contributed greatly in a cultural way to his time and his community was Zarobobel Mentzer. He was of high class German descent, one of his ancestors having been General John Rolla Mentzer of the Continental Army. Mr. Mentzer was born at Listenburg, Maryland, October 23, 1830. He was a devoted member of the German Lutheran Church and had always been the leader in its musical programmes. In his early life he became the employee of a prominent contractor in his native town of Listenburg, and was familiar with large affairs in business. This employer was a Mr. Bartleson, father of our Elim W. Bartleson of Pleasanton, and as a result of this association he was married on July 13, 1853, at Listenburg, to Margaret Parker Bartleson, a daughter of the house. Seven children came to them-Ida B., Lucy May, Charles Lee, Esther Allen, Mary Ellen, John Rolla and Jesse Blanche, all of whom have been exemplary, useful, successful citizens, of whom we have this record-Lucy May became the wife of George B. Dunbar of Cedar Point, Iowa; Mary Ellen married John W. Kenney of Mound City; John Rolla married Lilian Edith Lamoreau and have for many years made their home at Kansas City where John has had connection with high class bond houses; Jesse Blanche married George N. Roy of Mound City. These children gave to their distinguished father fourteen grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren. The mother had died in 1874 at Cedar Point, Iowa, where they had gone after his service in the Civil War as a soldier in Company C of the Sixteenth Iowa Infantry, finishing a veteran enlistment which took him with Sherman to the sea and into the grand review at the White House in Washington. Zarobobel Mentzer was of charming personality, gifted mentally, resourceful and helpful to his fellow men, and giving to his children much more than the material comforts of life with which he surrounded them lavishly, for he was a successful man and acquired a competence. His life span measured eighty-four years when he passed away May 15, 1914, at the home of the daughter Mrs. Ellen Kenney in Mound City. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 349-350)
This family tradition is beautifully carried on by John Rolla Mentzer, named after the Continental General, who married Lillian Edith Lamoreau and who after successful newspaper work in his home town moved to Kansas City where he has been associated with high class investment houses and has maintained a handsome home. Their children are Lucile, who married J. D. Smith, Jr.; Donald L. who married Helen M. Dawson; and Maxine Lamoreau who married Allan G. Buckley, son of Arthur Buckley who built the Union railway station, the Commerce Building, and other large structures in Kansas City. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 350)
John William Clapper who worked on farms about Lincoln township around 1880 married Julia Crow and they had a boy born to them whom they named Raymond. They moved to Kansas City where the boy learned the printer's trade and married into a very good family. He made up his mind that he needed a university education, so they were invited to live at his parents' home and they carried their luggage as they trudged off together afoot to Kansas University. He took three years in the journalism course and is now one of the principal men in the offices of the United Press at Washington, D. C. He was detailed to travel on the train with Harding during the presidential campaign and represented his company at the Kansas City National Republican convention nominating Hoover, and left there to do the work at the Houston convention. His Grandfather Clapper was brother to Mrs. Elihu Ireland, but never came to Kansas, keeping his home at Van Wert, Ohio. With Emma Lou Martin going to the national capital from the dairy maid contest this family has a generous share of honors. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 350-351)
A family named Miller came here from Zanesville,
Ohio, in the early days and settled in the southeast part of the county. The father was serving in the home guards
when the Price Raid went through and Mr. Miller was killed on the Osage river, three rifle balls through his body
showing how fierce had been his encounter. He left a large family. A son Elijah Miller lived at Prescott and married
Nancy Kinder, both born in Zanesville, Ohio. Of their children Phebe married H. M. Grigsby, William married Lina
Hill, John married Emma Sellers, Ida married Earl Horn, Maggie married Louis Torrey, Albert E. married Bertha Torrey,
Ode married Florence Bowers. Henry and Frank, brothers to Elijah Miller, served in the Sixth Kansas. (History of
Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 351)
SELLERS,
JOHN
John Sellers from Madison county, Indiana, and his wife Elizabeth Railsback from Wayne county, Indiana, were the parents of Emma who married John Miller. The other children were Lucullus Railsback Sellers who married Alice Goss, Estella married 0. Manlove, Viola married Fulton Coon, Elvira married T. R. Reddick, Lena married A. J. Jackson, Alma never married, Ora married Dr. J. J. Workman. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 351)
They grew to mature years here. In 1923 Johnnie Mentzer wrote a sketch of the useful life of F. C. Bacon who was then ninety-five and his good wife still with him was ninety-four years old. Mr. Bacon was born at Charleston, Massachusetts, and she at Garland, Missouri, but by some strange romance they were married at WhitensviUe, Massachusetts, January 1, 1855, and lived a while in New York City before coming to Linn County in 1857. What a wonderful period of human history was encompassed by their lives! (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 351)
Alfred Culbertson, who lives southeast of Goodrich, recently plowed up three very handsome flint spearheads about eight inches long, probably used in hunting buffalo on horseback. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 351-352)
We have a representative in the diplomatic service of the state department at Washington in the person of Julius C. Holmes, now vice consul for the United states at Smyrna, Asia Minor. He is the son of James Reuben Holmes, son of Boliver Adams, who married Louella J. Trussell. They make the family home at Lawrence where "Jim" is the head of the J. R. Holmes Investment Company. They are very patriotic, having three sons carrying commissions under the military arm of the government. Charles Boliver is a graduate of Kansas University, served as captain in the World War; Julius C. a first lieutenant; and the youngest boy James Willis is now a druggist at Lawrence and is a second lieutenant. A daughter Opal Ailene married Frank D. Scanlan. The mother of James Reuben was of the Lamb family. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 352)
In the early days, as late as 1872, buffalo hunting was a popular sport. Joshua Shaffer and his son Lewis went out to where Wichita now is and brought home a fine lot of buffalo 'meat for winter and a lot of hides and several buffalo calves which they kept on the farm. They trained a pair to work in the yoke as oxen and excited much interest as they drove them about, especially at the county fairs. They were finally taken to Coney Island, New York. Joshua Shaffer was from Van Wert, Ohio, where he married Catherine Hagerman. Their children were Lewis N. who married Catherine Ireland; Sarah J. married Thomas Fife; Martha married Joshua Perkins, Elizabeth married Sylvanus Perkins and Ellen married James Ireland. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 352)
Robert H. Ireland, son of Elihu, married Emma Doig. Their children are Louise, and Lorene who married Monroe Martin son of Al Martin who lived east of LaCygne. Emma Lou Martin, who won the prize of a trip to Washington from a dairy convention in 1927 at Fort Scott and was shown a royal good time by Kansas representatives and senators, including a visit to President Coolidge in the White House, is the daughter of Monroe and Lorene. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 352)
The Calvins of Valley township are prominent land owners and tobacco growers. Jackson Calvin married Elmira Taylor, both from Indiana. Their children are Elmer who married Nettie Shattuck, Otis who married Maggie Church, Alonzo married Lenora Shattuck, Dillard married Ina Shattuck, Ed married Effie Williams, and Willie who is unmarried. Elmer has a son Lee who married Flossie Tyler. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Page 352)
Over in Centerville township lives Samuel Thomas McCarty who came from Keokuk, Iowa, when only fourteen years old. He married Martha Glenn of Johnson county, Missouri, and their children are Sherman who married Alice Henry, Burton married Mabel Holloman, Lottie Ann married Charles Jones, Olive married Thomas Cochran, and Orlo Sheridan married Cora Cooper. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 352-353)
One of the early settlers of Linn County was Simon B. McGrew, who was born October 22, 1810, in Sewickley Township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and was the fourth in line of twelve children born to his parents, James B. and Isabella McGrew. The McGrew family came to America from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1726, and were all followers of the Quaker faith when not orthodox Presbyterians. Simon B. McGrew was married May 22,1833, to Ura Marsh, daughter of Cooper and Martha Marsh, at the old Quaker church still standing in Sewickley Township. He moved to Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1844, where he built and operated a flouring mill for a number of years, and in 1852 moved to a newly formed Quaker settlement at Salem, Iowa, where the family (now consisting of seven children) resided till 1857, when the head of the family first visited Linn County and erected a log cabin at the head of Elk Creek, three and a half miles southwest of Mound .City, on what was afterwards known as the Curry farm. Returning to Iowa the family was moved to the new home and a larger two-story log building was erected the following year in which the family continued to reside until the fall of 1864. A younger brother, Rev. Samuel B. McGrew, located on an adjoining claim to the east. A son, Abner G., located a claim on adjacent land and remained several years when he left for Chicago and graduated from Rush Medical College and was for many years surgeon for the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company. One daughter, Jane, became the wife of Col. Ed. R. Smith, and Elizabeth married Dr. Hugh McKean of Iowa and their son, Dr. James W. McKean has been for forty years a resident of Siam as physician to the King and a world known authority on leperology, having built and still superintends a large leper colony at Chaingmai. Isabella, another daughter, married Herbert Capper who then resided at Mapleton, but they later made their home at Garnett where was born their son Arthur, who became Governor of Kansas in 1914, and is now junior Senator from Kansas in the United States Senate. One other daughter of Simon and Ura was Martha who died in 1863 and was buried in the little cemetery near the old homestead.
Simon McGrew was well known as a radical outspoken free state advocate and by reason of his activities was often marked as a subject for punishment by the Border Ruffians but fortunately escaped personal injury. He was ironically called "the Fighting Quaker" from the fact that he used the plain language, as some of his descendants still continue to do. While religiously opposed to war, with a good pair of Colts Navy revolvers he was always ready to protect himself and his family. Being trained for a surveyor, he and John Brown became intimate friends and they did surveying work together, and when Brown left Kansas, McGrew purchased Brown's surveyors' compass which is now deposited with the State Historical Society in Topeka as an authentic relic and reminder of the early days.
Simon McGrew was a giant in stature, being six feet three and a half inches tall in his stocking feet and was widely known for his great physical strength. He had a strong personal resemblance to Abe Lincoln and his portrait was often mistaken to be a picture of the Emancipator because of the strong resemblance.
The family was possessed of more than the ordinary means of the average settler, but owing to the impossibility of purchasing anything but the barest necessities of life, and that no nearer than Westport Landing, the family suffered all the hardships and. privations of other pioneer families. Owing to failing health and advanced age, Mr. and Mrs. McGrew with the two sons, James B. and Charles F., removed to northern Iowa in the fall of 1864, where he died October 18, 1874, and is buried in the cemetery at Wyoming, Jones county, Iowa. Charles F. McGrew, the sole surviving member of the family of Simon who helped to settle Linn County, now lives in Los Angeles, California. (History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 353-354)
Isabella McGrew Capper, daughter of Rev. Simon McGrew, raised a family of six children who have reflected great credit and honor upon the family name. Herbert Capper, whom Isabella McGrew married in 1862, had a most interesting career. He was born in 1839 in Longton in Staffordshire, the great pottery district of England, his parents being Thomas and Elizabeth Capper. In 1842 the parents brought him to Philadelphia where they became actively interested in the abolition of slavery. The men of the family were metal workers and Herbert was employed in a tin shop in his boyhood, and after the death of his father he moved to Circleville, Iowa, where he followed the metal worker's trade. But in 1857 he wanted to be in the thickest of the fight and he started for Kansas. Arriving at Westport Landing (now Kansas City) he made the acquaintance of J. P. Harris and the two walked from that town on the Missouri river to Ottawa in Franklin county, where "Jack" Harris located and became a prominent citizen, having been nominated on the Republican ticket for Congress in 1898, and his son Ralph Harris now is owner of the Ottawa Herald newspaper. Mr. Capper took a homestead on Pottawatomie Creek near the boundary line between Anderson and Franklin counties. After their marriage Isabella and Herbert lived for a time in Mapleton and later moved to Garnett where they had their home for more than forty years. They had six children: Mary who died in infancy; Arthur, born July 14, 1865, who served the state as governor and is now in his second term as United States Senator from Kansas; May born in 1868 and now residing in Chicago; Bessie who married Prof. Homer S. Myers then of Baldwin (her death occurred in 1910); Edith married Fred L. Eustace and they now have their home in Chicago. The youngest child was Benjamin who died in 1891. Herbert Capper was one of the first members of the city council of Garnett, where he operated a hardware store. About 1872 the family went to Elk county where he engaged in farming and stock raising for several years, helping to found the town of Longton in that county which he named after his birthplace in England. They returned to Garnett and lived out their lives in their first home. The success of the boy Arthur has been remarkable. He learned to be a printer, graduated from the Garnett high school in 1884, and immediately sought employment as a typesetter on the Topeka Capital, and was soon in line to serve as reporter, city editor, managing editor, business manager, and in 1905 became owner. He now owns the Kansas City Kansan and a half dozen of the leading farm papers of the United States. Arthur was the first native Kansan to be elected governor. His wife was Miss Crawford, daughter of the noted war governor and soldier Samuel J. Crawford.(History of Linnn County, by William Ansel Mitchell, 1928, Pages 354-355)
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