George Edwin White, leading physician, of Effingham, Kan., was born at Savanna, Andrew county, Missouri, April 18, 1867, a son of Willis and Rachel (Hall) White, natives of Indiana. Willis was the son of Drury White, who was born and reared in Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in Grant county, Indiana, where he hewed a farm and home from the virgin timber at a time when it required men of hardihood and the greatest endurance to withstand the rigors of a life in the unbroken wilderness of the Hoosier State. Willis White was born August 12, 1840, and when he attained young manhood, hearkened to the call of President Lincoln for troops to quell the rebellion of the Southern States, and enlisted at the first call for “thirty thousand.” He served for ninety days in the Tenth regiment, Indiana infantry. He migrated to Missouri in 1866 and plied his trade of blacksmith in the town of Savanna until 1880, when he moved to Greenleaf, Kan., and conducted a blacksmith shop, in addition to cultivating his farm, which he purchased near Greenleaf. In the fall of 1907 he moved to Effingham, Kan., and is living a retired life. Mrs. White died in 1885, at the age of forty-three years. Twelve children were born to Willis White and wife, four of whom are deceased: John, Henry, and Mary, deceased; Frank, for several years a practicing physician of note in Effingham, and who died in October, 1912, as a result of an accident; Charles, of Kansas City; Dr. George Edwin, with whom this narrative is directly concerned; Albert H., a farmer, in Dickinson county; Mrs. Dora Hill, of Kansas City; William, living in California; Mrs. Laura Shields, of California; Elmer, a farmer, of Jackson county; Leroy, a farmer, of Effingham. Willis White was twice married, his second wife being Elizabeth Heavenridge, of Indiana, who bore him six children: Julia, employed in the Soldier’s Home at Leavenworth, Kan.; Herman, a farmer in western Kansas; Earl, of Effingham; Edith, at home; Ralph, also at home, and a child who died in infancy.
George Edward White received his elementary education in the public schools, studied three years in the Kansas Medical College at Topeka, and graduated from the Medical University at Kansas City in 1905. For a period of five and one-half years he practiced medicine in Dickinson county, Kansas; practiced for two years in Brown county, Kansas, and located in Effingham in the fall of 1912.
Dr. White was married in 1895 to Sadie A. Phillippi, who died in 1911, leaving five children, namely: Willis, George, Lester, Birdie, and Harold, all of whom are at home and attending the public and high schools. One child, Ralph, died in infancy. Dr. White again married in 1912, to Ada M. Elliot, a capable and talented woman, who is a good and kind mother to the doctor’s children.
Dr. White has achieved a reputation as a well read and capable practitioner, and his practice in Effingham and the surrounding country is constantly growing. He keeps abreast of the times and the latest discoveries in the science of healing, and is associated with various important medical societies, among them being the county, State, and National societies, the Golden Belt, and the Northeast Kansas Medical association, the Aesculapian Society, and the University Medical College of Kansas City Alumni. He is a member of the Church of the Brethren, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Mystic Workers. He is a Republican, but has very little time for political affairs. Dr. White is a genial, whole-souled gentleman, who loves his profession and his fellowmen.
George W. Thompson is one of the oldest pioneers living in the State of Kansas, and is all probability the oldest living pioneer in Atchison county today. His career has been an interesting and even romantic one, and reads like a tale from modern fiction. Homesteader, farmer, statesman, politician and man of wide influence are terms which can well be applied to this aged gentleman who has spent sixty-one years of his four score and eight in assisting in the development of the Sunflower State.
George W. Thompson and Wife
One of the Oldest Pioneer Couples in Atchison County
George W. Thompson was born in Georgetown, Ky., October 18, 1827, a son of Benjamin and Nancy (Baxter) Thompson, natives of Virginia and Maryland, respectively, and descendants of old southern stock. Benjamin Thompson was born in Virginia in 1799, the same year in which George Washington died. He was a son of George Thompson, who removed from Virginia to Kentucky in 1811, walking the entire distance over the Blue Ridge mountains to the new home in the forests of Kentucky, where they lived until 1843, and then joined the influx of settlers who were going into Platte county, Missouri. The Thompsons loaded their entire effects on wagons and drove as far as Frankfort, Ky., and then boarded an Ohio river steamer which carried them to St. Louis. An interesting episode of this trip concerns the passage of the boat over the falls at Louisville, Ky., or five miles below that city. At that time the water was very high in the river, and the captain of the steamer decided to take a chance and go over the falls. During the passage the pilot’s steering gear broke and the boat drifted over the falls without guidance in safety, but not without expressions of fear on the part of the passengers. This boat was the “Meridian,” one of the fast steamers of the river, and it frequently raced with other river craft. The trip required about three days from Louisville to St. Louis, which was at that time a city of about 50,000 inhabitants. Mr. Thompson recalls that the boats were lined up along the wharfs at St. Louis for over one and one-half miles, and he has never forgotten the sight. About five days longer were required to make the trip from St. Louis to Parkville, Mo., the trip ending on June 14, having commenced June 1, 1843. Benjamin plied his trade of bricklayer in Platte county, and built the Green Hotel in Platte City, which is still standing as a monument to his skill and handicraft as a mason. He was the first brick mason in Platte City and he erected the Green Hotel in 1844. Benjamin became prominent in the affairs of Platte county and was a fine orator and public speaker.
For many years he was an active and influential figure in the political life of Platte county, and he was a poet who left many evidences of creative literary ability which are still prized among the archives of the county. He resided in Missouri until 1860 and then came to Kansas where he spent the remainder of his days, dying in Mt. Pleasant township in 1862. His wife survived him and lived to an advanced age, dying in 1892, having been born in Rosamount county, Maryland, near Curlew. They reared a fine family of nine children, of which George W. was the third child.
George W. Thompson, with whom this review is directly concerned, grew to sturdy manhood in old Kentucky, and was educated in the neighborhood schools. Since boyhood, he has been a student and is at this day one of the best read men of his generation. He learned the trade of bricklayer under his father and followed the trade while living in Missouri. As early as 1854 he came to Kansas, on the day following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act which threw the Territory open to settlement. He came up the Missouri river in a small boat and landed at the mouth of Nine Mile creek in Leavenworth county. After investigating the possibilities in this county, he filed upon a Government claim and went back to his home in Platte county, returning in January of 1854 to erect a log cabin. This erected, he again went home, returning in November and roofed his cabin with clapboards made by him and his brother, and built a stone chimney and daubed the chinks with mud. He located permanently on his claim January 15, 1855, and on his way nearly lost his oxen in the river. In the meantime a man named Dunham had jumped his claim, and it became necessary for him and Dunham to compromise matters and divide the land which was considered valuable because it had a very fine spring of good, pure water available. Two years later Mr. Thompson sold his claim and entered 160 acres of land in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. He moved to Atchison June 14, 1856. He developed this farm and lived on it for forty-eight years, or until 1914, when he came to Atchison to reside with his daughter, Mrs. Keats.
Mr. Thompson was married in Missouri in 1850, to Rebecca Stigers, a native of Knox county, Ohio, born April 18, 1831, a daughter of Conrad Stigers, a native of Germany. The mother of Mrs. Thompson was Mary Snell Stigers, who was born in Virginia, of French parents, and whose father was shipwrecked on the coast of Virginia. She was a direct descendant of the famous French family of D’ Estang, and her father was a connection of Count D’ Estang. To Mr. and Mrs. George W. Thompson were born nine children: Benjamin T., born October 11, 1850, in Missouri, and died March 12, 1902; Mary Katharine, born October 2, 1854, wife of Asa Barnes, of Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county; John Emmet, born February 17, 1857, in Atchison county, and now residing in California; Harriet M., born April 2, 1859, wife of T. M. Grant, Atchison county; Louis T., born May 8, 1861, died May 1, 1864; Mrs. Dora T. Keats, born March 21, 1864, wife of H. T. Keats, of Atchison; George McClelland, born May 20, 1867, a farmer, Mt. Pleasant township; Clara Thompson, born September 5, 1870, and Albert T., born October 5, 1873, died in infancy.
The Thompson family is one of the oldest in America and is of English origin. The founder of the family came to Virginia with Capt. John Smith in 1607, and through the marriage of John Rolfe with Pocahontas, the princess daughter of old King Powhatan of the Indian tribes of Virginia, the family and successive generations claim to have Indian blood in their veins. They are or were connected with the famous Pickett family, of whom General Pickett was a member. It will thus be seen that on one side the present members of the family can lay claim to being descended from the nobility and on another to being descended from an Indian princess and one of the earliest of the old Virginia gentlemen. It is not to be wondered that the founder of the family in Atchison county has made such a fine record during his long residence here.
Mr. Thompson has always taken an active and influential part in the political affairs of Kansas, and has been a life-long Democrat. He has the unique distinction of having voted for but one candidate who was elected President, and that was Franklin Pierce in 1852. This is probably due to the fact that he has always been independent in his voting, and acted upon his own convictions when it came time to cast his ballot. His last vote was cast for Theodore Roosevelt. When Populism was in vogue in Kansas he voted for the Populist candidate for President. It was only natural that he himself become a candidate for office on account of his education and the inherent gift for leadership. He served as a member of the Kansas legislature at the sessions of 1867, 1868 and 1869, and has been a candidate a few times since. At another time, early in his career, he was elected superintendent of public instruction in Atchison county, but refused to serve, and sent in his resignation. His last candidacy for the legislature was given him by the fusion of the Populists and Democrats, but he was defeated by White by a very small majority. During the campaign of 1866, he was asked to become a candidate for the legislature by many Republican friends and upon the advice of his many friends in the county, he cast his votes for both Ross and Pomeroy for the positions in the United States Senate. It is a matter of history that both Ross and Pomeroy were elected to represent Kansas in the United States Senate, Ross subsequently making himself very conspicuous by voting against the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
This fine old pioneer was also a soldier in the Civil war, and served as first lieutenant of the company commanded by Capt. Asa Barnes in the battle of Westport. Mrs. H. T. Keats, daughter of Mr. Thompson, has in her possession a number of interesting souvenirs of this battle, among them being the belt buckle, and bayonet worn by her father in the battle, and the company’s flag, Captain Barnes’ shoulder straps, and James Binkley’s cap box, in addition to having some of the Government scrip, with which the soldiers were paid. The colonel of the Twelfth regiment was Colonel Louis L. Treat, another member of the company being T. L. Cline. Very few of the members of this company or regiment are now living.
On October 8, 1915, this noted old pioneer was eighty-eight years old and still vigorous, mentally. His power of thinking is not much diminished, and he is still a reader and student. Constant reading and thinking, we are told, is conducive to longevity and Mr. Thompson has always been a great reader and student of history and philosophy. He is a man, self-made and self-taught, and is blessed with a keenness of intellect far above the average. His life has been a well rounded and useful one, and he has had a career of which he and his children and grandchildren can well be proud. His long life has been clean and for years he has been a stern advocate of temperance and has practiced his own belief. In his younger days he was a noted and powerful orator who had the ability to thrill and sway his hearers. Few men can look back over a longer vista of years, well spent in honest pursuits, and in behalf of his fellow men than George W. Thompson. All honor to him as the oldest and most distinguished living pioneer of Atchison today.
B. F. Tomlinson, deceased, was a pioneer merchant and meat packer of Atchison, and left behind him an imperishable record for honesty and fair dealing, which has never been surpassed in the mercantile history of the city. He was born December 25, 1838, in Covington, Ky., a son of Leroy Tomlinson, who was also a native of Kentucky. The mother of B. F. Tomlinson died when he was a small boy, and as a consequence little is known regarding her antecedents. The Tomlinsons are a very old American family. Leroy Tomlinson was a commission merchant and meat packer, who later removed from Covington to Louisville, Ky., and became prominently identified with the business interests of that city. He conducted a large packing establishment and handled as high as 100 beeves at one time in his abattoirs, wholesaling the product of his packing houses to meat merchants in the cities and towns bordering the Ohio river.
B. F. Tomlinson, with whose career this review is directly concerned, was reared and educated in the city of Louisville, Ky., and when he was but fifteen years of age his father died, his stepmother dying one year later. Being an only child, he was left with the responsibility of his father’s extensive business. The excellent training which his father had given him, here came into good stead, and he carried on the packing business successfully, paying, in the course of time, a considerable indebtedness which his father had incurred. After his marriage in Louisville in 1860, he continued to conduct his business in Louisville until 1870, at which time he disposed of his possessions and came to Atchison. Here he engaged in the butcher and packing business, and soon held a prominent place in the mercantile life of the city.
B. F. Tomlinson was married September 11, 1860, to Miss Elizabeth Alexander, who was born May 11, 1840, in Bedford, Ind. She was a daughter of Robert M. and Emily (Legrant) Alexander. Her father was a coach-maker by trade, and removed from Bedford, Ind., to Louisville, Ky., where he died in 1900, at the age of eighty-nine years. Much interesting history can be narrated concerning the mother of Mrs. Tomlinson, who was born in New Orleans, and was one of three children born to her parents, who were of French origin. The elder Legrant was a drygoods merchant in the southern city, and the story goes, that on one of his regular trips to Cincinnati, Ohio, to buy a stock of goods for his store, he left two of the children at home, and on arriving in Cincinnati he placed Emily in charge of a Scotch family by the name of McDonald, and with whom he had been in the habit of stopping while on business in Cincinnati. Emily at that time was twelve years of age, and was a prime favorite with the McDonald’s who begged her parents to leave her at their home during the time which would elapse until Mr. and Mrs. Legrant made their next trip from New Orleans to Cincinnati. They did so, but sad to relate, the little girl never saw nor heard from her parents again, and what became of them she never learned, and she was consequently reared to womanhood by the kind foster parents. In an earlier year than this at New Orleans, and at a time when Emily’s father was very sick with rheumatism, a band of over one hundred Indians was encamped near the Legrant home at New Orleans. One of the other children was also afflicted with cancer of the face. The medicine men of the Indian tribe effected a cure of both the cancer and the father’s rheumatism. The Indians were very affectionate toward Emily and called her the “pretty squaw,” which was only natural, as she grew up to become a very beautiful woman, eventually becoming the wife of Robert M. Alexander, and after her husband’s demise, made her home with her daughter at Atchison, where she died in November of 1904, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years.
B. F. Tomlinson died in January, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson were the parents of eight children: Martha J., wife of Louis Nelson, of St. Joseph, Mo., and mother of one child, Frank B.; Emma T. Bosanko, deceased, left one son, Harry; Lydia, wife of Frank Russell, of St. Paul, Minn., and mother of one son, Clarence Russell; Alice, wife of W. L. Johnson, of Atchison; Anna A., wife of Charles Robertson, of Chicago; Robert, a resident of Columbia, Mo., and who has one daughter, Ecce Tomlinson; Franklin, deceased; Birdie died in infancy. The mother of these children is now three score and fifteen years of age, but does not appear to be over fifty years old. She is remarkably well preserved and has a keen mind, and is especially proud of her husband’s record and fine family of children.
Mr. Tomlinson was a member of several fraternal societies, among them being the Modern Woodmen, the Knights of Honor, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was politically allied with the Democratic party, but never sought political preferment. He was well and favorably known and highly respected in business circles in Atchison, his greatest and kindliest trait being his generosity in giving assistance to the poor and deserving of the city. He was always ready to listen to the call of the suffering and improvident, and never turned away a supplicant in dire need empty handed. It might be said of him that he was too generous for his own financial welfare, but he sincerely believed in the wholeness of his nature in giving of his sustenance to those whom he deemed in need. The indulgence of this Christian trait of giving naturally endeared his memory to a host of friends, who will long remember him. Few men were more liberal or kinder than this upright gentleman.
In the science of agriculture, as well as the learned professions, there are always men who are naturally endowed with the powers of leadership, and are so progressive and energetic that they lead in the van of better and more productive farming where others follow. Atchison county has its quota of these progressive agriculturists who are not content to be just common, every-day farmers, but are ambitious to become specialists in agricultural work. John D. Hawk, of Benton township, Atchison county, holds a place in the front rank of successful and enterprising farmers in Atchison county, and is the owner of one of the most productive and best equipped agricultural plants in the county, or northeast Kansas. His farm comprises 170 acres, located in section 2, range 618, Benton township. A good farm home sets well back from the road, in the rear of which is a large red barn. 86×46 feet, hip roofed and flanked by a modern silo, built in 1910, and which is the first wood silo erected in Atchison county. Mr. Hawk is beginning the breeding of thoroughbred Jersey cattle, and at the present time has a fine dairy herd of twenty-five head, among which is a number of pure breds. Leading this herd is “Shawan Majesty,” a pure bred bull. He also specializes in Poland China hogs, and is meeting with success in the breeding and raising of live stock. Mrs. Hawk keeps a pure strain of Black Langshan poultry and handles this end of the farm work with profit and satisfaction.
John D. Hawk was born November 19, 1875, on a farm in Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of Lafayette T. Hawk, of Benton township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. He was seven years of age when his parents removed to Atchison county, Kansas, from their Ohio home. Here he attended the district school, and had the advantage of one year’s study in the county high school. He worked on the home farm with his father until 1898, when he began for himself in the spring of that year on the McClennon farm which he rented for two years. After his marriage he removed to his present place which is the old Law homestead. He erected the present barn and the large poultry house on the place and made various other improvements including the building of the silo.
Mr. Hawk was married March 15, 1899, to Miss Alice M. Law, who has borne him eight children, of whom seven are living: Walter Gale, born January 12, and died February 1, 1900; Herbert, aged fifteen years; Kenneth, born November 19, 1902; Dorothy, aged ten; Mateel, nine years old; John, aged six years; and twins, Vera and Veda, born December 12, 1911. The mother of these children was born in Toronto, Canada, a daughter of Edwin and Mary Alice Law, both of whom were born in England. Edwin Law comes of a family of singers, and it is a matter of record that his mother sang before Queen Victoria on one occasion, and was noted throughout England as a singer of note. The Laws immigrated from England and first settled in Canada, going from there to Ohio, and after a short residence in the Buckeye State, migrated to Doniphan county, Kansas, from whence they came to Atchison county and purchased the farm where Mr. and Mrs. Hawk now reside. There were five children in the family: Alfred Law, Ella, Alice, Walter, and one died in infancy. Mrs. Law died on the farm, and Mr. Law died in Canon City, Colo. After his first wife’s death, Mr. Law again married, and had one daughter, Lillie, by his second marriage.
Mr. Hawk is a Republican, but his activities do not tend to political affairs. For several years he has been actively identified with agricultural affairs in Atchison county, and his influence has ever been exerted in behalf of better farming. He is president of the Atchison County Farm Bureau, of which institution he is one of the organizers. In connection with Fred Sutter, Alexander McClennon, he assisted in the promotion of the Farm Bureau and its establishment, and the consequent employment of County Agent Taylor as a skilled farm instructor. This is now considered as one of the finest and most beneficial moves ever made in the county in behalf of the farmers of the county, and even the most incredulous who were unwilling to support the movement are now coming into line and becoming enthusiastic over the possibilities for bettering farm conditions in the county as the result of the efforts put forth by its zealous supporters. This committee during the winter of 1914–1915 visited every part of the county, in the preliminary organization and missionary work, and enrolled 200 farmers as supporters of the project. Mr. Hawk is likewise president of the Atchison county Farmers’ Institute. He attends the Christian church, of which Mrs. Hawk is a member, and is fraternally affiliated with the Central Protective Association.
A man’s standing in the community where he resides or transacts his business affairs is usually gauged by his usefulness to society and his activities in behalf of the general good of his fellows. If he be of the class of citizens who are seeking to benefit the community in which he is engaged in business, he is a decided benefit to that community. Such an individual is Herbert J. Barber, banker of Cummings, Kan. Mr. Barber is a native of the Sunflower State, and is a son of one of the early pioneers. The story of Moses Barber, his father, Union veteran, Kansas pioneer, and one of the first successful fruit growers of Atchison county, is interesting and borders on the romantic to a considerable degree. Over fifty years ago, directly after his honorable discharge from the Union service at Leavenworth, Moses Barber set out on horseback to find a place for a home in Atchison county. He found the homestead, and at the same time found a sweetheart who later became his wife and fought the good fight with him through the lean years and good ones until he attained to the realization of his ambitions to obtain a competence. He became widely known as the “Apple King” of Kansas as a result of his remarkable success as a grower of apples, and cultivated what was in all probability the largest apple orchard in existence in the State of Kansas in his day. His son, Herbert, has followed in his father’s footsteps and is fast making a name for himself in the field of finance. Speaking in a biographical sense, Herbert J. Barber was born on the old homestead of his father in Mt. Pleasant township, April 11, 1871, a son of Moses and Mary (Hubbard) Barber, the former a native of Rhode Island, and the latter a native of Virginia.
Moses Barber
Mrs. Mary (Hubbard) Barber
Moses Barber was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, April 22, 1833, a son of James and Elizabeth Barber, natives of Rhode Island, of colonial ancestry and English descent. A brother of James was Colonel Barber, who served in the War of 1812, and the grandfather of Moses Barber was a Revolutionary soldier. Moses was reared to young manhood on his father’s farm in Rhode Island, and then migrated westward to Illinois. After a residence of a few years in Illinois he came to Kansas and was a resident of the State upon the outbreak of the rebellion of the Southern States. He enlisted in Company I, Second regiment, Kansas cavalry, in 1861, and was soon promoted to ranking sergeant of his company. He served his country well and faithfully and took part in several hard fought engagements with his regiment, and received his honorable discharge at the close of the war at Leavenworth, Kan. After receiving his discharge from the service he set out on horseback in search of a homestead, riding the faithful cavalry horse which had carried him through the strenuous days of the Civil war. His route led him in a northwesterly direction from Ft. Leavenworth through Atchison county. He stopped for sustenance and rest at the home of a family named Hubbard at Parnell, Kan. Mr. Hubbard was a pro-slavery and State rights man who had removed from the Southland in 1855 after two years in Missouri, a State rights advocate, and although Mr. Barber was his guest, they had frequent clashes over the troubles of the South and war incidents. The bitterness of the great conflict had not yet been obliterated, and it was only natural that the Union veteran and State’s rights man should have disagreements. This was not all of their troubles, as time soon developed. Mr. Hubbard had an attractive daughter, and thereby hangs a tale of romance. Mary Hubbard was the acme of beauty in the eyes of young Barber and he purposely stayed around in the neighborhood that he could be near Mary and do his courting despite the evident antipathy of Father Hubbard. In fact, Moses often said later, “That was the reason I stayed there.” The attraction between Mary and Moses grew into friendship, friendship ripened into love, and the son of the North and the daughter of the South were married. The parental opposition to this natural outcome of the meeting of two young souls who were evidently destined for each other was so great that a quiet marriage was necessary. Moses and Mary quietly departed one day and returned to the parental roof as man and wife. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard soon afterwards decided to accept the inevitable and become fond of their son-in-law. Time and subsequent events proved that Moses and Mary were well mated and the marriage, if a hasty one, proved to be very happy in the years to come. Mr. Hubbard soon afterward went west to satisfy the gold fever which obsessed him and Moses Barber settled down on his father-in-law’s farm which he purchased, thus beginning a highly successful career as an agriculturist. The first home of him and his young wife was a little log cabin which formerly belonged to the Hubbards, but as prosperity came as the reward of years of careful husbandry, he erected a handsome farm residence of thirteen rooms which still stands on the place, built in 1882. Mr. Barber was one of the first men in Kansas to see the possibilities in fruit growing and early began to develop that part of the farming avocation. He planted four or five acres of apple trees as a start in his horticultural experiments, and his success with his first orchard was so gratifying that he increased his apple orchards to sixty acres of bearing trees. He became widely known as the “Apple King of Kansas.” While managing his immense fruit orchard he did not neglect the other side of the farm work and cultivated assiduously and successfully his large farm of 320 acres of land in Mt. Pleasant township. In the early days he was a large cattle feeder and made large shipments to the stock markets.
Moses Barber was married May 15, 1865, to Miss Mary Hubbard and this union was blessed with two children: Mrs. Abigail Brayman, of Wickford. R. I., and Herbert J., with whom this review is directly concerned. Mr. Barber departed this life July 3, 1896, after having lived a long and useful life which was profitable as well as happy. Mrs. Mary (Hubbard) Barber, his surviving widow, was born May 7, 1845, in Roanoke county, Virginia, and was a daughter of Clark and Rebecca Hubbard, both of whom were born and reared in Virginia and came to Kansas in 1855. Mrs. Barber resides with her son, Herbert J., in Atchison, Kan.
Herbert J. Barber attended the district school of his neighborhood in Mt. Pleasant township and later pursued a course in the Atchison Business College. After finishing his business course he returned to his father’s farm and took charge of the fruit growing and general farming. Later he spent three years in Colorado in the employ of a Denver wholesale book and stationery house. In 1894 he returned to the home farm and successfully managed it until 1908. He then removed to Cummings, Kan., and assisted in the organization of the Cummings State Bank. He became the cashier of this institution and has given evidence of decided financial and business ability of a high order in his vocation. Besides his banking interests Mr. Barber has land holdings in Colorado and western Kansas. He makes his residence at 1020 Santa Fe street in Atchison.
The marriage of H. J. Barber and Miss Eva Wertz was solemnized in February 19, 1902. Mrs. Barber was born the twenty-sixth of May, 1878, in Pennsylvania, a daughter of David and Eliza Wertz, both of whom were born and reared in the Keystone State. David Wertz was for many years a merchant at Parnell, Kan., and is now living in retirement at that place. The mother of Mrs. Barber is now deceased. One child, Mary Reta, born August 13, 1904, has blessed the marriage of Herbert J. and Eva Barber.
Politically, Mr. Barber is a Republican, and has held the office of trustee of Mt. Pleasant township for four years. He and his family are religiously affiliated with the Baptist church. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Washington lodge, No. 5, of Atchison, and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Barber is a booster and public-spirited citizen by nature and is always ready and willing to support anything for the good of the community and the people. Every civic program which will have a tendency to benefit the whole of the people finds him as one of its warmest supporters.
Robert Pinder, the efficient and capable manager of the Effingham Lumber Company, while having been a resident of Effingham but a few years, has so identified himself with the life of the community and taken such an active part in the city’s affairs, that his citizenship is an important and component part of the body politic. He is a hustler in both thought and deed, and strives to advance his city as well as managing his business at profit, and so as to gain increasing prestige for the lumber company’s business, which has been under the present management since 1912. The company conducts a general lumber business, and sells all kinds of building material, such as farm gates, Crown and Tulsa silos, of superior make, tiling, roofing and roof paints, etc. The sheds and yards cover six lots, and Mr. Pinder employs two men to care for the business. The president of the company is W. C. Alexander, of Atchison; the vice president is T. B. Pinder, of Clifton, Kan., and the general manager and secretary-treasurer is Robert Pinder, with whom this narrative is directly concerned.
Robert Pinder was born September 5, 1872, in Timberland, England, a son of John and Anna (Burton) Pinder, who were farmers in their native country, and about 1894 immigrated to this country and settled on a farm near Everest, Kan., where they died. In 1886 Robert was indentured at Martindales, England, for three years and one and one-half years at Horncastle, to grocery and provision merchants, with the understanding that he was to receive his board and lodging, and his father was to provide for other necessaries, such as wearing apparel, and medicine, in case of sickness. His periods of indenture required both day and night service and to play no games, or frequent taverns or dice tables, or contract matrimony, or buy and sell. For an American boy to be required to do anything of this sort would be considered the rankest injustice, and he would rebel at being compelled seemingly to sacrifice his liberty and become a bound employe for so long a time. But such is the custom in England, and the training which Robert Pinder received during his four and one-half years of indenture proved exceedingly valuable lo him in later years. After serving his time as an apprentice he continued in the provision business for three and one-half years longer, and then came to America, journeying direct to Doniphan county in 1894. In the spring of the following year he moved out on the farm owned by his father, who had brought the entire family, with the exception of one brother, to this country. He assisted his father in the cultivation of the farm for four years, and then accepted a position in the lumber business of E. L. Alexander, at Everest, Kan., in the spring of 1899. Three months later he became manager of the Purcell Lumber Company, at Purcell, Kan., and remained in this position for three years, following which employment he was manager of the Alexander Lumber Company at Havensville, Kan., for over ten years. In the spring of 1912 Mr. Pinder came to Effingham and took charge of the Effingham Lumber Company. His success in the lumber business has been marked and rapid, and is an indication of true and tireless business ability of a high order. He is secretary and a stockholder of the Alexander Lumber Company, a large concern: secretary of the Harrison Lumber Company, of Garnett, Kan., and is interested in this concern as a stockholder. Mr. Pinder also administered the family estate after his father’s death in 1909, and his mother’s demise in the year following. There were eight children in the family: Frederick died in infancy; John W., living, in England; Edith Mary, wife of William Pinder, of Huron, Kan.; Robert; Charles, a farmer living near Huron: Henrietta died at Everest; Emma A., wife of Arthur Harris, of Everest; Thomas Benton, in the lumber business at Clifton, Kan.
Mr. Pinder was married November 1, 1900, to Harriet M. Pinder, who was born in Denton, a daughter of A. G. Pinder, a farmer, residing near Huron, Kan. Four children have blessed this union: Ruth Mary, born in November, 1901; Cecil Francis, born in 1903; Leslie Benton, born in 1906; John Sylvester, born in 1909.
Mr. Pinder is a progressive Republican, and has pronounced and decided views upon independence in politics, and believes in “a government of the people and by the people,” and not for the benefit of the favored few. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, and is fraternally allied with the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Lumberman’s “Hoo-Hoo” society.
For twenty-four years Thomas J. Potter has served the people well and faithfully as postmaster of the town which was named in honor of his father. Joseph Potter, one of the distinguished pioneer settlers of Atchison county, Kansas. Thomas J. Potter was born January 29, 1856, on a farm which later became the townsite of Potter, Kan., and was settled upon by his father in 1854. Mr. Potter probably holds the record for long and continuous residence in Atchison county as a native son of this county. He was a son of Joseph and Minerva (Wiley) Potter, natives of Kentucky and descendants of colonial ancestry. Thomas Potter, father of Joseph, tracing his ancestry direct to a member of the colony founded at Jamestown, Va., by Capt. John Smith, in 1607. Thomas Potter, grandfather of T. J., was born in old Virginia, and was a pioneer settler in Lincoln county, Kentucky.
Joseph Potter was born in 1819 in Kentucky, married there and reared a family. When Kentucky began to take on a crowded condition, which was inimical to a great many of the early settlers of the Daniel Boone class, Thomas Potter conceived the idea of migrating westward, as Boone had done. Accordingly, he sent his son, Joseph, to the wild country of Saline county, Missouri, to find out about the fertility of the land, and to determine whether or not the country was suitable for settlement. Joseph made the trip in safety and made a favorable report on his arrival home. The family, thereupon, disposed of their land holdings in Kentucky and made the overland trip to Missouri, finally locating in Buchanan county of that State, near the town of DeKalb, in 1846. Here Joseph Potter was married in 1851 to Minerva Wiley, whose parents had migrated from the old home in Kentucky to Buchanan county, Missouri, about the same time the Potter family had settled there. Three years later, in 1854, Joseph Potter and his wife removed to Atchison county and filed upon an 160 acre claim, on part of which acreage the town of Potter is now built. This was some years before Kansas became a State, and about the time the great struggle between the pro- and anti-slavery men was beginning for the control of Kansas. Joseph Potter was a strong anti-slavery man, who was not afraid to voice his convictions in unmistakable language at any and all times. He was firm in his belief that slavery was an evil which should be abolished, and his aggressiveness led him into frequent conflicts with the pro-slavery advocates. He was one of the able and fearless leaders of the anti-slavery contingent in Atchison county, and many times he was threatened with physical violence. At the time of one of the territorial elections, only three Free State votes were cast in Joseph Potter’s precinct. Four thousand votes, a number far in excess of the actual number of voters in the territory, were cast at this election, and pro-slavery men came from Missouri, and even from Kentucky, and voted several times in favor of making Kansas a slave State.
Joseph Potter was a Mexican war veteran. He enlisted in 1846 as a private soldier in the regular army of the United States, and served throughout the Mexican conflict under Col. Sterling Price. When the Civil war broke out he was appointed recruiting officer for the Federal Government, and later served as a captain in the Kansas State militia. Joseph Potter served one term as a member of the State legislature. In the year 1886 the town of Potter was established and named in his honor.
One of the most cherished of the friendships of this hardy pioneer was that of the late Senator John J. Ingalls, a friendship which began in the troublous days preceding the Civil war, and endured until death parted them, long afterward. Mr. Potter’s first impression of John J. Ingalls was obtained at an anti-slavery meeting held in Mount Pleasant township, and he was fond of relating the occurrence after the Senator became a Nation-wide character of prominence. Joseph Potter was the political leader of the anti-slavery party in that section of the State at the time, and Mr. Ingalls, then a young man of twenty-five, had opened his law office a few weeks previously in the old town of Sumner, Kan. Ingalls spoke at this meeting, and it is recalled, that as he arose to speak, a tall young man, pale and slender, the impression that he made upon his audience was small, and there were those present who even sneered when he began to speak. It was not long, however, as the future senator swung into his theme, until he convinced his auditors that he had a thorough knowledge of Kansas conditions, and could speak with an eloquence and honesty of delivery that was convincing. The listeners who came to scoff, left the meeting as warm admirers of Mr. Ingalls, and Mr. Potter was forever afterward his warm supporter.
Joseph Potter and his wife were the parents of eight children, as follows: Celia J., wife of T. Lawler, of Cowles, Neb.; Francis, living on the old home place in Walnut township; Alice P., residing on the home farm; Josephine P., wife of J. W. Miller, of Atchison; Thomas J.; Samuel L., a banker, living at Cutbank, Mont.; John J., also living on the old homestead.
Thomas J. Potter was born and reared on the old home farm of the Potter family, and followed the occupation of a tiller of the soil until he was twenty-seven years of age. He was appointed postmaster of the town of Potter, and was re-appointed in 1898, and has held the office continuously ever since. He was married in 1882 to Fannie M. Brown, a daughter of John Brown, of Missouri. Two children bless this union: George Potter, in the United States mail service in Chicago, Ill., and Garland J., wife of Charles Pruitt, of Sioux Falls, S. D. The mother of these children died in February, 1906. In the year 1913 Mr. Potter took for his second wife, Mrs. Estella Everhardt, widow of Charles Everhardt, and a daughter of N. D. West, a native of New Jersey, who settled in Kansas in the early territorial days.
Mr. Potter is politically allied with the Republican party and is a supporter of Republican principles. He belongs to the Christian church, and is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America.
Benjamin F. Shaw, hardware merchant, of Potter, Kan., is a native of Atchison county, and is one of Potter’s younger successful business men. He was born October 11, 1882, on a farm in this county. He is a son of Henry and Martha (Nelson) Shaw, the former a native of Roodhouse, Ill., and the latter of Missouri. Both parents are of English ancestry. Henry Shaw came to Kansas in 1867 when a young man twenty years of age. When he came here he had a cash capital of about $100. He was of a saving disposition, however, and it was not long until he became the owner of a fine farm of 320 acres in Leavenworth county, Kansas. He is now residing in Leavenworth, living on a small farm of twenty acres within the city limits.
Benjamin F. is the fourth of six children born to Henry and Martha Shaw, and is the only son. He spent his boyhood days on his father’s farm and attended the district school in his neighborhood. When nineteen years of age he came to Potter and entered the employ of L. M. Jewell, in his general merchandise store. He began working for a salary of sixteen dollars per month. When Mr. Jewell took charge of the Potter State Bank as cashier, Mr. Shaw was placed in charge of the Jewell lumber yard and furniture store. Shortly afterward he was enabled to purchase a half interest in the furniture store. Within a year he sold his interest in the furniture business and bought a half interest in the hardware store of J. C. Helvey. Upon Mr. Helvey’s death, three years later, Mr. Shaw purchased his former partner’s interest, and has since conducted the business entirely in his own name, as the sole proprietor. Mr. Shaw has met with signal success in his business venture, and has grown with the town of Potter. He has increased the value of the hardware stock in his establishment from $2,200 to over $7,000. In addition to his business he is the owner of farm lands near the town of Potter. This is a considerable accomplishment for a young man who began his career with practically no capital, but a willingness to do the best he could, and endowed with plenty of energy and intelligence.
Mr. Shaw was married in November of 1904 to Miss Louise Bessler, of Leavenworth, Kan. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party, and he is fraternally connected with the Modern Woodmen lodge.
A review of the life of the late Lawrence Griffin, of Effingham, Kan., is the story of a poor Irish lad who left his native land, served his adopted country in the Civil war, became a pioneer in Kansas, and was a railroad builder and successful farmer, and in the course of years realized in full his boyhood dream of wealth and position in the great, free land of America.