A brother of Mrs. Cirtwill, John McClain, was killed by a horse when four years of age. William, the only brother reared to manhood, was a banker at Huron, Kan., but sold his interests there and removed to Peru, Kan., where he started a bank of his own. Three years later he went to Coffeyville, Kan., and lived there for a short time. Very early he began to see the future value of oil lands in Oklahoma, and invested heavily in Oklahoma land which proved to be a very profitable investment. Besides being a capitalist and builder he was a speaker and public man, well known in Atchison county and Kansas. He died in Coffeyville, Kan., January 5, 1911, at the age of fifty years. He left a widow and one daughter.
The mother of Mrs. Cirtwill, who was Mrs. Rosanna (Saul) McClain, was a skilled seamstress, and had the honor of attending the coronation ceremonies of Queen Victoria in England. Her father was Thomas Saul, a poet of unusual ability, endowed with a wonderful memory and an ability to quote poetry and the classics which his daughter inherited to a great extent. Through her great-grandmother, Rosanna Saul McClain was of royal lineage, having been born in a royal golden bed of honor, only vouchsafed to those of kingly lineage. This great-grandmother became very wealthy and left a large estate to her two daughters. Rosanna and her sister were highly skilled in tailoring and needle work and embroidery, and were highly rewarded by Queen Victoria for making and embroidering a beautiful dress for the queen to wear on state occasions.
Mrs. Cirtwill is the owner of considerable property in Atchison county, including 260 acres of fine land, a store building and a home in Lancaster, Kan. She has two grandchildren: Cecil Mae, and Jeanette Rose Cameron, children of Frank J. Cameron. Besides her Atchison county property this well-to-do Atchison county woman has several vacant lots and residence properties in St. Joseph, Mo., and is considered to be an able business woman. She is a member of the Rebekah lodge, of Lancaster, and is a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. For many years she has taught a Sunday school class, of which she is very fond. Mrs. Cirtwill usually spends the summer seasons in traveling and during the summer and fall of 1915, she spent several weeks in the West, principally in Denver and vicinity.
ASA BARNES.
The name of Barnes figures prominently in the early history of Kansas and Atchison county, and the history of the family in Kansas dates from the spring of 1858 when Capt. Asa Barnes came from the ancestral home of the Barnes family in New Jersey, and settled in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, and immediately identified himself with the Free State party.
Asa Barnes, the present representative of the family living on the old Barnes homestead in Mt. Pleasant township, five miles northwest of Potter, was born in January, 1854, in New Brunswick, N. J., a son of Asa and Harriet (Cook) Barnes, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of New Jersey of English descent. Asa Barnes, the father of the subject, was born in 1821, and became a papermaker in New Brunswick, where several of his children were born. In 1858 he disposed of his belongings and property in New Jersey and migrated to Kansas, settling in Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county. His wife and children followed him in April, 1859. When he first came to Kansas he was a Democrat in politics, but changed his political belief soon afterward and espoused the cause of the Free State party. He took a prominent and active part in political affairs and became well known throughout the State as an able and influential champion of freedom. On two different occasions he was elected to represent Atchison county in the State legislature and served the people with distinction and ability. When the Civil war broke out between the States he organized Company A of the Twelfth Kansas cavalry and served as captain of the company; he also helped to organize a company for the Thirteenth Kansas infantry. He was further distinguished by his war service in a manner which reflected credit upon himself and his home county. Captain Barnes died January 12, 1889. Asa Barnes was the father of ten sons and one daughter, as follows: R. A., deceased; M. N., deceased; Enoch, deceased; Asa, Jr., Fillmore died in New Jersey; Frank, living in California; Laura (Willis), Corning, Kan.; Louis, living at Binger, Okla.; Harry, Bisbee, Ariz.; Orrin, of Nevada; Reuben C., deceased. The mother of these children died February 12, 1909, at the age of eighty-two years.
Asa Barnes, the younger, was one of three sons of Capt. Asa Barnes, and grew to manhood on his father’s farm in Atchison county. He remained at home and assisted his father in the management of the home farm until he attained his majority. After his marriage in 1874 he rented land on his own account for six years and then bought the home farm of 207 acres from his father and the heirs, part of which is now owned by his sons. He has followed a plan of general farming and has prospered to a considerable extent. Mr. Barnes was married November 5, 1874, to Miss Kate Thompson, of Atchison county. This marriage has been blessed with five children, as follows: Fannie, deceased; Herbert, at home with his parents; Bertha, wife of A. J. Pease, of Atchison; Leola, wife of A. J. Saggs, of Falls City, Nebraska; Ernest L., at home; Dora, wife of Ed Lee, of Atchison county; Cora, deceased. The mother of these children was born October 2, 1854, and is a daughter of Hon. George W. Thompson, now living in Atchison, and who is probably the oldest living pioneer settler of Atchison county, and concerning whose career an extended review is given in this volume.
In political affairs Mr. Barnes, while favoring the Progressive party principles, is inclined to be independent in his voting. He is a member of the Christian church, and is well and favorably known throughout this section of Atchison county, being rated as a substantial well-to-do farmer, who is deserving of considerable credit for what he has accomplished.
CHARLES ARTHUR CHANDLER.
Charles Arthur Chandler is one of the self-made men of Atchison. Some men are successful because of a fortunate chain of circumstances attending their efforts which we commonly refer to as “good luck”; others by dint of steady employment, saving their surplus funds and investing them wisely, are enabled to secure the necessary wherewithal to embark in business and attain a substantial modicum of wealth. It is to the latter class that Mr. Chandler properly belongs. While good fortune has generally attended his industry and plans, his success is due to the husbanding of his resources, and planning ahead with the coöperation of a faithful wife, so that he could eventually be his own employer and engage in mercantile pursuits for himself. Since January 1, 1910, he has been engaged in the lumber business in connection with the Shulz-Fisk Lumber Company, one of the oldest concerns in the city. Four men are employed to take care of the extensive business which comes to the yards. Lumber, lime, cement, plaster and building material of all kinds are sold in large quantities. The extensive yards, 100×250 feet, are rated as among the best equipped and most modern in northeastern Kansas, and the management is constantly improving the appearance and facilities of the buildings.