| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 291 |
MRS. MARGARET C. DEAL, one of the pioneers of Allen county, was born in Indiana May 9, 1841. Her father, Enos Myers, a native of North Carolina, came to Indiana when still a young man. Here he married Sallie Seachrist, a native of North Carolina. Mr. Myers moved to Illinois when Mrs. Deal was eleven years old, and resided there for two years. He then moved to Denton county, Texas, where Mrs. Deal was married in 1857 to Andrew M. Deal, a native of Indiana. Mr. Deal had gone to Texas when but twenty-one years old, intending to make that state his home. When the war came on he did not believe in the Confederacy, and, as Union men were not wanted in that part of Texas, he came to Kansas. An ardent and earnest advocate of the cause of the Union in the great struggle. Mr. Deal in 1862, enlisted in the Ninth Kansas regiment. The regiment was used largely against the bushwhackers, that infested the border counties and made life for the free state men a constant terror. One morning a party of twenty from the regiment, among the number Mr. Deal, joined a detail of scouts for an expedition. While passing through a stone lane near West Port, they were surrounded by the enemy, believed to be Quantrell's guerrilas, who opened upon them from behind cover. Although surprised and unable to see their foe they fought gallantly, until fifteen of Company E, Ninth Kansas men were killed, Mr. Deal among the number; the five men who were left making their escape. The Confederates killed the Federal wounded.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Deal: Mary E., now the wife of Howard Moore; Paris and Thomas, both living at home. Left thus with the care of a small family Mrs. Deal faced the future with a courage worthy of the husband, who had given his life for his country. The children as they grew older aided in the struggle against the hardships of the new country and now, after many years, have succeeded in acquiring a fair share of this world's goods. Three miles east of Humboldt they have a pleasant home, surrounded by stately maple trees, and every acre of the eighty is well improved and shows the evidences of careful cultivation.
To the fatherless children Mrs. Deal has given a careful training and the record of the deeds of her husband has been one of the cherished memories of their life.
Page 291, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
