Hamilton Beebe Lathrop

HAMILTON BEEBE LATHROP. One of the beautiful homes in the environs of Columbus is that of Hamilton B. Lathrop, who owns a farm of 80 acres in section 33, Salamanca township. Mr. Lathrop was born in March, 1834, in Chautauqua County, New York, and is a son of Anson E. and Mary (Beebe) Lathrop.

This family is an old and distinguished one in New England, its founders in America having come to those bleak shores on the "Mayflower." Two brothers of this name settled in Connecticut; later the family branches scattered into New York, thence into Iowa and still farther West, and now it is well and honorably represented in Kansas.

Anson E. Lathrop was born in New York, and was engaged there in farming and stock-raising until 1850. Then he moved to Iowa and located in Dubuque County, where he continued to farm until the fall of 1865. At that period he sold out there, and bought a farm and other property at what is now Humboldt, in the Des Moines River Valley. There he died in February, 1870, aged 65 years. He first married Mary Beebe, who died in 1848, leaving four children,—Catherine, Edwin A., Hamilton Beebe and Francis Marion. Of these, Catherine, born in April, 1828, married Sylvester Dean, and is now a widow, residing at Mitchell, South Dakota. Edwin A., born in September, 1831, accompanied the family to Iowa, then went on to California and to Oregon, where he became principal of the schools of Empire City, Oregon. Later, he entered into political life, serving as county clerk for a long time. He accumulated considerable property, and became interested in mining at Baker City. At the time of his death, which occurred suddenly in his office at Baker City, he was manager of one of the large mining companies of that section. During the Indian disturbances in his early life there, he did a soldier's duty and was thoroughly identified with that part of the country. His two children also are deceased. Francis Marion, born in March, 1842, attended college at Hopkinston, Iowa, and on the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted in Company I, 12th Reg., Iowa Volunteer Inf., under Lieutenant Fowler. He held the rank of sergeant. At Pittsburg Landing, he was taken prisoner, and was first incarcerate[sic] at Atlanta, and later at Macon, Georgia, where he succumbed to the entailed hardships, and died in June, 1862.

The second marriage of Anson E. Lathrop was in the fall of 1849 to the widow of Dr. Averill, a prominent physician who lived near Syracuse, New York. One daughter was born to this second marriage.

The subject of this sketch scarcely remembers his birthplace, as he was but a small child when his parents removed from the vicinity of Jamestown to Wayne County, New York, where he grew to manhood. He accompanied the family in 1850, when it removed to Cascade township, Dubuque County, Iowa, and remained there until 1865. In 1863 he enlisted with the unattached men who were subject to call in case of emergency, the demands of a growing family making it inexpedient for him to enter into active service at that time. In 1865 he settled on a wild tract in Buchanan County, Iowa, which he developed into a fine farm, and remained on it until the spring of 1880, when he decided to take up a tree claim in Spink County, South Dakota. He also acquired a homestead here, upon which he remained long enough to make it a fine farm, although, in order to do so, he and his family were obliged to endure the many hardships of pioneer settlers. In 1894 Mr. Lathrop traded this farm for 255 acres in Union County, South Dakota, and again entered upon the development of an agricultural property out of a wild prairie. This he succeeded in doing, and in March, 1898, he sold this third farm and removed to Cherokee County, Kansas, purchasing his present home and farm. He is now retired from active pursuits, in the enjoyment of ample means, and surrounded by all that makes his declining years peaceful and contented.

Mr. Lathrop was married in 1856, at Cascade, Dubuque County, Iowa, to Mary Elliott, who was reared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whence she had removed to Iowa. Three daughters and one son were born to them, namely: Minnie Beebe; Viva E.; Frances Marian, and William Anson. Minnie Beebe married a Mr. Andrus, who is a resident of Pueblo, Colorado, where he has been a prominent business man for a number of years, and where she has buried her three children. Viva E. is Mrs. Hickman; she was married in Buchanan County, Iowa, and now resides in Columbus, Kansas, her two children being: Myrtle, a teacher at Empire City, and Byrl, a youth of 10 years. Frances Marian, wife of Frank C. E. Andrus, a prominent grocer of Spokane, Washington, has one son, Clyde, a high school graduate, aged 19 years, and has lost a little daughter. William Anson, who is now a resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is an express messenger running between Minneapolis and Chicago. His two daughters are deceased, but he has one son, Fred, to still perpetuate an honored name.

Politically, Mr. Lathrop has always been a zealous supporter of the Republican party, since he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. Mr. Lathrop was reared a Congregationalist, but is now connected with, the Presbyterian Church at Columbus. His long and useful life has been replete with interest, and as he is a man of most retentive memory and gentle courtesy, a visitor feels that he has been abundantly entertained during a few hours' conversation with the subject of this sketch. He is well known in Columbus and vicinity, and is universally esteemed.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, instructor from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 1/29/97.