W. S. Hubbard was born March 10, 1839, on a farm near Cloverdale, Putnam county, Indiana, a son of Asa and Melinda (Holland) Hubbard, natives of Kentucky, who founded a pioneer home in the forests of Putnam county, Indiana. Asa Hubbard, the father, died when William S. was a child, and his mother married W. Davis. In 1844 the family moved to Illinois, where the mother and stepfather died in later years. The Davis farm was located in Henry county, Illinois. Here W. S. was reared to young manhood, and knew very few luxuries in those early days of privation and struggle. After a two years’ residence on a farm near Burlington, Iowa, he decided to come farther west to find a home and fortune where lands were cheap and opportunities seemed to be much better than in Illinois. In 1874 he set out with his wife and five children to find a home in Atchison county, Kansas. All of his worldly possessions consisted of a team of horses, a cow, and twelve dollars in cash. His first year on a rented farm in Grasshopper township was a disastrous one, and the “hoppers” got his crops, even to a fine crop of cabbage, which he harvested and tried to cover up by piling hay upon the cabbages to keep the greedy “hoppers” from eating them. Sad to relate, the grasshoppers burrowed down through the hay and ate the cabbage. The following year was much better, Mr. Hubbard raising a fine crop of corn. During his first year he raised a good flax crop which he sold for one dollar and forty cents per bushel. He was eventually able to invest in 220 acres of rich bottom land, bordering the Delaware river, at a cost of fifteen dollars an acre. Mr. Hubbard had saved $800 to make the initial payment on this tract, and in nine years succeeded in lifting the debt. During the period in which he was paying off the indebtedness on his land he was also paying interest on the money at the rate of ten per cent, annually. He sold his first farm some years after this and invested in the fine tract of seventy-two acres which he now owns. On June 12, 1913, he and Mrs. Hubbard decided that they had worked long enough, and left the farm for a home in Muscotah.
Mr. Hubbard was married January 29, 1861, to Miss Mary Ann Pence, a native of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania. Six children have been born to this worthy couple, namely: William Elsworth, a farmer, of Kapioma township, Atchison county, and the owner of 160 acres of well improved farm land; he married Mattie Roth, and they have six children: Lewis Henry Hubbard, a farmer of this county, owner of 160 acres of land: he married Ann Hinxton, and they have two children: Lillie Jane, wife of Malcolm Connor, residing on a homestead in South Dakota, and they have three children: Cora May, wife of Simeon Routh, Atchison county; they have six children. The other children are deceased. All of Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard’s children are prosperous and highly respected citizens of their respective communities, and are a credit and comfort to their aged parents, who are proud of the family. Mrs. Hubbard was born December 27, 1839.
Few people in Atchison county can point to a better record than Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard, or can look back with greater satisfaction over long years well spent in achieving a livelihood and rearing a fine family to maturity. They came to Atchison county at a time when Indians still roamed the prairies, and very little of the prairie land was improved.
Mr. Hubbard is an old-line Democrat, and, while he has taken an active interest in political affairs in his township and county, he has never been an aspirant for office, preferring to play the game for the pure love and fun of it rather than to become an aspirant for political honors. He and Mrs. Hubbard are members of the Second-Day Adventist church of Muscotah.
O. O. BARKER, M. D.
O. O. Barker, M. D., is one of the younger members of the medical profession in Atchison county, located at Muscotah, Kan. During the nine years which he has been located in Muscotah, he has built up an excellent practice in his profession, and has demonstrated that he has an accurate knowledge of the art and science of medicine. Dr. Barker was born March 30, 1885, in the town of True, Sumner county, West Virginia. He is a son of J. Lee and Anna (Milburn) Barker, the former having been born in 1860, and the latter in 1862, in Virginia. Both parents still reside at True, W. Va. J. Lee Barker was a son of M. Calloway Barker, also a native of Virginia, and a descendant of an old Virginia family. The history of the Barker family dates back to the birth of Chaplain Barker, of Liverpool, England, who was born in 1750, and immigrated to Virginia in 1785. David Barker, a son of Chaplain Barker, distiller, in Richmond, Va. William Barker, the son of David, was a tanner by trade, and had three sons: William A., Joseph, and Isaac. Of these sons, Joseph was killed by Indians; Isaac lives at Liberty, Va., and reared the following children: James M. Calloway, Mary E., A. L., Thomas J., Francis, and Joseph G. Thomas J. Barker immigrated to Kansas and became a wealthy citizen of Kansas City, where he died. M. Calloway Barker lived at True, W. Va., and reared a family of twelve children: William A., who died in the Confederate service during the Civil war; Mary E., deceased; R. J., residing in Kansas City, Kan.; J. W., deceased; Thomas B., living near Hinton, W. Va.; James L., deceased; Dr. Joseph L.; J. Lee, father of Dr. Barker; David M., of Parsons, Kan.: Francis I.; Ollie, living at True, W. Va., and Maria, deceased. J. Lee Barker has always been a farmer, and has made a success of his life’s vocation. He is one of the prominent and well known citizens of his section of West Virginia, and for several years has served as president of the school board of True, W. Va. He has reared three children: Orus O., with whom this review is directly concerned; Mrs. Grace M. Skaggs, Topeka, Kan., and Mrs. Nellie B. Deeds, of Hinton, W. Va.
Dr. Barker received his primary education in the public schools of his native town in West Virginia, and then decided to take up the study of medicine. He studied for two years in the medical department in the University of Maryland, and completed his medical education in the University of Louisville, Ky., from which institution he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1906. After his graduation he came to Kansas, visited for a few months with an uncle in Kansas City, Kan., and after passing an examination given by the state board of medical examiners of Topeka, he opened an office at Muscotah, Kan., October 1, 1906. Dr. Barker is a member of the Northeast Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Association, and the Country Doctors’ Business and Social Club. He endeavors at all times to keep abreast of the latest advancement in medical science, and has built up an excellent practice in Muscotah and the surrounding country. He was married June 2, 1906, to Miss Ethel M. Morton, a daughter of G. W. Morton, of Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Barker is a fraternal member of the Knights and Ladies of Security, Modern Woodmen of America, and Mystic Workers of the World.
DR. CHARLES M. LUKENS.
Charles M. Lukens, dentist, Muscotah, Kan., is a fine type of professional man who is self-made, and has achieved success in his profession, which is gratifying and worthy of mention in a favorable manner. Dr. Lukens was born June 28, 1872, in Harrison county, Ohio, and is a son of William Ellis and Margaret (McLaughlin) Lukens, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio. William Ellis Lukens was born in 1849, and was a son of Moses Lukens, born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and was an uncompromising abolitionist. He was an early settler of Harrison county, Ohio, where he conducted a station on the famous “Underground Railway.” He lived to a great age, and it is a fact that longevity is a characteristic of both the Lukens and the McLaughlin families. The Lukens family was of Quaker origin, and the founder of the family in America was one of the original followers of William Penn. Another characteristic of the Lukens family is the fact that a brother of William Ellis Lukens was a dentist, and Dr. Lukens has five cousins who are practicing dentistry.
William Ellis Lukens migrated to Holt county, Missouri, in 1882, where he resided for four years, and in 1886 he settled in Nemaha county. He was one of the early pioneers in Nemaha county, and first engaged in the live stock business at Corning, Kan., where he conducted a grain elevator, and bought and shipped live stock. He has become well-to-do, and is the owner of two large farms in Nemaha and Jackson counties. Mr. and Mrs. Lukens now make their home on a farm in Jackson county, Kansas, south of Netawaka. Their children are: Dr. C. M. Lukens, of Muscotah; Chester W., a farmer, living south of Netawaka, and Kinney E., a farmer, living in the northwest corner of Jackson county, Kansas. The mother of these children was born in 1850.