Biographies for Reno County, Kansas

PET NATION

Pet Nation, cattleman and banker, vice-president of the First National Bank of Hutchinson and for years one of the leading factors in the commercial and financial life of that city, though a Hoosier by birth has been a resident of Kansas since he was a boy fourteen years old and a resident of this county since he was eighteen, hence is as true and loyal a son of Reno as though "native and to the manner born." He was born on a farm in Henry county, Indiana, in 1864, son of Sylvan and Sarah Nation, both natives of that state, the latter of whom died in 1903, at the age of sixty-two, and the former of whom is living at Emporia, this state, in his eightieth year, for many years one of the best-known cattlemen in that section of the state.
It was in 1881 that Sylvan Nation left his farm in Indiana and with his family came to Kansas. He located at Emporia and in that vicinity engaged in the cattle business on a constantly growing scale until he presently became known as one of the most extensive ranchmen in the state and is still actively engaged in the business in which for years he has made so distinct a success. His three sons followed in his footsteps and all became successful, the subject of this sketch having two brothers, Fred and Carl, who are largely engaged in the cattle business, with headquarters at Emporia.

Pet Nation was seventeen years old when the family came to Kansas in 1881 and he at once entered, heart and soul, into the fine free life of the open range. As a cowboy on his father's ranch, he reached his physical growth early and learned the cattle business from the bottom up, early becoming a thoroughly experienced and competent cattleman. When eighteen years old, in 1882, he came to Reno county and started in the cattle business on his own account. Six years later, in 1888, following his marriage, he moved onto a half section of land in the northern part of Reno township, on Cow creek, and there established his home, but presently his operations had expanded to such a point that he found he could conduct his affairs more advantageously from the vantage ground of the city and in 1890 he moved from the farm into Hutchinson, where he ever since has made his home, directing his cattle business and other extensive interests from that point. Some time after locating in Hutchinson Mr. Nation sold his Reno county ranch and bought a much more extensive ranch over in Chase county, which he has since operated very successfully. He also is actively identified with the financial and commercial interests of this community and as vice-president of the First National Bank of Hutchinson, the oldest and strongest financial institution in central Kansas, is recognized as one of the leading and most influential factors in the financial life of this section of the state, and has done much to advance the material welfare of the community.

In 1888 Mr. Nation was united in marriage to Nettie Price, daughter of P. B. and Sarah Price, the former of whom, for years was one of Hutchinson's leading real-estate men, is now deceased and the latter of whom is still living in Hutchinson. To this union one child has been born, a daughter, Eula, who married Edward W. Meyer, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Hutchinson, and lives at 510 Avenue A, east. In 1902 Mr. Nation erected a fine residence at 512 Avenue A, east, and there he and his wife are very pleasantly situated. Mr. Nation is a member of the Hutchinson Commercial Club and takes an earnest interest in the affairs of that organization, constantly on the alert to promote any movement having to do with the further development of his home town. (Pages 76-77)

CAPT. JOHN M. HEDRICK

Capt. John M. Hedrick, who enjoys the local distinction of being the only man ever elected to three terms as sheriff of Reno county, is a veteran of the Civil War and one of the real pioneers of this county, he having come here the year after the first permanent settlement in the county, when this section was a virgin plain, buffaloes and hostile Indians then roaming at will hereabout.

John M. Hedrick was born in Clark county, Ohio, August 22, 1840, son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Patterson) Hedrick, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania. Isaac Hedrick was a prominent farmer and stock buyer and drover, well known throughout eastern and central Ohio, whose custom it was to buy up cattle, fatten them on his farm and drive them to the eastern markets. During the Civil War he served the Union cause as a member of the famous Ohio "squirrel hunters" and was a patriotic and influential citizen, eight of whose sons served as soldiers in the Union army during the war and the eldest of whom, David, also had been a soldier in the Mexican War. Isaac Hedrick was twice married, his first wife, mother of the subject of this sketch, having been the mother of seven 'children. Following her death, Mr. Hedrick married a widow who had five children by her former marriage and to this second union ten children were born, making twenty-two children in the Hedrick family. Captain Hedrick has but one full brother living, William, a farmer, who lives at Palmyra, Missouri. Another brother, Joseph, now deceased, was for years a well-known painter in Hutchinson, this county.

The boyhood of John M. Hedrick was spent upon the paternal farm in Ohio, school periods being limited to attendance three months a year in a little log school house, and very early he began assisting his father in the business of driving cattle, making trips through Ohio and into Illinois and Indiana after cattle, which later would be driven to eastern markets. He spent the winter of 1859 with his brother in Brown county, Illinois, returning the next spring to his home in Ohio. On April 17, 1861, John M. Hedrick enlisted, at Columbus, Ohio, in Company F, Twenty-second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in response to the President's call for three-months volunteers. In September of that same year he re-enlisted, this time taking service in the Fourth Ohio Cavalry, with which he served until July, 1865, a period of nearly four years. He was mustered in as a private, but gradually was promoted and in the summer of 1864 was made the captain of his company. Captain Hedrick's service throughout the war was with the Army of the Cumberland and he participated in most of the severe engagements undertaken by that great army. On his twenty-fourth birthday, during Kilpatrick's raid at Lovejoy Station, near Atlanta, Captain Hedrick was wounded and for a time was laid up in the hospital. During Sherman's march to the sea he was in Wilson's cavalry brigade and fought at Stone's River and in all the cavalry raids around Chattanooga and Atlanta. Seven of Captain Hedrick's brothers also served the Union cause as soldiers during the Civil War and at one time one of his half-brothers, Louis, was serving in his company.

At the close of the war Captain Hedrick returned home and married and in 1868 went to Brown county, Illinois, where he bought a farm and there remained for two years, at the end of which time he sold out and moved to Grundy county, Missouri, where he remained two years, engaged in farming, and then came to Kansas, arriving in Reno county on September 17, 1872, only one year after the first permanent settlement in the county. Captain Hedrick homesteaded a claim in Lincoln township and also "proved up" a timber claim in the vicinity of his homestead, and there established a new home. In the spring of 1875, Captain Hedrick was the hero of an incident which effectually put a stop to further attempts at claim "jumping" in Reno county. The claim of Fay Smith, a neighbor of Captain Hedrick and the later deputy sheriff under him, had been "jumped" by a man of the name of Pierce. This action aroused the pioneers of that section and about forty of them gathered, under Captain Hedrick's direction, captured PIerce and under threats to drown him in a pool in the creek on the Hedrick farm compelled him to sign a relinquishment of his claim and get out of the country. This incident made Captain Hedrick the hero of Reno county and that fall he was elected sheriff on the Republican ticket. He was re-elected to that office in the next election, serving two terms of two years each, and then waited two years and was again a candidate and was triumphantly re-elected, thus having the distinction of being the only man in Reno county who has served three terms as sheriff. Following his service in the sheriff's office, Captain Hedrick returned to his farm, where he lived ten years at the end of which time he sold his Lincoln township homestead and bought three hundred and twenty acres in the northeast part of that same township, where he lived until 1904, in which year he retired from the active life of the farm and moved into Hutchinson. In 1906 he bought ten acres in South Hutchinson, where he has a very pleasant home and where is now living in quiet retirement.

On November 9, 1865, Capt. John M. Hedrick was united in marriage to Catherine Kneister, of Madison county, Ohio,, to which union three children were born, Dolly, who married Alfred Wainner and lives in Lincoln township; Johanna, who married Benjamin S. Wainner, a clerk in the post-office at Hutchinson, and Edward, a farmer, living near Big Sandy, Montana. The mother of these children died on August 21, 1897, and on January 2, 1901, Captain Hedrick married, secondly, Mrs. Mary (Ingraham) Wilson, widow of Smith Wilson, who died in 1895, and daughter of Oliver and Mary Ingraham. Oliver Ingraham died when his daughter, Mary, was three years of age and his widow and children moved from their home in Blair county, Pennsylvania, to this county, in 1879, and bought a farm in Reno township, where they established a new home.

Captain Hedrick is an ardent Republican and from the day of his coming to Reno county has taken a warm interest in civic affairs. In addition to his distinguished services as sheriff of the county back in pioneer days, he also served as justice of the peace for years and in other ways has given his most intelligent attention to good government. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and for years has given close attention to the affairs of the local post. He also is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the affairs of which he also is warmly interested.

The late George Hirst, for many years one of the best-known and most popular farmers of Lincoln township, this county, whose death on October 29, 1915, was the occasion of much sorrow in that community, was a native of Wisconsin, having been born in the town of Darlington, that state, Jan-uary 13, 1856, son of George and Elizabeth (Brilbrough) Hirst, both natives of England, whose last days were spent in Reno county, they having been for years highly respected residents of Lincoln township.

George Hirst was born in the city of Leeds, England, and grew up there, becoming a very proficient cabinet-maker. Shortly after their marriage he and his wife came to the United States, settling at Janesville and later at Darlington, Wisconsin, where for twenty years Mr. Hirst followed the trade of carpenter, during that time doing much for the upbuilding of the town. In the fall of 1872 George Hirst came to Kansas, homesteaded a tract of land in section 6, of Lincoln township, and there established his family in the spring of 1873. The Hirsts at once entered actively into the community life of that section and it was not long until they were regarded as one of the most substantial and useful families in the neighborhood. Mr. Hirst served for one term as a member of the school board, and in other ways displayed his interest in the common good. He died on July 25, 1897, and his widow survived until September 25, 1914, her death occurring at Hutchinson, in which city she had made her home in her later years. -They were the parents of eight children, of whom George, the immediate subject of this memorial sketch, was the eldest son and the third child, in order of birth. Further details of the "history of this interesting pioneer family are set out in the biographical sketch relating to William Hirst, a prosperous farmer, of Lincoln township, presented elsewhere in this volume.

George Hirst spent his boyhood in his native town of Darlington, Wis-consin, receiving his education in the schools of that city, and was seventeen years old when he came with his parents to Reno county in 1873, the family being among the very earliest settlers of Lincoln township. His father was not in robust health and George, the eldest son, early became the mainstay in the labor of developing the homestead farm. Upon him fell very largely the difficult task of "breaking out" the prairie and he lived at home, practically managing the place, until ten months after his marriage, in 1882. A year previous to his marriage, Mr. Hirst had bought a tract of eighty acres adjoining his father's farm and on this place he remodeled the house that then was standing there and in it established his home. He later bought another "eighty," a mile east of his home and in 1914, upon the death of his mother, bought eighty acres of the old homestead tract, besides which he was the owner of a one-third interest in a half section of land in Troy township, and at the time of his death was accounted one of the most substantial and progressive farmers in that part of the county. Not only was he diligent in his own business, but he had a fine regard for the public service and had rendered efficient and valuable aid in carrying on the functions of local government having served as treasurer of the local school board for more than thirty years and for some time also served as township clerk. He was not an intense partisan in his political allegiance, ever supporting such candidates for office as he regarded best qualified for the offices sought, irrespective of their party endorsement. Mr. Hirst was a member of the American Order of United Workmen, in the affairs of which organization he' took a warm interest, and was held in high regard by his neighbors and throughout the county generally, he having had, as a pioneer, a wide acquaintance throughout this whole region.

On December 25, 1883, George Hirst was united in marriage to Elma Tempi in, who was born in the village of Elizabeth City, Indiana, November 14, 1858, daughter of Lancy Jefferson and Mary Ann (Learner) Templin, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Pennsylvania. As a young man Lancy J. Templin became an ordained minister of the Methodist church and for some years was a preacher in a Howard county-circuit in his home state. Becoming afflicted with an asthmatic affection, he sought relief in the ideal climate of this section and in 1876 came to Kansas, locating at Hutchinson. For several years he was engaged as a school teacher and after a period of admirable and useful service in that connection rented a farm near Hutchinson and for four or five years was engaged in farming. In the spring of 1882 he and his wife moved to Canon City, Colorado, and there Mr. Templin was engaged in raising fruit and garden stuff for several years, at the end of which time he moved to California and after a residence t0 three years in that state returned to Colorado, locating at Florence, in that state, where his death occurred on December 19, 1900, he then being sixty-five years of age. His widow, who still survives, and who celebrated the eighty-second anniversary of her birthday on April 1, 1917, is now making her home with her children. To Lancy J. Templin and wife six children were born, as follow: Alice, who married the Rev. J. M. Clark, a minister of the Methodist church, was killed in a highway accident when thirty-two years of age, a pony which she was driving having backed off an embankment, throwing Mts. Clark in such a manner that her back was broken; Elma, widow of Mr. Hirst; Olin, for many years a member of the faculty of the University of Kansas at Lawrence, he now being dean of that institution; Larner, whose whereabouts have long been unknown to the family; Ida, who married George M. Deibert, a furniture dealer and undertaker, of Florence, Colorado, and Dana, who is engaged in the United States reclamation service, now stationed at Rupert, Idaho.

For four years after coming to Reno county Mrs. Hirst taught school, being thus engaged in Medford, Reno and Lincoln townships, and ever has taken a warm interest in the social and cultural activities of the community, her capable and useful services in that connection being greatly appreciated, particularly in the neighborhood in which she so long has made her home, and she is held in the highest esteem throughout that whole section. She has a very pleasant home in Lincoln township and is quite comfortably situated there, two of her sons continuing to make their home with her. She is the mother of four children, namely: Jesse Templin, born on November 23, 1883, unmarried, who is now operating a farm which he bought near Pine River, Minnesota; Daisy, February 27, 1888, who married Will E. Homan and lives on a farm near McAllen, Texas; Warren Leroy, December 17, 1890, unmarried, who is the active manager of his mother's farm, and George Ivan, January 13, 1896, who is also still making his home with his mother, a valuable assistant in the operation of the home place. (Pages 77-82)

JOHN P. HARSHA

Former Mayor John P. Harsha, of Hutchinson, who is now living comfortably retired at his pleasant home at 207 Avenue A, east, in that city, is a native of Pennsylvania, having been born in the town of Harshaville, Beaver county, that state, September 6, 1849, son of Dr. John M. and Mary (Dawson) Harsha, both natives of that same county and members of prominent families thereabout, and both of whom are now deceased.

Dr. John M. Harsha was a practicing physician at Harshaville, who, in 1854, moved to Washington county, Ohio, locating near the town of Marietta, where he laid out the town of Cutler, upon the completion of the railroad now operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad Company, and also was the owner of other extensive land interests. In 1872 he moved to Shawneetown, Illinois, and made his home there, practicing his profession, until 1872, in which year he came to Kansas, locating in Reno county, where he bought twelve hundred acres of land in Lincoln township and lived there until 1878, when, following his election to the office of county surveyor, he moved to Hutchinson, the county seat, where he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1885, at the age of sixty-six. Doctor Harsha not only was a practicing physician of wide reputation hereabout, but was a civil engineer of much ability, having learned surveying under his father, John Harsha, who was one of the best-known civil engineers in Pennsylvania in his day, and in his official capacity as county surveyor of Reno county performed a valuable service in behalf of the public. He was a Whig originally, but upon the formation of the Republican party became a Republican and was thereafter affiliated with that party. He was a member of the United Presbyterian church and ever was active in good works. Doctor Harsha was twice married. His first wife, who, before her marriage was Mary Dawson, died in i860, at the age of thirty-two years, leaving three children, of whom the eldest was John P. Harsha, the subject of this biographical review, th6 others being William C, a merchant of Partridge, this state, and Benoni R., who died at his home in Vincennes, Indiana, in October, 1912. Following the death of the mother of the above children, Doctor Harsha married, secondly, in 1863, Amanda V. Garen, who is now living in Kansas City, Missouri.

John P. Harsha was five years of age when his family moved from Pennsylvania to Washington county, Ohio, and he received his elementary education in the local schools of his home neighborhood, supplementing the same by a course in Bartlett College at Plymouth, Ohio, from which excellent old institution he was graduated, after which, in 1869, he then being twenty years of age, he entered the service of the road now known as the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern as secretary to the superintendent of con-Auction, with headquarters at Shawneetown, Illinois, and remained with that company for eighteen years, eventually becoming traveling freight and Passenger agent, with jurisdiction over business originating at Ohio, Mississippi and Cumberland river points. In 1882 Mr. Harsha came to Reno county on a visit to his father and was so highly impressed by the possibilities then presented in land investment that he bought twelve hundred acres of land in Salt Creek and Center townships and proceeded to develop same. In March, 1887, he moved to Hutchinson and opened a retail grocery store near the corner of Sherman and. Main streets, under the torn name of Harsha & Duval, which firm sold out in 1888, after which Mr, Harsha was instrumental in the organization of the Hutchinson Wholesale Grocery Company, J. F. Greenlee, president; Frank Vincent, vice-president; John P. Harsha, treasurer, and J. S. George, secretary, which firm quickly established itself on a very substantial business footing, becoming known far and near throughout the territory covered by its salesmen. In 1894 Mr. Harsha bought Mr. Greenlee's interest in the company and became president of the same, a position he retained until April 26, 1915, at which time he retired from active business, though still retaining some of his former business connections and is still president of the Antheline Manu-facturing Company, of Hutchinson.

From the very beginning of his residence in this county, Mr. Harsha has taken an active interest in political affairs and has given valuable service to the public in a civic capacity. For three years he served as a member of the city council and then, in 1897, was elected mayor of Hutchinson on the Republican ticket for a term of two years. He was re-elected upon the expiration of that term and thus served four years. In 1903 he again was elevated to the office of the city's chief executive and was retained in office three successive terms, thus making a service of ten years in the mayor's office, a distinction accorded no other man in the political history of Hutch-inson. , During Mayor Harsha's incumbency many notable improvements were made in Hutchinson, including the Cow creek drainage canal, which was built under his administration, undoubtedly a measure which has saved Hutchinson some very disastrous floods and has been of great sanitary benefit to the whole community. In other ways, too, Mr. Harsha has proved his enterprise and public spirit and the people of this community gladly accord to him the credit of having been the means of accomplishing much in behalf of the common good.

On September 14, 1873, John P. Harsha was united in marriage to Aletha A. Campbell, who was born in New Cumberland, Hancock county, Virginia, now a part of West Virginia, daughter of John and Ruth (Swearengen) Campbell, both natives of that section, where all their lives were spent, and to this union four children have been born, namely: Ruth, who married William Snyder, a traveling salesman, and now lives in Los Angeles, California; May, who is living at home with her parents; Clyde B., a traveling salesman for the Hutchinson Wholesale Grocery Company, who married Nell Devine and makes his home in Hutchinson, and Harry, also at home. The Harshas have a very pleasant home at 207 Avenue A, east, which Mr. Harsha bought in 1900.

Mr. Harsha is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and takes a warm interest in the affairs of those two popular orders. Mrs. Harsha is a member of the Christian church. (Pages 82-85)

WILLIAM G. FAIRCHILD

William G. Fairchild, of Hutchinson, long recognized as one of the leading members of the bar of Reno county, is a native of New Jersey, he having been born in Monmouth county, that state, the only son of Samuel G. and Sarah A. (Hoff) Fairchild, the former of whom died in 1909, at the age of eighty-one, and the latter of whom still is living at Keyport, New Jersey.
Samuel G. Fairchild was for many years one of the best-known men in maritime circles in the East. He was the owner of an extensive line of ships and for eighteen years was in the service of the government as inspector of steamships for the third district, which includes the port of New York. William G. Fairchild, the only child of his parents, received his early education at the military school at Cheshire, Connecticut, from which he was graduated in 1879, and entered Sheffield, Yale, but quitting on account his health. As a boy and young man he spent considerable time at sea in various capacities, from supercargo to master, spending almost two years of this time in Mexico. After this he returned to the United States and was for some time engaged in civil engineering and helped to lay out and build a town of Macksville, Kansas. In 1888 he was admitted to the supreme court of Kansas, immediately thereafter becoming the law partner of H. C Johns, at Larned, which mutually agreeable connection continued until the death of Mr. Johns in 1894. In 1892 Mr. Fairchild closed his Larned office and with Mr. Johns came to this county, locating at Hutchinson, the county seat, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession ever since. After the death of Mr. Johns, Mr. Fairchild formed a partnership with James McKinstry, which was dissolved in 1899 and a few years later, in 1902, he formed a partnership with Howard Lewis, which still continues, this well-known legal firm having been very successful.

On April 29, 1891, William G. Fairchild was united in marriage to Ellen F. Campbell, who was born in the state of New York, daughter of Charles E. and Anna (Foster) Campbell, formerly of Ft. Worth, Texas, who are now living in Hutchinson, this county. To this Union two children have been born, Samuel G., who, after an engineering course in the Kansas State University, is now with the Santa Fe Railroad Company, and Stephen J., a student in Keniper Military School at Boonville, Missouri. The Fairchild family has a very pleasant home at 551 Sherman street, east, in the city of Hutchinson. (Pages 85-86)

PROF. STEWART P. ROWLAND

In 1914 when the biennial question of electing a county superintendent of schools in Reno came up there was considerable agitation in certain quarters looking to the possibility of a change in the incumbency of that office, the argument advanced in the quarters intimated being that it was not "good politics" to keep on retaining, year after year, a Democrat in a public office in a county which then was and for years had been strongly Republican. The teachers of the county, getting wind of this agitation, put their heads together and drafted a series of resolutions, signed by practically every teacher in the county, as well as by the principal and teachers of the Reno county high school and the principals and teachers of the graded schools throughout the county. Needless to say, Professor Rowland, superintendent of the Reno county schools since the year 1908, was again re-elected by his usual handsome majority.
The resolutions thus referred to recited, on the part of the teachers, the story of "the unusual record of our present superintendent" and pointed out some of the "remarkable results" obtained under his administration of the affairs of the county superintendent's office, at the same time declaring that "the consensus of opinion is that the office should remain completely removed from politics as it has been for the past few years," urging that "the success of past years promises even greater success for the future" and declaring, in conclusion, the belief of the teachers "that the continuation of this great work should be left in the hands of the man most responsible for its recent rapid improvement." The voters ratified these resolutions and Professor Rowland is still administering the affairs of his important office, the duties and responsibilities of which he takes so closely to heart that during the past few years he has declined several flattering propositions to transfer his services elsewhere, believing that his valuable labors in behalf of the schools of Reno county are still unfinished.

Stewart P. Rowland was born on a farm in Noble county, Ohio, May 27, 1870, son of Perry and Mary E. (Ellison) Rowland, the former of whom, born in that same county in 1829, is still living and the latter, born about fifteen miles from the city of Liverpool, England, in 1836, died in June, 1911, at her home in Reno township, this county.

Perry Rowland was left an orphan at the tender age of four years and was reared in the family of James Taylor, growing up on a farm in his native county. Following his marriage, in that same county, he rented a farm and established a home of his own, later buying the place, and remained there until 1878, in which year he sold his Ohio farm and came, with his family, to Kansas, buying a quarter of a section of land northwest of Hutchinson, in Reno township, this county, where he still lives. Perry Rowland prospered in his farming operations and gradually enlarged his land holdings until now he is the owner of five hundred acres of choice land surrounding his fine home in Reno township. During the Civil War Perry Rowland served as a soldier in the Union army for three years, a member of the Ninth Ohio Cavalry, attached to the Army of the West, which was with Sherman to the sea. He is a Democrat and for many years has been regarded as one of the leaders in the civic life of the community in which he lives. He is a Methodist, as was his good wife, a liberal supporter to the cause of the church, and his children were reared in that faith. These children, all of whom are living, in the order of their birth are as follow: John E., a prominent farmer and fruit grower of Clay township, this county; Charles W., also a farmer, living in Reno township; Eliza J., unmarried, housekeeper for her father; James P., a large landowner, who also makes his home with his father; Stewart P., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch, and Alfred E., an extensive stockman, who manages his father's large farm.

Stewart P. Rowland was eight years of age where his parents came to this county and his elementary education was received in the district schools of his home neighborhood, after which he entered Hutchinson high school and presently entered the ranks of Reno county's fine teaching force, appli-cation for his first teacher's certificate having been made at the age of six-teen. His success in this initial examination was the beginning of his useful career in the educational life of this county. The young teacher continued his studies while teaching, and for a few years spent his summer vacations in school, taking a three-years course at the Kansas Normal College at Ft. Scott, and later a course of two years at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. His health then becoming somewhat impaired, Professor Rowland relinquished his studies for awhile and recuperated through wholesome physical labor on his father's farm, later resuming his work of teaching in the district schools and in the teachers' institutes, he having early in his teaching career secured the necessary certificate of his qualifications as an institute teacher, and was thus engaged until his election to the office of county superintendent in 1903, the duties of which he entered upon in May, 1909, and which he since then has been faithfully performing, having been re-elected in each biennial election since that time, regardless of the fact that he is a Democrat and that Reno county is normally Republican; his first election having been won by a majority of one thousand and nineteen votes. In further. preparation for his scholastic career, Professor Rowland took a course in the Hutchinson Business College at Hutchinson, from which he was graduated and in which excellent commercial school he taught during the year following his graduation.

Professor Rowland has a state-wide reputation as an educator and for some years has conducted a June normal school for teachers, the attendance on the last such short course having been about two hundred and fifty. He is a member of the executive committee of the Kansas State Teachers' Association and at the 1916 session of the Central Kansas Teachers' Asso-ciation, held at Hutchinson, with an attendance of one thousand teachers, he was president of the same. In the chapter relating to education in the historical-section of this work, the general development of the school system of Reno county is admirably presented by the historian. Professor Rowland has been a very potent factor in that development and he very properly takes modest pride in his accomplishments in that direction. Professor Rowland owns a half section of land near Hutchinson and takes much interest in the development of his farm along the best approved lines of modern agriculture. (Pages 86-88)

EDWARD ESHER YAGGY

Edward Esher Yaggy, of Hutchinson, one of the best-known and most progressive citizens of this section of Kansas, president of the Yaggy Plan-tation Company, an incorporation of the great estate of the late L. W. Yaggy of Grant township, this county, and for years prominently identified with the work of developing the resources of this region, is a native of Chicago, born in that city, March 19, 1876, son of L. W. and Sarah E. (Esher), Yaggy, the former of whom was born in Plainfield, Illinois, and the latter in Cleveland, Ohio, both now deceased.

Upon completing the course in the old Northwestern College at Naperville, Illinois, L. W. Yaggy went to Chicago where he became engaged in the publishing business and for twenty-five years was one of the best known publishers in the United States. He was president and chief stockholder of the great Western Publishing House, which had seventeen branch offices and five thousand agents, throughout the United States, the principal work of which was the publication of maps and studies for colleges and high schools, that company for years having occupied a foremost position in that particular branch of the publishing business in this country. Mr. Yaggy also was quite a mechanical genius and was the patentee of numerous devices of a convenient sort, the first of which was a stubble turner, which yielded him considerable revenue. He also patented an adding machine, advertising devices of different types, a "royal scroll" for the dispay of pictures and a chautauqua desk. For his notable service in preparing a relief map of the United States for the use of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington Mr. Yaggy was created a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of England and was widely known in general geographic circles.

While on a hunting trip through this section of Kansas in 1888, L. W. Yaggy observed a well being dug on the Thomas Parker ranch just northwest of Hutchinson and noted that the water was only a few feet below the surface of the oil. Recognizing the potentialities of such a condition, Mr. Yaggy immediately purchased the entire Parker estate of one thousand three hundred and fifty acres and planted the same to catalpa and apple trees, the revenues from which since then have amply demonstrated the accuracy of his foresight. The plantation now bears five hundred acres of catalpa trees and eight hundred and eight acres of apple trees and is one of the most profitable productive planations of the sort in the country. There are no fewer than one million catalpas growing on the place and fifty thousand apple trees, six hundred acres of which latter are now bearing and the rest coming into bearing. In the season of 1915 two hundred and ten thousand bushels of apples were sold off the Yaggy plantation, the principal varieties being the popular Jonathan, the Grimes Golden, Wine Sap, Roman Beauty and York Imperial. There also ia considerable acreage of cowpeas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and wheat grown on the plantation and in season three hundred men are employed on the place, while a constant force of more than thirty men is required to operate the plantation. About five hundred thousand gallons of spraying material is used annually on the trees and the great plantation is operated along the latest approved and most up-to-date lines. Mr. Yaggy's examples and methods have been followed by others in the neighborhood and the Arkansas river valley, as a result, is becoming widely renowned as a natural fruit-bearing center. The catalpa industry is growing yearly in importance and is now thoroughly established, these hardy trees coming more and more into demand, their durable fiber giving them a high value for use as fence posts and railroad ties. It has been found that it requires ten years to grow the first crop of catalpas, eight years the second and seven years the third. Some time before his death L. W. Yaggy, in order to simplify the inheritance of his estate, incorporated, for two hundred thousand dollars, the Yaggy Plantation Company in favor of his three sons, who now compose the company, its directorate and officiary, as follow: President, Edward E. Yaggy; vice-president, K F. Yaggy, of Chicago, and secretary-treasurer, W. E. Yaggy, of Hutchinson. The elder Yaggy died at a sanitarium at Watkins Glen, New York, in October, 1912. His wife had long preceded him to the grave, her death having occurred in Chicago.

Edward, E. Yaggy received his preparatory schooling in the academy and college at Lake Forest, Illinois, and then entered Yale, from which he was graduated, after a three-years course, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1899. With a view to broadening his education and in order to perfect himself in French and German, Mr. Yaggy then went abroad and for eighteen months or more attended lectures in the university at Geneva, Switzerland, and in the University of Erlangen, in Bavaria, upon the com-pletion of which course he returned to the United States and entered upon the duties of manager of his father's estate in this county and has ever since then been thus engaged. The Yaggy estate included, besides the great plant of the Yaggy Plantation Company in this county, valuable lands in other parts of Kansas and in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska and the Yaggy brothers are thus very well circumstanced, the head of the company long having been regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of this part of the state.

On December 27, 1905, at Kansas City, Missouri, Edward E. Yaggy was united in marriage to Laura Reed, who was born in that city, daughter of Homer and Laura (Coates) Reed, the former a native of Michigan and the latter of Pennsylvania. Homer Reed was born at Leslie, Michigan, and upon completing his studies in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor went to Kansas City, where he has lived ever since and where he for many years has been prominently identified with the real-estate interests of that city. It was not long after locating in Kansas City that Mr. Reed married Laura Coates, who was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, daughter of Kersey Coates and wife, who settled in Kansas City when that place was a village of seven hundred and fifty population. Kersey Coates was a man of large influence in the early, bustling days of Kansas City and it was chiefly due to his personal activity in the matter that the future of his home town as a railroad center was determined, his influence having been the decisive factor in making that city instead of Leavenworth the center of the railroad interests of this section in pioneer days. Homer Reed has a beautiful home in Kansas City, his place at Waldo, "Sunny Croft," being one of the most attractive residences in that city. To him and his wife six children have been born, those besides Mrs. Yaggy being as follow: Kersey, who is engaged in the dry-goods business in Chicago; Thomas H., manager of the Baker Asphalt Company's interests at Birmingham, Alabama; Sarah E., who married Alfred W. Stone, now assistant treasurer of the Vanderbilt lines west of Buffalo, with offices in the Grand Central depot at New York; Homer, Jr., engaged in the life-insurance and loan business at Kansas City, and Isabel, who is at home with her parents.

Laura Reed Yaggy is a violinist of much ability, widely known to the concert stage, whose performances Thaddeus Rich, in a personal letter to Mrs. Yaggy, decides possess "a rare combination' of temperament and finish a facile technique and a very warm and beautiful tone." In closing his letter of felicitation, the concert master wrote: "I am sure your playing will bring you great success and my heartiest congratulations and best wishes accompany you." Mrs. Yaggy has appeared with great success with such artists as Johanna Gadski, Paulo Gruppe, Arthur Middleton, James Whitaker, Barbara Waite, Ida Gardner, Raphael Navas and others. She began violin lessons when seven years old and at eleven played the "Souvenir de Haydn" of Leonard in a public concert. At the age of thirteen she played the Mendelssohn Concerto entire with the Kansas City Symphony. Madame Camilla Urso, the famous violinist, was present on that occasion and was so captivated by the performance that she later sent for the young violinist to come and live with her in Minneapolis to continue her study.

At the age of fourteen Miss Reed played Vieuxtemp's "Fantasia Appassionata" entire with the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and after studying nearly a year with Leopold Lichtenberg, of New York, she played, at the age of seventeen, the great Max Bruch G Minor Concerto at one of her own concerts. This early career was temporarily interrupted by her marriage at the age of eighteen, but after seven years of retirement Mrs. Yaggy again felt the lure of the concert stage and made her. appearance, in April, 1913, as soloist with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, and recently with the New York Philharmonic at the Hutchinson 1916 festival, devoting a part of her time to the concert stage. She is the possessor of a rare Sanctus Serafine violin, which sold thirty years ago for three thousand dollars and is today worth much more than that figure, being considered one of the mdst valuable instruments in the United States. Mrs. Yaggy is the founder of the Apollo Club at Hutchinson and was the first president of the same. She is still an active member of the club and is now serving as vice-president. She is an ardent suffragist and during the memorable campaign of 1912 was president of the Reno County Equal Suffrage Association.
To Mr. and Mrs. Yaggy two children have been born, a son and a daughter, Laura Coates and Edward Esher, Jr. Mr. Yaggy is a member of the Hutchinson Country Club. During his Yale days he was actively affiliated with the Zeta Psi fraternity and still retains a warm interest in the doings of that association. He takes a good citizen's interest in local civic affairs, ever an ardent champion of good government, but in his political views holds himself independent of political parties. (Pages 88-92)

JOHN A. REED

John A. Reed, a well-known and well-to-do pioneer farmer of Valley township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War; a continuous resident of this county since March, 1871; first constable of his home town-ship and who claims the distinction of being the oldest continuous resident of a homestead farm in Reno county, as well as having been the first black-smith to locate in this county, is a Hoosier, a fact of which, even though loyal Kansan as he is, he has never ceased to be proud. He was born on a pioneer farm in Wabash county, Indiana, November 24, 1843, son of Matthew and Isabelle (McCutchen) Reed, both natives of Pennsylvania, in which state they were reared and married.

Matthew Reed was born on a farm in Pennsylvania in February, 1800. There he married Isabelle McCutchen, who was born on November 31, 1811, and in the early thirties immigrated to Indiana, settling in the heavy timber lands in Wabash county, that state, where he proceeded to clear his homestead tract and carve out of the wilderness a home for his family, presently becoming one of the most substantial residents of that community. Matthew Reed was a Whig in his political affiliations and he and his wife were among the leaders in the Methodist church in their communitv. Matthew Reed died on September 29, 1849, and after his death his widow and the older sons continued to operate the farm until her death on June 15, 1857. There were seven children in the family, as follow: Andrew, who died in Colo-rado; Samuel and Sarah, twins, the former of whom lives at Riverside, Colorado, and the latter, Mrs. Hoffman, lives at Perry, Iowa; Nancy Jane, who married Samuel Haggy and lives in Minnesota; Margaret C, widow of Jerome Swihart, now living at Joplin, Missouri; John A., the subject of this biographical sketch, and Matthew Barnett, who lives at Muskogee, Oklahoma.

John A. Reed spent his boyhood on the home farm in the woods in Wabash county, Indiana, receiving his elementary education in a little sub-scription school conducted in a log house, after the manner made familiar in "The Hoosier Schoolmaster." He was but seven years old when his father died and was thirteen when his mother died. He then went to the town of North Liberty, near South Bend, where he was able to attend a good school for three months in the year. There he was apprenticed to a blacksmith and learned the smith's trade, working at the same for more than two years. Though but a boy when the Civil War broke out he was bent on enlisting at the time of President Lincoln's first call for volunteers, but the strong objections of his sisters interposed and his youthful patriotism was for the moment curbed. Undaunted, however, by the failure of his first attempt to enroll himself as a soldier of the Union he went over into Illinois, ostensibly on a visit to an uncle at Bement, and there, on July 3, 1861, enlisted in Company A, Thirty-fifth Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for three years and three months. The first engagement the Thirty-fifth Illinois had with the enemy was at Springfield, Missouri; thence on to Pea Ridge, Corinth, Perryville and Murfreesboro, after which, under General Rosecrans, it was hemmed in at Chickamauga for thirty days, subsisting on quarter rations. Sherman and Hooker then came up with reinforcements and the Thirty-fifth went on with Sherman into Georgia, participating in all the arduous phases of the campaign on to Atlanta. Upon the fall of Atlanta, the Thirty-fifth's three-years period of enlistment having expired, the regiment was sent to Springfield, Illinois, where it was mustered out on September 27, 1864, Mr. Reed then being twenty-one years of age.

Upon the conclusion of his military service J. A. Reed returned to Liberty Mills, Indiana, where he remained working at his trade until 1866, in which year he went to Iowa, where he joined his brother, Andrew, who had settled on a homestead farm in Dallas county, that state, some time before, and there he worked for a year, after which he went to Des Moines, where he began working in a blacksmith shop. In 1868 he went to Rock Island, Illinois, and after working for awhile in that city came to Kansas and was for some time employed at his trade in Atchison, later going to Wilson county, in the eastern part of this state, where he opened a blacksmith shop of his own, which he operated for about three years. Then, in March, 1871, he came to this part of the state and filed a pre-emption of the northeast quarter of section 26, in what is now Valley township, Reno county, but which then was in Sedgwick county. He later changed that claim to a timber claim and still lives on half the latter, having sold the west half of it years ago. Mr. Reed thus claims the distinction of being the oldest settler in Reno county who still resides on the farm on which he located.

After locating his claim John A. Reed went back to the mouth of Little river, where there was a saw-mill and where he worked at his trade for two or three weeks, at the end of which time he brought his tools with him and returned to his claim, where he threw up a sod shanty and there opened a blacksmith shop, the first blacksmith shop established in what is now within the confines of Reno county. At that time there were not more than half a dozen families living in this county. Across the river there were great herds of buffaloes, thousands of them, and the early settlers suffered no lack of fresh meat. Mr. Reed "bached" in his sod shanty and found diversion hunting buffalo between jobs in his smithy. The pioneers welcomed the coming of the smith and came to him from points many miles distant to have their plows sharpened and to secure such repairs as were necessary to their meager agricultural implements. In the fall of 1871 he drove to Newton, then the terminus of the Santa Fe road, and hauled back a load of lumber with which he constructed a somewhat more comfortable shack than his sod shanty. In the winter of 1872 he went to Hutchinson, nineteen miles distant, the only polling place in the county, to vote in the first election called in Reno county. In that election C. C. Hutchinson was elected representative from this district to the state Legislature and in the following session of the General Assembly secured the enactment of a law defining the boundaries of Reno county, which brought Valley township within the confines of this county. Mr. Reed has always been a Republican and from the very beginning of a civil community here has taken an active part in local politics. At the first election held in Valley township he was elected constable and he later was elected to the office of township trustee and later, township treasurer, while he nearly always has represented his precinct in county, district or state conventions. Mr. Reed set out forty acres of timber on his timber claim, but found that the care of this grove in its early stages required too much of his time; so in 1873 he homesteaded a tract of one hundred and sixty acres one and one-half miles east of his original entry, the same being the northeast quarter of section 22, Valley township, and thereon he built a frame house and a blacksmith shop. In 1875 he married and sold his blacksmith tools to Andy Ballard, who started the first blacksmith shop in the town of Burrton, and began to give his undivided attention to farming. In 1877 he and his wife moved back to his timber claim and there have lived ever since. It was with difficulty that Mrs. Reed could become accustomed to the frequent presence of Indians about the place and upon the first sign of the approach of a party of redskins would run over to stay with the neighbors until the hunting party would pass on. After selling his tools, Mr. Reed found himself "lost" without the old familiar, implements of his smithy and so bought a new outfit and re-established his smithy, much to the gratification of his pioneer neighbors. He presently sold the farm he had homesteaded and bought an "eighty" adjoining his timber claim, which he still owns. In 1909 he built his present comfortable dwelling and he and his wife are very pleasantly situated. The old house built in 1875 continues to stand on the home place and is a prized relic of pioneer days. On July 17, 1875, John A. Reed was united in marriage to Mary I. Moore, who was born in Greerft county, Tennessee, December 10, 1856, daughter of William T. and Rachel (Ellis) Moore, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Tennessee, who came to Reno county in 1873. William T. Moore was but a boy when his parents moved from North Carolina to Tennessee and in the latter state he grew to manhood and married, farming in that state until 1858, in which year he moved with his family to Sullivan county, Missouri, where he bought a farm. During the Civil War he served the Union cause as a member of the Missouri Home Guards, and in 1873 he and his family came to this county, home-steading a farm in Valley township. Mr. Moore and his wife later retired from the farm and moved to Hutchinson, where he died on November 28, 1893, at the age of fifty-eight, his widow surviving him for about fifteen years, her death occurring on February 5, 1908, she then being at the age of seventy-two years and eleven months. They were the parents of ten children, of whom Mrs. Reed is the eldest. To Mr. and Mrs. Reed no children have been born, but they adopted a five-months old baby girl, Annie Laurie, whom they reared with as much loving care as they could have bestowed upon a child of their very own, and who married James Morgan, a well-known farmer of Valley township, this county, and has five children, Wallace R., Clayton S., Mayme, Mildred L. and Everett C. Mr. Reed is a member of the Masonic lodge at Burrton and takes much interest in the affairs of that order. (Pages 92-96)

WILLIAM HIRST

William Hirst, a well-known and substantial farmer of Lincoln town-ship, this county, who has lived here since he was two years old, is a native of Wisconsin, having been born at Darlington, that state, December 20, 1870, the youngest of the eight children of George and Elizabeth (Brilbrough) Hirst, natives of England, both of whom were born at Leeds, the former in 1824 and the latter in 1826, and both of whom became respected residents of this county, where their last days were spent.

George Hirst was reared in the busy city of Leeds and grew up there to the cabinet-making and pattern-making trades, becoming a very competent craftsman. A year or two after their marriage he and his wife and their first-born child came to America, in 1854, locating at Darlington, Wisconsin, some kinsfolk of Mr. Hirst having previously located there, and there they made their home for nearly twenty years, Mr. Hirst being engaged as a carpenter. In the fall of 1872 George Hirst, his attention having been attracted to the possibilities presented in this region, came to Kansas looking for land. The lay of the land in Reno county pleased him and he homesteaded a tract in section 6, of Lincoln township. He then returned to Wisconsin and the next spring brought his family to Reno county and entered upon the occupation of his homestead, the Hirsts thus having been among the very earliest settlers of Lincoln township.

George Hirst was an industrious farmer and, with the assistance of his sons, developed a fine property, the family coming to be regarded as one of the most substantial and influential in that neighborhood. Mr. Hirst not only was diligent in his own business, but was attentive to the general needs of the community and served his township very acceptably for some time in the capacity of township trustee. He also was on his local school board for many years and in other ways did what he could to advance the common cause hereabout in pioneer days. His wife was a member of the Episcopal church and she also was active in all good works, both being held in high esteem throughout that section of the county. George Hirst died on his farm on July 18, 1897, and his widow survived him for seventeen years, her death occurring at Hutchinson on September 25, 1914. They were the parents of eight children, namely: Anna, who died at the age of sixteen; Hannah, now deceased, who married John Eaton, of Darlington, Wisconsin, who also is dead; George, a wealthy farmer, who died on the old homestead in Lincoln township on October 29, 1915; Mary Ann, who died at the age of eighteen; Lila, now deceased, who married G. W. Woodard, of Hutchinson; Samuel, who married Myrtle Rogers and lives in Hutchinson, where he is a dealer in photographic supplies; Fred, a farmer in Center township, this county, and William, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch. George Hirst was the first photographer of Hutchinson and his daughter learned the trade and succeeded her father and Samuel then succeeded his sister and conducted the business, until 1915. So the Hirst family has been connected with that business for many years. William Hirst was two years of age when his parents came to this county from Wisconsin and he grew to manhood on the homestead farm in Lincoln township, receiving his education in the school in district No. 41. He did not marry until he was thirty years of age and in the meantime remained on the home place, which he took charge of, in his mother's behalf, after the death of his father, in 1897. In 1912 he bought a quarter of a section of his own in Lincoln township and after his mother's death, in 1914, moved onto his own place, where he since has made his home and where he and his family are very pleasantly and comfortably situated. In addition to his land holdings in Lincoln township, Mr. Hirst is also the owner of a third interest in a half section of land in Arlington township and the owner of a quarter section in Hamilton county, this state, besides which he owns a house and lot in Hutchinson, at 410 B avenue, east, and is considered quite well-to-do.

On October 23, 1900, William Hirst was united in marriage to Mar-garet Hardcastle, who was born at Hutchinson, this county, daughter of Joseph and Minnie Hardcastle, early residents of that city, the latter of whom is still living, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Margaret Elizabeth, born on September 28, 1903. Joseph Hardcastle for years was one of Hutchinson's best-known citizens. He was regarded as quite well-to-do until the "boom" collapsed after the middle eighties, at which time it was found that he had lost practically all his fortune in the sudden depreciation of property values which followed that collapse. Mr. and Mrs. Hirst are highly respected residents of their neighborhood, taking an active part in the common life of that community, and are held in high esteem by all thereabout. (Pages 96-97)