The twenty-eight years of Mr. Ferris’ residence in Center township have been productive of much material good on his part, and he is rated as one of the really successful men of the county. This period marks his rise from comparative poverty to a position of affluence and prestige, attained by few citizens. Mr. Ferris saw opportunity and embraced it, and has made good in more ways than one.
John Ferris is a man whose pluck and industry have brought him out of a long struggle with high honors. Starting out in life as a poor boy, he worked long and hard, until now he lives in comfort and security. Mr. Ferris was born at Sharonville, Ohio, November 25, 1860, and is a son of Peter and Hettie (Phares) Ferris, who were the parents of seven children, as follows: John, the subject of this sketch; Joseph, Winchester, Kan.; Alice, wife of W. T. Birt, Topeka, Kan.; Louvinca, wife of F. L. Stephens, Topeka, Kan.; Thomas, Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county; Peter, farmer, on old Eastman place, Center township, Atchison county, and Mrs. Della Coppinger, deceased. The father was born August 8, 1839, in Sharonville, Hamilton county, Ohio. He was a son of John and Rebecca (Myers) Ferris, natives of Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio as early settlers, in 1804. The father of John Ferris, subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm in Ohio. He came to Kansas in 1878, and settled in Osborne county. Two years later, after being starved out by the ravages of the grasshoppers and the hot winds, which burned up his crops, he went to Rawlins county, Kansas, where he preëmpted 640 acres of land. He did not live there, but came to Nortonville, Kan., and began work as a laborer and farmer.
In 1887 he came to Center township, where he rented for five years. He then rented 640 acres south of Nortonville. In 1892 he and his son, John, the subject of this sketch, bought 160 acres in Jefferson county. Then, for a number of years, they bought and sold farms in Atchison and Jefferson counties, until 1903, when they bought the farm of 215 acres, which John and his father are working. This land is located in Center township and includes the northwest quarter of section 3 and the southwest quarter of section 34, and includes ten acres of natural timber. He has thirty acres of alfalfa and fifty acres in corn each year. Mr. Ferris also devotes considerable attention to his stock. He keeps only graded animals on his farm, and makes a specialty of feeding hogs and cattle for the market. He started out with little capital, and had to begin as a laborer at day wages, but he saved his earnings and invested them wisely, and, now, besides being a substantial farmer, he is a shareholder and president of the State Bank of Cummings. Mr. Ferris is unmarried. His mother was born in Little Rock, Ark., in 1840. She is a daughter of Joseph and Matilda (Todd) Phares. The father came from New Jersey, and the mother from Tennessee. In politics, Mr. Ferris has identified himself with the Republican party. He is a member of the Pardee Methodist Episcopal Church and takes an active part in its organization. He is a steward, and for many years has been superintendent of the Sunday school. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellow lodges of Cummings. Mr. Ferris is a conspicuous example of the self-made man. His career proves the possibilities of a man, who, though handicapped by lack of capital, is willing to work consistently and save judiciously.
MARCUS J. LAIRD.
The history of the Laird family in Kansas begins three score years ago, in the old days when the first sturdy pioneers were coming from the older states to find new homes in the unpeopled waste of Kansas, and to break the way for others who have since followed in increasing numbers. It is a long reach which witnesses the transformation of a wilderness of prairie and woods to a beautiful, productive landscape of peace and plenty, but Marcus J. Laird and his wife have been fortunate in growing to maturity with Atchison county. Few families in this county can claim an older lineage than the Lairds or Cummings families, and no family is more respected than that of Marcus J. Laird. His father, J. B. Laird, was one of the earliest pioneers of Atchison county, and on the other hand the father of Mrs. Laird was another pioneer. William Cummings, who founded the town of Cummings, thus leaving a monument which will perpetuate his name for all time to come. Through the medium of these historical annals of Atchison county these pioneers will be duly honored and this volume is dedicated to their everlasting memory in order that the story of Atchison county might be transmitted truthfully and accurately to posterity.
Marcus J. Laird has been successively, farmer, merchant and postmaster, and is proud of the fact that he is a native born citizen of Kansas, and a son of one of the earliest pioneers of the State. Like a good many men who have been reared to farm life, after a successful career as merchant and public official, he has returned to the farm where living is sure and certain and a competence is the inevitable reward of years of labor.
M J Laird.
Britamore Laird