William Quincy Elliott (b. February 18, 1837, d. August 20, 1929)
Great Great Grandfather William Quincy Elliott & Great Great Grandmother Rebecca Jane Elliott
William Quincy Elliott (son of Mark Elliott and Mary S. Haworth) was born February 18, 1837 in Centre Township, Wayne County, Indiana, and died August 20, 1929 in Sterling, Rice County, Kansas. He married (1) Rebecca Jane Jackson on February 04, 1858 in Centerville, Wayne County, Indiana - civil ceremony by L. L. Rains. He married (2) Irene Brooks Dale on November 06, 1914 in Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
Notes for William Quincy Elliott: Quaker Meeting records with reference to William Q. Elliott:
Vermilion MM (Vermilion Co., IL): William, West Grove MM, IN complained of marriage contrary to discipline & request Vermilion Mtg, IL to treat wife/husband. Vermilion MM treated without satisfaction & so informed West Grove MM, IN, disowned 7th month, 2nd, 1859.
West Grove MM (Wayne Co., IN): William was disowned from West Grove Monthly Meeting 4th month, 9th, 1859 for marriage contrary to discipline (civil ceremony).
West Grove MM (Wayne Co., IN): William was received in membership to West Grove Monthly Meeting 9th month, 9th, 1871.
Toledo MM (Rice Co., KS): William Q., wife Rebecca & children Joseph, Salena & Wm. Q., Jr. received on certificate 9th month, 26th, 1874.
Peace Monthly Meeting was organized 1st month, 9th, 1875 at the home of William Q. Elliott, located at the corner of 6th Street & Monroe in the town of Peace, Rice County, Kansas.
Wm. Q. Elliott appointed clerk of Peace Monthly Meeting, 2nd month, 20th, 1875. His wife, Rebecca J. Elliott was appointed recorder.
Wm. Q Elliott deeded land for Friends burying ground 10th month, 16th, 1875.
W. Q. Elliott, wife Rebecca J. and 5 minor children were charter members of the re-established Sterling Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, July 25, 1892.
Wm. Q. Elliott was an active member of the Sterling Friends Meeting from 1875 up to the time when the meeting was finally laid down in 1923. The final minutes of Sterling Monthly Meeting dated 9th month, 8th, 1923 read as follows: "Owing to non-attendance of a large part of our membership at our meetings for business and others, the meeting now ajourns sine die." (Sine die means 'indefinitely'.) The final minutes were signed by W. Q. Elliott, Presiding Clerk. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wm Q. Elliott purchased 81 acres "more or less" from Eliza Henderson on February 1, 1867 for $2940. This land was located "near Centreville, Wayne Co., Indiana". --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From "The History of Wayne County Indiana", page 114 "Wm. Q. Elliott was the first treasurer of the Wayne County Joint Stock Agricultural Association organized in August, 1867." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- W. Q. Elliott was chosen as a delegate from Centre Township for the Republican State Convention at the Wayne County Republican Convention in 1870. (From the "Richmond Palladium", Feb. 15, 1870) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From William G. Cutler's "History of the State of Kansas" published in 1883 by A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL.
"W. Q. ELLIOT came to Sterling October 1, 1873. He has followed farming and stock raising and banking since. He owns a farm of 1,700 acres in Rice and Reno counties where he keeps a large amount of improved stock. His residence is in Reno County. He was born in Wayne County, Ind., in 1837; raised and educated in his native State and followed teaching in early life. He was married in 1858 to Miss Rebecca J. Jackson, of his native county. They have eleven sons and one daughter -- Salina M., Mark H., Joseph W. J., Cassius M. C., Lincoln L., Sylvester J., William Q., Jr., Charles S., Clarkson T., Caleb B., Laban M. and Stanley P. They are members of the Quaker Church. The Rice County Bank, a private institution owned and operated by Mr. W. Q. Elliott, was opened for business in June 1879. Eastern correspondents are Chemical National of New York City, Bank of Kansas City, Mo." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes from "A Biographical History of Central Kansas", Vol II, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1902
"Wm. Q Elliott was educated at the West Grove Friends school under Jeremiah Griffin. He taught school for 5 winters, teaching his first term before the age of seventeen. During this time he remained at home, caring for his invalid father, who suffered for three years with sciatica. He was a large, muscular man, 6 feet and 2 inches in height. Mr. & Mrs. Elliott began their domestic life together in Vermilion County, Illinois, renting the [Alexander] McDonald farm for seven years. He then returned to the old homestead in Indiana (1864?) and assumed the management of his deceased father's farm, his brother Joel having joined the Union army." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans", written & compiled by William E. Connelley, 1918.
"WILLIAM Q. ELLIOTT, who joined the pioneers of Rice County in the early '70s, has been one of the conspicuous men in that section of the state for many years. His sturdy energy as a farmer brought him liberal rewards, and he has used his means and influence to do good in many directions. He sent a large family of children into the honorable walks of life, has stanchly upheld the forces of religion and morality in his home community and state, and at the age of fourscore his usefulness still continues, especially manifesting itself in his official work with the Friends University at Wichita.
He comes of substantial American ancestry and the family for generations have been stanch Quakers. Mr. Elliott was born in a stronghold of the Quaker Church in Wayne County, Indiana, February 19, 1837. Wayne County, Indiana, was largely settled in early days by Quakers from the Carolinas. His grandfather, Exum Elliott, came out of North Carolina in 1815 and was one of the pioneers whose physical strength cleared away the forests and established civilization in that then wilderness section of Eastern Indiana. The wife of Exum Elliott was Catherine Lamb, of Guilford County, North Carolina. They had eight children, six sons and two daughters, all of whom reached mature years, married and with the exception of one daughter had children of their own. Exum Elliott died at the age of eighty-six and was laid to rest in the Friends Cemetery at West Grove, Indiana.
Mark Elliott, father of William Q., was born in North Carolina December 28, 1813, and was two years of age when his parents came north. On August 27, 1835, in Union County, Indiana, he married Mary Haworth. Both were members of the Society of Friends and they were married by the Quaker ceremony. Her birthplace was her father's farm of 200 acres, comprising an island in the Holsten River in the State of Tennessee. Her father, Joel Haworth, moved from Tennessee to Union County, Indiana, and bought a large tract of government land at $1.25 per acre in gold. His daughter, Mary, was the oldest in a large family of children. Mark Elliott lived on a farm in Wayne County, Indiana, where he died in 1858 and was laid to rest in the same cemetery where his father's and mother's remains repose. He left his widow with seven children, four sons and three daughters. Mrs. Mark (Mary Haworth) Elliott afterwards came to Kansas and died at Sterling February 23, 1902, at the age of eighty-eight years, two months and twenty-one days.
Of the children of Mark Elliott and wife, William Q. was the oldest. Hannah, the second, married Isaiah Sleeper and both died at Baldwin, Kansas, where Mr. Sleeper owned a farm. The son, Joel H., was, curiously enough, a "fighting Quaker," and made a brilliant record as a soldier. He served throughout the Civil war, being captain of Company M of the Seventh Indiana Cavalry. Through the influence of Governor Morton, the Indiana war governor, he was raised to the rank of major in the Seventh United States Cavalry. That was perhaps the only case up to that time where a volunteer officer was promoted to a higher position in the regular service than he had held in the volunteer forces. In the regular army he served under the command of the brilliant General Custer, and took part in that memorable fight against the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians on the Washita River in what is now the State of Oklahoma in 1868. He and sixteen men were ambushed in that engagement and all of them were butchered by the savage Indians under the Chief Black Kettle. His body was left uncared for on the battleground for two weeks, but was finally laid to rest in a national cemetery in Oklahoma. The fourth child of Mark Elliott and wife was Permelia, who lived at Richmond in Wayne County, Indiana, widow of Oliver Miller, who died on his farm in that county. She died in September, 1917. Elton B. is a lumber merchant at Indianapolis, Indiana. Sarah Elizabeth, who died at Sterling, Kansas, in 1916, married M. J. Barr, a retired resident of Sterling, Kansas. The seventh and youngest child, Lewis D., died of diphtheria in Indiana at the age of seven years.
William Q. Elliott spent his boyhood in Wayne County, Indiana, during the '40s and '50s. That was a period when public schools had not yet come into established vogue in Indiana, but be received a good training in the Friends Monthly Meeting School at West Grove, where his teacher for seven years was Jeremiah Griffin. Besides his experience on the farm he taught school five winters, the first term before he was seventeen years of age. While his father was a large muscular man six feet two inches high, he suffered during his last years with sciatica, and William during that period remained at home and looked after the farm and in other ways cared for his invalid parent.
February 4, 1858, Mr. Elliott married Rebecca Jane Jackson. She was born in Wayne County in January, 1838. Her father, Joseph W. Jackson, was rated as the wealthiest farmer of that community, and when he died at the age of sixty his estate was valued at $250,000, acquired through his extensive operations as a farmer and pork packer. Her mother died in Wayne County six years before her father. Rebecca Jackson was the oldest of thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Elliott went to Vermilion County, Illinois, where they rented a farm. They lived there for seven years, and then returned to the old homestead, Mr. Elliott taking charge as manager after the death of his father. In the meantime his attention had been attracted to the free and new lands of Kansas, and in the fall of 1873 he came to the state and filed a homestead claim on eighty acres in what was then Reno but is now Rice County. That original homestead is now owned by his son, Sylvester J. In March, 1874, Mr. Elliott and his family located at what was then known as the Village of Peace, now Sterling, and they remained there until July 1, 1875, when they went out to the homestead and occupied the house and barn which had been erected preparatory to this removal. (Wm Q. Elliott, wife Rebecca & children Joseph, Salena & Wm. Q., Jr transferred membership to Toledo Monthly Meeting, Lyons Co., Kansas on September 26, 1874.)
Mr. Elliott was not only a good practical farmer but a thorough business man, and with unlimited confidence in the future of Kansas he invested heavily in lands, buying from the railroad companies, school lands and also developed a timber claim, until he was owner of 3,300 acres. Nearly all of this he has since sold. The development of the land for farming purposes and the beautifying of the landscape occupied his time and energies for many years. Mr. Elliott did much as a practical forester and also as a horticulturist. Beginning in 1876, he planted large numbers of black walnut, catalpa and cottonwood trees, and those grew until they constituted large groves on his farm. In 1878 he set out an apple orchard of twenty acres and in 1882 he sold a thousand dollars worth of peaches from five acres of seedling trees. When in his prime as an agriculturist he bred and raised horses, mules and hogs and was one of the leading stock ranchers. In 1880 Mr. Elliott established the Rice County Bank at Sterling and conducted it for seven years.
Mr. Elliott's first wife died in September, 1913, and since her death he has moved to the Town of Sterling and is now living retired. He is a large stockholder in the Farmer's State Bank of Sterling.
Mr. Elliott was the father of fifteen children, and including those living and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren he now enumerates 101 descendants, a record comparable to that of the patriarchs of old. For the purposes of this history a brief reference should be made to each of the children.
1) Mark, the oldest, born October 29, 1858, in Vermilion County, Illinois, is now a farmer in Reno County, Kansas. 2) Mary Elizabeth, who was born January 30, 1860, in Vermilion County, IL, died in infancy. 3) Joseph W. Jackson, born in Vermilion County, February 20, 1861, is now in the farm implement business at Haviland, Kansas. 4) Cassius Clay, born in Vermilion County July 19, 1862, is a stockman and rancher in Idaho. 5) Eupha Jane, born in Vermilion County, September 12, 1863, died in infancy. 6) Selena Margery, who was born after her parents moved back to Wayne County, Indiana, on March 29, 1865, is the wife of Albert Snook, and they live on a farm a mile east of Sterling. 7) Lincoln L., born in Wayne County, Indiana, February 17, 1867, is a painter and decorator by trade, but owns 800 acres of farm and ranch land and lives at Haviland. 8) Sylvester J., born in Wayne County July 6, 1868, is one of the leading farm owners and business men of Sterling. 9) William Q., Jr., born in Wayne County February 17, 1870, is a farmer near Sterling. 10) Charles Sumner was born in Wayne County March 25, 1872, and died at Sterling, Kansas, in 1874. 11) Clarkson Taber was born August 22, 1874, his being the first recorded birth of a white child on the townsite of Sterling. He is now a farmer in Reno County, Kansas. 12) Caleb B., born at the old homestead in what was then Reno County July 11, 1879, is a merchant and also owns eight ranches at Delta, Colorado. 13) Laban Moody, born in Reno County July 11, 1879, is a farmer in Ellis County, Oklahoma. 14) Stanley P., born at the old homestead December 5, 1890, is also a farmer in Ellis County, Oklahoma. 15) Chester Garfield, the youngest, born in Reno County, Kansas, October 11, 1893, occupies the old home farm.
On November 6, 1914, Mr. Elliott married, near Hoyt, Kansas, Mrs. Irene B. (Brooks) Dale, who was born back in Wayne County, Indiana. Mrs. Elliott is a sister of Mrs. Jonathan Thomas, a resident of Topeka, noted for her wealth and generosity.
Reference has already been made to Mr. Elliott's connection with the Friends University at Wichita. He is vice president and a director of that institution, and chairman of the board. He is also chairman of the building committee that now has in charge the erection of a gymnasium to cost $40,000. He has been entrusted with the handling of a large part of the endowment fund in loaning this money on real estate. Mr. Elliott is a member of the Kansas State Historical Society, and has been a lifelong republican. He took an enthusiastic part as a boy in the first republican presidential campaign in 1856, when General Fremont was a candidate. He cast his first presidential vote in 1860 for Lincoln."
Newspaper article, probably the Sterling Bulletin - 1908 "Kansans Wedded Fifty Years Have 136 Living Descendants" "STERLING, KAN., April 28--Mr. and Mrs. William Q. Elliott, residents for many years of this vicinity, celebrated recently their golden wedding anniversary and at that time there came to light the fact that the couple had a strong bid for the honor of having most descendants of any living couple in Kansas. They have 12 living children, 74 grandchildren and 50 (great) grandchildren, or a total of 136 living descendants. "Mr. and Mrs. Elliotts' children and the number of children and grandchildren each of the 12 sons and daughters has, are as follows: Mark H. seven children and 8 grandchildren; Joseph W., three children and four grandchildren; Cassius M. C., nine children and five grandchildren; Selenia Margery, two children; Lincoln L., seven children and five grandchildren; Sylvester J., four children; William Q., five children and four grandchildren; Clarkson Taber, 13 children and 12 grandchildren; Laben M., 12 children and two grandchildren; Stanley P. seven children; Chester Garfield, three children."
Photo with newspaper article from the Sterling Bulletin - 1911 entitled "Harvest Scene on W. Q. Elliott's Farm" "The above picture was taken on the farm of W. Q. Elliott, about four miles southeast of Sterling, on the north banks of the Arkansas River. The picture was taken Thursday, July 6, 1911, and shows how Mr. Elliott cut, threshed and delivered to the elevator, 80 acres of wheat in eleven hours. To do this work in the above time required the work of three 12-foot headers, six barges, a large J. I. Case steam thresher, six grain wagons, one water tank for the engine and a water tank for the men, forty-six mules and horses and twenty-seven men. The wheat was cut and taken from the barge to the threshing machine and hauled directly from the machine to the elevator at Sterling.
"The wheat was raised on stalk ground, and was not a very heavy yield, about 760 bushels, but it was of good quality. The photograph was taken by E. K. Porter of Sterling. The threshing outfit belonged to Christopher Coleman of Nickerson.
"Mr. Elliott has been a resident of Rice county for a long time, is one of the early settlers, and is one of the progressive farmers of the county today. He said he had eleven boys, but one alone (Sylvester) is on the farm now and helped with the work of raising this wheat. Mr. Elliott is well known over the county both as a farmer and stock raiser, and many friends will be glad to note how he is doing the work."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Board of Trustees at Friends University, Wichita, KS from 1900-1921 Second VP of Friends University, Wichita, KS from 1908-1917 VP of Friends University, Wichita, KS from 1917-1921 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Obituary, probably from "The Sterling Bulletin", Thursday, August 22, 1929: "DEATH OF SETTLER AT 92 "W. Q. Elliott, Sr. Passes Away at Home of His Daughter and Will Be Laid to Rest This Afternoon -------
"W. Q. Elliott, Sr., who has been in failing health for some time and for the past year has been practically helpless, passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lena Snook Smith, just east of Sterling, Tuesday, August 20. Mr. Elliott was 92 years, 6 months and 1 day old, at the time of his death, and has been ill for the past year.
"William Quincy Elliott, oldest child of Mark and Mary Haworth Elliott, was born near Centerville, Wayne County, Indiana, February 19, 1837. He grew to manhood on the farm where he was born and was married February 4, 1858 to Rebecca Jane Jackson. To this union were born fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to manhood, three dying in infancy. His wife and two sons, Mark H. and L.L. preceded him in death.
"Mr. Elliott came to Peace, Kansas, in 1873, taking up a home stead four miles southeast of town, now called Sterling. He moved his family here in the spring of 1874, making his home there ever since, for fifty-five years. His first wife died September 13, 1913. He was married to Irene B. Dale, November 6, 1914, who died in October, 1921.
"Mr. Elliott was born of Quaker parents and was a stanch member of that church till the last. He leaves to mourn his death nine sons, and one daughter, and a host of grandchildren and great grandchildren.
"Funeral services will be held from the M.E. church this Thursday afternoon, at 2:30, conducted by Rev. A.N. Smith, burial will be made in Sterling Cemetery.
"The following came from a distance to attend the funeral: Stanley P., of Gage, Okla., and J.W. of Haviland, both sons of the deceased; Mrs. L.L. Elliott, of Haviland; J.Earl Elliott, a grandson of Haviland; and Roland Q., of Haviland. His sons who reside in Colorado and California could not come home for the funeral."
Obituary from "The American Friend", 1929: ELLIOTT--At the home of his daughter, near Sterling, Kansas, August 20, 1929, William Q. Elliott, son of Mark and Mary H. Elliott, in his 93rd year. Born near Centerville, Indiana, he was an active member of the Friends church for many years, always faithful in attendance at meetings as long as his health permitted."
More About William Quincy Elliott: Burial: August 22, 1929, Sterling Community Cemetery, Rice Co., Kansas.
More About William Quincy Elliott and Rebecca Jane Jackson: Marriage: February 04, 1858, Centerville, Wayne County, Indiana - civil ceremony by L. L. Rains.
More About William Quincy Elliott and Irene Brooks Dale: Marriage: November 06, 1914, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
Children of William Quincy Elliott and Rebecca Jane Jackson are:
+Mark Haworth Elliott, Sr., b. October 29, 1858, Vermilion Grove, Carroll Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, d. June 28, 1926, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
Mary Elizabeth Elliott, b. January 30, 1860, Carroll Township, Vermilion Co., Illinois, d. December 04, 1860, Carroll Township, Vermilion Co., Illinois.
+Joseph W. Jackson Elliott, b. February 20, 1861, Vermilion Grove, Carroll Twp., Vermilion County, Illinois, d. April 06, 1934, Haviland, Kiowa County, Kansas.
+Cassius Marcellus Clay Elliott, b. July 19, 1862, Carroll Twp., Vermilion Co., Illinois, d. October 02, 1945, Porterville, Tulare Co., California.
Eupha Jane Elliott, b. September 12, 1863, Carroll Township, Vermilion Co., Illinois, d. October 04, 1864, Carroll Twp., Vermilion Co., IL.
+Selena Margery Elliott, b. March 28, 1865, Wayne County, Indiana, d. November 1936, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
+Lincoln Lloyd Elliott, b. February 17, 1867, Center Township, Wayne County, Indiana, d. September 03, 1927, Haviland, Kiowa County, Kansas.
+Sylvester Johnson Elliott, b. July 06, 1868, Wayne County, Indiana, d. January 22, 1953, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
+William Quincy Elliott, Jr., b. February 17, 1870, Wayne Co., Indiana, d. February 1933, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
Charles Sumner Elliott, b. March 25, 1872, Wayne County, Indiana, d. July 06, 1874, Peace, Rice County, Kansas.
+Taber Clarkson Elliott, b. August 22, 1874, Peace, Rice County, Kansas, d. November 09, 1959, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
+Caleb Bennett Elliott, b. June 20, 1877, Rice County, Kansas, d. March 29, 1962, Pueblo, Colorado.
+Laben Moody Elliott, b. July 11, 1879, Rice County, Kansas, d. February 02, 1954, Sterling, Rice County, Kansas.
+Stanley Pumphrey Elliott, b. December 05, 1880, Rice County, Kansas, d. October 10, 1970, Gage, Ellis County, Oklahoma.
William Quincy Elliott (b. February 18, 1837, d. August 20, 1929)
Notes for William Quincy Elliott: