The name of Mangelsdorf is indelibly linked with the story of the commercial development of northeast Kansas and the Middle West, and the Mangelsdorf family is one of the most respected and substantial of Atchison, Kan. The review of the life of William Mangelsdorf, deceased, begins across the Atlantic in the Fatherland of Germany, where he was born and spent part of his youth, coming to America with his parents when twelve years of age. William not only achieved a wonderful success in business and accumulated wealth, but he assisted in making the family name known and respected throughout a great extent of territory wherever the output of the great seed house founded by him and his brother, August, carried its business. He left behind him a monument for business integrity and upright methods which has made his name universally respected and honored for years to come.
William Mangelsdorf was born in Armin, Prussia, February 15, 1845, a son of Christopher and Marie Anna Dorothy Mangelsdorf. Christopher Mangelsdorf died in Germany in 1849 and his widow married Andrew Stehwein, who with the family emigrated from their native land in 1849 and settled on a farm in Gasconade county, Missouri. In 1868 the family removed to Douglas county, Kansas, where they resided until the mother’s demise, after which Mr. Stehwein came to Atchison to spend the remainder of his days with his children. Five children were born to Christopher and Marie Anna Mangelsdorf: Mrs. Anna Buhman, of Atchison, Kan.; Henry, in New Mexico; Mrs. Dorothy Beurman, Lakeview, Douglas county, Kansas; William, with whom this review is directly concerned; and August, residing in Atchison.
In 1868 William Mangelsdorf left the family home in Gasconade county, Missouri, and came to Atchison, Kan. His first employment in this city was as a laborer in various capacities until 1872. During the four years in which he was earning his living by the hardest kind of labor he was all the time obsessed with the idea that the mercantile field of the new country being developed afforded opportunities to become successful for an ambitious young man. He accordingly, carefully saved his money, and with a small capital embarked in business for himself. He was first engaged in the retail grocery business with John Ratterman under the firm style of Ratterman & Mangelsdorf, and remained a member of the firm until 1875, when he disposed of his interest in the grocery business and purchased a half interest in the retail grocery conducted by his brother, August Mangelsdorf, forming the firm of Mangelsdorf Brothers. It was about this time that the brothers tried the experiment of adding a seed department to the grocery in order to meet a growing demand for farm and garden seeds. The experiment proved successful and the business grew even beyond the greatest expectations of the promoters. What was intended as a side line on their part developed into an extensive business which soon dwarfed the grocery trade; it was not long until they engaged in the wholesale line; the enterprise grew to be one of the most important in northeastern Kansas, and was later incorporated as the Mangelsdorf Brothers Company. An extended mention of its development is to be found elsewhere in this publication. Not many years after the partnership of the Mangelsdorf Brothers was formed, William established another general merchandise store at Ellinwood, Kan., in 1877, and later another store at Bushton, Kan. The stores were conducted under the name of the Mangelsdorf Brothers Company, which was incorporated about this time, and the other partners in the various enterprises were August Mangelsdorf, of Atchison, H. D. Back, of Atchison, Kan., and C. F. Stehwein, manager of the Bushton store. William resided in Ellinwood in active management of the stores until 1895; then he removed with his family to his farm near there. In 1898 he moved to Bushton, taking the active management of the store at that place. He also established a banking business at Bushton which was successful from the start, and his activity in commercial life continued until 1904, when he removed to Atchison, where he lived in retirement from active business pursuits until his demise, May 15, 1911.
Mr. Mangelsdorf was married August 6, 1875, to Miss Minnie Halling, and this marriage was blessed with six children, namely: Clara, residing in Pueblo, Colo.; William C., who also lives in Pueblo, Colo.; Edward F., a member of the Mangelsdorf Brothers Company; Minnie, at home; Frank A., cashier of the German-American State Bank of Atchison; Albert H., cashier of the Farmers State Bank, Potter, Kan. Mrs. Mangelsdorf was born in 1854 in Pennsylvania, and died in Atchison, Kan., in 1904. Her father was an early settler in Kansas, and first resided in Doniphan county, where he preëmpted land on Independence creek, later removing to Atchison. William Mangelsdorf was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, to which denomination he was a liberal contributor. During his life he was a hard and indefatigable worker, who was ambitious to succeed and achieve a competence for his children. He was a liberal supporter of local enterprises, and was regarded as one of the wealthy and substantial citizens of Kansas, and will long be regarded as one of the leading figures of the commercial development of Atchison county and central Kansas.
Albert H. Mangelsdorf, cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Potter, Kan., was born February 15, 1890, in Barton county, Kansas. He is a son of the late William Mangelsdorf, a pioneer settler of Atchison, and one of the successful merchants of Kansas, extended mention of whom is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Mangelsdorf was educated in the common schools of Barton county, Kansas, and received his preparatory training at St. Benedict’s College, Atchison, Kan. He attended the University of Kansas, class of 1912, pursuing a course in mining engineering. After the completion of this course he was in the employ of the Newmire Vanadium Company, located at Newmire, Colo., in the capacity of engineer. Later, he was in the employ of a mining firm at Weinkleman, Ariz., and later with the Arizona Copper Company at Morenci, Ariz., after which he served as superintendent of the main building of the Mangelsdorf Brothers Company at Atchison until his appointment as cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Potter, Kan., in December, 1914.
Mr. Mangelsdorf is a Republican in politics and is fraternally affiliated with the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, the Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Catholic church.
The late Fred Binkley, of Potter, Kan., was born April 8, 1832, in Warrick county, Indiana, a son of George and Catharine (Chinn) Binkley, both of whom were born and reared in the State of North Carolina, and were among the earliest settlers of southwestern Indiana. George Binkley was of German origin, and Catharine (Chinn) Binkley was of English origin. In the year 1828 George Binkley with his wife and infant son, James, set out for Indiana, equipped with one horse, their personal belongings and a camping outfit. The horse was used to transport their outfits and it was necessary for George and his wife to walk practically the entire distance from North Carolina to their destination in Indiana. They arrived in the wilderness of Indiana without mishap and at once set about making a home in the new country. A few years later they removed to a farm in Gibson county, Indiana, where George and Catharine Binkley spent the remainder of their lives. They reared a family of eleven children, of which Fred was the third child.
Fred Binkley grew to manhood on the pioneer farm in Indiana and learned to rough it at a very early age. After his marriage in 1854 to Elizabeth Dougan, he and his wife lived for one year on a farm in Gibson county, and then the father of Mrs. Binkley (James Dougan) sold out his holdings in Indiana and migrated to Atchison county, Kansas. Two years later Fred and his wife followed and settled on 160 acres of land one and one-half miles northwest of Potter in Mt. Pleasant township. The land was mostly raw prairie and it was necessary for him to erect a suitable home which was an humble one at first, but as the years passed and Mr. and Mrs. Binkley became more and more prosperous they built a better home and added sixty acres more land to their holdings.
Fred Binkley was married September 15, 1854, to Elizabeth Dougan, and eight children have been born to this union: Robert, born in Indiana in 1855, a farmer living in Mt. Pleasant township; Sarah, wife of S. Watson, of Leavenworth county, Kansas, was born in 1860; Lewis, born in 1863, and died in 1899; James, born in 1868, living on a farm near Effingham, Kan.; George, born in 1870, died in 1910; Dora, born in 1872, wife of Samuel Hall, of Leavenworth county, Kansas; Lou, born in 1874, at home with her mother; Kate, born in 1877, wife of Albert Hawley, of Atchison county, Kansas. The mother of these children was born May 10, 1835, a daughter of James and Sarah (Healt) Dougan. James Dougan, the father, was born in Kentucky, a son of Samuel, who was a soldier of the Revolution, and who received a large grant of Government land for his services. His grant was located in Dyer county, Tennessee, and consisted of 1,300 acres of wild land, which was divided among the children of the Revolutionary soldier (James). Samuel removed with his family to a portion of this land, which was wild and rough and covered with dense timber. A few years of living in the wilderness of Tennessee sufficed for them, however, and they left the State and went to Gibson county, Indiana, to found another home. They traveled horseback to the new location. Samuel, at that time an old man, became ill on the trip and was forced to return to Tennessee, dying there in about 1828. The family later made a permanent settlement in Gibson county, Indiana. Samuel and Molly Dougan (his wife) reared a family of five children, of whom James, the father of Mrs. Binkley, was the third child. The mother of James died in 1845. James Dougan was married in 1831 to Sarah Healt, and eleven children were born to them, of whom nine were reared to manhood and womanhood. As early as 1855 James Dougan came to Atchison county and preëmpted 160 acres of land, built a cabin, and returned to Indiana for his family, whom he brought to Atchison county, Kansas, in the spring of 1856. He was comparatively a poor man when he located in Kansas, but became quite prosperous and well-to-do and became the owner of a half section of well improved land. James died in 1900, at the age of ninety-two years. Two brothers of Mrs. Binkley served in the Union Army during the Civil war. One of them enlisted in the Eighth Kansas cavalry regiment, and the other in the Thirteenth regiment.
Fred Binkley departed this life August 2, 1910. He was well and favorably known in Atchison county and his demise marked the passing of one of the sturdy pioneer settlers of the State. He was a stanch Republican during his whole life and was a pronounced Free State man in the days when the struggle was on to make Kansas a Free State. He took an active part in the stirring scenes before and during the dark days of the Civil war, and like many others, suffered from the forays of the border ruffians. The Methodist church, of which he was one of the members and a builder, having been burned by border ruffians, he never united with any other denomination.
John Drimmel, farmer and stockman, of Shannon township, Atchison county, was born on the farm where he resides, in 1863, a son of John and Mary (Karn) Drimmel, natives of Austria. John Drimmel, Sr., was born in Austria in 1829, and immigrated to America with his wife in 1853. They were accompanied by the oldest child, Veronica. He settled on a rented farm of eighty acres north of Atchison in Shannon township, which he cultivated for three years and then bought eighty acres of land four miles west of the city. John, Sr., erected a small, rough box house, which was the family home for the first twelve years, and which was then replaced by a large, handsome brick residence of ten rooms, which is now the home of the son, John. This fine home is modern and fitted with a lighting system and a cellar runs underneath the entire body of the house. It is one of the most attractive places in Atchison county. Mr. Drimmel added to his acreage as he was able and accumulated a total of 230 acres of fine land which is now being cultivated by his son. During 1914 John Drimmel, with whom this review is concerned, had planted forty-five acres of corn, 100 acres of wheat, and ninety acres of oats, all of which yielded splendid crops. Mr. Drimmel is renting eighty acres, in addition to the home farm. The elder Drimmel was a Free State man and served as company cook in the Union army during the Civil war. He reared a family of seven children, as follows: Mrs. Veronica Miller, living in Doniphan county, Kansas; Antony, of Atchison; Florence, Everest, Kan.; John, the subject of this review; Arnold, of Kansas City; Frank, living with his brother, John; L. J., a farmer, living in Shannon township. All of the children of this pioneer family are well-to-do and in good health, the oldest of the family being over sixty-one years of age. John Drimmel, the father, died in 1891. The mother was born in 1829, and died in 1889. They were a worthy pioneer couple who achieved a comfortable competence and reared a fine family in the land of their adoption.
John Drimmel owns and manages the old home place of the Drimmel family in Shannon township, and is one of the representative and well known farmers of Atchison county. All of his fifty-three years of life have been spent in Atchison county and he has always lived on the farm which he now owns. Mr. Drimmel was married in 1893 to Miss Marie Blodig, who died in the first year of her marriage, leaving one son, Frank, born March 1, 1894, and studied in St. Benedict’s College. He was again married in 1896 to Miss Marie Jahl, who has borne him the following children: Anna Marie, born November 24, 1898; John Albert, born April 28, 1900; Marie Veronica, born September 6, 1901; Agnes Cecila, born December 23, 1902; Irene Florentine, born June 11, 1904; Ernest Gabriel, born January 15, 1906; Alfred William, born March 28, 1908; Reinhold Leapold, born September 20, 1909; Rose Helena, born January 23, 1911; Maximilian Louis, born August 21, 1912; Genevieve Frances, born August 14, 1914. The mother of this large family of eleven children was born in Austria in 1877, a daughter of John and Anna Jahl. John Jahl, the father of Mrs. Drimmel, was born in Austria in 1852, and departed this life March 10, 1879. Mrs. Jahl was born July 22, 1855, and came to America in the year 1894, and has since resided in Atchison county. Mrs. Jahl resides with her daughter. She and Mr. Jahl were married in Austria in 1875 and were the parents of three children as follows: John Jahl, Jr., born February 21, 1876, and died in October, 1877; Mrs. Marie (Jahl) Drimmel, born March 10, 1877; Frank Jahl, born September 17, 1878, and died in June of 1879.
Mr. and Mrs. Drimmel and their children are all members of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church and are liberal supporters of this denomination. Mr. Drimmel is a Democrat in politics, but simply does his duty as a citizen and has never been a seeker after political office. The Drimmel home is a very happy one, and the Drimmel family is one of the largest families in Atchison county or the state of Kansas, and Mr. and Mrs. Drimmel have good and just right to be proud of the fact, inasmuch as Atchison county is proud of them. The children of this fine family are all receiving the benefits of a good school and college education, and it is the firm intention of the parents that all of their sons shall be educated in St. Benedict’s College, and the daughters shall finish their training in Mt. St. Scholastica Academy. John, Jr., is at present a student in St. Benedict’s College, class of 1917, and Anna and Marie will enter Mt. Scholastica in the fall of 1916 in order to complete the course in this excellent young ladies’ school. Mr. and Mrs. Drimmel believe thoroughly in giving their children every educational advantage within their means in order to properly fit them for becoming useful men and women and become a credit to their ambitious parents.
August Mangelsdorf has been a citizen of Atchison for over half a century and has accomplished during that period two things which entitle him to recognition and even renown. He established and built up the Mangelsdorf Brothers Seed Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in the West, and now managed by his sons. The other is the rearing of a large family of fifteen children. If Mr. Mangelsdorf had done no more than to bring into the world and rear his family of fifteen children he would have been entitled to more than ordinary mention as one of the sturdy pioneer citizens of Atchison. He is now living a retired life at his beautiful place, “Homewood,” in South Atchison, and, while ostensibly retired, works constantly on his farm within and adjoining the city limits. While nominally the president of the Mangelsdorf Brothers Seed Company, he spends the greater portion of his time out of doors working about the grounds and fields of his estate. Mr. Mangelsdorf, while having lived a busy and even strenuous life during his fifty years in business in Atchison, has no desire to “rust out,” but believes that his health can be better conserved by plenty of exercise in the open air. His rugged appearance and keen interest in life bear testimony to the wisdom of his plan of living. He is one of the highly respected and substantial citizens of Atchison and has done his part in the task of making Atchison preëminent among the cities of the West. The great concern which bears his name was originated and built up by himself and is a monument to his enterprise and integrity, and Atchison is proud of him and the outcome of his life work.
Mr. Mangelsdorf was born in Armin, Prussia, July 27, 1848. He was the son of Christopher and Marie Anna Dorothy Mangelsdorf, who lived in Armin until 1856, when they immigrated to America. The father died in 1849, and the mother married the second time to Andrew Stehwein. The family first settled on a farm in Gasconade county, Missouri, residing there until 1868, when they came to Douglas county, Kansas. Here they lived until the mother died, and then Mr. Stehwein came to Atchison to spend the remainder of his days with his children. Five children were born to Christopher Mangelsdorf, namely: Mrs. Anna Buhrman, of Atchison; Henry, in New Mexico; Mrs. Dorothy Beurman, Lakeview, Douglas county, Kansas; William, deceased August, with whom this review is directly concerned.
August Mangelsdorf came to Kansas from Missouri in 1865 and located in Atchison. He worked as a laborer to earn money for his sustenance and was not ashamed to do the hardest kind of labor. He willingly did anything necessary to earn an honest dollar. His first real business experience was as a clerk in the grocery store of John Belz. It was only natural to see him become the owner of the business in time. Frugality, industry and aptitude, characteristics of his race, enabled him to become proprietor of the store in 1873. He owned the business until 1893. Two years after taking entire charge of the grocery he started a small seed business as a side line with his grocery. This was the foundation of his subsequent fortune, and it was only a question of years until he branched out in the wholesale line and the business outgrew the store. The seed business kept on growing and growing: the sons of its founder became young men; its founder concluded to retire and he turned over the management to his sons who are following in the father’s footsteps. For years his brother, William, was associated with him and they started a general store at Ellinwood, Kan., of which William had charge. Mr. Mangelsdorf established greenhouses in connection with the seed business. These extensive greenhouses are located on the Homewood estate and are in charge of his son, Ernest. In 1912 Mr. Mangelsdorf concluded to retire from active business and is now enjoying life to the full. His sixty-seven years of existence have been well and profitably spent and he can look back over the past years with satisfaction and pleasure over a task well and faithfully done. It is given to but few men to have reared a large family of sons and daughters and to have lived to see them shoulder the responsibilities left by the father and perform the work successfully while he is yet living to observe, guide, and instruct them.
Mr. Mangelsdorf was first married to Anna Charlotte Brune in 1874. She died in 1890. To this union were born nine children: Anna died in 1890; August, manager and vice-president of the seed company; Fred, the efficient secretary of the concern; Charlotte, cashier of the company; Ernest, in charge of the greenhouses; Bertha, teacher of domestic science in the high school at Seneca, Kan.; Caroline, who is studying in Chicago in preparation for kindergarten work; Marie, deceased; Frank, treasurer of the seed company; Mrs. Marie Schmeling, of Atchison. In 1892 Mr. Mangelsdorf took to wife, Mrs. Louise Brune, who has borne him eight children: Albert, a graduate of the Agricultural College at Manhattan, class of 1916; Carl died in infancy; Paul and Louise, in high school; Theodore, Dorothy, Harold and Helen.
Mr. Mangelsdorf is a director of the First National Bank of Atchison. Politically, he is allied with the Democratic party and has served one term as city councilman and city treasurer for four years. He is a member of the Evangelical church and is fraternally allied with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Frank A. Mangelsdorf, cashier of the German-American State Bank of Atchison, Kan., while the youngest of the bankers of the city, has given evidence that he possesses the inherent ability and the necessary ambition to successfully conduct the important financial institution under his management. The German-American State Bank is the newest of the banking concerns of Atchison, but it is fast coming to the front as one of the important banks of this section of Kansas under Mr. Mangelsdorf’s aggressive and capable control. He is a native son of Kansas and was born and reared in this State, being a son of William Mangelsdorf, merchant and financier, deceased, who came from Germany to America when a boy and achieved a notable success in the land of his adoption. A review of the life of William Mangelsdorf appears in this volume.
Mr. Mangelsdorf was born August 14, 1888, in Ellinwood, Kan. The first ten years of his life were spent there and on his father’s farm, whither his parents had removed from Ellinwood. He received his early education in a country school, later attending the public schools of Bushton, and completed the eighth grade at the age of twelve. From 1900 to 1904 he was employed in his father’s store at Bushton, the family removing to the city of Atchison in the latter year. He pursued a course in the Atchison Business College, and then became cashier of the Mangelsdorf Brothers Company, a position which he filled until 1910. He then became assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Atchison, remaining in that position until the organization of the German-American State Bank in 1912, when he became cashier of the newly organized banking concern. The success of this bank is a matter of gratification to its stockholders and patrons.
Mr. Mangelsdorf was married June 22, 1914, to Miss Veva Sawin, a daughter of William H. Sawin, an undertaker of Atchison. He is independent in political matters, preferring to cast his vote for the individual whom he deems best fitted to perform the duties of the office sought rather than to support a party candidate. He is a member of the Catholic church. Although young in years, Mr. Mangelsdorf is recognized as one of the rising young bankers of Atchison and is considered among the city’s best and most enterprising citizens. The unvarying courtesy and dignity characteristic in his conduct of the banking business is carried into his daily life, and he enjoys the respect and esteem of a large number of friends in the city.
Paul Atkin, traveling salesman, of Atchison, Kan., was born September 6, 1866, in Lincolnshire, England. He was the son of William and Rebecca (Prestwood) Atkin. William Atkin, the father, was born in England about 1841. He was a farmer in his native country, but emigrated from England to America in 1872. His first place of residence in this country was in Chicago, where he resided a few years. He then moved to Kansas, settling on his farm in Doniphan county. After one year’s residence in Kansas he returned to Chicago and engaged in the transfer business. Again, in about 1880, he returned to Doniphan county, Kansas, and engaged in farming, and cultivated his land until 1899, at which time he engaged in the hotel and livery business in Denton, Kansas. He died in a hospital at Leavenworth, Kan., in 1900. Nine children were born to William and Rebecca Atkin: Mrs. L. H. Priester, living in California; Paul, with whom this review is directly concerned; Mrs. Thomas Wrighter, of Denton, Kan.; Mrs. Fred Hickok, of Haverlock, Neb.; Mrs. Ben Hinchscliff, near Topeka, Kan.; Mrs. Art Hall, Severance, Kan.; William, farmer, of Doniphan county; Arnold, near Severance, Kan.; Ethel died at the age of eight years. The mother of these children was born in England in 1842, and died in Severance, Kan., in 1902.
Paul Atkin did not leave England until thirteen years of age, when he crossed the ocean and continent and came to Atchison, Kan., arriving in the city ten days before his parents, then living in Doniphan county, Kansas, learned of his arrival. He was nine days on the water and came across the ocean aboard the “City of Richmond,” one of the fastest ocean-going passenger ships afloat at that time. Being a boy and alone, he was given all privileges and made many friends. He never had a day’s illness during the voyage or crossing the continent to Kansas, but became ill on arriving in Atchison and was cared for by Mr. Dorethy, at that time depot master of Atchison. This kind man looked after him until his father was notified of his arrival. From Atchison he went to Doniphan county and assisted his father for many years in operating the farm, later operating the farm by himself for one year. At the age of twenty he began working for himself for twenty dollars per month for a period of one year. He then went to Ellensburg, Wash., and learned the plasterer’s trade, remaining in that city two years, after which he went to Tacoma, Wash., and remained there six months, then going to Portland, Ore., where he worked at the harness maker’s trade, not long after returning to Doniphan county, Kansas, where he followed the trade of plastering for three years. After his marriage he made his home in Atchison, Kan., and after making a trip to Port Arthur and working at his trade, he then opened a meat market in Denton, Kan., which he operated for a time and then sold out. In 1888 he returned to Atchison and entered the employ of Curtain & Clark Cutlery Company, of St. Joseph, Mo., as traveling salesman. He traveled for three years, his territory being through Nebraska. He resigned and accepted a position for another three and a half years with the Rochester Stamp Company, of Rochester, N. Y. Giving up this work he engaged in the hardware business with Krings in Atchison. The firm was known as Krings & Atkin. Later he sold out his interest in the hardware business and became interested in the United States Street Lighting Company, manufacturing street lamps in Kansas City until February, 1909, when he again went on the road as traveling salesman with the Associated Silver Company of Chicago, his territory embracing Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.
Mr. Atkin was married in 1894 to Addie M. Herring. Mr. and Mrs. Atkin have one daughter, Frances Mildred, a graduate of Atchison High School, and a student in Atchison Business College.
Mrs. Atkin was born in 1871 in Doniphan county, Kansas, a daughter of Henry H. Herring, a native of Pennsylvania and now residing in Atchison.
Mr. Atkin is independent in political affairs and votes for the individual rather than the support of any one political party. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. His wife and daughter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Peter Parsons, of Atchison, Kan., is a Kentuckian by birth and has the distinction of being the pioneer thresher man of northeast Kansas and western Missouri. He was born in Breathitt county, Kentucky, December 10, 1868, a son of J. W. Parsons, a descendant of an old Virginia family. Peter Parsons’ maternal grandfather, Hatfield, was a soldier in the Revolution and fought under General Washington. The Parsons and the Hatfield families were among the earliest pioneers of the State of Kentucky. When Peter was four years of age the Parsons family removed to Buchanan county. Missouri, and there settled on a farm. Peter was reared to young manhood on the Missouri farm and attended the district schools. When but a boy he developed an aptitude for machinery and showed a knack of handling farming implements possessed by few boys of his age. In 1887 he entered the employ of the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company and worked in the farm machinery department of the store. Desiring to gain a more intimate knowledge of threshing machinery, especially, he went to Battle Creek, Mich., where the machines were manufactured and learned the business of building and assembling threshing machines from the ground up. This was a good business venture on his part, as he soon engaged in threshing on his own account and operated threshing outfits for over nineteen years, and was actively engaged in northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri in this business successfully. He operated several machines and crews and had almost a virtual monopoly of the threshing business in his territory. At the present time Mr. Parsons operates two threshing outfits which he owns, but for some years has retired from active labor in the fields. The wide range of his activities naturally gave him an extensive and favorable acquaintance among the farmers of this section of the country and he acquired a reputation for thorough workmanship and square dealing which has never been surpassed by men engaged in the same industry. He is probably the oldest threshing machine operator at the present time in eastern Kansas or western Missouri in years of experience, and understands the mechanical part of the industry better than any other man in this neighborhood. Mr. Parsons has a right to be proud of his record in the agricultural history of Atchison county and Kansas. From 1903 to 1909 Mr. Parsons was a member of the Atchison police force and made a record in the department for efficiency and faithful performance of his duties which is remembered. He is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and is well liked by all who know him. He is broad-minded in his views and kindly disposed toward his fellow men.
Henry Schiffbauer, pioneer, plainsman, Government scout, and friend of Buffalo Bill, now lives in comparative quiet on his farm in Kapioma township, Atchison county, after having seen the wildest and wooliest parts of the great West in its early days. Under his own eyes, Kansas has changed from a land of Indians, daubed with bright paint, shouting a war-whoop and brandishing tomahawks, to a quiet farming community, where peaceable citizens drive to church every Sunday. He has seen Kansas changed from a broad prairie, with its countless thousands of buffaloes to a great farming country, with its productive fields, and the trudging ox has been succeeded by the tractor and automobile. Henry Schiffbauer, in his seventy-five years, has seen the making of a nation; he has seen the wild frontier grow into a civilized community, which ranks among the highest in intelligence and prosperity. Mr. Schiffbauer was born January 27, 1841, on the River Rhine, in Prussia, Germany. His parents, Michael and Gertrude (Frentz) Schiffbauer, had thirteen children. The father followed farming in his native land, and in 1851 immigrated to the United States, settling on General Taylor’s farm, in Gamwell county, Kentucky. Four years later he moved to Missouri, and in the same year came to Kansas, where he homesteaded a claim in Jefferson county, which he farmed until about eight years before his death, which occurred when he was eighty-nine years old. The mother of Henry Schiffbauer died in 1854, at the age of fifty-five years. She fell before the terrible scourge of cholera which swept the United States about that time. The four children living are: Charles, Cripple Creek, Colo.; Trassie, a nun, at Leavenworth, Kan.; Frank, Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Henry, the subject of this sketch. All but Frank were born in Germany, he having been born in Gamwell county, Kentucky.
Henry Schiffbauer’s boyhood was one of rough and hard adventure. He received his education by driving a six-mule team, and his book learning was scanty. When he was seventeen years old he went to work for Dr. Davis, at Leavenworth, Kan. In 1857 he was stationed in the quartermaster’s department at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., where he was employed eight years. After Lee’s surrender, in 1865, Henry returned to his home in Jefferson county, Kansas, and met Buffalo Bill, or as he is known in private life, William Cody, for the first time. Here was begun a friendship which continued for many years, and which probably will live until one of the friends passes away. Two years later, however, the two men were thrown closer together, and their acquaintance ripened into a close friendship. Henry was guarding and herding mules when he met Buffalo Bill the second time. The latter was an extra hand on Major & Russell’s overland freight train. Henry Schiffbauer was the man who taught Buffalo Bill to shoot from a saddle, it is said, and the unequalled skill of the great hunter may be laid at the feet of the subject of this sketch. It may be that if Buffalo Bill had not met Henry Schiffbauer, his life history might have been different, for undoubtedly it was the stories which Henry told of his experiences that tempted the young man to leave his oxen and follow the wilder life of a Government scout. Mr. Schiffbauer has seen the most sensational life of the West in its most dangerous days. Just before the outbreak of the Civil war he carried messages for the Government from Ft. Kearney, Neb., to Ft. Laramie, Colo., and to Salt Lake City, and Ft. Floyd, Utah. These were times when it was dangerous to be a Government messenger. The dispatchers of the Government were not held in such awe in those days, and it was not at all unusual to kill a messenger to get his papers. But Mr. Schiffbauer was able to take care of himself, and passed through these uncertain times without harm. He served in the secret service department for eight months, about the time of the second election of Abraham Lincoln. It was feared by governmental officials that attempts on the President’s life were being planned, and General Thayer, then in command at Ft. Smith, Ark., secured the services of Henry Schiffbauer in this difficulty. This was a position won because of fearlessness and coolness, even in the most dangerous situations, and to be one of the protectors of the President was the honor which repaid him. In 1865 Lee surrendered and conditions began to settle.
When Mr. Schiffbauer saw that his opportunity to serve his country had ceased, he located on the farm which he now owns and built a small farm house, thus settling down to the quiet life of a farmer. He broke his ground with oxen, and worked in the most primitive manner for a few years, but gradually he was rewarded for his labors, and he came to have more of the comforts and conveniences of a modern farmer, erecting a large stone residence in 1880. His place is one-fourth mile east of Arrington, Kan. It comprises 189 acres, and here he and his wife, Margaret Glimm, to whom he was married in 1865, have lived since, rearing a family of eight children. Mrs. Schiffbauer was born in Germany, March 6, 1848. She is a daughter of John and Christian Glimm, who came to Kansas in the early days, bringing their daughter with them. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Schiffbauer are: Christena, who married Allen Kinkaid, of Washington State; Charles E., Belle Plains, Sumner county, Kansas; Sarah married L. E. Wagner, of St. Louis, Mo.; Henry F., Valley Falls, Kan.; Gertrude married John Nevins, Kapioma township; Robert is farming near La Cygne, Linne county, Kansas; William, Arrington, Kan.; George, passenger conductor, East St. Louis, Ill. Mr. Schiffbauer is an independent in politics. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and to the Knights and Ladies of Security. He has had a remarkable career and remembers the incidents of his early life with vividness. Atchison county has few characters with such an interesting history.
In 1857 while in the quartermaster’s department at Ft. Leavenworth he was detailed with General Sumner’s expedition against the Cheyenne Indians in the far West. This trip required six months and was filled with great hardships for the troops. In April of 1858 he accompanied Gen. Sydney Johnston’s expedition to Salt Lake City for the purpose of subduing the Mormons, and was gone for eighteen months. He assisted in building a camp at Ft. Floyd, or Camp Floyd, as it became known at the time, forty-five miles south of Salt Lake City. During this trip Mr. Schiffbauer had his first experience in driving a six-mule team and hauling “adobes.” The fort was built under the direction of Colonel Crossmore. He returned to Kansas in the fall of 1859, and went to New Orleans in the Government secret service, and thence to Baton Rouge, where he remained until after Lincoln’s election, finally making his way out of the southland with great difficulty, accompanied with personal danger to himself. For a period of eight years this plainsman never slept under a roof, excepting twice at Ft. Bonta, where he was under shelter for the night. On one of his expeditions to the far West they had fed their last grain to the mules, made camp, and the next morning the entire camp was under two feet of snow. Mr. Schiffbauer himself being covered over in a gully where he had lain down, wrapped in his blankets and buffalo robes. He recalls that on this snowy morning the wagon-master shouted: “I wonder where that damned Dutchman is?” Henry raised himself out of the snow and called out: “Here I am.” The mules were picketed out two and two together the night before, but that morning they were put into corrals and were so starved that they tried to eat each other. The pioneer corps cut down cottonwood trees for fuel, and the mules ate the branches, which poisoned them, and they died in their tracks, the ravens eating out their eyes while the beasts were in their death throes. The expedition lost sixty mules each day, and the drove of 500 animals was depleted to less than sixty head. They lay in camp for twelve days, and then moved on the thirteenth day. Henry recalls that the favorite team, belonging to General Johnston, was drowned through the carelessness of a teamster in fording the swollen stream.
While Mr. Schiffbauer was at Baton Rouge in Government service, he was importuned by the rebels to join a company as bugler, but declined, and with the assistance of a steamboat captain, he managed to get out of the country, and at New Orleans boarded the steamer, “Henry Von Pool,” and made his way to St. Louis. From here he went to Ft. Leavenworth and handled Government dispatches, working between Ft. Leavenworth, Ft. Scott, Ft. Gibson, Ft. Smith, Little Rock, and hunting forage and wheat for the Government. During this service he was sent to Valley Falls, with 100 six-mule teams from Ft. Smith for recuperation on the Hoover farm. Henry bought all the forage for miles around in order to feed the mules, and had under him several men for assistants.
In 1880 a young man, who had graduated but a few months previously from the Philadelphia Dental College came to Atchison, Kan., and finding the city to his liking located for practice. The year 1915 finds the same man, now thirty-five years older, or younger, as his friends speak of him, still in the active practice of his profession, and it is said his practice is a leading one in this section of the State. Thirty-five years in Atchison have done much for this man and he has done much for suffering humanity. He is the nestor of the dental profession in northeastern Kansas, one of the widely known and influential citizens of the city and has justly earned the esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances; the esteem which slowly develops only through honorable living and kind deeds. His name initiates this review.
William Addison McKelvy was born in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., June 5, 1858. His paternal grandfather, Hugh McKelvy, emigrated from Ireland about the year 1800. Shortly after reaching America, he located in Pittsburgh and was one of that city’s pioneer brick manufacturers. Dr. McKelvy’s father was Col. Samuel McKelvy, born in Pittsburgh, a member of the firm of Blair & McKelvy, pioneers in the steel industry in that city. He married when a young man, Anna B. Pride, a daughter of David Pride, who was also a pioneer resident of Pittsburgh and a native of Scotland. When President Lincoln issued his first call for volunteers, Samuel McKelvy was among the first to enlist in his home city. He was commissioned captain of the Duquesne Greys, Pittsburgh’s crack troop. He served his country with distinction and was given important assignments and received deserved promotion, being commissioned lieutenant-colonel and served on the staff of General Heintzelman and that of Gen. Phil Sheridan. The convalescent camp of the Union army, situated about seven miles south of the city of Washington, was under his charge or supervision during his entire term of service. Following his military service, he returned to Pittsburgh and his steel business. He was one of the first to build a country residence at Sewickley, now famous for its beautiful suburban homes owned by the prominent families of the steel city. The old McKelvy mansion, now owned by the Doctor’s brother, William Henry Seward McKelvy, is known as the Park Place Hotel, and is operated by its owner. Colonel McKelvy died in Sewickley in 1889. To Colonel and Mrs. McKelvy were born nine children of which our subject is the eighth.
William Addison McKelvy was reared in his native city and acquired a thorough education in its public schools. He later entered the Philadelphia Dental College and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, a member of the class of 1880. Following his graduation he returned to Pittsburgh and was engaged in practice for a few months. In November of that year he came to Kansas and located in the city of Atchison on the twenty-fifth of the month. His choice of location was partly due to having in the person of Dr. William F. Ferguson, a well established surgeon of the city, a friend who assured him that Atchison would prove a most satisfactory place in which to build up a practice. Dr. Ferguson assisted in getting him properly started and gave every evidence of a sincere friendship. He had little difficulty in building up a lucrative practice and has for many years past been recognized as one of the leading men in his profession in his section of the State. He is a member of the Kansas City Dental Society, the Kansas State, the Missouri State and the National Dental Associations.
Dr. McKelvy has never neglected his civic duties, has favored those measures and projects which meant a bigger, better city, but has never had time nor the inclination for public office. He has, from the time he graduated given his entire time and attention to his profession. He is a member of Washington Lodge, No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Atchison Lodge, No. 647, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Dr. McKelvy has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Ella M. Ferguson, a daughter of Dr. Eli Ferguson, a pioneer physician of Atchison. They were married in November, 1888. Mrs. McKelvy died in 1892. Two children were born to this union: William Ferguson McKelvy, a hardware merchant of Marliton, W. Va., and Charles S. McKelvy, employed in the wholesale hardware house of Blish, Mize & Silliman, of Atchison. On October 2, 1899, he married Miss Eleanor Cain, a daughter of Alfred D. Cain, a pioneer miller of Atchison and founder of the Cain Milling Company. They are parents of three children: Alfred D., Addison P., and Mona.
George Robert Hooper, an extensive merchandise broker of Atchison, Kan., and president of the Babcock-Arensburg Shoe Company, is a native of Virginia. He was born at Richmond, December 7, 1851, and is a son of John Hancock and Sarah Rebecca Hooper. The mother died when George R., of this sketch, was a child, and in 1867 the father removed from Richmond to Bowling Green, Ky., and later to Paducah, where he died in 1871. He was a contractor and builder. George R. Hooper was one of a family of six children and is the only one now living. He was reared in Virginia and was educated in private schools. He was about twenty years old when his father died, and had just completed an apprenticeship at the carpenter’s trade. After the death of his father he returned to Virginia with the remains, and the following year came to Atchison and entered the retail grocery business as clerk from 1872 to 1876. He was then a traveling salesman until 1884, and after that was engaged in the grocery business in Atchison about a year and one-half, when he engaged in the merchandise brokerage business, which he has successfully conducted to the present time. Mr. Hooper was united in marriage in 1876 to Miss Frances Lucy Howe, a daughter of George W. Howe. Mrs. Hooper is a daughter of George W. Howe, who was one of the very early settlers of Atchison county. He conducted a store at the town of Sumner and was later engaged in freighting across the plains from 1860 to 1865. The Howe family came from Plattsburg, Clinton county, New York, and Mrs. Hooper’s mother bore the maiden name, Frances Lucy Ellis. To Mr. and Mrs. Hooper have been born three children, as follows: Edith married O. M. Babcock, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Gladys Ella is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music, Cornell University, and is now a teacher in the music department of the Iowa State Teachers’ College; and George Frances Hooper, a graduate of Wentworth Military Academy of Lexington, Mo., and is a traveling salesman. Mr. Hooper is a Democrat, but has never aspired to hold political office, although he takes a commendable interest in public affairs and is public spirited and is ever ready and willing to aid any movement for the betterment of the community. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and secretary of the lodge. He is also local secretary for the United Commercial Travelers, of which he is a member. He also holds membership in the Knights of the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Foresters.
The residence and buildings of a farm in any locality are generally taken as evidence of the degree of thrift and enterprise of the owners of the land. If the house and barns and fences of the agricultural plant are in a “run down at the heels” condition, it is taken as evidence of the sterility of the soil and lack of industry, pride and thrift on the part of the proprietor. On the other hand, if the buildings, fencing, etc., are attractive and well kept, it betokens prosperity and a desire on the part of the farm proprietor to keep things in first class condition. The farm home of Rutherford B. Hawk, of the younger generation of farmers in Atchison county, is one of the most attractive and handsome in the county, barns and fences, fields, orchard and gardens all making a pleasing appearance. This farm is located in Benton township, north of Effingham in sections 8 and 9, and consists of 240 acres of good land, 160 acres of which lie in section 8, and eighty acres in section 9, range 618. This is the old home place of Andrew Hawk, father of R. B., and the present owner has lived on the place since 1883.
Rutherford B. Hawk was born February 28, 1877, on a farm near Bakersville, Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of Andrew and Lavina (Landes) Hawk, both of whom were born and reared on pioneer farms in Ohio. The late Andrew Hawk was born February 4, 1825, and died in 1903. He was born in Carroll county, Ohio, a son of Leonard and Margaret Hawk, and was one of a large family of ten children. Leonard was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and his people were pioneers in Ohio. Andrew Hawk came to Kansas in the eighties to make a visit with his brother, Daniel, in Atchison county, and liked the country so well that he returned to Ohio and disposed of his property and in 1883 came again to Atchison county and bought a section of land, one mile north and west of Effingham, in Benton township. He developed this large farm and lived on the place until 1903 when he sold 160 acres. Mrs. Hawk, the widow, was the owner of 240 acres of this tract which she sold to her sons.
Andrew Hawk was twice married, his first marriage taking place in Coshocton county, Ohio, with Mary Jane Walters, whom he married on May 5, 1848. The following children were born to this union and who are yet living are as follows: Mrs. Margaret Alice Zinkorn, of Baltic, Ohio; Mrs. Rachel Emily McFarlan, living on a farm near Monrovia, Atchison county, Kansas; Mrs. Teletha Ellen Dreher, of Minerva, Ohio. The second marriage of Andrew Hawk took place May 12, 1864, with Lavina Landes, and the following children were born to this union: William Sherman, Howard, Allen, a farmer near Salina, Kan.; Edgar Russell, located on a farm two miles west of Effingham; Arvilla Florence, wife of Herbert Harris, Horton, Kan.; Charles Arthur, living near Atchison, Kan; Rutherford B., with whom this review is directly concerned; John Andrew, a farmer in Benton township; Clarissa, at home with her mother. The mother of these children was born April 2, 1844, in Coshocton county, Ohio, a daughter of Valentine and Elizabeth (Hufford) Landes, the former a native of Germany, and the latter a native of Switzerland.
Rutherford B. was six years of age when his parents came to Atchison county to make this county their permanent home. He attended the district school and studied for one year in the county high school. He has always resided on the farm where he now lives with the exception of one year spent in the West. Upon his father’s demise he came into possession of eighty acres by inheritance and purchase, bought an additional eighty acres, and eighty acres of land which came to his wife, make the total of 240 acres which he owns and cultivates. He was married on March 31, 1909, to Mary Agnes Mackay, who was born near Effingham, educated in the district school and completed the course in the Atchison County High School, graduating therefrom in 1898. She taught school successfully for a period of ten years, the last two years of which was as principal of the Effingham school. During the summer of 1908 Mrs. Hawk visited Europe and spent some time amid the old home scenes of her parents in Scotland and also visited places of interest in Ireland and England.
Mrs. Mary Hawk was born on a farm near Effingham, a daughter of George and Jeanette (Macnee) Mackay, both of whom were born and reared in Scotland. George Mackay was born in Sterlingshire, April 18, 1840. Jeanette Mackay was born January 21, 1843 in Perthshire, Scotland. This worthy and industrious couple was married July 27, 1868, and three years later emigrated from their native heath to America. They first settled on the prairies of Wisconsin near the city of Janesville, and after a residence of three years in that locality they removed farther west to Kansas (1874). Mr. Mackay rented land for a short time and then purchased a tract of prairie land in Benton township. The land which he bought was unbroken prairie, unfenced and had never known the mark of the plow. He at once set about the hard task of developing his prairie farm and in the course of time developed it into one of the best and most productive agricultural plants in Atchison county. This farm which Mr. Mackay built up was well known as “Walnut Hill Farm.” The Mackays prospered as they deserved, and with true Scottish thrift increased their land holdings to 280 acres.
George Mackay died on his farm May 1, 1907. He was a sturdy and upright citizen whose honesty was proverbial and he enjoyed the respect and high esteem of his neighbors. He was a member of the Presbyterian faith and was a Democrat in politics. He was also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Two years after Mr. Mackay’s demise the widow and children removed to a pleasant home in Effingham.
The children of this estimable couple were: Alexander, and Georgette, at home with their mother; Mary, wife of Rutherford B. Hawk; Nellie Jeanette, deceased wife of Frank Sutter.
The subject of this review is a Republican in politics, and while interested in the success of his party, and a believer in Republican principles of government, has never sought political preferment. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Hawk has served as an elder of the church for the past six years.