Hancock County IL

Biographical Sketch of Edmond H. Madison

Edmond H. Madison, of Wichita, who died while serving his third term in Congress, was of the younger generation of the energetic and able members of the bench and bar in Kansas. He was born at Plymouth, Hancock County, Illinois, December 18, 1865, educated in the common schools and at the age of eighteen years began teaching. In 1885 he went to Wichita, Kansas, where he studied law in the office of G. W. C. Jones; and in 1888 was admitted to the bar. The same year he was elected county attorney of Ford County, which office he held for … Read more

Kinkade, Rawlin Madison – Obituary

R. M. Kinkade, Pioneer, dies. Farmed in valley over Half-Century. Rawlin Madison (Roll) Kinkade, 86-year-old long-time Kittitas Valley resident and the last surviving son of a pioneer valley family, died last night [February 16, 1955] in Sorensen Memorial Hospital here. In ill health for some time, he had been hospitalized 12 days Kinkade came to the Kittitas Valley with his parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. David Kinkade, in September, 1882. He farmed here more than half a century before retiring in 1940. He was born in Denver, Ill., Nov. 4, 1868, and the family came here from California Kinkade … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lucas Hoagland

Lucas Hoagland, a rancher near San Bernardino, was born in Michigan in 1837. His father, Abraham, and his mother, Margaret (Quick) Hoagland, were born in the old country. They moved to Michigan in 1824, where Mr. Hoagland worked at his trade, that of a blacksmith. He was Captain of the militia that serenaded General Lafayette, and moved to Hancock County, Illinois, in 1845. After a short sojourn there he moved to Council Bluffs, where he spent one winter, and then moved to Salt Lake, where he died in 1879. The subject of this sketch was the oldest of seven children. … Read more

Biography of John Davis

John Davis, of Jonesburg, familiarly known as “Uncle John,” is the oldest son of the late Thomas Davis, of Shenandoah Co., Va. John was born October 30, 1791, in Shenandoah County, and is now nearly 85 years of age. When he was about sixteen his parents removed to Bourbon Co., Ky., and when the war of 1812 began, he enlisted in the army and served under Generals Winchester and Payne. He was stationed at Forts Wayne and Laramie, in Ohio, for some time. In 1820 he came to Missouri, and stopped a short time in St. Louis, which then had … Read more

Biography of L. B. Hastings

L.B. HASTINGS. – Under the bluffs on the sandbank at the old place that the Frenchmen called La Dalles, in the autumn days of 1847, a company of wayworn immigrants was lying along the river side, the women at the tents, the children playing with the dogs and romping on the shore, and the ponies and cattle feeding upon the mountain. The men were at work day after day a whole month, with their axes and hammers, in making a flatboat from the pines that they cut form the hills. This company of sixty wagons had just come out of … Read more

Davis, Minnie – Obituary

North Powder, Union County, Oregon Funeral services will be conducted Thursday at 2 p.m. at The North Powder Community Church for Minnie Hester Davis, 91, longtime North Powder resident. She died early Monday morning at St. Elizabeth Hospital after a brief illness. Mrs. Davis, a native of Tioga, Ill., was the daughter of Gus and Lucy Ensminger Roth. She married John William Davis in Baker on Sept. 2, 1903. They purchased land in the North Powder Valley to farm and built their home. She is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Lula Cantrell of Portland; three sisters, Mrs. Jessie Hannahs of … Read more

Biography of Alfred Harris Hecox

Alfred Harris Hecox. One of the native sons of Allen County who are now holding official positions in the employ of the United States Government, is Alfred Harris Hecox, who since July, 1914, had served in the capacity of postmaster of the City of Iola. Mr. Hecox had had a diversified and interesting career, in which he had visited various parts of the country and engaged in a number of different occupations which have brought him in close touch with the public and at the same time had given him a broadened experience. These qualities have served him well in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of A. F. Shaw

A. F. Shaw, Police Magistrate, Charleston; is a native of Illinois; he was born in Paris, Edgar Co., Feb. 10, 1824; he is a son of Smith and Elizabeth Shaw; his father was born in North Carolina; was raised in South Carolina, and when a young man, emigrated to Tennessee, and from there to Kentucky; he was one of the pioneers of Missouri, from which State he was several times driven by the Indians; he afterward came to Illinois, long prior to its admission as a State, and finally, in 1822, settled in Paris, where he died about sixteen years … Read more

Biography of Joseph Hancock

Joseph Hancock, a rancher near San Bernardino, was born near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1822, and is the son of Solomon and Alta (Adams) Hancock, natives of Massachusetts and Vermont respectively. His father was born in 1793, and his mother in 1795, and were of English descent. The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  His paternal great-grandmother was the daughter of General Ward. Solomon Hancock was a frontiersman in the Buckeye State, a farmer, but in his early days spent much time in hunting deer and wild turkey, with which … Read more

Biography of Joseph Camp Thorn

Joseph Camp Thorn, residing four miles east of San Bernardino on the Base Line, is one of the pioneers of this county. He was born in New York, January 2, 1839, the son of Joseph and Lorana (Camp) Thorn. When the subject of this sketch was three years of age his father moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. The next year he removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the following year he moved to Salt Lake. Our subject was then eight years old and he drove an ox team all the way from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake. Mr. Thorn lived at … Read more

Biography of Charles Reynolds Love

Charles Reynolds Love. A former Topeka citizen well remembered for his activity in business and his benevolence and splendid character was the late Charles Reynolds Love. Mr. Love came to Kansas a great many years ago, and spent many years in Topeka, where he died April 15, 1910. He was of an old and prominent Pennsylvania family and was born at Newcastle in that state August 23, 1848. His parents were John Brown and Maria (Chenoweth) Love, both natives of Pennsylvania. Maria Chenoweth was the daughter of Arthur and Maria (Reynolds) Chenoweth, both of whom were natives of Virginia. This … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Noble L. Prentis

Noble L. Prentis, a leading Kansas editor for twenty-one years, and for the last decade of his life identified with the Kansas City Star, was born on April 8, 1839, in a log cabin three miles from Mount Sterling, Brown County, Illinois. His parents were natives of Vermont, descended from English settlers, and on both sides of the family came of brave Revolutionary stock. His parents died at Warsaw, Illinois, of cholera during the epidemic of 1849, leaving him an orphan at the age of ten years. He went to live with an uncle in Vermont and remained there until … Read more

Biography of William H. Reed

William H. Reed. By reason of the extent and quality of his usefulness, his commercial soundness and acumen, his public spirit, his integrity, and his nearness to the fundamental requirements of citizenship, William H. Reed affords in his career an excellent and encouraging example of success gained through the proper use of every day abilities and opportunities. He laboriously climbed every round of the mercantile ladder, and so ably did he make use of his opportunities, that he was able to retire from activities in the evening of life, and is now quietly residing at his comfortable home at Topeka. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. John Martin

John Martin was born in Morgan county, Kentucky, February 15, 1819, and is the son of Lewis Martin, a native of Kentucky. Our subject moved with his parents to Lawrence county, Tennessee, while an infant, and lived there during fifteen years, and there received the greater part of his education. From Tennessee he moved to Illinois, and was married in Hancock county, that State, September 8, 1839. He came to this State in 1845 and has lived in various counties of Missouri since, engaged in the practice of medicine and other branches of business. He came to Jamesport about ten … Read more

Biography of Albert D. Bauer

Albert D. Bauer. One of the veterans of the printing trade and an old time publisher in Kansas, Albert D. Bauer acquired his first experience in “the art preservative of all arts” in a Topeka print shop. That was nearly forty years ago, and for the past twenty-three years he has lived continuously in Topeka. Mr. Bauer was born in the historic old seat of the Mormons in the Middle West, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, March 6, 1863. His grandfather John Bauer Sr. was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, coming to America in 1820 and locating as a pioneer in … Read more

Biography of Holmes Dysinger, Rev.

Rev. Holmes Dysinger has for the past twelve years been connected with the Western Theological Seminary of the Lutheran Church at Atchison, and since 1910 had been dean of the seminary. He had spent more than thirty years in the work of the church as a minister and as an educator, and had been connected with prominent schools and pastorates in nearly all parts of the country. Mr. Dysinger is of an old Pennsylvania family and was born at Mifflin, that state, March 26, 1853. The Dysingers’ original home was in Southern Germany. They came across the ocean and settled … Read more

Biography of Bertrand Rockwell, Captain

Bertrand Rockwell, who had had his home at Kansas City, Missouri, since 1906 was one of the constructive figures in Kansas from the close of the Civil war until he retired from business. Apart from the individual interest of his career, his activities have had the greatest value in connection with Junction City and that section of the state. Before he had reached his majority he had left school and entered the army, and came out with the rank of captain. Two weeks after being mustered out, in September, 1865, Captain Rockwell reached Leavenworth, Kansas. From there he was carried … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Shinn, Hon.

Hon. Charles W. Shinn. In an able and vigorous service of eight years on the bench, Hon. Charles W. Shinn, now city attorney of Neodesha, Kansas, gained an enviable reputation for legal ability, thorough understanding of the law, wise judgments and unimpeachable integrity. As a private practitioner of law this reputation is still justified, while as a citizen Judge Shinn is numbered with the foremost men of Neodesha. Judge Shinn is a native of Illinois, born May 30, 1854, in Hancock County, and is a son of John K. and Tabitha (Ogden) Shinn. The Shinn family is of English ancestry … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Marshall C. Davis

Before Wallowa county had a separate political existence the subject of this sketch was in this section, redeeming from the savage and the unbroken wilds of nature the country and laboring for the development of the same, and constantly he has so demeaned himself that the confidence of all who know him is freely given him, while his characteristic qualities of uprightness, integrity and excellent capabilities for the business affairs of life have been displayed, and he justly stands today in the prominent place that he occupies and enjoys the prestige that his worthy career has gained. In Hancock County, … Read more

Biography of Albert Irven Decker

Albert Irven Decker. In the demands which it makes upon its devotees, educational work is exceedingly exacting. The duty of the educator, ostensibly, is to instill a practical, working knowledge into each of his pupils, but his correlative, although less direct, function of instilling character and worthy precepts through his personal influence is equally important. The duty first named calls for an individual of knowledge and specialized training, while the second demands a conscientious and capable person whose life and mode of living provide a fit criterion and example for the minds of youth. When a man is found in … Read more