Hagerstown Maryland

Biography of Samuel Bowman

Samuel Bowman, now of Coffeyville, where he is engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business with his sons, is a Kansas resident of nearly thirty-five years and was long prominent in Labette County, where he served two terms as probate judge. His Bowman ancestors were German people who came to Pennsylvania in Colonial times. His grandfather, Benjamin Bowman, a native of Pennsylvania, was a farmer and cabinet maker, also a minister of the Dunkard Church, and spent many years in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where he died some years before Judge Bowman was born. It was in … Read more

Biography of Frederick D. Schnebly

FREDERICK D. SCHNEBLY – Our subject was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1832, and was educated in the Franklin and Marshall College of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1854 he started for California by way of Nicaragua. In passing up the Pacific, the steamer, Star of the West, on which he had taken passage, took fire; but the horrors of a burning ship tragedy were avoided by the timely and effective labors of the crew and passengers. After stopping for a time in San Francisco, he visited the Sandwich Islands, but, returning to the Golden state, spent two unsuccessful years in mining. … Read more

Biography of James A. McGonigle

James A. McGonigle. For many reasons may James A. McGonigle, contractor and builder and one of Leavenworth’s most respected citizens, be regarded as deserving of extended mention in a history of Kansas. He came to Leavenworth as a pioneer in 1857; he was an early, brave and loyal soldier in the Union army until incapacitated by wounds in the Civil war; since then had been more prominent in the upbuilding of the city than any other man; and still at the age of eighty-three carries on large business operations and with the same facility and exactness that won him the … Read more

Biography of David J. Schnebly

DAVID J. SCHNEBLY. – Among all the editors whose lives are sketched in this volume, Mr. Schnebly yields to none the priority, since in 1850 he was conducting the only newspaper then in Oregon. He was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1818, and from that state drew the physical completeness and mental energy for which her people have been distinguished. As a youth of seventeen he removed with his parents to Illinois, but there was greatly afflicted by the loss of his father by death. In 1840 he returned to his native state in order to pursue a course of … Read more

Biography of William Bruce Middlekauff

William Bruce Middlekauff, banker, farmer and stockman of Vesper, came to Kansas with his father over forty years ago, and since then the interests and activities and holdings of the Middlekauff family have grown apace until the name is now one of the most substantial and respected in Lincoln County. The family through its varied relationship had become prominently known in Kansas, Mr. Middlekauff himself is a native of Maryland and in the vicinity of Hagerstown the family and its kin have lived for generations. Mr. Middlekauff’s grandfather, Daniel Middlekauff, was also born near Hagerstown, Maryland, was a farmer and … Read more

James Doeg Todd of Hagerstown MD

James Doeg Todd8, (Silas7, Elam6, Edmund5, Christopher4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Nov. 22, 1826, died June 15, 1912, married Oct. 2, 1855, Susan Sophia Webster, who was born Dec. 10, 1830, in York, Canada. He was a Congregational minister. He lived in Granite Falls, Minn., thence he moved with his son to Hagerstown, Md., where he died. Children: *2078. Cornelia Ermina, b. Dec. 8, 1856. *2079. James Marcus, b. Oct. 12, 1858. *2080. William Edward, b. April 26, 1861. 2081. David Ripley, b. May 13, 1866, unmarried. *2082. John Reynard, b. Oct. 27, 1867. *2083. Susan Elizabeth, b. Sept. 4, … Read more

Biography of George Loughead Eyster, M. D.

Among Rock Island physicians none have a wider practice or a more successful one than the subject of this sketch, Doctor George L. Eyster, one of that city’s old established and prominent physicians and surgeons. He was born May 14, 1853, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, his parents being William IF. and Lucretia (Gibson) Eyster. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother of Vermont. His father’s family was of German origin, the Eysters being among the early settlers in the colony of Pennsylvania. Doctor Eyster’s father was for many years a clergyman of the Lutheran Church, being also engaged … Read more

William Edward Todd of Hagerstown MD

William Edward Todd9, (James D.8, Silas7, Elam6, Edmund5, Christopher4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born April 26, 1861, in Richmond County, Wis., married in Labette County, Kan., Nov. 24, 1890, Maude Augusta Roller, who was born Aug. 9, 1870, in Millersburg, Ind. Some of her ancestors lived in Stanton, Va. She attended Western College, a college for women, in Oxford, O. Mr. Todd graduated from the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, Ill., in 1890. He began the practice of his profession in Albert Lea, Minn. Later he moved to Hagerstown, Md., where he was living in 1919. Children: 2652. Gertrude Elizabeth, … Read more

Biography of Abraham Snethen

Abraham Snethen and his wife, Elizabeth Stewart, were natives of Germany. They emigrated to America and settled in New Jersey, where they had eleven children, of whom the names of only seven are now remembered. They were William, John, Reuben, Polly, Lydia, Elizabeth, and Margaret. William married and settled in Kentucky in 1792, and in 1810 he removed to Ohio, where he lost his wife. He then started to return to New Jersey, but died of cholera, at Hagerstown, Md. John was born in March, 1789, and when he was eight years old his mother died. He was then bound … Read more

Biography of Colonel James H. B. McFerran

James H. B. McFerran was born in Washington county, Maryland, September 17, 1819. At the age of six years his father died, and he remained with his mother until his seventeenth year, attending school part of the time. On reaching the above age he engaged in the stone cutting business under a contractor by the name of Andrew Small, receiving seventy-five cents, per day for the first year. Owing to an aptitude for the work, the second year he was given the position of superintendent, at a salary of one dollar and eighty-seven and one-half cents per day, and continued … Read more