Mr. Sanders is a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is now living with Arthur Keirns, a son of his step-son. In these days his life is rather quiet compared with the early-day existence which he passed through. Indians camped near his farm when he first came to Kansas. The trail to the Kickapoo reservation passed near his farm and the Indians were constantly traveling back and forth along it. He has a hobby of “fiddling.” He calls himself a “fiddler” in distinction from a violinist. He played at the first corn carnival held in Atchison and won a prize. He used to play with Samuel King, a well known “fiddler,” and they played for all the old “hoe down” or “break down” dances. Although he is eighty-three years old, he still plays his “fiddle” with as much vim as ever and his ear is just as ready as it was when he was a young man. In addition to being a farmer, Mr. Sanders has done a large amount of carpenter work in Kansas. He has built a number of barns and other buildings. Mr. Sanders was elected to the office of township trustee and held the office two terms, having been reëlected at the close of his first term.
KARL AUGUST KAMMER.
Karl August Kammer, farmer and stockman, Lancaster township, Atchison county, Kansas, was born on the farm where he now lives, October 12, 1869, and is a son of Karl and Joehanna (Hida) Kammer. He is one of six children: Joehanna (Gutzman), deceased; Emma (Fuhrman), Lancaster township; Karl, subject of this sketch; Julius, Lancaster township; Bertha H. (Buttron), Lancaster township; one child who died in infancy. The father was born in Germany in 1840. Leaving there in 1862, he came to Atchison county, Kansas, where he worked in a vineyard for two years. The following four years he was employed in a brewery at Atchison, and then farmed two years in Lancaster township. At that time he had a chance to buy 160 acres in section 16 of Lancaster township, and with the aid of a partner, the land was bought. He built a one-room shanty and a thatched barn, and broke prairie with the oxen and planted the first crop. Later a better house and barn were built, and gradually, other improvements were added and a fine orchard planted. At the time of his death, in October, 1910, Mr. Kammer owned 240 acres of land. The mother was born in Germany, February 20, 1840, and married in her native land just before coming to America. She died in 1904.
Karl Kammer, the subject of this sketch, was reared on his father’s farm in Lancaster township. He attended High Prairie district school, No. 3, and remained on the home farm until he was twenty-six years old, when he rented some land from his father, and six years later he was able to buy the land he had been renting. He improved the farm considerably and stocked it with graded cattle, and now has an excellent farm, modern in every respect, consisting of 160 acres of land, and also has a fine orchard of two acres.
Mr. Kammer was married October 23, 1895, to Emma Buttron, a native of Lancaster township, Atchison county, born August 14, 1870. She is a daughter of Henry and Rosa (Scheu) Buttron, the father a native of Germany, born in 1833. When a young man he left his native land and came to America, locating in Pennsylvania where he worked as a blacksmith. From there he went to Elgin, Ill., and continued at his trade, and in 1857, he moved to Atchison, Kan., following blacksmithing for a short time. He then preëmpted 160 acres of land in Lancaster township, where he built a house. The first crop was destroyed by grasshoppers, and he was forced to return to his trade during the following winter. When spring came, he went back to his farm and that year was successful and his start was assured. Mr. Buttron bought more land and continued to make improvements, and after a long and prosperous career he died in 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Kammer are the parents of three children: Katherine, Rosa and Henrietta, all living at home with their parents. Mr. Kammer is a Republican, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Kammer and family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church of High Prairie neighborhood.
MARSHALL J. CLOYES.
The demise of Marshall J. Cloyes May 5, 1915, marked the passing of one of the sturdy figures who assisted in developing Atchison county, and was one of the grand old men of the city. At the time of his death he was probably the oldest living pioneer settler of Atchison county, in point of age and years of residence in the county. For over half a century he had been one of the well known and distinguished characters whom people trusted and respected. In the days when strong men were required to redeem a wilderness and make it habitable for men and their progeny, Marshall Cloyes was one of those who never gave up the fight. During the terrible drought of 1860, when scores of families deserted their homes and left the State, he and his family were among those who decided to remain and win out over the vagaries of nature. His faith in the future of Kansas was amply justified as the years rolled on and ever increasing prosperity came to him and his, as a just and equitable reward for a faith and confidence bestowed upon the new country during a time which tried men’s souls and caused weaker mortals to give up the fight.
He was born at Salisbury, Vt., October 24, 1826, and descended from sturdy New England ancestry. His parents were Elijah and Mary (Beach) Cloyes. On his father’s side his ancestry can be traced back in the centuries to two brothers who settled in New England in the seventeenth century. His grandfather was William Cloyes, who fought for his country in the War of 1812. The boyhood days of Marshall were spent in the town of Salisbury, where he attended the public schools and later pursued his education in a private school. He learned the trade of shoemaker but did not follow it to any great extent. In 1847 he engaged in the lumber business at Ripton, Vt., and was there for twelve years prior to coming to Kansas. From the town in which he was born he came to Kansas, arriving here in Atchison June 2, 1859. The following autumn his wife and sons followed him and during the ensuing winter the family lived in a two room hut, on the rear of the lots where Mrs. Jacob Leu’s residence now stands. On February 21, 1860, they loaded all their goods in a wagon, and with an ox team moved to a farm north of Lancaster. During the night an old-time Kansas blizzard gave them a cold reception in their new home. When Mr. Cloyes had agreed to pay $650 for his first quarter section of land he was still shy $2.50 of the necessary amount, and was forced to borrow this small sum from a kind neighbor. During the following summer he worked in Oliver Davis’ sawmill and got enough lumber to build a shanty on his farm. While this was building the family lived in two rooms in the home of John S. Rust. In the fall of the bad year of 1860, Mr. Cloyes decided to try to cash in on the reputation he had left behind him in Vermont, and applied to an uncle for a loan of $400. The uncle readily responded with the statement in his letter, “If you are ever able, I know you will pay it back; if you are never able to pay it back I can get along without it.” During the summer Mr. Cloyes put in his spare time cutting prairie hay and stacking it. When fall and winter came on, the returning freighters from Pike’s Peak were willing to sell their oxen and wagons for almost any price. Mr. Cloyes invested a part of his $400 capital in these outfits, wintered the cattle on the hay, and in the spring was able to dispose of the oxen for more than double the purchase prices. During the next two years he was enabled to pay off all of his debts, and prosperity attended his efforts from that time on. By the hard work and good management of himself and his two sons he increased his holdings to an entire section of land. He remained on the farm until 1872, then gave the farm to his sons and removed to a home at 417 North Seventh street in Atchison.
On July 5, 1848, Mr. Cloyes was married to Miss Betsy Henderson, of Middlebury, Vt., who died in Atchison in 1893, leaving two sons, Frank E. and Mark S. On September 15, 1909, he took a second wife, the bride being this time Mrs. Matilda Franke, of Atchison. She was born at Thuringen, Germany, November 16, 1855, a daughter of John and Christiana (Temme) Franke, who immigrated to America in 1858, making the long sea voyage in a sailing vessel which took six long weeks to make a trip, which is now made in six days. From New York City the Frankes came directly to St. Louis, and there made their home until their removal to Atchison. At the outbreak of the Civil war, John Franke volunteered his services in defense of the Union which had given him a home. He served in a Missouri regiment of volunteers for one year, and was then discharged on account of serious disability, caused by the hardships which he had undergone. He was never the same man afterwards, and died in 1865 as a direct result of his disabilities incurred in behalf of his adopted country. The mother and family lived in St. Louis until 1883 when they removed to Atchison. Mrs. Franke died some years later at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cloyes. Matilda Franke was first married to Theo A. Franke, a native of Saxony, Germany, in 1879, and who came to America when a youth of eighteen years of age, and settled in Pittsburgh, Penn. Theo A. Franke was also a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861 in Company D, Seventy-fourth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry. He served throughout the great conflict and was wounded several times while participating in the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac. He enlisted again, after being discharged on account of a serious wound, and was a brave and valiant soldier who fought for sheer love of his adopted country. Mr. Franke’s first trip to Atchison was made in 1859, but he returned to Pittsburg upon the outbreak of the Civil war and there proffered his services as stated above. He returned to Atchison after the close of the war and here met, in the course of years, Matilda, who was visiting friends in Atchison. Their acquaintance ripened into a warm friendship which gave place to love and they were married March 10, 1879. A happy wedded life endured until Mr. Franke’s death in 1882. Children blessed this union as follows: Rose M., wife of Bert Gilmore, an electrician of Atchison; Elsa, wife of Fred Moore, a railway engineer of Falls City, Neb.; Theo Franke, of Pierce, Ariz. During Mr. Franke’s first year of residence in Atchison he was a freighter across the plains. Upon his return in 1865 he entered the grocery business and prospered, accumulating considerable property interests. He was well known in Atchison and was considered to be one of the city’s most substantial men.
Mr. Cloyes was prominently identified with the political affairs of the county and was an influential leader of the Republican party for many years. Even before coming to Atchison from the farm he had taken an active interest in politics in his home township and county. He was elected to represent his district in the State legislature in 1867, leaving the impress of his individuality upon laws passed in the following session. For eight years he served in the Atchison city council and in 1891 was elected mayor. Two years later he was reëlected. Honorable and thoroughly upright in all his dealings, his administrations were characterized by integrity, sound judgment and an unusual amount of good sense. He was a member of Washington Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and all who knew him respected him for his sterling worth.