Evening star., 1936-06-18
The Story of Aft Nj. Landon
Chapter IV-Ohio Childhood.
BY RICHARD b. FOWLER.

and Southern Ohio, and before that,
ancestors, subject that never parti-
cularly concerned ALI Landon. 1t is
the story of America, a long line Of
men who were hunters, ministers,
Indian fighters, lawyers, pioneer
settlers doctors, business men and
farmers.
The Landon American line starts
with New England farmers who had
come from England in 1850. Thomas
Landon, a Revolutionary soldier de-
scended from a branch that had moved
into New Jersey, settled with his son.
Thomas Landon, jr., in Western Penn
sylvania. And there his descendants
remained; quiet, hard-working peo-
pie who paid their bills, helped
their neighbors in distress. Thomas
Landon's headstone is in the little
cemetery at Conneautville, where.
many years later. child named ALI
Landon was to 90 sometimes with his
grandmother.
Through his mother. Gov. Landon
is descended from Scotch ancestor
who fed from English wrath to Ire
land and reared a son, John MoSsman,
who came with his family to America
in 1890. He was then 80 years old.
When ALI Landon visited his Moss
man grandparents, he heard some
times about one of his more dramatic
forebearers. Col. William Huston of
Pennsylvania. a member of Washing
tons staff who was wounded at
BrandyWine. There were many French
Huguenots among them. the family
names Williamson. Christie, Temple
ton, Timber and Dumars.
Credit Given Father.
1t is hardly necessary TO go into an
cestors to understand the background
of Gov. Landon. When his State pro-
gram attracted more than usual at
tention, wise old heads turned i'm
mediately to John Landon.
why shouldn't Alf make a good
Governor" they said. Look at the
kind of father he has"
John Landon. in his late 70s,
vidual who built up reputation for
good sense and square dealing in the
Kansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania oil
| fields.
When John Landon came out from
Ohio to be the general manager OF
! the Kansas Natural Gas Co. he was
recognized as the strong man of the
| organization. When it went into re-
ceivership, he was appointed receiver
/ fref htFt Cfato on6 lofor fIo
| Federal courts. 1t was anything but
/ the type of business in which a re-
ceiver could sit back and protect the
/ assets. New gas fields were to be
! opened the business to be shifted and
! expanded to meet the sweeping
/ changes of the industry. Millions were
! involved. After some 10 years, the
property was sold at price showing
its value had multiplied several times.
After the reCeiverShip was closed
Federal Judge Wilbur F. Booth of
] Minneapolis sent word to Landons
: lawyer, saying he should have addi-
| tional compensation. Landon said, Il
; don't want another nickel unless it
is all right with the owners. ! had
no understanding that I was to be
paid any more than I have received,
$500 a month" The increase was
granted with the agreement of the
owners.
Close Companions.
The influence of John Landon on
his son was in the years they spent
together: they were close companions
in spite of an occupation that took
John away from home a large part of
the time. Alf'S mother, who died soon
after the family moved to Kansas,
also concentrated her affection on her
son after her daughter Helen died
at the age of 6.
1t was the varied life of an Ohio
college town around the turn of the
century-life in a frame house set
among trees in big yard.
The barn and yard were the scene
of ALT Landon's first ambition when
he was nine. Only people who have
passed through the chicken craze can
understand a 9-year-old boy visiting
all the poultry shows and talking
breeds with the poultry fanciers of the
region. He never had more than a
dozen hens; but it was just as definite
responsibility as if he had a thou
sand
His father has since told q story
that ALI, having an order for a dozen
eggs and only IL in the basket, held
hen on the nest until she laid the
necessary egg. However. Alf Landon,
who still knows something about
chickens, Is sure his father was mixed
on the story. Any one who has ever
tried to make hen lay an egg by
holding her on the nest can guess
why.
Close to Civil War Echoes
Marietta in 1900, looking back on
it, seems to have lived close to the
echoes of the Civil War. From the
older men Alf heard stories that car
ried him, excited and daring, along the
paths travelled by heroes. The stories
came mostly from Union veterans, but
at least one of his sources of informa-
ton was a Confederate, who worked,
as he remembers it, in drug store.
ALI held the line with Thomas at
Chlckamauga and rode with the clat-
tering hoofs Of Morgan's horsemen,
Morgan the raider.
At the turn of the century, of course.
the national conflicts spring from the
issues between liberalism and big
interests" Alf began to understand
the meaning of human rights" the
core of his future philosophy New
names were showing ahead of the old
Theodore Roosevelt, a man with a
dramatic smile and purpose. took
the place of Mark Hanna's friend, Nc
Kinley. William Jennings Bryan held
the stage with q onlden Voice and an