James L. Dyer, was born August 9, 1839, in Granger county, Tennessee. His family are of English origin and settled in America in the early history of the country, locating in Virginia, where his grandfather, William Dyer, was born. William Dyer removed to Tennessee in the year 1800, taking with him his son, Thomas Dyer, born in 1798, who was the father of James L. Dyer. Thomas engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1876. The mother of the subject of this sketch was Sarah Hammer of German origin, whose parents moved from near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Tennessee.
James was the youngest of eleven children. He attended the common schools of his native county until seventeen years of age, when he entered Mossy Creek College, Jefferson county, Tennessee, where he received a thorough education, graduating just before he attained his majority. His tastes were for the profession of law, but his means were limited and he was not able immediately to pursue his designs. At the time he graduated, in 1860, there was a committee from Fountain Hill appointed to select a teacher for the academy at that place, from the graduating class. Without his knowledge, young Dyer was selected to take charge of the school, and on being made acquainted with the wishes of the committee, accepted the position an excellent salary being offered.
This was the first opportunity that had presented itself to bring out one of the distinguishing characteristics of the man. Although his father was the owner of a few slaves, he himself had always regarded the institution as wrong in itself, and did not hesitate to proclaim and defend his sentiments wherever occasion demanded utterance, in the college societies, before the professors, or elsewhere. These sentiments were especially drawn out during the excitement incident to the Harper's Ferry Raid. These facts coming to the knowledge of the committee after Mr. Dyer had been selected, they wrote to know of their truth or falsity; if true, they were resolved to break the contract made; if false, they desired to continue the engagement. With characteristic independence, he returned an answer verifying the reports they had heard, and stating that he believed the institution of slavery to be morally wrong, and that it should be abolished by law. He said, also, that while he did not expect or propose to teach politics, yet, rather than be restricted in his political or religious views, he would resign all claims upon them as to the principal ship of the academy. In the same month, July, 1860, he removed to Morgan county, Illinois, and began teaching, employing his spare time in the study of law.
He was a warm supporter of Abraham Lincoln, and was at that time one of only five men in that vicinity who would openly acknowledge that they were Abolitionists. In 1862 he enlisted in the 68th Illinois Infantry, three months men, and was stationed at Fairfax Seminary during his term of service. In 1863 he attended the Chicago Law School, and in 1864, was admitted to the bar in Jacksonville, Illinois. He repeatedly urged by his friend, I. L. Morrison, with whom he studied law, to begin the practice in Jacksonville, but refused to locate and purse his profession until 1870. In 1871, he located in Humboldt, Kansas, and prosecuted the practice. In 1872 he removed to Wichita, resuming the active duties of his profession, and in the fall of the same year formed a partnership with H. C. Sluss. At the expiration of three years, the firm of Sluss & Dyer were dissolved, the health of the latter having been so seriously impaired as to demand such a course, and Mr. Dyer retired from active practice.
He was appointed receiver of public moneys at Wichita in 1876, a position he still holds. He has been a consistent Republican since he became of age, and has steadily worked for the advancement of Republican principles. He is a member of the Baptist church and of the Masonic order.
He was married June 12, 1865, to Miss Mattie C. Boston, daughter of Anthony and Louisa (Stevenson) Boston, of Jacksonville, Illinois, formerly of Kentucky. They have had four children, all of whom are living.
In the three relations of citizen lawyer and officer, he has ever occupied an enviable position. A man of acknowledged mental power, he is also a man of recognized moral worth. He, therefore, held a place second to no man in his judicial district, whether regarded as a jurist, an advocate, or a common toiler in the walks of private life. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 600 & 601)
The date of the settlement of the English family in America is unknown. Samuel English, the great grandfather of Nathaniel A., was an old Virginia farmer in the colonial days. Samuel's son, Job, was born in Virginia, where he engaged in farming and distilling until his removal to Licking county, Ohio, which was his place of residence until his death in 1835. Joseph English, son of Job, was born in Virginia in the year 1794, removed with his parents to Ohio and subsequently entered the United States Service in the war of 1812-14. Upon leaving the army, Joseph English located on a farm near Newark, Ohio, and was also quite extensively engaged as a contractor and builder of bridges along the Ohio canal. In 1854, he immigrated to Morgan County, Illinois and died there in 1869. He was a man of unimpeachable character, and a member of the Free-Will Baptist Church. Joseph English married Mary Hupp, whose grandfather was a wealthy and distinguished German emigrant, who after holding offices of high trust in his native land, came to America and settled on a farm in Virginia from which he removed to Ohio where he died at a very advanced age.
Nathaniel Anderson, born March 12, 1830, in Newark, Ohio, was the fifth of the eleven children of Joseph and Mary English. He received a good English education, having spent two years at the Newark High School, after attending the winter sessions of the common schools until he was twenty years of age. Leaving school, in company with his brother Job, he was a sub-contractor for the mason work of bridges on the Ohio canal. He was subsequently employed as superintendent of construction for Beaver and Smith, contractors on the Central Ohio Railroad, in which situation he remained two years.
In 1855 he formed a partnership with John Beaver, built a saw mill on the Licking river and for the next three years was engaged in shipping hardwood lumber to Columbus, Zanesville and Newark; was for two years deputy sheriff of Licking county. Leaving Ohio he removed to Morgan County, Illinois, and for eighteen months was engaged as contractor along the line of the Chicago and Alton Railroad; completing his contract he removed to Missouri, obtained a contract in the construction of the Cameron and Kansas City Railroad upon which he was engaged when the war of 1861-5 compelled him to suspend operations by which he became a heavy loser.
In the spring of 1861 he located in Leavenworth remaining until the fall of that year, when he purchased a ranch of Jarvis creek upon the old Santa Fe trail, where he engaged in trading with the Arappahoe and Kiowa Indians, in which occupation he nearly lost his life on account of a difficulty with Satanta, the Kiowa's chief, at the trading post, being afterward captured by Satanta, and threatened with death. He was finally admitted to ransom and released. Remaining upon his ranch until 1863, Mr. English returned to Leavenworth with a drove of horses and mules, was arrested upon his way, falsely charged with being a rebel, his property confiscated and himself thrown into prison. Detained in prison on month, denied a trial, he was sent to Topeka, and finally released without semblance of trial, after he had been robbed of all he possessed, and rendered completely penniless. Upon his release he returned to Leavenworth, entered the government employ and went to Denver, Colorado, with a drove of horses for the cavalry service. After a short time he returned home and until 1865 was engaged in keeping a feed store and wood yard.
Removing to Forest City, Missouri, he kept a hotel there one year then accepted the superintendency of the government stone quarries at Fort Harker, from which point he was sent to Fort Zarah to oversee the construction of that fort, where he was employed about eight months. Locating in McPherson county, he was engaged in cattle business until 1870, when he settled where Wichita now stands, the whole country at that time being very sparsely populated. In company with J. P. Hilton, Mr. English opened the first land office in Wichita, and was actively engaged in opening the county to settlers until 1872, when he platted his own land, on a part of which Wichita is built, and devoted his attention to the improvement and sale of his own lands.
In 1874 he formed a partnership which, under the firm-name of Todd, English & Heath was engaged in the grain trade until 1878 and shipped the first car load of wheat that ever left Wichita. In 1876 Mr. English erected one of the largest elevators in the Arkansas Valley, which he continued to operate as a separate business, from that of the firm of which he remained a member, until 1878.
One of the earliest settlers in that place, always actively interested in whatever would tend to the improvement of the city, few men have done more than Mr. English in furthering the interests of Wichita. He was one of the original incorporators of Wichita Savings Bank, and was one of the board of directors for four years. He was also an original stockholder and director of the Wichita Bridge Company and in the Fair association.
Mr. English is an active Democrat, takes leading part in politics, served as county commissioner from 1872 to 1874, was appointed city treasurer in 1873, and in that same year was Democratic candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives, in which contest, though leading his ticket at the poles, he was defeated. Liberal in his religious views, he is a member of the Odd Fellows society and also of the Knights of Honor.
September 14, 1864, Mr. English married Mrs. Osia A. McEwen, of Leavenworth, widow of Henry McEwen, and daughter of Hon. P. H. and Elisa (Pumphrat) Foy. They have had seven children, five of whom are living. Mr. English is tall, with fair complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, features regular and prominent. Very methodical in his business capacity and integrity, and is extremely accurate in all his financial transactions. Liberal and progressive in his ideas, with a well balanced mind and strong native judgment he has not failed to impress his personality upon his surroundings and associates. He is a man of sunny temperament a pleasant social companion and most kind and indulgent in his home. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 663 & 664)
William Greiffenstein was born July 28, 1829, at Gross-Geran, near Darmstadt, a province of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. He was the fourth of sixth children born to Charles and Beate Greiffenstein. His father was a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, and was revenue collector at that place. He died in 1858 at the age of sixty-five.
The subject of this sketch came to America in 1848. He had been educated at private schools and at the Gymnasium at Darmstadt, and after leaving school had resided at Mentz, on the Rhine, employed by a commission and insurance company. There he was suspected of being a participator in a railroad riot, and though afterward entirely cleared of all suspicion, resolved to leave his native country and come to America.
After his arrival in this country, he traveled for two years, when he settled on the Wakarusa river, six miles east of Lawrence, and engaged in trading with the Shawnee and Delaware Indians, and in 1854 went on a trading expedition to New Mexico returning the same year and locating near Topeka, where he continued trading with the Indians of the Pottawatomie tribe.
In 1858 he returned to Europe on account of his father's failing health, and remained there until after the death of his father, when he again returned to Kansas, and for one year resided in Shawnee county. At the expiration of this time, he started a ranch for the Southwest Stage Company on Walnut creek, and was also engaged in trade with the Cheyenne, Arappahoe, Kiowa and Comanche Indians until the spring of 1864, when the Indians becoming hostile, he was advised by some of his friends in the tribe to leave the country. He went to Salina, and during the war, acted as scout. From Salina he went to Fort Larned, and thence to Council Grove. In the fortunes of war, he lost much of his property and after purchasing a ranch on the Santa Fe road, went in company with some Indians to the salt plains, where he again engaged in trading with the tribes, and after a few months went to the mouth of the Little Arkansas river, (where Wichita now stands,) at the time when the commissioners were concluding the treaty for peace. After the treaty was made he went back to the plains and traveled with the Indians to the Cimmaron country, but soon after returned to Council Grove, and after replenishing his stock of goods, started for the Arappahoe country, where he disposed of his stock.
In the fall of 1865 he established a permanent trading post on the Cow skin river, a tributary of the Arkansas and made trading excursions to the different tribes. During these excursions he was usually accompanied by a body guard of Indians, to protect himself from danger.
After the Indians were removed into the Indian Territory, he established his trading post on the north fork of the Canadian River and afterward transferred it to the Comanche and Kiowa agency, on the Washita river, where he remained until some traders, becoming jealous of his popularity among the Indians, whereby they failed to control the exclusive trade, made misrepresentations to General Sheridan, who ordered him out of the Territory. Proceeding to Washington, he received a portion of the amount due him for supplies furnished to the different agencies; he returned to Kansas and remained at Lawrence and Topeka a short time, when he joined, in the capacity of scout, the expedition of the Quaker commission sent by the government to the Indian nation. On their arrival at the Arkansas river he received word from General Hazen to proceed on the Texas cattle trail to the Canadian river, and thence up that stream to Camp Supply, in search of a location for the Arappahoe and Cheyenne Indian agency. From Camp Supply they proceeded through the Kiowa country, visiting different tribes on the route, and returned to Topeka the last of August, having traveled fourteen hundred miles within one month. In a few months he went back to the Arkansas river and purchased the trading post of E. H. Durfee, and engaged in general merchandising until 1870, when he bought the land on which the business part of Wichita now stands. He also purchased the claim lying south, and laying it off in town lots, it soon became known as Greiffenstein's Addition. From this time the town grew rapidly. Houses sprang up as if by magic, settlers hurried in, claims were taken up, and soon the town became quite a business center.
It has been said of Mr. Greiffenstein that he is the father of Wichita, and true it is that no public enterprise has sprung into existence without his assistance. In 1870 he disposed of his business in trading and general merchandising and devoted his time exclusively to real-estate transactions and improvements of his property. He engaged largely in building residences and business blocks: erecting the Douglas Avenue Hotel, and the "Eagle" and "Commercial" blocks, two of the finest in the city. He was instrumental in getting the bridge at Wichita, and was president of the company and afterward director, holding one-fourth of the stock, and was also instrumental in the formation of the Wichita Savings Bank and the First National bank, holding the office of director in each. He assisted in the organization and building of the Wichita & South western Railroad - was treasurer and director of the company and took an active part in securing the voting of bonds by the county for the completion of the road. In the organization of the County Fair Association he was greatly interested, being at the present time one of the largest stockholders. Being an admirer of fine stock, he has brought into the county some of the best breeds of imported cattle and hogs.
Mr. Greiffenstein is a Democrat and takes an active part in local politics. In 1878 he was elected mayor of the city of Wichita by a large majority.
He was married November 21, 1869, to Miss Catharine Burnett, daughter of Abraham Burnett, of Shawnee county, Kansas. Mr. Burnett was chief of the Pottawatomie tribe, and was educated by Richard Johnston of Kentucky. They have three children.
Since the year 1850, when Mr. Greiffenstein drifted into traffic with the Indians, in company with Joe Bounett at Westport, Missouri, his life has been filled with thrilled adventures among the Indians, and in the chase of buffalo and deer over the wild prairies of southern Kansas and the Indian Territory. Once, while on a buffalo hunt among the Smoky Hills, his companion was killed by lightning, while sleeping by his side, and he, himself, narrowly escaped death, being severely burned. During the war he was, with a few others, surrounded in a stockade by Indians, and after a severe fight, in which one of their number was killed, they compelled the Indians to retire. Dealing for years with the Indians, he acquired their language and could converse freely with the, thus acquiring a great influence over them. He was instrumental in releasing many captives from their grasp and restoring them to their friends.
Mr. Greiffenstein is a man of generous impulses; benevolent to the extreme, always ready and willing to aid any appeal to his generosity. Of a genial and social nature, he has made many friends and few enemies throughout his eventful life. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 749 & 750)
David C. Hope, the father of James G., was born on the ocean, about 1790, during the passage of his mother from Scotland to America. The family settled in Ohio, where David grew up, learned the cabinet markers' trade, and then, after a two years residence in Boone County, Kentucky, settled in Dearborn county, Indiana. His wife, Frances Glenn, was of English descent. Her ancestors settled in North Carolina in 1770, and her grandfather was a soldier in the Revolution. After that war, several of his descendants came into Indiana. David Hope and his wife had a family of nine children, of whom James G., the fifth was born February 29, 1828, during their residence in Boone County, Kentucky, and was but an infant when his parents removed to Dearborn county, Indiana, where they resided until their death, which occurred, the father's in 1855, the mother's in 1875, at which time she was in her seventy-first year.
James received his education in the common schools of Dearborn county, which he attended in the winter season, farming and flatboating on the Ohio during the summer, until he was sixteen years old, at which age he commenced to learn the trade of a brick layer in Cincinnati. He worked at his trade during the summer and on a flat boat during the winter, voyaging down the Ohio and Lower Mississippi rivers, and being thrown upon his own resources, early acquired those habits of economy and self-reliance which were the foundation of his successful business career. This course of life he continued until 1849, when he removed to Richmond, in the same State, where for six years he was engaged as a contractor, and then embarked in the wholesale liquor trade, which proving a financial success, he followed until 1869, when he sold out his stock in trade and removed to Topeka, Kansas, where he resumed business. The same year he sustained severe losses by fire, but continued in the business until 1871 having a very extensive trade in the Southwest. Disposing of his stock in 1871, he removed to Manhattan, where engaged in farming and cattle raising, in which operation he was a heavy loser. In the fall of that year he sold out his cattle and traded his farm for a stock of liquors in Kansas City, Missouri, where he remained three months, and then transferred his business to Wichita, Kansas. Here he continued in the liquor trade until 1876, dealing also in real estate, owning at one time a large amount of city property. In 1875 he again lost heavily by fire, and in the following year disposed of his liquor interests and devoted his attention to loaning money. In 1877 he commenced dealing in imported cattle, in which business he largely invested at the same time improving the quality of his beef cattle, which he sells principally in the Kansas City and Chicago markets.
He has been mayor of Wichita almost ever since his residence there. He was first elected to that office in 1873 and entered upon his duties when the city was burdened with debt, and the lives of the citizens at the mercy of the Texas cowboys. In a very few months, under Mayor Hope's efficient management, the city was cleared from all indebtedness, the scrip, which was selling at sixty cents on the dollar, rose to par, and the Texas cowboy was reduced to a civilized basis. To accomplish this last, the Mayor quietly organized an efficient secret police, composed of some of the leading citizens, and when the cowboys, to the number of fifty, attempted to "take the town," as they had threatened, they were quietly surrounded, compelled to surrender, and heavily fined which emphatically ended all apprehension from that quarter. In 1874 Mayor Hope was re-elected. In 1875 the city incurred an indebtedness of $3,000 and in 1876 Mr. Hope was again called to the mayoralty, and paid the incurred debt out of the existing revenue without the levy of a city tax. In 1877 he was once more elected, and in all his services has approved himself an able administrator of the municipality. As a token of the admiration and appreciation of his constituency, he was recently presented with a heavy gold beaded cane. He has done efficient service in securing the bridges over the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers, was one of the original corporators of the bridge company, and for one year its superintendent. Besides aiding all municipal projects in every practicable way, he was largely instrumental in organizing the Wichita Savings Bank.
A Democrat in his political faith, he has been active in the work of that party, was chairman of its county committee in 1876, and has always efficiently labored to promote its interests and in the county. He takes quite a liberal view of religious matters, and is a member of the I. O. O. F.
December 18, 1851, he was married to Olive Dyke, daughter of Nathaniel and Jennie (Jackson) Dyke of Wilton, Maine. They have had four children, three of whom are now living, all boys.
In personal appearance, Mayor Hope is of robust frame, five feet ten inches in stature, high, broad forehead, regular features well defined, with blue eyes and iron gray hair.
He is persevering and energetic in his business cautious in his dealings, temperate in all his habits, economical in his expenditures, and has established a reputation for thorough honesty and integrity. He is of a happy social disposition, a pleasant companion and warm friend, is kind and indulgent in his family, and a good father and husband. He attributes his success in life mainly to his caution and economy, and to the avoidance of all rash speculation in business. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 164 & 165)
In the year 1637 three brothers by the name of Lewis arrived in America, and from them have sprung the numerous families of that name. One of the brothers settled in Virginia, one in New York, and the one from whom our subject descended settled in Connecticut. This branch of the family became connected, by marriage, with the Wheelers, whose descendants are among the renowned men of the present day. Both families were participants in the stirring scenes of the Revolution.
Hiram Wheeler Lewis was born in Warren, Ohio, March 11, 1843. He is the younger of two children born to Fitch B. and Fannie (Coates) Lewis. Up to the age of twenty years, he was in attendance at the schools of Warren, and at Hiram, Ohio. He entered the preparatory course of Williston Seminary, at East Hampton, Massachusetts, and pursued his studies for three years, with the view of taking a full collegiate course, but circumstances compelled him to relinquish his studies and he returned home and entered the law office of Hon. Cooper K. Watson at Tiffin, where he commenced the study of law and at the expiration of one year went to Mississippi to take charge of a plantation belonging to his father.
In 1870 he was sent to the Legislature, being elected on the Republican ticket of Lowndes county. He was chairman of the committee on appropriations and a member of the committee on education and corporations; besides numerous special committees. In the fall of 1871, after an unusually exciting and perilous campaign, he was elected sheriff of Lowndes county, and a few months after, while occupying the speaker's stand at a public meeting held at Artesia, he was fired upon at a distance of twenty feet, the ball just missing his head. He was re-elected in 1873, and, at this election, on account of his popularity as an officer, the Democratic party did not nominate a candidate. During this year he purchased and assumed the editorial management of the "Columbus Press," a weekly paper devoted to the interests of the Republican party. Being a fearless and out-spoken Republican, he was exposed to the bitter hatred of the Ku-Klux and was often in danger, both at home and upon the streets. Once he was attacked by a mob of five men, led on by the editor of the "Columbus Index," a Democratic paper published in that city. In the fall of 1875 he was a candidate for re-election, but owing to the intimidation of colored voters, ballot-box stuffing, falsifying of returns, the county, which had previously given three thousand eight hundred Republican majority, returned a Democratic majority of two thousand three hundred and he was defeated. He continued the publication of his paper until May, 1876, when he disposed of it and sought a new location. He traveled through Missouri, Colorado and Kansas, and finally settled at Wichita and established a private banking business, under the name of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank, with a capital of $50,000. In September, 1877, the bank was chartered under the general laws of the State with capital stock to the amount of $100,000, nine-tenths of which he controls. Being president of the bank, and having a thorough knowledge of business, he has advanced its interests to a remarkable degree. Not confining himself exclusively to the bank, however, he has dealt considerably in real estate, and has accumulated considerable property in Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas.
Mr. Lewis is a member of the Presbyterian Church and takes an active part in all Christian work, aiding largely in the support of all different church organizations.
He was married November 14, 1866, to Miss Lucy E. Strong, a daughter of Professor Alfred L. and Lucy F. Strong, of Wichita, but formerly of East Hampton, Massachusetts.
Mr. Lewis is a man of prepossessing appearance; rather above the average height, well-proportioned, fair complexion, light hair and blue eyes. He is socially inclined, pleasant and courteous in manner, charming in conversation, and a man universally esteemed. (Kansas Biographical Dictionary, 1879, pages 754 & 755)
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