THOMAS HIGHFILL.
The late Thomas Highfill, of Easton township, Leavenworth county, Kansas, was born April 9, 1844, on a farm near the city of Madison, in southeastern Indiana. He was a son of William Highfill, who was born in South Carolina of German parents, and was there reared to young manhood, went to Kentucky from South Carolina, and there met and married Elizabeth Bonnell, born in Kentucky of German ancestry. Shortly after their marriage William Highfill and his wife crossed the Ohio river and settled near Madison on the Flat Rock river. He had charge of the toll-gate entrance of the bridge crossing the Flat Rock at that time. When Thomas was four years of age, or in 1849, the father and his family loaded their movable effects on wagons and started across the plains, en route to California, consuming six months on the long trip, their wagons being hauled by slow-moving oxen. The family remained in California for four years, and William spent the time profitably in placer mining for the yellow metal, after which they returned to the middle West, this time making the return trip with horses instead of oxen. They settled in Platte county, Missouri, and resided there until 1862, when William Highfill made a final settlement in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. He died the same year in Atchison county. George Highfill, son of Thomas, is now the owner of the original home place of the Highfill family in Atchison county.
Thomas Highfill was eighteen years of age when his father came to Atchison county. He assisted in the operation of the home farm until his marriage, November 24, 1864, to Elvira Porter, who was born in Casey county, Kentucky, February 7, 1847, a daughter of George and Sarah Ann (Foster) Porter, both of whom were born in Kentucky, and resided in their native State until November, 1850, when they removed to Buchanan county, Missouri, and there farmed for two years on the McDonald farm, near Wallace. The Porters came to Atchison county, Kansas, among the earliest of the pioneers in the spring of 1855 and settled on a tract of land just one-half mile west of the present town of Potter. George Porter filed on 160 acres of land in the fall of 1854 which has never changed ownership but once and has never been out of the family, being now owned by George Highfill, the eldest grandson of George Porter. The elder Porter, although born and bred in a slave State, abhorred the institution of slavery, despite the fact that his father, Isaac Porter, was a slave owner. He saw the evils of slavery when a youth and determined never to support it, because it was utterly wrong. He came to Kansas imbued with the determination to do his part in making the State free. He suffered considerably from the forays of the border ruffians and his homestead on the banks of the Big Stranger was raided frequently by the pro-slavery element. At one time Mr. Porter had a fine saddle horse stolen from him by border ruffians. As soon as he learned of the theft he set out after the thieves armed only with a bowie knife stuck in his boot top. He followed them to Atchison and lay hid in a clump of jimson weeds, near the camp of the ruffians on the spot where the Santa Fe railroad yards are now located. The marauders were drinking and carousing in seeming safety and had no idea that they would be followed. As a consequence of their neglect in not placing a sentry Mr. Porter was enabled to secure his horse and return home in safety at 4 o’clock in the morning. At the outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Porter enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas regiment and served throughout the war. While absent in defense of the Union his wife and five children were left to shift for themselves as best they could. George Porter was a stanch Republican in his political affiliations and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He died February 19, 1887, the age of sixty-five years, having been born January 21, 1822. His wife, Sarah Ann, died June 23, 1897. They were the parents of eight children, of whom Mrs. Thomas Highfill was the eldest. Mrs. Highfill was ten years old when the Porter family located in Kansas, and during the days of the Civil war, when the breadwinner of the family was absent fighting for the Union, this brave woman ploughed with an ox team and did the hardest kind of farm labor.
To Thomas Highfill and wife were born the following children: George, born September 8, 1865, and is the owner of the farm preëmpted by his grandfather Porter; John, born December 12, 1866; Sarah Elizabeth, wife of P. H. Fleer, of Potter, Kan., was born June 23, 1868, and died May 11, 1909; Thomas J., born April 8, 1870, residing in Potter; Mrs. Rose, wife of Clarence Binkley, of Atchison, born December 23, 1878; Abigail, wife of Ashton Hundley, of Atchison county, born October 19, 1879; Martina, wife of Louis Linville, of Spring Lake, Texas, born November 14, 1880; and Benjamin F., born June 10, 1884. The mother of these children resides on the Highfill place, west of Potter. Her son, George, is a prosperous farmer and good business man, who is connected with the Farmers State Bank of Potter.
Thomas Highfill departed this life March 7, 1899. He was a well respected and industrious citizen who did well his part in the development of Atchison county.