BOURBON COUNTY, Part 13

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (PADGETT - PRICHARD).

W. W. PADGETT, attorney, was born in Montgomery Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, November 16, 1856, and came to Kansas in March 1869, with his parents, James S. and Adeline Padgett, and settled in Marion Township, Bourbon County. He received his education in the schools of the county, and after studying law at home for three or four years, he was admitted to the bar in May, 1882. He has since been associated in practice with Judge Limbocker.

JAMES B. PALMER, farmer, Section 8, is a native of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Penn., born October 5, 1838. He was raised on a farm; he enlisted, in August, 1862, in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Company C. November 21, 1862, he was commissioned Quartermaster of the regiment in the Fifth Army Corps, First Division. June 21, 1865, he was mustered out, retiring to Pittsburgh, where he went into the brick business, where he remained until 1875, when he sold out and moved to Crawford County, Penn. He went to farming; at this he continued until 1878, when he sold out and moved to Kansas, locating on his present farm, owning 160 acres, and getting fine crops. The corn this year will yield fifty bushels to the acre. In 1862, he married Miss Townley, of Pennsylvania. They have five children. Mr. Palmer while in Pittsburgh, was a member of the City Council, but has not been in public office since coming West. He is a member of the G.A.R., and also of the Presbyterian Church.

WILLIAM PALMER, Secretary and Treasurer of the Fort Scott Manufacturing Co., came to Kansas in 1881, and to Fort Scott in September of the same year, becoming connected with his present business at its establishment. He is a son of Sarah and the late Charles Palmer, and was born in Sutton, Northamptonshire, England, January 6, 1855. He managed his mother's farm until he came to America.

C. L. PATE, proprietor of the National Hotel, was born in Dearborn County, Ind., November 21, 1834. He moved to Putnam County, Ill., in 1852; to Steel County, Minn., in 1856; returned to Henderson County, in 1857; then moved to Warren County, in 1858, living there until 1878, when he emigrated to Bourbon County, Kan. Here he followed the occupation of farming, near Centerville, until February 14, 1882, when he became proprietor of the National Hotel, and moved into Fort Scott. He was married December 26, 1867, to Mrs. Eunice J. Preston, of Warren County, Ill., formerly Miss Buck, of Vermont. At the time of their marriage, Mrs. Preston had one child, a girl. Since their marriage they have had two children, both boys; all of them are still living.

COL. U. B. PEARSALL came to Kansas April 22, 1865, being stationed at Fort Scott, as Commander, relieving Col. Blair at that time. He had command of the subdistrict of South Kansas until September, 1865, and then went with his regiment to Fort Larned, with the Seventeenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and the Ninth Wisconsin Battery, and established headquarters at that point, having command of the troops on the Smoky Hill route, consisting of the line of posts from Fort Riley to Fort Lyon, Colorado. He was discharged at Leavenworth, February 1, 1866, and after spending a few weeks East, he settled in Drywood, Bourbon County, Kan., where he was engaged in milling until 1870. He was then engaged in the stock business until July, 1874, when he entered the office of County Treasurer as Deputy, continuing in that office until October, 1878, at which date he became County Treasurer. He held that position until October, 1880, and has since been actively connected with the York Nursery Company. Col. Pearsall was born in Owego, Tioga Co., N.Y., July 17, 1840, and in 1857 went to Oconto, Wis., where he was engaged in lumbering until the outbreak of the war. He enlisted as a private in Company H, Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, May 14, 1861, but was made Sergeant of his company in about three months afterward, and Second Lieutenant July 1, 1862; he then went on the staff of Gen. T. W. Sherman as aid-de-camp, serving in that capacity until May 27, 1863, when he was transferred to the staff of Gen. Emery, with whom he served until July 15, 1863. He was then commissioned Lieutenant Colonel and raised a colored regiment known in military history as the Ninety-ninth Colored Infantry, but in fact the fifth regiment of colored troops raised in the country. He continued Lieutenant Colonel of that regiment until March, 1865, but on detached service a considerable portion of the time. In the Red River campaign of 1864, he had charge of the engineers' department and of the pontoon trains. The dam built across the Red River, the one redeeming feature of that unfortunate expedition, was due to his sagacity and military genius, and George D. Robinson, June 13, 1864, mentioned his unceasing toil and devotion, and says that the final success of the dam, was largely due to his engineering skill. He was appointed to a position in the engineers' department by Gen. Canby in the summer of 1864 and had charge of constructions and repairs of fortifications on the Lower Mississippi River. He was then ordered to Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Fla. and after remaining in command there several weeks, went to Cedar Keys, Fla. He was wounded at the battle of Natural Bridge, Fla., and was disabled for a short time and came to Fort Scott after his recovery. He was brevetted Brigadier General, March 13, 1865, for meritorious services during the war. Col. Pearsall was married at Clarksfield, Ohio, March 29, 1866, to Josephine M. Peck, a native of Clarksfield, Ohio. They have three children--Lottie M., Guy B. and Charles, and have lost two, Mark U., who died at the age of three and a half, Mary, who died at the age of two years. The Colonel is a member of Blue Lodge and Chapter, A., F. & A. M. and Knight Templars, and G.A.R., and was one of the youngest Colonels from Wisconsin. He is a son of William S. and Eliza Balcom Pearsall, and a nephew of Ransom Balcom, of Binghampton, N. Y., who was one of the leading judges of Supreme Court of the State for twenty-three years.

MAJ. E. J. PECK came to Kansas in July, 1865, and settled in Bourbon County, where he was engaged in the milling business and the manufacture of lumber on Drywood River, until 1867, when he removed his business to Vernon County, Mo., remaining there three years. He then returned to Bourbon County and was engaged in farming in Drywood Township until 1874. In the fall of 1873, he was elected County Treasurer, and two years later re-elected. He was Deputy Treasurer until 1880, when he went to New Mexico and engaged in mining operations there for six months, since which time he has been engaged in the lumber trade. He is also at present engaged in building the Government road to the National Cemetery which will cost, when completed, about $20,000, being a little less than two miles in length and eighty feet broad, and is macadamized for one half its breadth. Maj. Peck was born on Hartland Ridge, Huron Co., Ohio, June 15, 1833, and lived there until 1853, when he went to Oconto, Wis., and made that his home until the breaking-out of the war. In May, 1861, he raised a company and entered the army, First Lieutenant of Company H, Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, a regiment which was afterward changed to the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry. He rose to the rank of Major, but in September, 1864, was obliged to resign on account of disability, and returned to his native place, making that his home again until he came to Kansas. Maj. Peck is a member of the I.O.O.F. and K. of H. He was married in Oconto, Wis., May 4, 1861, to Violet Tibbetts, a native of Maine. They have six children--Albert E., Frank, Wade, Daisy, Meda and Fred.

E. PEIRSON, farmer, Section 20, is a native of England, born in 1831. When he was eighteen years of age he came to New York and located. While there he farmed and was in the lumber business, running a saw and planing mill, and in 1870 came to Kansas taking his present location. He opened up a farm of 160 acres, raising fruit, grain and stock. When he first took the farm it was in its primitive state. Now the residence and other buildings are fine, the fencing good, and the railroad is almost at his door, and the city of Fort Scott less than a miles from the farm. Mr. Peirson married in New York in 1857, now has three children, who have attended the excellent schools of the city. Mr. Peirson in politics is a Republican.

A. C. PENNIMAN, hardware merchant, came to Fort Scott in June, 1869, and has been engaged in the hardware business here since that time. He was born at Mendon, Worcester Co., Mass., April 29, 1821, and in 1835 removed to Fayette County, Ohio. He remained there until June, 1857, and then removed to Sidney, Shelby Co., Ohio, and made that his home until he came to Kansas. He has been engaged in mercantile business most of the time since 1835. Mr. Penniman was married in Greene County, Ohio, in October, 1850, to Martha A. Ogden, a native of New Brunswick, N. J. They have five children--Andrew Ogden, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in East St. Louis; Edward Leigh, now associated with his father in business; Charles Wesley, Frank McCullough and Martha Belle. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

W. C. PERRY, attorney, came to Fort Scott in May, 1873, and read law with Gen. C. W. Blair, until admitted to the bar in September, 1875. Since May, 1876, he has been associated with Gen. Blair in partnership. In October, 1878, he took charge of the Monitor, and ran it until August, 1880, but did not discontinue his law practice during that time. Blair & Perry are attorneys for the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad and Adams Express Company, and are associate attorneys for other corporations. Mr. Perry is a native of the village of Kingham, Oxfordshire, England, born October 28, 1854, and received a collegiate education. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M. Lodge, Chapter and Commandery.

JOHN PETTY, President of the Foundry and Sickle Manufactory, came to Fort Scott in October, 1869, and opened a blacksmith shop. In 1880, he opened the Foundry and Sickle Manufactory, with one assistant. He now employs sixteen hands, and does a business fully seven times as extensive. Mr. Petty was born in Parke County, Ind., near Terre Haute, May 22, 1837, and lived there until seventeen years of age, when he removed to Marion County, Iowa. In June, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served until December, 1882. sic He then returned to Iowa but removed to Vermillion County, Ill., in 1865, and engaged in blacksmithing, a trade at which he had begun to work when a boy. He was married in Rossville, Vermillion Co., Ill., in September, 1867, to Almira McMains, a native of Montgomery County, Ind. They have three children--Ella, Robert Herbert and Pearlie May. Mr. Petty is a member of the K. of P. and of the "Red Men."

S. S. PETERMAN, of the firm of Peterman & Gardner, manufacturers of sash, doors, blinds, stairs and stair railings, is a native of Crawford County, Ohio, and was born in 1840. He came to Leavenworth in 1860, bought an outfit, and started for Pike's Peak. He stopped in Central City, and built the five stamp mill on Clear Creek, returning to Denver in December. Then he joined the Baker expedition, going to the San Juan mines in Arizona. In order to get to the mines, they had to promise the Navajo Indians that they would confine themselves to mining, and not build houses or cultivate the land. However, some of the party violated the treaty, and they were all given ten days to leave the mines and ten of their work cattle were confiscated by the Indians. On leaving Arizona, Mr. Peterman went to Fort Union, New Mexico; this was in 1862. Martial law then being in force, he was pressed into the Union service under Gen. Candy, and served three months in the army. When he received his discharge he returned to Denver, and from there went to Central City again. Finding his claim there had been jumped, he decided to return to his native State. On arriving at Atchison, and finding that martial law was yet in force in Missouri, he went back to Leavenworth, where he hired as Government teamster and was sent to Fort Scott, from there to Fort Smith, and thence to Nashville, Tenn. He came back to Fort Scott in 1864, where he was foreman of the Government carpenter shop. In December, 1865, he was discharged and went into the furniture business. In 1868, he sold out and opened a carpenter shop. In 1878, the firm of Peterman & Gardner was formed, and they put steam into the mill, first a four-horse power engine, then, that not being sufficient, one of twelve-horse power was put in. In 1881, they built their present mill on Wall street, where they are amply supplied with the machinery needed for all kinds of plain and ornamental wood work. Mr. Peterman was married in 1866. He has two boys. He belongs to the Masonic order.

CAPT. H. C. PHENICIE, farmer, Section 6, is a native of Bedford County, Penn., and was born in 1836; was raised in Franklin County, Penn. He was educated at Marshal College. Commenced teaching in 1853, and entered a store as clerk the same year, and worked for the same firm for three years, when he accepted a position in a store in Iowa City, Iowa, where he remained until the spring of 1859. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and on June 21, 1859, was married to Miss Cook of Chambersburg, Penn. He enlisted in the Federal army during the war, and at the close of the war was Captain of Company K, Twenty-first Pennsylvania Cavalry, having held that position for two years. He returned to Chambersburg, and having lost all his possessions when the confederates burned that town, he with his family emigrated to Kansas in December, 1865, and engaged in farming, first on rented land, afterward purchasing a farm on which he now resides. Mr. P. is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has held the office of Justice of the Peace for a number of years.

J. W. PINKSTON, grocer, came to Fort Scott in November, 1871, and immediately accepted the position of superintendent of the gas works. Two years later, he became secretary and treasurer of that institution as well, and continued in that position until January, 1878, when he leased the works for five years. In January, 1882, he sold his lease, and in May of the same year purchased the grocery of W. R. Lond. He now does a business of about $30,000 per annum, and carries a stock of about $4,000. He is a native of Madison County, Ky., and was reared in Gallatin County, Ky. He lived there until 1867, when he came to Kansas City, which was his home until he came to Fort Scott. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M., Blue Lodge Chapter and Commandery, Eastern Star and Council.

GEORGE F. POND, general agent of the Howe Sewing Machine Company, for Northern Kansas and Southern Nebraska, P. O. Godfrey, first came to Kansas in March, 1862, as a member of Company C, Third Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry. His regiment served all through the war under Maj. Gen. Blunt in Kansas. After his discharge from the army in March, 1865, Mr. Pond returned to Kansas and located on Drywood Creek, near Fort Scott, where he resided one year, and was engaged in the milling business with his brother. From here he removed to Lamar, Barton Co., Mo., where he resided six years, and was engaged in farming. From Missouri he returned to near Godfrey, Bourbon County, where he has resided since. Mr. Pond and two of his brothers enlisted at Fairwater, Fond du Lac Co., Wis., October, 1861, in the same Company C of the Third Wisconsin Cavalry, and served until the close of the war. His eldest brother entered the service as Second Lieutenant, and was mustered out as Major of his regiment; his next eldest brother entered as a Sergeant and was mustered out as Second Lieutenant of his company. Mr. Pond himself preferred scouting duty to monotonous service of a soldier's life, which in a measure accounts for his non-promotion. He has frequently carried dispatches in company with one of his comrades from Fort Scott to Fort Gibson, without any rations or forage except what could be carried on their horses. The distance is 175 miles, and a trail went through the Indian Territory, and the journey was frequently made in three nights and two days. He participated in the battles of Montevallo, Honey Springs, Cain Hill, Lexington, Little and Big Blue, the massacre of Baxter Springs and numerous other minor engagements. Mr. Pond had the honor of capturing the notorious guerrilla, Captain Fa. Price, a nephew of the rebel Maj. Gen. Price. On the night of May 20, 1863, Mr. Pond in company with two of his comrades attacked Capt. Henry Taylor, a noted bushwhacker, who had sixty men under his command, and who was returning with nineteen Union prisoners captured by him in Kansas, to Missouri, and who had stopped on his way to rob and plunder the house of J. C. Ury, a famous Union scout. Mr. Ury and his father were taken prisoners by the rebel band. Mr. Pond and his comrades succeeded in stampeding the rebels, and in releasing all the prisoners taken by them except the father of Mr. Ury, who was slain in cold blood. For his daring deed Mr. Pond and his comrades, Elwin Weber, now a resident of Laramie, Wyoming Territory, and O. H. Carpenter, now a resident of Jasper, Mo., were publicly thanked in general orders issued by Gen. Charles W. Blair, then commanding the Union forces in Kansas. Mr. Pond first met Miss Ann Harrington, a native of Ohio, who subsequently became his wife, at Lamar, Mo. During the war in pursuit of bushwhackers, the rebels proving too strong for him and his comrades, they were forced to take to the woods where Miss Harrington found Mr. Pond, and supplied him with provisions while he lay concealed. He was married to her on December 24, 1865, at Drywood, Mo. They have six children living--Clarissa J., Junia L., Franklin W., Herbert G., Florence May and Eugene. Mr. Pond was in the State registering office in Barton Co., Mo., in 1866 and 1877, Justice of the Peace of Richland Township, Barton Co., Mo., for six years, or during the entire time he resided in the State, and was elected to this office when only twenty-one years old. He also was coroner of Barton Co., Mo., for four years. He is at present, and has been for the past five years, a member of the Board of School District, No. 80, Bourbon County, this State. He is a member of the W. H. Lytle Post, No. 32, G.A.R., of Fort Scott and Godfrey Lodge, No. 124, A., F. & A. M., and is at present W. M. of his lodge, and has held the same office for the past five years. He is also assistant lecturer of this fraternity for the State of Kansas. Mr. Pond was born in the court house in Libertyville, Lake Co., Ill., October 5, 1844. His parents removed when he was two years old to the Badger State, where he resided until he entered the United States army.

H. W. POND, State Agent for the Howe Sewing Machine, came to Kansas in June, 1862, with the army and was in the service until 1865. After the war, he put up the first sawmill in Drywood Township. Bourbon County, built in the winter of 1865-66, and after operating it until the spring of 1867 sold it to Pearsall & Peck. He then engaged in the implement business for two years, as manager for Charles F. Drake, and has since been engaged in his present business. He has the general agency for the Howe Sewing Machine in Kansas and Southwestern Missouri, and has forty-five agencies, averaging a sale of ten machines each month. He is also engaged in farming four miles south of the city, in Scott Township. He is a member of the I.O.O.F., K. of P., A.O.U.W., and Grand Army of the Republic, being Junior Vice Deputy Commander of the latter organization. Mr. Pond is a native of Hector, Tompkins Co., N.Y., born November 12, 1839. From there he removed with his parents to Wisconsin, and located in Alton Township, Fond du Lac County, which was his home until the outbreak of the war. In November, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Third Wisconsin Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, mostly in Kansas and Missouri. He entered the service as Sergeant, and was discharged as First Lieutenant. He was married at Fort Scott, in January, 1865, to Barbara E. Ury. She was born in Martinsville, Ind., and reared at Greenbush, Warren Co., Ill. Her father, Lewis L. Ury, came to Drywood, Bourbon Co., Kan., in 1858, and was killed by the Taylor Bushwhackers in the spring of 1864.

L. E. POTTER, Under Sheriff, Bourbon County, is a native of Killingly, Windham Co., Conn., born in 1853, and when three years of age his parents moved to Morgan Co., Ill., where they engaged in farming until 1870, and in the fall they moved West, stopping in Crawford County, Kan., where they stayed some five years; then moving to Bourbon County, Kan., they located on a farm near Hiattville, raising grain and stock. He was appointed and took his office January 10, 1882. He is a Democrat.

A. POPKESS, Auditor and Treasurer of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad, is a native of England and was born in 1847. When eight years of age, he emigrated to America with his father, who was connected with the locomotive works in England, and on coming to New York followed the same line, so that Mr. Popkess was educated to the business in his father's office. His first official position was Auditor of the J. B. & W. in Urbana, Champaign Co., Ill., where he remained from 1870 to 1880, when he was appointed director of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad. And in 1881 moved to Fort Scott, and took the position he now occupies on the last-mentioned railroad. He was connected at one time with the Treasurer's office of the P. P. & J. railroad.

REV. W. C. PORTER, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Fort Scott, is a descendant of the Rev. J. C. Porter, and a native of the isle of Jersey, Great Britain, born May 11, 1834. Was brought to this country by his parents, his father working as a missionary in Illinois. At the age of nineteen, W. C. commenced studying for the ministry, and after graduating at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind., in 1858, he studied theology at Lane Theological Seminary. Of his class there are living now but three. He took his first charge in 1859 at Plymouth, Marshall Co., Ind. In 1861, he joined the Twentieth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, and was mustered out July 25, 1865, and in November took charge of the First Presbyterian Church of Coldwater, Mich., where he remained until December, 1871, then, in January, 1872, he came to Fort Scott, and took this charge. The membership of his church is 150 and the congregation numbers 225. In November, 1866, he married Miss L. I. Cunningham, the daughter of Rev. J. W. Cunningham, of Naperville, Ill. They have four children.

JAMES POWELSON, baker, is a native of Lycoming County, Penn. He was born in 1819, some seven miles from Williamsport. He is of Holland and Scotch parentage. Having learned his trade in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1841, found him in New York, working in a bakery. He then went to Philadelphia in 1842, where he remained until 1849, and the gold discoveries in California attracted his attention, so he went West to the Pacific coast, to try his fortunes; but he made more at his trade than he did at mining. From San Francisco he went to New Mexico, then to the Gulf, across to New Orleans, and then to St. Louis, and from there here, where he established his bakery in 1872. He commenced on nothing, and now owns the bakery, with a good trade. In 1873, he married Miss Sanford. They have two children. He belongs to the I.O.O.F., which he joined in 1848.

D. E. PRICHARD, druggist, of the firm of Prichard Bros., is a native of Columbus, Ohio. His brother James was one of the firm up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1875. He was also a soldier, having served during the war in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. On coming to Fort Scott, in 1867, they established what is now one of the oldest drug firms in the county, occupying a small building on Main and Market streets, where they were till the fire of 1873, when they were burned out, and then moved to their present stand, doing a good wholesale and retail trade, which is growing with the development of the surrounding country.