WILLIAM C. SMITH.
William C. Smith, one of the early mayors of Atchison, came to Kansas in 1858 from Illinois, settling near Valley Falls. Two years later he traded his farm to Sam Dickson for a stock of goods in Atchison and removed to this city. The firm of William C. Smith & Son continued sixteen years. The son was Henry T. Smith, who still resides in Atchison (1915). Another son is William R. Smith, who is at present the attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company, at Topeka, for a number of years was a justice of the supreme court of Kansas. His oldest daughter married P. L. Hubbard, who afterwards became district judge of Atchison county, and another daughter married H. C. Solomon, for many years a leading attorney of Atchison. Mr. Smith died in 1884. He was mayor two terms; member of the legislature, council and the board of education. Although Mr. Smith came to Kansas from Illinois, he was born at Columbus, Ohio, in 1817.
JOHN M. PRICE.
John M. Price arrived in Atchison with his wife on the first of September, 1858, the day the Massasoit House was formally opened for the public. They came here from Platte City, Mo., to visit some old friends from Kentucky, who had moved to Kansas, and after they arrived concluded to remain. The Prices originally came from Irvine, Ky. Mr. Price studied law in Irvine; was admitted and elected county attorney before coming to Atchison. He was a Union man, in spite of the fact that he came from Kentucky, and was very active in a business and professional way during the early days of his residence in this county, and for many years thereafter. He constructed more large and substantial buildings in Atchison than any other individual who ever lived here. He built the house for a residence, now occupied by Mt. St. Scholastica Academy, an opera house and many blocks of business buildings and residences. He was a member of the legislature several times; was prominently mentioned as a candidate for United States senator. Mr. Price died on the twentieth day of October, 1898.
SAMUEL C. KING.
Samuel C. King came to Atchison March 27, 1857. His brothers, Ed. and John, together with a sister and his widowed mother, arrived here the year before, coming here with Dr. W. L. Challiss, in the steam ferry, “Ida,” from Brownsville, Penn., where that boat was built. The King family came originally from England, within thirty-five miles of Liverpool, where the children were born, and where the father died. Ed. King was the first pilot of the ferry boat, “Ida,” when it began making trips to Atchison. The three sons and the mother took up claims in Mt. Pleasant township. While living there three old neighbors came out and Samuel C. King went out with them to look for claims. They were told that there was plenty of vacant land near Monrovia, but Mr. King advised them that it was too far out in the wilderness, and they went elsewhere. (Monrovia is fourteen miles from Atchison). While the other members of the family were getting their start Samuel C. King clerked in George T. Challiss’ store, receiving $25.00 per month, and boarded himself. He afterwards went to work for Mike Finney, steamboat wharf master, and was practically the first express agent in Atchison. Later he went out to his farm and split rails to fence it, and afterwards clerked for Bowman & Blair for $25.00 per month and board. He enlisted in the navy in June, 1861, enlisting as a landsman on the man of war, “Augusta.” He served on this ship through all the exciting scenes of the navy during the war, and was at the battle of Point Royal. He assisted in capturing eight British ships, which tried to run the blockade, and his part of the prize money amounted to over $7,000.00. He was at the bombardment of Ft. Sumpter, and at the taking of Tyble Island, off Savannah, Ga. He spent eleven months at sea, working for the “Alabama,” and rounded Cape Hatteras. He saw the burning of Charleston, and finally learning that his mother was fatally ill, he came home. He was elected county treasurer of Atchison county. Mr. King remained a prosperous capitalist and real estate operator, until his death on the twenty-third day of January, 1910.
CLEM ROHR.
Clem Rohr came originally from Buffalo, N. Y., where he was born in 1835. He learned the trade of harness maker there, and afterwards worked at his trade at Chicago, Detroit and Moline, Ill. In Davenport, Iowa, he heard Jim Lane make a speech about Kansas. This speech caused Rohr to go to Leavenworth in 1856, and while living in that town and employed as mail carrier he ran into the famous battle of Hickory Point. He slept in Hickory Point the night after the fight and helped fix up the wounded. He walked to Atchison in 1857 from Leavenworth, with Nick Greiner, for many years a prosperous German farmer, south of Atchison, and started a harness shop, which he conducted in the same place on the south side of Commercial street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, for over forty years.
The first telegram that came to Atchison announcing that Kansas had been admitted was sent to Clem Rohr, and was signed by S. C. Pomeroy. He served as mayor of Atchison. Early in the sixties when the home guard was organized in Atchison Clem Rohr was made captain. His father was one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s body-guard, and was with that great soldier at Austerlitz in the Russian campaign, and at the battle of Waterloo. Mr. Rohr always claimed that Julius Newman, who had a farm near the Soldiers’ Home, made the first filing in the Lecompton land office.
Mr. Rohr died in Atchison on the twenty-third day of May, 1910.