DAVID ALLEN David Allen, of Jetmore, has the honors of a veteran soldier of the Civil war and also of a pioneer resident of Kansas, where he has spent practically half a century. He was born eighteen miles up the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1843, and is of old American Colonial stock. His grandfather, David Allen, was born in New Jersey, in 1770, and by his marriage to Mary Jane Warne had a large family of sons and daughters. James Allen, father of Judge David Allen, was born in 1803, and married Ann Craig Eacrett, who was born November 26, 1819. James Allen spent all his life as a farmer and died September 17, 1889, and his wife passed away February 27, 1900. They had seven children, Judge David being the second in age, and the other two survivors are Philip, of Denison, Ohio, and Alberta A., wife of C. M. Channells, of Maiden, Missouri. David Allen was reared at the home farm in Southwestern Pennsylvania, attended country schools and the high school at Allegheny City, and on August 15, 1862, before he was nineteen years of age, he enlisted in Company F of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry. His regiment became a part of the Fifth Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac. About a month after he joined the colors he was in the great battle of Antietam, was at Fredericksburg in December, 1862, at Chancellorsville May 5, 1863, and at Gettysburg in July, where his brigade held Little Round Top. He participated in the fighting at Wapping Heights during the retreat of Lee's army. On March 25, 1865, at Fort Steadman, near Hatcher's Run, during the Petersburg campaign, ht was wounded in the right foot and was in the Campbell Hospital at Washington when Lee surrendered. He received his honorable discharge, with the rank of private, June 6, 1865, and three days later arrived home. For two years after the war he worked in a brick yard at Monongahela City. He first came west in 1871, locating in Mills County, Iowa, where he remained until 1875. He then went to Ohio, and near Warren, that state, November 12, 1876, married Mary D. Lafferty, daughter of William Lafferty. Mrs. Allen was born at Brookfield, Ohio. Judge Allen returned to Pennsylvania after his marriage and remained two years on his father's farm. In the fall of 1878 he came to Kansas from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and first established his home in Montgomery County, fiva miles northwest of Independence. From there in 1892 he moved to Hodgeman County and entered a claim five miles south of Jetmore. He proved up on this homestead, and soon became well known as a citizen, and in 1895 was elected probate judge. He held that office two years, and since retiring from the office baa continued to make his home at Jetmore, where he owns property. He sold his first farm, but later invested in other lands. He has been almost continuously the incumbent of some official position, having served two years as deputy probate judge, also as police judge and deputy. Mrs. Allen died at Jetmore in February, 1922. They had no children. Judge Allen has been continuously a member of the Grand Army of the Republic since 1876, when he united with Starkweather Post No. 60. He transferred to Post No. 4 at Independence, Kansas, and then to General Strong Post No. 82 at Jetmore. He has been commander of this post, and since 1899 has continuously acted as post quartermaster. Only four members of the post are living today. Judge Allen has been a delegate from Kansas to the National Encampments at Boston, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and in 1927 to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928) JOHN BAUER John Bauer, farmer and legislator, was born at Musebach, Germany, April 24, 1861, son of Johannes and Margaretta (Haber) Bauer. He attended school in Germany until 1874, and since April 20, 1887, has resided in Kansas. A Democrat, he has been state representative from the 97th district since 1930. In 1903 he was married to Susie Hubin at Hanston. She was born at Butterfield, Minnesota, April 5, 1882. To them the following children were born: Albert F., Elsie M. (Mrs. Harold Thompson); Clara M. (Mrs. Lynn Ball); John W.; Anna M.; Helen E.; and Viola M. Mr. Bauer is a director and former president of the Farmers Elevator Company. He is a director also of the Hanston Telephone Company. Residence: Hanston. (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 81) Submitted by Peggy Thompson ALTA MABEL HENDRICKSON Alta Mabel Hendrickson, county superintendent of schools in Hodgeman County, was born in Grant City, Missouri, October 21, 1899, daughter of Morgan taylor and Martha (Gish) Hendrickson. Her father, a farmer, was born in Champaign, Illinois, while her mother was born in Gentry, Missouri. Miss Hendrickson first attended Sandhill school five miles southwest of Larned. Because of a tornado which swept the farm holdings of her family, they moved to a nearby farm and Miss Hendrickson to Larned. There she worked for her room and board in the family of John Edwards. During her freshman and sophomore years in high school she continued working her way, then in the home of Harry E. Row. Her junior year she attended high school at Jetmore, returning to Larned for her senior year. The following four years she taught in the Laurel rural school District No. 35, of Hodgman County, and the next seven years in the first grade in the Jetmore grade school. During the summers of 1924, 1926, and 1931 she attended Fort Hays State Teachers College. She attended the College of Emporia the summers of 1929 and 1930, and in the summer of 1928 was a student at Palmer Lake School, Palmer Lake, Colorado. She was first elected to the office of county superintendent by having her name written in on the ballot, and in 1932 was re-elected without opposition, having received the highest number of votes in the primary. Miss Hendrickson is a member of the Baptist Church, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Parent Teachers Association, the Rebekahs, and the Royal Neighbors of America. In 1932 she was elected chairman of the County Superintendents Round Table of the 70th annual session of the Kansas State Teachers Association for 1933. She is a Republican. Residence: Jetmore. . (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, pages 510-511) Submitted by Peggy Thompson VERNON WARD KOONTZ Vernon Ward Koontz, merchant, was born in Hodgeman County, Kansas, February 6, 1892, son of Lewis Cass and Sarah Jane (Slocum) Koontz. Lewis Cass Koontz was born in Greensburg, Missouri, December 27, 1858. He served as county commissioner and county clerk of Hodgeman County, and as a representative of the state legislature from Hodgeman County. He came to Hodgeman County in 1889, where he obtained a farm by trading for a relinquishment. He is now serving his third term as mayor of Jetmore. His father was born of German descent and his mother of English descent, born in Tennessee. Sarah Jane Slocum, who was born at Greensburg, on January 11, 1864, is now president of the County Women’s Christian Temperance Union. She is descended from English and Irish settlers, who came from Indiana to Missouri. Vernon Ward Koontz attended public school in Hodgeman County, Kansas, and the high school of Great Bend. In 1910 he completed a course in bookkeeping and stenography at the Kansas Wesleyan Business College at Salina. The following three years he was bookkeeper and stenographer at Hoisington with the Westinghouse, Church, Kerr and Company; the Ochs Lumber Company, and in 1913 entered the civil service as a clerk and accountant in the Panama Canal Zone, where he remained two years. During this time he was active in athletics held there by the different posts. From 1915 until 1922 Mr. Koontz was junior member of the firm of L. C. Koontz & Son, general merchants at Jetmore. Since 1922 he has been manager and partner in the firm of the Koontz Mercantile Company at Jetmore. He is a Democrat. On July 25, 1919, he was married to Carrie Etta Rumford at Jetmore. She was born at Ocheydon, Iowa, March 28, 1895, and died at Dodge City, August 9, 1931. She was of Irish and English ancestry, and before her marriage was a school teacher. There are four children living, and one deceased, Jean Etta, born May 17, 1920; Dale Ward, July 28, 1921, who died July 29, 1921; Wayne Alton, august 10, 1922; Betty Jane, July 7, 1926; and Bonnie Bell, December 4, 1927. On June 6, 1932, Mr. Koontz was married to Lillian Mae Bell at Jetmore. Mrs. Koontz who was a teacher before her marriage, was born at Beloit, Kansas April 18, 1903. She was the daughter of Charles and Myrtle (Johns) Bell.biographical From March 14, 1918, until July 16, 1919, Mr. Koontz served in the United states Army. He was a member of Company C, 42nd Engineers, later designated as 44th Company, 20th Engineers, in which he was company clerk. From May 10, 1918 until July 4, 1919, he was with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and at the time of his discharge held the rank of sergeant first class. He is a member of the American Legion (Chester Hawkins Post No. 290). During the organization of this post Mr. Koontz served as commander and he has been chaplain for more than ten years. A member of the United Presbyterian Church, he has been ruling elder of that organization since 1920 and from 1928 until 1931 was a member of the board of trustees of Sterling College. Residence: Jetmore . (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 659) Submitted by Peggy Thompson NICHOLAS W. GOEBEL Nicholas W. Goebel, of Jetmore, came to Hodgeman County in 1885. He was then a comparatively poor man, doing like his neighbors, living on a homestead, making use of a sod house, and depending upon the heaviest of manual labor to provide living expenses. His industry and good management have been the comment and admiration of the entire county, and for a number of years Mr. Goebel has enjoyed the distinction of being the largest rancher in the entire county. He was born in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, August 17, 1858, son of August and Annie (Gruenwalt) Goebel. Both parents were natives of Germany, and on coming to America settled in Wisconsin. August Goebel died in 1864, and his wife, in 1873. Nicholas was the youngest of nine children. Only two others now survive, Joseph and Henry, both of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Nicholas W. Goebel grew up in Wisconsin, and from an early age helped his older brothers and sisters keep the home together. His total of education was about twelve months in a German school and nine months in an English school. As a harvest hand and farm laborer he saw a great deal of the Middle West, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas. In 1884 he proved up a preemption in Edwards County, Kansas, within what is now Kiowa County, about two and a half miles from Greensburg. He sold his preemption and in 1885 settled in Valley Township of Hodgeman County. He bought 'land, broke the prairie, and after the first year had crops that have seldom failed to give him some returns. His homestead is in Section 24, Township 21, Range 24, and that is the site of his substantial home today. He first lived in a sod house of two rooms, and was alone for fifteen months, until he married a girl who came from St. Anne, Wisconsin. In connection with cultivating the soil Mr. Goebel from the first had some cattle, and much of his subsequent prosperity has been gained from livestock raising. His first cattle were chiefly Shorthorns, and in later years he specialized in the White Face or Hereford. In the earlier years he also did dairying, milking and selling cream, and this proved an important asset to his accumulating prosperity. Mr. Goebel out of the labors of forty years has accumulated sixteen and a half sections of land, most of it in one body. Eleven quarter sections are in Ness County. His main farm comprises thirty-five hundred acres, and he has been one of the large wheat growers. Since 1914 he has raised good crops of small grain, except in three seasons. The best yield of wheat he ever had was thirty bushels to the acre. The banner wheat years in his experience were 1903, 1914 and 1924. Mr. Goebel has been progressive in the matter of improvements, having five sets of building equipment, and his ranch is practically all under fence. It has been estimated that the total length of fence on his property is about sixty-eight miles. Mr. Goebel has also directed his public spirited attention to the matters of community benefit. He has been treasurer of his township, member of the Union School District Board, is a Democrat in national politics and belongs to the Jetmore Catholic Church. He married, June 28, 1887, Miss Mary Rach, daughter of Nicholas Rach. Mrs. Goebel died in 1925. Their children were: Josephine, wife of Walter Bucjman, of Newton, Kansas; Miss Annie M., a graduate of the Kansas State Teachers College, now teacher of mathematics in the college; George, a farmer on the family ranch, married Grace Rutter and has two sons, Junior and Howard; Irene is the wife of Louie Schauvige, of Hodgeman County, and has a son, Donald; William, also on the home farm, married Emma Sinclair, daughter of James Sinclair, and they have one daughter, Medina. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928) THOMPSON S. HAUN Thompson S. Haun was the Hodgeman County pioneer whose name is perhaps most closely identified with the county seat of Jetmore. He was born at Hautown, Iowa, May 10, 1850, son of William George Haun and Notley A. (Blackburn) Haun. His mother was a relative of Senator Blackburn of Kentucky and grew up in the South. Both William G. Haun and his wife spent their last years in Hodgeman County, and are buried in the Jetmore Cemetery. Their children were: Mrs. Lizzie Williams, Thompson Sanford, Flournoy Blackburn (Dug), William Henry and Mrs. Prue Hainline. William G. Haun had a daughter, Pauline, by his first wife. Thompson Sanford Haun was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law in Clinton, Iowa, in 1873. On Thanksgiving Day, November 29, 1877, he married Elizabeth Best. She was born near Sabula, Iowa, on the 21st of February, 1853, and is a daughter of Frederick Christopher and Catherine Margaret (Hettler) Best. Early in the year 1878 Thompson S. Haun and his bride came to Hodgeman County, Kansas, then unorganized. They lived a few weeks at Kinsley, Edwards County, Kansas, while dugouts were being made on their homestead about fifty miles away, being the southwest quarter of section 18, township 22, range 24, Hodgeman County, where they then settled and where their oldest son was born. In course of time a frame building was erected on this claim, and from its west window Mrs. Haun's sister, Tillie, watched Mr. Haun ride horseback to the westward, scanning the horizon for Indians, as they made their last raid through Kansas in 1878. He instructed the women what to do if he sighted Indians and would let them know by riding in a circle. But the Indians did not come in sight. As Mr. Haun's business took him away from home much of the time, his young wife was often very lonely. There were wild animals, rattlesnakes, prairie fires and terrific storms, but never once did she falter. Sometimes she played with the wild antelope that came to graze on their spring crop. When Mr. Haun became a citizen of Hodgeman County he at once resumed the practice of his profession, and soon attained a high position at the bar. His field of practice extended over the state of Kansas and adjoining states, in the courts of which, both state and federal, he conducted much important litigation. He helped lay out the great cattle trail from Dodge City, Kansas, to Ogalalla, Nebraska, known as the "Ogalalla Trail," and was an attorney in connection with the trail. He at once took and held a prominent place in the work of organizing and upbuilding the county, and in founding and building the city of Jetmore, the county seat. In 1880 he preempted the northwest quarter of section 6, township 23, range 23, and erected a stone building thereon for his home, the first building in Jetmore and the home of the first resident. In this house the first child was born on the Jetmore townsite, March 24, 1881, Margaret Pauline Haun. The larger of the two rooms upstairs was occupied by the first county officers of Hodgeman County, each having a desk and a chair, while the first newspaper, the Independent, edited by Haun and Stumbaugh, was published in the smaller room. The name of the paper was changed to the Jetmore Republican March 11, 1881. It is Vol. 2, No. 3, and is now, with a few other copies, in the possession of Margaret Haun Raser. The frame house was moved from the homestead and made an addition to this stone building, where it still stands. This house became the stopping place for every one homeseekers, bonepickers, surveyors, freighters and neighbors going to and from the railroad over twenty miles away. Mrs. Haun gave some of the best years of her life serving the public in this way, doing all the cooking and housework herself, and no one over paid a cent for food or shelter, and no was ever turned away. They soon spent what money they had, and when time came to make final proof on this preemption claim they sent to Iowa for the money. When it came Elizabeth Haun was afraid to send it to her husband, who was waiting at the Land Office, as thieves were more plentiful than money, so she had an old neighbor, Mr. Tucker, take her there in a buggy, instead of entrusting it to the mail service. She kept a tight grip on the money all the way. Her husband gave her a deed to the land. Although the place had been called Jetmore for some time, it was not surveyed and platted until 1882. Thompson S. Haun laid out the town of Jetmore, naming it in honor of Col. A. B. Jetmore, a lawyer of Topeka, who assisted Mr, Haun in getting the county seat located at Jetmore. The streets were named for his friends of pioneer days, but never was the name Haun commemorated in any way. The stone house was rented to C. E. Roughton for a store, and the Haun family moved about a mile from Jetmore to a dugout on the northeast quarter of section 12, township 23, range 24. Little progress was made in the building of Jetmore until 1885, when within a year it sprang up like a mushroom. Mr. and Mrs. Haun made generous gifts and donations for public purposes. They contributed the block of ground where the courthouse now stands, also the stone and sand, delivered on the ground, for the construction of the courthouse and jail. In each and every block of the townsite they donated two lots to be sold and the proceeds used for furnishing and equipping the courthouse. The county received eleven hundred dollars for the lot where the Farmers Bank now stands. They donated to School District Number Nineteen the block of land where the old stone schoolhouse stands, and gave the stone free on the ground with which to construct that building. They donated lots for the site of the Methodist Church, of which Elizabeth Haun is a charter member, also lots for the Congregational Church and a block for an academy and musical institute. They laid out the cemetery on the hill south of Jetmore, and gave lots free to those who lost their loved ones. The cemetery was afterward deeded to the city. Mr. Haun also made the fill, or approach, to the bridge across the Buckner north of the depot, He gave his untiring efforts toward procuring the building of the railroad from Larned to Jetmore. The other members of the committee conferring with the railroad company were C. E. Roughton and W. S. Kenyon. Thompson S. Haun was elected to the Legislature of 1887. During this session laws were enacted of vital importance to western Kansas. The boundary lines of Hodgeman County were established as they now exist, and an impending county seat contest averted. He also served the people as county attorney. A few wheat crops brought people of all classes and professions flocking in from all directions. Almost every quarter was homesteaded. Everything was booming. At last the Hauns hardships were over for a while. With money rolling in from the sale of their town lots they erected a number of buildings in Jetmore, which were rented at high figures. Mr. Haun built substantial stone buildings on their farm, bought a number more of quarters of land, and engaged extensively in farming and stockraising, his fine, purebred horses and cattle being the equal of any within the state, some of the Galloway cattle being imported from Scotland. There were freight wagons and pleasure carriages, mule teams and yokes of oxen, saddles and horses and dogs. There were hired domestics and hired men. Hospitality was extended to every one of all classes, and the needy always went their way with their "cups running over." Sometimes the wornout, jaded horses of the circuit preachers or the government surveyor were turned into the pasture to rest, while fresh animals from the Haun stables took their places, free of charge, until their owners chanced that way again, perhaps weeks or months later. Unfortunate debtors were forgiven their debts. Mr. and Mrs. Haun attended church and Sunday School regularly with their children, and gave liberally to the support of the same, They visited the sick and afflicted, ministering comforts unto them, sometimes paying their doctor bills. But this season of prosperity, followed by hot winds and drought, was almost as fickle as the mirage often seen on the prairie after sunrise, only to melt away as the day advances. Mortgages were made to pay expenses, other mortgages followed the first ones. People went away faster than they had come. Many vacant buildings in Jetmore were moved away. Banks foreclosed, then closed. Business was dead. Things went from bad to worse until about the only persons with any money were ex-soldiers who received pensions. Mr. and Mrs. Haun lost all their buildings in Jetmore, all of their land except one quarter where the improvements are, and all of their live stock but one saddle pony. Even their first residence in Jetmore was sold at sheriff's sale, but was bought by a relative and deeded back to the family. People to whom they had loaned money could pay neither interest nor principal. Leaving his wife and children on the ranch, Mr. Haun went to look for another location. For a while he practiced law at Pittsburg, Kansas, intending to move his family there when he had a home prepared for them, but fate was against him and he came back. He tried other locations, once at Larned, Pawnee County, for several years. Elizabeth Haun was afraid to venture on new fields again and continued to stay on the old ranch, where, through years of hardship, she grew prematurely old and feeble. Here she still resides, where her son and his wife, Edna, extend some of the old time hospitality to those who stop in. But the kingdom does not always belong to those who go and possess the land, even though they do fight the battle to a finish. She still receives the rent from the old stone house where she first lived in Jetmore. Through all his years of misfortune, Thompson S. Haun never asked his children for any assistance. He always told them to be loyal to their mother and stand by her. He always spoke of her with reverence and the greatest respect. The children are: Frederick Sanford, who served four years as sheriff of Hodgcman County, and is now engaged in the cattle business; Margaret Pauline, whose sketch appears elsewhere; Thompson Phillip, now engaged in the ice business at Jetmore; Elizabeth, or "Bess", the wife of Charles Blattner, of Rozel, Kansas. The last law office of Mr. Haun was at Kinsley, Kansas, where he resided about ten years. He always gave his services free to ministers of the Gospel, to the very poor, to widows and orphans. He was always ready to forgive. His politics had been republican until the free silver question arose, after which he became democratic. His death occurred at his home in Kinsley on the 12th of February, 1920. He had lived sixty-nine years, nine months and two days. At the time of his death he was a member of the Swedenborgian Church and the Masonic Lodge, although he had been a charter member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of Jetmore. The Masons had charge of his funeral services, both at Kinsley and Jetmore. The sermon at Jetmore was preached by Rev. Charles H. Ruff, who, when a young man, had worked on Mr. Haun's ranch in the boom days. The city of Jetmore honored its founder by contributing a beautiful floral piece, raising the flag at half-mast and closing all business and schools. His body was laid beside that of his mother in the Jetmore Cemetery, on the beautiful hill which overlooks the field of more than forty years of his life's activities. The city of Jetmore recently accepted a proposition by which the stone in the old schoolhouse will be rebuilt into a "Haun Memorial Hall." The movement was started by C. E. Roughton. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928) JOHN LOVE John Love, rancher and farmer of Hodgeman County, came to this section of the state forty years ago, and followed stock raising according to the old time range methods, and has adapted his industry to changing conditions, now owning one of the improved farms of Hodgeman County, located fifteen miles west of Jetmore on the Garden City Highway. Mr. Love was born in Iroquois County, Illinois, August 11, 1863, son of John and Elizabeth (Smith) Love. His parents were both natives of County Tyrone, Ireland, and were married in New York State after coming to this country. From New York they went to Illinois, living in Iroquois and Vermilion counties, and from there came to Kansas, where they took up a homestead and lived out their lives. John Love, Sr., died in 1908, at the age of seventy-five, and his wife passed away in 1900, aged seventy. He was a church worker and a republican in politics. Of a family of eight children four are living: Minnie J., wife of Frank Owens, of Ness City, Kansas; John; Mrs. Margaret A. Hudson, of Kissimmee, Florida; and Samuel S., a farmer in Hodgeman County, who married Nettie Steele. Besides John Love, Sr., several other members of the family came to the United States, one of his brothers locating in New York City, another, William, settling in Iowa, and a sister, Mrs. John Beggs, locating in Vermilion County, Illinois. John Love, Jr., grew up in Vermilion County, Illinois, was a farm boy and attended country schools and remained there until March, 1886, when he came with his family to Kansas. They shipped a carload of goods to Dodge City and then located on land which had been prospected and etered by the father the previous fall. They acquired six quarter sections in a body, John Love, Jr., locating on section 27, township 23, range 26. Subsequently he moved to the northwest quarter of section 3, township 23, range 20, and that is the site of his present home. In this locality he engaged in stock raising until the range was curtailed by fencing and farming operations. For many years he has been a wheat grower. He now owns six quarter sections. From the beginning he has been a factor in local improvements and he helped build the first schoolhouse, then called Pleasant View, The house has since been rebuilt and modernized. He has also been generous in extending aid to all the different religious denominations represented here. He is a republican in politics, and in 1914 was elected county treasurer of Hodgeman County and reelected in 1916. He succeeded in that office Otto Rumford. During1 the World war he assisted in the Red Cross and other local drives. Mr. Love married in Hodgeman County, May 22, 1889, Miss Esther Friend. She was born near Montpelier, Ohio, and came to Kansas in the fall of 1887. Mrs. Love passed away in bhe fall of 1922. Her children were: Ronald, a stock man at Bloom, Colorado; Frank, a farmer in Hodgeman County, who married Belva Lamar and has a daughter, Mabel Ellen; and Elizabeth, wife of Earl Pitts, of Jetmore, and mother of three sons and two daughters, Jesse, Audrey Irene, Warren G., Eunice May and Willis Pitts. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928) JAMES E. MOONEY, JR. James E. Mooney, Jr., of Marena Township, Hodgeman County, came to this section of Kansas when a boy of six years, and has contributed some of tbe substantial elements by wbicb tbe Mooney family is so well known as ranchers and citizens of the county. His father, James E. Mooney, Sr., was born in 1842 near Terre Haute, Indiana, close to the Illinois line, and grew up in Will County, Illinois, at Joliet. He had a common school education, and for several years was a stationary engineer in a planing mill at Joliet. He married in Will County Miss Mary Burke, who was born at Glens Falls, New York, in 1851. Her father, James Burke, was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, and came to the United States when a small boy. On leaving Will County, Illinois, in 1878, the Mooneys came to Kansas, where James E. Mooney, Sr., took up a claim in what is now Marena Township. He constructed a one-room sod house, this being extended gradually to provide shelter for his family. In 1885 a substantial stone house was erected, and this in turn was succeeded in 1905 by a commodious frame house, one of the best country homes in the county, with other improvements and facilities marking the farm. James E. Mooney, Sr., has been a farmer and stock raiser, and has gained a degree of prosperity that has been well deserved. In politics he has always voted as a democrat. His wife passed away in July, 1916. Their children were: James E.; Richard, a farmer at the old homestead; William, who died unmarried; Mary, wife of Webb Paris, at Larned, Kansas; John J., a farmer in Hodgeman County; Lawrence, of Pawnee County. Kansas; Catherine, wife of Henry Pfeiffer, of Hodgeman County; Robert, a Hodgeman County farmer; Frances, wife of Philip Bauer, of Pawnee County; and Miss Alice, at home. James E. Mooney, Jr., was born November 7, 1871, in Will County, Illinois, and received his education while growing up on the ranch and farm in Hodgeman County. He worked for his father, also for other farmers and ranchers, and began his independent career as a farmer and stock man. He entered a homestead in Marena Township, and his first home was a sod house. For a number of years he did dairying, selling cream, and in later years another department of his farm enterprise has been poultry raising. After his marriage he started housekeeping on his wife's claim in Sterling Township. Their home was a modified dugout, with a stone wall in front and dirt wall behind. After proving up on the claim they moved to the old stone home of his father and in 1915 they erected their present country home, an eight-room house, with electric lights, running water and bath. In 1914 they put up a large barn, which was burned in 1919. It was at once replaced. The barn is 40 by 58 feet, and other improvements include garage and poultry houses. Mr. Mooney has been a wheat grower, cattle raiser, and in recent years has been grading up his live stock in the White Face strain. He and Mrs. Mooney have accumulated thirteen quarter sections, their home place comprising six quarter sections. These lands are all fenced and they have about a section of land in cultivation. The Mooney family were reared in the Catholic faith. During the World war Mrs. Mooney was active as chairman of the Hanston branch of the county Red Cross. Mr. Mooney married Miss Margaret McDermott in Hodgeman County, September 27, 1905. She was born in McLean County, Illinois, and came to Kansas in 1887 with her parents, James and Mary (Breslin) McDermott. Her father was a native of Londonderry, Ireland, and was married in New Jersey. The McDermotts moved to Illinois in 1875, to Missouri in 1879, and from there to Kansas. James McDermott in early life followed the sea, and after his marriage was a railroad man for some years and later settled on a farm, homesteading in Sterling Township of Hodgeman County. The family first lived in a sod house, then in a stone house, and finally in the frame structure in which James McDermott passed away in 1915 at the age of seventy-two. Mrs. Mooney's mother died in 1927, when seventy-four years of age. Both are buried in St. John's Cemetery at Spearville. Mrs. Mooney was born January 9, 1876, and her brothers and sisters were: Mary, wife of T. L. Ryan, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Theresa, wife of John Slattery, of Wright, Kansas; Rose Ann, who died as the wife of Thomas Gleason, of Hodgeman County; Edward C. McDermott, of Denver; and James L., of Los Angeles. Both brothers are World war veterans. James L, served overseas, and Edward C. at Fort Sheridan and Camp Grant, Illinois. Mrs. Mooney was liberally educated, attending grade schools in Missouri and Kansas, and was a student in the State Normal School at Emporia while Albert R. Taylor was president of that school. At the age of eighteen she became a teacher and taught for a number of years, including two years after her marriage. In 1901 she was elected county superintendent of schools of Hodgeman County, succeeding John Burns. She was the Democratic candidate for that office. Mr. and Mrs. Mooney have two children, Margaret and James E. The latter graduated from high school at Hanston in 1927. Margaret is a graduate of the Jetmore High School and is now attending the State Teachers College at Hayes, Kansas. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928) LEONARD HENRY RASER LEONARD HENRY RASER and his wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Haun, are citizens of Jetmore, Hodgeman County, and represent the second generation of the first pioneer families of that region. Mr. Raser was brought to Hodgeman County when about seven years old, while Mrs. Raser has the distinction of being the first child born on the townsite of Jetmore. Mr. Raser was born in Henry County, Illinois, November 20, 1878. His father, Adam H. Raser, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, August 7, 1839, and was about thirteen years of age when the family moved to a farm near Geneseo, Illinois, where Adam H. grew up, Early in the Civil war he enlisted in Company K of the One Hundred and Twelfth Illinois Infantry, and served until the war was ended. He then returned to his old home in Henry County, engaged in farming, and in 1876 established himself in the monument business at Geneseo. In 1879, the year after the birth of his son, he moved out to the frontier of Nebraska, locating at Tecumseh, in Johnson County. From there in 1885 the family came to Kansas and located in Hodgeman County. During the rest of his life Adam H. Raser was a farmer and cattle man in the vicinity of Jetmore, and in 1895 established the home in that town. He was honored with many official duties, being township assessor, served several years as county commissioner, and for a time was on the Jetmore School Board. He was a man actuated by kindness and generosity in all his acts as a citizen, and was very popular. In politics he was a staunch republican, was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a charter member of the Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Jetmore. serving as noble grand of the lodge, and was usually an official in connection with the unwritten work of the lodge. He died March 1, 1923, when in his eighty-fourth year. His wife, Catherine A. Friese, passed away December 18, 1926. Their children were: Alberta, deceased, who married Theron E. Hubbell, of Jetmore; Mrs. Florence A. Sturgeon, of Dodge City, Kansas; Mrs. Ora L. Teed, of Jetmore; Mrs. Ada Bradley, of Jetmore; Mrs. Pearl Orbison, of Jetmore; Leonard H.; Mrs. Dollie Wilson, of Jetmore; while the oldest child, Melvin, died at the age of three years. Leonard H. Raser acquired his education in District 19 of Hodgeman County, and most of his early years were spent on the farm and ranch. In 1902 he went out to Arizona, and for three years had a most interesting experience as a guide and stage coach driver in Grand Canyon, where his work gave him acquaintance with many distinguished people, both Americans and foreigners. Among other tourists whom he took over the trails were President Roosevelt, the Crown Prince of Siam, John D. Rockefeller and son, father and son of the Studebaker family of South Bend, Mrs. Westinghouse of the air brake company of that name, William R. Hearst, the newspaper man. On returning to Kansas Mr. Raser engaged in the live stock business after a visit to the St. Louis Fair in 1904, and as a rancher and live stock man his business has grown apace. On Buckner Creek he has developed a ranch comprising eleven quarter sections and an eighty. The home occupied by him and his family was erected by the pioneer Perry E. Lincoln, an old time stock man and butcher of Jetmore. The lumber for the house was hauled from Spearville. Mr. Raser is also one of the directors of the Farmers Bank of Jetmore and is associated with J. E. Reed, J. A. McDowell and C. H. Guthrie in the local grain elevator. He is a republican, like his father, and for a time was under-sheriff under Sheriff M. G. Pitts. He is a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Jetmore and has been a delegate to the Grand Lodge. Mr. Raser married at Jetmore, July 28, 1917, Miss Margaret Pauline Haun. As the first child born at Jetmore the date of her birth is of interest. It was March 24, 1881. She is a daughter of the late Thompson S. Haun and his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth (Best) Haun, the pioneer founders of Jetmore, whose lives are sketched elsewhere in this publication. Mrs. Raser grew up at Jetmore, attended the local schools, later the Kansas State Teachers College at Emporia, and for many years was a leading educator of her native county. She was elected county superintendent of schools of Hodgeman County in 1906, serving until 1911. While she was county superintendent the county high school was erected and the last of the county school lands were sold. Mrs. Raser as an educator made a specialty of primary work, and she held an instructor's certificate from the State Board of Education for teaching primary methods in normal institutes. She is a woman of distinctive culture, high ideals in education and religion, and in all her work she has been guided by high principles and convictions. For many years she was called upon to exercise her special talent in training children for various programs in churches, schools, and particularly for the Grand Army of the Republic drills on Memorial Day. Quite recently she declined a request of the American Legion Post to perform a similar service, ill health causing her to decline this engagement. Many of these entertainments provided important increase or nucleus of funds used for the purchase of books for the public library, and the first money donated to the building of the new Methodist Church in Jetmore came from the proceeds of an entertainment featured by a dramatization of Longfellow's poem "Evangeline," given under Mrs. Raser's supervision in the spring of 1916. Mrs. Raser has always been a most popular member of the community of Jetmore, where she grew up, and in addition to teaching she also learned shorthand and typewriting and was employed in local offices and stores. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928) CHARLES CHESTER RUFF CHARLES CHESTER RUFF, whose death occurred September 7, 1927, came to Kansas half a century ago, was a pioneer farmer and rancher in Hodgeman County, and among the other honorable elements in his career is a record as a soldier of the Civil war. He was born at Wilstaadt, Baden, a few miles from Strassburg, in the Province of Lorraine, December 7, 1845, son of Frederick and Christina (Ferber) Ruff. There was one other child in the family, named Frederick. His parents came to America about 1850, settling at Pittston, Pennsylvania, where his father followed the trade of baker the rest of his life. He died in 1857, and his widow subsequently became the wife of John Gephart, and both died at Pittston. Charles C, Ruff acquired his early education in the common schools of Pittston, He was twelve years old when his father died, and soon afterward he went to work, assisting in supporting the household. He worked in the coal brakers for a time. He was in school during the winter of 1861, but on January 1, 1862, enlisted as a drummer boy, being then just sixteen years of age. He was in Company C of the Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers. The regiment organized at Harrisburg and he saw his first fighting at Janesville, Virginia, near Manassas, and the following day was in the second battle of Bull Run. His regiment was part of Doubleday's Brigade, King's Division, the First Army Corps, and at Gainesville these troops were exposed to the attack of the entire corps led by General Jackson, and on that battlefield General Ewell, the Confederate, lost his life. Following the second Bull Kun, Mr. Ruff was at Chantilly, marking the beginning of General Lee's invasion of Maryland, followed by South Mountain and Antietam. He was at Fredericksburg, at Chancellorsville in May, 1863, and on the first day of the great battle of Gettysburg, in July, 1863, he was taken prisoner. His regiment fired the first volley in that three-day battle. He was paroled on the field and assigned to field hospital work, standing by an operating table witnessing and assisting in the crude surgery of that time. After Gettysburg he and other paroled prisoners were sent to Baltimore, and after being exchanged he took part in the battle of Mine Run. In the meantime General Grant had taken supreme command of the armies in Virginia. In the reorganization that followed Mr. Ruff's regiment was put in the Fourth Division, Fifth Corps. About that time opportunity was given to the men for reenlistment, a bounty of four hundred dollars being offered for reenlistment, and Mr. Ruff's regiment re-enlisted as a body. During the rest of the war he participated in some of the hardest fighting, including the battles of the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spotsylvania, North Anna and South Anna Rivers, Cold Harbor, the Petersburg siege, Weldon Railroad. He first exchanged his drum for a gun in the fight at Boyden Plank Road. He was promoted at that battle to color corporal, and later for meritorious conduct at the battle of Five Forks was made orderly sergeant of his company. He was with General Sheridan's army in the pursuit of General Lee and was at the end of the struggle at Appomattox. He was paid off at Philadelphia and mustered out at Washington, July 7, 1865. After returning to Pittston he entered school, but was unable to concentrate his mind on books after the strenuous scenes of warfare. He learned the carpenter's trade, an occupation he followed for many years. In February, 1867, he married at Pittston and for a time was in business as a contractor. By trade he was a carpenter and later a successful contractor. Successes were fitful in the old anthracite mining town, so when great posters advertising Kansas appeared he decided to come west. This he did, settling at Hodgeman in the' year 1879, having previously built a home. The year before settling on his claim he lived at North Burdett (then Brown's Grove), where he built several dwellings; a livery stable and had a part in building the old mill. The home of the late George K. Lee still stands as a memorial to his skill in finish work. His claim was on Pawnee Creek, and he erected one of the first frame houses in the locality, a story and a half structure, 16 by 24 feet. On this place he lived and followed farming as an occupation forty years, until his children were all married. He experienced some of the hard years of the '70s and '80s, and in later years also enjoyed his share of agricultural prosperity in Kansas. Besides his original homestead quarter section he increased his holdings to six quarter sections, constituting some of the best ranches in that section of the state. While living on the Pawnee Ranch Mr. Ruff had an active part in community affairs, the first Sunday School being held in his home, the family organ contributing to the music. He was elected township trustee and for thirty-seven years was postmaster of Hodgeman, the first postoffice in the county. He was always a Republican and for many years was a central committeeman and a delegate to state conventions. He became a charter member of General Strong Post No. 82, Grand Army of the Republic, at Jetmore, and for many years was its commander. Only three members of the post now survive. He served as a delegate to various national encampments and at the time of his death was aide de camp to the national commander-in-chief, attending in that capacity the reunion of 1927. Mr. Ruff married, February 19, 1867, Miss Clementina M. Stevens. Her father, Henry Stevens, was a contractor, under whom Mr. Ruff learned his trade as carpenter. Mrs. Ruff died January 10, 1917, shortly before the date on which they would have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. After he and his wife had passed the seventieth milestone he gave up the farm, on account of the failing health of his wife, and built an addition to the home of his daughter, Jessie Button, and husband in Hanston, where he spent over ten years of active life, invested largely and worked in building the Baptist Church, of which he was a member. He was among the first to use his influence in promoting the enterprise of a high school district at this place. He was justice of the peace for a number of years and was active in all community affairs until August 4, 1927, when he was taken suddenly ill and went to Larned Hospital, where he died after an illness of five weeks, at the age of eighty-one years and nine months. Mr. Ruff, besides his own children, had nineteen grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. His own children are: Rev. Charles H., a Baptist minister in Pawnee County, who married Delia Gates; Walter S., of Lewis, Kansas, who married Lelia Walters; Jessie C., wife of Samuel Button, of Hanston; Mabel, wife of William Thompson, of Burdett, Kansas; and Abbie, wife of M. R. Sidebottom, of Rozell. Kansas. Source: (History of Kansas State and People, Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, V. III, 1928)