Mr. Valentine is a Republican in politics, and has always remained loyal and steadfast to the party of Abraham Lincoln. He has served as city councilman and mayor of Effingham. He is an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Grand Army Post, No. 176, Effingham.
GUSTAVE STUTZ.
Gustave Stutz, farmer and stockman, of Atchison county, Kan., was born April 20, 1867, in Lancaster township, this county, and is the son of Christian and Katherine (Schweitzer) Stutz. Seven children were born to them, as follows: Caroline (Demel), of Central City, Neb.; Katherine (Wilkins), Atchison, Kan.; Frederick, policeman, Atchison, Kan.; Christopher W., Center township, Atchison county; Gustave, subject of this sketch; John, Center township; and one child died in infancy. The father of Gustave Stutz was born March 25, 1825, in Germany. He left there in 1855, and settled in Jackson county, Missouri, and in 1859 came to Atchison county, where he bought eighty acres of land in Lancaster township. The land was timber and prairie country, and he employed a man to break it up with oxen. Mr. Stutz made extensive improvements on his farm, and added more land from time to time. When he died, December 28, 1898, he owned 380 acres of land. The mother of the subject of this sketch was born in Germany, in February, 1829. She died in Lancaster township in December, 1888. She is buried in Maple Grove cemetery.
Gustave Stutz was reared on his father’s farm and attended the public schools of Lancaster. In 1893 he rented a farm from his father for a year, and then bought 160 acres in Center township. Five years later he sold that and bought eighty acres near the Madison school house. Having made a number of improvements, he sold this farm and bought the present one of 160 acres. When he took this land there were only a few ramshackle buildings on it, but he has made it one of the most modern farms in the State. He built a large seven-room house at a cost of $4,500, which is fitted with all modern conveniences, including hot and cold water, electric lights, bath, and a basement fitted up as a laundry. The house is lighted by electricity, which is generated from a private plant located on the farm. Mr. Stutz was the first to install one in Atchison county. In 1912 he built a barn, 52×46 feet, for general purposes. Mr. Stutz is a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and takes great pride in his herd. He has a herd of thirty fine Shorthorn cattle, including four pure breds, and has been gradually improving his herd for the purpose of embarking in the business of breeding Shorthorns for the trade. He is a stockholder in the Independent Harvester Company, of Plano, Ill. He is a Democrat in politics, and was for a time road supervisor of Lancaster township.
Mr. Stutz was married October 10, 1893, to Margaret Waltz, who was born April 30, 1875, in Shannon township, Atchison county. She is a daughter of Charles and Margaret (Diesback) Walz, both natives of Germany. The father died February 4, 1890, at the age of sixty-two. He immigrated from Germany in 1847. The mother is living in Atchison county. Mr. and Mrs. Stutz are the parents of three children: Albert, born June 2, 1895; Edward, born January 3, 1898, and Pearl, born June 24, 1899, all living at home. Mr. Stutz attends the Presbyterian church, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
THOMAS O. PLUMMER.
There is some distinction in being a pioneer in the State of Kansas, and there is certainly considerable distinction coming to the man who can justly lay claim to being the first white child born of pioneer parents in a component part of a great county like Atchison. Thomas O. Plummer, prosperous farmer and stockman of Grasshopper township, Atchison county, is the first white child born within the borders of his township, and has lived all of his fifty-nine years within the borders of the township.
T. O. Plummer and wife
T. O. Plummer was born December 6, 1857, a son of Leven Vincent and Matilda (Norman) Plummer, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Leven Vincent was a son of Lewis Plummer, a native of Germany, who immigrated to America when quite young and married a Miss Vincent in Kentucky. She (his wife) was a daughter of English parents and was a large woman. The fact that her descendants are all men of large physique is explanatory of the inheritance of strength and size which predominates in the men of the Plummer family. The mother of Thomas O. was a daughter of Lewis Norman, a Kentucky pioneer and expert blacksmith, who was of French-English descent. He (Lewis) was a maker of plows and farming implements which he would manufacture in his shop, load on a river boat and sell in the towns and villages on the banks of the Ohio river. On one of his trading expeditions he was shot by the crew of a rival trading boat.