THOMAS L. CLINE.
For sixty years Thomas L. Cline has lived in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, and he is one of the oldest of Kansas pioneers in point of years of residence in the State. Coming to this county when he was ten years of age with his parents he has lived to see Kansas become prosperous and the vast prairie transformed by the hand of man into a truly good place to live. He, himself, has risen in the course of time to become one of the wealthy farmers of the county, and despite his three score and ten years of age he still oversees the work on his large farm of 320 acres.
Mr. Cline was born October 8, 1845, in Henry county, Iowa, a son of Henry and Eleanor (Leanord) Cline, both natives of Ohio. The parents of both Henry and Eleanor moved at a very early day from Ohio to Illinois, where they were married. The parents of T. L. Cline lived but a short time in Illinois and then removed to Henry county, Iowa, where four of the children were born, of whom T. L. was the youngest. The family lived in Iowa for sixteen years and came to Kansas as early as 1855. Henry settled on a quarter section of land, which is still in the family, and is owned by Thomas L., adjoining the quarter section upon which the home of the subject is located. At the time the Clines located in Atchison county the country was a vast reach of unpeopled prairie broken by belts of timber along the streams. Prairie fires were very common in those days. Henry Cline persuaded a neighbor to preëmpt the adjoining section to his and eventually bought it and increased his acreage to 480 acres in all. An interesting feature of the Cline farm is the stone fencing which is built around a portion of the farm. Stone fences are a rarity in Kansas and are found only in the occasional places where stone is plentiful, and their building required time and plenty of it on the part of men who in the early days made the building of stone fences a vocation and followed it as their method of earning a living. While a portion of the stone work on the farm has been replaced by wire fencing, 300 rods of this fence are in excellent condition despite the fact that it was erected over forty-five years ago. T. L. Cline in speaking reminiscently of the old days recalls that the “grasshopper” visitation of 1866 was every whit as bad as in the years of 1874 and 1875, and he also recalls seeing a company of “red shirts” or border ruffians encamped near his father’s farm. Henry Cline died in 1875, his widow dying in 1901 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary E. Blodgett. Henry and Eleanor Cline reared the following children: Julia Ann (Jay), deceased, at Rock Creek, Kan.; Mary E. Blodgett, Walnut township; Charles W. died in Union service at Drywood, Mo., and Thomas L., the youngest.
T. L. Cline grew up on his father’s farm and has never lived anywhere else since he was ten years of age. He was married in 1874 to Miss Susan Vandiver. The following children were born of this marriage: Ora, wife of Edward Bradley, of Atchison county; Nellie, wife of Martin Decker, living in Leavenworth county, Kansas; Charles Cline, farming on the home place; T. L., Jr., better known as Lloyd, at home with his parents and assists in farm work. The mother of these children was born February 11, 1853, in Green county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Edward and Irene (Holloway) Vandiver, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Providence, R. I. The respective parents of Edward and Irene Vandiver removed from their native states to Illinois, and it was in that State that they were married. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Wisconsin and settled on a farm near Monroe, in Green county. They resided in Wisconsin for sixteen years and then returned to Schuyler county, Illinois. After a residence of ten years in Illinois they came to Atchison county, Kansas, to make a permanent home. Edward Vandiver was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and often rode with Lincoln to and from political gatherings. His political beliefs were the same as Mr. Lincoln’s. Mr. Vandiver was also acquainted with Stephen A. Douglas and attended the famous Lincoln and Douglas debates.
For one year after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Cline lived at the home of Mr. Cline’s parents, when T. L. built a home for himself on a part of the family estate. After his father’s demise he bought his mother’s interest in the estate and moved to the old home place where he still resides. Mr. Cline has always been a stockman and a large feeder of cattle and hogs. He is now raising sheep and has about 140 head of these animals on his farm. He has always been a stanch Republican, as his father was before him, and has usually taken an active part in political and civic affairs. He served for many years as a member of the school board and was succeeded by his son, Charles, as a member of the board when T. L. refused to serve any longer. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers State Bank of Potter, Kan., and is generally found in the forefront of all good movements tending to promote the welfare of the people in his neighborhood. Mr. Cline carries his years lightly and can be seen almost any day directing the farm work and is very active for his years. Thomas L. Cline is one of Atchison county’s grand old men and is a true Kansas pioneer.