In the science of agriculture, as well as the learned professions, there are always men who are naturally endowed with the powers of leadership, and are so progressive and energetic that they lead in the van of better and more productive farming where others follow. Atchison county has its quota of these progressive agriculturists who are not content to be just common, every-day farmers, but are ambitious to become specialists in agricultural work. John D. Hawk, of Benton township, Atchison county, holds a place in the front rank of successful and enterprising farmers in Atchison county, and is the owner of one of the most productive and best equipped agricultural plants in the county, or northeast Kansas. His farm comprises 170 acres, located in section 2, range 618, Benton township. A good farm home sets well back from the road, in the rear of which is a large red barn. 86×46 feet, hip roofed and flanked by a modern silo, built in 1910, and which is the first wood silo erected in Atchison county. Mr. Hawk is beginning the breeding of thoroughbred Jersey cattle, and at the present time has a fine dairy herd of twenty-five head, among which is a number of pure breds. Leading this herd is “Shawan Majesty,” a pure bred bull. He also specializes in Poland China hogs, and is meeting with success in the breeding and raising of live stock. Mrs. Hawk keeps a pure strain of Black Langshan poultry and handles this end of the farm work with profit and satisfaction.
John D. Hawk was born November 19, 1875, on a farm in Coshocton county, Ohio, a son of Lafayette T. Hawk, of Benton township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. He was seven years of age when his parents removed to Atchison county, Kansas, from their Ohio home. Here he attended the district school, and had the advantage of one year’s study in the county high school. He worked on the home farm with his father until 1898, when he began for himself in the spring of that year on the McClennon farm which he rented for two years. After his marriage he removed to his present place which is the old Law homestead. He erected the present barn and the large poultry house on the place and made various other improvements including the building of the silo.
Mr. Hawk was married March 15, 1899, to Miss Alice M. Law, who has borne him eight children, of whom seven are living: Walter Gale, born January 12, and died February 1, 1900; Herbert, aged fifteen years; Kenneth, born November 19, 1902; Dorothy, aged ten; Mateel, nine years old; John, aged six years; and twins, Vera and Veda, born December 12, 1911. The mother of these children was born in Toronto, Canada, a daughter of Edwin and Mary Alice Law, both of whom were born in England. Edwin Law comes of a family of singers, and it is a matter of record that his mother sang before Queen Victoria on one occasion, and was noted throughout England as a singer of note. The Laws immigrated from England and first settled in Canada, going from there to Ohio, and after a short residence in the Buckeye State, migrated to Doniphan county, Kansas, from whence they came to Atchison county and purchased the farm where Mr. and Mrs. Hawk now reside. There were five children in the family: Alfred Law, Ella, Alice, Walter, and one died in infancy. Mrs. Law died on the farm, and Mr. Law died in Canon City, Colo. After his first wife’s death, Mr. Law again married, and had one daughter, Lillie, by his second marriage.
Mr. Hawk is a Republican, but his activities do not tend to political affairs. For several years he has been actively identified with agricultural affairs in Atchison county, and his influence has ever been exerted in behalf of better farming. He is president of the Atchison County Farm Bureau, of which institution he is one of the organizers. In connection with Fred Sutter, Alexander McClennon, he assisted in the promotion of the Farm Bureau and its establishment, and the consequent employment of County Agent Taylor as a skilled farm instructor. This is now considered as one of the finest and most beneficial moves ever made in the county in behalf of the farmers of the county, and even the most incredulous who were unwilling to support the movement are now coming into line and becoming enthusiastic over the possibilities for bettering farm conditions in the county as the result of the efforts put forth by its zealous supporters. This committee during the winter of 1914–1915 visited every part of the county, in the preliminary organization and missionary work, and enrolled 200 farmers as supporters of the project. Mr. Hawk is likewise president of the Atchison county Farmers’ Institute. He attends the Christian church, of which Mrs. Hawk is a member, and is fraternally affiliated with the Central Protective Association.
HERBERT J. BARBER.
A man’s standing in the community where he resides or transacts his business affairs is usually gauged by his usefulness to society and his activities in behalf of the general good of his fellows. If he be of the class of citizens who are seeking to benefit the community in which he is engaged in business, he is a decided benefit to that community. Such an individual is Herbert J. Barber, banker of Cummings, Kan. Mr. Barber is a native of the Sunflower State, and is a son of one of the early pioneers. The story of Moses Barber, his father, Union veteran, Kansas pioneer, and one of the first successful fruit growers of Atchison county, is interesting and borders on the romantic to a considerable degree. Over fifty years ago, directly after his honorable discharge from the Union service at Leavenworth, Moses Barber set out on horseback to find a place for a home in Atchison county. He found the homestead, and at the same time found a sweetheart who later became his wife and fought the good fight with him through the lean years and good ones until he attained to the realization of his ambitions to obtain a competence. He became widely known as the “Apple King” of Kansas as a result of his remarkable success as a grower of apples, and cultivated what was in all probability the largest apple orchard in existence in the State of Kansas in his day. His son, Herbert, has followed in his father’s footsteps and is fast making a name for himself in the field of finance. Speaking in a biographical sense, Herbert J. Barber was born on the old homestead of his father in Mt. Pleasant township, April 11, 1871, a son of Moses and Mary (Hubbard) Barber, the former a native of Rhode Island, and the latter a native of Virginia.
Moses Barber
Mrs. Mary (Hubbard) Barber