Charles
Summers
Born in Keokuk, Lee, Iowa, United States
Son of Charles Karl Summers
and Maria (Barth) Fey
[sibling(s) unknown]
[spouse(s) unknown]
Father of
Nettie Clara (Summers) Larrabee
Died
at age 87
in Liberal, Seward, Kansas, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 7 Feb 2021
This page has been accessed 153 times.
Biography
Charles Summers has German Roots.
Charles Summers was a homesteader in Seward County, Kansas. Join the Homesteaders Project.
Charles was born 28 Dec 1854 in Keokuk, Iowa the son of Charles and Mary (Barth) Summers. His father passed away when he was about four years of age and his mother, from Germany, remarried not long after to Johannes Fey.[1] By 1870, 16 year old Charles is on his own working as a farm laborer for the John Schmidt family in Lee County, Iowa.[2] By 1880, he is living in Fort Madison, Iowa working as a shoe maker. This census record appears to indicate his father and mother were both born in Alsace (a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland).[3]
On 27 Jan 1881, he married Wilhelmina "Mena" Amborn at Fort Madison, Iowa and the family lived there until 1886.[4] In 1885, Charles first came to Fargo Springs, Seward County, Kansas and ordered the construction of a building for his boot and shoe business, filed a homestead claim, and then returned to Fort Madison.[5] On 10 Mar 1886, the entire family joined the westward migration and moved to Fargo Springs where Charles' boot and shoe store operated on South Central Avenue[6] and the family lived on the homestead claim south of town.[5]
Once the railroad had built on to Liberal, Kansas the family moved there in 1888.[7][8][9][10][11] He also moved the shoe store to Liberal which became the Charles Summers dry goods store, one of the leading dry goods suppliers in the region, advertising its goods as "so cheap as never was."[12] As the railroad extended west, so did the Charles Summers empire adding stores in Guymon, Oklahoma, Dalhart, Texas and Garden City, Kansas.[5]
In 1906, he became Vice President of the First National Bank of Liberal[13] and later a founder of the Citizen's State Bank. He also operated a grain business, the Security Elevator Company. Charles remained active in the business life of Liberal, Kansas the remainder of his nearly nine decades. He passed away 17 Jan 1942 and is interred at the Liberal Cemetery.[14]
Children
- Edwin Charles - b 6 Sep 1881, d 10 Dec 1949, m Etolia Hardesty
- Ralph - b 25 Dec 1882, d 1960, m 1/Grace Stevesson, 2/ Margaret Frisbee
- Robert August - b 21 Jun 1884, d 6 May 1885
- Nettie Clara - b 5 Feb 1886, m Lee Larrabee
- Emeline - 1888-1976, m Don Henry
- Frank - 1890-1939, m May Stevenson
Sources
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1860; Census Place: Franklin, Lee, Iowa; Page: 403; Family History Library Film: 803330
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1870; Census Place: Franklin, Lee, Iowa; Roll: M593_403; Page: 120B; Family History Library Film: 545902
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1880; Census Place: Fort Madison, Lee, Iowa; Roll: 350; Page: 180C; Enumeration District: 014
- ↑ Microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1885, obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Seward County Historical Society, compiler, Seward County Kansas, K C Printers, Liberal, Kansas, 1979, pp 341-42, 400.
- ↑ Seward County Democrat, Fargo Springs, Kansas, 2 Sep 1887, p 2
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Liberal, Seward, Kansas; Roll: T623_499; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 294.
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Liberal, Seward, Kansas; Roll: T624_451; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 197; Image: 1131.
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Liberal, Seward, Kansas; Roll: T625_550; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 225; Image: 633.
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Liberal, Seward, Kansas; Roll: 718; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0003; Image: 496.0; FHL microfilm: 2340453
- ↑ US Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Liberal, Seward, Kansas; Roll: m-t0627-01258; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 88-6
- ↑ The Liberal Lyre, Liberal, Kansas, 25 Mar 1892, p 1
- ↑ The Liberal News, Liberal, Kansas, 11 Jan 1906, p 1
- ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #20688183
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