PETER WEBER.
Peter Weber, retired farmer, residing at 921 North Sixth street, Atchison, Kan., is one of the real pioneer residents of the county. He has lived in the county for over fifty-six years, and recalls many of the incidents of the old days when the settlement of the county was in the embryo stage. Like most of the prosperous and successful men in the county he has worked his way upward from a small beginning to a state of affluence, which reflects credit upon his industry and his capabilities. Times, fifty years ago, and the present, give opportunity for making contrasts which are striking and very interesting. When Mr. Weber was a boy it was the family custom to go to church on Sundays via the ox wagon route, father, mother and all of the children seating themselves in a big farm wagon, and going to church at the rate of two miles per hour, the trip requiring almost the entire day to go and return. Now, Mr. Weber cranks the engine of his fine automobile, and in an incredibly short space of time he travels from his city home to his country estate, can spend hours in looking over the farming operations, and return to his own home in time for the next meal.
Peter Weber was born in Kenosha, Wis., March 8, 1859, and came to Atchison county with his parents a few weeks later. His father, John Weber, was a native of Luxemburg, Germany, and his mother was Mary (Penning) Weber, also a native of Luxemburg, and a daughter of Nicholas Penning, who emigrated from his native country to Wisconsin. John Weber was married in Wisconsin, after coming to this country. He migrated to Atchison county, Kansas, from Wisconsin in 1859, and was equipped with a cash capital of nearly $300. He attended a lot sale in the boom days of Old Sumner, and invested nearly all of his savings in lots, purchasing 275 lots in all, at prices varying from $5 for the first one bought, to a price as low as twenty-five cents. This was more or less a speculation on his part, and the price of lots in Sumner fell rapidly after the county seat election which selected Atchison as the seat of government for the county. Real estate values naturally deteriorated in Sumner, and John Weber later sold seventy-five of his lots for $15 and allowed the greater part of his initial Kansas investment to be sold for taxes, inasmuch as the property had no real value. His next investment was a much better one, however, and he purchased 160 acres of land in Walnut township for $360, on which he erected a home and proceeded to develop it into a fine farm. He became well to do, and was highly respected throughout the neighborhood in which he resided. Originally John Weber had been a wheelwright by trade, and his skill as a wood worker and wagon maker stood him in good stead when he took up agricultural pursuits in Atchison county. During the Civil war John Weber was enrolled in the State militia and was called away to serve his country at Independence, Mo., leaving his wife and young children at home in mortal fear of their lives while the father and his comrades were in battle array to repel the Price invasion of Kansas. The movable property of the family was kept hidden in the drawers. Mr. Weber had over $800 in gold buried in the cellar in an empty peach can. He reared a fine family of sons and daughters as follows: Peter, the eldest of the family and with whom this review is directly concerned; Mathias, who is cultivating the old home place in Mt. Pleasant township, and Mrs. Katherine Keefer, a widow residing near Nortonville, Kan., are the surviving children of a family of six born, three of whom died in infancy. John Weber died in 1905, his wife preceding him to the great beyond in 1901.
Peter Weber, when a boy, attended the district school of his neighborhood in Mt. Pleasant township, and was reared to become an agriculturist. He was married in 1881 and then began doing for himself, renting land in Mt. Pleasant township for a time and carefully husbanding his resources and saving his money with a view to eventually owning a farm of his own. He was enabled to purchase his first farm of 160 acres in 1895 in Walnut township. He still owns this fine farm, which is one of the best in Atchison county, and is now being cultivated by his son. Mr. Weber retired from active agricultural pursuits in May, 1912, and removed to Atchison, where he owns real estate and lives comfortably, as befitting a man who has earned the right to enjoy home comforts. He was married in 1881 to Mary Weinmann, and to this union have been born the following children: Mary, wife of Theo Vanderweide, of Atchison county; Katherine, wife of John Wagner, residing in Walnut township, Atchison county; Jacob, living on the home farm; Ida, wife of Charles Harrison, a foreman in the A. J. Harwi Hardware Store, in Atchison; Annie, wife of Gustave Boehme, Rulo, Neb., where Mr. Boehme conducts a bakery. The mother of these children was born August 9, 1860, in Salt Creek Valley, Leavenworth county, Kansas, a daughter of Jacob and Katherine Weinmann, natives of Germany, who came to Leavenworth county, Kansas, as early as 1858. She was one of sixteen children born to these parents, thirteen of whom were reared, and five came to America and died here.
Mr. Weber has always been a Democrat, but is more or less independent in his political views and believes in voting for the candidate who seems best fitted to perform the duties of the office, regardless of his political affiliations. While a resident of Mt. Pleasant township he took an active part in the civic affairs of the township and served nine years as treasurer and then served as trustee in 1895. Later when he took up a permanent residence in Walnut township, in 1896, he was selected as township treasurer by the people in 1906 and filled the office to the satisfaction of everybody for six years. He and the members of his family are members of the St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, and have always been liberal contributors to the support of this institution. He is also affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, and takes a keen interest in city and county affairs as befitting a man of broad general attainments, who has lived in Atchison county for over half a century and watched its evolution from a wilderness to become one of the fairest divisions of the great State of Kansas.