History of Atchison County, Kansas

There is an atmosphere of refinement and well being about the town of Muscotah, Atchison county, Kansas, that is not always found in the western towns which the traveler passes through. The handsome residences, with well kept lawns, shaded by great trees, and the generally attractive appearance of things in the residence portion of this prosperous community is sure to attract the eye and cause favorable comment. The people inhabitating this town are mostly of eastern descent and are nearly all pioneers who many years ago settled on the prairies in the western part of Atchison county, and by dint of industry and hard work transformed the wilderness into a smiling and fertile landscape. Many of them, their work done, have retired to comfortable homes in Muscotah. Among these is Calvin Bushey and his estimable wife, who came to Kansas, fought the good fight for a competence and are now taking life easy in a beautiful and comfortable home in this attractive Kansas town.

Speaking in a biographical sense, Calvin Bushey, Union veteran and retired pioneer farmer, was born July 17, 1844, on a Pennsylvania farm in Adams county, near the historic city of Gettysburg. He comes of good old Pennsylvania German stock and is a son of Nicholas (born 1797, died 1852), and Esther (Mickley) Bushey. Nicholas Bushey was born in the Fatherland and immigrated with his parents to America when a youth. Eight children were born to Nicholas Bushey and wife, namely: Peter died in 1905, at the age of eighty-five years; Mrs. Sarah Hartman died in 1910 at the advanced age of eighty-seven years: George, Union veteran, died at the age of eighty-four years; Jacob M., a Union veteran, residing at Holmesville, Ohio: Henry died in 1858; Catharine died in 1881; Calvin, with whom this review is concerned; John, a resident of Arendtsville, Pa., and James, deceased. The parents of these children lived and died on the homestead in Pennsylvania. The grandfather of Mr. Bushey, on his maternal side, was John Jacob Mickley, who figures in American history as one of the men who helped to haul the old Liberty Bell from Baltimore, Md., to keep it from being captured and destroyed by the British invaders and hid the bell under a church for safe keeping. A son of John Jacob was a soldier in the Revolution. Daniel Mickley, an uncle of Calvin Bushey, lived to the great age of ninety-nine years, and two other uncles lived to the age of ninety-four and ninety-five years. Longevity is a characteristic of the members of this remarkable family. Daniel Mickley served in the War of 1812 as a sergeant.

Calvin Bushey was reared to young manhood on his father’s farm. When President Lincoln called for troops, with which to quell the rebellion of the southern states, he responded and enlisted in August of 1862, in Company K, One Hundred and twenty-sixth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry, for a period of eight months, but served one and one-half years in all. He participated in the great battles of Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. After Mr. Bushey received his honorable discharge from the service he studied in Hayesville Institute for one year and was then engaged in mercantile business for two years, and after his marriage in 1867 came to Kansas to make his fortune. He and his young wife came directly to Atchison county and bought 160 acres of land six miles southeast of Muscotah. Not being exactly satisfied with this farm they sold it three years later and bought a quarter section of land three miles southeast of Muscotah. This land was all raw prairie at the time of purchase and it was necessary for Mr. Bushey to place all the improvements on it. He cultivated this farm until 1903 when he and Mrs. Bushey retired to a home in Muscotah. He sold the old homestead for a good price and invested in 120 acres of land southwest of Muscotah which is being cultivated by his son.

Mr. Bushey was married in January of 1867 to Miss Eva J. Taylor, who has borne him the following children: Mrs. Myrtle Belle, wife of J. D. Miller, garage proprietor and farmer, of Muscotah; John C., farmer and stock buyer, of Muscotah; Esther, wife of J. N. Roach, a farmer, living near Muscotah; Chastine Dwight Bushey, a farmer; and two children died in infancy. The mother of these children was born September 20, 1842, in Defiance, Ohio (at that time Paulding county, Ohio), a daughter of John and Lucretia (Bell) Taylor, the former a native of Huntingdon, Pa., and the latter a native of Nova Scotia. John Taylor was a son of William Taylor, who emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania, whence he came to Ohio and made a permanent settlement. John Taylor was a prominent man in his section of Ohio and served as a member of the Ohio legislature in 1860, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865 and 1866, six years in all. He also served as a justice of the peace and was probate judge of Ashland county, Ohio, for twelve years. He died in Ashland, Ohio, in 1881. The Taylor children were as follows: Mrs. Eva Bushey, William, Arabella, Wilson, Don Fernando, Lavona, and Emma Luverna. Mrs. Bushey is a well educated lady and taught school in Ohio. It was at Perrysville, Ohio, that Calvin and Eva Bushey first met. Calvin had left his home in Pennsylvania, and after studying at the Hayesville Academy he was employed at Perrysville, Ohio, keeping store, attending the railroad office, the express office, and was general all-round railway factotum, as well as managing a general store. The future Mrs. Bushey came to the store one day to buy a pair of shoes and Calvin fell a victim to her charms while attending to her wants. They became friends; the friendship ripened into love, and marriage ensued, which has been one of the happiest on record.

Mr. and Mrs. Bushey are members of the Congregational church and contribute to the support of this religious denomination. He is a Republican in politics and is a member of the local grand army post. This well known and highly respected couple have a total of twenty-one grandchildren, as follows: Mrs. Olive Laughlin, Eva, Nannie, Marguerite, Lillie, Josephine, Julia, children of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Miller; Helen, a teacher, Ruth, also a teacher, Calvin Dwight, Mildred, and Dorothy, and Louis, children of John C. Bushey; Charles Calvin, Mrs. Bertie Yazel, and Gail, children of Mrs. Esther Roach; Paul Everett, Ralph, Dessa, Essa, and Claude, children of Chastine Dwight Bushey. They have one great-grandchild, Margaret, daughter of Mrs. Olive Laughlin.

MARTIN C. VANSELL.

Forty-six years ago Martin C. Vansell, pioneer settler of Grasshopper township and one of the best known farmers and live stock breeders of Atchison county, landed in Muscotah with a cash capital of five dollars. During the forty-six or more years he has lived in the vicinity of Muscotah he has risen to become one of the wealthy and substantial landed proprietors of the county and has reared to maturity a fine family of sons and daughters, educated them and given them a start in life. What more honors can a man wish for than these? Could any citizen contribute more to the upbuilding of his State and county than this pioneer?

Mr. Vansell was born of old southern stock, on a plantation in Union county, Tennessee, October 24, 1854. He was a son of Dr. Elias Vansell, of German descent. His mother was before her marriage, Tabitha Willis, born and reared in Tennessee, and a daughter of Moses Willis, whose farm adjoined the Vansell homestead on the river bottoms. She was of English descent. There were seven children in the family of Elias and Tabitha Vansell, of which M. C. was the youngest. The ancestral home of the Vansells was a large plantation which stretched for one and one half miles along the banks of the Clinch river in Tennessee, and before the Civil war the land was cultivated by slaves. Dr. Vansell was a physician of fine education and exceptional talent.

When a boy M. C. Vansell’s education was cut short by the troubles which beset the neighborhood during the Civil war when all schools in the State were closed and Tennessee was torn by the marching and ravaging of contending armies. The fortunes of the Willisses and Vansells suffered an eclipse for the time being and when fifteen years of age he decided to leave the old home and try his fortune in a newer land. He set out for Dade county, Missouri, with a party of men who were en route to the wild country of southwest Missouri. There was little to induce the boy to remain at home as his father had died and his mother had re-married. Upon his arrival in Dade county he was given work as a cow-boy on a big cattle ranch owned by David Scott and George Igue, brothers-in-law. Young Vansell at that time was a fair horseman and his work consisted in driving herds of cattle to the ranch from Indian Territory and Texas. The nearest point of supply to the ranch was at Sedalia, 100 miles away. His next move was to the State of Kansas, and this migration came about in this wise: In the year 1856 his uncle, Martin C. Willis, had gone from Tennessee to Brown county, Kansas, where he had preëmpted land and become quite wealthy. This uncle heard that his nephew was working on the cattle ranch in Missouri and sent for him to come to his home in Brown county. Although quite in love with the wild free life of the cattle ranch, he heeded his uncle’s request and joined him at his home. For eighteen months after going to his uncle’s home he attended school and was then employed by his uncle and others as a farm hand for some years. On July 17, 1870, he stepped off the train at Muscotah, Kan., with a cash capital of five dollars in his pocket. He worked at farm labor until he was twenty-one years of age and then began operating on his own account. Mr. Vansell has always been somewhat of a trader. The first deal which he ever made in his life was the purchase of a horse in Muscotah which involved an outlay of thirty-five dollars for horse, saddle and bridle. He later sold this animal for sixty-five dollars, took a note in payment, but, sad to relate, the note was never paid and he lost the whole amount. When he became of age he traded a span of mules, of which he had become the owner, for his first forty acres of land which he had farmed on shares, and with the money earned had bought the mules. This trade was made with a Kickapoo Indian. He fenced the forty-acre tract and rented it to a son-in-law of the Indian who had formerly owned it, and finally traded the land for some colts, five cows and twenty-five head of hogs. In a short time afterwards he bought an eighty-acre tract with borrowed money and during the first summer broke up seventy acres of his eighty, and in the fall built a home for himself. The following winter he sowed seventy acres of the tract in wheat and then sold the land at a good profit in November of that year. The following February he bought 160 acres of land, comprising the old townsite of Cayuga in Grasshopper township. Mr. Vansell cultivated this tract for about two years and then sold it at a profit. In 1882 he bought the quarter section which is now the Vansell home place. He has added to his possessions since that time until he is now the owner of 362 acres of land, 320 acres of which is all in one body. It is one of the finest and best improved farms in Atchison county. When Mr. Vansell settled on this land there were little or no improvements. He now has a large modern ten-room house, two large barns, hog and carriage houses, a big double corn-crib and granary, a horse barn, and a special cattle barn. The Vansell farm also boasts a 250–ton concrete silo, forty-eight feet in height and sixteen feet in diameter. From the start of his successful agricultural career Mr. Vansell has handled pure bred live stock, and he is widely known as a breeder of thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle, Poland China hogs, and standard black Percheron horses. In addition to this he has some standard trotting horses which are his pride. Since the start of his career Mr. Vansell has never bred any but the purest strains of live stock on his ranch and keeps from forty to sixty head of pure bred cattle on his place at all times.

Mr. Vansell was united in marriage with Miss Alice Trimble, February 23, 1882, and this union has been blessed with the following children: Lena, wife of Frank Campbell, of Horton, Kan.; Ralph, at home, manages the Vansell home farm; Ray, a student for two years in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan, Kan., and is now operating a cattle ranch in Montana; George, a graduate of Kansas University, class of 1915, and now employed as an entomologist by the State of Kentucky, located in Lexington; Erma, wife of T. C. Whittaker, of Nortonville, Kan., and Willis Blaine, who died at the age of seventeen years in July, 1904. Mr. Vansell has given each of his children a good education. His two daughters are graduates of the Atchison County High School, and his son, Ralph, is a graduate of the Veterinary College of Kansas City, and Ray studied for two years in the Manhattan State Agricultural College. Mrs. Alice (Trimble) Vansell, mother of the foregoing children, was born May 23, 1854, in Fayette county, Ohio, a daughter of Nathaniel and Jane (Lorimer) Trimble, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively, and who were pioneers of Johnson county, Missouri, settling there in 1868.

Mr. Vansell is an independent Republican in his political affiliations, and refuses to wear a party yoke when his conscience and knowledge lead him to think independently, and make up his own mind concerning the qualifications of candidates or the merits of political principles at issue. Aside from his extensive farming interests he is a stockholder of the Farmers State Bank of Muscotah. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen and is religiously connected with the Congregational church. Mr. Vansell is a broad-minded and well read citizen who keeps abreast of the times and stands high in his community. In a way he is a philosopher who holds to the correct idea that some men or too many men never grow up and take the serious view of life which they should in order to achieve the success which is their right and in justice to those dependent upon them.

FRANK W. BISHOP.

Frank Wilson Bishop, live stock dealer and broker, and leading citizen of Effingham, Kan., has spent the greater part of his sixty-one years of life in Atchison county. When a boy he knew what it was to endure the hardships of the frontier and had little opportunity for schooling until he had attained the age of sixteen years. He is a descendant of a fine old colonial family which can trace their ancestry back to the early days of the settlement of New England. His forebears were Puritans, and he is a direct lineal descendant of Governor Bishop of Connecticut. A grandfather, Levi Bishop, was a soldier in the regular United States army and fought in the War of 1812. On the maternal side of his grandfather’s family he is a descendant of the old Higgins family of New York, which numbers among their progeny Governor Higgins. The Bishops for many generations have been military men and in practically every generation the annals of the country show that members of the family fought in the various wars in which this country has been engaged.

Mr. Bishop was born December 12, 1854, in Alleghany county, New York, a son of Lucius Hazen and Betsy Morse (Wilson) Bishop, the former a native of Windsor, Vt., and the latter having been born in Whiteside, N. Y. Lucius was the son of Levi Bishop, who served his country in the War of 1812 as a regularly enlisted soldier. The second wife of Lucius Bishop was a Miss Higgins of the Higgins family of New York. It is worthy of note that while the Bishops were soldiers and fighting men who believed in serving the Nation on the battlefields of its wars, the Higgins family were as a class opposed to warfare and it is not recorded that any of the members of the family enlisted in behalf of their country. They were men of letters, teachers, authors and Statesmen rather than warriors. The father of Levi Bishop was a soldier in the Revolution, according to tradition. The Bishop family left the old home in Alleghany county, New York, in April of 1859. Lucius Bishop having previously made a first trip in 1857 and selected a quarter section of land just north of Monrovia, Atchison county, Kansas, for his home site. He returned home and brought his family to Kansas with the intention of making a permanent home in Atchison county, and thus giving his children a better opportunity for gaining a livelihood than the older eastern country afforded. On his previous trip he had made arrangements for the erection of a home, and an abiding place was already for the family to occupy when they came here. Frank W. and his mother landed from the Missouri river steamer, which they boarded at St. Louis and he recalls that the day they landed at the foot of Commercial street in Atchison was very rainy and disagreeable. The family had taken the overland train at Belmont, N. Y., and rode by rail as far as St. Louis and then boarded the “Ben Louis,” which carried them to Atchison. They breakfasted in town and then made the trip to the claim by wagon. The outlook and surroundings of the vicinity of the family home were not encouraging, and it required considerable courage to get ready to face the struggle for a livelihood in what was then almost a barren wilderness with few settlers in the neighborhood. Every fall the members of the family had the ague, which did not entirely disappear for many years. There was also some trouble with the Indians, and the border warfare added its quota of troubles to beset this pioneer family. Lucius Bishop served in Company F, Twelfth regiment of Kansas cavalry, under Capt. A. S. Best in the battle of Westport, which resulted in repelling General Price and his army of invasion. The elder Bishop prospered as the years passed, and in old age he and his faithful helpmeet left the farm and retired to a comfortable home in Effingham, where they both died. Lucius Bishop was born January 6, 1824, and died August 9, 1905. Betsy Ann Bishop was born in 1832, and died March 31, 1907. They were the parents of the following children: Frank Wilson, with whom this review is intimately concerned: Willis E., who resides on the home farm near Monrovia; Amelia Ann, wife of C. H. Oliver, both deceased, who were the parents of three sons and two daughters; Sarah H., wife of Hugh N. Gillan, of Hill City, Kan. The two daughters were twins. A sister, Helen Bishop, accompanied Lucius C. to Kansas. She was the oldest of the family, dying July 6, 1913, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Helen Bishop was born in Randolph, Vt., March 12, 1831, and came to Kansas in 1858. She began teaching when sixteen years of age, receiving one dollar per week and boarded around. At the end of nine years she was receiving two dollars per week. She taught several years in Atchison county, and conducted a private school at Monrovia. She taught at Monrovia and Lancaster. She was one of the pioneer advocates of teaching domestic science in the schools and was far ahead of her time. She advocated progressive teaching methods in the seventies, which are now in practice. She was a thinker and was an advocate of purity in living. After the death of her parents she made her home with Frank W. Bishop.

Frank W. Bishop was reared to young manhood on the pioneer farm, and had little or no schooling until he attained the age of sixteen years, at which time he realized the necessity of securing an education and managed to attend a short term at the State College at Manhattan, Kan. His father purchased a fine tract of farm land in 1873, consisting of 160 acres which Frank leased from him for a few years and then purchased. He practically built up the farm from a barren tract of prairie land to be one of the excellent producing farms in Atchison county. He erected all buildings on the place and cultivated the land very successfully until 1908, when he removed to Effingham to be better care for the extensive live stock business which he had begun in 1895. Mr. Bishop has one of the most attractive homes in this beautiful city, which was formerly the Potter property and maintains a down-town office where he looks after his business affairs. He is not only a buyer and shipper of live stock but is principally a broker, buying stock in the city yards in carload lots for his farmer patrons who feed them on their farms for the market. In this manner in the capacity of broker he does a very extensive business annually.

Mr. Bishop was married in 1880 to Miss Viola T. Horton, of Atchison county, whose demise occurred in 1886, leaving three children, as follows: Ernest L., a farmer, of Atchison county; Carl A., who is first sergeant of Company I, engineering division, United States regular army, and who is on duty in the Hawaiian Islands; one child died in infancy. In 1890 Mr. Bishop was again married to Miss Mary E. Scott, of Tama county, Iowa, a daughter of Robert A. and Anne (Cannon) Scott, natives of Scotland, the former born in Kirkcudbrightshire, and the latter born in Wigtonshire. The Scotts came to America in 1880. Robert was a stonemason and was one of the builders of the United States treasury building at Washington. In 1870 the Scotts settled on a farm in Tama county, Iowa, and reared eight children. Robert A. and Anne were married May 26, 1848. Robert died November 24, 1911, aged eighty-five years, and Anne Scott died May 18, 1905, aged eighty years.

Mr. Bishop is a Democrat in his political affiliations, and has held local city offices, doing his duty as a citizen when called upon by his fellow citizens. Mrs. Bishop is a member of the Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Bishop is a Supporter.

WILLIAM RYAN.

William Ryan, former chief of police of the city of Atchison and prosperous farmer and iron moulder of Walnut township, was born in Ottawa, Ill., in 1874. He is a son of James and Ellen (Charleston) Ryan, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter having been born and reared partly in Boston, Mass. James Ryan was a son of Patrick Ryan, a native of Ireland who, after emigrating from the Emerald Isle, settled in Connecticut and later became a pioneer of Ottawa, Ill. Patrick Ryan, with his wife and seven children, moved to Ottawa, Ill., in an early day. Later James and his family went to Nebraska and in 1874 moved to Kansas. Patrick Ryan, grandfather of William, was a very prominent citizen of his county in Illinois. He served as captain of his company of Union soldiers during the Civil war and held the office of county treasurer for several terms, besides filling other important county offices. James Ryan, the father, was also a soldier, holding the position of sergeant in a company forming part of the Fifty-sixth regiment of Illinois volunteers. He was taken prisoner and confined for a time in the notorious Andersonville prison. His trade was that of iron smelter and for thirty years he was employed in the John Seaton foundry in that capacity. His son, William, also became an expert moulder and is now employed in the Seaton foundry.

William Ryan, with whom this review is directly concerned, was but an infant when the family located in Atchison. He attended the old Doniphan school in the city and also the Washington public school, where he was a school-mate of Sheffield Ingalls. He learned the trade of iron moulder at the Seaton foundry and saved his earnings until he was able to purchase a farm in Walnut township in 1908. He removed to his farm and cultivated it until 1910 and then returned to Atchison. In 1911 he was appointed chief of the Atchison police department. Previous to his appointment to the head position of the city police force he had served as a member of the city council and was very active in behalf of a number of public and street improvements which were badly needed at the time. He was one of the official body responsible for the completion of the South Atchison sewer and for the building of a number of paved streets. For his activity in behalf of these public improvements he was defeated for re-election, but some years later Mr. Ryan was again elected to office by a handsome majority. Mr. Ryan has a fine farm of 160 acres in Walnut township which was originally covered with a heavy growth of timber, much of which has been cleared away in past years. Upon his retirement from the position of chief of police he returned to his farm, where he resides while he is employed as iron moulder.

He was married in 1898 to Miss Nellie Cairns, and this union has been blessed with five children: Blanche, born in 1899; Ruth, born in 1901; Mary Louise, born in 1903; Hugh, born in 1905; Florence, born in 1910. Mrs. Ryan is a daughter of Irish parents and was born in Atchison.

In his younger days William Ryan was a noted baseball player. He played the left field position on the Atchison team in the first game of baseball ever played in Forest park. The aggregation of players with whom he was associated were known as the “Corn Carnival Colts.” This team became known as the fastest amateur team ever banded together in the city of Atchison and became famous over northeast Kansas for their proficiency in the national game. The name was given to the team when they succeeded in defeating the fast “Kansas Blues,” a professional team, at the time of the corn carnival held in Atchison. Several players from this team broke into the professional league game and became famous.

JAMES H. GARSIDE.

James H. Garside, retired, is one of the best known and best liked pioneer citizens of Atchison. He has resided in this city for the past fifty-one years and has a large acquaintance throughout the city and county. For thirty-eight years Mr. Garside was engaged in railroad work and for twenty-seven years he served as a member of the board of education and was vice-president of the board which had charge of the erection of the Ingalls High School building and other school edifices in the city. During the time in which he served as the local freight agent of the Santa Fe railroad Mr. Garside’s position brought him into contact with all classes of men and his fine courtesy and obliging manner of conducting the company’s business won him high regard and an enviable reputation.

Mr. Garside was born in Canton, Fulton county, Illinois, January 26, 1848, a son of Joshua and Anna (Cox) Garside. His father was born in England and immigrated to America in 1836. He became engaged in banking and was a member of the banking firm of Maple, Stipp & Garside, at Canton, until his removal to Nebraska City, where he opened a bank for S. F. Nukols. The family came to Atchison in 1864 and Joshua Garside was associated with A. S. Parker & Company, forwarding agents, and also agents for the Star line of steamers plying between St. Joseph and St. Louis. This firm later became Garside & Son and did an extensive freighting business to Denver, Salt Lake and Montana points. They shipped a vast amount of grain by river steamer; a single boat used in their freighting sometimes took on from 3,000 to 10,000 bushels of grain and lay at the levee two or three days while loading. This was in the days when the Missouri river was the great waterway for transporting freight to southern and eastern points. Joshua Garside and wife reared a family of two sons and seven daughters, of which James H. was the eldest.

James H. Garside received his education in the public schools of Nebraska City, Neb., and the high school of Atchison. For several years he was engaged in the freighting business with his father, as above stated. Prior to the completion of the Atchison bridge across the Missouri river, Mr. Garside had charge of the business of transferring the railroad freight cars across the river and which were carried to the Missouri side, and vice versa, by the “William Osborne.” When the bridge was completed he was in the employ of the Hamilton & Flint Transfer Company, engaged in transferring freight with teams across the river. In 1881 he entered the service of the Santa Fe Railroad Company as local freight agent and held this position continuously until his retirement from active service. Before he was engaged by the Santa Fe Mr. Garside was an agent for the Continental Fast Freight line, the Commercial Express line and the Star Union line.

Mr. Garside was married in 1872 to Miss Hattie H. Preston, of Canton, Ill. One son blessed this union, William Preston. Mr. Garside is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a member of Washington Lodge, No. 5, of Washington Commandery, and of the Mystic Shrine. For twenty-seven years he was a member of the board of education and did his duty as a very useful citizen in helping forward the advancement of the Atchison city schools to first rank in the state of Kansas. He served as vice-president of this body for several years, and was always found in the forefront of the movement for better school buildings and the installation of better educational facilities for the benefit of the youth of Atchison. He is one of the charter members of the Flambeau Club and also of the Atchison Gun Club. He is religiously affiliated with the Congregational church and has been one of the trustees of this body for several years. In the days of his retirement the same geniality and courtesy which he maintained during his years of public service marks the demeanor of this grand old citizen of Atchison.

WILLIS J. BAILEY.

Willis J. Bailey, vice-president and managing officer of the Exchange National Bank, Atchison, Kan., since 1907, and governor of the State of Kansas from 1903 to 1905, was born in Carroll county, Illinois, October 12, 1854. He was educated in the common schools, the Mount Carroll high school, and graduated at the University of Illinois as a member of the class of 1879. In 1904 his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1879, soon after completing his college course, he accompanied his father to Nemaha county, Kansas, where they engaged in farming and stock raising, and founded the town of Baileyville. Upon reaching his majority Governor Bailey cast his lot with the Republican party, and since that time he has been an active and consistent advocate of the principles espoused by that organization. In 1888 he was elected to represent his county in the State legislature; was reëlected in 1890; was president of the Republican State League in 1893; was the Republican candidate for Congress in the First district in 1896, and in June, 1898, was nominated by the State convention at Hutchison as the candidate for Congressman at large, defeating Richard W. Blue. After serving in the Fifty-sixth Congress he retired to his farm, but in 1902 was nominated by his party for governor. At the election in November he defeated W. H. Craddock, the Democratic candidate, by a substantial majority, and began his term as governor in January, 1903. At the close of his term as governor he removed to Atchison, and since 1907 has been vice-president and manager of the Exchange National Bank of that city. Shortly after his retirement from the office of governor he was prominently mentioned as a candidate for United States senator, and in 1908 a large number of Republicans of the State urged his nomination for governor. Mr. Bailey has always been interested in behalf of the farmers of the country, and from 1895 to 1899 he was a member of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture.

JOHN A. KRAMER.

John A. Kramer, a leading and prosperous farmer of Shannon township, has the double distinction of being a pioneer in the county and having one of the largest families in the State. In this day of small families it is gratifying to note that in Atchison county, within a few miles of the city, resides a man who takes a just pride in the fact that he is rearing thirteen children to become good citizens of the community. Mr. Kramer is the owner of one of the oldest farms in the county which has been in the family for nearly fifty years. It is one of the valuable fruit farms in this section of the State and is noted for its small fruits and orchard products. A handsome brick residence built by the father of Mr. Kramer sets well back from the highway and is surrounded by large trees which have grown to immense size during the life of Mr. Kramer.

John A. Kramer was born October 13, 1862, on the farm where he now resides and was the son of Frank and Rosalie Kramer, both of whom were born, reared and married in Austria, the former having been born in 1820 and the latter in 1827. They emigrated from their native country in about 1852, locating first in Wisconsin, going from that State to Missouri, and in 1857 coming to Atchison county, Kansas. In that year Frank Kramer settled permanently on the farm now owned by his sons and built up a fine estate which became noted throughout this section of Kansas. He was one of the pioneers in the fruit industry in the county, and planted an extensive vineyard, an orchard of thirty to forty acres, including apples, pears and plums, and all kinds of small fruits, the cultivation of which has been carried on by his sons. The Kramer farm now consists of 240 acres of land in a high state of cultivation and well improved. Frank Kramer died in 1889 and his wife lived to a considerable age, dying in April of 1911. To them were born three sons and three daughters, namely: Theresa and Anna, sisters of the Order of St. Benedict, in Mt. St. Scholastica Academy; Mrs. Mary Zehnter, deceased; Frank, born October 13, 1860, in partnership with John A. in the management of the farm; John A. with whom this review is directly concerned; Edward, deceased.

John A. Kramer was reared on the farm in Atchison county, and upon the death of his father took up the burden of the family support with his brother. He is considered to be one of the substantial and successful agriculturists of the county and has taken a prominent part in the affairs of his county since attaining his majority. He was married in 1891 to Phillipina Rambour, born in Bavaria, Germany, a daughter of Michael Rambour. She came to Atchison when young and here met and married Mr. Kramer. To this estimable couple have been born thirteen children: Mrs. Hattie Dooley, of Shannon township, Martha, Rosalie, Anna, Tillie, Phillipina, Josephine, Deloris, Mary Constance, Alfred, John, Francis and Edward.

Mr. Kramer is a member of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church and is a liberal supporter of this denomination. He has been a life-long Democrat and has been an active and influential figure in his party since attaining voting age. In 1891 he served one term as trustee of Shannon township and was elected county treasurer in 1893 and again elected to succeed himself in 1895. This election took place at a period when the county was strongly Republican and party lines were more strictly drawn than at present—evidence of the fact that Mr. Kramer had a strong personal following among the citizens of the county.

JOHN BELZ.

The growth and development of any community depends to a considerable extent upon the management of its financial institutions. The manufacturing and commercial enterprises of the city of Atchison, as well as the farmers and stockmen in its trade territory, have enjoyed the benefits of progressive banking since the first bank was established in the county. It is in connection with this field of activity that John Belz became most widely and favorably known in Atchison county. He was for many years a managing executive of the German Savings Bank of Atchison, which he had helped to organize, serving as cashier, and later filled the same position with the United States National Bank of Atchison. He was known to the banking fraternity of Kansas as an able and discriminating financier, an executive who brought the administrative policy of the institutions with which he was connected to the point of highest efficiency. He was of material assistance in the development of the city of Atchison, an ambitious and tireless worker, a man of high ideals, and his business integrity and honesty were unquestioned.

John Belz was a native of Germany, born in Wurtemberg, near the city of Stuttgart, on August 18, 1833. His father was engaged in the milling business and was a man of some means. John learned the miller’s trade and also served his apprenticeship as a journeyman carpenter, and he enjoyed excellent educational advantages in the schools of his home town and the city of Stuttgart. The elder Belz died when John was nineteen, in 1852, leaving a comfortable estate which was dissipated by the administrator through mismanagement. Thrown on his own resources, and with two younger sisters dependent upon him, John came to the conclusion that America spelled opportunity for him. Master of a trade, possessed of an excellent education, thoroughly versed in the German and French languages, he believed that wealth and position were to be won in the United States; and his sisters believed in him. Leaving their native country, they crossed the Atlantic, landed in New York City, and for a time lived in Lancaster, N. Y., a little village near the city of Buffalo, where the brother found employment. A few months later they located in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Here John was employed as a carpenter, farm hand, and with such other jobs as offered. He attended school and acquired a comprehensive knowledge of the English tongue.

In 1857 John Belz came to Atchison and during the succeeding twelve or fifteen months was employed at his trade. He was thrifty and was soon able to open a small grocery store. His identification with the banking life of the city began in 1872, when he, George Storch and Robert Forbriger organized the German Savings Bank. He was elected its first cashier and filled this position until the institution closed out its business in 1886. Subsequently he was elected cashier of the United States National Bank, and remained in this executive office until 1887, when he resigned. He had early in life acquired the desire, the habit, the love of making money and the habit of work. He possessed shrewd business judgment, keen insight in business affairs, profound knowledge of men, and these, coupled with will and energy, enabled him to gain rank as one of the leaders in the financial and commercial life of the city. He became directly or indirectly interested in several commercial enterprises of the city and was closely associated with the late George Storch, at that time Atchison’s leading man of affairs. Mr. Belz was a loyal citizen, believed in the commercial future of Atchison, and could always be depended upon to assist, both with time and money, any enterprise or measure which meant a greater, better Atchison. During his residence in the city his various investments in financial and commercial enterprises were uniformly successful, from which he accumulated a large fortune. Shortly after his retirement from the United States National Bank he went to California, where he invested heavily in lands. This venture proved a failure and a large part of his fortune was lost. From this time until his death, which occurred September 11, 1895, while not actively engaged in business, he occupied himself as a real estate and insurance agent.

Coming to Kansas in 1857, and locating in any of the towns on her eastern border, meant taking sides with one or the other of the political parties. It also required courage upon the part of the settler. John Belz possessed not only courage but convictions, and, although a newcomer to the United States had, while living in Iowa, given the slavery question much study which resulted in his aligning himself with the Free State party on his arrival in Atchison. He became actively identified with political affairs and was elected a member of the city council, serving several terms. He was also elected to the office of city clerk and served several years. Had it not been for his sensitiveness over his inability to overcome a pronounced German accent in his English which caused him to decline to speak at public meetings, a most necessary qualification if one desired to attain State-wide prominence politically, John Belz would have become one of the powers in the political life of Kansas. He knew men and the motives which actuated them and possessed keen insight as to the demands of the future upon the legislators.

Mr. Belz became a member of Washington Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, on October 17, 1857. He was one of several who demitted from other lodges and was the oldest Mason among them, having been initiated at an earlier date than any of the others. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was reared a Lutheran and a member of that church in his native town. He never affiliated with any church after coming to the United States.

Mr. Belz married on November 10, 1859, Miss Sophia Binde. She was born in Prussia, near Madgeburg. She was left an orphan at the age of six years and was adopted by her uncle and aunt, Ludwig and Mary Binde, and with them and their two sons came to the United States in 1857. They located northwest of the city of Atchison where Mr. Binde engaged in farming. He broke the raw prairie, fenced his property, underwent the privations incident to that pioneer period and developed a successful and highly productive farm. He and his wife were persons of culture, comfortably situated financially and their children were highly educated and talented musicians. Among their effects brought from the Fatherland were a Grand piano and the complete works of the great composers, which included those by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven. Mrs. Belz talks familiarly and interestingly of these composers and has never lost her interest in things musical. The vessel which brought the Binde family to America also carried the Mangelsdorf family, of which August Mangelsdorf, Atchison’s pioneer seedsman, was the youngest member. As time went on John Belz came to Atchison and entered the grocery business. He met Sophia Binde and later she became his wife. His grocery business required the services of a clerk and August Mangelsdorf filled that position. The latter has often remarked that his first employer, John Belz, instilled in him the principles which were the foundation of his success in the commercial world; that his rugged honesty, high ideals and close attention to detail in the handling of any matter remained indelibly imprinted on his mind. Following his precepts has brought him a golden harvest.

Mr. and Mrs. Belz were the parents of two children, daughters. The eldest, Emma, born in Atchison, was married in 1892 to Augustin M. Moore, of Denver, Colo. Mr. Moore died in 1906, leaving an infant son and a daughter, Helen, the wife of Fred Stein, an electrician, of Atchison. Mr. Moore was a well known insurance adjuster and was in the employ of the Shawnee Fire Insurance Company of Topeka. Ida Belz, the younger daughter, also born in Atchison, is the wife of Thomas N. Gray, treasurer of the Symns Grocer Company of Atchison.