JAMES E. BEHEN.
In the compilation of the biographical department of this history of Atchison county, Kansas, the fact is frequently brought to the mind of the reviewer that the really successful men of this county are essentially self-made, and began at the foot of the ladder of success, working their way upward by various means, all of which were honest and based upon hard and painstaking labor at the outset of their careers. Very few were well educated, or had been blessed with opportunities in their youth such as are the heritage of the youth of the present day. James Edward Behen, successful farmer, of Center township, Atchison county, is one of those citizens who are deserving of credit for what they have accomplished. Starting out as a boy of twelve, he has made his own way in the world, and after he attained manhood, with the assistance of a good and faithful helpmeet, he has accomplished results which are really creditable. Starting with a tract of eighty acres of land in 1900, which he found necessary to improve, he soon added another eighty, then another eighty, and now has a fine farm of 240 acres, which is one of the most fertile tracts of land in the county, practically all of which is in cultivation. Mr. Behen has the right idea of farming, inasmuch as he sells the product of his farm “on the hoof,” and has become an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs. This plan insures the fertility of the soil, and his farm is steadily improving as the result of a wise method of cultivation.
Mr. Behen is a native son of Kansas, who was born and brought up on Kansas soil, and will not admit that there is any better place under the sun for a man to acquire a fortune than right here in Atchison county, and, judging by what he has done in Kansas, the writer is prone to agree with him. James E. Behen was born March 28, 1864, at Leavenworth, and is a son of Michael and Mary Behen, who had six children. The father was of Irish descent. He followed bridge building. James, the subject of this sketch, started out to make his own way at the age of twelve years, and went to work on the farm of Edward Whalen, in Doniphan county, Kansas, and stayed there eight years. Meanwhile, he attended the district school, receiving a rudimentary education. He then worked as a farm hand until he was twenty-two years old. For several years following he rented land in Atchison and Doniphan counties. In 1900 he bought eighty acres in Center township, and five years later bought the eighty acres adjoining his farm on the west. Now he owns 240 acres, which he has improved considerably. He built a modern barn, 32×35 feet in size, and also built a fine cattle barn, forty feet square. He does a large feeding business, handling a carload of cattle each year. He keeps graded stock of all kinds on his farm.
In 1888 he was married to Lizzie Pauly, who was born March 30, 1862, in Doniphan county, Kansas. She is the daughter of John and Anna (Hartzinger) Pauly, natives of Germany. The parents were early settlers in Illinois, and moved to Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Behen have eight children: Mrs. Agnes McCibben, Atchison, Kan.; Alice, deceased; Mary, graduate of Atchison High School, living at home; Thomas, living at home; Joseph, at home; John, whereabouts unknown; Roy and Fred, living at home. Mr. Behen is a Democrat. He is a member of the Roman Catholic church.