SUMNER COUNTY, Part 16

LONDON TOWNSHIP.

HIRAM HITCHCOCK, farmer and stock raiser, Section 13, P. O. London, was born in the Province of Quebec, in 1840. He was reared a farmer and educated in the common schools, with the exception of one term at the academy in the village of Compton. At seventeen years of age he went South, where he remained for three years, when he returned to Canada. In the fall of 1864 he set out for Colorado, stopping for a time in Atchison. He remained in Colorado one year, working in quartz mills and doing some gulch mining. He then returned eastward as far as Iowa. In the winter of 1867 he again went West, and was in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming Territories, until the completion of the Union Pacific & Central Pacific Railroad. Here he formed a co-partnership with J. H. Wemple, for the purpose of engaging in the Texas cattle trade, and in the spring of 1869 went to Abilene, on Smoky River. On arriving there, they soon concluded that their capital was insufficient, and instead of going to Texas for cattle, they bought a mower and cut and put up about 1,000 tons of hay. They sold $1,200 worth of hay, and wintered over 400 head of cattle, for which they received about $2,400. On closing out the hay business, the firm of Hitchcock & Wemple was dissolved. In the spring of 1870 he was located on the Cow Skin on the Twenty-mile Cherokee Strip, Sedgwick County, with the intention of raising cattle, but greatly to his surprise, before another winter set in, about all the lands between the Cow Skin and Ninnescah rivers were taken up by settlers. He went west into London, on what was known as the Thirty Mile Cherokee Strip, lands not yet surveyed, where he took a squatter's claim, cutting hay and feeding stock for a year, when he pre-empted 160 acres in Section 4. In 1871 he and his brother herded stock. Mr. Hitchcock has his farm well improved, and has some fruit trees, and a lot of beautiful forest trees around his house. His crop of 1882 was 1,000 bushels of wheat, 2,000 bushels of corn, and $2,500 worth of cattle and hogs, and has some hogs on hand. In 1872 Mr. Hitchcock married Mrs. Spencer. Mrs. Hitchcock had one child by her former husband, named Libby, after Libby Prison, where her father had been confined six months. He was also in Andersonville Prison. Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock have five children - Edwin Nelson and Elsie Nettie twins; Mary Alice, Emma Louisa, and William C. Mr. Hitchcock has recently completed one of the finest farm residences in Sumner County.

G. E. HOWE, farmer, Section 7, P. O. London, was born in Ohio in 1848. When he was seven years old his parents moved to Iowa, where he lived till he was twenty-five years of age. He was reared a farmer and educated at the common schools. In 1878 he located in the township of Belle Plaine, where he and his brother took 160 acres of land in Section 7, which was afterward divided equally. In connection with his eighty, he rents fifty acres, and his crop for 1882 was about 2,000 bushels of corn, 270 bushels of wheat, and about $500 worth of hogs. He has on his place seventy apple and 100 peach trees. He is a School Director, and was in Iowa a School Director and Road Commissioner. Was married to Miss C. M. Lucas, of Iowa, in 1870, and has three children; Aubin J., Burt and Minnie M. Mrs. Howe is a member of the Christian Church.

RICHARD JOHNSON HUKLE, farmer and proprietor of Woodland Farm, northeast quarter of Section 3, Township 30, Range 1, west of London Township (by name) P. O. Boon. Was born near Winchester, Clark Co., Ky., November 7, 1841, where he lived until he was fifteen years old when he and his mother, sisters and brother moved to Buckeye, Garrard County, Ky. Having lost his father he early became the only support of his mother, sisters and brother, and consequently was unable to pay much attention to his education, his educational privileges being limited to the common schools of Kentucky, which State at that time boasted a very imperfect school system. October 28, 1861, he enlisted in the First Kentucky Federal Cavalry, Company G, and served more than three years, being mustered out in 1864. At the siege of Knoxville, Tenn., he was taken prisoner and confined in Libby, Belle Island, and Andersonville prisons for one year and sixteen days, at the end of which time he was exchanged. After being mustered out of the army he returned home and engaged in farming. In 1871 he removed to what was afterwards called London Township, Sumner Co., Kas. (sic), arriving on the 22d of April, 1871, where he pre-empted 160 acres of land, being the northeast quarter of Section 3, Township 30, one west. He subsequently added by purchase 160 more, all of it being in a high state of cultivation, and is surrounded with hedge, board and wire fences. He has recently built on of the finest and most substantial farm residences in Sumner county, and which is completely surrounded by fine trees. He has 320 apple, 5,000 peach, and twenty acres of forest trees, included in which are about 5,000 walnut trees, part of which are in bearing. Should walnut continue to be the favorite wood for articles of manufacture, within the next fifty years his walnut timber will be worth $400,000. His crop of 1882 was 4,000 bushels of corn, 1,220 bushels of wheat, and $2,000 worth of hogs. He has on hand 75 hogs and 20 head of cattle. He is Clerk of his school district. On the 14th of August, 1866, he was married to Miss Mary A. Noel, of Buckeye, Garrard Co., Ky., by whom he has had seven children, Jennie, Frank, Ella, Leonie, Garfield and two infants unnamed, are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Hukle are both members of the Christian Church. Woodland Farm, considering the short time since it was wild prairie, is a charming place, and one that its proprietor may be justly proud of.

JAMES A. MORGAN, farmer and stock raiser, Section 5, P. O. Clear Water, was born in Pennsylvania in 1830. When he was eleven years of age his parent removed to Illinois. His education was obtained in the common schools. He learned the machinist's trade, and worked till 1856, when he engaged in farming. In 1875 he moved to Kansas, where he bought 400 acres of land in Section 5. He has a hedge all around his farm, and 250 acres under cultivation. He has 100 apple and 400 peach trees, also 400 forest trees. In 1882 he raised 5,000 bushels of corn, 1,300 bushels of wheat, and sold 50 hogs. Mr. Morgan has recently built a fine two-story house. He was married, in 1851, to Miss Sarah A. Hawkins, of Illinois, by whom he has seven children - Hugh B., Agnes, Luis, Woodford, Augustus, George H. and Archie H. His daughter Agnes has been a school teacher, and Hugh B. has taught music. Luis has recently returned home from a nine-months' course at the Paola Business College. Hugh B. attended the Wesleyan University of Bloomington, Ill.

NEUMAN P. TUTTLE, farmer and stock raiser, Section 19, P. O. London, was born in Indiana, in 1845, reared in the agricultural profession, and educated at the common schools. He enlisted in the Eleventh Indiana Cavalry, Company F, where he served three years. He was in the battles of Atlanta, Nashville, Selma, Montgomery, and a number of important skirmishes. After the close of the war he was on the plains in Gen. Cook's command in the department of the Mississippi, and was mustered out in July, 1865. In 1880 he bought eighty acres of land in Section 19. Mr. Tuttle is a model farmer, having brought his farm to a high state of cultivation. He has 250 peach, seventy-five apples trees and a variety of small fruits, and 1,500 forest trees. His crop for 1882 was 3,600 bushels of corn, 300 bushels of wheat, and about $990 worth of hogs. He was married to Miss Eliza Patterson, of Danville, Ill., in 1878, and has one child, May.

CHARLES WICHERN, farmer, Section 6, Township 30, Range 1 west, P. O. Clearwater, Sedgwick County, was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1839. Is a son of Johann Hinn and Amanda Wichern, single. Came to Kansas in May, 1870; located on the farm where he now resides; owns 320 acres of land, and is engaged in farming and stock raising. Was one of the first settlers in what is now London Township. Is a member of the School Board. Came from Germany to the United States in 1869.

T. L. WILLIAMS, farmer, Section 19, P. O. London, was born in Tennessee, in 1844. He was reared as a farmer and educated at the common schools. He enlisted in the First Tennessee Cavalry, Company D, and was in the battles of Nashville, Chickamuauga, Franklin, Knoxville Cumberland Gap and various other battles and lively skirmishes. At the battle of Cumberland Gap he was taken prisoner, but not transferred to the authorities; was mustered out in 1865, when he returned home and followed farming and railroading until 1882, when he settled in the township of London, November 30, having bought eighty acres in Section 19, which was partly improved and fenced with hedge and wire. The crop of 1882 was 1,500 bushels of corn, 500 bushels of wheat and about $300 worth of hogs. He has on his place 100 fruit trees. Mr. Williams is a Mason and was a Granger, master of Grange, one year. He was married to Miss Lucy A. Smith, of Whitesburg, Tenn., in 1874, by whom he has four children, Willie P., Georgie (a girl), Johnny and Lida, Johnny being deceased. Mrs. Williams has taken all the degrees in the Masonic Order that allowed to ladies.

MISCELLANEOUS.

SAMUEL BAIN, farmer and carpenter, Section 8, Avon Township, P. O. Wellington, was born in Jefferson County, Ind., in 1823. He was reared a farmer and learned the carpenter's trade. His educational advantages were limited to the common schools. In 1856 he moved to Iowa, where he engaged in farming and also working at his trade. In 1863 he enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, in which he served till the close of the was, being mustered out in 1865. Returning to his home in Iowa, he resumed his old occupation. In 1871 he moved to Avon, Sumner County, Kan., were he bought 160 acres of land in Section 8. H now has eighty acres under cultivation and balance in grass, with some hedge and wire fence. He has about 200 apple and peach trees and some small fruits, especially gooseberries, which are very fine. His other improvements consist of a comfortable house, barn, corn-cribs, etc. In 1882 he raised 1,250 bushels of corn, 100 bushels of wheat, and sold about $100 worth of stock and has forty head of cattle on hand. He intends to run his farm hereafter as a stock farm. In Iowa he was County Supervisor four years and a Justice of the Peace for the same length of time. Since living in Kansas he has been County Commissioner seven years. Some years since he was appointed a Justice of the Peace to fill an unexpired term, and still holds the office. He is an Odd Fellow and a member of the fist Presbyterian Church of Wellington, and was one of its organizers and is an elder of the same. In 1849 he was married to Miss Exey Busie, of Miami County, Ind., by whom he has had four children; William E., Margaret M., Sarah L., and Nannie J. Misses Margaret M. and Nannie J., have been school teachers, but are now settled in life. Mrs. Bain is a member also of the First Presbyterian Church of Wellington. Mr. Bain has done much towards developing the resources of his county and in building up and maintaining its social, moral and religious associations.

ANSON BROWN, farmer, Section 4, Jackson Township, P. O. Wellington, was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in 1822, where he lived on a farm till twenty years of age, meantime receiving a common school education. In 1842 he went to Indiana, in the northeast township, and corner of the State, working out on a farm for about six years, when he went to Henry and Marshall counties, Ill., remaining four years, when in 1852 he went to Cass County, Iowa, where he lived about fifteen years. In 1873 we find him in New Mexico, for a time, from which pace he came to Kansas in 1875, settling in the township of Avon, Sumner County, from which place he moved to Jackson Township, where he bought 160 acres in Section 4, and 160 acres in Section 2, forty acres of which are under cultivation. Has handled stock some, and intends to make that his business. During his stay in Iowa was a County Supervisor, and is now a Town Trustee. Is an Ancient Odd Fellow. Was married to Miss Margaret Montgomery, of Henry County, Ill., in 1852, and has seven children - Marion, Floyd A., Julius C., Eugene L., Van Evrie, Effie and Jennie all living. Floyd A. has taught school. It is the intention of Mr. Brown to give Van Evrie a collegiate education. Mr. Brown is a representative man, and is well fixed financially.

THOMAS EATON, farmer, Section 32, Township Seventy-six, P. O. Wellington, was born in Kentucky, in 1817. His parents emigrated to Illinois when he was an infant, where they lived first in Crawford then in Coles County. He was educated at the common schools, and has following farming all his life. In 1871 he moved to the township of Seventy-six, Sumner County, where he pre-empted 160 acres in Section 32. He has some hedge and wire fencing, and eighty acres under good cultivation. He has 2,600 peach trees, 600 of which are bearing, 50 apple trees, 25 of which are bearing, and some small fruit. His crop of 1882 was 300 bushels corn and 630 bushels of wheat, and $112 worth of cattle. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is a deacon of the same. He has been a Superintendent of the Sunday school, and takes an active part in church work. In 1838 he was married to Miss Morlina Chesser, of Coles County, Ill., by whom he has had eleven children - Surilda, William Enderson, Jesse, Asbery, Elizabeth, John, Didema, Thomas and Noa, and two deceased. Mrs. Eaton is also a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

ISAAC MONNET, farmer, Section 33, Conway Township, P. O. Cisne, was born in Indiana in 1831. Received a business education. At the age of eighteen began farming, at which he continued until he moved to Iowa, where he farmed one year, then returned to his native State, where he remained teaching school in winter seasons and farming in summer twenty-three years, and in the meantime was in the mercantile business five years. In January, 1876, he came to Sumner County, Kas. (sic), his present home of 160 acres, eighty acres of which are in a high state of cultivation, raising grain and stock. Has a fine lot of forest and fruit trees, and some small fruits. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was instrumental in its organization in his neighborhood. Gave the use of his residence two terms to the public for church and Sunday school purposes, and is recording steward for the circuit. He is a member of the order of Free Masons. He was Justice of the peace two terms by appointment. In November, 1881, he was elected County Commissioner. In 1851 Mr. Monnet was married to Miss Eliza J. Wain, of Indiana, by whom he has had six children - William H., Sarena E. (died in 1858), Alzora (died in 1879), Lawson W., Oran E. and Rolla P. Mrs. Monnet is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

S. C. NELSON, commonly known as George Nelson, farmer and stock grower, Jackson Township, Section 1, P. O. Wellington, was born in Denmark in 1848, and was reared a farmer. His education was obtained at the common schools, from the age of seven until fourteen years of age. He emigrated to America, landing in New York in 1870, and went directly to St. Jo, Mo., at which place he arrived with $2.50 in his pockets, and unable to speak a word of English. Went to Platt City, where he obtained work on the railroad for two months, after which he worked on a farm nine months. In 1871 he moved to Austin, Sumner Co., Kan., where for three years he farmed and herded cattle. In 1874, butchered for four years in the city of Wellington. In 1877 he bought 160 acres of land on Section 1, settling on it one year later. In 1882 he bought another quarter section adjoining his first purchase. He has his land all fenced and one hundred acres under cultivation. He has 200 apple and peach trees and small fruits, and 5,000 cottonwood trees and three or four thousand willow trees. His crops for 1882 were 1,500 bushels of corn, and sold $3,000 worth of hogs and cattle, and has on hand 100 head of cattle and twelve horses, and has sold $2,000 worth in 1883. In 1879 he opened a quarry of fine building stone, from which he sold $3,000 worth in 1882. The stone is of superior quality and of uniform thickness, making it easier to lay and consequently cheaper than stone of irregular thickness. The quarry itself is worth a mint of money. Mr. Nelson is an Odd Fellow. He was married to Miss Emma C. Dotson, of Wellington, in 1877, by whom he has three children - Ollie Maria, Della May and Willie Castus. Mrs. Nelson is a member of the Order of Rebecca.

H. B. WILLIAMS, farmer and stock raiser, Section 31, Downs Township, P. O. Caldwell, was born in Fayette County, Ohio, in 1836. He was left an orphan in infancy. His father, however, just previous to his death wishing to provide for his boy, bound him out to a farmer, who subsequently moved to McLean County, Ill., where he was reared a farmer till fifteen years of age, without any schooling whatever. He then left his bound father, and hired out to a man in his neighborhood, with whom he continued some six months. Living in the neighborhood of the Funks, a name that was at one time a household word throughout the entire State of Illinois. He engaged to work for the late Isaac Funk, of McLean County, with whom he remained five years. On quitting Mr. Funk, in 1856, he had two horse and $150 with which he engaged in farming and stock raising. His success is evidenced by the fact that in 1869, he was worth $75,000. The greater part of this fortune, however, he subsequently lost in his large cattle deals. In 1876, gathering up the fragments of his property, he found that he had $8,000, and with this he moved to Sumner County, Kas. (sic), and bought 160 acres of Section 31, Downs Township, to his original purchase he has added from time to time, till recently, after having given one of his sons 320 acres of land, he has 1,500 acres left. He has 650 acres under cultivation, and 250 acres fenced with wire and plank. He has on his place 200 apple, 2,000 peach, and three acres of forest trees. His crop of 1882 was 10,000 bushels corn, 2,300 bushels wheat, and $11,500 worth of cattle and hogs, and has now on hand about $12,000 worth of personal property. He has facilities for handling a large number of cattle, and connected with his stock yards is a four-ton stock scale. He also has a fine residence, and a first-class barn. Mr. Williams is a member of the School Board of his district, and Clerk of the same, and belongs to the Masonic Fraternity. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a class leader. In 1856, he was married to Miss Casander Stubblefield, of McLean County, Ill., and has five children - John S., Issac, Sarah, Francis Marion, and Carlan Henry. Mrs. Williams is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal. She was an adopted daughter of the late Isaac Funk of Illinois.