LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, Part 29

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (TALBOTT - VOLZ).

BENJAMIN F. TALBOTT, passenger conductor C., R. I. & P. R. R., was born in Tucker County, W. Va., July 4, 1852. His parents moved to Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1865. In 1866 B. F. returned to Virginia; the following year went to Vermillion County, Ill., and from there back to Van Buren County, Ia. He commenced his railroad life in Iowa. Was first connected with the C., R. I. and P. R. R. in 1872, on the Southwestern Division. Was promoted to conductor in 1875. Has had his present position since July, 1881. Mr. Talbott was married in Leavenworth, in 1878, to Miss Mary C. Dom. of that city. They have one child - Mabel May. Mr. T. is a member of the Conductors' Brotherhood.

BENJAMIN M. TANNER has been a resident of Leavenworth since the fall of 1854, at which time he emigrated to Kansas. Since 1875 he has been engaged in wholesale fruit and produce business, packing apples, and dealing extensively in oranges, lemons, cranberries and cider, shipping fruit not only to Western cities but Iowa and Chicago. Mr. T. was born in Huron County, Ohio, April 11, 1844. When a child he moved with his parents to Nobel County, Ind., which place was his home until he came to Leavenworth. His father, William Tanner, also came to Leavenworth in the fall of 1854, and is still a resident of the city, carrying on an extensive fruit farm adjoining it. Benjamin M. was married in Leavenworth, October 30, 1877, to Emma May Durand, a native of Jonesboro, Ill. They have three children, Evaline Durand, Louise Marie and William Benjamin. Mr. Tanner is a member of the I. O. O. F.

O. B. TAYLOR, was born in Erie County, N. Y., where he lived until 1857, and then removed to Chicago and engaged in the mercantile business in that city for two years. In 1859 he came to Leavenworth where he was in the hardware trade one year, then as bookkeeper in a retail grocery store fourteen months, and was afterward employed as salesman in the wholesale grocery establishment of Nelson McCracken for three years and a half, having an interest in the business for ten months before the death of Mr. McCracken. He was then associated with M. Hageman in the wholesale grocery business under the firm name of M. Hageman & Co. January, 1867, he formed a partnership with Cochran & Bittman under the firm name of Cochran, Bittman & Taylor, which continued until January, 1877. Mr. T. has always been engaged in the mercantile business, but finds time to attend to public duties as well, as is now serving his third term as a member of the School Board.

SQUIRE F. TAYLOR, M. D., was born at Defiance, Defiance Co., Ohio, August 14, 1854. He acquired his education in the public schools of Ohio, Washington D. C., and Leavenworth, Kan., and his medical education was acquired at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, from where he was graduated March 1, 1880. Previous to entering upon the study of medicine he had been engaged in the Governmen (sic) service as Paymaster's Clerk, United States Army, for six years. Began the practice of medicine at Leavenworth, Kan., in the summer of 1880 with Dr. J. W. Brock. Is a member of the Kansas State Medical Association, and is Senior Warden of Leavenworth Lodge No. 2., A. F. & A. M. Was married, May 16, 1882, to Minnie E. Caldwell, daughter of ex-United States Senator Alexander Caldwell; she was born in Columbia, Lancaster Co., Pa.

J. A. THOMAS, merchant tailor, came to Leavenworth in May, 1858, and has been engaged in business in the city since that time. He was born in Buffalo, N. Y., November 19, 1836, and lived in his native city until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Racine, Wis., having previously served an apprenticeship at the tailoring trade in Buffalo. He remained at Racine one year and a half, and afterward lived both in Buffalo and Canada before coming to Kansas. Mr. Thomas was married in Leavenworth, May, 1864, to Agnes Stager, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany. They have eight children; David, Jacob, Agnes, Sophia, Grace, Walter, Edward and Kate.

MOSES SHAW THOMAS, M. D., son of Jacob R. Thomas and Ann (Shaw) Thomas. He was born in Baltimore, Md., January 3, 1830. His father died when he was only six years of age, and he was placed in the care of relatives then living in Virginia, where he was partially educated, subsequently completing a course of medical study at the University of Maryland, at Baltimore. After graduating, he commenced the practice of his chosen profession in the Shennandoah Valley, Virginia, where he remained two years. In 1856 he came to Kansas and settled in Leavenworth, which place has since been his home. During the intervening years he has evinced such ability as to entitle him to rank with the most skillful physicians and surgeons in the West. His professional life in Leavenworth was interrupted by the Rebellion. At its beginning, having been educated in the South, and his sympathies and convictions being with the Confederacy in the pending struggle, he left the position of surgeon at Fort Leavenworth, went to Richmond, Va., and entered the Confederate Army as a surgeon, serving in such capacity in the Army of Northern Virginia until the close of the war. The war being over, he returned to Leavenworth, and resumed the practice of medicine and surgery, which he has continued with marked success up to the present time. Dr. Thomas became a Catholic at the age of eighteen years, and has since remained unswerving in the faith he then embraced. He was married at Leavenworth, April 22, 1868 to Miss Alice A. Clark, daughter of Malcolm Clark. She is of Scotch descent, and was educated at the academy of the Convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, at St. Joseph, Mo. They have four children - Francis Meige, Moses Shaw, Theodore Clark and Genevieve Seraphine.

R. E. THOMAS, Government contractor, is a native of Baltimore, Md., and received his education in the public schools of that city. In 1863, at the age of nineteen, he engaged in the employ of the old Mississippi and Missouri Railroad, now the C., R. I. & P. R. R., as terminal agent, and located at Grinnell, Iowa, and as the road progressed westward he filled his position until 1871, when he arrived here. He continued in his position here until 1878, when he retired from the railway business and engaged at his present business, with which he has been prominently connected since. In December, 1866, he married Miss Minerva E. Yost, of Ypsilanti, Mich., a native of New York State. Their family are - Eugenie, Carrie and Harvey. Mr. Thomas has been an active worker in the development of the social life of this place since locating here. He has been a member of the A. F. & A. M. society since 1876.

REV. W. H. THOMAS, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, came to Kansas in January, 1881, to take present charge. Mr Thomas was born in Swansea, South Wales, in June, 1849. Received a classical education in his native country. In 1866, he came to the United States and settled in New York City, where he entered the Union Theological Seminary, graduating therefrom in 1875. During these years, he visited and preached at Northville, Long Island. Since 1875, Mr. Thomas has been abroad a great deal, traveling for instruction. In 1879, he took charge of the First Congregational Church at Kalamazoo, Mich., where he remained until he moved to Kansas. Mr. Thomas was married in Arcade, Wyoming County, N. Y., May 8, 1873, to Miss Mary Shedd, of Arcade. They have one son, William Shedd.

CHARLES TILLOTTSON, business manager of the Leavenworth Standard, settled in Leavenworth in February, 1869. Until 1876, he was with the Commercial as business manager, and then went to Mattoon, Ill., where he remained until 1879. For the last two years he has been manager of the Press, and since the fall of 1882, manager of the Standard. Mr. Tillottson is a native of Marion, Marion Co., Ohio. He enlisted in Company B, Sixty-Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in October, 1861, and served until August, 1862, when he was discharged on account of disability. He then located in Charleston, Ill., where he remained until he came to Leavenworth, in 1869. He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and K. of H.

WILLIAM N. TODD came to Leavenworth with his parents, Thomas and Susan M. Todd, July 8, 1857. His father was engaged in teaching for a short time, and afterward in agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1860. His mother resides in the city of Leavenworth. William N. was born in West Virginia, near Wheeling, December 1, 1850, and resided in his native town until he came to Kansas. He was educated in the public schools of Leavenworth, and in 1868 entered the employ of Cochran, Bittman & Taylor, first as office boy and was afterward promoted to salesman, in which position he remained eight years, and in 1878 was admitted as a partner of the firm. Mr. Todd is a member of the A. F. & A. M., Leavenworth Lodge No. 2.

HARRY A. TRAVILLION, telegraph operator, Union Depot. Appointed to present position June 10, 1879. Mr. Travillion was born near Sedalia, Mo., September 11, 1858. He was educated at Sedalia and at Otterville, Mo. In 1875, he commenced telegraphing at Otterville, Mo., in the depot of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Afterward held positions at different points on that road in Missouri, until he moved to Leavenworth to take his present position. Mr. T. is a member of Metropolitan Lodge No. 27, and Far West Encampment No. 1. I. O. O. F.

GEORGE UMMETHUN, druggist, came to Leavenworth in April, 1859, and engaged in the drug business as one of the firm of W. H. Coolidge & Co., Mr. Coolidge residing in Cincinnati, Ohio. The firm was dissolved in 1866, it being known during the two last years of its existence as Coolidge & Ummethun. Mr. Ummethun was Mayor of the city 1877-1879, a member of the Common Council in 1863 and 1864, and has been three years President of the German Bank, which he organized. He was born in Furstenau, Hanover, Germany, December 15, 1834. He came to America in 1849 and located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned the drug business at which he has been continuously engaged for over thirty-two years. He was married in Leavenworth, October 25, 1865, to Martha Augusta Austin, a native of Huron County, Ohio. They have two children, Josie and Leona.

L. V. URTON, M. D., is a native of Greensboro, N. C., where he was born April 3, 1837. His parents resided in that State until 1839, when they came west, and finally settled in Clarksville, Tenn. Here Doctor Urton received his early education, and commenced the study of medicine, after which he came to Lawrence, Kan., in the year 1857, but remained there only a short time, when he returned to Murray, Ky., and practiced medicine there until 1863. In this year, he entered the medical department of the United States Army as an assistant surgeon. In March, 1865, he returned to Leavenworth, where he has since resided. He was married, August, 17, 1865, to Lydia W. Urton, of Leavenworth, who is a native of Kentucky, and the daughter of one of the early pioneer Methodist preachers of the West. Dr. Urton is a member of the United Baptist Church, and has retired from the practice of medicine, and resides on his fine farm in Salt Creek Valley, two miles from Fort Leavenworth, and four miles from the city of Leavenworth. The farm is in a high state of cultivation, and ranks among the best of the farms in that beautiful valley. The orchard on the place covers one acre of land, and contains 200 apple, peach, pear, and cherry trees; also a vineyard, and a variety of other small fruits. The water supply is excellent, there being a fine spring and two large cisterns on the property. Dr. Urton devotes his attention to raising grain and fine hogs. His dwelling is an elegant French cottage, with all the modern improvements, surrounded by a spacious lawn, handsomely laid out and filled with trees and an almost endless variety of choice shrubbery and rare plants. The farm buildings consist of a large barn and all other necessary out-buildings.

GEORGE VANDERWERKER was born at Wilton, Saratoga Co., N. Y., September 20, 1850. In 1866, he went to New York City, where he was employed in the Importers and Traders' Bank, remaining thirteen years with that institution; at the expiration of that time, in June, 1879, he came to Kansas and, locating at Leavenworth, became connected with the First National Bank of that city. In January, 1880, he was elected Assistant Cashier of the institution, which position he now holds. He was married in Leavenworth, September 14, 1879, to Miss Kate Scott, sister of Lucien Scott of that city.

AUGUSTUS C. VANDUJYN, M. D., came to Fort Scott, Kan., in July, 1863, having charge of the Fort Hospital until May, 1865. He was then stationed at St. Louis on duty until December, 1865, when he located in Leavenworth, where he has been engaged in practice to the present time; as Acting Assistant Surgeon United States Army most of the time since 1870. He is a native of Seneca County, N. Y., and attended school at the Seneca Falls Academy two years. He then entered Hamilton College, and graduated from that institution in the class of 1857, and from the Medical Department of Michigan University in 1862; in April, 1862, he was made Contract Surgeon; October 4, 1862, Assistant Surgeon United States Volunteers; December 1, 1863, Surgeon, with rank of Major; and March 26, 1866, brevett d Lieutenant Colonel, for faithful and meritorious service. He is a member of A. F. & A. M.; and of the State, and Eastern District Medical Societies.

VOGEL BROS., manufacturers of packing and cigar boxes. The business was established in 1869, by Jacob Vogel. The firm was changed to J. Vogel & Sons in 1879, and on the death of the father, October 23, 1881, the present firm was organized. They employ twenty-five hands, and do a business of about $50,000 yearly. John C. Vogel, of the above firm, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, June 2, 1856; came to Kansas with his parents in 1858. He received his schooling in Leavenworth, and then began reading law with F. P. Fitzwilliam. Was admitted to the bar in May, 1877, and practiced his profession until he entered the present firm. Mr. Vogel is a member of Metropolitan Lodge, No. 27, I. O. O. F. William F. Vogel was born in Cleveland, Ohio, May 2, 1857. He came to Leavenworth with his parents in 1858. He was married in Leavenworth, Kan., January 5, 1881, to Miss Annie Schindling, of that city. They have one child, Lotta. George W. Vogel was born in Leavenworth, Kan., December 20, 1860. Henry C. Vogel was born in Leavenworth, February 1, 1863. Fred H. Vogel was born in Leavenworth, December 22, 1866.

JOHN VOGEL, proprietor Eagle Mills. The mills were built by Mr. Vogel during the winter of 1881-'82, and opened the spring of 1882. They are operated by steam power; have two run of stone, and are devoted to the manufacture of feed and flour. John Vogel was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, June 5, 1841. His parents came to the United States in 1850, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. They moved to Kansas in 1858, and settled in Leavenworth. The subject of this sketch learned the carpenter's trade in Cleveland, and worked at his trade in Leavenworth. In 1860, he went to Colorado, where he engaged in mining and carpentering until 1864. He then returned to Leavenworth, where he engaged in contracting and building, employing at one time about twelve men. In 1866, he opened a grocery store, continuing in this business until 1878. From that time until he built the Eagle Mills, was engaged in grain business. Mr. Vogel is a member of the Sick Relief Association of Leavenworth.

VOLZ BROS., pork and beef packers; business established in 1866, by John Volz. Present firm organized in 1880. They are engaged in both salting and smoking beef and pork; employ ten to twelve hands, and pack about 400 barrels of beef and 4,000 to 5,000 head of hogs annually. Peter Volz, of above firm, was born in Hessheim, Germany, September 5, 1847. He came to the United States in 1859, and settled in St. Louis, where he learned the trade of carriage and wagon maker. In 1869, he went to California, where he worked at his trade until 1870, then settled in Leavenworth, Kan., where he became connected with his brother in meat market and packing. Mr. Volz was married in Leavenworth, Kan., January 14, 1871, to Miss Lizzie Schafer, of that city. They have three children - Annie, Peter, Jr., and Adolph. Mr. V. is a member of Concordia Lodge, No. 8, K. of P., and of the Sick Relief Association.