JOHN ELLIOTT.

JOHN ELLIOTT, who is now serving as trustee of Eminence township, and who has been numbered among the agriculturists of Woodson County for eleven years, is a native son of the Sunflower state, his birth having occurred in Miami County, April 8, 1863. His father, John Elliott, came to Kansas about 1862 from Bates County, Missouri where he had entered a tract of land from the government in 1856. He was a native of County Antrim, Ireland, born in 1825 and remained on the Emerald Isle until twenty-four years of age, when he resolved to try his fortune in America, believing that better opportunities for advancement were afforded in this country than in the more thickly populated districts of Ireland. As far back as the ancestral history is known the Elliotts were farmers, and the father of our subject followed the same pursuit. He had only money enough to bring him to the new world, and after reaching the United States he was employed as a wage earner in a tan yard. Later he worked upon a farm and finally secured land of his own in Missouri, becoming owner of a claim in Bates County, that state, in 1856. There he continued to reside for six years, when in 1862 he came to Kansas, taking up his abode in Miami County, where he purchased a farm upon which he has since made his home, his labors in the passing years bringing to him a comfortable competence.

In Will County, Illinois, John Elliott. Sr., was united in marriage to Miss Ann McClintock, also a native of County Antrim, Ireland, and unto them were born the following children: Thomas R., who is now in Jackson County, Kansas, John, whose name begins this review; Mary J., wife of George B. Baxter, of Miami County, Kansas; Annie Elliott, who is at home; Joseph, who is living in the same county, where his brother Charles, the next of the family, also resides; and Frank, who is upon the old homestead.

On the old home farm John Elliott of this review spent the days of his boyhood and youth, and as age and strength permitted he aided in the work of the fields and meadows from the time of early spring planting until harvests were garnered in the autumn. In the district school he acquired his education, and reading keeps him a well informed man. On the 1st of March, 1888, he married Miss Orpha Haines and thus secured a worthy companion and helpmate for the journey of life. The lady is a native of Madison County, Illinois, and a daughter of John W. and Mary A. (Swofford) Haines, in whose family were the following: Samuel J., of Central City, Nebraska; Nora B., widow of John Pickerell; Mrs. Elliott; and Robert, of Decatur County, Kansas. The father died in 1888, but the mother is still living. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Elliott has been blessed with five children: Clarence; Mary M., who died at the age of six years; Wallace, Howard and Homer who are with their parents.

In 1890, the second year following his marriage, Mr. Elliott removed to Woodson County and located on section 2, Eminence township, where he owns two hundred and eighty acres of valuable land, to the cultivation and improvement of which he is now devoting his time and energies with good results. The practical experience of his boyhood well fitted him for the labors of manhood, and he is now regarded as an enterprising progressive agriculturist. In his political views he is a Republican. His father became a supporter of that party on its organization and as the sons attained man's estate they, too, espoused Republican principles. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, elected Mr. Elliott to the position of township trustee in 1899 and he filled the office so acceptably that in 1900 he was re-elected for a second term, and therefore is the present incumbent.

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