Biographies for Reno County, Kansas

FRED SCHARDEIN

Fred Schardein, a farmer of Reno county, was born on December 10, 1883, on his father's homestead farm in Salt Creek township. His parents, John and Eliza J. (Grady) Schardein, settled in Kansas in 1878. He was educated in the district schools of his home township, and took up fanning as a vocation after leaving school.

Mr. Schardein has leased his father's farm, which he has been operating for several years, and is making arrangements for the purchase of this farm in the near future. His father placed all the early improvements on the place, but during the last three years Mr. Schardein has erected a dwelling house, a barn and silo, and otherwise improved the farm.

On May 6, 1908, at Hutchinson, Fred Schardein was married to Anna F. Long, who was born, on March 10, 1885, the daughter of Daniel and Alice A. (Welty) Long, who were among the early pioneer settlers of Reno county. Mr. and Mrs. Schardein are the parents of three children: Fern, born on March 25, 1909; Teddy, November 20, 1912, and Frederick, March 1, 1915. Mr. Schardein is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Sons of Veterans. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Page 199)

COL. HENRY HARTFORD

Col. Henry Hartford, a distinguished veteran of the Civil War and proprietor of the noted "Hillsview Stock Farm," in Medora township, this county, who for some years has been living comfortably retired at his pleasant home at 410 Fourth avenue, east, in the city of Hutchinson, is a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born in County Londonderry, Ireland, February 8, 1837, son of William and Martha (Leslie) Hartford, both natives of that same county, the former of whom died in Ireland at the age of forty-four and the latter of whom, born in 1812, died at the home of her son, the subject of this sketch, in Medora township, this county, in 1905.

William and Martha Hartford, well-to-do people in Ireland, were the parents of five children, of whom Col. Henry Hartford is the eldest, the others being William, who resides at Lahunta, Colorado; John died in young manhood in Ireland; and Elizabeth and Susan, twins, the former of whom married George Cooter, now a retired farmer, living in Hutchinson, this county, and the latter of whom married John Clark and died at their home at Long Branch, New Jersey.

Henry Hartford received an excellent education in private schools at his boyhood home in Ireland and when he was eighteen years old determined to try his fortune in the great and promising New World across the water. With this end in view, in 1855, he took passage on one of the first steamships that crossed the Atlantic and in due time landed at the port of New York. In that city he had little difficulty in finding employment and as his brother William had preceded him, they both were engaged as clerks in a grocery store. In the early sixties their widowed mother and one sister joined them in their new home in New York and the reunited family established a very comfortable home there. The other sister had come about 1859. Years afterward when the Hartford brothers became successful homesteaders in this county, the widow Hartford joined them here and her last days were spent in this county, at the home of her eldest son.

Upon President Lincoln's first call for volunteers to help in the suppression of the rebellion of the Southern states, Henry Hartford left his place behind the counter of the grocery store and enlisted in Company K, First New Jersey Militia, for the three-months service prescribed in the first call for troops. Upon the expiration of this service the militia was reorganized as a volunteer regiment and became the Eighth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, Henry Hartford becoming first sergeant of Company F of the same, and in this regiment he served until it was mustered out following the Grand Review at the close of the war, performing his soldierly duties so faithfully that he was mustered out as lieutenant-colonel, in command of the regiment. Sergeant Hartford rose steadily in the ranks during the early part of his service and was ranking officer of the regiment when Col. John Ramsey, commander of the regiment, was raised to the rank of brigadier general, in charge of his brigade of the Second Army Corps, which left a vacancy and it was then Mr. Hartford was made colonel of his regiment and was in command until the close of the war. The Eighth New Jersey was in the very thick of every important battle fought by the Army of the Potomac and Colonel Hartford was wounded five times seriously and once slightly, his most serious wounds having been received at the battle of Petersburg, Virginia, June 16, 1864; the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, T862. He was in the thick of things during the battle of Fredericksburg and in all the other battles under Gen. Joe Hooker and some of the battles under General Sickles. Colonel Hartford was in charge of his regiment in the Grand Review in Washington at the close of the war and after the regiment was mustered out he remained in the service, assisting in checking up regimental stores, until in October, 1865, when he, too, was mustered out. Colonel Hartford had a most interesting military career. He was in the following engagements: Yorktown, Williamsburg, part of General McClelland's retreat to Malvern Hill, Bristle Station, Second Bull Run, Mine Run, Gettysburg, Kelley's Ford, McLean Ford, and many other minor engagements.

Upon the conclusion of his military service, Colonel Hartford returned to New York City and for a year thereafter was employed in the office of the city assessor, at the end of which time he was engaged by the old Sprague & McKillets Mercantile Agency, a concern then corresponding to the now well-known Dunn and Bradstreet agencies, with which he was connected until 1867, in which year he and his brother, William, decided to test the opportunities apparently presented in the then new West. They came to Kansas, locating at Leavenworth, where they engaged in the commission business, under the firm style of the Hartford Brothers Commission Company and thus continued in business there until 1872. In November, 1872, Colonel Hartford had made a trip over into Reno county and had filed a claim for a soldier's homestead in Medora township, filing on the northeast quarter of section 18, township 22, range 4, west, which land he still owns, and in February, 1873, moved onto his homestead and began to develop the same. His brother filed on another quarter of the same section; his mother who, meanwhile, also had come West, took up another quarter of the same and his brother-in-law, George W. Cooter, filed on the remaining quarter, the family thus being together the owners of all of section 18, in Medora township, and among the very earliest settlers of Reno county. The hardships endured by the early settlers of this county are fittingly described in the historical section of this work and need not therefore be more than touched on here, but it is proper to say that the Hart fords did not escape their share of privation. They rose equal to all emergencies and superior to all discouragements, however, and in the end prospered greatly. Following the dread grasshopper scourge of 1874, Colonel Hartford, a natural leader of men, took charge of affairs in behalf of the suffering and famine-stricken settlers and was the first man to secure aid from the East for Reno county and acted as distributing agent for supplies apportioned to Medora township and in other ways rendered invaluable assistance during the dreary days which tried the souls of all hereabout. From the very beginning, Colonel Hartford conducted his farming operations on an extensive scale and presently became known as one of the most progressive ranchers and cattle men in this section of the state. As he prospered he gradually added to "Hillsview Stock Farm," until he now owns one thousand acres of choice land in Medora township, where for years Colonel Hartford had a fine grade of pure-blood Shorthorn cattle of which he made a specialty, but before retiring sold out his cattle, the great ranch now being under the management of Colonel Hartford's son, Harry E. Hartford, whose progressive ideas are producing excellent results. Colonel Hartford has not confined his business activities wholly to his ranch, however, and is the owner of quite a bit of valuable property in the city of Hutchinson. Though practically retired from the more active pursuits of life, he continues to take a warm interest in affairs and personally gives his close attention to some of the details of his extensive interests. In 1906 Colonel and Mrs. Hartford retired from the ranch and moved into the city of Hutchinson, where they have a very pleasant home and where they are now living.

On February 28, 1879, Col. Henry Hartford was united in marriage, in Medora township, this county, to Alice Elizabeth Thomas, who was born in Jennings county, Indiana, daughter of Joseph V. and Emily Thomas, who came with their family to Reno county in 1873 and entered a quarter of a section of land adjoining the Hartford section in Medora township, and to this union five children have been born, namely: Ethel died at the age of fourteen years; Ella, a teacher in the Hutchinson schools, lives with her parents ; Harry, who is on his father's farm; Daile, who married John Cain and lives at Mitchell, in Rice county, this state; and Martha May, who is at home with her parents, is also a teacher in the city schools.

Colonel Hartford is an ardent Republican and during the more active years of his life attended every county and many district and state conventions of his party. He was the second sheriff elected in Reno county, serving in that office in the years 1874-75, and also served very efficiently as township clerk and member of the school board. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in which order he takes much interest, and is one of the directors of the Eastside Cemetery Association. It was Colonel Hartford who received general credit among the members of that post for having given Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Hutchinson, its name, he and Captain F. L. Mintie, who were the only charter members of that post who had fought under General Hooker, having fought so vigorously for this honor in behalf of their old general that the other comrades of the post finally gave in and Joe Hooker post it ever has ken, Colonel Hartford ever having been one of the most active members of the same. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 200-203)

WILLIAM R. CONE, D. D. S.

William R. C one, a well-known dentist, of Hutchinson, this county, is a native of Missouri, having been born on a farm in the neighborhood and, in Gentry county, that state, on August 28, 1860, son of E. W. and Eliza M. (Ogden) Cone, both of whom were born in Fountain county, Indiana the former on December 25, 1834, and the latter, August 29, 1835, of whom are still living.

E. W. Cone was reared on his father's farm in Fountain county, Indiana, and was married in that county, shortly after which, in 1858 he went to Missouri and bought a farm in Gentry county, in the neighborhood Albany. He was a Douglas Democrat and an ardent anti-slavery man," never hesitated to make his position on the burning issues of that day known. Following the election of President Lincoln, in 1860, his pro-slavery neighbors, who even then were organizing guerilla bands thereabout in preparation for eventualities, drove him out of the neighborhood. He was compelled to sacrifice his farm in Missouri and took his family and moved to Muscatine, Iowa, where he remained for a few months, at the end of which time he leased a farm in Mercer county, Illinois, on which he lived until the fall of 1872. He then came to Kansas, locating on a homestead on Prairie Dog creek, in the northern part of the state. He had been there but a short time when a prairie fire devastated that whole section of the state, he and his family saving their lives only by desperate back-firing and plowing under the sod in a radius of twenty acres surrounding their home. Discouraged by the outlook there, the Cones moved to the Junction City neighborhood, where they raised a crop the succeeding year and in the spring of 1874 moved to another farm near Peabody, Kansas, That was grasshopper year and everything they raised that summer was eaten up by the cloud of pests that overwhelmed the land. In the fall of that year the family moved over into Coffey county and there E. W. Cone bought a farm on which he made his home until 1884, in which year he and his wife retired from the farm and moved to Tulare county, California, where they are now living, he being past eighty-one years of age, and she past eighty. They are members of the Presbyterian church and their eight children, all of whom are living, were reared in that faith. These children, in the order of their birth, are as follow: Edgar P., a fruit farmer, who lives near Seattle, Washington; Dr. William R., the immediate subject of this sketch; Carlton, who lives at Fresno, California; Oscar, a building contractor, also living at Fresno; Samantha, who married S. C. Wilkinson and lives at Laton, California; Catherine/ who married W. W. Wilkinson and lives at El Paso, Texas: Josephine, who married E. A. Atchison and lives at Butte, Montana, and Cora, who married George X. White and lives at Boise, Idaho.

William R. Cone received his elementary education in the district schools of Illinois and Kansas. He was twelve years of age when his family moved to this state and at the age of seventeen he began teaching school in Coffey county and was thus engaged for five years, at the end of which time, in 1883, he entered the University of Kansas, from which he was graduated in 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the fall of 1888 he was elected county superintendent of schools of Coffey county, in which capacity he served for two years. In the meantime, he had taken up the study of dental surgery and in 1891 began the practice of that profession at Florence and continued thus engaged until 1894, in which year he entered the College of Dental Surgery at Chicago and upon completing his course there returned to Florence, where he practiced until in February, 1899, at which time he came to Reno county, locating at Hutchinson, where he ever since has been engaged in the practice of his profession.

On March 10, 1895, Dr. William R. Cone was united in marriage to Armanellie Stetler, who was born in Burlington, Iowa, October 11, 1868, daughter of I. H. and Retta Stetler, both of whom are now living in Chicago. Mrs. Cone was graduated from the Woman's Medical College of Northwestern University, at Chicago, and from the time of her arrival in Hutchinson until 1906 was actively engaged in the practice of her profession, making a specialty of diseases of women and children. Doctor and Mrs. Cone are members of the Presbyterian church and Doctor Cone is a Mason. In 1907 Doctor Cone built a pretty suburban home at 900 Seventeenth street, west, where he owns a fine tract of forty acres. Twenty acres of this tract is set to orchard fruit, mostly apples and cherries, and in this fine orchard the Doctor finds his chief diversion from the exacting duties of his profession, deriving not only considerable profit from his orchard but an infinite amount of pleasure in the cultivation of the same. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Page 203-205)

HOUSTON WHITESIDE

Houston Whiteside, dean of the Reno County Bar Association, one of the best-known lawyers in Kansas, founder of the Hutchinson News and probably the oldest continuous resident of the city of Hutchinson, a man who has witnessed the development of that bustling city from the days it consisted of a few unsightly shanties stuck up in the dreary sands of the original townsite and who has aided very materially in the development of the city to its present exalted status, is a native of Tennessee, he having been born in Shelbyville, that state, in 1847, son of Russell Porter and Mary Ann (Houston) Whiteside, the former of whom, born in 1824 died in 1854, and the latter, born in 1824, died in 1912.

Russell Porter Whiteside was born near Shelbyville, Tennessee, member of a pioneer family of that section, and was reared on the paternal farm. His elder brother, Thomas C. Whiteside, was a prominent attorney in Shelbyville, and upon completing his schooling he entered his brother's office and began the study of law, presently being admitted to the bar and becoming a partner of William H. Wisener in the practice of the law, with offices at Shelbyville and Lewisburg, quickly taking his place among the leaders of the bar thereabout, entering upon a most promising career, which was cut short by death at the early age of twenty-eight. Russell P. Whiteside married Wary Ann Houston, who was born near Concord, in Cabarrus county, North Carolina, daughter of Dr. William and Sarah (Phifer) Houston, who emigrated to Tennessee with her parents when seven years of age, her father having located there at that time on a large tract of land which had been granted to his father by the government in consideration of his distinguished services in behalf of the armies of the patriots during the Revolutionary War, her father having been the colonel of the Third North Carolina Regiment, the same in which Doctor Houston's father had served in the capacity of captain. Dr. William Houston became one of the leading plantation owners in the Shelbyville neighborhood, a large slave-holder and an extensive breeder of cattle. Russell P. Whiteside was a Whig and a member of the Presbyterian church, the sterling character of the man being attested by the fact that he had been an elder in the Presbyterian church for some time previous to his death, at the early age of twenty-eight. To him and his wife two children were born, the subject of this biographical sketch having had a sister, Annie, who married William E. Hutchinson, partner of his brother, C. C. Hutchinson, founder of the city of Hutchinson, this county. Upon the death of Russell P. Whiteside his widow married, secondly, George T. Hutton, a farmer of Bedford county, Tennessee, who died about 1890, and to this second union three children were born, Emmette, Samuel and Leota, the latter of whom married Doctor Conn, and all of whom reside in Hutchinson.

Houston Whiteside was reared at Shelbyville, Tennessee, his elementary education being received in a private school there, the same being supplemented by a course in Shelbyville College, which was interrupted by the military activities in that section during the Civil War, during which time the schools were closed. After the war, Mr. Whiteside began teaching school near Shelbyville and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he went to Mississippi, where for a year he operated a cotton plantation, after which he entered the law office of his uncle, Thomas C. Whiteside, at Shelbyville, where for two years he gave his most studious and intelligent attention to the theory and practice of the law, laying there the foundation for the notable success he later was destined to achieve in the practice of that exacting profession. In the spring of 1872 Mr. Whiteside came to Kansas and on May 16, of that year, arrived at Hutchinson, which had been platted the year before and which at the time of his arrival consisted of but a few shanties. Recognizing immediately the need of a proper-medium of expression for the promotion of the interests of the promising town site, Mr. Whiteside, in connection with Perry Brothers, of Miami county, this state, founded the Hutchinson News, he taking editorial direction of the same. The next year, 1873, he bought the interests of his partners and operated the paper alone until 1875, in which year he sold the same, the growing interests of his already extensive law practice demanding his undivided attention. In November, of the year of his arrival in Hutchinson, Mr. Whiteside was elected county attorney for Reno county and was re-elected in 1874. From the time he retired from editorial direction of the Hutchinson News until the time of his practical retirement from practice, in 1907, Mr. Whiteside occupied a very high place at the bar of Reno county and from the first was recognized by both the bench and bar of this section as a vigorous and useful force in affairs. From the date of its organization, more than thirty years ago, he has been the president of the Reno County Bar Association and in every way has labored to maintain the high dignity of the bar in this county. Though most of the time Mr. Whiteside has conducted his practice alone, he from time to time has been associated in partnership with W. H. Gleason, A. C. Malloy, W. E. Hutchinson and James McKinsty. Mr. Whiteside is a Republican and from the time of his arrival in this county has given close attention to the political affairs of the community and of the state at large, though never having been a candidate for office, his large law practice having required all his time. For several terms, however, he served as city attorney, under appointment of the city council, in which public capacity he performed excellent service, and for twenty-five years was district attorney for the Santa Fe system. Frequently, Mr. Whiteside has been a delegate to state and congressional conventions of his party and has been regarded as a useful factor in Kansas politics. He also has given his close attention to business affairs and helped to organize the Hutchinson Commercial Club in 1892. He was president of the first flour-mill company in Hutchinson and for years was president of the Water, Light and Power Company and at different times has been actively connected with various real-estate and banking companies, though not now thus actively connected. He still owns the quarter of a section of land which he preempted near Hutchinson, on the west, and is the owner of other valuable farm lands.

On February 22, 1889, Houston Whiteside was united in marriage to Julia Clementine Latimer, who was born at Jackson, Tennessee, daughter of diaries Latimer and wife. Charles Latimer was a Virginian, who was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and for many years was an officer in the United States navy. During the Civil War he was federal superintendent of railroads, located at Jackson, Tennessee, and after the war took service in the engineering department of the Lake Shore railroad, which company he served for some years as chief engineer, with headquarters at Cleveland, Ohio, later going to the Erie Railroad Company, in the same capacity, and died in Cleveland in 1887.

To Houston and Julia C. (Latimer) Whiteside two children have been born, a son and a daughter. Houston, Jr., born in 1891, graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1912 and served as an officer in the Twenty-third Regiment, United States Infantry, until his resignation in 1914, since which time he has been giving his attention to his father's extensive business interests in and about Hutchinson; and Ada, 1893, who supplemented her schooling in the public schools of Hutchinson by a course in a finishing school for young women at Greenwich, Connecticut, and married Wirt Morton, superintendent of the Morton Salt Company, of Hutchinson. The Whitesides live in a handsome and hospitable home at 504 Sherman street, east, in the city of Hutchinson. Mr. and Mrs. White-side are members of the Episcopal church, of which Mr. Whiteside was a vestryman for many years and senior warden for twenty years. He has been chancellor of the diocese since its organization and takes a warm interest in church affairs. He is a member of the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Anti-Horse Thief Association. Mrs. Whiteside is highly accomplished in music and has done much to promote music in Kansas. She is well known as the finest vocalist in the state and one of the best amateur singers in the whole country. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Page 205-208)

JOEL M. ANDERSON

Joel M. Anderson, son of William D. and Sarah I. (Louder) Anderson, was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, April 16, 1841. His parents were natives of North Carolina and were of Scotch ancestry. His father was a pioneer minister of the Wesleyan Methodist church. Reared in a state where slavery existed he disapproved strongly of the system and,, with a view of getting himself and family from its blighting influences, he removed to Henry county, Indiana, in 1851. He remained there until about 1858, when he removed to Decatur county, Iowa, where he continued to make his home during the remainder of his life. He died in February, 1890, and his wife survived him less than a week.

Joel M. Anderson, the subject of this sketch, died at his home in Hutchinson, Kansas, December 18, 1911. He had the following brothers and sisters: Rhoda, deceased, married W. H. Sanford, of Leon, Iowa; Mary A. married J. P. Dunn, of Abbeyville, Kansas; William S., a farmer, of Ringgold, Iowa; Irene married Peter Deck, of Abbeyville, Kansas; Solomon, a member of the Third Iowa Cavalry in the Civil War, died in the service in Louisville, Kentucky; John C, a farmer, at Kennard, Indiana; Isaac B., a farmer, at Cadiz, Indiana.

Joel M. Anderson was educated in the district schools of Henry county, Indiana, and Decatur county, Iowa. He remained at home working on the farm until he reached his majority. He then rented a farm in Decatur county, Iowa, and afterward bought a small farm in that county which he cultivated until the fall of 1873, when he removed to Reno county, Kansas, where he located a homestead claim on the northwest quarter of section 34, township 23, range 8, and during the fall and winter of 1873 broke sod preparatory to spring planting. In the spring he rented some other land that had been broken the preceding year and planted forty acres in corn, but he lost his entire crop by the grasshopper scourge that devasted that section that year. Having nothing left, like many other settlers, he had to leave his claim and seek some other location to obtain a living for himself and family. He returned to his former home in Iowa where he spent the winter working with his team at one dollar per day. In the spring of 1875 he returned to Kansas to make another effort to raise a crop. He planted only a small acreage of wheat because he did not have enough money to purchase seed for a larger acreage. The grasshopper plague had abated and he was able to realize a fair return for his labor that year. His first house was a one-story, fourteen by sixteen, in which he lived for several years, until he was able to enlarge and improve it. He was engaged in general farming and stock raising until September, 1888, when he removed to Hutchinson to assume the duties of the office of county treasurer, to which he had been elected.

Mr. Anderson was elected to the office of county commissioner in 1885, for a term of one year, from the third district. This was to fill a vacancy in that office. On the expiration of that term he was re-elected for the full term of three years, but he resigned the office of commissioner to accept the office of county treasurer, to which he was elected in the fall of 1887. He served for two terms, of two years each, in the latter office, being re-elected in the fall of 1889. He was elected police judge of Hutchinson, in 1895, and served in that capacity for two years. He was also township trustee for three years, and one of the organizers of school district No. 58, and served as treasurer of the school board for nine years. In the discharge of these various official duties he was always prompt, efficient and reliable, and commanded the approbation and the esteem of the community which he faithfully served. His official record is without criticism or reproach. His public honors always came to him unsought, his fellow citizens calling him to office because they recognized his trustworthiness and ability.

After retiring from office Mr. Anderson engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, and also engaged as administrator of estates and guardian of minor heirs. In this capacity his superior business judgment, his unquestioned integrity in handling public and private interests, gave assurance that business entrusted to him would be carefully handled and honestly accounted for. His entire life was in harmony with his profession-honorable, straight and upright-and was crowned with the high degree of success which is ever accorded sterling worth.
On August 8, 1863, Mr. Anderson enlisted in Company C, Ninth Iowa Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Drummond, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with whom he served for two years. This regiment served in Missouri and Arkansas, guarding wagon trains and doing much scouting and escort duty. On account of disability from hard service and exposure, Mr. Anderson was discharged at the end of two years.

Joel M. Anderson was married, July 31, 1862, in Iowa, to Sarah A. Chambers, a daughter of Daniel E. and Elizabeth ((Brinneman) Chambers. Mrs. Anderson was born in Pennsylvania, September 8, 1844. Her father was born in Pennsylvania, June 21, 1816. He was a farmer, owning one hundred and sixty acres of cultivated land and forty acres of timber land, near Leon, Iowa, where he settled in 1848. In 1850 Mr. Chambers was attracted by prospects in gold mining in California and went on the long journey across the plains to seek his fortune in that state. After two years of indifferent success he returned to his Iowa home and resumed his farming operations. In 1893 he came with his wife to Hutchinson to live with his daughter, Mrs. Joel M. Anderson. He died here, September 8, 1905. He had been blind for about twenty years. Mr. Chambers had been a successful farmer and took great pride in his farm, and in the raising and care of fine horses. His wife was born in Pennsylvania, February 25, 1816, and died in Hutchinson, June 4, 1894. Both were prominent members of the Methodist church.

The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Joel M. Anderson are: Austin, born in Pennsylvania, March 29, 1841, was a soldier in the Civil War, serving six months, died in Lyoden, Washington territory, January 17, 1889; Mary Ellen, born in Pennsylvania, December 2, 1847, married George T. Chandler, a farmer, living at Armour, South Dakota; Emma Jane, born near Leon, Iowa, May 29, 1858, died June 16, 1869; Amos, born near Leon, Iowa, October 16, 1854, is a farmer and stock raiser at Leon, Iowa.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are: William A., a farmer of Reno county; Ida L. married M. Wilmot; Cora married John S. Dauber, of Whitewater, Kansas; Bertha married Walter Meade, of Hutchinson, Kansas.

Mr. Anderson was an active and prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, having served as a member of the official board, and in the work of the Sunday school, in which he was a teacher in the country. He was a member of Joe Hooker Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He was also a supporter of the Hutchinson Young Men's Christian Association. Politically, he was identified with the Republican party, having served on the county central committee, and was frequently a delegate to the conventions of his party. Mrs. Anderson is a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. The family residence is one of the handsome homes of Hutchinson, located at 517 Third avenue, east. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 208-211)

PETER A. NELSON

Peter A. Nelson, well-known hardware merchant at Hutchinson, this county, is a native of Sweden, having been born near the village of Elmholt, in the district of Smaalene, in that kingdom, on January 4, 1864, son of John and Nellie Nelson, both natives of the same district, farmers there, who, in 1869, emigrated with their two small sons, John W., now president of the Nelson Manufacturing Company, of Hutchinson, this county, and Peter A., the subject of this sketch, to America, locating for a short time at Rockford, Illinois, where John Nelson worked at such labor as his hands could find to do.

In 1872, the year after the organization of Reno county, the Nelsons came to Kansas, settling in this county, where John Nelson pre-empted eighty acres of land in Lincoln township, on the present site of the village of Dar-low. He presently sold that homestead and bought a quarter of a section in the same township, two miles west of his original place, where he made his home for some time. He then bought a farm in Castleton township, during the eighties, later buying a quarter of a section in Reno township, south of the town of South Hutchinson, on which he lived until the time of his retirement from the active labors of the farm, after which he moved into Hutchinson, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, his death occurring in 1909. His widow survived him three years, her death occurring in 1912. During their residence in Sweden, the Nelsons were members of the Lutheran church, but upon coming to this county, in the absence of a Lutheran congregation with which to worship, Mrs. Nelson joined the Methodist church.

Peter A. Nelson was five years of age when he came to America with his parents and was eight years of age when they came to this county in 1872. He, consequently, has been a witness of the wonderful development of this region since those pioneer days and his recollection of the hardships and privations which the original settlers of this county had to endure in the clays of grasshoppers and droughts is very vivid. He grew up on the farm, manfully assisting his father in the development of the same and when his father moved from Castleton to Reno township he gave Peter A. the former quarter-section farm as a reward for his faithfulness and industry. Mr. Nelson lived on this farm for one year, at-the end of which time, in 1886, he went to Finney county, where, in the Garden City neighborhood, he homesteaded and then commuted a tract of land, which he still owns and the next year returned to his Castleton township place. In 1889 he joined his brother, John W. in South Hutchinson, where they engaged in the retail hardware business, the next year moving their store to Hutchinson, locating the same in the Rock Island block, where they conducted their business quite successfully for a time, and finally locating at North Main street, which three-story building they purchased, and where they greatly enlarged the capacity of their business and at the same time engaged in the manufacture of galvanized tanks, building up an extensive business in the same. In 1909 this partnership was dissolved, Peter A. Nelson retaining the store and his brother, John W., taking the manufacturing end of the business, which he is still operating. Mr. Nelson's hardware store is one of the best equipped stores in Hutchinson, fittings and fixtures being up-to-date and stock complete.

In 1899 Peter A. Nelson was united in marriage to Hilma Anderson, who was born in Sweden, daughter of Carl and Mary Anderson, both now deceased, and who came with them to America when she was a small girl the family settling in Wisconsin, later coming to Kansas, and to this union one child has been born, Celestine, born in 190J. Mr. "and Mrs. Nelson have a very pleasant home at 428 Avenue A, east.

Mr. Nelson is a Republican in national affairs, but in local elections is more inclined to give his preference to the men he thinks best fitted for the office, regardless of party distinctions. He is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a member of the blue lodge at Hutchinson and of the consistory at Wichita. He also is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in all of these organizations takes a warm interest. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Pages 213-215)

FRANK M. McDERMED

As an example of what energy, pluck, perseverance and thrift, coupled with an inherent shrewdness of thought and habit, may accomplish in the life of one man, the following interesting bit of biography, the life history of one of the most successful business men in Kansas, well deserves a prominent place in these pages. In Reno county, few men are better known than Frank M. McDermed, merchant and capitalist, of Hutchinson, and it is to a brief review of his successful career since arriving in Hutchinson in 1887, a poor boy, but eighteen years of age, that these lines are addressed.

Frank M. McDermed was born in Roanoke City, Virginia, October 4, 1869, son of Oliver and Mary (Barnes) McDermed, the former of whom, born in that same city in 1830, son of William McDermed, a prosperous merchant, died in Arkansas, November 11, 1886, and the.latter, born in Roanoke county, Virginia, in 1835, died in Hutchinson, this county, January 27, 1914.

Oliver McDermed was reared to the mercantile business and upon reaching manhood became proprietor of a store at Roanoke City. Some years before the Civil War period he moved to Richmond, Virginia, and there engaged in business, becoming the proprietor of a large store. When the war between the states broke out, he enlisted in the cause of the Confederate states and served valiantly during that fratricidal struggle in the army of his great general, Robert E. Lee. At the close of the war, he found himself bankrupt, his business in Richmond having been destroyed during the time of the Federal occupation of that city, and after struggling along ineffectually for a few years in Roanoke City, decided to try his fortunes anew in the West. In 1872 he removed, with his family to Lonoke, Arkansas, where he and his son-in-law, "Bud" Holloway, engaged in cotton planting with some measure of success, though, after the death of Oliver McDermed, in 1886, there was not much left when his estate was settled. Oliver McDermed and his wife were the parents of eight children, as follow:
William E., formerly a merchant at Los Angeles, California, now a commercial traveler there; Laura, who died, unmarried, in 1876; John A., a well-known farmer of this county; Robert F., engaged in the real-estate business in Hutchinson, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume; Luton, a well-known grocer in Hutchinson; Annie, now deceased, who-married "Bud" Holloway; Frank M., the immediate subject of this sketch, and James E., merchant, manufacturer, speculator and promoter, of Hutchinson, this county.
Frank M. McDermed was three years of age when his family moved from Virginia to the Arkansas plantation and was seventeen years of age when his father died. During the life on the plantation conditions necessitated the labor of all hands and he had little time for schooling, he having had the advantage of attendance at but three terms of district school during the time he lived there. When he was eighteen years of age he and his widowed mother and such of the younger children as had not yet left home came to this county and settled in Hutchinson, where he received the further advantage of attendance at three terms of the common school, his vacations being spent at work in a plumbing shop. In 1890, he being then twenty-one years of age, Frank M. McDermed decided to go into business on his own account and opened a grocery store at 213 South Main street, which he operated quite successfully, continuing to occupy that same location until 1905, in which year he sold it and a poultry yard he had established in 1898 to his brothers, Luton and James E., after which he started a new grocery and hardware store at 519-27 South Main street, where he is still in business, in connection with this establishment also conducting a large retail coal yard.

It is not too much to say that Frank M. McDermed has become quite a capitalist. When he arrived in Hutchinson, in 1887, he was a poor boy, with but little education, but possessed of a natural aptitude for business and has made money at every turn. Mr. McDermed is interested in many enterprises in and about Hutchinson, in addition to his extensive commercial establishment. He was one of the promoters of the Rorabaugh-Wiley building, the only eight-story office building in the city of Hutchinson, and was one of the original owners and promoters of Riverside Park. He is largely interested in farms in Arkansas, Texas and Oregon and is a director of the Reno State Bank, a director of the Fontron Loan and Trust Company and a director of the Haven Milling Company, and from 1896 to 1903 was largely engaged in raising cattle in this county.

In civic affairs also Mr. McDermed has shown his intelligent interest and has found time from his extensive commercial and financial pursuits to give considerable attention to the public service. He is a Democrat and served as a member of the Hutchinson city council from 1903 to 1910, in which latter year the commission form of government for that city was inaugurated, he being one of the first city commissioners. An interesting item in connection with Mr. McDermed's large holdings in Hutchinson is the statement that he is the owner of the oldest building now standing in Hutchinson, a stone building located at 15 South Main street, which was erected in 1872 and was constructed from stone hauled all the way from Newton, which at that time was the terminus of the Santa Fe railroad, there being then no railroad in Hutchinson. Mr. McDermed is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that popular order.

On February 14, 1915, Frank M. McDermed was united in marriage to Clara Teter, who was born and reared in Hutchinson, a daughter of James L Teter, who is now a grocer at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (History of Reno County, Kansas, George W. Dunn, Page 215)