BELA M. HUGHES
ELLSWORTH CHESEBOROUGH
JOHN W. CAIN.
John W. Cain and his two sons, John S. Cain and William S. Cain, came to Atchison in 1856 from the Isle of Man, and preëmpted a quarter section, five miles west of Atchison. A. D. Cain, another son, came to this county in 1856, accompanying his brother, John M. Cain, who had gone to his old home in the Isle of Man on a visit. A. D. Cain attended school longer than either of his three brothers and was a graduate of King William’s College, a celebrated institution of learning. After leaving school he learned the business of a druggist. He was born in 1846. John M. Cain was seven years older.
John M. Cain enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas infantry in 1862. His brother, William, enlisted in Col. John A. Martin’s regiment the year before. In less than a year John M. Cain was given the position as captain in the Eighty-third U. S. infantry and raised Company C in Atchison. Phillip Porter, the celebrated negro politician and orator, of Atchison, was orderly sergeant of Company C, which had ten men killed in the battle of Prairie Grove. After serving in the army nearly four years, John M. Cain returned to his farm in Atchison county in 1866 where he remained until 1872, when he removed to Atchison and engaged in the grain business. The Cains started the exporting of flour from Kansas and their business was very largely export business during their operation of the mill.
John W. Cain, father of the Cain brothers, was a fierce Free State man in the days when it was dangerous to be a Free State man in Atchison county, but as he was a powerful man and of undoubted courage, the pro-slavery fans thought it wise to forgive him. His memory as well as the memory of his sons, John M. Cain and A. D. Cain, are still highly esteemed by the older settlers of Atchison county.
DR. W. L. CHALLISS.
Dr. W. L. Challiss came to Atchison June 3, 1866, on the steamboat “Meteor” from Moorestown, N. J., where he had been a practicing physician. At that time John Alcorn was operating a horse ferry on the river and Dr. Challiss, in company with his brother, L. C. Challiss, purchased a three-fourths interest in the ferry franchise after operating a little rival ferry for a time, which was known as the “Red Rover.” The price paid for the franchise was $1,800.00.
In the fall of 1856 Dr. Challiss went to Evansville, Ind., and contracted for the building of a steam ferry. This was completed in November and started for Atchison. In December it was frozen up in the Missouri river at Carrollton, Mo., and left in charge of a watchman. The crew was made up of old acquaintances of Dr. Challiss in New Jersey, and these he brought to Atchison in two stage coaches hired for the purpose.