NEMAHA COUNTY, Part 20

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES -- ILLINOIS TOWNSHIP.

HENRY EARL, farmer, Section 26, P. O. Corning, was born in 1826, in York County, Canada. Removed to the State of Ohio in 1838, thence to Laporte County, Ind., thence in 1871 to Kansas; settled on his present farm in 1874, has made all the improvements and developed a pleasant home, commencing with a capital of only $2, when his family numbered ten persons. Mr. Earl has now a grove of about 500 cotton-wood trees and an orchard of seventy-five young apple trees, his farms fenced and paid for and the foundations laid for a prosperous future.

ISAAC FOSTER, farmer, Section 7, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1833, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, and reared there a farmer. He left for the West in 1852, settling in Keokuk County, Iowa. In a year or two he removed to Warren County, Ill., where he engaged in farming for about eighteen years. Beginning life the son of a poor man he had every dollar to earn, and has no mean record to show as a financier, as we now find him on a well improved farm of his own. He came to Kansas in 1868, and not having means to buy, rented a farm (meanwhile taking a homestead which is still his) and finally bought the one on which he now lives. Not a bad showing for a man who began as a farm laborer at low monthly wages thirty years ago. Mr. Foster married in Warren County, Ill., Sarah E. Shaw, and they have eight children: William, George and Milton born in Illinois, Rose A., Calvin, Cyrus, Egar and Alice, born in Kansas.

E. S. GIBSON, farmer, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1824, in Allegheny County, Pa., and grew to manhood there. In February, 1864, he enlisted in Hampton's Artillery and served in Virginia until the end of the Civil War of 1861 - '65. He then returned to Pennsylvania and lived there until 1879, when he settled on his present farm. He built a large and tasteful farmhouse that year, and has since made other permanent improvements, changing the bare prairie to an attractive home. Mrs. Gibson was Mrs. Lucy A. (Ottman) Sams, widow of Josiah Sams, a gallant Kansas soldier who died at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., during the Rebellion. He left two children, Addie and Josiah, by a now deceased wife (Rachael Ritchie). Mr. Gibson has six children - Mary A., Keziah E., Eliza, Andrew and John, all now in Pennsylvania.

EDWIN HOLTSLANDER, farmer, Section 13, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1830, in Orange Country, N. Y. Lived in Fishkill, N. Y., until he was nineteen, then took employment on a Hudson River steamer and ran five years. He then married and removed to New York City, entered the transportation business with the Hartford and New Haven Steamship company, and it was thus he was engaged at the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was appointed as Superintendent of Shipment for New York City. During the entire war he had charge of the outside work and charge of everything that went to the front as army supplies. In 1866 he was commissioned as captain and placed in charge of the Government property on David's Island, and although not a book or a figure held him accountable for the thousands of dollar's worth of valuable movable property there, yet bearing in mind the Divine injunction, "Thou shalt not steal," he came out of the office with clean hands and comparatively little money, and the Kansas fever. This was in 1870, and though he has seen many discouragements in Kansas, and seen much of actual poverty, yet he has now a valuable and well-improved farm, a fruitful orchard and all the comforts and conveniences of the Kansas farmer of 1882. He and his wife are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church; he is superintendent of the Sabbath-School, steward, class-leader and Trustee. Mrs. Holtslander was Mary Emma Cary; she was born, reared and married in Dutchess County, N. Y. They have six children - William H., Idella, Edwin G., Eugene C., Nettie S., and Charles A. The eldest was born in Dutchess County, Idella and Edwin G. in New York City, and the others in Kansas.

FRANK A. HURLBURT, farmer, Section 3, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1848, in Lorain County, Ohio, and removed in 1853 to La Salle County, Ill., where he took his first lessons as a thresherman, a vocation he has followed for over twenty years. During the Civil War his proffered enlistment in an Illinois regiment was refused on ground of his youth. In October, 1878, he came to Kansas with his family, two wagons and eight horses, settling where he now lives. He now has 240 acres of land, a good frame house and stockyard, stabling, etc., and still runs his 'Vibrator.' Mrs. Hurlburt was Agnes M. McCannon, of New York, and they have six children - Frank, Charles, William, George, Harry and Wayne. The two youngest born in Kansas.

JACOB JACOBIA, stockdealer, was born in Ghent, Columbia County, N. Y., June 9,1818. He is of German descent, his parents however being New Yorkers. The family removed to Racine County, Wis., in 1843, where he remained until 1857, when he settled in America City, Kansas. He was mail carrier for eight years from America City to Louisville, Atchison and Leavinworth, and later crossed the plains with a small train of his own bound for Denver. Mr. Jacobia says one of the greatest sights he ever saw on the plains, was and expanse of country, thirty miles long, covered with wild buffaloes standing like a forest and so densely crowded that you could not see the ground. In all he crossed the plains eighteen times, and was attacked by Indians, they on one occasion corralling 104 men, fifty teams, and 800 head of cattle near Alkali Station, and holding them there until his men, led by Jacobia as captain, finally drove them off with some hurt. The other encounter was in 1864, at Sand Hills, and all in all, few men have seen more of Indian life and their barbarities, bought the Corning Hotel and settled here. He ran the hotel four years, and rented it and built his pretty home in the village, and has since engaged in speculations in grain and lots. His wife was Jane E. New, of his native town, married June 11, 1839. They have three children living - Josephus, a Kansas farmer, Martha (Mrs. Theodore Eddy, of Pottawatomie County), and William Jacobia, now eighteen years old, and engineer on the C. B. U. P. R. R. Mr. Jacobia is a Democrat and served several years as Justice of the Peace, and was a member with his wife of the Corning Methodist Episcopal Church.

G. H. JOHNSON, postmaster, druggist and real estate agent, was born in 1848, in Unadilla, Otsego County, N. Y., and educated in Unadilla Academy. In January, 1864, he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth New York Volunteer Infantry; served under Gen. Grant on the James River, at Cold Harbor, Weldon Railroad, and was with Gen. Butler at Fort Darling, was discharged in August, 1865; remained in his old home town until 1868, then began the lumber business in Washington, D. C., in company with his father, the firm of William Johnson & Son doing a heavy and prosperous business until unwise endorsements caused their financial ruin in 1878. G. H. Johnson came to Kansas and began his present business in 1880, and with the various lines carried on by him is looked upon as one of the live and stirring young business men of Nemaha County. His wife was Ida M. Andrews, of Delaware County, N. Y., and their only son, Herbert S., was born in Washington, D. C. Mr. Johnson and wife are Methodists, and he a Republican.

JOHN KILMER, farmer, Section 9, P. O. Centralia, was born in Luzerne County, Pa., and as he says, "raised all the way from there to Kansas," where he came with a family in 1860. The next year he located where he now is, his eighty acres having been secured of 'Uncle Sam,' by virtue of a land warrant. His house built in 1861 of lumber hauled from Atchison is still a good home. Mrs. Kilmer was Elenor Gillette, of Genesee County, N. Y. James and Albert, their two eldest children, are dead, while Stephen, Martha, George and Alma survive. Mr. and Mrs. Kilmer belong to the 'Church of God,' of which Mr. Kilmer is a deacon. The Whitehall Society was organized in 1868, the first pastors being the Revs. Dr. Thomas and A. B. Sly.

GEORGE LANGDON, farmer, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1827, in Cornwall, England. Came to America with his parents, Thomas and Jane Langdon, in 1829, settling in Germantown, Pa. He followed the trade of carpenter and joiner in that State until he came to Kansas in 1870. He has since resided as farmer and carpenter in Illinois Township. He married Sarah McCutcheon, who died in June, 1878, leaving four children. The present Mrs. Langdon was Mary A., daughter of John Dabner, deceased. She was born in Kent, England, and came to America in 1855 with her parents, who came from De Kalb County, Ill., in 1859, settling in Illinois Township, Nemaha County, Kas. John Dabner died here in 1868, leaving six children,

MORRISON MACKLEY, farmer, Section 4, O. O. Centralia, was born in 1832, in Jackson County, Ohio. He was reared a farmer, enlisted in 1863 in the One Hundred and Seventy-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served with his regiment in the Army of the Cumberland in and about Nashville, Tenn., taking part in the decisive battle before that city in which the gallant old Gen. Thomas so ruined the hopes of the heroic Hood and his army. In August, 1865, he settled in Missouri, living in Nodaway and Gentry Counties until March, 1871, when he removed his family to Pittsburg, Mitchell County, Kas., his being the second family to settle in that township. His pioneer experiences here are well remembered especially the buffalo shooting from his own door. In August, 1880, he settled in Illinois Township, where he now is. Mrs. Mackley was Mary A. Burke; they have nine children.

JOSEPH McCUTCHEON, farmer, P. O. Centralia, is a son of William McCutcheon, and was born in 1848, in Allegheny County, Pa. When only seventeen, he enlisted in the Sixty- first Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served with the Union Army through the siege of Petersburg and the battles, sorties, explosions, etc., incident thereto. Also in the final scene at Appomatox and in the Grand Review at Washington. From 1865 to 1878 he resided in Pennsylvania, part of the time in Pittsburg, where he followed his trade of plasterer. He has since his settlement in Kansas, in 1878, followed farming in Illinois Township, and has a pleasant home. His wife was Anna Bardoner, and they have five children - Mary E., Catherine and Luella, born in Pennsylvania, and John and Lillie M., born in Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. McCutcheon belong to the United Presbyterian Church.

HUGH ROSS, farmer, Section 16 P. O. Centralia, was born in 1836, in Glasgow, Scotland. At fourteen he emigrated to this country; resided in Kalamazoo County, Mich., till 1860, then went via New York and the Isthmus to California, where he spent eight years mining and teaming. He then returned to Michigan, and in 1869 came to Kansas, settling where he now lives. Has 320 acres on which he commenced when it was perfectly raw, and has made first-class improvements upon it; a good house, barn, yards, stabling, etc. He married in 1870 Miss Mary F. Shaw, and five children, all born in Kansas, composed the family circle. Mrs. Ross is a member of the Church of God, and the family is one universally respected.

GEORGE F. ROOTS, farmer, P. O. Centralia, is a son of Uncle John Roots, a popular pioneer of the same town. The family are English, and came to America about 1850. The son, George F. Root, came with three others to Nemaha County in 1856, from Illinois, and made a claim on the stream named by him, Illinois Creek; having some knowledge of surveying, he and his party, having a compass, ran out their own lines, settled as 'squatters,' and finally bought the land at $1.25 per acre. In 1860 Mr. Roots returned to Illinois and enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Fought at Pea Ridge, Corinth, Perryville, Chickamauga, Peach Tree Creek, and with Sherman to Atlanta. His regiment then turned north with gallant old Thomas, and at the battle of Nashville was nearly annihilated, losing every officer, commissioned and non-commissioned. Mr. Roots coming out from under the war-cloud unscathed, returned to his Kansas farm, and in 1866 married Miss Emma Ensign, of Centralia. They have five children. Mr Roots now has 210 acres, a fine farm naturally and made valuable by his labor and care. Upon this he has two houses, a fine orchard, hedges, etc./ His father, who settled on Illinois Creek in the fall of 1856, is still there, hale and hearty. His wife, formerly Anna Durrant, and himself, celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1880, the event calling together a large turn-out of the oldest and most respected families in the county. John Roots, a Kansas soldier in the Rebellion, was dangerously wounded at Adairsville, Ga., and has since died.

AMOS M. SAMS, Section 9, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1817, in Richland County, Ohio. Left there at the age of twenty-two, lived nine years in Indiana, twelve years in Michigan, and in 1860 brought his family to Kansas. He settled on his present farm in March, 1862, and in August of the same year enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and fought the Missouri and Arkansas Bushwhackers until 1865; was a participant in the battles of Prairie Grove, Cane Hill, etc., and while in the service, gave his family, then on the new prairie farm, a comfortable living by wages sent home. Mr Sams took the farm management at once in his hands at the close of the war, and has made it valuable and productive. He married Nancy Kilmer, of New York, by whom he had ten children - the eldest, Josiah, a volunteer in the Kansas Eighth, died in Leavenworth, leaving a wife and two children; Priscilla Sams married David Hall, a Union soldier, who died at Nashville; Francis Sams died when nine years of age; Ella married Mr Coats, and lives in Ohio; while Hannah, Mrs George Carver, lives in Marshall County, Kan.; James P., Robert, Albert, C. Edward and Sadie, are all living in Nemaha County.

C. E. SAMS, farmer, P. O. Centralia, was born in 1858, in Barry County, Mich., and came to Kansas with his father, A. M. Sams, in 1860, and though then an infant, he is now an old settler. His education, attained in Nemaha County, included among other branches a thorough training in vocal music for which he had a natural aptitude and for the past three winters he has successfully taught a number of classes in this pleasing and useful accomplishment. Mr. Sams has a cosy home about two miles east of Centralia. His wife was Miss Julia Chadwick, daughter of an early settler of Harrison Township, and a native of Clinton County, Pa.

JAMES P. SAMS, farmer, Section 17, P. O. Centralia, born in 1848, in Steuben County, Ind. He accompanied his father, A. M. Sams, to Kansas, in 1860, locating in Nemaha County in 1862. He saw his share of the pioneer privations of the family, and began on his own account in 1870. Was a renter for four years, and then settled where hi now in. He has 200 acres, a good two-story farm-house, a barn, stock-yards, etc. He married in 1870 Minnie Van Loon, of Leeds County, Canada. They have three children - Josephine, James F. and Louis V. Mr. Sams is a Republican and Free Mason, and a member with his wife of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

J. W. STICKNEY, farmer, Section 17, P. O. Centralia, was born January 7, 1832, in Oneida County, N. Y., and is of New England ancestry. His grandfather and father were born in New England, and were early settlers at Booneville, N. Y., where J. W. Stickney was born. He came West to Woodford County, Ill., in 1854, spent five years there as a mercantile clerk, and in 1858 came to Kansas as one of the Home Association. In 1860 he bought his present farm of the Government, and in the fall of 1861 enlisted in the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry. His and his regiment's service was under Rosecrans, the Chattanooga campaign, Sherman on the Atlanta, and Thomas on the Nashville campaigns, and in Texas, where he secured his discharge in 1866. On his return to Kansas, he clerked two years in Seneca for Bolivar Schofield, and then in the spring of 1868 he settled on his farm, and has since resided there. His farm is a valuable one, and has been made attractive by his taste and skill in horticulture, of which he has made a specialty. His orchard comprises 300 trees, and his showing of grapes and small fruits is varied and excellent. He is a Republican, and a member, with his wife, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Stickney was Mary J. Bostian, a native of Tennessee, and their seven children were born in Kansas.

R. T. TOWNSEND, farmer, Section 18, P O Centralia, was born in Providence, N. Y., And learned the carpenter trade in Ulster County, N. Y. In 1870 he came to Kansas and settled where he now is. He has eighty acres of land, a tasteful frame farmhouse, orchard, groves, fencing, etc., most of which has been done by himself and sons, during the present decade. He married Sarah J. Schoonmacher, who was born in Ulster County, N. Y., and they have six children. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

E. S. VERNON, farmer, Section 32, P. O. Corning, is a native of Muskingum County, Ohio where he was reared. In December 1861, he enlisted in the Seventy-eight Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His first introduction to the rebels was at Fort Donelson, thence to Shiloh, siege of Corinth, Bolivar, Inka, Raymond, Champion Hills, and the siege of Vicksburg; helping to undermine Fort Hill. After the surrender of Vicksburg, he was engaged in several raids into Louisiana and Mississippi; took part in Meridian raid, after which the regiment went home on veteran furlough of thirty days; joined General Sherman at Big Shanty, Ga ; Then taking part in the battle of Bushy Mountain, Kenesaw, Nickajack, Atlanta, July 21, 22, and 28; Jonesborough and Lovejoy. After the capture of Atlanta, the regiment went North with General Sherman, after Hood, to near Tennessee, but soon returned to Atlanta, and participated in Sherman's march to Savannah; thence by steamer to Beaufort, S. C., helping capture Pocatallgo, by crossing the Coosa River, in skiffs in the night. Sergeant Vernon was then detailed as Sergeant of a forage squad of thirty men, and in that capacity made frequent raids, sometimes twenty miles from the main army, in search of supplies for the regiment. At the Edisto River, this forage squad took an important part in the capture of the town of Orangeburg. When the army arrived at Fayetteville, N. C., Sergeant Vernon was placed in command of a provost guard of twenty men at brigade headquarters; was at the battle of Bentonville; from thence went to Goldsborough, Raleigh, Petersburg and Richmond, and after participating in the final grand review at Washington, in 1865, he went to Louisville, Ky., where he was mustered out. He again sought the walks of private life, and in 1869 brought his family to Kansas. Mr. Vernon has 240 acres of well-fenced and improved land, his farm house being surrounded by a fine grove and orchard, where twelve years ago was a bare prairie. Mrs. Vernon was Mattie Stiers of Adamsville, Ohio. They have five children - Samuel., Frank W., Newton L., Clara M and Eddie L.

J. H. WALTERS, teacher of the Corning Public School, was born in Rochelle, Olgle County, Ill., in 1852, was educated there, and in Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris, Ill.; taught twenty terms of school in his native State, and in 1878, came to Kansas, where he has taught ten terms additional. His wife was Miss Mittie Peck, whose people settled in 1878, in Corning, coming from Illinois. Her father, Duane Peck, is now farming near Corning.

S. K. WARRENBURG, farmer, Section 12, P. O. Centralia, was born in Fayette County, Ohio, 1850, and is a son of Frederic and Elizabeth Warrenburg, who removed, in 1854, to Indiana and, in 1859 to Champaign County, Ill. S. K. Warrenburg came, in 1870, to Kansas and opened up the farm where his father now lives. His capital was about $500 and plenty of muscle and will-power; to-day we find him on a small but valuable farm, well-fenced and improved, with about $2,000 worth of fat cattle in his yards, besides eight head of horses and mules and seventy-five head of 'stockers.' He married Adabelle Hondyshell, of Miami County, Ind., and they have two children - Ralph H. and Albert W., both born on the Kansas farm. The father and mother of Mr. Warrenburg came to Kansas in 1875.

J. C. WARRINGTON, druggist, was born in 1836, in Union County, Ohio. His parents removed, in 1847, to Jones County, Iowa. Here he enlisted as a private, October, 1861, in the Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and with the Seventeenth Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, fought at Shiloh, Corinth, Iuda, Bolivar, Holly Springs, Vicksburg, Port Gibson, the Shrevesport Campaign, and the raid to Meridian, Miss., and Selma, Ala. He then fought with Sherman, from Rome to Atlanta, and was wounded August 15, 1864, in one of the desperate battles before Atlanta. His honorable discharge dates March 23, 1865, and he is now a pensioner. Since the war he has made various removals in Iowa, and for a time kept hotel in David City, Nebraska. Came to Kansas and Corning in 1881. Mrs. Warrington was Mrs. Jane Layton, formerly of Boston, and this lady is now manager and hostess of the Corning Hotel, the only one in the place.

A. D. WELLS, farmer, P. O. Centralia, was born December 18, 1832, in Susquehanna County, Pa., and is a son of William R. and Betsy Wells, now residents of Seneca. He settled in Illinois about 1848, and came to Kansas in June 1857. A young man alone in life, he took a claim on Hickey Creek, improved it, and disposing of it, removed to Lincoln, then a contestant with Seneca for county-seat honors. After taking an interested part in the contest, and seeing the downfall of his town imminent, he settled on his present well-improved 200-acre farm. He owns besides, twenty acres of timber, and has his orchard, hedges, etc. He has been twice married, the deceased wife being Lucinda Dennis, the present one, formerly, Mrs Catherine M. Sherman. They have five children. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are Methodists, and he is a Republican.