Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-10-02

Lyon, who Is now a contractor at st
John; the SW by Fideln Weeks, ant
the Sc by W H Campbell. This sec
ton Is now a part Of the Newkirl
ranch.
The NE of 80, was homeseteaded /
Joseph Monger, who at one time .haG
a blacksmith shop on this land ant
did a good business. Mr.. Munger
was then, as now, good, hard work
er, has accumulated other lands anc
is now one Of our prominent farmers
The Sc Of 80 was the timber claim
of Joseph Potts, one Of the best
men that ever lived. He was a hard
working Christian whose every day
life, was an illustration that he be
lieVed and lived what he talked. 10
seph Potts died many years ago and
his wife owns and lives on the farm
The west half of 80, belongs to and
is occupied by P. A. Potts, a son OF
Joseph Potts whocame to this coun.
ty when a mere boy and is now one
OF our best known farmers.
The NE of "a passed through man
hands as a claim, but was finally pro
ed up by Geo. H.Taylor as a timber
clam lin 1884. He owns it yet. The
NV quarter was the homestead of
Andrew Campbell, a Presbyterian mil
lister, and the father of NJ. c., W. H.
and James Campbell. Rev. Campbell
could drive oxen without swearing,
which certainly was a good test.
He turned the claim over to his son
James, who proved it up. He is now
a large cattle owner near Ashland,
Kansas.
The SW quarter of "a, was home
steaded by ]. G. Cornwell from Doug.
Las County, Illinois. He proved this
up in 1884. Mr.. Cornwell died sever.
al years ago. Mrs. Cornwell and son
Homer and Bert and daughter, now
Mrs. Chas. Harlan, live in st. John,
Homer is farmer, Bert is postmas
ter and also owner of the St. John
News. Chas. McFadden bought the
farm in 1901 and lives there.
The southeast quarter of "a was
homesteaded by a man by the name
Of Schmitz. He and wife and his
step son lived there for about two
years. Mr.. Schmitz had been a silk
importer in New York and all he ha
Left from his estate was about $4,000
"
worth of books and Mrs. Schmitz
nearly that amount in silk dresses.
The house built by Schmitz probably
cost $39. This claim was sold to Hal
ry Cheney of Vermont who stayed
long enough to prove up, get married
to a Kansas girl and move back to
Vermont.
Thirty-three years is a long time
and we may have missed some old
timers. One of them occurs to us
now. Vince Coal lived in that part
Of the township, but we cannot
quite locate his claim. He was
good fellow and both he and his fam
lily were well-known. He left in abou
1879. We remember Vince accommo-
dated US one time. He and Capt.
Shields as two members of the schooI
board, allowed us to have adance in
the school house. We neglected to
ask Mr.. Mitchell for he would no
doubt, have stopped the deal. Well.
the boys failed to put down the seats
and put up the stove properly after
the dance and there was no school
for a day or two.
The boys who had no girls to take
nome were to attend to fixing up the
house. Among the boys from town
we think of, were Clayt and Ed Mos.
es, Joe Fugate, now of Newton, and
James Hinchcliffe. They were among
the crowd hat was to see to putting
down the seats. We were blamed
for all of it, and it took several
years before We were squared with
Mr.. Mitchell. Among the boys of
that day who were frequent visitors
In that part of the country were Bill
ly Moses, Ira Brougher, Frank Will.
hanson, Ran Colt and VIII Bunting.
orth-Finnin.