Abram Stever was married December 24, 1862, to Sarah Elecia Bailey, of Walworth county, Wisconsin. To this union have been born the following children: Leona May, died at the age of fifteen years; Jennie Bailey, died at the age of thirteen; Joseph Warren, died when twenty-two years old; Arthur Carlton, a clothing merchant at Wetmore, Kan., who married Maud Hawk, of Effingham, and they have one daughter, Leona May; Carrie Adella Stever, at home with her mother, a graduate of the county high school, and taught for seven years in the Effingham schools, and is a specialist in music, having graduated from Bethany Conservatory at Lindsborg, Kan., in 1906. She pursued a post-graduate course at Lindsborg during winter vacation, and studied during one winter under William H. Sherwood, America’s greatest pianist. She was for five years a successful teacher of music at Mankato, Kan. Returning to Effingham in 1911, she became music director in the Atchison County High School, but resigned to take up studio work entirely; Ray Howard, conducting a suitatorium at Frankfort, Kan., married Inez McFarlan; Ralph Roy Stever, a teamster at Nevada, Mo., married Treva Spell, and has had four children: Lloyd Orr, Warren Clayton, Ralph Vern, Lola Esther, deceased; Ernest Clayton, a graduate of the county high school, proprietor of a suitatorium at Macon, Mo., married Charlotte Henderson, and has one child, Roy Estell; Frank Abram Stever, county high school graduate, located on the family estate in Benton township, married Daisy McFarlan, and is the father of three children: Coral Nadine, Geneva Fay, and Mildred Lorene. Mrs. Stever was born January 10, 1843, on a farm in Walworth county, Wisconsin, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Perry) Bailey, natives of Maryland and Dundee, Ill., respectively. An uncle, Amos Bailey, was one of the first surveyors in the city of Chicago, and run the first line in what is now the city. Joseph Bailey was one of the first settlers in Walworth county, Wisconsin, at a time when there were very few people in the State and neighbors were twelve miles distant from one another. It was a common custom for a number of settlers to band together and market their produce together in the city of Chicago. Amos Bailey was the owner of several sections of land near Lake Geneva, Wis., which is now the great millionaires’ resort, near Chicago. Joseph Bailey was twice married, his second wife being Mary Catharine Sipperly. It is also worth recording that a brother of Abram Stever, named Washington Stever, was a soldier in the Union army and fought in the Army of the Potomac from the beginning to the end of the war. At the time of Mr. Stever’s death, the oldest son was only thirteen years of age, and Mrs. Stever was left with a large family, the youngest of whom was six months old.
Abram Stever was a Republican in his political affiliations, but will best be remembered for his activity in behalf of the organization of the Presbyterian church in Effingham. He was one of three men who raised the fund to pay for the building of the First Presbyterian Church erected in Effingham, and was a deacon and trustee, having been one of the only two deacons ever installed in the early church. He was active in church work during his entire life and was a thoroughly honest, religious gentleman, who carried his belief into his daily life and in all his undertakings. He was a good husband, a kind parent and an excellent citizen, and loved by everyone who knew him.
REV. Z. S. HASTINGS.
Few pioneer citizens of Atchison county have lived more useful or cleaner lives than Rev. Z. S. Hastings, retired minister and farmer, of Effingham, Kan. During his nearly fifty years of residence in Kansas as a farmer, educator, preacher, and statesman, he has worked continually for the well-being of his neighbors and friends. Without fear of contradiction it can be stated that Rev. Hastings has performed a greater number of marriage ceremonies and officiated at the funerals of more deceased residents than any minister in Atchison county. Despite his three score and seventeen years this grand old patriarch bears his age lightly and takes an active interest in the affairs of his community.
Rev. Z. S. Hastings was born March 15, 1838, on a farm near Bedford, Lawrence county, Indiana, a son of Howell and Edith (Edwards) Hastings, natives of North Carolina. On his father’s side the family is of Quaker origin and a very old one in America. The first Hastings having been a follower of William Penn, came from England to settle in the Quaker colony in Pennsylvania. A descendant of the first American Hastings, Joshua by name, migrated to North Carolina and there founded another branch of the family. Here in the Southland, Howell Hastings was reared and married, and with his wife and two sons migrated to Indiana to become one of the pioneer settlers of the Hoosier State. He died at his home in Indiana December 25, 1854, leaving seven children: Joshua Thomas, deceased; William Henry, John Arthur, Nancy Elizabeth, deceased; Zachariah Simpson, with whom this review is concerned; Charlotte Ann, deceased; Rufus Wiley, living in Arkansas. Of the foregoing, Joshua Thomas and William Henry fought in the Union army during the late rebellion of the Southern States; Joshua first fought in the Home Guards of Missouri, and, returning to Indiana he raised a company for service in the war, after fighting under General Lyons at the battle of Springfield. He taught school for a time in Missouri, but returned to Indiana. He died in Kentucky. William Henry enlisted in a Missouri regiment.
Z. S. Hastings was educated in the common schools of his native State, studied in Indianapolis, and also pursued a course at Hiram College, in preparation for the Christian ministry. In 1857 he went to Missouri and taught school for five years, studying in the meantime while teaching. In 1862 he returned to his native State and began preaching the Gospel in the Christian denomination. He taught and preached at the same time while preparing himself further for the ministry. His first experience in the ministry was obtained in 1860 while in Missouri. In 1867 Mr. Hastings came to Kansas, resided in Leavenworth county for one year and in 1868 came to Atchison county and located on a farm near Farmington. He taught the Farmington school for five years and preached in the vicinity of his home during this time. He cultivated his farm of 130 acres and preached at the Farmington church and in the surrounding country for a period of twenty-five years. In 1895 he removed to Effingham and continued preaching until 1903 when he retired from active work in the ministry. Mr. Hastings was an excellent farmer as well as minister and made a success of his farming operations, having the distinction of selling an eighty acre tract of farm land, the first for $100 an acre ever sold in the county up to that time. This farm was located east of Effingham, and was the first tract near the town to bring the price of $100 an acre.
He was married on June 28, 1870, to Miss Rosetta Butler, and to this union have been born seven children: Harry Howell, an electrical engineer, located at St. Louis, and who was educated in Holton College and Kansas University; Paul Pardee, assistant freight and passenger agent of the Santa Fe railroad, with headquarters at San Francisco; Otho Ono, a graduate of the Atchison county high school, taught school for ten years, served as county superintendent of Atchison county four years, and graduated from the Atchison Business College, and is at present bookkeeper for Urich’s planing mill at Independence, Kan.; Wiley Wyatt died in infancy; Clara Charlotte, deceased, formerly a teacher, wife of Charles Sprong, of Potter, Kan.; Edith Eliza, deceased, who was also a public school teacher; Milo Milton, a journalist and author, of New York City. Milo graduated from the Atchison county high school, the State Agricultural College at Manhattan, and pursued a post-graduate course in the State university. The mother of these children was born August 5, 1844, in Sandusky Plain, Ohio, a daughter of the Rev. Pardee Butler, a famous figure in Kansas history, and who was an outspoken advocate of the anti-slavery principles during the struggle which made Kansas a free State. He was so frank and fearless in the expression of his views and so strenuous in the support of the anti-slavery doctrine that his utterances brought him frequently in contact with the pro-slavery men and border ruffians, and on one occasion when in Atchison he was captured by ruffians and sent down the Missouri river on a raft. Complete details of the life and activities of Pardee Butler are given in another chapter in this volume. “Pardee Butler’s Own Book,” begun during the latter part of his life, and finished and published by Mrs. Hastings, tells of his life and adventures in Kansas. Speaking biographically, Mr. Butler was born March 9, 1816, and died October 20, 1888. He first saw the light of day at Skaneateles, N. Y., and immigrated with his parents, Phineas Butler and wife, who came to Ohio in 1818. Phineas Butler was born in New York State. Pardee Butler was reared to young manhood in Ohio and there married Sybil Carlton, of Sullivan, Ohio, who was born July 4, 1823, and died August 7, 1898. She was a daughter of Joseph Carlton, a native of Massachusetts, who immigrated to Ohio in an early day. In his boyhood, Pardee herded sheep on Sandusky Plain, and after his father’s death resided in Sullivan, Ohio. In 1850 he removed to Iowa and settled on a farm in Cedar county, where he lived for five years. While a resident of Iowa he preached in Illinois for two years. In May of 1855 he set out for Atchison county, Kansas, on horseback and settled on a farm at Farmington. For many years he served as a Christian minister and conducted farming operations. He had a remarkably retentive memory, which enabled him to memorize the whole of the New Testament while herding sheep in Ohio. Rev. Butler was the first State evangelist of the Christian denomination to visit Iowa and was also the first State evangelist to take up the work of his church in Kansas. Practically all of his traveling while engaged in missionary work was accomplished on horseback. Night coming on he would picket his horse in a grassy spot and use his saddle for a pillow. Pardee Butler was one of the notable figures in the history of Kansas, and will be remembered as long as history endures, as a brave, useful and faithful patriot, and minister, whose life was full of good deeds and who always stood for the right. He was the father of seven children: Mrs. Rosetta Hastings, Clara Louise, Eugene Pardee, Maria Corintha, all of whom died in infancy; Charles Pardee on the home farm; Ernest, died in infancy; George, living at White City, Kan.
Rev. Hastings has always been a steadfast advocate of prohibition, but has generally allied himself politically with the Republican party principles. In 1876 he was selected by the Republican party in the county as their candidate for the legislature, although at the time he was an avowed Prohibitionist, and was elected, serving in the Kansas legislature during the ensuing session. For eighteen years he served as a member of the school board in his home district, and was for six years a member of the Atchison County High School Board. He believes in education for the young to the fullest and is heart and soul in favor of giving young men and women every opportunity to acquire a higher education, as is attested by the splendid training which he was enabled to give each of his own offspring. Rev. Hastings has baptized hundreds of converts during his ministerial career and started them onward in the better life. His whole life has been dedicated for good.
KNUD G. GIGSTAD.
Knud G. Gigstad, farmer and breeder of fine cattle, was born in Norway September 28, 1856, and is a son of Gulick and Anna Gigstad. He was one of seven children one of whom is now dead. Four of the boys and one daughter are living in the United States. The father was a native of Norway and spent his life in that country.