| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 565 cont'd |
CHARLES L. DOWNS.
CHARLES L. DOWNS, who is engaged in farming in Cottage Grove township, was born in Champaign county, Illinois, on the 22nd of November, 1863, and is the second child of Samuel E. and Martha Downs, who in the fall of 1865 left their home in Illinois and came to Kansas. Their son Charles has therefore been a resident of this State throughout almost his entire life. He was reared upon his father's farm in Cottage Grove township, and acquired his education in the stone school house in West Cottage Grove. To his father he gave the benefit of his services until he had attained his majority and then started out in life for himself, having no capital save a pair of willing hands.
As a companion and helpmate on life's journey Mr. Downs chose Miss Rosa Lynch, an accomplished young lady of Allen county, their marriage being celebrated on the 5th of October, 1885. She was born in Illinois and came to Kansas when a maiden of seven years, in company with her parents, William and Sarah Jane (Zink) Lynch, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Illinois. The mother died in 1874 when Mrs. Downs was very young. The following year the father located in Allen county, Kansas, and afterward married Mrs. Elizabeth Noyes. His death occurred in Kansas, in 1897, when he was sixty-three years of age. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Downs have been born three children: Ethel, Hazel and Velma.
After his marriage Mr. Downs rented a farm in Allen county, and afterward moved to Neosho county where he continued to operate leased land for a number of years. With the capital he had acquired through his ceaseless efforts and the assistance of his estimable wife he purchased a farm of eighty acres in Cottage Grove township about seven miles southeast of Humboldt, removing to that place in the spring of 1899. He has a valuable little farm, on which is a good orchard, while native forest trees surround his home and add to the attractive appearance of the place. He has built a good barn and everything upon the farm indicates the careful supervision of a thrifty and progressive owner. He has acquired through his own efforts all that he now possesses and in the years to come he will probably be numbered among the most substantial citizens of Allen county.
Page 565, 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.
