Harvy Wimmer

HARVY WIMMER. A leading spirit among the agriculturists of Cherokee County, although now partially retired from active service in that line, is Harvy Wimmer, whose residence has been near Columbus, in section 19, township 33, range 24, in Crawford township, since January, 1900, and who owns a splendid farm of 313 acres lying in sections 2, 29 and 32, township 33, range 24, where he resided for 19 years. Mr. Wimmer is a Hoosier by birth; he was born in November, 1847, near Converse, Indiana, where he continued to live until the fall of 1877.

In that year Mr. Wimmer made a change of residence by coming to the "Sunflower State," where he has since been part and parcel of its marvelous progress. He first located on an 80-acre tract near Baxter Springs, but in January, 1881, he secured the farm noted above. Under his intelligent direction, this land has long been one of the best properties in the county. Prosperity has attended the labors of Mr. Wimmer, so that he is now regarded as one of the solid men of the county.

Mr. Wimmer is a son of James and Mary (Wilson) Wimmer. The father now resides with a son in Howard County, Indiana, having reached the advanced age of 86 years. He was born May 12, 1818, in Virginia, but removed with the family, at the age of four years, to Union County, Indiana. There he continued to reside until his marriage, when he settled in Miami County, that State, on a part of what was then called the "Western Reserve." He followed the trade of a carpenter until he reached middle age, after which he tilled the soil. His wife was a native of Union County, Indiana, her parents having been pioneers in the State from New Jersey. She died in Miami County in 1890, at the age of 66 years. Mr. Wimmer is of German descent on both sides of the family, and is the eldest of 11 children, 10 of whom reached maturity as follows: Harvy; William, a farmer in Grant County, Indiana; Sarah, deceased; Mrs. Melinda R. Pence, living in Grant County, Indiana; James F., a liveryman at Marion, Indiana; Christopher, a farmer in Howard County, Indiana; Mrs. Angeline Harvey, living in Miami County, Indiana; Mrs. Alice Millikin, living at Coffeyville, Kansas; Charley, a farmer, living in Tipton County, Indiana; and Frank N., who is in the oil business, at Peru, Kansas.

Reared amid agricultural scenes and influences in Miami County, Indiana, where he received a good working education in the common schools, Mr. Wimmer has passed a lifetime in the successful tilling of the soil. After farming a decade in his native State with such success as to accumulate considerable capital, he shrewdly concluded that this capital would bear greater fruit in the West, and in 1877 came with his family to Kansas.

Mr. Wimmer was married in Miami County, Indiana, to Arbel Wright, who was born in 1849 and is the daughter and only child of Jonathan and Catherine (Ladd) Wright, natives of North Carolina, now deceased. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wimmer, as follows: Arlington, a farmer in Spring Valley township, who married Mamie Sharp, and has two children,—Ray and Marion; Marion, a farmer, who married Edna Swogger, and has three children,—Merle, Harvy and Zilpha; Ozro, a farmer on his father's farm in Crawford township, who married Rosa Hogan, and has two children,—Earl and Gladys Marie, who is a schoolgirl at home.

As heretofore stated, Harvy Wimmer is one of the solid citizens of the county. His life has been as an open book, and his word is always as good as his bond. Although not seeking public preferment, he has taken a loyal citizen's interest in affairs of local government, serving at the call of his neighbors in many of the minor offices, and always with efficiency. Politically a stanch Republican from the days of his majority, the subject of this sketch takes keen pleasure in advocating the principles enunciated in each recurring platform of the party. In a social way he is affiliated with the Odd Fellows.

Life is what we make it; and to Mr. Wimmer, in these, his days of ripe maturity, there comes that satisfaction which results from the deserved esteem of a large circle of friends and neighbors.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Patrick Perrin, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 5-1-97