Mrs. Mamir Maud (Tart) Partridge. One of the leaders in club, social and religious work in Ottawa County and in the movements which make for better education, finer citizenship and higher morals, is Mrs. Mamie Maud (Tart) Partridge, of Delphos, who had been a resident of Kansas since 1884. She is a woman whose activities have touched life on many sides, for in addition to the things above noted she had been a school teacher and a public official, and in each of the many capacities in which she had acted had been a powerful influence for good among the people of the community.
Mrs. Partridge was born at Pawnee City, Pawnee County, Nebraska, a daughter of Nelson and Naney (Aikins) Tart. Her father, who still survives as a resident of Bennington, Kansas, was born in 1839, in Vermont, a member of an old New England family of French extraction which on first coming to America had located for a time in Canada, but subsequently removed to the Green Mountain State. Nelson Tart was reared in Vermont and from that state enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil war, through which entire struggle he fought bravely and faithfully, participating in fourteen important battles, including those of Shiloh, Lookout Mountain, Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, Frederickaburg and Gettysburg. With a spendid record, on receiving his honorable diseharge he turned his face toward the West, feeling that his military experiences had fitted him to embark in a venture of his own in the new country, and after residing in several different communities finally located in Pawnee County, Nebraska. In 1877 he removed to Lincoln County, Kansas, as a pioneer, homesteading 160 acres of land, on which he farmed for several years, but in 1884 took up his residence at Bennington, where he still makes his home. While farming had been Mr. Tart’s principal vocation in life, when he was a young man he learned the trade of harness maker, and at various times had added to his income by following this occupation, although he is now living retired from all active labor. He had been successful in his various ventures, not alone in the way of accumulating material prosperity, but in establishing a reputation for sterling integrity and probity of character. Politisally a republican, he had not sought prefermen over his fellows in public life. His only connection with a social body is his membership in Minneapolis Post, Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Tart was married to Nancy Aikins, who was born in Ohio, in 1845, and they became the parents of the following children: Edson A., who is a farmer and resided at Gering, Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska; Arthur and William, each of whom died at the age of two years; Nellie E., who is the wife of William Lash, a retired farmer of Lawrence, Kansas; Luella, who died in 1908, at Denver, Colorado, as the wife of Daniel Haley, a farmer of Niles, Kansas; Mamie Maud, of this notice; her twin, Myrtle, who is the wife of Irving Panton, a real estate broker, hotel proprietor and auctioneer of Oakhill, Kansas; Rena, who married E. N. Lott, a carpenter of Salina, Kansas; Clara, who died at the age of nineteen years; George, who had no regular residence, but is loyal to his parents; Eva, who is the wife of George Pollard, telegraph operator and railway station agent at Dietz, Wyoming; Iva, twin of Eva, who died at the age of six months; Gerald, a resident of Bennington, Kansas, and a member of Company M, Kansas National Guard, waiting to be sent to France; Florence, who died at the age of 2 1/2 years; and Carl, who enlisted in the United States navy and went to the far West when his term of enlistment expired.
The public schools of Bennington and the Salina Normal School furnished Mamie Maud Tart with her educational training and when her school days were over she adopted the vocation of educator and became one of the best known, most efficient and most popular teachers in this locality. For four years she presided over classes in the rural districts of Ottawa County, and for two years had charge of schools at Bennington, her career as a teacher covering in all a matter of six years, during which time she established many lasting friendships and won the respect and affection of many of the young people of the community. As a member of the Presbyterian Church, she had been one of the most active figures in the working out of beneficial movements, particularly in regard to the sick and needy, and at the present time is serving in the capacity of treasurer of the Ladies’ Aid Society and chairman of the Delphos branch of the Red Cross. She is also a working member of the Missionary Society and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and belongs to Lodge No. 48, Daughters of Rebekah and to the Delphic Club. She is interested in all matters of moment which affect her sex or the public in general. The work of a woman like Mrs. Partridge proves the ability of her sex and shows what can be accomplished by an intelligent, capable woman once she decides upon activities outside of her home confines. Without abating a single particle of her feminine graces, she takes on new ones, and at the same time continues to maintain her home duties.
In 1901, at Topeka, Kansas, occurred the marriage of Mamie Maud Tart and Frederick Blake Partridge. Mr. Partridge was born November 2, 1864, at Geneva, Illinois, and was reared at Geneva, Millington and Tonica, that state, and attended college at Millington. In 1883 he came to Kansas, locating at Minneapolis, where his father purchased railroad land, and the youth worked on his father’s farm until 1900, when he was elected county clerk. He served in that capacity for five years, for four years of which time Mrs. Partridge served as his deputy, and he then entered the State Bank of Bennington as cashier. Two years later he became cashier of the First National Bank of Delphos, which position he had held with success since August, 1907. He had held numerous township offices, to which he had been elected on the republican ticket, is fraternally connected with Delphos Lodge No. 149, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand, and is an ex-member of the Knights of Pythias. In addition to their residence at Michigan and Third streets, Mr. and Mrs. Partridge have hotel property, this being the Commercial Hotel at Delphos, on Second and Main streets, the northeast corner of the square. They are the parents of four children: Donald, born July 13, 1902; Harry L., born September 14, 1907; Bowens, born December 16, 1911; and David Eugene, born March 22, 1916.