LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, Part 19

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (CRAIG - DUSTIN).

R. B. CRAIG, proprietor of the first soap manufactory established in Kansas. Was born in County Antrim, Ireland. He came to the United States is 1847, and located in Pittsburg, where he became connected with a soap manufactory. In 1857 he moved to Kansas and settled in Leavenworth, establishing his present business. Mr. Craig was married in Pittsburg to Miss Imogene Shawhan, of that place, in 1852. They have five children living.

CHRISTIAN CRECELIUS, general cooperage - brewery and wine work a specialty. Mr. C. was born in Germany, 1839, and learned his trade there at the age of seventeen. In 1864 he came to America and settled here and has successfully carried on his business here since. In 1869 he married Miss Lucy Goodale, who was born and reared in New Jersey. They have one son and two daughters - Theodore, Eda and Lucy.

JOHN CRETORS, proprietor and owner of the Buckeye Carriage Factory, was born and reared in Lebanon, Ohio, and took up the trade of carriage painter there, at the age of fourteen, in 1836, and followed it successfully till the breaking out of the war, when his attention was given more to the defense of his country, and July 21, 1862, he took an active part and enlisted in Company B, Seventy-Ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as Lieutenant of Company B, and shortly after as Captain of same Company, with which (after resigning once on account of disabilities and sickness) he remained till the end of the war, when he was honorably discharged. After the war, he returned to his home, and soon after came here. In 1868, he began the present business, which he has very successfully carried on since. In 1843, he married Miss Maria Beachey, a native of Pennsylvania. They have two sons and three daughters. The Buckeye Carriage Factory was established here in 1868, by Mr. John Cretors, who has so enlarged upon it to give it a growth from $10,000 per annum, to that of $45,000 per annum. Mr. Cretors is fully alive to the progress and improvement of the times, and in this line of light carriages, buggies, and track wagon, of which he makes a specialty, he deserves a claim to public favor.

L. M. CRETORS, bookkeeper, and organizer and leader of Cretors' Band is a native of Lebanon, Ohio, where he was in early life engaged at the mercantile business as a clerk. In 1865, and at the age of seventeen, he came here with his people, who settled here, and engaged at the trade of carriage painting, which he subsequently abandoned, and accepted a position with the Great Western Manufacturing Company as assistant bookkeeper. After an honorable connection with this company of four years, he accepted the position of bookkeeper and cashiership of the Citizens' Gas Light Company of St. Jo., Mo., and remained in this position for a term of four years, returning here in 1876, to accept his present position as head bookkeeper with Kelly & Lyle, which incumbency he still holds. January 19, 1881, he married Miss Ellen Coan, of Leavenworth who departed this life, aged twenty-four years, February 14, 1882. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery here, leaving one little girl, Carrie Ellen. In September, 1880, Mr. Cretors organized what is now so well and favorably known as Cretor's Band, as a quartette with four musicians, and in the October following, their success being so marked, they organized as a sextette, and purchased instruments accordingly. Since this, his band has prospered, and to-day numbers nineteen skilled musicians and a drum major, finely equipped, and uniformed superbly. The instruments are all first-class, and furnished by C. G. Conn, of Elkhart, Ind. At a cost of $1,000. The uniforms are extra handsome, and aggregate a cost of $1,000; altogether making this organization one of the many fine enterprises of Leavenworth, of which Mr. Cretors may justly feel proud. An important event in the history of this band was its engagement to play, during the summer season of '82, at the Montezuma Hot Springs of Las Vegas, New Mexico, which they very reputably closed in September, returning here, with the highest encomiums of the press and the people with whom they met.

JOSHUA H. CREW came to Kansas in August, 1857. He located in Leavenworth and took a position as clerk at the Mansion House, which he occupied until the spring of 1859, when he became interested in mining business and went to Colorado and remained until the spring of 1863. He was then appointed military store keeper at Ft. Scott, which position he held until the post was discontinued in 1865. In the mean time (February, 1863,) he with his brother, J. S., and E. J. Morgan established a retail book business, under the firm name of Crew & Morgan. Crew and Brother purchased Mr. Morgan's interest in 1875. The business has increased from $3,000 per annum to about $125,000, the sales now extending to Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Missouri. Mr. Crew is a native of Jackson Township, Tippecanoe Co., Ind. He was born June 6, 1834, and lived in his native place until he was fifteen years of age, being educated at South Salem Academy, Ohio. From the age of fifteen until he came to Leavenworth, his home was at Burlington, Iowa.

GEORGE M. CRILLY, hack-driver, came to Kansas in 1870. He afterward traveled about two years, and returned and located in business in Leavenworth, about four years since. He lived in Lawrence for a short time, and has been engaged in the butcher business part of his time. Mr. Crilly is a native of Indiana, and lived in that State over sixteen years. He has also lived in Chicago, and traveled in different states. He was born October 14, 1853, and was married in Leavenworth, August 12, 1878, to Miss Christina Elob, who was born in Sweden. They have had four children - two are now living, Elob A. and Marquis A. Mr. Crilly is one of the leading men in his business in Leavenworth, and keeps good horses and carriages and hacks for the accommodation of the public. He is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, also the Knights of Pythias.

H. CRONEMEYER, proprietor of American Bakery, and dealer in confectionery, fruits, etc., is a native of Germany, and came to America in 1854, at the age of five years, with his people, who settled in Pennsylvania. In 1867, he located in Kansas, and followed his business of painting till within a few years, when he engaged in the mercantile business, with which he has been actively identified since. In 1872, he married Miss Aletha Powell, a native of Kentucky. They have two sons, Louis and Earl.

CHAS. R. CROUSE, deputy clerk of the district court, came to Leavenworth in December, 1863. After leaving school he was employed in the office of George S. Nellis, then for a short time with the Kansas Insurance Company. He was promoted to his present office, January 8, 1877, and has continued in the position to the present time.

DENNIS CROWLEY, plumber, water, steam and gas fitter; business established in 1871. Since that time has been actively engaged, making a speciality of water fittings. He has performed some of the largest works in town, among which we may mention the Missouri valley Life Insurance Block - gas and steam; St. Marys College; the residence of L. T. Smith, Esq., and has done all the work, for nine years, for Mr. Caldwell. Mr. Crowley was born in the city of Cork, Ireland. He was apprenticed to the plumbing trade when very young, serving about five years. In 1866, he emigrated to the United States. He worked at his trade for a time in New York City. In March, 1867, enlisted in the United States army, for three years. Was attached to the Third Infantry, and served on the plains in campaigns against the Indians under Gen. Reno and Gen. Sully. Was discharged at Fort Leavenworth. In 1870, and shortly afterward started present business. Mr. C. was married in Leavenworth, Kan., In 1870, to Miss Ann Carroll, of that city. They have four children - John, Mary, Kate, and Margaret.

D. G. CULP came to Kansas and located at Walnut Township, Atchison Co., in the fall of 1866, remaining at that place engaged in farming until 1872. He then moved to Leavenworth and started a retail grocery business, which he continued until March, 1880, when he went to Deadwood, Dak., and spent a season for the benefit of his health, returning the following winter. The summer of 1881 he spent as trader on a line of boats running between Bismarck, Dak., and Benton. March 1, 1882, he entered into partnership with Lewis Mayo, under the firm name of Lewis Mayo & Co. He was born in Andrew County, Mo., June 3, 1843. In 1862 he went to Denver, Col., and remained in Denver and vicinity until he settled in Kansas. He was married in Andrew County, Mo., September 27, 1866, to Elizabeth Langford, a native of that county. Me. C. is of I. O. O. F. Lodge and Encampment.

VERY REV. JOHN F. CUNNINGHAM, Vicar General of the Diocese, is a native of Ireland. He was born in County Kerry, Province of Munster. Received a preliminary education in Ireland, and continued his studies in Kansas, where he settled in 1860. Two years later he entered the Seminary of St. Francis of Sales, near Milwaukee, Wis. Was ordained Deacon, Public Deacon and Priest, by Archbishop Henni, at Milwaukee. In July, 1865, he returned to Kansas, where he engaged in missionary work. His residence was at Fort Scott, with a filed of labor containing six counties in Kansas and Missouri. He remained at this post about three years. Was then installed Pastor of Lawrence, Kan., where he built the Church of St. John the Evangelist, with adjoining residence. Three years later was detailed on special duties in the interest of the Diocese, the principal being travels in the Eastern States soliciting relief for the church debt and the Kansas sufferers. Returned to Kansas in 1876, and the same year was installed Pastor at Topeka, where he built the Church of the Assumption. Was appointed Vicar General in January, 1861. Took present charge in the spring of 1882.

CHARLES CURRIER was born in Dresden, Ohio, February 27, 1841. He is the son of Cyrus F. Currier, who located in Leavenworth in October, 1855, and resided in the city for several years, engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was afterwards a merchant in New York City, that being his home at the time of his death, which occurred June 9, 1865, in Marietta, Ohio. His son, Charles Currier, lived in Dresden, his native place, until 1845, when the family removed to Indiana, and there remained until they came to Kansas. Mr. Currier has been for three years deputy city clerk; two years, county clerk; deputy clerk of criminal court, three years, and has served as sheriff. He is now traveling salesman for wholesale houses. He was married in Leavenworth, June 19, 1873, to Elizabeth Smith, a native of Dresden, Ohio.

CORNELIUS W. CURTAN, Register of Deeds, was born in Columbus, Ohio, March 15, 1852, and in 1857 removed with his parents, John and Ellen Curtan, to Leavenworth, where they still reside. He was educated in the public and private schools of Leavenworth, and at the Commercial College in the same city. Before leaving school he served as city weighmaster, and was elected Register of Deeds in the fall of 1879, re-elected in the fall of 1881. He was married at Leavenworth, June 13, 1881.

C. F. W. DASSLER, attorney, located at Salina, Kansas, in June, 1868, and removed from that place to Leavenworth in 1873. Since his residence there he partially devoted himself to the compilation of law digest, and works of similar character, among which are Dasslers Kansas Statutes, 1876, Compiled Laws of Kansas 1879, under act of the legislature, Kansas Digest, 1880, Kansas Practice and Readings, 1880, Kansas Reports, volumes one and two (Dasslers edition), and other books.

G. H. DAVIS, superintendent of Great Western Manufacturing Company, was born in East Cambridge, Mass., April 16, 1838. His parents moved to Beverly, Mass., about 1842. In 1847 returned to Cambridge, Mass., and two years later finally settled in Beverly until 1851. They then moved west and settled in Alton, Ill. The subject of our sketch received a partial education in Massachusetts, finishing his studies in Alton, Ill. At the age of fifteen was apprenticed to the machinist trade, serving three years. He then passed one year under instruction, in the city of Boston, Mass. The death of his father about this time compelled him to take charge of an extensive pork packing establishment which they had been operating. The whole charge of the works, employing a force of eighty men, was thrown upon his shoulders. He did this successfully until about 1860, when he sold out and removed to Kansas. He settled in Leavenworth, where he engaged with the Great Western Foundry. A short time afterward returned to Alton, Ill. For about two years he had charge of two bridges and fences on the C. & A. R. R. He was superintendent of J. Lums Pork Packing establishment, of Springfield, Ill., the winter of 1860-61, where they packed 60,000 hogs that season. He then took a position as foreman in the foundry of Dumford & Brooks. About two years later Mr. Davis bought out Mr. Brooks, and the works were operated by Dumford & Davis until destroyed by fire in 1868. Mr. Davis then returned to Leavenworth to take his present position. He was married in Alton, Ill., December 14, 1862, to Miss Annie S. Mather, of Alton. Mr. Davis is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F., was a founder of Mechanics Lodge No.89, of Leavenworth, is a member of the Grand Lodge of Kansas, and of the Encampment in Illinois. He is a member of Neligh Lodge No. 1285, of K. of H.

WILLIAM DAVIS dealer of agricultural implements, came to Leavenworth in 1866, and was engaged in the hardware trade until 1875, when he commenced his present business. He was born in Delaware County, Pa., December 20, 1840, and when fourteen years of age removed to Lancaster County, in the same State, where he lived until he came to Leavenworth. He was married near Oxford, Chester County, Pa., October, 1866, to Isabella Holmes, a native of Chester County. They have two children - Carrie H. and Edwin W. He is a member of K. of P., K. of H., A. F. & A. M., and Kansas Benevolent Society.

JOHN DECKELMAN, jeweler, was born in Bavaria, September 9, 1814. He came to America in 1852, and first located in Weston, Mo., where he remained until he came to Kansas and located at Leavenworth, in 1858. He was married in Bavaria, to Barbara Koestner, a native of that country. They have eight children - John C., Andrew, Pauline, Henry, Anna, Charles, Frank and Isabelle. Mr. D. is a member of the Turners Society. John C. Deckleman, son of the above, was born in Bavaria, July 16, 1847. He came to America in 1852, and has been associated with his father as watchmaker and engraver since he was a boy. He was married in Leavenworth, December 25, 1871, to Carrie Schwere, of Missouri. They have three children - Pauline, and E. Ulgar and Allice, twins. Mr. J. C. Deckelman is a member of the K. of P.

JOSEPH DICKMANN, is employed as foremen in Kelly & Tyles furniture factory. He came to Kansas in June, 1870, and has been in his present business since he located in Leavenworth. He is a native of Germany, and was born in 1846; was married to Matilda Klamet, of the city of Leavenworth, in July 1878. Mrs. Dickman was born in Germany, and has two children - Joseph A., and Thena. Mr. Dickman has been superintendent of the furniture factory for eight years.

ELISHA DIEFENDORF, City Engineer and Deputy County Surveyor, was born in Middlefield, Montgomery County, N. Y., September 4, 1832. He was educated in the schools of his native place, and in Charlotteville College, N. Y., receiving instruction in surveying from a private tutor. He moved to Kansas in June, 1855, and was engaged on the first Government survey in Kansas, which started July 16, 1855. He remained in the Government surveyors office until 1858, and was afterwards connected with the surveys under the different surveyors, being connected with the last as well as the first State surveys, and also with the county surveys. He was married in Leavenworth, December 20, 1865, to Augusta M. Hallenbeck, a native of Springfield, Ohio. Their five children are Zella, Benjamin, Henry, Fred and Frank. Mr. D. is a member of Leavenworth Lodge No. 2., A. F. & A. M.

GEROGE DIETRICH, meat market business established 1870. Mr. Dietrich is a native of Germany, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, 1840. In 1859 he came to America, and settled here in 1861, where he learned his present business, which he has very ably carried on since. In 1871 he married Miss Elise Kraft, of his native country. They have a family of four daughters - Annie, Eda, Emma and an infant. Mr Dietrich first began business here in 1868 as partner, but in 1870 bought the entire business, which he has ably carried on since. During the war he did service in the State militia, and has since been an active worker in the social life of the place since coming here.

WILLIAM DILL, County Attorney, was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, April 16, 1846. He was educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, from which he graduated in 1866. He red law with Hon. James H. Thompson, of Hillsboro. He was admitted to the bar April 14, 1868, at Washington, Lafayette County, Ohio, and commenced and continued the practice of his profession in his native town until he emigrated to Kansas, September 22, 1869, when he located in Leavenworth, and has since been in active practice in the city. He was Deputy County Attorney form January, 1871, to January, 1873, and in the fall of 1880, was elected County Attorney, entering upon the duties of his position in January, 1881. He was married in Leavenworth, May 20, 1875, to May E. Ralston, a native of Warsaw, Ill., and daughter of William H. Ralston, who settled in Leavenworth in 1856, and now resides three miles east of Fairmount. Mr. and Mrs. Dill have two children - Virginia and Ralston. Mr. D. is a member of the Kansas Benevolent Society, of K. of H. and K. of P.

PROF. JOHN DOTTER, principal of the German-English school, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1825, and was educated to his profession in the seminary of Alzdorf. After following his profession in his native country until 1850, he left in consequence of the revolution, and came to America, and settled in Philadelphia, where he was engaged in the mercantile business until 1858, when he came here and located, and followed merchandising until 1861, when he accepted the principalship of this school, and held it until 1864, after which he engaged again in the mercantile business, and after prosecuting it until 1875, he retired from it and has filled the present incumbency since. In 1852 he married Miss Louisa Marie Young, a native of Philadelphia, and a descendant of an Alsatian family. They have three sons and three daughters - Emily Louisa, Albert Robert, Clara Josephine, Gustav Heinrich, Ottilee and George. Prof. Dotter has always worked actively in the development of the social and public life of Leavenworth since coming here. In 1859 he assisted materially in the organization and establishment of the schools; was a member of the city board of aldermen in 1863-64, and was three years a member of the public school board. In 1869 he established the Sick Relief Society. In 1859 he organized the Maennerchor Society, and was its honored leader for several years. He has been an active member of the K. of P. since 1874, and is at present Ex-Chancellor.

E. L. DOUGHTY, of the firm of Abernathy, Doughty & Hall, came to Kansas in January, 1871, and became salesman in the Leavenworth establishment of Abernathy Bros., at $65 per month continuing with them as an employe, except one year, until he became a member of the firm, April 1, 1880. This establishment employs about thirty-five hands and does a business of $250,000, Messrs Doughty and Hall having charge of the business. The business of the various Abernathy firms, amounts to about $1,250,000 per annum, sales being in fifteen States and Territories. Mr. Doughty is a native of Rush County, Ind., where he was born March 25, 1852. In 1865 he removed to Tennessee, and thence came to Kansas. He was married in Leavenworth, November 24, 1875, to Miss R. Elizabeth Chase, a native of Bloomington, Ind. They have buried a little daughter aged one year, and have two children living - Maud S. and Frank LeRoy. Mr. D. is a member of A. F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., and K. of H.

JOHN C. DOUGLASS, one of the pioneer attorneys and early settlers of Leavenworth, was born at Greenfield, Highland County, Ohio, December 13, 1824. His ancestors were Scotch Presbyterians, coming to America long before the Revolution. His father, Watson Douglass, was a farmer. Mr. Douglass received a common school and academic education in his native State, paying his way by first working on a farm and afterwards teaching school. In the winter of 1850- 51, he rode on horseback from Ohio to Yale College, where he entered the class of 1853, in its sophomore year, and graduated with his class; and from this institution he in 1856 received the honorary degree of Master of Arts. While at college he taught Latin classes in an East Haven grammar school, and traveled extensively in the New England and Middle States in the interest of certain New York publishing houses. After graduating he taught in the South two years, thus making money enough to pay his debts, and to afford him the means to study the law. He sailed in a small schooner from New York to Matagorda, Texas, where he taught a private school one year. After he commenced teaching a second year the city was nearly destroyed by a tornado, and his school was broken up. He then went to New Orleans and taught in the public schools of that city one year, being soon promoted to the position of Principal of the High School in the Third District. While in Texas he had been reading law, and was admitted to the Texas bar on examination at Brazoria, county of Brazos. From New Orleans he made several extended trips through all the Southern States, studying carefully the institutions of the South, and especially that of slavery. In October, 1855, he entered the Law School of Harvard University, and in 1856 received therefrom the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had already made an engagement for the practice of the law with a firm in Cincinnati, Ohio, but the Border Ruffian war was then raging in Kansas Territory, and desiring to help make Kansas a Free State, he gave up his long cherished plans and came to Leavenworth in November, 1856, and thereafter took an active part in many of the exciting events of the Kansas war. The next winter he spent in Western Texas, in the settlement of an estate for parties in Ohio. Returning to Kansas in the spring of 1857, he first pre- empted a quarter section of land in Douglas County, near Willow Springs, and then opened an office in Leavenworth, where he has remained ever since in the practice of the law, and dealing extensively in the city and country real estate. At one time General James H. Lane was his law partner. In the spring of 1857 he superintended the taking of the census of Leavenworth County, under the provisions of the Topeka Constitution, and in the succeeding autumn was elected a member of the Free-state Legislature. In 1859 he was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention that sat at Leavenworth, and framed a Constitution for Kansas, but which was rejected by the people, because of its provisions enfranchising colored men. In the winter of 1859- 60, he was acting County Attorney, and attorney for Charley Fisher, a fugitive slave, and conducted the prosecutions in the celebrated kidnapping cases during which Charley Fisher was held under the Fugitive Slave law, and forcibly rescued by the Abolitionists. At the general election in 1860 he was elected Territorial Superintendent of Common Schools, which office he filled until Kansas was admitted as a State into the Union. He was the first Government Pension Agent in Kansas, appointed in 1861, and holding the office for four years. During the war of the Rebellion he volunteered in the Home Guards on three several occasions, and served brief periods in the army, and was with the Kansas Militia, participating in the campaign against General Price in 1864, in Missouri. In November, 1865, he met with a severe accident, his horse running away and injuring him so seriously as to disable him for any business for more than a year. Mr Douglass was married in Attieborough, Mass., Nov. 1, 1860, to Miss Ellen R. Robinson, of that town. They have had four children, two of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Douglass died November 8, 1880. Their two children are now being educated in New England, Willard R. at Phillips Academy, Andover, fitting for Yale College, and Harriet R., at Attieborough.

EDWARD DOYLE, general groceries, was born near Graig, County Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1824, and came to America in 1851, at the age of 27, and after traveling through the country for several years, partly in the Government employ and partly on his own resources, he settled here in 1863, and carried on the contracting business until 1868, when he accepted a position in the Department Pay Masters office U. S., and remained in the honorable connection with it until 1879, when he resigned his position and engaged at his present business, which he very ably represents. In 1855 he married Miss Julia Dunn, a native of County Wexford, Ireland. They had a family of eight children, two boys and six girls, only three of whom are living, Mary, now Mrs. John J. Koche; Catharine E., and Johanna B.

J. B. DRIESBACH, dealer in confectionery, fruits, oysters and ice cream in its season, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and engaged in the mercantile business there until 1868, when he came her and located and engaged in general merchandising until 1875, when he established he present business which he has very successfully carried on since. In 1865, he married Miss Sarah A. Kuder of his native state. They have a family of three sons and one daughter, Samuel H., Homer J., Joseph and Mary E. Mr. Driesbach did active service in defense of his country in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-Second Pennsylvania Volunteers Infantry, form which he was honorably discharged in 1863 as a non-commissioned officer of his company.

CHARLES H. DURFEE, son of E. H. Durfee, was born in Marrion, Wayne Co., N. Y., January 8, 1855, and came to Leavenworth in 1864. Received his education in the public schools of the city. He started the Leavenworth Bag Manufacturing Company, and carried on the business until September 13, 1874, when he sold out to Mr. Rose, the present proprietor. He soon afterward engaged in the printing business with John C. Ketcheson and remained with him four years, and was then in the cattle business for six years. He has been engaged in his present business since 1881. He was married in St. Joseph, Mo., December 14, 1872, to Emma Woodworth, a native of Aurora, Ill. They have two children - Edwin H. and Lucia M.

ED. C. DUSTIN, dealer in fish, oysters and game, was born in Janesville, Wis., in 1856, and came to Kansas with his people in 1858, who located here, where he was reared and educated. After receiving a thorough course of education in the common schools of this city he engaged at book merchandising as clerk, and continued at it four years, same one year which he spent in a corps of civil engineers upon western surveys. He then accepted a position as traveling salesman for the introduction of school books in the schools of Kansas, and closed a successful and reputable engagement of three years in 1881, when he engaged in the present business which he very ably represents. His past years sales amount to about $10,000, of which he sold 55,000 pounds of fish alone. His market in this respect is furnished with daily shipments from all important points. In connection with the market he has established an elegant oyster parlor, which for neatness and convenience is second to none in the city.