RENO COUNTY, KANSAS
BIOGRAPHIES
RENO COUNTY, KANSAS
BIOGRAPHIES
BARRETT, GEORGE
The late George Barrett, one of Reno county's pioneers and an early merchant of Hutchinson, who died at his pleasant home in that city on November 18, 1910, was a native of the great Empire state. He was born at Utica, New York, August 20, 1835, son of Joseph and Mercy (Miller) Barrett, whose last days were spent in Utica. Joseph Barrett was a manufacturer of combs. He was twice married. His first wife died when the subject of this sketch was a child, leaving two sons, George and Daniel S., both now deceased, the latter of whom became a well-known artist at Utica. By his second union Joseph Barrett was the father of three sons. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church and their children were reared in that faith.
George Barrett lived with his father until he was twenty-one years old and then went to New York City, where he entered the employ of the D. S. Arnold Wholesale Notion Company and was thus engaged for a couple of years. He then, in 1859, married and went to Middletown, New York, where he established a dry-goods store, which he conducted until 1862, in which year he went to Newburg, same state, and was there engaged in the grocery business until he sold out in 1873. The next year, in the summer of 1874, he and his family came to Kansas and settled in Reno county, arriving here on September 15, of that year. Mr. Barrett homesteaded a quarter of a section in Lincoln township, his wife's brother, Wilson Purdy, having homesteaded a quarter of a section in the same township a few months previously. He remained on the farm until he had "proved up" his claim and then, in 1877, moved to Hutchinson, where he re-entered the mercantile business. He put in a stock of groceries in a building on Main street, the present site of Zinn's jewelry store, and was engaged in business there for a couple of years, at the end of which time, in 1879, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and established a grocery store there, at 803 Main street, where he continued in business until 1884, in which year he sold out there and went to Albuquerque, New Mexico. There he engaged in the retail produce business, but two years later the state of his health compelled his retirement from business and in 1888 he returned to Hutchinson, built a house at 225 A avenue, east, one of the first houses erected on that street, and there lived retired until his death in 1910. His widow is still living there, enjoying many evidences of the high regard in which she is held throughout the entire community. Mrs. Barrett is a member of the Methodist church and for years her husband was a deacon in the same.
Mrs. Barrett was born Elizabeth Jane Purdy. She is a native of New York, having been born in Ulster county, that state, May 10, 1836, daughter of John S. and Loretta (Rhodes) Purdy, both natives of New York state. John S. Purdy was a wagon and carriage-maker and moved from Ulster county to Newburg, New York, where he carried on his vocation until his death in 1863. Elizabeth J. Purdy was given excellent educational advantages and became a teacher in the New York state school for the blind in New York City, where she was thus engaged for three years, or until her marriage, and during which time she was closely associated with the famous blind hymn writer, Fannie Crosby, with whom she roomed for one year. It was on April 30, 1859, that she was united in marriage to George Barrett and to this union six children were born, as follow: Nelson T., a well-known florist at Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Ida M., who married Charles Pellette, of Hutchinson, deputy county treasurer of Reno county; Carrie, who married Homer Myers, former treasurer of Reno county, now a banker at Sylvia, this county; Grace, who married Henry Zinn, proprietor of a jewelry store at Hutchinson; Minnie, who married M. J. Hosmer, a traveling salesman, of Hutchinson, and Florence, who married Ernest Eastman, who is connected with the operations of the Carey Salt Company at Hutchinson. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 232-234)
No history of Reno county would be complete without fitting mention of the part William Johnston Van Eman and wife took in the early settlement of that part of Grove township now comprised in Bell township, which latter township was named in honor of the late Mrs. Van Eman, whose name, Isabella, ever was better known among her friends as "Belle." William J. Van Eman was one of the pioneers of this county and had begun to make his impress upon the early Hfe of this section when he fell a victim to one of the destructive cyclones which swept this region in the latter seventies. His widow and her children kept the home place going and Mrs. Van Eman continued to reside on the homestead, a most useful and influential member of that community, until her retirement and removal to Hutchinson, where she spent the remainder of her life, a prominent figure in the good works of that city.
William Johnston Van Eman was born in Stark county, Ohio, on July 5, 1825, son of Abraham and Mary (Johnston) Van Email. He was a business man in early life, a farmer after he came west. He married Isabelle Davis, who was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1831, daughter of Robert and Hannah (Jameson) Davis. In 1852 he moved to Richland county, Ohio, where he lived until 1857, in which year he moved to Ogle county, Illinois, where he remained ten years, moving thence, in 1867, to Stephenson county, same state, where he remainder until he came to Kansas and settled in Reno county in 1874. It was on February 27, 1874, that Mr. Van Eman and family arrived in Hutchinson, then but a struggling village on the dreary plain. Leaving his family in the village, Mr. Van Eman started out seeking a location and within the month had filed on the southeast quarter of section 6 in Grove township, that section now being a part of the later organized township of Bell. At the same time he timber-claimed the northeast quarter of section 7, same township, and the family lost little time in establishing a home on the plains, quickly becoming recognized as among the most substantial and influential members of that pioneer community. Mr. Van Eman took a prominent part in the organization of the civic body in that part of the county and was becoming a very well established farmer when he was killed in the cyclone that swept over that section of the county on May 17, 1878.
Mrs. Van Eman and her children remained on the homestead farm and continued the work of developing the same, gradually creating a fine piece of property. When the rapid settlement of the community seemed to call for a subdivision of the civic organization up to that time known as Grove township, the new township was named Bell township, in honor of Mrs. Belle Van Eman, fitting recognition of her valuable services in the community and an affectionate expression of the high esteem in which she was held by her pioneer neighbors. In the spring of 1884 Mrs. Van Eman gave up the active direction of her homestead affairs and moved to Hutchinson, where she spent the rest of her life, continuing active in good works, her death occurring on March 1, 1895. She was an earnest member of the Presbyterian church, as was her husband, who was an elder, and their children were reared in that faith. There were nine of these children, as follow: Robert Chalmers, born in Stark county, Ohio, August 1, 1849, a retired farmer, now living at Gorham, Illinois; Abram Wiley, born in Stark county, Ohio, August 1, 1851, for years a well-known grocer at Hutchinson this county, who died on July 15, 1913; Hannah Mary, born in Richland county, Ohio, January 30, 1854, now living at Denver, Colorado, widow of W.S. Deisher, a real-estate dealer of that city, who died on December 16, 1911; Rufus Melanchton, born in Richland county, Ohio, March 14, 1856, a prospector living at Fresno, California; Ettie Belle, born in Ogle county, July 5, 1860, who died in childhood; Anna Myrtie, born in Ogle county, Illinois, August 10, 1862, who is still living in Hutchinson; Charles Edwin, born in Ogle county, Illinois, May 9, 1865, foreman of the freight of the Santa Fe railroad at Hutchinson; William Glenn, born in Stephenson county, Illinois, September 16, 1868, who died on January 2, 1901 at Butte, Montana, where he was engaged in the newspaper business, and James Logan, born in Stephenson county, Illinois, December 28, 1870, night agent at the Santa Fe freight office in Hutchinson. Since 1905 the Van Eman family residence has been maintained at 724 Sixth Avenue, east, a comfortable dwelling owned by Miss Anna Van Eman. Miss Van Eman is a member of the Presbyterian church, an earnest worker in the local Woman's Christian Temperance Union and devoted to all good works in her home town. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 234-236)
Marcellus Moore, a well-known, progressive and well-to-do farmer of Lincoln township, this county, long recognized as one of the leading citizens of the Darlow neighborhood, is a native of Maine, having been born on a farm near the city of Bangor, in that state, April 5, 1845, son of Joseph and Rachel (Randolph) Moore, both natives of that same state the former born in 1825 and the latter in 1826, whose last days were spent in Illinois.
Joseph Moore's father was a native of Ireland, who came to the United States as a young man and settled in the lumber region of Maine, where he married, reared his family and spent the rest of his life. Joseph Moore grew up to the life of the timber woods and in his turn became a lumberman. He married Rachel Randolph, daughter of a neighboring farmer, Walter Randolph, who had been kidnapped on the river Thames in England when a boy and brought to this country, where he grew to manhood in Maine and became a farmer. Joseph Moore lost a hand in the saw-mill in which he was working in Maine and some time afterward moved with his family to Pennsylvania, in which state he operated a saw-mill for himself for four years, at the end of which time, in 1855, he moved with his family to Pike county, Illinois, where he bought an improved farm and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, he dying in 1890 and she in 1895. long having been regarded as among the leaders in the life of the community in which they lived so long. The mother was a member of the Congregational church and they were the parents of three children, Marcellus, the subject of this sketch; Josephine, who married Simpson Capps, and Mrs. Theodosia Walker, the latter of whom is now deceased.
Marcellus Moore was six years old when his parents
moved from Maine to Pennsylvania, and in the latter state he attended school for a few months during the winters
of his boyhood in the mountains near the lumber camp. He was ten years old when the family moved to Illinois and
he there attended school in a room where ninety children were kept under the supervision of one teacher, the school
district in which he lived being an unusually crowded one. Being the only son, he early became his father's mainstay
on the farm. He married in 1865 and continued making his home on the paternal farm, taking the practical management
of the same on his own shoulders, this relieving his father of much of the labor of the place, and so continued
until his father's death, after which he bought .the interests of the other heirs in the place and continued to
make his home there until 1899, in which year he sold the farm and came to Kansas with his family, locating in
Reno county. Upon coming to this county, Mr. Moore bought two hundred and forty acres in Haven township and lived
there for one year and ten months, at the end of which time he sold that place and bought the northwest quarter
of section 24, in Lincoln township, where he ever since has lived, he and his family having a very pleasant and
attractive place, the comfortable farm house and well-kept farm buildings being situated just one-half mile west
of the pleasant village of Darlow.
In addition to his home farm, Mr. Moore is the owner of a quarter of a section of fine land in Medford township
and is principally engaged in grain farming, though he has taken much interest in maintaining one of the best herds
of pure-bred O. I. C. hogs in that neighborhood. Mr. Moore has ever taken an active interest in movements designed
to advance the welfare of the farmers of that part of the county, and for some years served as treasurer of the
farmers elevator at Darlow and has also for several years been one of the directors of the Darlow Telephone Company.
He is a Democrat in principle, though independent in the expression of his preferences for candidates in local
elections, ever reserving his right to vote for such candidates as he regards best fitted for the performance of
the duties of public office. He has served in the past as school director and is now director of Lincoln township,
giving his most thoughtful and intelligent attention to his public duties.
On September 15, 1865, Marcellus Moore was united in marriage to Juliett Craig, who was born in Pike county, Illinois,
daughter of Mitchell and Mary Craig, early settlers of that section of Illinois, and to this union nine children
have been born, as follow: Marcella, who married Charles Scheff and lives on a farm in Haven township, this county;
Theodore, principal of the high school at Griggsville, Illinois, married Sophia Madison and has one child, a daughter,
Fannie; Ollie died, aged fourteen years; Rollin married Grace White and lives at Hutchinson; Mrs. May Kapps, wife
of a prosperous farmer of Pike county, Illinois; Eugene, a well-known farmer of Lincoln township, this county,
who married Carrie Farthing; Fannie, who married Henry Dixon and lives in Yuma county, Colorado; Laura married
Orvil Kimp, a farmer of Lincoln township, and Floyd, who with his little daughter, Doratha L., child of his deceased
wife, makes her home with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are members of the Methodist church at Elmer and are
devoted to all good works in their neighborhood, being held in high regard thereabout. In September, 1915, they
celebrated their "golden wedding," an occasion of much felicitation on the part of their neighbors.
(History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn,Pages 236-238)
George Zimmerman, a well-known farmer of Castleton township, this county, proprietor of a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in the Castleton neighborhood, former township trustee and a stockholder in the elevator company at Castleton, is a native son of Reno county, having been born on a pioneer farm in the neighborhood of his present home, August 26, 1874, son of G. Milton and Priscilla (Carroll) Zimmerman, the former a native of Iowa and the latter of Pennsylvania, who became pioneers of this county and influential citizens of the Castleton neighborhood. G. Milton Zimmerman was born in the state of Iowa on March 20, 1849, son of George K. and Rachel (Jones) Zimmerman, natives of Pennsylvania, who moved to Iowa shortly after their marriage and established their home on a farm, many years later moving to Missouri and settling on a farm in the vicinity of Sedalia, where their last days were spent. They were active members of the Christian church and their children were reared in that faith. They were the parents of nine children, Samuel B., Margaret, Adella, Augusta, Helen, G. Milton, Harvey, Maud and William. Of these children, Samuel B., G. Milton and Harvey, came to Reno county, and took an active part in the pioneer life of this county. Judge Samuel B. Zimmerman was the first principal of the old Sherman school in Hutchinson. For years he was a prominent attorney of Hutchinson and for two terms served the county as probate judge. Harvey Zimmerman was also one of Reno county's pioneer school teachers and was thus engaged here for several years, but later moved away.
G. Milton Zimmerman received an excellent education in his native state, having supplemented his common-school education by a course in the college at Iowa City, and for several years taught school there before moving to Missouri with his parents. He came to Reno county in 1872 with his brothers and taught one term of school here. After looking over the ground he decided to make his home here and with that end in view returned to Missouri for a wife. There he married Priscilla Carroll, who was born in Pennsylvania on January 11, 1850, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Henderson) Carroll, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former of whom was born at West Alexandria in 1824 and the latter in 1826, and who were the parents of five children, Priscilla, Anna, John, Emma and Elizabeth. The mother of these Children died in 1859 and George Carroll married, secondly, Ruth Ray, who was born at Bethany, Virginia, which second union was without issue. George Carroll was the son of William and Priscilla (Israel) Carroll, the former a native of Ireland, who settled in Maryland, later moving to West Maryland, Pennsylvania, where he followed his trade as a tailor Until his death. George Carroll was a' soldier during the Civil War and at the close of the war moved to Missouri, settling on a farm in Pettis county, where he Spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring on December 30, 1892, at the age of sixty-eight. G. Milton Zimmerman was about twenty-five years old when he and his wife came to Reno county from Missouri. Upon his arrival here he homesteaded a tract of land east of the present site of Pretty Prairie, but presently sold that farm and bought a quarter section in Castleton township, one-half mile from the village of Castleton, and there established his home. To him and his wife were born four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest, the others being Anna, who married Frank Mohr; Milton E., of Sterling, this state, and Ruby, a teacher in the Hutchinson public schools, with whom her mother is now living in that city, their home being at 311 Sixth street, east.
George Zimmerman was reared on the home farm in Castleton township and received his education in the common schools. After his marriage, 1900, he moved to his present place, being the owner there of a fine farm, and in addition to his own extensive farming operations manages his father's farm. He takes an active interest in the general affairs of the community and is one of the stockholders of the elevator company at Castleton. For years he has been a member of the school board and for four years served as township trustee.
On November 12, 1900, George Zimmerman was united in marriage to Laura Button, born on May 26, 1881, in Missouri, daughter of A. T. Button and Nancy Phillips, who came to this county about 1890, and to this union five children have been born, Rachel, born on June 4, 1902; John, October 28, 1904; Hazel, November 14, 1906; Ray, July 25, 1910, and Josephine, June 22, 1913. Mrs. Zimmerman's father was a well-known farmer of this county, who died in the summer of 1915. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn,Pages 238-240)
Frank Magwire, an honored veteran of the Civil War, a wealthy retired farmer of this county, now living at Hutchinson; one of the real pioneers of Reno county, a former county commissioner and for many years active in the public affairs of this county, is a native of Vermont, having been born in the town of Brandon, that state, September 11, 1841, son of Frank G. and Melissa D. (Avery) Magwire, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Vermont.
Frank G. Magwire was trained to the trade of painter and as a young man went to Vermont, where he married and established his home at Brandon. In his old age he retired to Rutland, Vermont, where he died in 1884, being then eighty-four years of age. He was twice married, his first wife, the mother of the subject of this sketch, having died following the birth of the latter, leaving two other sons, Roderick, a house painter, who died at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1910, he having moved to that place in 1865, and John, a veteran of the Civil War, a member of Company H, Fiftieth Regiment, Vermont Volunteer Infantry, who died from the effects of a wound received during the battle of Seven Pines. Frank G. Magwire married, secondly, Jerusha Stowel, and to that union two children were born, Mary M. and Emily Augusta, both unmarried, living at Hydeville, Vermont.
The younger Frank Magwire was reared at Brandon, Vermont, receiv-ing his education in the schools there, and was trained as a house painter. At seventeen years of age he left home and started out as a contracting painter on his own account. In the winter of 1860-61 he went to Michigan, settling in Shiawassee county, where he started to work at his trade, and in May, 1861, enlisted in Company G, Third Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, for service during the Civil War, and in June was in Washington, D. C, with that regiment, shortly thereafter being called on to participate in the battle of Blackburns Ford and in the first battle of Bull Run. The brigade to which the Third Michigan was attached was commanded by Colonel Richardson and covered the army's retreat after the disastrous engagement at Bull Run. In the following December Frank Magwire became quite ill and received his honorable discharge on a physician's certificate of disability. He spent that winter in Ohio and then returned to Michigan, where, in June, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, and served in that command until the close of the war, presently being promoted to the rank of sergeant and later first sergeant, which was his rank when he was mustered out at the termination of hostilities. The Fourth Michigan Cavalry was attached to the Army of the Cumberland and was constantly engaged in cavalry and raid duty, its record being written high on the scroll of fame. Sergeant Magwire thus had many thrilling experiences. For weeks at a stretch his regiment was engaged in almost ceaseless skirmishes with Joe Wheeler and General Forrest. It was his regiment that opened the battle of Chickamauga and held Longstreet back all day while Rosecrans was coming up. He participated in the siege and battle of Chattanooga, lying on the left flank for two weeks in the breastworks at Atlanta. The Fourth Michigan Cavalry then was sent on to take part in Kilpatrick's raid on Jonesboro, and raided all around the Confederate army. After the fall of Atlanta they went to Nashville and fought under Hood, and from there went to Louisville to secure new mounts, being compelled to surround the town before the people would give up the required number of horses. The cavalrymen then started back to Nashville, but by that time the battle was over. They then took part in Wilson's big raid through Alabama and burned the town of Selma. It was at the battle of Selma that Sergeant Magwire became commander of his company, a position he retained until the regiment was mustered out. Though Selma fell in thirty-five minutes, one-sixth of the Union force was killed or wounded and one-fourth of the officers fell. After Selma the regiment pushed on to Irwinville to capture Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, and after having turned their prisoner over to the proper authorities returned to Nashville, where they were mustered out.
Upon the completion of his military service, Sergeant Magwire returned to Selma, Alabama, the town in whose destruction he had participated, and for two years was engaged there in a carriage-painting shop. He then returned to his former home at Jonesville, in Hillsdale county, Michigan, where he married, proceeding thence to Macomb, Illinois, where he opened a carriage-painting shop and also engaged in contract house painting, remaining there for three years, at the end of which time, in 1871, he came to Kansas by "prairie schooner*' and settled in Reno county, arriving here in August of that year, being thus among the very earliest settlers of this county. Mr. Magwire entered a soldier's claim to the southwest quarter of section 26, in Gay township, and there established his home in a twelve-by-fourteen pine shanty, which was his domicile until conditions presently were fitting for the erection of a more commodious residence. Mr. Magwire early in his pioneer days came to the conclusion that grain crops were uncertain and began to give his chief attention to cattle raising, in which he engaged quite successfully for thirty-eight years. He presently enlarged his land holdings by the purchase of an adjoining quarter section, in addition to which half section he also owns a quarter section in the sand hills, and long has been regarded as one of the most substantial farmers of the county.
Mr. Magwire is one of the real pioneers of Reno county. He assisted in the organization of Clay township and was elected the first township treasurer, gaining his election on the Democratic ticket, he ever having been an ardent Democrat. He then was elected township trustee and for seven years served in that important office. He circulated the petition which resulted in the establishment of a school district in the neighborhood and for ten years served as school director. He later served as justice of the peace in and for Clay township, and in 1885 was elected county commissioner of Reno county, in which office he made a fine record. He did much toward the creation of proper social and economic conditions in the formative period of that now well-established farming community and has been a witness of the passing of the old order hereabout. Mr. Magwire, in 1873, killed the last buffalo that was ever seen in Clay township. He remained on his ranch until his retirement in August, 1913, since which time he has made his home in Hutchinson, where he is very comfortably situated. He takes a keen interest in current affairs and for the past fifteen years or more each year has taken a trip to one or another of the distant points of interest in the United States. An ardent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, for years an active member of Joe Hooker Post of that patriotic order, he has attended ten national encampments of the order and has ever taken a warm interest in the affairs of the same. He formerly was an active Mason and has always contributed to the support of the Presbyterian church, of which he is an attendant, though not an active member.
In March, 1868, Frank Magwire was united in marriage in Michigan to Rosella J. Lockwood, who was born in that state, daughter of Alanson and Dolly Lockwood, natives of New York, and to that union three children were born, Fred A., a machinist, who died in Montana on February 27, 1916; Ella, who married George Turkle, now deceased, and she is now living in Kent, this county, where she manages the tower for the Santa Fe railroad and Floy, who married Prof. R. L. McCormick, who holds the chair of mathematics in Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute, Indiana. Mrs. Rosella Magwire died on November 26, 1885, and in 1888 Mr. Magwire married, secondly, Mrs. Bertha M. (Rehn) Steinhauser, who was born in Canal Dover, Ohio, daughter of a German Methodist minister, and to this union one son was born, Frank B., who married Estella Jones and is now managing a farm at Ellenwood, Kansas. By her first marriage, Mrs. Magwire was the mother of one son, Clifford E. Steinhauser, a railroad man living at Aberdeen, Washington. Mrs. Bertha M. Magwire died on August 10, 1911. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 240-243)
The late Merwin Bolton Bangs, one of the most brilliant and popular young men in Reno county, whose death at his pleasant farm home in Lincoln township in 1909 was the occasion of much sorrow among The many friends in Hutchinson and throughout the county generally, was a native of New York City, where he was born on August 29, 1877, son of Dr. Lemuel B. and Frances (Edwards) Bangs, both natives of that same city, whose respective families had been represented in the social and cultural activities of the American metropolis for generations, the former of whom was a first cousin of the famous author, John Kendricks Bangs.
Dr. Lemuel Bangs, whose death occurred in October,
1914, he then being seventy-two years of age, was for years one of the best-known surgeons in New York City. He
had followed a thorough course of instruction in the medical schools of his home city by a course in the famous
college of surgeons in Vienna and his lectures to medical students and contributions to medical magazines for years
were regarded as among the authoritative utterances of his profession. To him and his wife, Frances Edwards Bangs,
three children were born, the subject of this memorial sketch having had two sisters, Mary E., unmarried, who makes
her home in New York City, and Helen A., now deceased, who married Nevin Say re, whose brother, Francis B. Sayre
is a son-in-law of President Wilson. Upon the death of the mother of these children, which occurred when the only
son was about fifteen years of age, Doctor Bangs married, secondly, Isabelle Hoyt, to which union one child was
born, a son, Nesbitt, who is now (1916) a student in Williams College, who makes his home in New York City with
his mother and his sister, Mary.
Merwin B. Bangs was reared amid the most refined surroundings in his home in New York and after finishing the work
in the public schools was sent to the St. Paul preparatory school at Hartford, Connecticut, where he prepared for
entrance to Yale College, from which latter institution he was graduated in 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of
Arts. Following his graduation he entered a broker's office in New York and was thus engaged for a year, at the
end of which time he became attracted by the possibilities, of ranch life in the West and came to Kansas. He bought
a ranch of twelve hundred acres near Greensburg, in Kiowa county, stocked the same and operated it successfully
for four years, at the end of which time, in 1904, he sold the ranch to advantage and came to Reno county, where
he bought a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in Clay township. The next year he married and made his home
in Hutchinson, where, in partnership with J. N. Bailey, he engaged in the real-estate business, though still keeping
his farm. In the spring of 1909 Mr. Bangs withdrew from the real-estate business and bought the northeast quarter
of section 18, Lincoln township, since made a portion of Yoder township, and there established his home, taking
much pleasure in the thought of the many improvements he had projected for the place. Unhappily, he was not permitted
to see the fruition of these plans, for death came to him before the year was out, December 25, 1909, he then being
but thirty-two years of age.
On November 8, 1905, Mervin B. Bangs was united in marriage to Minette Alice Dewey, who was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, daughter of Edward and Minette (Sloan) Dewey, the former of whom was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and the latter in New York state. Edward Dewey was reared in Massachusetts and as a boy studied medicine, with the expectation of becoming a physician, and was graduated from Williams College at the early age of sixteen years in 1861. He then enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War and served as a member of one of the Massachusetts regiments until the close of the war, after which, his intention to become a physician having become changed during the time of his military experience, he located in Chicago and after spending two years there went to Milwaukee, where he ever since has been engaged in business, long having been the head of the wholesale grocery firm of Edward Dewey & Company, one of the most extensive and progressive concerns of its kind in the Northwest. Not long after locating in Milwaukee, Mr. Dewey was united in marriage, at Beaver Dam, same state, to Minette Sloan, who, as a child had moved to that place with her parents, prominent pioneers of that city, and to this union four children were born, Francis K., who is in business with his father in Milwaukee; Eliza, who married George Fernie and lives on a ranch in Lincoln township, this county; Minette Alice, who married Mr. Bangs, and Sloan, who is engaged in business with his father in Milwaukee.
To Merwin B. Minette A. (Dewey) Bangs two children
were born, sons both, Merwin Bolton, born on October 7, 1906, and Edward Dewey, March 28, 1910. Mrs. Bangs is
a member of the Episcopal church at Hutchinson, of which her late husband also was an earnest member, and takes
an active interest in all good works hereabout, being held in the highest esteem by the many friends she has made
since coming to this county. Since her husband's death she has continued to make her home on the farm, to the operation
of which she gives her personal attention. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 243-245)