MIAMI COUNTY, Part 15

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - STANTON.

JOHN W. BEATY, farmer, Section 20, Township 17, Range 22, P. O. Paola, was born in Champaign County, Ohio, December 26, 1826. When eleven years of age he removed with his parents to Illinois, where he was brought up and engaged in farming. He enlisted in the late war and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Company F, Ninety-fourth Illinois Volunteers, August 20, 1862. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and served til December 2, 1864, when he was compelled to resign on account of physical disability. He came to Kansas in 1865 and purchased his present farm of 200 acres on Sections 17 and 20, Stanton. he was elected Trustee of Stanton Township in 1870 and re-elected in 1871. In the fall of 1873 he was elected to the House of Representatives of Kansas from the Thirty-first District. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1873, and re-elected nearly every term since. Mr. Beaty was married in Illinois, in October, 1846, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Archie Martin. Mrs. Beaty was born in Champaign County, Ohio. They have four children-one son and three daughters. Archie M. is married and lives in Stanton; Mary J., the wife of A. J. Manned of Wilson County, Kansas; Sarah E., Martha E., wife of J. H. Alexander, of Wilson County, Kansas.

ADOLPHUS T. BENNING, farmer; farm located in Sedgwick County; present residence at the old homestead, Section 35, Township 17, Range 21, P. O. Stanton. Was born in Pike County, Missouri, in 1844. Was brought to Kansas by his parents in 11854. Located first in Middle Creek Township, Lykins County, October 2. The following March came to Stanton and located on Section 35, Township 17, Range 21. Went to school to William Quantrill, subsequently notorious as a guerrilla chieftain. He enlisted, November 1, 1863, in the First Colorado Cavalry. Afterwards veteranized in Company E, same regiment. Was detailed on scout duty in the Indian country and participated in some sharp encounters with the savages. Served til September 1865. He was married in Stanton, Kansas in 1875 to Miss Mary J. DeVooe. They have two girls-Effie May and Orah Phina. Mrs. Benning died November 2, 1882.

ALBROW T. BENNING, farmer, Section 35, Township 17, Range 21, P. O. Stanton, was born in Pike County, Mo., November 7, 1848. Went to Texas with his parents in 1852, and came with them to Kansas in 1854. Lived one year in Middle Creek Township, Miami County, and in 1855 located on the land now occupied by him. His father made a claim of this tract of 160 acres, Section 35, and it has remained the property of the family continually since. Mr. Benning was married, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, March 1, 1880, to Miss M. O. Martin. They have one child, a daughter named Mabel E.

DANIEL CHILDS, farmer, Section 21, Township 17, Range 21, P. O. Paola, was born in Massachusetts, June 20, 1814. When four years of age moved with his parents to Steuben County (now Schuyler), N. Y. From there he removed to Indiana in 1837. He resided in Jennings County til 1860, when he came to Kansas and settled on his present farm. He has a well improved farm of 280 acres on Section 17. During the late war he was enrolled a member of the Kansas Militia and was on duty during the Price raid. He was elected County Clerk of Miami County in the fall of 1861, was re-elected three times and served eight years. He was married in Indiana, March 14, 1841, to Miss Sallie C., daughter of William McKinney. Mrs. Childs was born in North Carolina. They had three sons, and four girls. Minerva was the wife of John J. Ball and died in 1865; Samuel, married lives in California; John, Mary, wife of Robert Derr, of Fontana, Kansas; William, Daniel married and lives in Stanton; Allie Maud is the wife of James Williams, of Stanton. Mrs. Childs died in 1867. Mr. Childs was married in July 1868 in the State of New York, to Miss Sarah B, daughter of Alex. Young. Mrs. Childs was born in New York.

FRANCIS COOPER, farmer, Section 16, Township 17, range 22, P. O. Paola. Mr. Cooper was born in the North of Ireland in 1834. Immigrated to America in 1850. Made his home in Ohio til 1856, when he removed to Illinois, and was engaged in farming in that State til 1865. He then came to Kansas and purchased his present farm in the township of Stanton., He was married in Illinois in 1863 to Miss Mary E. Davis, daughter of Dorsey Davis. Mrs. Cooper was born in Pennsylvania. They have four children, two sons and two daughters-George E., Josephine, Jessie and Charles F.

WILLIAM COOPER, farmer, Section 19, Township 17, Range 22, P. O. Stanton, was born in the North of Ireland, September 18, 1839. Went to England in his youth; spent six years in Liverpool, and came to America in 1860 and made his home in Illinois. He enlisted December 3, 1861 as a private of Company K, Twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. Was wounded at Mission Ridge, slightly, and again in front of Atlanta, by a gunshot in the hip, seriously. Was promoted to Sergeant and continued in the service til July 1865. Soon after his discharge from the army he emigrated to Kansas and settled in Stanton Township, where he now resides. He has a fine tract of 350 acres of land and is largely interested in growing and feeding stock, He was married in Kansas, May 20, 1866, to Miss Melisa S. Nickelborough. Mrs. Cooper was born in Missouri.

JUDGE THOMAS ROBERTS, farmer, Section 4, Township 18, Range 22, P. O. Osawatomie, is one of the few remaining pioneers of Lykins County (now Miami) of 1855. He was born in Wales, March 23, 1816. Emigrated to the United States in 1835, and made his home in New York at first; subsequently moved to Ohio and from there to Wisconsin Territory (then a wilderness) in 1841. In July, 1855, he came to Kansas and made a claim on Section 8, Township 18, Range 22, now Osawatomie. He was a pronounced Free-state man and participated in the turbulent times of 1855 '56'and '57. At one time his house was raided by a party of Pro-slavery men while he was on his sick bed. They took him out telling him they had come to kill him. He disdained to make any plea for his life, but simply remarked,"Well, kill me then" For some reason they decided that they had made a mistake, concluding he was not a regular Yankee, left him in peace. In 1859 he was elected Probate Judge of Lykins County (Miami) in the first territorial election and served two years. He was elected to the State Senate in 1861, to fill a vacancy, and served as a member of the Court of Impeachment of State officers, in 1862. In 1864 he was elected Clerk of the District Court and served two years. In 1866 he was elected County Attorney, and served one term,. During the late war he held a Captain's Commission in the Fifth Kansas Militia. His son Thomas, was a member of the Tenth Kansas Volunteers and served three years. Judge Roberts was married in Kirtland, Ohio, December 10, 1838, to Miss Clarinda, daughter of Abel Farr, Mrs. Roberts was born in Elyria City, Lorain Co., Ohio ad was the first white child born in that county. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts had six children, five of whom are living, Sarah A., wife of C. M. Stevens, of Montgomery County, Kas.; Thomas F., married and living in Stanton Township, Miami County; Abelliza, wife of William West, of Montgomery County, Kas; Flora, wife of James Mullens, of Osage Township, Miami County; Belle, wife of Robert Mullens, of Stanton, Kas. Judge Roberts has 480 acres of land in Miami County and settled in his present home in 1857.

REV. ROBERT SHERAR, a Minister of the Presbyterian Church, is the possessor of a fine a farm of 182 acres, where he resides, on Section 18, Township 17, Range 22, P. O. Stanton. He was born in Franklin County, New York, September 21, 1847. He moved with his parents to Dwight County, Ill, in childhood and emigrated to Kansas with his father, Caleb Scherer in 1855, arriving in Lykins County, April 19th of that year. May 18, 1855, He attached himself to John Brown and was with him off and on, some six months, he participated in the battle of Osawatomie and was one of the party who escaped fording the Marais des Cygnes. He was urged by Brown to join his expedition to Harper's Ferry, and one day, after tiring of following the team in harrowing wheat land, he determined to accept Brown's proposal. While making his preparations to go, he was persuaded out of it by his more sensible mother. On the breaking out of the late war, he was commissioned First Lieutenant of an independent company of State troops, under command of Colonel Cotton., He enlisted in the United States service as a private, in Company I, Sixteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, in March, 1864, and served til July 24, 1865. Soon after the war, Mr. Sherar became a student of theology and preached as a licentiate of the Presbyterian Church for several years in various churches of Kansas, he was regularly ordained a minister of that church in 1877. He is the present pastor of the Stanton Church; also of the Peoria, Richland Franklin and Valley Congregation., He was married in Kansas, April 25, 1859, to Miss Maggie Dawman, daughter of Job Dawman, a pioneer of 1855. They had six children, four sons and two daughters-Lillie, Minnie, Elmer, Harry, Miles (died aged six years) and R. Maxey.

WILLIAM WHITEHEAD, farmer, Section 11, Township 17, Range 21, P. O. Paola, is one of the pioneers of Kansas of 1855. He was born in Shelby County, Ill, January 17, 1836. Immigrated to Franklin County, Kas, in 1855 with his father, He made his home at the old Peoria Mission, near the west line of Miami County., He was an earnest Free-state man and took an active part in the turbulent scenes of 1856 and 1857, and was a member of John Brown's company. His wife was a daughter of the notorious Rev. Martin White, who shot Fred Brown at Osawatomie the morning of the battle of August 29, 1856. The old man induced his daughter to separate from her husband on account of his Free-state principles. She died while her husband was in the Union service during the late war. Mr. Whitehead purchased his farm on Section 11, Stanton, in 1858. He has a fine tract of 234 acres.

ROCKVILLE.

Rockville is situated on Sugar Creek, in the southeast part of the county. The land n this section is quite rolling and has some timber., The town was originally named Rockwell in honor of Dr. Rockwell, the founder of the village. Dr. Rockwell was a Pro-slavery man and as the Free-state settlers increased in number they decided to change the name, and hence the name Rockville Among the first settlers in this part of the county, if not the first, was Josiah Allen, who came here about 1843. Others who came later were-Jacob Clanner, Elias Stoker and A. G. Shoemaker. The first school was taught by John Tracy in 1858, in a log schoolhouse, built that year near the town site. Josiah Allen opened the first store in a log building in 1859. The first birth was of Nell Stoker. the first marriage that of T. J. Rockwell to Martha Tharp in 1860 and the first death that of Thomas Stoker in 1860. The postoffice was established in 1859; Dr. Rockwell, first Postmaster. The Methodist Church was organized in 1858, Rev Thomas preaching the first sermon in the schoolhouse. The original membership was twenty-five, present membership fifteen. A stone church, 30 x 40 feet was erected in 1866 at a cost of 1,200. The town at present contains about thirty inhabitants. Being situated on the border, Rockville has had its full share of experiences during the war. It was first visited by Price in his great raid in 1864, but escaped sack and pillage.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - ROCKVILLE.

MILO BAXTER, farmer, Section 6, Township 18, Range 25, P. O. Paola. Mr. Baxter was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., in November, 1832; when twenty years of age he went to Illinois and for a time made his home in Peoria County. From there he removed to Mercer County, where he was married February 22, 1860, to Miss Elizabeth McKean, daughter of Robert McKean. Mrs. Baxter was born in Pennsylvania. They have five children- three sons and two daughters, George B, William, Dora E., Clara E., and Frank. Mr. Baxter immigrated to Kansas in 1866 and settled near Paola, Miami County. In 1872 he moved to his present farm in Sugar Creek Township. Mr. Baxter began life in Kansas in moderate circumstance and by the exercise of sound judgment and more than the ordinary business sagacity, and by continued and energetic effort he has accumulated a large property, his farming lands embracing an even 1,000 acres, including some of the best lands in the State. He keeps a large stock of cattle, sheep and horses and hogs, and is known as one of the few large sheep growers of this section.

A. G. SHOEMAKER, blacksmith and farmer, Section 83, Township 18, Range 25, P. O. Rockville, was born in Luzerne County, Pa., November 29, 1834. Was brought up in that State. Went to Illinois in 1850 and in 1859 came to Kansas. Located in Middle Creek Township, Lykins County (now Miami) and the following year came to Sugar Creek Township. In July, 1860, he pre-empted the farm he now occupies having since increased his acreage til he has now 350 acres. He also established a blacksmith shop at his farm. During the late war he was a a member of the Kansas State Militia and for a long time past, smith at this point. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the early days and has held that position many year. He was married in Lee County, Ill in 1858, May 9, to Miss E. N. Scott, daughter of Libius Scott. Mrs. Shoemaker was born in Lee County, Ill. There were seven children born to them,- two daughters and five sons. Mr. Shoemaker was instrumental in procuring the establishment of the Rockville office at this point and has served as Postmaster for many years.

NEW LANCASTER.

New Lancaster is situated near Middle Creek, in Miami Township. It was surveyed by Joseph Carpenter and George Downing in 1860 and named by Mr. Carpenter after a town in New York in which he resided. It is surrounded by a rich agricultural section of country and is a good business point. The first school taught in Miami County, was at New Lancaster, in 1858 by Mrs, Cyrus Shaw.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - NEW LANCASTER.

JAMES A. DEEL, farmer, Section 35, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancaster, was born in Clinton County, Ill., in August, 1835. Was brought up a farmer and enlisted in the late war in August, 1862, as a private of Company D, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Volunteers, and was promoted to Orderly Sergeant. He was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, Tenn., September 20, 1863. Was taken to Richmond, Va., subsequently to Danville, Va., thence to Andersonville, and from there to Charleston and Florence, S. C., and to Wilmington, N. C. He escaped from the latter place, February 21, 1865, having been a prisoner seventeen months and having endured many hardships incident to the situation. Soon after the close of the war, he came to Kansas and purchased his present farm in 1866. He was married in Illinois, in March, 1857, to Miss Thompson, daughter of Ezekiel Thompson. Mrs. Deel had poor health after coming to Kansas and after a lingering illness died July 7, 1871. Mr. Deel was married again August, 1872, in Miami County, to Miss Mary, daughter of Samuel Bogle. Mrs. Deel was born in Guernsey County, Ohio. They have three children, two daughters and a son-Sarah M., Samuel A. and Mary D. Mr. Deel by industry and frugality has accumulated a good property. He now has two farms, aggregating 332 acres. He has served two years as Township Trustee of Miami.

M. F. DOUD farmer, Section 3, Township 19, Range 24, P. O. La Cygne, Linn County. Was born in Monroe County, N. Y. in 1833. Went to Indiana with his parents in 1837, and from there to Iowa in 1855, and to Kansas in 1857, arriving in this township, September 1 of that year. His father and mother accompanied him to Kansas. The father died. The mother survived her husband, and resides with her son, M. F. Mr. Doud pre-empted a quarter section of Government land, which he purchased at the land sales of 1859. He now has 265 acres. He enlisted April 1, 1862, in Company F, Second Battalion, M. S. M. Cavalry. He was shot, August 6, 1862, through the right lung, the ball passing through his body, at the battle of Lone Jack and was discharged for physical disability, March 12, 1863. He was married in Miami County, Kan., November 5, 1866, to Mrs., E. E. Davis. Mrs. Doud was born in Missouri. She had two children by her first marriage-Amanda (wife of William Hightower, of Anderson County) and Henry R. Three children were born of the present marriage-Ravina, Lavina and Bertha. The second died, aged two years.

ISAAC HAMLIN, farmer, Section 2, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancaster, was born in Huntingdon County, Pa., October 23, 1827. he was brought up in his native State, where he was engaged in farming. He enlisted the last year of the war as a private of Company B, Ninety-first Pennsylvania Volunteers and served til the close of the war. In 1869, he emigrated to Kansas and purchased his present farm in Miami Township, Miami County. He has since added to his acreage till he possesses several fine farms, aggregating 935 acres all lying within Miami Township. He was married, in Pennsylvania, in 1852, to Miss Mary A., daughter of George Rumberger. Mrs. Hamlin was born in Centre County, Pa. They have seven children-Sarah H. (wife of Miles Crosan of Miami Township,) George W., Harvey (of the same), Mary C., Andrew G. C., Samuel M. and Nina B. The younger members are at home. Mr. Hamlin has held various official positions. He was elected and served as Justice of the Peace four years. Was elected County Commissioner of Miami County in the fall of 1877, and served during 1878-79-80. He has also served in minor offices.

JOHN HERATY, farmer, Section 25, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancaster, was born in Ireland in 1827. Immigrated to America in 1847. Resided two years in Indiana then moved to Iowa and in September, 1857, came to Miami Township, Miami County, Kan., and made a claim where he now resides. He has a well improved farm of 358 acres. Mr. Heraty was a pronounced Free-state man in opinion, and sided with that party in the early troubles. On the breaking out of the late war he enlisted in July, 1861 in the Third Kansas Volunteers, afterwards the Tenth and served three years., Was under Gen. Blunt, and participated in several engagements. He was elected to Township Trustee, was re-elected and served six years and has also held other minor offices. He was married in Kansas, in May, 1868, to Mrs. Minerva Hendricks, daughter of Judge D. B. Wilson, of Valley Township. Mrs. Hearty was born in Illinois. She had one child by her first marriage, a daughter-Annie M. There are three living children by her second marriage-Edward F., Mary L. and Clarence J.

ROBERT J. HINER, farmer, Section 25, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancastrer, was born in Bartholomew County, Ind., January 9, 1829; was brought up in his native State. In 1848 moved to Iowa; was farming in that State til 1857. He then came to Kansas and made a claim on the Indian lands of Lykins County, now Miami. He selected the quarter section he now occupies and which he bought at the land sales of 1859. He has since increased his acreage to 480 acres. In the latter year he moved his family to their new home. During the Border troubles he was a practicing Abolitionist and was in the ring with John Brown, Johnson Clark and others, in operating the underground railway. On the breaking out of the war, he raised a company (Company B, Fifth Kansas Militia) and was commissioned First Lieutenant; was subsequently promoted to Captain, served on the Kansas border, under Gen Ewing, and continued in the service til the close of the war. Has not been an office seeker having served only as Coroner. He was married in Iowa, December 19, 1862, to Miss Susan M., daughter of Foreman Morrell. Mrs. Hiner was born in Tennessee. They had two children-Orville and Mary L.

ANDREW J. HUFFMAN, farmer, Section 13, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancaster. Mr. Huffman was born in Parke County, Ind., November 2, 1836; moved to Illinois with his parents, when ten years of age; eight years later to Iowa, and in the fall of 1865 to Kansas. He located on his present farm of 186 acres in 1869. He was married in Benton County, Iowa in 1858, to Miss Margaret I., daughter of Joseph and Margaret Humphrey. Mrs. Huffman was born in Pennsylvania. They have four children, two sons and two daughters-Mortimore G., Mary L, wife of C. Bodenhammer, of Miami Township, Clara J., wife of John Woldridge, of Cass County, Mo. and Clyde Sherman.

REV. WILLIAM HUFFMAN, a minister of the denomination of United Brethren, and one of the early pioneers of Miami County, was born in Butler County, Ohio, July 1, 1815. When sixteen years of age moved with his parents to Indiana, where he was brought up on a farm. He became a member of the Church of the Untied Brethren in early manhood and began preaching in 1843 in Illinois. Remained in that State six and one half years in his holy calling. In June, 1857, he came to Miami County, Kan and located near Marysville. In January, 1859, he moved to Miami Township, where he has eighty acres of land, on Section 23. He has been the local minister of his church of this township for many years. He was married in Indiana, in January, 1835, to Miss Alice, daughter of Miller and Rachel Davis. Mrs. Huffman was born in North Carolina. They had a family of fifteen children, ten sons and five daughters, of whom seven sons and three daughters are now living. Mrs. Huffman died in 1860. Mr. Huffman married again in September, 1863 to Mrs. Lucy E. Nichols. Mr. H. has held various positions of public honor and trust. He was a member of the Kansas Legislature of 1867-68; was Justice of the Peace four terms; has been Township Treasurer three years and is the present incumbent.

JAMES H. JONES, M. D., physician and surgeon, was born in Greenbrier County, Va. March 26, 1826. Moved to Indiana with his parents in 1839. When twenty-one years of age he began the study of medicine. Took a regular course at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati and graduated in 1855. He had practiced some years previously. He went to Iowa in the fall of 1855 and came from there to Linn County, Kan in May, 1857, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature of 1860 and of the first State Legislature, 1861. He served as County Commissioner of Linn County and has held other minor offices. He was married in Indiana in 1850 to Miss Rachel, daughter of A. Bray. Mrs. Jones was born in Indiana. They have nine children living. Dr. Jones made his home in Scott Township in Linn County, where he practiced his profession until September 1, 1882, when he removed to New Lancaster.

DAVID KIRTS, farmer, Section 22, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancaster, was born in Marion County, Ohio, May 16, 1829. learned the blacksmith's trade in Licking County, Ohio where he spent three years. He then (in the fall of 1866) came to Kansas and the following winter purchased the farm on which he now resides. He has 495 acres in all, well improved, having fine buildings. He is largely interested in growing hogs and cattle. Mr. Kirts was married in this township, March 26, 1868, to Mary J., daughter of W. H. Ellis. Mrs. Kirts was born in Ohio. They have five children, two sons and three daughters- Frank, George, Rhoda, Carrie and Ida.

WILLIAM A. MOBLEY, farmer and feeder of and dealer in live stock, Section 17, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. Paola. Mr. Mobley was the first permanent settler in Miami Township, he having located here, or at the Miami Mission, November 9, 1854, and has resided continuously in this township nearly twenty-nine years. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, January 8, 18322 and was educated in that county. Removed to York County, in 1852 and to Kansas Territory in November, 1854. He was an earnest Free-state man in politics and participated in the border troubles of the early days. He was arrested at OSAWATOMIE by John Brown's Company on the eve of the OSAWATOMIE Battle, but knowing Brown was set at liberty as soon as brought to his presence. He was married at Westport, Mo., September 9, 1863, to Miss Emma, daughter of Seala Hudson. Mrs. Mobley was born in Lexington, Mo. They have eight children, six sons and two daughters-John H., Maude M., Allie A., Harry H., William A., George E., Autie and Herbert. Mr. Mobley is an extensive feeder and dealer in livestock. He has at the time of writing 187 steers ready for market that will average 1,800 pounds weight; many of them are as plump and perfect as the ideal prize ox picture adorns the fair show bills. He has about 200 fat hogs in the same feed lot. Mr. Mobley pre-empted 160 acres of his land and purchased two additional quarter sections, having now 480 acres in all.

BENJAMIN P. YOUNG, farmer, Section 21, Township 18, Range 24, P. O. New Lancaster, was born in Penobscot County, Me., January 7, 1837. Came to Kansas in April, 1858, and located on Government land on the same section whereon he now resides. He has a fine farm of 305 acres, well improved. His residence which is new is one of the best country houses in the county. He enlisted July 17, 1861, as a private in Company F, Fifth Kansas Cavalry. He was promoted to First Sergeant and was captured in action at Marks Mills, Ark, April 25, 1864; was held prisoner at Camp Ford Prison, Tex; was exchanged in February, 1865, and discharged the following April. He was married in Maine, in 1866, to Miss Amanda J., daughter of Amos Grant/.Mrs. Young was born in Maine, They have one child- a daughter-Fannie E.