LABETTE COUNTY, Part 30

BARTON.

Is about eighteen miles west of Oswego, and is reached by stage lines form Oswego and Liberty. The population is about forty, and the place has a general store, a blacksmith shop and a postoffice, with J. H. Tibbetts, Postmaster.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM FRANCE, farmer, Section 12, P. O. Coffeyville, was born in 1841, in England, where he was educated. Emigrated to Illinois in 1866, and came to Kansas in 1876. Was married to Mrs. Catharine Jay, January 16th, 1879. She was born in England, April 19th, 1828. Her maiden name was Carter. Her first husband was James Hart, to whom she was married in 1844. He was drowned with a little daughter while crossing Pumpkin Creek, July 2d, 1873. Her second husband was William Jay, who died not long after his marriage, August 23d, 1874. Mrs. France had thirteen children: Phebe, born June 12th, 1845; Jennie, born December 23d, 1847; Joseph, born June 23d, 1848; John, born June 20th, 1850; Hiram, born June 20th, 1852, was supposed to have been murdered; Edward, born November 26th, 1853; James, born November 3, 1854; George, born February 20th, 1859; Alex, born June 27th, 1861; Lorinda, born Nov. 3d, 1862; Charles, born September 18th, 1863; Catharine, born June 14th, 1867. Mrs. Hart settled in Labette County, Kan., in 1869. Mrs. France has a fine farm of 160 acres, comfortable buildings. They have 90 acres of fine wheat; last year they had 1700 bushels. Mrs. France's first husband, James Hart, was a soldier in the late war and also a firm defender of the faith of the Latter-day Saints, but was strongly opposed to polygamy. Mr. France and family are members of the re-organized Church of the Latter Day Saints, who are strongly opposed to polygamy.

AARON HUME, Postmaster and farmer, Deerton, was born in Allegany County, N. Y., in 1830. He went with his family to Naples, Wayne, Co., Ill. a little before the Black Hawk war in 1832, and from thence to Rock County, Wis. His father's was the fourth family in that County. There he received his education in the log school-houses. At the age of twenty-one he went into business for himself - boating, lumbering, merchandising. He owned a lumberyard at St. Louis in 1859 and 1860. He was afterward in Dakota County, Minn., on a farm; then in the copper mines of Lake Superior, where he remained two years. In 1869, he went to Missouri, and from thence to Labette County, Kansas, in 1871, after visiting several localities, including Texas, where he had gone for a drove of cattle. He purchased land in the Cherokee Strip, which he sold and engaged in the mercantile business, also taking the postoffice at Deerton in 1880. Was married to Mary C. Johns, of Labette County, Kan., who was born in Tazewell County Ill. They have four children - Mary, Winona Belle, Rosa Lee and George Andrew.

J. W. MASON, farmer, Section 3, P. O. Arnold, was born at Deerfield Corners, Oneida Co., N. Y., 1829. His great grandfather came from England prior to the War of Independence, and was a soldier during the whole time, seven years. After the war, Mr. Mason removed with his father to De Kalb County, Ill., at an early age, where he lived on a farm and was educated in private schools; was married in 1854 to Sarah Driskall, of DeKalb County, Ill. She was born in Wayne County, Ohio in 1832 and died in 1857. They had three children - James Adelbert, Harry Grant, and Sadie May. Mr. Mason came to Kansas, May 19, 1871, and purchased 480 acres of land in Canada Township, Labette County, on which he has twenty-five acres of bearing fruit trees and several hundred head of cattle. He is an enterprising and progressive farmer, and has held the office of Justice of the Peace for ten years. His second wife was Margaret A. Fetterby, of DeKalb County, Ill. Born in Herkimer County, N. Y., in 1841.

HUGH MONROE, farmer, Section 19, P. O. Mound Valley, was born in the North of Scotland June 22, 1813, and emigrated to America in 1840, stopping a short time at Lockport, N. Y. He went to Greene County, Ohio, where he lived until 1868, when he removed to Delaware County, Ind., where he resided until he came to Kansas in February, 1879, and settled on a farm four miles north of Mound Valley. Was married in 1848 to Jemima Steele, who was born in Ohio in 1823. They had ten children, eight of whom are school teachers - Lizzie, Catharine, Robert W., married to Alice Reed; Sarah J., married to John Keener; Mary E., married to Dr. George R. Green, living in Indiana; Susan A., living in Kansas; John R. living in Arizona; Jane Fleming, James A., Ann Reed, married to W. W. Hickenbottom and living in Wayne County, Ill.; Joseph E. Mr. Monroe's children have received liberal educations, two are in the legal profession, eight are teachers and one is a physician. Mr. Monroe's farm is pleasantly located and well improved.

B. P. OAKLEAF, farmer, P. O. Mound Valley, came to Kansas June 10th, 1869, and settled on a farm five miles southwest of Mound Valley. He now has 400 acres of excellent land on which he has made improvements of good buildings, orchards and shade trees. He was born in Sweden, in 1827, and educated in the Swedish language. He was left an orphan at an early age so that he was compelled to make his way alone in the world. By reading and study he acquired a good common English education. He was married in 1850, to Mary Ekelof, of Sweden, who was born in 1830, and educated in the Swedish tongue. They have had ten children, five of whom are living - Charles, married to Christine Olson; Joseph, married to Josephine Anderson, and living in Rock Island; Lydia, educated as a teacher, Emanuel, fourteen years; Stephen, twelve, Junie, married to B. Young, died in 1881. Mr. O. has been greatly prospered since coming to Kansas, and is an upright, intelligent citizen, also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

PHILIP A. SMITH, farmer, Section 9, P. O. Coffeyville, was born in Lancaster, Worcester Co., Mass., 1809. His father was an able lawyer in that State. At the age of fifteen he was in Boston, engaged in the grocery business. He was commander of a company of light infantry, to receive Lafayette, in 1835. He went to Mobile in 1836, where his brother, Sidney Smith, was one of the projectors of the Mobile & Ohio R. R., and the first president of the road. Mr. Philip A. Smith carried on the grocery business for ten years at Mobile. In 1836, he went to Miami County, Ohio, near Dayton, where he lived on a farm twenty-five years. Was married to his first wife, Susan Whitney, of Cambridge, Mass., 1835. She died, in 1839, of yellow fever, in Mobile. Was married in Mobile, in 1841, to Jennie B. Canedy, of Fall River. She was descended from one of the oldest families of Massachusetts. Mr. Smith has had eleven children - Sidney A., enlisted in the Seventy-first Ohio, as a private, and came out a captain, now lives at Springfield, Ohio; Moses, died August 31, 1850; Frank, died July, 1866; Philip, died in 1876; Susan, married to Calvin Hodge; Charles D.; Sarah J., died January, 1860; Adams J., William B. C., Prescott H., Edward G. Mr. Smith came to Kansas in March, 1871, and settled on Pumpkin Creek, Labette County. He and his sons are owners of 480 acres of good land. Mr. jSmith is a well informed man of large experience, and has been successful since coming to Kansas. The family are of the Unitarian Church. His second wife died in July, 1881, at the age of sixty-one years.

J. G. WILLEY, farmer, Section 17, P. O. Deerton, was born in New Hampshire, 1830, and educated in the common schools. He worked for his father, who was the owner of a mill, until the age of twenty, when he drove a stage for twelve years from Concord to Newmarket. He has a brother, George Willey, who was born in New Hampshire, 1834, and a sister, Mrs. Keith, of Oswego, Kas. George Willey was a wagon master across the plains, for two years, and he kept a ranche in the Black Hills, known as "Wicked Man's Ranche." Mr. John Willey and his brother George, were the first men that make a business of driving and selling cattle in this section of the State. Was married in Newmarket, N. H., to Ellen Willey, of the same place. She was born in Vermont. Mr. Willey and his brother George, settled on farms in Canada Township, Labette County. They have nearly 800 acres of good land, and own a considerable stock. They are enterprising business men, and have been very successful since they came to Kansas, 1869. Mr. George Willey was married, in 1880, to Lizzie Stone, of Kentucky. They have one child, Susie Bell.