BOURBON COUNTY, Part 22

FULTON.

The town of Fulton was founded by B. P. McDonald, O. Chanute, T. C. Myer and C. A. Morris, in 1869. The first business house was that established by Ben Ivens, soon after the starting of the town. Following this, in almost consecutive order, were the business establishments of W. H. Green, A. Parker and the firm of Stapleton, Wells & Co. Some changes and additions soon took place. The firm of Stapleton, Wells & Co. dissolved, the business falling into the hands of the new firm of Stapleton & Green. In 1870, Isaac Burton started a store, which he sold to Timothy Hackett in 1872. During the year 1873, J. W. Jewell began in the drug business. In 1869, George White began business, dealing in grain and lumber, and was the first railroad station agent. J. Hays started a tin-shop in 1870. The present directory of the town stands as follows: John W. Quirk and I. Rader, druggists.

J. W. Bainum, Wesley Shipman, Stapleton & Co., Price & Osborne, and Wilson Brothers, dealers in general merchandise.

H. F. Ruble, hardware. W. Shaffer, harness and saddles.

Timothy Hackett and W. Walford, wagonmakers and blacksmiths.

Besides these, there are three grain elevators, a grist-mill, three hotels, school building and a population of 350.

The town, at first, was called Osaga, but owing to the similarity to the name Osage, the difference being only the terminal letter, by reason of which goods, mail, etc., would often be missent to the one place for the other, it became necessary to change the name. In 1878, the name was changed to that of Fulton. Osaga was incorporated on the 23d day of January, 1874.

J. S. Wilson, Timothy Hackett, George White, Asheal Parker and J. A. Ludlow constituted the first Board of Trustees. The Board became duly organized and held meetings for the purpose of framing and passing ordinances. After a good deal of quibbling, mixed with much amusement, a body of ordinances was adopted for the regulation and government of the village. But the incorporation was delayed a few days too long, for the Legislature, a short time before, had taken the authority to incorporate towns, villages, etc., out of the hands of the Probate Judge, and reposed it within the jurisdiction of the District Court. By this means, the people of Fulton soon learned that after all their trouble, and thinking themselves incorporated, had no such legal recognition.

A post office called Osaga, was established here in 1869, with Mrs. M. A. Stapleton as Postmistress. Mrs. Stapleton has since held the office continuously. The first school was taught in 1871, by E. T. Shaffer, a schoolhouse had been erected in 1870. The new school building was erected in 1882, and is a two-story stone structure, containing four rooms, and cost about $3,500. The school population of the town is 130. Two church organizations have been effected by the Methodist and Catholic denominations.

The Methodist congregation was organized in 1870 by Rev. Mr. Harmony, with thirteen members. There is a present membership of forty. The erection of the church house, a large one-story frame, was begun by 1880 and completed in 1882.

The Catholics also have a very flourishing congregation, and are supplied with a small but neat frame church building. Among the local institutions are two secret organizations, the Mason and Odd Fellows. The Fulton Lodge, A., F. & A. M., was instituted under a dispensation September 12, 1882. J. W. Jewell was chosen Worshipful Master. The lodge now has a membership of twenty-two.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows had instituted a lodge at Barnesville, which was removed to Fulton in 1875. J. H. Quirk is now Noble Grand. The membership of the lodge is twenty-seven.

The first child born in the town was James Hughs, a son of Thomas Hughs, in 1873.

The first marriage was that of Julia Hughs to James McDougall, in 1871.

The people of this youthful town are characterized by much energy and enterprise, which will insure to the place prompt and needed improvement. The town is favorably situated in the north part of the county on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, and in the midst of a fine farming district from which it draws a large and excellent trade. With all of these advantageous surroundings no other outlook is present than that of its future growth and prosperity.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES - FREEDOM TOWNSHIP.

A. BEELER, druggist, principal of the firm of Beeler & Feenster, native of Coshocton County, Ohio, born in 1831, and in 1856 he entered the Methodist Episcopal Conference College at Greencastle, Ind., called the Alesbury University, and in 1862 entered the Central Illinois Conference, and preached for some seventeen years, but his health gave way, and he came to Kansas, giving up the ministry, and locating on Section 35, northwest quarter. He has some 320 acres on his two farms. In 1879, he also opened his drug store. He had for a while Mr. Johnson as a partner, but he took his share of the stock and set up in a separate business. Then Mr. Beeler conducted the business alone until 1882. He then took Dr. Feenster into partnership. Mr. Beeler belongs to both the I. O. O. F. and the Masonic orders.

REV. C. E. BRISTOL, northeast quarter, Section 2, P. O. Fulton, is a native of New York, and was born in 1828. He was reared and lived on the same farm till thirty years of age, when he went to Wisconsin, and began his ministerial career there. From thence to Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, in 1861. Entered the Junior year, and graduated in 1863. Thence to Quincy, Ill., in charge of First Baptist Church of that city. Was ordained that summer, 1863. Went into the Army as Chaplain of the Thirtieth United States, in April, 1864. Thence to Baltimore, and thence through the Wilderness campaign. During that campaign contracted a chronic disease, and resigned and came out of the army in November, 1864. Thence a while in the theological department at Shurtleff College, and went to Ohio in the spring of 1865, taking charge of a church at Milford, and has been preaching more or less ever since, though during the last thirteen years his army disease has forced him out of the study into outdoor work, more or less on a farm. His first wife dying in 1865, he again married in 1872 at Dayton, Ohio. He married one of his parishioners of Milford. He and his family moved to Kansas in the fall of 1876. In the spring of 1877, he went out on to the farm now occupied by him for general farm purposes, together with fruit and nursery. He has at this writing over 1,200 fruit trees in permanent orchards (1,000 apple). He has charge of two small churches at the present time. As samples of Kansas fruit, he weighed this year, 1882, one pear (Duchess variety), seventeen ounces; one apple (Bennett variety), twenty-three ounces; one peach (Foster variety), thirteen ounces. His family consists of wife and her five children, four boys and one daughter. Three of the boys are teachers. Mr. Bristol has also taught more or less during his life. In all over forty school terms. He began teaching in New York, when he was but seventeen years old.

ALFRED CLEAL, farmer, Section 8, P. O. Fulton, native of Middlesex County, England, born in 1838, coming to America in 1848. He located in Cook County, Ill., and, together with William L. Witt, came to Kansas in 1860, and located in Bourbon County, but this being the dry year, he went down to Missouri and worked in the lead mines; then returning to enlist in 1861, in the Third Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, and in 1864 he re-enlisted in the United States Veteran Volunteers, "Hancock's," and remained in service till 1866, when he was mustered out at Indianapolis, and returned to Kansas. On arriving here, he entered in the commercial business. The firm was Cleal & Co., of Fort Lincoln. They moved to Fulton in 1867 or 1868, and there he sold to M. A. Stapleton, returning to his farm, where he now has 450 acres, renting some and farming some in stock and grain. He has made all his has since coming to the State, and still single.

P. DEVEREUX, farmer, Section 27, P. O. Fulton, native of County Tipperary, Ireland, born in 1837, and in 1849 they came to America, landing at New York. They went up to Waterford on the Hudson River, from there to Madison County, Ohio, and from Ohio to Kansas, coming into the State in 1857, and buying a quit-claim of Capt. Boyne, which they afterward made perfect. The four brothers lived on this claim, Michael, Patrick, Thomas and John. In the winter of 1857 the trouble began. They were declared Free-State men, and were called out at the Fort Boyne fight, and retired to Mound City for some time, then returning home, they were visited by some of Price's men, who carried off five head of horses, his brother and brother-in-law. Pat was at first in the Home Guards, and afterward in the State militia; was in the fight at Westport. He now has 320 acres of good land, for stock and grain. In 1869, he married Miss Cunningham, of Ireland. Mr. Devereux is a member of the Catholic Church.

CHARLES ELLIOTT, farmer, Section 34, P. O. Fulton, native of Knox County, Ohio, born in 1820. He was raised on the old farm till his father bought him a farm in Marion County, where he remained till 1851, when he went to McLean County, Ill., where he engaged in farming, but moved to Kansas in 1858, taking a claim of 160 acres, which he has increased to 240 acres, dealing in stock and grain. His new industry, raising flax, is promising to be profitable. His place is finely improved. In the early times he was exposed to the many perils of the pioneer life in this State, and was in the militia in 1864, and in 1862 he was County Treasurer of Bourbon County. He was married in 1844, in Ohio, and had seven children, of whom five are alive, three boys. The eldest is in Arizona; Charles S. is a teacher of this county, and Hemans? at home. One daughter is now married to Mr. Clay of Linn County, the other is at home. Charles S. has taught for seven years. He is a graduate of the Fort Scott Normal School.

W. E. FLYNN, teacher and farmer, Section 14, P. O. Glendale. He came with his father, John Flynn, to the State in 1868, when they located on their present farm. In 1877, he commenced a course of studies and reading, with the view of fitting himself for the bar. In 1879, he attended and graduated in the scientific course, from the Kansas Normal College. He then commenced teaching in the Marmaton District, but closed school on account of small-pox, and in 1882 he commenced reading in J. H. Sallee's office, leaving off to take his school in Fish Creek District, where he is engaged for the next nine months, still pursuing his course of law reading.

JOHN FRY, farmer, Section 15, P. O. Glendale, native of Holmes County, Ohio, born in 1833. The years of his youth were spent on the farm. In 1842, his parents moved to Iowa, where they were pioneers. His brother Jacob built the first house in Winterset, Iowa. Mr. Fry came to Kansas the first time in 1856, and located on the Big Blue River, near Marysville, but returned to Iowa in 1858, not coming back to Kansas till 1868, when he located in Brown County, moving to Bourbon County in 1873, where he rented first, and then bought his farm of 160 acres. During the war he was freighting on the plains, but returned to farming, at which he is quite successful. Mr. Fry's mother, brother and two sisters, live in Nebraska, one sister in Iowa, also two brothers living in Kansas. John Fry is a bachelor, and a straight Prohibitionist, and a Douglas Democrat.

PATRICK GORMAN, farmer, Section 12, P. O. Fulton, native of County Limerick, Ireland; born in the Parish of Cahirconlish, in 1837, lived the life of a farm boy, and came to America in 1856. He at once went to farming in Illinois, where he stayed till 1859, then moving to Kansas, where he and H. McLaughlin entered a claim of 320 acres--160 each, on Moore's Branch. In 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Sixth Kansas Infantry, and served till 1865. He had sold his 160 acres to Mr. McLaughlin, and in 1864, while he was a prisoner with Price, a friend purchased the farm where he now lives for him. When he was taken prisoner, he had but just been married some three weeks to Miss Devereaux. When he returned he worked in the Quartermaster's Department till 1865, then taking his farm in hand, which he has carried on with entire success, not having missed raising a good crop every season. His stock and grain farm covering 480 acres in this township and 480 in Osage Township, corn being his principal grain crop. Their family of children consists of five boys and two girls--Thomas, now attending the Mission School; John, Patrick, Michael, Edward, Mary E. and Margaret.

DANIEL GORMAN, farmer, Section 34, P. O. Fulton, native of County Limerick, Ireland; born in 1824. Emigrated to America in 1853, landing in New York. From there went to Massachusetts, where he worked in a cotton factory, but the business not suiting him he changed, finally going to Sangamon County, Ill., and engaged in farming, till he came to Kansas in 1865, bought 160 acres of the Widow Gilbert, which he has improved and increased, having a farm of 386 acres in all, raising stock and grain, his corn going 40 bushels to the acre, and flax twelve. In 1861, he married Miss Harris, of Illinois. They have five children, having lost two. Mr. Gorman has held offices of trust in the township, and is a member of the Catholic Church.

W. H. GREEN, lawyer, Fulton, native of Missouri, was born in 1838. Since his first experience he has been in the commercial line, and in 1863 came to Kansas. He had lost his father in 1849, and in 1860 he had married Miss Mary Sherman, of Wellsville, Ohio; from which marriage he has two girls. When he came West he located at Fort Lincoln and opened a store of general merchandise; the firm was Knowles & Green. While here he met with a great disaster, nearly losing his life. It was in 1864, a detachment of Price's army took the place and burned all the buildings but one; his store and property were destroyed, and as he and Mr. Stevens were about to ride away, Stevens was killed by his side, and he saved his life by running the gantlet (sic) of rifle-balls and plunging into the woods on the other side of the river. In 1868, he left there and went to Missouri, returning, came to Fulton in 1869 and opened as Wells & Co., in general merchandise, changing the firm to M. A. Stapleton & Co. in 1871. Mr. Green was the first Postmaster of Fulton, then called Osaga. In 1866-67, and in 1870-71, and 1871-72, he was Representative from this district, and in 1879 he was admitted to the bar. In 1868 he was County Assessor.

TIMOTHY HACKETT, notary public, real estate and collection agent, is a native of Lancashire, England. He was born in 1832, and after learning the wagon and blacksmith trade in Liverpool, he emigrated to America in 1850, and landed in New Orleans. He remained in Louisiana until the spring of 1852, when he removed to Jackson County, Mo., and afterward to Bates County, where he was married to Miss Lydia Starr in the winter of 1855-56. He then went to Calloway County, working at his trade until the fall of 1857, when he came to Kansas, and located on Section 32, in Freedom Township. His brother James had arrived in 1856, and they had farms adjoining. He was very poor, having lost all his household goods on account of a warehouse caving in in Kansas City, and after purchasing a chopping ax and a pair of boots his finances were exhausted. His ax broke in felling the first log and he had to borrow another one to build his first cabin. He lived on corn bread and pumpkin for six weeks; he split and sold rails for $2.50 a hundred and paid $8.50 a hundred for flour. In 1859 his house burned, and he moved to his brother's home, and in a short time this house burned also. He then took a horse (all the property he had in this world), and traded it for a kit of tools, and walked back forty miles and built a house for himself and one for his brother. These mishaps, together with the border warfare, made situation interesting, and early privation long to be remembered. In 1872, he moved to town, having lost his second wife. He was commissioned Notary Public, at which time he opened a law office and began the insurance and real estate business, which he still prosecutes. In 1875, he opened a wagon and blacksmith shop, which he still supervises. He has been married three times. His last wife was a widow whose maiden name was Johnston. She was raised in Delaware, Ohio. He has two living children, having lost six. He was County Assessor in 1867, and Township Trustee in 1879, and has been a member of the Masonic Order since 1863.

D. B. JACKMAN, lawyer, Fulton, native of Newburyport, Mass., born in 1824; he lived in Harvard, same State, for some time before coming West, which he did in 1856, going to Champlain, Minn., where he has two sisters now living. He then came to Anderson County, Kan., in 1857. He had a good education which he had acquired in the East, and on coming into a new country, he taught school, soon after establishing himself on the farm. He was present at and participated in all of the troubles that occurred in this neighborhood up to 1866, especially the fight at Fort Boyne. He came to Bourbon County in 1858, and has since been identified with her interests, owning two farms. He is busy in the town of Fulton, following his profession. In 1863, he was sent to the Legislature, and, in 1867, he was Docket Clerk at the House. He has been Notary Public for some years, and in 1880, he was elected Justice, and was admitted to the bar of Bourbon County in 1867. He is conversant with the events and men connected with the county history, and retains these things with a wonderful memory. He is a member of both the I. O. O. F. and Masonic orders, and is still a bachelor.

J. W. JEWELL, merchant, Fulton, is a native of DeKalb County, Ill., born in 1838. He was educated as a farmer. In 1857, his father, Judge E. G. Jewell, emigrated to Kansas and brought his family with him, locating at Fort Lincoln, Bourbon County, filling the office of Probate Judge in 1858 and 1859. When only nineteen years of age, he pre-empted 160 acres on the Osage, on Section 19, northwest quarter, where he lived when the war broke out. He was connected with the commissary department, and, on returning to Fort Lincoln, found that all the place had been burned but his house. He then opened a store, which he kept there till 1873, when he moved to Fulton and established himself in the drug business, and then went into general merchandise, selling out in the spring of 1882 to J. W. Reynolds. He is now preparing to go into business again this fall. Mr. Jewell has held offices of trust for his township, and, in 1862, he joined the Masonic fraternity, also belonging to the I. O. O. F. He is now one of the Trustees of the M. E. Church of Fulton, which has been but just erected. In 1861, he married Miss Blake, of St. Louis, Mo. He married again to Miss Smith. The family consists of wife's father and sister and four children.

JOHN KEATING, farmer, Section 33, Town 23, Range 24, P. O. Fulton, is a native of Tipperary, Ireland; was born in 1824; emigrated to America in 1848, landing in New York. They went up the river, living between Troy and Glen Falls, working in the saw mills of that section. In 1852, he married in Waterford and moved to Glen Falls, and, in 1854, moved to Ohio, locating in Madison County, then to Clinton County and engaged in farming. He then came West to get a farm of his own. Arrived in Kansas November 5, 1859. He claimed at first 160 acres, and bought of the Government at the same time his brothers-in-law did, John and Mike Devereaux. He has increased his farm to 640 acres, last season giving 160 acres to his son James. During the raid of 1864, he lost some property and nearly his life, but just escaping, and was in the militia, stationed at Fort Scott under Gen. Blair. During the dry year, 1860, and years of general want his family had enough. They have six children--James (was born in Marion County, N. Y.), John (Madison County, Ohio), Mary (in Clinton County, Ohio), the rest in Kansas; Maggie, in 1860, the dry year; Michael William (deceased) in 1862; Thomas F. in 1864 and Salome A. in 1867, May 31. Mr. Keating has held offices of trust in the township and belongs to the Catholic Church.

D. W. McGUIRE, famer and mason, Section 11, P. O. Glendale, native of Bangor Me., born in 1835. The same year they moved to New York City; it was here that he learned the trade of mason and plasterer. Before he had finished school he became infatuated with the sea and ran away from home; a nine months' voyage dispelled his fancied love of a sailor life, and he returned to his trade. In 1854, he went to Kane County, Ill., and worked at his trade. It was in this State that he met and married Miss Lacey in the year 1857. Her parents were pioneers in Illinois, coming from Massachusetts in 1843. In 1857, they left for Kansas. Mr. Lacy (sic) had found a location on Lost Creek, where he had all that a man could wish, water, wood, coal and stone, as well as fertile soil. In 1861, Mr. McGuire enlisted in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, Company I, followed the fortunes of the Peninsular Campaign, was in the seven days' fight at Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, etc., at South Mountain and Fredericksburg; was hurt at Chancellorsville, and sent to the hospital, but left and went to the dismounting camp, where he held position as Assistant Forage Master, afterward Postmaster, and was mustered out in 1865. He at once came to Kansas where his wife had preceded him; he located in Linn County first, but in 1874 bought 160 acres of Mr. Lacy's (sic) farm on Section 11, and since his decease in 1876, Mr. McGuire has united the two farms. He is a member of the Grange and also G. A. R. Their family consists of four children, his wife's mother is now eighty-one years of age.

W. H. MILLER, hotel proprietor, Fulton, native of Perry County, Ohio, was born September 28, 1837; was raised on a farm, and till twenty-one years of age did nothing else. He then came West to Kansas, and engaged in farming. In 1877, he came to Fulton and entered the drug business with W. J. Stone, finally selling to his partner. He went to Arizona for his health, when he returned recovered, and in 1878, went to buying stock for Mr. Parker and then went to work for Taylor & Delano; here he worked till 1881, when he went to his old home in Ohio on a visit, finding the old farm the site of a modern city. He returned and traded his property to Mr. Hughes for the Fulton House, but it was burned on the 11th of June, 1882, and he lost all; but on the 22d of June he started to build, and now has a hotel 26x40, the main building, and an addition of 20x20, two stories high, with eleven sleeping rooms to be called the Miller House. In 1861, he enlisted in the Fifth Kansas, Company K, and for nine months was a prisoner in Tyler, Texas, and in 1864, during Price's raid, his father, who lived on the Osage, on the old farm, was killed. In 1865, he returned home, and in 1866, he married Miss Stone, of Fulton. He has belonged to the I. O. O. F. since 1881.

JOHN MORAN, farmer, Section 10, P. O. Glendale, native of County Tipperary, Ireland, and the Parish of Grange; born in 1827, and emigrated to America in 1848, landing in New Orleans, La. He proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he remained that summer, returning to New Orleans in the winter. He continued doing this until 1859, when he came West in company with his brother Lawrence. The two brothers lived together on Section 11. During the dry year they were subject to great privations, but were convinced that such a beautiful land had great resources, so they stayed. During the years of the war, he was called out several times with the State Militia; at one time, to Barnesville; then to Fort Scott and to Drywood where he found the noted Jennison. While he was away from home, the raid of Price came down and took everything of value, horses, clothing, etc. His little girl, Bridget, concealed an amount of money in the bosom of her dress and saved it. He has, since those troublous times, given his attention to farming and succeeded, being rewarded for his trust in the resources of the soil of Kansas. He has 322 acres in the farm, raising stock and corn. In 1852, he married Miss Kennedy, of Ohio; they have had ten children, six of whom are living, three boys and three girls.

LAWRENCE MORAN, farmer, Section 14, P. O. Fulton, is a native of Tipperary, Ireland, born in 1837. He emigrated to America in 1848, landing in New Orleans. He proceeded to Cincinnati, Ohio, and while there, worked in an eating house. Going from there to Warren County, he learned farming. In 1859, in company with his brother and John Keating, he came to Kansas and located on Section 14, taking a claim of 160 acres. He passed through all the troubles of the rebellion, being a member of the State militia, and driving team for the Government. During Price's raid, he lost all of his hay and horses, and was left almost destitute of food for three days, having nothing but potatoes. Mr. Moran now farms 280 acres, corn being his chief crop; he also handles a number of cattle. In 1863, he married Miss O'Donnell. they have a family of six children--two boys and four girls.

ISAAC RADER, physician and surgeon, Fulton, is a native of Owen County, Ind., born in 1828. He moved to Chariton, Lucas Co., Iowa, in 1852, having read medicine under Dr. Daniel Tivis and attended college in 1849 and 1850, and graduated from the Ohio Medical College in 1851 and next year went West. He then opened practice, also practicing in Pleasant Plains, Decatur County, also at the county seat. On coming to Kansas, he practiced in White Cloud, Doniphan County, then coming to Bourbon County in 1866, locating on a farm, where he traded in stock and carried on his practice till 1873, when he moved to Fulton. He bought a corner lot, improved, and sold for a farm, then opening an office for professional business exclusively, until persuaded to go into the drug business again in order to teach a friend. In 1880, he sold to this friend, and then bought his present stand of Mr. Johnson. In 1851, he married Miss Anna Randall, of Vandalia, Ind. They have two children, John and Kate, both married.

J. W. REYNOLDS, physician and surgeon, Fulton, is a native of Owen County, Ind., born in 1830. He remained until he was twenty-three years of age, then went to Guthrie County, Iowa, where he read medicine under Dr. Massy, and in 1872 he graduated from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio. He practiced first in Guthrie County, and remained there till coming to Kansas, when he sold his office and instruments to Dr. Jones and in 1882 came to Fulton, where he purchased of Mr. Jewell his stock in trade, intending to give it to his sons, but they would not leave the railroad. In 1867, he joined the Masons and belongs to the Christian Church. In 1850, he married Miss Rader. They have two daughters and two sons.

E. T. SHAFFER, farmer and stock-raiser, Section 36, P. O. Fulton, is a native of Delaware County, Ohio, born in 1850. His parents were Pennsylvanians. His father died there in 1874, aged seventy-four years. His mother lives with him, still strong at the age of seventy-seven. They had moved to Illinois in 1852, but the family broke up and some of them moved to Iowa, and from there here in 1868, locating in the south part, where E. T. made some fine improvements, then rented the place and moved to his present location. In early life, he married, taught school and carried on the farm, commencing with $10. He now has a competence. In 1876, he went into general merchandising with Mr. Jewell, but dissolved and opened out on an extensive scale, and made a great deal of money. In 1881, he sold to M. Wilson, carrying then only agricultural implements. He is now giving his entire attention to farming, stock-raising and trading. He has a farm of 750 acres. His corn will average fifty bushels to the acre. He keeps some thirty-two brood mares. In 1869, he married Miss Sarah McNeil, of one of the pioneer families. They have had seven children, six of whom are living. Mr. Shaffer ran for Representative on the Greenback ticket, but though running ahead of his ticket he was beaten by a small majority.

W. SHIPMAN, general merchandise, Fulton, is a native of Monroe County, Ind., and was born in 1827. He was raised on a farm and has always given it his attention, although he was ordained a minister of the Church of God in 1860, following preaching until his health failed, when he came West, and having a brother in this section he located, bought 160 acres of land, which has since been increased to 240. He has given up preaching and has regained his health. His farm is located on Sections 22, 24, 25 and 26, Freedom Township, and this year (1882) reports most excellent crops. In order to give his children the advantages of the Fulton school, he moved to town in 1875, and at the same time opened a store, carrying a full stock of mixed goods and doing a fine business. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1875, and has been on the school board. He has been married three times, the last time to Miss Hackett. They have five children--two daughters at home, Martha E. and Rosa.

JOSEPH M. SNYDER, farmer, Section 6, P. O. Dayton, native of Monroe County, Penn., was born in 1837. He was raised in the mercantile line, and did not try farming till he came to Kansas in 1865, when he bought a farm of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary Smith, on Section 6, containing 160 acres. This has since been increased to 247, and Mr. Snyder is engaged in raising stock, handling about fifty head per annum and grows enough corn to feed with. His crop this year, 1882, will average forty bushels to an acre. His venture in flax was not an entire success. While in Pennsylvania he married Miss Malinda Young, and they have four children--three boys and one girl.

W. H. STEVENS, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Fulton; native of Fulton County, Penn. In 1873, he graduated at Kishacoquillas Seminary, in his native State. In 1875, he came to Kansas and located in Erie, Neosho County. In 1876 moved to Sherman, Cherokee County; in 1877, in March, to Pawnee, Bourbon County, and from 1879 to 1882, was preaching in Walnut, Crawford County. He came from there to Fulton in March, 1882, taking charge of a parish that numbers 168 members, and has a flourishing Sabbath school of 100 scholars. August 10, 1876, he married Miss Cummings, of Illinois. They have two children--Addie and Blanche. In 1877, he was ordained in Wichita, and again in 1879, at Hutchins. He has a brother a minister in Cherokee County.

E. L. TAYLOR, farmer and capitalist, Section 31, P. O. Fulton, native of Saratoga County, N. Y., born in 1810. In the war of 1812, he had an uncle a Major. In 1831, just after a spell of sickness he started West, his father and mother going as far as Buffalo with him. Then he took a schooner, and after a tedious voyage arrived in Detroit, Mich., locating some thirty-five miles northwest of that city and went to farming. In 1833, he returned to New York, and married Miss Jennings, of the same county. Returning to his farm they lived there till he sold it, and in 1873, he visited Bourbon County, Kan., and while here he bought 160 acres in Section 31, and in the spring of 1875 broke up some forty acres and raised a fine crop of wheat. He then returned to Michigan and went to Ohio. In 1876, he returned to Kansas; in the meantime the mill property in Fulton had reverted to him, and his son-in-law took management of the town business. In 1878, he built an elevator, and in 1881 put up an agricultural warehouse and established a lumber yard. In 1879, he moved to his present home, where he has some 200 acres. He has had a family of seven children--Caroline, now Mrs. Delano; his eldest son in Big Rapids, the second deceased, the third in New Jersey, a merchant; the fourth in Chicago, one daughter in New York and his eldest daughter was married, but she and her children are now dead.

DR. J. R. WASSON, farmer and horticulturist, Section 20, P. O. Fulton, native of McMinn County, Tenn., born in 1829, and studied medicine under Dr. Jones, of Missouri, and at times practiced, having become acquainted with the neighborhood. His brother was also a doctor, and in 1860, he took his practice. In 1855, he came to Kansas from Tennessee, stopping two days in Fort Scott, and then coming out and locating on the present site of the village of Fulton. He traded this claim for the one in Section 20, or his present farm. There was at this time and in the following year, 1856, a general exodus, and those that were left were a law unto themselves. In 1858 there was a party of men collected about the Doctor's cabin and helped themselves to a valuable pair of mules, and then commenced firing into the cabin, killing a man named Conrad Traverse, and wounding the Doctor in the arm and paralyzing his left side. They were conveyed over the line into Missouri, where he lay for three months, when his brother took him to Dade County, where he recovered. He then took his brother's practice, and in 1864, went to Illinois. In 1867, he commenced proceedings in the United States Courts for recovery of the farm, and in 1869 succeeded in effecting a compromise with the occupant, G. W. Burgess. In the mean time Mr. Burgess had roofed in a building put up by the Doctor before leaving Kansas in 1858, so he lived in it until completing his present fine residence, in 1880. In 1875, Mr. Wasson retired from the practice of medicine, and has since given his attention to farming, at least that part of it pertaining to horticulture, having converted the wild prairie into fruit-laden acres and a well-improved farm. His children have also prospered, notwithstanding the sad experience of their pioneer life. He married Miss Hardwick, and they have eight children. His eldest daughter, Mary, is now Mrs. Feemster; eldest son, William H., is Principal of the Mound City schools; George R. and James O. are teaching district schools, and his daughter Lory is also a teacher, but has taken their mother's place in their home, as they lost her in 1881. Robert M. and Jasper C., the two youngest, are at home. G. H., the second son, is Principal of the Valley Falls schools, in Jefferson County.

A. WILSON, of the of firm Wilson Bros., merchants, is a native of Ohio; the family moved to McLean County, Ill., and in 1858, he and his brother came to Kansas where he went into business in Mapleton, Timber Hill Township, which he continued until 1862, when he enlisted in the Second Kansas Battery Light Artillery, and was after some of the vicissitudes of war was mustered out in 1865, when he returned to Bourbon County, and bought a farm of 200 acres on Section 35, which is now highly improved and well known as the Bachelors' Ranch, or Stark Wilson's farm; giving his attention to stock almost entirely. In 1881, he came to Fulton and went into company with his brother, M. Wilson, in general merchandise. Mr. A. Wilson has been a member of the Masonic Lodge for years, he was a charter member of the Mapleton lodge, and helped organize the one in Uniontown.

M. WILSON, of the firm of Wilson Bros., merchants, Fulton, is a native of Columbiana County, Ohio, was born 1835; was taken with the rest of the family to McLean County, in 1839, where they lived on a farm. He entered the mercantile life at an early age and lost his health, so that on coming West with his brother he went to the Rocky Mountains; regaining his health he came back to Mapleton and bought, in 1861, Mr. Greenfield's interest in a general merchandise business, which he sold as soon as the war broke out and went to Illinois. In the spring of 1862, came back to Mapleton and ran a carding machine and sold to Mr. Hobson; he then went to Fort Scott and entered the employ of Wilson, Gardiner & Ray, where he remained till July 4, 1864; then going to Mapleton he became one of the firm of Higby & Co. In 1866, he went to farming on Section 26, running a grain farm of 160 acres, with forty acres of timber; he was engaged on this for some fifteen years, till opening here in Fulton, carrying a stock now of $7,000. In 1864 he was in Mound City, when Price made his raid into Kansas; this year his father was killed by lightning, while on his return home to Illinois, just about four miles east of Lawrence. Mr. Wilson has been a Mason since 1856, having joined the lodge in Pekin, Ill. He joined the chapter in 1858, and helped organize the lodge in Fort Scott. He married Miss Hobson in 1864; they have a family of four girls and one boy.

CHARLES WOGAHN, farmer, Section 3, P. O. Fulton; is a native of Prussia, Germany, was born in 1845, came to America in 1855 with his father Frederick Wogahn, who located on Section 12, Freedom Township, in 1859, having stopped in Wisconsin awhile. When only fourteen years of age, he served in Fort Scott in the State Militia, and in 1871 he bought this farm, at first of eighty acres, now having 406 acres, raising stock and grain, having this year (1882) an excellent crop of grain. In 1871, he married Miss Grunwold; they have four children--Heman, Ida, William and Eddie. Mr. Wogahn's father and mother are still alive, aged respectively sixty-five and sixty-eight, now living on the old place; they are Lutherans in belief.

FREDERICK WOGAHN, farmer, Section 12, P. O. Fulton, native of Prussia, Germany, born in 1817; he was raised a farmer in the old country, and his wife, formerly, Miss Mena Adams, was educated as a cloth weaver; they emigrated to America in 1855 and located in Wisconsin where they engaged in farming until the year 1859, when they moved to Kansas and took a farm on Section 12, 160 acres, which they farm successfully. In 1860, the dry year in Kansas they suffered greatly, and Mrs. Wogahn, her brother and son Charles, hauled a load of provisions from Wyandotte for the relief of the famishing; at another time her son, brother and another boy hauled provisions from Atchison; of all the aid brought from these places, they received but one half sack of flour, and during the Price raid, they lost their horses and other valuables. In 1840, Mr. Wogahn, and has had a family of four children, three of them now alive and one deceased.

A. J. WOOD, physician and surgeon, native of Paris, France, born 1844, he came to America with his parents in 1847 and located in Kentucky. Here in 1864, he commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Ford, of Georgetown, Scott County. The winter of 1864-65 he attended the Ohio Medical College, and graduated from the Indiana Medical College, in 1872. He had excellent and valuable experience in the hospital at Lexington, Ky., in 1865, where he went from the Ohio Medical College. In 1869, he went to Fort Scott and practiced with Dr. Hogan, and in 1872, went to Fulton, where he has a good practice. In 1876, he married Miss Delia Randall. They have three children, two boys and one girl. The Doctor's parents were both of French parentage.