LEWIS HUFF, JR.

LEWIS HUFF, JR., is actively connected with business affairs in Elsmore township, Allen County, as a farmer, contractor and builder. He was born in Hancock County, Ohio, July 3, 1846, his parents being Lewis and Elizabeth Huff. The father is a native of Virginia and when seven years of age accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio where he resided for about forty years. In 1870 he came to Kansas, settling in the southeastern portion of Allen County, near the southern boundary line, and upon the old homestead he is still living at the advanced age of eighty-six years, a venerable and highly respected gentleman. His wife died in 1894 at the age of seventy-four. They were the parents of ten children, nine of whom are living, while eight of the number are sons. The record is as follows: S. S., of Fort Scott, Kansas; W. T., who is living in Buffalo, Kansas; T. G., whose residence is near Savonburg; Lewis; Sylvester, a practicing physician of Mound Valley, Kansas; Pleasant, the wife of D. Freed; Albert, of Allen County; Joseph, lives in Baldwin, Kansas, and Martin, who is living in Allen County. Four of the sons were soldiers in the Union army and their record is one of which the family has every reason to be proud.

Lewis Huff Jr., whose name introduces this review, was reared and

educated in Ohio, and after arriving at the years of maturity he wedded Miss Mary S. Hodges, a native of that State. In 1865, when eighteen years of age, he responded to the country's call for aid, enlisting as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Ninety-second Ohio Infantry, in which he served for nine months, when he was honorably discharged, for the war was ended and the stars and stripes floated over the capital of the southern Confederacy.

Mr. Huff contined[sic] to make his home in the Buckeye State until the spring of 1870 when he came to Kansas and secured a claim in Neosho County, a mile and a half south of Savonburg. He there resided for six years, continuing the operation and improvement of the land, after which he sold the property and secured another claim, including the site of Savonburg. To the development and cultivation of that tract he devoted his time for about six or seven years when he again disposed of the property and bought a farm two miles east, living thereon until he sold and removed to Fort Scott. In that city he began work at the carpenter's trade, which he followed for five years, when he returned to Allen County and purchased ten lots in Savonburg. He erected three houses which he afterward sold and next purchased a farm half a mile south of town and built thereon a good residence. He has improved his little farm and at the same time has continuously followed carpentering, doing a good business as a contractor and builder. He has erected more houses than any other man in Savonburg, and in other portions of the county stand buildings which are monuments to his skill, thrift and enterprise.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Huff have been born four children: Nora Huff; Elva, the wife of Ed Belcher, of Kansas City, Missouri; Winifred C., who died at the age of sixteen years, and Elmer M., at home. Mr. Huff belongs to Savonburg Camp, No. 1271, M. W. A. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, warmly espousing the cause of the party. A life of industry and honesty has brought to him gratifying success. With no special advantages in his youth, with nothing but a determined purpose and willing hands to aid him as he started out for himself, he has worked his way steadily upward and today is known as one of the substantial and reliable citizens in his portion of Allen County.

Previous | Home | Next