|KANSAS COLLECTION BOOKS|
WALNUT GROVE TOWNSHIP (ALTON - HYLTON).
M. ALTON, farmer, Section 14, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Ireland, born in 1830. He emigrated in 1851, to America, landing at New Orleans. He came up the Mississippi River to Keokuk, Iowa, where he went to farming. He left there for Booneville, Mo., and in 1870 came from there to Osage Mission, Kan. Land was high there, for he paid P. Duckworth $800 for eighty acres, with but little improvement. He is now farming in grain and stock and doing as well as his neighbors, having excellent crops. In 1882 his wheat averaged thirty bushels to an acre and corn sixty-five. Mr. Alton is now Treasurer of the School District. His family consists of himself, wife and seven children, three boys and four girls.
M. ARNOLD, farmer, Section 4, P. O. Walnut, native of Kentucky, born in 1830. He was raised on a farm, and emigrated in a wagon with his family to Kansas in 1873, buying his claim with little or no improvement of Mr. Orton. During the season of 1873 he lost his first crop; the next year on account of drought, chinch-bugs and grasshoppers in 1874, but has done well since, raising enough in the dry year of 1881 to feed through; and in 1882 his corn averaged forty bushels to the acre, raising also beans and oats. In 1859 Mr. Arnold married Miss Withrow. They have six boys and two girls. He has been Justice of the Peace since 1876, and the family are members of the Christian Church, which organization now has twenty-five members.
J. A. BALLA, farmer, Section 10, P. O. Walnut, native of Franklin County, Pa., born December 2, 1846. In 1866 he moved to Illinois, coming to Kansas in 1869. In 1864 he enlisted in Company I, Seventy-ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out July 12, 1865. When he located here he had for neighbors prairie wolves and Indians, but this soon changed on every side, cabins sprung up and fields of grain appeared. He has from the wilderness carved out his home, buying his claim from W. Bartlett. He rented at first enough to raise food for himself and stock; since then he has had plenty. His first wheat crop, in 1870, was five bushels to the acre; in 1882 he had twenty-two bushels to the acre, corn forty-five. He also raises and handles cattle, having on hand forty head. He now owns and farms 240 acres. Mr. Balla married Miss Sample, a native of Kentucky, born February 16, 1851. They were married August 24, 1871, having now a family of two boys and two girls. He has filled some township offices.
W. M. BARNHART, farmer, Section 34, P. O. Osage Mission, is a native of Darke County, Ohio; born in 1840. He was raised in Indiana, where he attended the Somerset High School, and afterwards clerked for John Swope. In 1860 Mr. Barnhart was married to Miss Swope, and was then taken into the business partnership, which business they disposed of in 1867. John Swope came to Kansas in the spring of that year, and bought what is known as the Mound Farm, situated on the southwest quarter of Section 35, erected a house, and made improvements on the place. In the fall of 1867, Mr. Swope and wife, in company with W. M. Barnhart and wife, removed to Kansas, experiencing the difficulties of a journey by wagon through a new country, and the subsequent privations incident to pioneer life. Mr. Barnhart located upon Section 34, on land adjoining Mr. Swope's farm, and remained there until the death of Mr. Swope, which occurred in 1874. Since that date he has, with the assistance of his eldest son, worked both farms, and has met with encouraging success. No untoward calamities have visited his homestead. During the Osage ceded land fight he belonged to the Land League. Mr. and Mrs. Barnhart have three sons and three daughters. The family are members of the Christian Church.
D. W. BRAY, farmer, P. O. Erie, native of Monmouth County, N. J., born in 1830; from there they moved to Illinois, and in 1865 he came to Kansas, locating at Mound City, Linn county, till 1866, when he came to Erie, Neosho County, locating on Section 32, Erie Township. From this farm he gave forty acres for the town site of Erie, as did Peter Walters, Luther Pucket and A. L. Himmelwright. These three and himself made the town company, or town fathers. Mr. Bray was the first Township Trustee of Erie, and lived there until 1874, when he sold his interest to Dr. Kennedy, and then moved to his present home, where he has a finely improved farm, stocked with 100 sheep, forty hogs and some cattle, a fine orchard and some 800 vines bearing quantities of fruit. Mr. Bray was married in Arkansas, and has had ten children, five of whom are alive.
WILLIAM M. BULL, farmer, Section 13, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Owen County, Ind.; born in 1833. He was raised on the farm, and when sixteen years of age learned the carpenter trade. He then moved to Illinois and worked at his trade in different counties, moving from Coles County, Ill., to Iowa, and in April, 1868, came to Osage Mission, Kas., where he built; but in April, 1869, moved out on the wild prairie, where there were but few settlers and no roads. He at once put up a house of native lumber. Provisions were scarce and high. He had brought 200 pounds of bacon from Iowa, worth in Kansas twenty-five cents a pound. As he had broken some sod ground in 1868 he now raised a good crop of corn, so got a good start in grain and stock farming. Mr. Bull married Miss Swim in 1861, and they now have three children, one boy and two girls. He has not been before the public as an office seeker, but has held school offices, and gave his share to the Land League when the ceded land question was before the settlers.
P. P. CAMPBELL, farmer, Section 6, P. O. Osage Mission; native of Cape Breton; born in 1861. The family started for Kansas in 1867, stopping in Illinois a few months. They came to Neosho County in the spring of 1868, or fall of 1867, stopping on a farm in Mission Township till they put up their box house, 16x18, when they moved on the farm, then wild prairie sod, now a well improved farm, the fertile acres covered with abundant harvests and the pastures feeding fine cattle, the boys giving some attention to grading in Short-horns. In 1873, Mr. Daniel Campbell, the father, died, leaving his widow, three sons and two daughters. In 1880, the oldest son, Murdock, attended Baker's University, and in 1882, P. P. spent the winter there. Their elder sister, Mary, has been a student there since 1881. The boys are carrying on the farm and Murdock is at the same time teaching.
F. P. CARROLL, farmer, Section 23, P. O. Osage Mission; native of Livingston County, N. Y.; born in 1840, and moved to Ohio, engaging in farming. When the War of the Rebellion broke out he enlisted in the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company H, serving as Sergeant until the close of the war, when he returned to his home, and in 1881, came to Kansas, locating in Neosho County, renting the old "Smart Farm", moving to his present location in 1882, where he has raised sixty bushels of corn to an acre, the last year. Mr. Carroll married Miss Farroll. They have two girls and three boys. He belongs to the G. A. R.
JOHN CAVANAUGH, farmer, Section 28, P. O. Osage Mission; native of Ireland; born in 1838. He came to America, locating in New York, and during the War of the Rebellion, served in the One Hundred and Twenty-third New York Volunteer Infantry, Company G, First Brigade, First Division, Twelfth Army Corps, returning in 1865 to New York, where he was married, coming to Kansas in 1869, April 6, arriving at Fort Scott; he there paid $20 a day for teams to bring him to Neosho County, stopping at J. McClosky's house until settling on the claim he now occupies or farms, buying 160 acres, a claim of Mr. Vallale, for $750,the first year raising sod corn, selling some of it for $1.10 a bushel. He has succeeded in establishing himself on a fine farm, renting also a quarter section of Mr. Cravens, having now 320 acres to farm. In 1865, Mr. Cavanaugh married Miss Harron. They have six children - three boys and three girls.
F. CHASE, farmer, Section 24, P. O. Osage Mission; native of Ohio; born in 1852. His parents moved to Illinois in 1857, where he was raised and educated. He came to Kansas in 1872 in company with Mr. Smart, buying his farm of J. Oliphant and moving on to it in 1873, having just married Miss Smart. The farm was unimproved, but he has been very successful in his venture, putting up in 1880 a dwelling that cost $1,000, and is now grading his cattle to Short-horns, and has fine horses, also succeeding in raising five acres of blue grass. His crops of 1882 were fully equal to any of his neighbors. His father is now residing with him. He has two brothers and two sisters in Kansas. Mr. Chase came to the State with $250, and now has a fine estate.
C. B. COOK, farmer, Section 19, P. O. Osage Mission, is a native of Chautauqua County, N. Y.; born in 1826. He was one of a large family of boys. His father kept them busy clearing timber farms, which he sold, and in 1842, they moved to Canada, where their timber was pine, and they went to lumbering, passing through the exciting experience incident to that life. In December, 1867, he came to Kansas with his brother George, who had preceded him, and he held a claim for him, but on account of the Osage ceded land troubles did not succeed in deeding his land until 1877. His farm has proved to be a fine one, and he now has it all under cultivation but some eighty-five acres that is pasture land. During the fifteen years he has farmed here here ports no failure in crops, raising corn, wheat, oats, beans, and giving some attention to stock. Mr. Cook married before coming to Kansas, and has four boys and two girls. His eldest son is a graduate of the Kansas Normal School at Fort Scott.
J. P. COOMES, farmer, Section 31, P. O. Osage Mission; native of Nelson County, Ky.; born September 19, 1840; came to Kansas with his father, F. P., and bought his claim of G. Launsberry, and after a visit to Illinois, he settled on his claim, building a cabin and opening the farm by breaking twenty acres and raising wheat. At first he bached in his cabin, and part of the time boarding until 1874, when he married Miss Parkhurst. Until lately he has carried on a grain farm, but is now working into stock in grain successfully, losing but one crop in 1881. He has eighty-five acres cultivated, and raises as heavy crops as any of his neighbors. From nothing, he has made a home worth thousands of dollars. He has three boys, and belongs to the Catholic Church.
A. J. CRAVEN, farmer, Section 13, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Washington County, Penn., born in 1843. He is of Dutch and Irish descent, and was raised on a farm. In 1862, he entered an independent regiment, being finally mustered into the Twenty-second Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, Company E, and served until the close of the war. Returning to Pennsylvania he engaged in farming, and in 1870 determined to come West.; On arriving in Kansas in 1871, he located on a claim and bached with his two cousins, John and Hiram Blaine, in a cabin until 1874, when he built his present residence, and that year was married to Miss Fannie Ford, of Ohio. Since locating here Mr. Craven has become known as the wheat raiser of this section, always succeeding in getting a crop and of superior quantity and quality. His crop of 1882 was 2,492 bushels. Mr. Craven has not given any attention to local politics, but has held school offices. They have one daughter, Ethel.
JOHN CROW, farmer, Section 19, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Ohio, born in 1849. He first moved to Illinois, then to Missouri, returning to Illinois, where he remained till 1871, when he came to Kansas and bought a claim of William Smith of eighty acres. Commencing with little he has now 200 acres, with 120 in cultivation; raising grain and stock; having in 1882, sixty acres in corn and gathering from the piece 3,000 bushels. He has succeeded in getting a crop every year since coming to the State. In 1869, Mr. Crow married Miss Ingraham. They have three children, two boys and one girl.
J. F. DAGGETT, farmer, Section 4, P. O. Walnut, native of New York, born in 1837, and was but twenty-three years of age when he came to Kansas, locating in Marmaton Township, Bourbon county, where he went to farming. In 1862, he enlisted in the Third Kansas Volunteer Infantry, Company I, but was soon transferred to the Tenth Kansas. He served until 1864, when he returned home, getting to his family just before the burning of Marmaton City by the rebels. In 1868 he moved to Neosho County, buying a claim of Mr. Hulburt; this was an early date for this county, for he had but some three or four distant neighbors; hauling his lumber from Kansas City. He now farms 320 acres, raising fine crops of corn, wheat, beans and oats. He married Miss Mansar. They have four boys and two girls, and are members of the United Brethren Church.
WILLIAM DYSON, farmer, Section 16, P. O. Erie, is a native of Indiana, born in 1847. When sixteen years of age, or in 1863, he went to Illinois, engaging at farming. In 1869 in company with A. W. Louthan, Levi Tenor and others he came to Kansas, buying his claim of Mr. Elliott, opening up this farm and living there and in Grant Township until 1875, when he traded his claim with Mr. Isenhour, and now has eighty acres on the divide between Canville and Four Mile Creek. He cultivated sixty-five acres and the balance is pasture and meadow. He has a fine orchard of 130 apple trees, 500 peach trees and other trees and small fruits. His farm is well improved, fenced and has good buildings. He built his residence in 1877. Mr. Dyson married Miss Dyson, and has held the office of Justice of the Peace, but does not seek office.
WILLIAM C. FORD, farmer, Sections 26 and 27, P. O. Osage Mission, was bornin Chenango County, N. Y., in 1813. His father, John Ford, was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., and was a local Methodist Episcopal preacher. In seeking a place to settle he went first to Pennsylvania and then to Ohio, where he died in 1840. William Ford lived on his father's farm until March, 1861, when he went to Illinois and lived there until 1867, when he started with three covered wagons to emigrate to Kansas; when he arrived in Neosho County he bought a claim for $1 of Mrs. Tripp; she was at that time holding two claims. Mr. Ford put up a board shanty, but used his wagon to sleep in and entertain his friends when they came. Locating there he farmed in stock and grain, doing well, even in the time of grasshoppers in 1874 and the year of drouth in 1881. In 1882, he raised forty-five bushels of corn to the acre and twenty-four bushels of wheat, and owns 32o acres in all and cultivates 140 acres. The years 1868 and 1869 he had the most severe struggle, losing nine horses, and having to haul provisions from Mound City, Linn county. But now, in the midst of plenty, the wealth of the harvest of 1882, he is repaid for early privations. He was married in Wayne county, Ohio, and his family consists of four girls and three boys.
E. GABRIEL, farmer, Section 10, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Athens County, Ohio, born in 1840. His youth was spent on the farm. In 1861 he moved to Iowa, where he enlisted in the Twenty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company B, serving until January 6, 1865. He was wounded in the battle of Cedar Creek, "Sheridan's Great Rally," being shot through the head; he remained in the hospital until he was sent home and was discharged in Davenport, Iowa. In 1866 he came to Topeka, Kan., and looking for a location visited Mapleton, Bourbon County. Here he was taken sick, and as soon as he was well returned to Ohio, and in 1869, together with Mr. Robinette, immigrated, locating in the fertile valley of the Neosho; he remained with Mr. Robinette; in 1870, he moved to his present home, buying his claim of H. Marsh, and entering it in 1877; he has made a finely improved farm from the wild prairie, and in 1882, raised forty-five bushels of corn on an average. He cultivates ninety acres, having the rest in pasture and meadow. Mr. Gabriel married Miss Robinette. They have two children - one girl and one boy. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to the G. A. R.
CHARLES HARKNESS, farmer, Section 29, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Knox County, Ill., born in 1859. With his parents he came to Kansas in 1868. His father, Thomas, locating in Ladore Township, Neosho County, E. Smith's farm. Soon, however, buying just south in Labette County, where they moved, Charles and his brother helping move the houses from the town of Ladore, when they were hauled to Parsons; saw the tree that five men were hung to in 1867 or 68, cut down. In 1861 his father died, and in 1876 he lost his mother; up to this time he had remained with the family, but now he went to work for himself, four miles south of Osage Mission, in 1880, when he bought his present farm of Charles Wood, and is now establishing a home. Two of his brothers, Alex and Pete, are on the adjoining farm. In 1878 Mr. Harkness married Miss Jennie Herod. They have one child. Mr. H. had been in school office.
M. J. HEDGES, widow, Section 29, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Clarke County, Ohio. Mr. Hedges was a native of Kentucky and born April 27, 1824. They were married in 1848. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company E, returning home in 1865. While in the army he contracted a disease of which he died November 1, 1872. They came to Kansas in 1867, locating in Linn County, afterward coming to Neosho county, locating on their present place, which is a fine farm of 160 acres, producing in 1882, fifty bushels of corn to an acre, raising good crops; also of oats and castor beans. Mrs. Hedges was left with five children, but has lost all but the elder and younger sons - John T. and James J. Her son, John T., married Miss Fowler, daughter of David Fowler, an early settler. They all live together - the boys working the farm.
W. H. HEROD, farmer, Section 33, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Ohio, born in 1833. He was raised in Indiana, where he farmed his farm; was in a timbered district, so that when he came to Kansas he selected a similar location, arriving in 1865, October 26; he took a claim of 160 acres; he was the second settler - Mr. Brewer & Son were here before him. Since opening his farm he has given his attention to grain and stock, cultivating sixty acres, and having quite a field in pasture; his best season was in 1875, when his corn averaged fifty bushels to an acre; also raising good crops in 1882. While in Indiana, Mr. Herod married Miss Schuler. They have four children - three boys and one girl.
W. W. HESS, farmer, Section 25, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Washington County, Penn., born November 18, 1839, where he was raised and educated; being in the stock business in the East, he came to Kansas to take up the same, but on arriving here in 18690, April 1st, in company with J. M. Jones, he found the Texas fever among cattle here, so he bought a farm of S. J. Oliphant, paying $1,500 for it, and in the old cabin bached with his cousin and other Pennsylvania friends, as they came West stopped with him - James Blaine, J. Worrell, and also later, Clark Carson. Mr. Hess, in those early times, tells of attending the first religious services, conducted by Rev. Mr. Moody, a Hard Shell Baptist minister. In fourteen years he has produced from prairie sod a fine farm, with buildings, orchards, and meadows of tame grass that delight the eye. In 1871 he married Miss Haymaker. They have five children - four boys and one girl. Mr. Hess gives his crops of 1882, as corn averaged fifty-two bushels and castor beans fourteen bushel to an acre. He has now 240 acres in his farm.
J. H. HOBSON, farmer, Section 24, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Indiana, was born in 1839. He was raised on a farm, and in October, 1866, he, in company with his father-in-law, Mr. Moody, and his two sons, came to Kansas in wagons, landing in Osage Mission, when there only were two stores there, Williams Bro's., and Foster's store. They located their claims on the prairie, but went to live on the river, in the timber, where there was material with which to build cabins. Mr. Hobson is the only one of that party now here. From the wilderness of prairie grass he has made a farm, succeeding in raising good crops from the first. He has now a well-improved place, and has raised as high as eight-five bushels of corn on an acre of land. Mr. Hobson married Miss Moody, in 1865. They have two girls and three boys. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1878, and has officiated on the School Board from time to time. He had to pay very high prices when he first came to Kansas, for provisions.
JOSEPH HOLLEY, farmer, Section 7, P. O. Walnut, native of Courtland County, N. Y., born in 1829. He was raised on a farm mostly, in Onondaga County. He the moved to Michigan, where he married Miss Graves; afterwards farming in Illinois; from there he came to Kansas, in 1868, leaving his family in Kansas City, he came south and selected his present farm and put up his cabin; returning, he got his family and moved down next year; a man named Dodd trying to scare him from the claim. Being a pioneer, with no neighbors, he and his family suffered great privation, hardly able to subsist at one time. Mrs. Holley sold a carpet she had made in the East, and with money he had from the sale of a calf, bought a cow, at that time having none, and having to go to Pleasanton to get it. There are many pleasant memories, however, attached to the old cabin home, which has now disappeared to give place to a fine residence. Mrs. Holley is known here as one of the pioneer workers in Church and Sunday school. The farm is cultivated to grain, and last season, 1882, produced abundant harvests. They have three boys - Frank, in the Kansas Normal, at Fort Scott; Edward, in mercantile business, at Walnut, and Owen, at home on the farm.
NANCY J. HYLTON, farmer, Section 35, P. O. Osage Mission, native of Indiana; but having moved to Illinois, she married Mr. Hylton, moving to Bourbon County, Kas., in 1866, and farming there till 1867, when they moved to Neosho County, and located on what is now known as the Pierce farm. In 1873 Mr. Hylton died, leaving his widow with six children, four sons and two daughters; one son and one daughter are married, leaving her with four almost grown sons and a daughter. The sons manage the farm of 160 acres, where they moved since Mr. Hylton's death. They raise corn, castor beans, wheat, oats and fruit on the farm in abundance.