Person:Daniel Aldrich (2)

Daniel M Aldrich DANIEL M ALDRICH, now living retired at Larned, has been a resident of Paw nee CO since the month of September, 1886. While some others have liv ed in the CO longer than he, it is doubtful if any has tasted more of t he real experiences of pioneering and has more thoroughly deserved his pre sent success and prosperity.

Mr. Aldrich was an OH man and brought with him to Western Kansas the ide as and ideals of the better class of citizens of his native stat e. He is of New Eng ancestry. His grandfather, Thomas Aldrich, was bo rn in MA, and during his active career was employed in factories. He di ed in Rhode Island. Thomas Aldrich married a Miss Madison, and their child ren were named Madison, Daniel, Wm and Thomas.

Madison Aldrich, father of Daniel M, was a native of Rhode Island and fr om that state went west to OH about 1832, locating near Fremont in Sandus ky CO. His remaining years were spent there as a farmer. He was a pione er in Northwest OH, cleared a farm from the midst of the heavy timber, a nd thus was as much of a pioneer in his generation as Daniel M has be en in his awn time. Madison Aldrich took an interest in local matters, b ut otherwise lived his life as a private citizen. He was a very active Met hodist and a democrat in politics. He died in 1874, at the age of sixty-ni ne. His wife, whose maiden name was Ruth Wheeler, came out to Kansas wi th her son Daniel and died on the latter's farm in Pawnee CO in 1895, at t he age of eighty-two. Her children were: Allen, who died in MI, leavi ng a family; Hiram, who died in OH and also had a family of children; Dani el M; and Julia, who married Wm Donnell and at her death in OH left childr en.

Daniel M Aldrich was born in Sandusky CO OH, June 28, 1847. He was rear ed on a farm, attended the country schools, and he early felt a call in to that great struggle which during his early youth was engaging the be st resources of the entire nation. He was fourteen when the war broke ou t, and in 1863 he attempted to get into the army and in 1864 succeed ed in enlisting, though his parents took him out of the ranks before he w as mustered in. He had two brothers in the Third OH Cavalry.

The young men of modern times who have an ambition to attain a reasonab le degree of prosperity might learn much from Mr. Aldrich's career. His pr osperity came only at the end of many years of hard struggle. The first mo ney he ever earned was a shilling paid to him for a day's work in droppi ng corn. He worked as a farmer in OH, and when he was about twenty-o ne he determined to get married and assume the responsibilities of a famil y. On December 25th, Christmas Day of 1868, he married Miss Annie D Hineli ne. Her father was John B Hineline. Mrs. Aldrich lived only seven years af ter her marriage and died in 1875.

After his marriage Mr. Aldrich kept a hotel in Fremont OH, and he ga ve up that business when he started west for the prairies of Kansas. In t he meantime he had married again, Miss Martha Stottsberry having become h is wife in March, 1877. Her father was John Stottsberry, of a pioneer fami ly of farmers in OH. When Mr. Aldrich came out to Kansas he was the fath er of several children by his first wife, namely: Wm W, now a farmer in Pa wnee CO who married Louisa Koonsman; Laverna, deceased, married Wm Slinger land, and had children named Lindon, Harold, Gertrude and Florence; Jul ia E, who died in Comanche CO Kansas, leaving by her marriage to Wm Billin gs children named Ruth, Sarah, Caroline, Mary, Margaret and Wayne. By h is present wife Mr. Aldrich has one daughter, Miss Vera Aldrich.

On coming to Kansas Mr. Aldrich brought his wife and children and shipp ed a carload of goods from Fremont OH. He arrived in Pawnee CO during t he high tide of the early boom times, when values were exceedingly hig h, in fact were inflated, and only in very recent years have they been equ ally as high. He moved into Garfield Twp of Pawnee CO and paid $2,000 f or a quarter section, comprising a deeded farm. In subsequent years he bou ght three more quarter sections and for them all did not pay as mu ch as he did for his first quarter. The farm had a small two-room frame ho use, but otherwise the improvements were by no means in keeping with wh at he had been accustomed to in the agricultural districts of Northern O H. Two crops had been produced from the soil, and altogether the farm meas ured up to the general average of that section. In 1887, the first product ive year after he came, he had no crop at all, although he had planted a nd labored many days in the fields. His first wheat crop was grown in t he summer of 1890. During those years of drought he managed to make a livi ng and keep his family together, but for the life of him he cannot expla in how he did it as he looks back from the modern viewpoint. He had b ut a single cow, and when it died the family was deprived of an importa nt source of its food supply. At one time he worked on a dairy farm at wag es of fifteen dollars a month. Possessing some skill as a carpenter, he w as very glad to accept any work in that line which offered, and when th at failed he was not averse to any kind of hard manual labor, providi ng it would give him the means to buy provisions and such other suppli es as would keep his family out of dire need. When he came to Kansas his s urplus cash capital amounted to only $20, and it was consumed almost at on ce. He could not escape that inevitable fate of most Western Kansas farmer s, a mortgage, and times were so tight and money so scarce that he occasio nally failed to meet the interest on the mortgage, and foreclosure proceed ings were instituted against his farm. For the first ten years his progre ss was chiefly backward, though perhaps his experience was of greater val ue to him than he really appreciated at the time. What started him up t he hill again was the fine wheat crop of 1897. That year his fields produc ed twenty-five bushels to the acre and wheat was worth about seventy-fi ve cents a bushel at threshing time. From 1897 a paying crop was harvest ed every year until 1913, and even in that season of comparative failu re he harvested eight bushels to the acre. Every Kansas farmer looks ba ck to the golden year of 1914, when the Kansas wheat crop was beyond all p recedence. There was a fair crop for Mr. Aldrich in 1915, and the year 19 16 put the finishing touch to the wheat raiser when a generous crop was fo llowed by fabulous prices.

During the first ten years Mr. Aldrich lived in Kansas he had hardly a tho ught of buying more land. When prosperity began with him he bought a quart er section, a deeded quarter, for $200, paid $750 for another quarter, whi le his third quarter section cost about $1,250. He now owns four quarter s ections and a half in Pawnee CO and a quarter section in Comanche CO. Prac tically all this represents the fruit of his toils and what he has won fr om the soil of Kansas in thirty years. The improvements he made for the co nvenience and comfort of his family on the farm have come about from ti me to time, and have kept pace with the rising standards of house and ho me conveniences in that section of the state. Since coming to Larned Mr. A ldrich has improved a substantial home in that city.

He continued living on the farm until elected sheriff of the CO. While a c ountry resident he enjoyed the privilege of a community which emphasized g ood schools and he was a resident in district No. 37. He served as cle rk of the school board for a number of years. When he came out to Kans as he was a democratic voter, and continued a partisan of that type unt il the fusion of parties, when he acted with the people's organizatio n. He was elected sheriff on the fusion ticket, succeeding Sheriff C R Cas e. The first two years of his administration the chief business of the off ice was foreclosures. He served from 1898 to 1903, getting an extra ye ar in the office on account of a change in the election laws. During his s econd term little court business of importance was done since, as Mr. Aldr ich puts it, he worked in a livery stable throughout 1900 in order to ma ke a living for his family.

Since retiring from office Mr. Aldrich has given all his time to the overs ight of his farming interests. Nothing could persuade him to accept the re sponsibilities of a city office. He is a member of the subordinate lod ge of Odd Fellows, is past noble grand and has served as a delegate in Gra nd Lodge and on its finance committee. Since his marriage he has been a Me thodist and has done a good deal to keep up church and Sunday school inter ests in the country districts.

Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and com piled by Wm E Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Societ y, Topeka. [Revised ed.] Chicago: Lewis Publishing CO 1919, c1918. 5 v. ( xlviii, 2530 p., [155] leaves of plates): ill., maps (some fold.), ports .; 27 cm.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Find A Grave.