The History of the Early Settlement of Norton County, Kansas

Page 94

back

next

table of contents

 
from Pomeroy, Ohio, to St. Louis, Missouri, worked as deck hand on a steamboat; from St Louis to St. Joseph he went by rail.  He worked on a farm near St. Joe one month for Joseph Pickett; went from there to Sidney, Iowa, where he worked through harvest; left Sidney in August 1872 for Kansas in company with the Iowa Colony, about forty persons in ail, of which J. R. Hamilton of Norton, and he are the only persons here at present.  This colony settled the Prairie Dog river from the farm now owned by I. N. Cope a distance of seven miles west.  After all had located they started back to Iowa to make preparations for permanent settlement in Kansas.  Humphry worked near Sidney during the winter of '72 for William Hutchinson, and cams back to his claim in April '73.  As the so called Iowa colony did not return to Kansas their claims were generally retaken in the spring.  From '73 to '81 he devoted his time to farming hunting and trapping.  During this period he traveled over western Kansas and Nebraska and eastern and southern Colorado, crossed the Rockies on to the Gunnison and Uncompagra rivers.  Made one trip to the Black Hills, Dakota; also one trip to Texas and hunted buffalo on the Brazos River west of the Double Mountains.  His father Samuel B. Humphry came to Norton county in the spring of 1881, and located near him on the claim formerly owned by Joseph Gettys and others.  His father was born in Ohio January 28, 1822.  He makes his home with his son.  An uncle, Ambros Humphry was born in Ohio in 1820; came to Norton county about two years ago makes his home with John also.

From 1881 to the present time John devoted his time principally to farming and stock raising.  He was married to Miss Lilla M. Thiesen January 17, 1888 at the Grier House, Norton, Kansas.  Miss Thiesen was born near Flensburg, Germany, October 14. 1867; she left Hamburg May 1887, arriving in New York June 11, '86; left New York for David City Nebraska, and lived there one year with a minister by the name of Oakey of the Congregational church.  Her parents left Germany one year later, came to David City, Nebraska, from there to Kansas and settled in the southwest corner of Norton county where they are living at present.  John has had four children born to him as follows: Samuel E. October 21, 1888, died January 12, '89; William M. November26, '89; Mary Hattie June 17, '91; Seldon May 16, '93. Their little boy who died was buried in the Oronoque cemetery.

hall_j.JPG (40821 bytes) James Hall was born in Niagara county, New York, April 5, 1844, was raised on a farm and attended common school.  He volunteered in the 98th New York infantry in June 1864 and served until the close of the war.  After the war he settled in Kane county, Illinois.  He was married to Mary Brown April 14th, 1867, at Kalamazoo, Michigan.  He came to Cloud

Page 94

back

next

table of contents

 


USGenWeb Home Page


KSGenWeb Home Page



Home Page for Kansas



Search  KSGenWeb Project

KSGenWeb logo were designed and are copyrighted by Tom & Carolyn Ward for the limited use of the KSGenWeb Project.  Permission is granted for use only on an official KSGenWeb page. 

web design ©2003 by Ardie Grimes,
Norton County, Kansas GenWeb coordinator
Text and photos from this 1894 book are within the public domain