JOSEPH A. HALE.

Few of the residents of Woodson County have so long resided within its borders as Joseph Allen Hale who came hither in July 1866. His name

is associated with progress along intellectual, social, moral and material lines. As a worthy citizen he is widely acknowledged by all who know him. He was born in Maine, November 15, 1836, his parents being Aaron and Hannah (Kenney) Hale, both of whom were natives of the Pine Tree state. His grandfather, Dr. Hale, resided in the city of New Sharron, Franklin County, Maine, and the family were probably residents of that state at the time of the war of the Revolution. The Kenneys were also a prominent family there at an early date and Charles Kenney, the grandfather of our subject, was a soldier in the war of 1812. Subsequently he removed to Lake County, Indiana, where he died in 1857. His wife bore the maiden name of Deborah Rollins. Aaron Hale, the father of our subject, was born in 1810 and died in 1858. His youth was spent upon a farm and when he had attained to years of maturity he married Miss Hannah Kenney, the wedding being celebrated about 1830. In 1837 he left the state of his nativity and with his family removed to a farm in Lake County, Indiana. The land on which he settled was then wild and unimproved, but his labors in the course of years wrought a great transformation and the place became a very attractive and valuable one. In his family were ten children: Deborah, who became the wife of Richard Fuller, by whom she had a large family, but is now deceased; Joseph of this review; Laura Ann, the wife of Philander Hart, of Woodson County; Holbrook, who was killed at the battle of Shiloh while serving his country as a member of the Ninth Indiana infantry; James E., a contractor and builder, who served in the Seventy-third Indiana infantry and now resides in Chicago; Jerry M., who was a soldier of the One Hundred and Fortieth Indiana infantry and is now living in Lowell, Indiana; Charles, a practicing physician of Revenna, Nebraska: Nettie, the wife of Charles Henderson, of Chicago: Sarah, the wife of Clinton Shupe, also of Chicago, and Hannah, who is the wife of William Bigbee, a resident of Clearwater, Kansas.

Upon the homestead farm in Lake County, Indiana, Mr. Hale of this review was reared and in the schools of the neighborhood he acquired his education. He was married in Lake County on the 11th. of December, 1851, to Miss Julia McCann, a daughter of Aaron McCann, who was a farmer of that locality whither he had removed from New York. Mrs. Hale was born in Michigan, September 28, 1842, and by her marriage became the mother of the following named children: James H., the eldest, who is a resident of Pawnee, Oklahoma, and wedded Mary Wright. He served as a representative to the lower house of legislature, being a member of the session of 1887-8. Jennie L. is the wife of George Bideau, of Buffalo, where he occupies the position as principal of the public schools; Charles A., who is cashier of the Commercial State Bank at Yates Center, and married Clara Hisey; Clarence Hale, who married Olive Cullison, and is now with the firm of Lewis & Son, hardware merchants of Garnett, Kansas, with whom he has been associated in business since 1899. Joseph A. Hale came to the west in 1866 in company with a colony of half dozen families.

He believed that he might better his condition in a state where the settlers were not so numerous and he secured a claim seven miles south of Yates Center. With characteristic energy he began the cultivation and improvement of his land and as the years passed he added to his property until his farm comprised three hundred and sixty acres, constituting a very valuable tract. In 1897, however, he left the farm, taking up his abode in Yates Center where he has since resided. He is now vice president of the Commercial State Bank and also a member of its board of directors. His activity in former years in the line of agricultural pursuits brought to him a handsome competence that now enables him to live practically retired in the enjoyment of a well deserved rest. Although he was reared in the Democratic faith he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln and has since been a stalwart Republican. Since 1862 he has been a member of the Freewill Baptist church and in 1880 began preaching as a minister of that denomination. His influence has ever been given in support of measures calculated to prove of general good and to uplift his fellow men. In all life's relations he has been true to honorable principles and to every trust, reposed in him. And all with whom he has been brought in contact entertain for him the highest regard by reason of his genuine worth character.

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