Mr. Falk and his family are members of St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, and Mr. Falk is a member of the church committee of four councilors. He is a Democrat, but is inclined to be independent in his voting, having a decided leaning toward the support of those candidates that seem best fitted for the office. He has filled no civic office but that of township trustee, which he held for one year, having been appointed by the county commissioners to fill a vacancy in Shannon township. He is affiliated with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association and the Central Protective Association and is a member of the St. Joseph society.
GEORGE DORSSOM.
George Dorssom, one of the oldest living pioneer settlers of Lancaster township in point of residence, now living retired at Lancaster, Atchison county, was born August 4, 1864, in Lancaster township, Atchison county. He is a son of George and Sophia (Storm) Dorssom, and was one of thirteen children, four boys and five girls of whom are still living. The subject of this sketch was the seventh child of the family. The father of George Dorssom, whose name also was George, was born in Germany January 8, 1820. He sailed to America and settled in New Orleans when a young man and worked as a tailor there. He then went to Wayne county, Ohio, where he worked as a tailor for a time, when he engaged in farming. In 1860 he came to Atchison county, Kansas, and bought forty acres of prairie land in section 21, Lancaster township, which he broke with oxen. He farmed on this place until his death in January, 1895. He came to America a stranger and without funds, but by hard work he accumulated considerable means and reared ten out of a family of thirteen children. His wife, Sophia, was a devoted helpmate, and when they were struggling to make their farm pay, she would load up a small hand wagon with vegetables and garden truck and pull it to Lancaster, where she would sell or exchange the produce for goods. This trip was two miles, and it was a great exertion for Mrs. Dorssom, but she was glad to be able to help her husband in whatever way she could. After the death of her first husband she was married again on February 19, 1896, to Jacob Merkel, a native of Germany. He died March 12, 1908. His wife is still active, despite her age, and lives in Lancaster with a maid. She is able to be about her work and takes a keen interest in life. Her children are: Mrs. Margaret Kleppe, a widow, residing in Brown county, Kansas; Mrs. Katherine Hinz, a widow, Lancaster, Kan.; John, farmer, Lancaster township; Mrs. Caroline Kloepper, deceased; Mrs. Sophia Myer, living in Soldier, Jackson county, Kansas; Adam, Lancaster township; Louisa Henrietta, dead; Mrs. Lizzie Myer, of Lancaster; Dora W., deceased; Adam, of Lancaster, Kan.; Mrs. Louisa Fridel, Brown county, Kansas; Henry, farmer, and three children who died in infancy. She has forty-five grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren and is very proud of them all. Her descendants all carry the idea of an industrious woman with them and the influence of the life of this woman will stay with them all through their lives.
George Dorssom, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm of his father. He attended school in the Bell district and worked on his father’s farm until he was twenty-five years of age. He then bought eighty acres of land from his father in section 21, Lancaster township, and followed farming for fifteen years. He has added forty acres to his farm and made extensive improvements to the extent of $7,000. He now owns 138 acres of land and a fine residence with about five acres of residence property in Lancaster, Kansas. Mr. Dorssom was a breeder of Berkshire hogs, to which he paid special attention. In 1909 he retired and moved to Lancaster, Kan. He is a Republican and was a member of the city council for four years. For a term of seven years he was road supervisor of Lancaster township. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs of his community. He has led a useful life and looks back on one of the longest careers of living citizens who were born in Atchison county. He has traveled in many parts of the United States, but is glad to have settled down in retirement in Atchison county, believing it to be the happiest country he has ever seen.
On December 31, 1890, Mr. Dorssom married Hulda Hinz, who was born in Germany October 1, 1860. She came to America when she was twenty years old. Her father, Edward Hinz, died in Germany in 1895, at the age of fifty-eight years. The mother, Caroline (Lutce) Hinz, came to Atchison county, Kansas, in 1896, and now resides at Leavenworth. Mrs. Dorssom attended school in Germany. She was one of nine children. A brother, Richard, is a florist at Leavenworth, Kan., and two brothers are in the same business, one, Rudolph, at St. Joseph, Mo., and the other, Amiel, at Leavenworth. Mr. and Mrs. Dorssom have no children, but they adopted a child, Gustave Hinz, a nephew of Mrs. Dorssom. They reared and educated him, and he is now farming on the home place. Both Mr. and Mrs. Dorssom are members of the English Lutheran church. He is a charter member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has been a member of the Lancaster Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 355, since October, 1891, nearly twenty-five years. Mrs. Dorssom is a charter member of the Daughters of Rebekah Lodge, No. 431.
CYRUS E. DAVIS.
Cyrus E. Davis, founder and proprietor of the firm C. E. Davis & Sons, plumbing and heating contractors, at 509 Kansas avenue, is one of Atchison’s leading citizens, and a successful business man who has built up his business from a modest beginning in a few short years. He first started with a small shop on Commercial street, and in October, 1914, moved to his present location. A complete stock of plumbing, heating and steam fitting goods is carried in the shop, exceeding a value of $2,500. The excellence and thoroughness of the work done by the Davis establishment is marked, and the business is constantly on the increase.
Mr. Davis was born October 10, 1864, in Frederick county, Maryland, son of George W. and Belinda (Saunders) Davis. The Davis family is a very old one of Welsh extraction in America. The founders of this family were four brothers, who crossed the ocean and left their native land of Wales early in the seventeenth century. George W. Davis was also born in Frederick county, Maryland, and became a contractor and builder. He followed his trade in his native State until 1873, when he migrated to Nebraska with his family. Later he went to Texas, where he died in 1900. He was the father of nine sons, as follows: George W., a contractor and builder, of David City, Neb.; Harry W., a building contractor, of Houston, Texas; Theodore E., a contracting painter, of Columbus, Neb.; Mahlon, a tailor, located in Norwalk, Ohio; William M., deceased; Lewis A., a tinner and coppersmith, of San Bernardino, Cal., in the employ of the Santa Fe railroad; Cyrus E., with whom this review is directly concerned; Frank H., business agent for the Carpenters’ Union of Oklahoma City, Okla. The mother of these children was also born in Frederick county, Maryland, in 1825, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Saunders, natives of England. Walter Saunders came of a good English family and studied in a boarding school of Southhampton, England, and became a school teacher in Maryland. He had the distinction of having taught for forty years in one school district in Frederick county, Maryland, and became well-to-do. Mrs. Davis died in 1889.
Cyrus E. Davis was educated in the public schools of Columbus, Neb., learned his father’s trade when a young man, and after taking a correspondence course in bridge engineering, he entered the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company as bridge constructor. He remained with this road for five years and came to Atchison in 1886. He was employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company until 1905 and then entered the plumbing and heating department of the Farwell Heating Company for one and one-half years, and then became foreman for the Thayer Supply Company of Atchison. In the year 1912 he started a shop of his own on Commercial street and was successful from the start. It became necessary for him to seek larger quarters, and in October of 1914 he moved his business and shop to his present location.
Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Ida Mayhood in 1889, and to this union have been born seven children, as follows: Frank M., George E., Reynold, Fred, Norma, Charles, and Verner, deceased. All of Mr. Davis’ sons are associated with him in his business, and have learned to become expert plumbers and steamfitters under their father’s tutelage. The mother of these children was born November 9, 1869, in Leavenworth county, Kansas, a daughter of George and Mary (Carr) Mayhood, natives of Ireland, and Canada, respectively. George Mayhood emigrated from Ireland in an early day and settled in Leavenworth county about 1865, where he engaged in farming. He and his wife were married in Lowell, Mass.