Mr. Bush is one of the most successful farmers in Kansas and is the owner of a highly productive tract of land. As an illustration of his success as a farmer, the records show that from a tract of twenty-one acres there was corn produced at an average of 108 bushels to the acre the first year, ninety-seven bushels to the acre the second year, and eighty-four bushels to the acre the third year, after which the land was sown to wheat in the natural order of crop rotation and the yield was thirty-eight bushels to the acre. Mr. Bush is a firm believer in crop rotation as a means of preserving the fertility of the soil.
MICHAEL J. HINES.
For an individual to come to Atchison county without funds and with practically no influential friends to assist him to achieve success, it is remarkable for him to accomplish in the rather brief period of twenty-six years as much as has been done by Michael J. Hines, of Lancaster township, Atchison county. It is apparent that Kansas presents unusual opportunities for a man to better his condition, if one man can accumulate 480 acres of land, become president of a flourishing banking concern and a stockholder in another important city bank. The main reason for Mr. Hines’ wonderful success must lie in the ability of the man himself, and the reviewer must of necessity conclude that the power to achieve was inherent in his mental and physical makeup, which, combined with industry, decided financial ability, honesty and uprightness has made him one of the leading citizens of his adopted county. Mr. Hines is a scion of old southern families, and comes of good old Virginia stock on his mother’s side, being descended from the well known Hunter family of Virginia, who were among the founders of the Baptist church in the southland. Mr. Hines is a large stockholder and director, and was formerly vice-president of the Antelope Peak copper mines of Arizona. He is the owner of a 320–acre irrigated ranch in the Valier valley of Montana, near Valier.
Michael J. Hines was born July 5, 1863, in Roanoke county, Virginia, and was one of the twelve children of Henry and Katherine (Jeter) Hines, six of whom are living. The father was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1833. He was a Confederate soldier during the Civil war, having enlisted in Virginia but was not in any battles during the war. His life was spent in farming except for a time when he speculated in Confederate money. At the close of the war he had a sack full of Confederate scrip which could not be redeemed. He died at his home in Abington, Va., in 1898. His father, Richard Hines, was of Irish descent and was a plantation owner in Virginia. His mother was Sallie (Howmaker) Hines, and was of German descent. The mother of Michael Hines was also a Virginian, having been born in Bedford county, Virginia, in 1841. She died in 1890. She was a daughter of Allison Jeter. Her mother was a member of the Hunter family, who were among the first members of the Baptist church.
Michael Hines was reared and educated in Virginia and left that State in 1883 when he was twenty years of age, settling in Morgan county, Illinois, where he worked as a farm hand for six years. He then came to Atchison, Kan., and was engaged as foreman by the Greenleaf & Baker Grain Company. Six years later he bought his present farm of 160 acres. It was unimproved and none of the land was broken. Since buying the land he has made $10,000 worth of improvements on his place and has set out fifteen acres of orchard. This evidence speaks for the thrift and good judgment of Mr. Hines. He also has bought 480 acres of land in Lancaster township. He is a live, progressive farmer and stock raiser and keeps graded stock of all kinds on his farm. Mr. Hines is a shareholder and president of the Lancaster State Bank, and is also a stockholder in the German-American Bank of Atchison, Kan. In politics Mr. Hines is a Democrat, but votes independently in county and State affairs, and for the individual.
Mr. Hines was married in 1890 at Alexander, Ill., to Lillie Kaiser, who was born August 27, 1870, and six children have been born to this union, as follows: Samuel, who was graduated from the Atchison business college, and is now farming at home; Frank, Helen, Louise and Lillian, all living at home, and one died in infancy. Mr. Hines is a member of the Methodist church and is a trustee and steward in the Shannon Methodist Episcopal Church. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Lancaster, Kan.
CHARLES H. FALK.
Charles H. Falk, of Shannon township, is the owner of the first tract of land which was filed upon in the Atchison county land office in 1854. This farm was preëmpted by Capt. William Jackson, who was a justice of the peace and a captain of home guards during the Civil war, and died at Ft. Worth, Tex., in 1911. The first house built on the place was made from material taken from the cabin of a river steamer sunk in the Missouri river. Henry Falk, father of Charles, and his son, have made so many excellent improvements on the dwelling that the dining room of the present residence is the only part of the old cabin now in use. This part of the home was built in 1857. The original owner set out a grove of cottonwoods in 1857 which was cut down in the fall of 1892 by the present proprietor, and erected a barn from the lumber sawed, which made over 112,000 feet of good merchantable lumber. Mr. Falk’s barn was built from this lumber, with the exception of the shingles. Captain Jackson sold the land to Frank Fisher, who died in 1877, six months after the purchase, and it was bought by Henry Falk, father of Charles H., in 1878. After Henry Falk’s death, Charles H. came into possession of the land by inheritance, and by purchase of the interests of the other heirs. He has made very extensive improvements since becoming the owner and despite that the soil has been in constant cultivation for more than sixty years the yield of crops is greater now than ever before, and the wheat crops in late years have exceeded twenty-two bushels an acre. The farm residence is attractively situated, in the center of the tract of 155 acres and is reached by a splendid driveway, kept in first class condition by Mr. Falk. In fact, the private road to the Falk residence is kept in far better condition than many of the country roads in Atchison county, and is in keeping with the general appearance of this fine farm.
Charles H. Falk was born May 23, 1864, in Watertown, Wis., a son of Henry, born in 1815, and died, 1894, and of Wilhelmina (Clout) Falk, born 1819, and died in 1901. Both parents were born on the River Rhine in Germany, and married in their native land. Henry Falk was a cabinet-maker and immigrated to Wisconsin in 1857, and worked at his trade until 1866, when he settled on a farm. He came to Atchison county with his family in 1879, and on February 2, of that year, moved on the farm which he had purchased the preceding year.
Charles H. Falk was married in 1885 to Elizabeth Wolters, a daughter of John Wolters, a native of Holland, who was one of the first brick-makers in Atchison and Doniphan counties. John Wolters emigrated from Holland to Doniphan county, Kansas, in 1857, and came to Atchison in 1858. During his long residence in Atchison he has been a manufacturer of brick, and the results of his handiwork are seen in the construction of many of the brick buildings in the city. Mr. Wolters was born in May, 1827, and is now over eighty-nine years of age and the oldest Atchison county resident at the present time. He lives a retired life on South Second street. Mr. and Mrs. Falk have children as follows: John H., a resident of Beattie, Marshall county, married Margaret Gressel, and they have two children, Karl and Pauline; Henry, in the employ of the Symns Grocer Company; Anna, a seamstress, living with her parents; Rose, wife of John McGrath, a traveling salesman for the Symns Grocer Company, and they have one child, Rosemary; Herbert, aged twenty years, and Irene, aged ten years, both of whom are at home with their parents.