A. S. Brownewell, who has been identified with the fire department of the city of Wichita, Kansas since 1884, is now serving in the capacity of its assistant chief. He was born in Canton, Ohio in 1864, and is a son of W. H. Brownewell.
W. H. Brownewell was a railroad man and a bridge carpenter. He was the father of four children of whom A. S. is the oldest. The others are: George F., Charles F., and William R. They are all residents of Canton, Ohio, and have visited in the West but did not remain.
A. S. Brownewell was reared in his native town and there attended the public schools, as did President McKinley’s wife at that time. He went to Kansas in 1880 with a home seekers’ excursion, but merely with a boy’s curiosity to travel and see the country. Being so well pleased with the place he established a permanent residence, and since that period has not experienced a day’s sickness. Wichita was then a small city and had but a few buildings along the avenue. At first he followed the trade of a carpenter. A volunteer fire department had been organized before his arrival; it was the old Babcock Company, known as Frontier, No. 1. The department was located in an old frame building, 10 feet high and 14 feet wide, where the present station No. 1, stands. There was just room for a hand hose reel, and in the rear was the city calaboose. There were no city water works at that time, and everything was done by hand. The Deluge Company, No. 1, was organized just before Mr. Brownewell’s arrival, and he became a member of it in 1884. It consisted of Captain W. M. Smythe and 19 men. In 1886 the paid department was organized, and he has been in its service ever since, under Chief A. G. Walden. He became foreman of No. 1, and in 1889 was appointed assistant chief, and he has ably assisted the chief in the fulfillment of his duties. There are now four stations in the city, and he takes care that everything is kept in readiness and in the proper order – his headquarters being at Station No. 1, where sevens horses are kept. He has been through all of the destructive fires and the efficiency of the service of the department is in a great measure due to his efforts.
Mr. Brownewell was united in marriage with Alice Gibbs and they have three children: Willie, Jeanette and Ralph. Fraternally the subject of this sketch is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a strong Republican in his political opinions. Religiously he is a member of the reformed church. (Biographical Record, Sedgwick County, Page 232 & 233, published 1901)
Hon. D. M. Dale, as judge of the district court held at Wichita, has rendered invaluable service to the county. His impartiality and high sense of justice have endeared him to the citizens in his jurisdiction, while his promptness and dispatch in the disposition of cases tried before him have resulted in incalculable saving to the county.
Judge Dale was born in De Kalb county, Illinois, June 3, 1852, and is a son of Franklin and Maria (Webster) Dale. His father was born in England in 1812, and came to this country when five years of age, receiving his education at Daleville, Pa. He married Maria Webster, a native of England, who was brought to this country when three years old by her parents, who located near Daleville. Franklin Dale was ordained a Methodist minister and preached some in that church. He removed to Michigan in the “thirties” and a few years subsequently moved to Freeland Corners, De Kalb County, Illinois. His next moved to Somonauk, in the same county, where he engaged as a merchant a number of years. From there he moved to Leland, La Salle county, where he was a merchant and grain dealer, and also owned a farm. He spent the last few years of his life in retirement, and was killed by a train at a railroad crossing in 1888. His wife died in 1873, at the age of fifty-nine years. Eight children were born to them, namely: Caroline (Bacon) of Chicago, Illinois; Mary (Watson) of Mount Hope, Kansas; Susan (Beckwith) of Wichita; Arthur of Leland, Illinois; John W. of Clearwater, Kansas; Frank of Guthrie, Oklahoma, who was for five years chief justice of the territory; and David M., our subject. Franklin Dale was a Republican in politics, a man of great force of character, a good speaker and a strong and active worker in his party.
During the last six years of his minority, David M. Dale worked upon a farm in De Kalb county, Illinois, putting in his winters and all other spare time in obtaining an education. He read law at Leland and Ottawa, Illinois, and taught school during the winter months to pay his expenses. In January, 1876, he was admitted to the bar, passing an examination in open court before the judges of the supreme court of that state. He practiced law there until 1880, when he located in Wichita. Against his wishes, he was nominated for county attorney in the fall of that year, and ran in opposition to Judge Balderston. While Garfield carried the county by a majority of 1,000, Mr. Dale succeeded in getting a majority of 240 votes. He was reelected county attorney in 1882, defeating Judge Wall by nearly 500 votes. He refused to become a candidate for a third term, and likewise refused to become a candidate for any other office, although importuned by party friends to allow his name to be used for congressional, senatorial, judicial and other nominations, until 1895. A general demand of the bar and the people then forced him to take the nomination for judge of the district court, realizing that in him was the only hope of defeating the opposing candidate, Judge Reed. Mr. Dale had three years previously retired to his farm on account of ill health, but letters were written to him from all parts of the county, and various committees waited upon him. They finally exacted a promise to accept the nomination if given unanimously and without effort on his part. It is worthy of note that he received the nomination of the convention by a unanimous vote, remaining upon the farm throughout the struggle. After a hard and bitter fight he was elected by a majority of 753 votes. When he opened court for the first term, January 1, 1896, he found a demoralized condition of affairs. Under the old management the court was four years behind in its work, nearly 1,000 cases being on the docket and 500 demurrers and motions to be heard. He set to work immediately and pushed things through with such system and regularity that the docket was cleared in six months’ time. It took work night and day, and at one time during the first term there were three juries out. The high character of his work is evidenced by the following statement made by ex-Deputy Clerk of the District Court Charles Luling, a prominent Republican, which appeared in the Daily Beacon of March 28, 1896: “Judge Dale is the ablest judge who ever sat on the bench in this county and it is my solemn conviction that he and the present jury have saved the county $40,000 in jury expenses alone.” Judge Dale was reelected to the office in 1899, receiving a majority of 1,926 votes over his opponent, Judge Balderston, the largest majority ever given a judge in Sedgwick county.
Fraternally, Judge Dale is a member of the Albert Pike Lodge No. 303, A. F. & A. M., and has taken degrees in the chapter, commandery and consistory, being a prominent Mason. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. (Biographical Record, Sedgwick County, Page 229 & 230, published 1901)
J. V. Daugherty, of Wichita, Kansas, is a prominent attorney-at-law. It may truly be said of him that he is the architect of his own fortune, for what he possesses today has resulted from his own industry, unaided by others.
Mr. Daugherty was born in West Dubuque, Iowa, and is a son of William E. Daugherty. The latter was a native of Pennsylvania, and upon reaching manhood devoted his time to farming and surveying, finally becoming a government surveyor. He moved to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1852, and there became a friend of Senator William B. Allison and other noted men of Iowa. He surveyed in Northern Wisconsin and elsewhere, leaving his family on a farm near Epworth, Iowa, whither he had moved in 1862. In 1871 he moved to Adams county, Iowa, where he purchased land and left his family, while he completed contracts which he had in Nebraska. The contracts ran from 1868 to 1872, and in the latter year he returned to his farm and devoted his attention solely to farming and stock raising. He was also county surveyor of Adams county for several years. He resides in Western Kansas, and is the owner of a cattle ranch.
J. V. Daugherty was four or five years old when his family moved to the vicinity of Epworth, and he received his first schooling at that place. He was the oldest of nine children and naturally took the lead in managing the work on the farm, beginning thus at the early age of fourteen years. He had the management of a force of men who cleared the place of brush, and acquitted himself with credit.
When twenty years old he attended school for one year at Villisca, Iowa, and after reaching man’s estate was presented with a team of horses by his father. He also rented from his father a tract of land on shares, and after raising one crop purchased from him 80 acres of brush land. He gave the first year’s crop in partial payment, and during the following three years cultivated the farm in the summer time and worked in the coal mines during the winter, thus earning enough to discharge all obligations. The fall after he was twenty-four years old he rented his farm and went west to Wichita, Kansas, to try his fortune. After paying his hotel bill on his arrival he found himself with but $2, and so at once set about to find work. On the evening of his first day he met a man from Chicago, who owned a quarter section of land northwest of the town, and Mr. Daughtery bargained to build two miles of fence – about three weeks’ work. He then gathered corn, bult more fence, and worked until the fall of 1882. He then began the study of law in the office of W. P. Campbell, applied himself diligently to his task for two years, and in the fall of 1884 was admitted to the bar by Judge Sluss. He began his practice in Wichita in a small room on Main street, sleeping in the back part, which he partitioned off. For furniture he had three chairs and a table. His library consisted of one copy of the Kansas statutes and a volume of Blackstone. As many transfers were being made, his first work consisted in drawing deeds, examining abstracts, etc. About one year after establishing his office he worked by the day for Mr. Van Ness, clerk of the district court, being engaged in writing the journals, etc. After a period of three years he was in better financial condition and had acquired a remunerative practice, which has gradually increased ever since. He remained in his first office for three years, and then moved to a small room in the Harris Building, where he practiced until 1892. He then moved over to the Citizens’ Bank Building, and in 1894 to the Fourth National Bank Building. There he remained for five years and then moved to his present fine rooms in the Sedgwick Block. He has a good clientage, occupying all his time, and is possessed of an excellent library.
Mr. Daugherty was united in marriage with Lou Leeper, in Indiana, and they have one son, Willis. He owns a comfortable home on North Market Street. Fraternally he is a member of the Wichita lodge of the A. F. & A. M. In politics he is a Republican, taking an active interest in public affairs, and nearly always acting as delegate to the conventions of his party. (Biographical Record, Sedgwick County, Page 231 & 232, published 1901)
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