History of Atchison County, Kansas

He of whom this review is written was eight years of age when the Sharpless family came to Atchison county. He was reared to young manhood on his father’s farm and learned to cultivate the soil under the tutelage of his father, who was a successful farmer. He was educated in the common schools and early learned to apply his education to the best advantage for himself. When twenty-one years of age he obtained his first position as manager of a general store at Monrovia, Kan. This position entailed a number of duties which kept him busily employed for a number of years. From 1891 to 1903 Mr. Sharpless managed the Monrovia store, served as postmaster, and performed the duties of station agent for the railroad company. However, he found time to take an interest in politics and became active in the affairs of the Republican party when yet a young man. In 1903 he removed to Effingham, Kan., and engaged in the hardware and implement and grain business with considerable success. He still retains his interest in this business, although now a resident of Atchison. Mr. Sharpless has also become a land owner in the county and has farm lands near Effingham.

He was married in 1892 to Sadie A. Cook, born and reared in Atchison county, and a daughter of Thomas F. and Margaret Cook, who were pioneer settlers of this county, coming here from Missouri in 1860. To Mr. and Mrs. Sharpless have been born five children: Gladys A., Margaret S., Edith Aubine died at the age of seven years; Lois A., and Alice Marie. All of the living children are attending the Atchison public schools.

The civic and political career of Mr. Sharpless has been an interesting one and he has risen from the rank and file of the Republican party to become one of the recognized leaders of his party in Atchison county and Kansas. His first civic office was as police judge of Effingham. He also served a term as mayor of that city. He was elected a member of the State legislature from legislative district No. 3, in Atchison county in 1910 and again elected to succeed himself in 1912. He was also a member of the Atchison County High School board and served as treasurer of this organization. In the fall election of 1914 he was elected to the office of county treasurer by a large and handsome majority—evidence of his great personal popularity among all classes of citizens. He assumed the duties of the treasurer’s office in October of 1915, and is bestowing the same care and application in the discharge of his public duties in this capacity as he has always taken in the conduct of his personal business affairs.

Mr. Sharpless is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Blue Lodge, No. 48, and is a Knights Templar and Royal Arch Mason. He is past noble grand of Spartan Lodge, No. 250, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Effingham, Kan., and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the latter city. He is also fraternally allied with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Fraternal Aid Union of Atchison.

CONRAD M. VOELKER.

It is certainly a distinction to be known as the youngest county clerk, and in all probability the youngest county official ever elected in the State of Kansas. Such is C. M. Voelker, the efficient and justly popular county clerk of Atchison county. Political honors and preferment rarely come to a really young man, unless he is especially qualified for the work, and has a host of friends who are willing and able to support him and his candidacy. Although young in years, Mr. Voelker is performing his duties in a manner which would reflect distinct credit upon an older individual.

Conrad M. Voelker is a native of Atchison county, having been born May 20, 1889, on a farm, four miles north of Atchison, in Shannon township. His father is Conrad Walker, who was born in Germany November 20, 1856, a son of Karl and Christiana Voelker, who immigrated to America in 1861, and settled on a farm, two miles north of the city, where he operated a dairy and truck farm until his demise. To Karl and Christiana Voelker were born the following children: Conrad; Mrs. Joseph Biddle, of Atchison; Henry, residing in New Orleans; Karl Voelker was twice married, Mrs. S. L. Loyd, of Shannon township, being a daughter of the second marriage. Conrad, father of C. M. Voelker, was reared to manhood in Atchison county, and when he became of age, settled on a 160 acre farm, four miles north of Atchison, which is now one of the best improved farms in the State of Kansas. For a number of years he specialized in the cultivation of cabbage, making a success of the venture, and accumulated considerable money. He became known far and wide as the “Cabbage King” of Kansas, always having the first cabbage on the market, and shipped the product of his fields to points in Kansas and Nebraska in carload lots. The Voelkers have a beautiful, well appointed home, with excellent out buildings. Conrad Voelker married Jennie Mueller, who was born in Cooper county, Missouri, November 15, 1862, a daughter of German parents. To Conrad Voelker and wife were born the following children: Fred C. W., a farmer, living north of Atchison; Conrad M. The Voelkers are members of the Lutheran church.

Conrad M., with whom this narrative is directly concerned, was educated primarily in the district schools, his education being supplemented with one year’s study in the German school in Atchison, and a course in Midland College, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1909. He then completed a course in commerce and bookkeeping in the Atchison Business College. While a sophomore of Midland College he won first honors in the oratorical contest, and represented his alma mater at the State oratorical contest, held in Salina, Kan. While yet a student he received the appointment of deputy county clerk under Edward Iverson, March 13, 1910. He was elected to the office on the Republican ticket in November, 1912, and again elected without any opposition in the fall of 1914.

A more intimate personal view of this rising young man was published in the Atchison Champion just previous to assuming the duties of his office after his election:

“Conrad M. Voelker, county clerk elect, when he takes office January 1, 1913, will have the distinction of being the youngest man ever elected to the office of county clerk in Kansas. Mr. Voelker, while he appears to be much older, is but twenty-three years old. He is popular; this was proven by the fact that he was elected by a majority of 955 votes.

“Mr. Voelker is the son of Conrad Voelker. He was born four miles north of Atchison. He never passes up an opportunity to learn something. When four years old Mr. Voelker started to school. He was graduated from the eighth grade at ten years of age, and in 1909 he was graduated from Midland College. When he finished the common schools he studied in a German school for one year; so he both reads and writes German. He completed a double course at the Atchison Business College in five months, graduating in March, 1910, and a few days later he was appointed deputy county clerk. When Mr. Voelker was eighteen years of age he took part in the Kansas intercollegiate oratorical contest, which was held at Salina. There were nineteen other contestants, several of them being men twice the age of Voelker, who were going through college for the second time. Voelker won fourth place in the contest, which in addition to being quite an honor, demonstrated that he has great ability as a public speaker.

“There is no doubt that he will be re-elected two years hence. He undoubtedly will prove to be one of the most efficient county clerks in the history of the county.”

The last paragraph was prophetic, as Mr. Voelker’s second election to the office in 1914 will testify. His re-election was the best evidence of his success and strong personal popularity. Mr. Voelker is affiliated with several fraternal societies, an active party worker, what is known as a good mixer, and a rising young citizen of the county, whose future career will be well worth watching, inasmuch as he is bound to gain greater honors in the years to come, and to climb to a still higher place in the civic life of his home county and State.

SAMUEL S. KING.

Samuel S. King, a member of the board of county commissioners of Atchison county, was born in Moorestown, N. J., May 16, 1856. One year later, in 1857, he came to Atchison with his parents, John and Violet King, on a boat owned by Dr. Challiss. The King family arrived at Atchison in April of 1857. John King soon afterward settled on a farm six miles southwest of Atchison, where Samuel S. lived until he was fifteen years of age. He then came to Atchison for the purpose of attending the city schools. During vacations he worked for McPike & Allen (later McPike & Fox). After finishing his public school education Mr. King was employed as bookkeeper for some time by White, Washer & King, now the S. R. Washer Grain Company. He was also employed as bookkeeper by McPike & Fox, W. F. Dolan and others until 1881. In that year he was appointed by Senator John J. Ingalls to a position in the United States railway mail service and was sent to New Mexico and Arizona as railway mail agent. Here he remained in the United States Government service for about two years and then resigned to enter the employ of P. B. Brannen & Company as bookkeeper and manager at Flagstaff, Ariz. This firm conducted a jobbing house at Flagstaff which was then the largest town on the railroad between Albuquerque, N. M., and Los Angeles, Cal. In June, 1886, he and his family returned to Atchison and Mr. King became the confidential bookkeeper of McPike & Fox, wholesale druggists, and remained with this concern until the fall of 1897, when he resigned to take up his duties as county clerk.

Mr. King had always been more or less interested in politics and he was elected to the office of county clerk on the Republican ticket in the fall of 1897. He was subsequently reëlected and held the office for nine years, or until January, 1907. He then engaged in the real estate and insurance business which he still follows with offices at 106 North Fifth street. Mr. King was elected mayor of the city of Atchison in April, 1907, and served as the city executive for two years, and later was appointed city clerk to fill out the unexpired term of C. A. Hawk, who resigned. In the fall of 1914 he was elected county commissioner, an office which he is at present filling in a capable and efficient manner.

Mr. King was married April 14, 1885, at Flagstaff, Ariz., to Miss Sarah Hawks, of Newton, Kan. Two children have been born of this marriage, namely, Grace and Victor. Mr. King is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of which lodge he is a trustee, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Mystic Workers, and the Central Protective Association. There are few citizens who are more highly esteemed, and Atchison county has not a more popular public official than S. S. King.

CHARLES T. GUNDY.

This history of Atchison county is issued not only for the purpose of inscribing a record of those who have built up the county and were here during the pioneer days and endured the hardships of the pioneer life, but for recording as well the life stories of those who came later and have won places of merit and distinction in the affairs of the city and county of Atchison. It is probable that few men have attained such eminence as Judge Charles T. Gundy of the city court of Atchison during his brief residence here. The esteem in which he is held and the successful manner in which he has performed the duties of his judicial position are decided evidences of his ability. His standing among the members of the legal fraternity is high and he well merits the confidence of his fellow citizens. The conduct of his court is marked for the fairness of his decisions in suits of equity and the settlement of such cases as come under his jurisdiction have been accomplished to the satisfaction of the parties concerned.

Judge Charles T. Gundy is a native of Scotland county, Missouri, and he was born and reared on his father’s farm, eight miles northwest of the thriving and progressive city of Memphis. He evinces much of the characteristics of the good people of Scotland county, who are noted for their hospitality and kindliness. He was born February 10, 1878, and is a son of George M. and Margaret M. (Needham) Gundy, natives of Illinois and Missouri, respectively. George M. Gundy was born in 1845 and is a son of Jacob Gundy, a native of Holland, who settled in Scotland County, Missouri, as early as 1846. George M. still resides on the old home place of the Gundy family. This farm consists of 160 acres of well tilled land on which have been reared six children out of a family of seven, as follows: Charles T., with whom this review is directly concerned; Louis W. and Jacob R., farmers of Scotland county, Missouri; Mrs. Corda Crawford, of Scotland county; Gladys, deceased; Pearl and Merl at home with their parents. The mother of these children is a native of Scotland county, and was born in 1858, a daughter of David Needham, a veteran of the Civil war and a scion of an old Kentucky family. He served three years as a soldier in the late rebellion, and after returning home met an accidental death by a falling tree. The ancestral home of the Needhams is near Frankfort, Ky. The Gundy family is held in high esteem in their home county and the members of the family are well respected by their friends and acquaintances.

Charles T. Gundy was educated in the rural schools and attended the Memphis Academy for one year. Circumstances were such that he found it necessary to do considerable studying at home and “burned the midnight oil” in the pursuit of an education. He fitted himself for teaching and taught for four years in the schools of his native county. In the meantime he read law and was successful in being admitted to the bar in 1902. For three years thereafter he practiced his profession in Memphis. He then secured a Government position in the postoffice department at Washington, D. C., and pursued his law studies in the National University at Washington. He graduated from that institution May 30, 1908. Having small desire to become a mere cog in a great machine, as seemed to be the lot of thousands of Government employes, he resigned his position in October of the same year and located in Keokuk, Iowa, and had charge of the farm loan department of the State Central Savings Bank. He resigned this position in March of 1910 and came to Atchison, opening an office in the Auld building on Commercial street. Since this time he has built up an excellent practice. He was appointed city judge in December of 1910 to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge J. P. Adams. He was elected to the office in 1912 and again elected in 1914.

Judge Gundy was united in marriage with Eleanor M. McCormick on August 12, 1909. Mrs. Gundy was a resident of Washington, D. C., and is a daughter of John McCormick, who died in 1905. Judge Gundy is a member of the Baptist church and he and Mrs. Gundy have a wide circle of friends who esteem them for their many likable qualities.

The Republican party has always claimed the allegiance of Judge Gundy and he takes an active and influential interest in political affairs.

Louis R. Kuehnhoff, farmer and stockman, of Lancaster township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born January 1, 1880, on the farm where he now resides. He is a son of Charles and Caroline Kuehnhoff, and is one of nine children, six of whom are living. The father was born in Germany in 1841, and left there when a boy of sixteen years and sailed for New York. He remained there a short time when he went west, arriving at St. Joseph, Mo. He had not been there very long when the Civil war broke out and he enlisted at St. Joseph in Company B of the Volunteer infantry. After the war was over he was mustered out at Lexington, Mo., having won a praiseworthy military record in his country’s service. He then returned to civil life in St. Joseph, Mo., where he worked for a time as a laborer, receiving eight dollars a month. Shortly afterward he came to Atchison county, Kansas, and bought eighty acres of land in section 10, Lancaster township. Using oxen, he broke the ground on his newly acquired farm and began to improve it as rapidly as his resources would permit. In 1894 he retired and went to live at the National Soldiers’ Home at Leavenworth, Kan., where he died in 1903. The mother was born in Germany in 1845, and died in 1899.

Louis R. Kuehnhoff grew up on his father’s farm, and attended Eden district school, and also District No. 3, Lancaster township. He remained at home until he was nineteen years of age, and the next five years worked as a farm hand, and then he bought the old home place of 200 acres. Louis Kuehnhoff is an industrious worker. He keeps graded stock of all kinds and takes a special interest in fine mules. He always attends the county fairs in Atchison county and occasionally makes entries. On April 26, 1905, he was married to Lena Werner, who was born in Germany November 2, 1881. Her parents were John and Marie (Earhart) Werner. The father was born in Germany in 1815. He belonged to the Masonic lodge in Germany. In 1889, when he was quite an old man, he came to America and settled at Leavenworth, where he died in 1891. The mother was born in Germany January 17, 1843, and is now living with her children, of whom there are six, as follows: Adam, teamster, Leavenworth, Kan.; Martha Nolan, deceased; Lizzie Loman, Bowling, Kan.; Katherine Weimer, Wallula, Wyandotte county, Kansas; Lena, wife of Mr. Kuehnhoff, of this review. Mrs. Kuehnhoff attended the Pleasant Ridge school and the German school, north of Potter, Kan. She is a good, loyal, hard-working mother, and has three children: Marie, Edna and Edwin. The last two are twins and are three years old. In politics Mr. Kuehnhoff is independent. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a progressive farmer and is constantly on the lookout for improvements in agricultural methods. He has a fine eight-room house and a large barn equipped with modern conveniences. He also has a stone milk-house which was built by his father years ago. He has a small but thriving orchard and has twelve head of fine cattle. Besides these, he has four horses and a span of excellent mules. Mr. Kuehnhoff takes a lively interest in his stock and in his farm generally.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SANDERS.

All honor to the pioneer settlers of Kansas. It was they who broke the way in the unpeopled wilderness and endured the hardships and privations on the frontier of advancing civilization in order that the path of empire might be pushed steadily westward, ever onward toward the setting sun. Their work is done; the halcyon pioneer days when this broad land was but a vast unbroken wilderness of waving prairie grass, dotted here and there with belts of timber along the streams, is no more; towns and cities have sprung up; the locomotive shrieks its way over the ribbon-like rails, hauling the products of the land to the millions in need of sustenance, where once the hardy freighters drove their mule teams and guarded the precious freight overland to the homes of the settlers in the West. Benjamin Franklin Sanders is one of the few remaining members of the “old guard,” who sixty years ago began the task of reclaiming a wilderness. He is one of the ranking old pioneer settlers of Atchison county and has lived a record which is thrilling and interesting to a high degree. He is the only living “ye old time fiddler” in Atchison county, who with his comrade was wont to play at the old-time dances and “hoe downs” in northeast Kansas fifty years and more ago.

Benjamin Franklin Sanders is now living retired in Center township, Atchison county. He was born August 8, 1833, in Franklin county, Missouri, and is a son of George and Elizabeth (Graham) Sanders, who were the parents of the following children: Nancy married William McQuillan, and by her second marriage became Mrs. William Burns, and died in Benton county, Missouri; Robert, deceased; Oliver died in Jewell county, Kansas; Lydia married Fred Wilming, and died in Shannon township, Atchison county; William died in Franklin county, Missouri; and Benjamin, the subject of this sketch. Benjamin F. Sanders was sent to the country school in Franklin county, Missouri, but the school was poor and the roads were bad in the winter time, and, altogether, he had little opportunity to learn. His whole time in school, he estimates, did not amount to more than three months. His father was a Kentuckian and followed farming all of his life, and died in 1856, at the age of fifty-five years. The mother was a native of Missouri and of Scotch descent. She died in Kansas, in 1872, at the age of seventy-six years.

At the age of twelve Benjamin F. Sanders was apprenticed to a carriage and wagon-maker in St. Louis, Mo. He remained there twelve years, coming to Kansas in 1856. He returned to Missouri for a short time and then came back to Kansas the following year. He opened a wagon-maker’s shop at Monrovia, Atchison county, which he operated for two years. He then engaged in farming, taking up a claim near where Effingham now stands. This was ten miles from any settlement then and Mr. Sanders, fearing that the district would not be settled, gave up his claim and preëmpted eighty acres one and one-half miles north of where he now lives, in Center township, and began his life as a real farmer. He hired a man from Iowa who had six yoke of oxen to break up his land. He lived in the most primitive way during the first years on this place. Coffee, for one thing, was very high in price at that time, and there also was very little money in the territory, so a substitute for coffee was used. They mixed wheat and rye, calling it essence of coffee, and used this as a beverage in place of the regular coffee. It was the same way with flour. When he needed flour he would take a quantity of wheat to the gristmill where it would be ground into coarse flour, nearest mills being at Valley Falls and Kickapoo. His nearest postoffice was at Oceana, just north of Pardee, where the postoffice was located later. In 1860 Mr. Sanders bought more land. At one time he owned as high as 400 acres of land in Center township, Atchison county, Kansas. He went through the whole evolution of civilization, beginning in a little log house on his first eighty acres of land and passed through the wild days of the border war. In 1863 he was a member of Captain Whittaker’s company of Colonel McQuigg’s regiment of the Kansas State militia. He participated in several skirmishes and was honorably discharged at Ft. Leavenworth in 1864.

In 1859 Mr. Sanders married Margaret Ramsey in Putnam county, Ohio, who was born in 1840. She was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dorothy) Ramsey, natives of Ohio. She died in 1868, leaving the following children: Ira, farmer, Whiting, Kan.; Bertha (Mrs. C. G. Moore), deceased; William and Little Joy, both deceased. Mr. Sanders was married a second time in 1870 to Mrs. Elizabeth (Ramsey) Keirns, a sister of his first wife. She died in May, 1904. She was the widow of Rufus Keirns, and by her last marriage three children were born: Henry R., farmer, Pardee, Kan.; Mrs. Etta C. Browne, Pardee, Kan.; Benjamin, Jr., died when seventeen years of age.

Mr. Sanders is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is now living with Arthur Keirns, a son of his step-son. In these days his life is rather quiet compared with the early-day existence which he passed through. Indians camped near his farm when he first came to Kansas. The trail to the Kickapoo reservation passed near his farm and the Indians were constantly traveling back and forth along it. He has a hobby of “fiddling.” He calls himself a “fiddler” in distinction from a violinist. He played at the first corn carnival held in Atchison and won a prize. He used to play with Samuel King, a well known “fiddler,” and they played for all the old “hoe down” or “break down” dances. Although he is eighty-three years old, he still plays his “fiddle” with as much vim as ever and his ear is just as ready as it was when he was a young man. In addition to being a farmer, Mr. Sanders has done a large amount of carpenter work in Kansas. He has built a number of barns and other buildings. Mr. Sanders was elected to the office of township trustee and held the office two terms, having been reëlected at the close of his first term.

KARL AUGUST KAMMER.

Karl August Kammer, farmer and stockman, Lancaster township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born on the farm where he now lives, October 12, 1869, and is a son of Karl and Joehanna (Hida) Kammer. He is one of six children: Joehanna (Gutzman), deceased; Emma (Fuhrman), Lancaster township; Karl, subject of this sketch; Julius, Lancaster township; Bertha H. (Buttron), Lancaster township; one child who died in infancy. The father was born in Germany in 1840. Leaving there in 1862, he came to Atchison county, Kansas, where he worked in a vineyard for two years. The following four years he was employed in a brewery at Atchison, and then farmed two years in Lancaster township. At that time he had a chance to buy 160 acres in section 16 of Lancaster township, and with the aid of a partner, the land was bought. He built a one-room shanty and a thatched barn, and broke prairie with the oxen and planted the first crop. Later a better house and barn were built, and gradually, other improvements were added and a fine orchard planted. At the time of his death, in October, 1910, Mr. Kammer owned 240 acres of land. The mother was born in Germany, February 20, 1840, and married in her native land just before coming to America. She died in 1904.

Karl Kammer, the subject of this sketch, was reared on his father’s farm in Lancaster township. He attended High Prairie district school, No. 3, and remained on the home farm until he was twenty-six years old, when he rented some land from his father, and six years later he was able to buy the land he had been renting. He improved the farm considerably and stocked it with graded cattle, and now has an excellent farm, modern in every respect, consisting of 160 acres of land, and also has a fine orchard of two acres.

Mr. Kammer was married October 23, 1895, to Emma Buttron, a native of Lancaster township, Atchison county, born August 14, 1870. She is a daughter of Henry and Rosa (Scheu) Buttron, the father a native of Germany, born in 1833. When a young man he left his native land and came to America, locating in Pennsylvania where he worked as a blacksmith. From there he went to Elgin, Ill., and continued at his trade, and in 1857, he moved to Atchison, Kan., following blacksmithing for a short time. He then preëmpted 160 acres of land in Lancaster township, where he built a house. The first crop was destroyed by grasshoppers, and he was forced to return to his trade during the following winter. When spring came, he went back to his farm and that year was successful and his start was assured. Mr. Buttron bought more land and continued to make improvements, and after a long and prosperous career he died in 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Kammer are the parents of three children: Katherine, Rosa and Henrietta, all living at home with their parents. Mr. Kammer is a Republican, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Kammer and family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church of High Prairie neighborhood.

MARSHALL J. CLOYES.

The demise of Marshall J. Cloyes May 5, 1915, marked the passing of one of the sturdy figures who assisted in developing Atchison county, and was one of the grand old men of the city. At the time of his death he was probably the oldest living pioneer settler of Atchison county, in point of age and years of residence in the county. For over half a century he had been one of the well known and distinguished characters whom people trusted and respected. In the days when strong men were required to redeem a wilderness and make it habitable for men and their progeny, Marshall Cloyes was one of those who never gave up the fight. During the terrible drought of 1860, when scores of families deserted their homes and left the State, he and his family were among those who decided to remain and win out over the vagaries of nature. His faith in the future of Kansas was amply justified as the years rolled on and ever increasing prosperity came to him and his, as a just and equitable reward for a faith and confidence bestowed upon the new country during a time which tried men’s souls and caused weaker mortals to give up the fight.

He was born at Salisbury, Vt., October 24, 1826, and descended from sturdy New England ancestry. His parents were Elijah and Mary (Beach) Cloyes. On his father’s side his ancestry can be traced back in the centuries to two brothers who settled in New England in the seventeenth century. His grandfather was William Cloyes, who fought for his country in the War of 1812. The boyhood days of Marshall were spent in the town of Salisbury, where he attended the public schools and later pursued his education in a private school. He learned the trade of shoemaker but did not follow it to any great extent. In 1847 he engaged in the lumber business at Ripton, Vt., and was there for twelve years prior to coming to Kansas. From the town in which he was born he came to Kansas, arriving here in Atchison June 2, 1859. The following autumn his wife and sons followed him and during the ensuing winter the family lived in a two room hut, on the rear of the lots where Mrs. Jacob Leu’s residence now stands. On February 21, 1860, they loaded all their goods in a wagon, and with an ox team moved to a farm north of Lancaster. During the night an old-time Kansas blizzard gave them a cold reception in their new home. When Mr. Cloyes had agreed to pay $650 for his first quarter section of land he was still shy $2.50 of the necessary amount, and was forced to borrow this small sum from a kind neighbor. During the following summer he worked in Oliver Davis’ sawmill and got enough lumber to build a shanty on his farm. While this was building the family lived in two rooms in the home of John S. Rust. In the fall of the bad year of 1860, Mr. Cloyes decided to try to cash in on the reputation he had left behind him in Vermont, and applied to an uncle for a loan of $400. The uncle readily responded with the statement in his letter, “If you are ever able, I know you will pay it back; if you are never able to pay it back I can get along without it.” During the summer Mr. Cloyes put in his spare time cutting prairie hay and stacking it. When fall and winter came on, the returning freighters from Pike’s Peak were willing to sell their oxen and wagons for almost any price. Mr. Cloyes invested a part of his $400 capital in these outfits, wintered the cattle on the hay, and in the spring was able to dispose of the oxen for more than double the purchase prices. During the next two years he was enabled to pay off all of his debts, and prosperity attended his efforts from that time on. By the hard work and good management of himself and his two sons he increased his holdings to an entire section of land. He remained on the farm until 1872, then gave the farm to his sons and removed to a home at 417 North Seventh street in Atchison.

On July 5, 1848, Mr. Cloyes was married to Miss Betsy Henderson, of Middlebury, Vt., who died in Atchison in 1893, leaving two sons, Frank E. and Mark S. On September 15, 1909, he took a second wife, the bride being this time Mrs. Matilda Franke, of Atchison. She was born at Thuringen, Germany, November 16, 1855, a daughter of John and Christiana (Temme) Franke, who immigrated to America in 1858, making the long sea voyage in a sailing vessel which took six long weeks to make a trip, which is now made in six days. From New York City the Frankes came directly to St. Louis, and there made their home until their removal to Atchison. At the outbreak of the Civil war, John Franke volunteered his services in defense of the Union which had given him a home. He served in a Missouri regiment of volunteers for one year, and was then discharged on account of serious disability, caused by the hardships which he had undergone. He was never the same man afterwards, and died in 1865 as a direct result of his disabilities incurred in behalf of his adopted country. The mother and family lived in St. Louis until 1883 when they removed to Atchison. Mrs. Franke died some years later at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cloyes. Matilda Franke was first married to Theo A. Franke, a native of Saxony, Germany, in 1879, and who came to America when a youth of eighteen years of age, and settled in Pittsburgh, Penn. Theo A. Franke was also a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 in Company D, Seventy-fourth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry. He served throughout the great conflict and was wounded several times while participating in the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. He enlisted again, after being discharged on account of a serious wound, and was a brave and valiant soldier who fought for sheer love of his adopted country. Mr. Franke’s first trip to Atchison was made in 1859, but he returned to Pittsburg upon the outbreak of the Civil war and there proffered his services as stated above. He returned to Atchison after the close of the war and here met, in the course of years, Matilda, who was visiting friends in Atchison. Their acquaintance ripened into a warm friendship which gave place to love and they were married March 10, 1879. A happy wedded life endured until Mr. Franke’s death in 1882. Children blessed this union as follows: Rose M., wife of Bert Gilmore, an electrician of Atchison; Elsa, wife of Fred Moore, a railway engineer of Falls City, Neb.; Theo Franke, of Pierce, Ariz. During Mr. Franke’s first year of residence in Atchison he was a freighter across the plains. Upon his return in 1865 he entered the grocery business and prospered, accumulating considerable property interests. He was well known in Atchison and was considered to be one of the city’s most substantial men.