HENRY C. GRANER.
“Pleasant Hill Stock Farm.”
Situated on a hillside within sight of the old Graner homestead in Lancaster township, Atchison county, is the “Pleasant Hill Stock Farm,” owned and managed by Henry C. Graner, one of the most successful and best known farmers and breeders of northeast Kansas. Mr. Graner is a son of Gottlieb Graner, a pioneer in the pure bred live stock industry of Atchison county, whose biography appears in the review of the life of William H. Graner on the preceding pages of this history of their home county. The “Pleasant Hill Stock Farm” is unquestionably one of the best equipped modern breeding plants in the State of Kansas and is famed over the West for the product of its fields and barns. This farm consists of 240 acres of well tilled and well improved land, situated two miles north of the town of Lancaster and only a quarter of a mile from the birthplace of Henry C. Graner. In addition to his home place, Mr. Graner is the owner of 160 acres of land which he uses for pasturing his live stock. The home farm is well equipped with two farm dwellings and five well built barns and granaries with other conveniences to facilitate the handling of live stock. The owner has given special attention to equipping his farm for the breeding of fine cattle and hogs. He pays a great deal of attention to his Poland China hogs and is a breeder of the Big Type Poland China swine, which are among the best in the United States. Mr. Graner ships the product of his breeding pens to all parts of the country and has annual sales of thoroughbred hogs which are a feature of the countryside. To show the prices obtained from his sales in 1914, one small sow sold for $500. He handles the Big Type Poland China breed exclusively and is a regular exhibitor at county fairs and has frequently taken first prizes and many blue ribbons. His drove of fine hogs exceeded 300 in 1915, all pure bred stock.
Mr. Graner’s herd of Shorthorn cattle is of the Scotch pure bred strain and bred to “Choice Goods,” a famous strain known the world over for quality. He has also shown his fine cattle at the county fairs and live stock exhibits and carried off many first prizes. His herd of pure bred Shorthorns numbers fifty head at the present time, all registered stock. In addition to being a breeder of hogs and cattle Mr. Graner breeds standard Percheron horses of the imported strain sired by “Brilliant,” of which he has usually from twenty-five to thirty head of fine stock on the place.
Henry C. Graner was born April 19, 1871, on the old Graner homestead in Lancaster township, on which he was reared to young manhood. When a small boy he attended school in the village of Lancaster, and after the school house was erected in the neighborhood he went to the district school. He was one of the first students to enter Midland College in Atchison and there completed his education. He remained on the home farm until 1901 and then bought the farm which he now owns, first consisting of 160 acres, to which lie afterwards added an eighty. He later invested in another quarter section which he uses for pasture.
He was married June 6, 1901, to Miss Mary K. Meck, who has borne him five children, as follows: Lillian, born October 11, 1902; Matilda, born April 21, 1904; Louise, born June 1, 1907; Henrietta, born March 11, 1910; and Frederick, born April 8, 1913. The mother of these children was born in Center township August 31, 1874, a daughter of Fred Meck, now living on a farm in Center township, Atchison county. Mrs. Graner is a capable woman, a devoted wife and mother, and the Graner home is a very happy one at all times.
Mr. Graner is a Democrat in politics, but has little time to devote to the political game other than to vote for his favorite candidates at election time. He and Mrs. Graner are members of the Lancaster Presbyterian church, of which institution Mr. Graner is a trustee. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is also a member of the Standard Bred Poland China Record Association, and the Percheron Society of America. Mr. Graner’s success has been mainly due to hard work, close application to his affairs and keen financial judgment.
RICHARD E. KING.
Richard E. King, farmer of Oak Mills, Walnut township, Atchison county, was born in this county, January 11, 1876. He was a son of Richard M. King, pioneer, farmer, merchant and early-day freighter, who was born in Smith county, Tennessee, January 23, 1837. Richard M. was a son of Abraham and Mahaley (James) King, natives of Virginia, who came to Tennessee in 1833. They migrated from Tennessee to Buchanan county, Missouri, in 1851, and one year later moved to a farm in Platte county, Missouri, where Abraham King and his wife eventually died. Richard M. King crossed the plains with a freighting outfit which started from Ft. Leavenworth en route Ft. Laramie in Wyoming, and met with considerable adventure on the long trip, which consumed ninety days going and returning. The Indians molested them frequently, and one time a mischievous band stole all the tongue pins from their wagons. Another time, when they were in camp, a band of hundreds of Pawnees swarmed around the train and tried to intimidate the men. One big Pawnee buck, uttering a loud “woof,” stuck a spear in Mr. King’s stomach. On account of the Indian force being of superior number to the whites, they did not dare take offense at anything they did, or seem offended at any of their pranks for fear of massacre. Richard M. King followed freighting four years and made his last trip to the far West in 1862, from Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., to Ft. Union, N. M. He came back from this trip, and with his savings bought a tract of land on the Missouri river in Walnut township. Unhappily, this land was eventually cut off from the mainland by the freakish Missouri, when it once more changed its course, and, although the deed to the land is still held by Richard M. King the muddy waters of the Missouri flow over it. In 1866 he bought forty acres of land in the hills, back from the river. He was married November 22, 1863, to Mary Frances Hottle, a daughter of David and Frances (Creal) Hottle, both of whom were natives of Brook county, Virginia. They too, came to Kansas in the early days, and settled in Leavenworth county, in 1855. David Hottle was a butcher by trade and bought and killed the first beef ever slaughtered in the historic town of Kickapoo, Leavenworth county. Kickapoo was a hotbed of the pro-slavery element in those days and woe betide the man who opposed their wishes. Two children were born to Richard M. King and wife: Lucy Ann, born August 27, 1864, deceased wife of Thomas Reagan, a passenger conductor on the Missouri Pacific railway. To Mr. and Mrs. Reagan were born two children, Thomas D., born March 8, 1889, and John M., born August 7, 1905; Richard E., the subject of this review.
Richard E. King grew to manhood on the home farm and was educated in the common schools of his native county and the high school at Kansas City, Kan. He was married in 1895 to Mary Sacks, a daughter of Henry Sacks, of Atchison county. She died in 1898, and after her death, Mr. King went to Kansas City, Kan., to reside and was there engaged in various pursuits. He married Miss Sue Allen in Kansas City, Kan., January 16, 1900. Mrs. King is a daughter of James T. and Jane (McCampbell) Allen, both natives of Woodford county, Kentucky, whose people removed from the ancestral home of the family in Virginia to Kentucky. The old Allen homestead, built of natural stone is still standing in the latter State, a picturesque and beautiful reminder of ante-bellum days. In 1885 James T. Allen and family left Kentucky and went to Cass county, Missouri, where they resided on a farm until 1903, and then removed to Harrisonville, Mo., where they now live. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. King, Richard Allen King, born July 12, 1903, a bright and intelligent boy and is an excellent student in school.