CLEM P. HIGLEY.
Clem P. Higley, farmer and stockman of Center township, Atchison county, was born there March 25, 1869. He is a son of Russell and Carrie (Hooper) Higley, who were the parents of nine children, as follows: William, deceased; Otto, deceased; Emma Winsor, Las Vegas, N. M.; Hallie Nelson, Las Vegas, N. M.; Theodore, a traveling man; Clem, the subject of this sketch; Frank, farming the old home place, and Gilbert and Mina, both deceased. The father was born just west of New York City, January 3, 1833. In his early manhood he followed the blacksmithing trade, and at the age of twenty went to Illinois, where he remained for two years. Coming to Atchison county, he preëmpted 160 acres of land in section 3, Center township, and sold it shortly afterward and bought 80 acres in section 35, a mile east of old Pardee, Kan. He made extensive improvements on this place and farmed it until he retired in 1895. He now lives with his son, Clem. Russell Higley’s life did not run as smoothly as it might seem from this account of it. In his early days in Kansas the drought destroyed his crops one year. He gathered only one bushel of corn from his field that year. Having started out with no capital, this misfortune was a serious one. He and his twin brother, Russell, worked for Pardee Butler, while he returned to Illinois. They worked for Mr. Butler all summer and in the fall of 1856 started to walk back to Illinois, so as to be home during the winter. A winter in Kansas was a serious thing in those days, and with the best of provisions, it was a fierce ordeal. In the spring of 1857 they returned to Kansas, having the confidence in this country to develop into a prosperous district. Russell was a son of Francis Higley, and his mother died when he was a very small boy. Carrie Higley, the mother of Clem, was born in Tennessee in 1837. Her father was a freighter from Missouri to Santa Fe, N. M. Mrs. Higley died in 1899.
Clem Higley, the subject of this sketch, attended school at Pardee, Kan., and when twenty-one years old, started out to work by the month. A year later he rented a farm in Benton township, five miles south of Effingham, Kan. Then for a period of nine years he rented in Benton township, and the following three years rented his father’s farm and in 1903 bought 105 acres. The place was not well improved and he set to work erecting buildings, and now has a large two-story home and two barns, one 24×50 feet and the other 40×42 feet. The latter has a cement basement. Higley’s total holdings now number 185 acres of land. He keeps graded stock, including fine Poland China hogs. In 1896 he was married to Margaret Hawk, who was born March 21, 1877, in Ohio. She is a daughter of Lafayette and Hattie (Pitt) Hawk, both natives of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Higley have had six children born to them, the second child dying in infancy. The others are, Newell, Wilber, Morris, Marie, Dale. All are living with their parents. Mr. Higley is a Republican and is a member of the Christian church.