JOHN FRANZ
JOHN A. FRANZ, of Rozel in Pawnee County, is an active farmer and spent the
first thirty-one years of his life in Germany. In the month of February, 1880,
he emigrated from the Fatherland and in the course of the same year arrived in
Pawnee County. Few of the early settlers of this section experienced a more
complete change from their former condition and environment than Mr. Franz. He
had lived in a country where industrial affairs were regulated by centuries of
practice and experience, came out to Western Kansas where the country was still
raw and unimproved, and where civilization had to be built from the ground up.
The prosperity that has followed his efforts is all the more remarkable and
creditable on this account.
Mr. Franz was born August 6, 1849, in Saxony, near Erfurt. His people had lived
in that section for 200 years or more and generation after generation of them
had followed milling and manufacturing. His father, Eberhart Franz, was a miller
and a man of considerable wealth. He married Maria Hoffman. Their children were:
John A., Edward and Emilie. The only one of the family to come to America was Mr.
Franz. He was reared in Germany and acquired a liberal education in what would
correspond to an American high school. He also learned his trade as miller under
his father. When old enough he served his time in the German army in the Light
Cavalry. He was in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71, as a member of the Fourth
Hussars. Most of his work was guard duty, performed at Gravelotte and Sedan.
After he had been in service about a year he was discharged and then returned to
his business as a miller.
In February, 1880, he sailed from Bremen on board the Rhine for New York. His
family followed him after he had acquired settlement in Pawnee County. While his
work in Germany had been as a miller and manufacturer, he had some practical
knowledge of how farming was done, and in combating the special conditions of
Western Kansas he was perhaps not at any greater disadvantage than most of his
neighbors. He paid $200 on a relinquishment on the southwest quarter of section
28, township 20, range 19, and began farming and stock raising. For a time he
occupied the little sod house he found on the quarter section. He at once
engaged in the cattle business and also broke up some land to raise feed. His
initial efforts as a stockman were subject to misfortune, since he lost 200 head
during the blizzard of 1885-86. He gradually recovered from that loss and in the
days of the free range he grazed large herds. He also got into the wheat
industry and for a number of years has grown an extensive acreage. In 1893 he
had 1,800 acres in that crop. That was his crowning disaster as a wheat grower.
The wheat came up but never matured, and his header never went into the fields.
He refused to be discouraged by this experience, and practically every year has
sown wheat. In 1917 Mr. Franz put in 800 acres, the results of which have not
yet appeared. The biggest yield per acre was thirty-five bushels. The best
average yield came in 1914, when he harvested twenty-eight bushels to the acre.
That year he also threshed his heaviest crop, putting about 15,000 bushels
through the separator. Mr. Franz recalls the time when wheat sold in Western
Kansas as low as 35 cents a bushel. He never sold any of his own wheat for less
than 50 cents, and the price has been steadily increasing until it reached what
was long regarded as the wheat grower's ideal, $1 a bushel, and in recent years
has ascended almost to the $2 mark. A bushel of wheat is now worth almost as
much as an acre of ground was when Mr. Franz came to Kansas.
Besides his quarter section Mr. Franz took up a timber claim and improved both
of them. Out of his profits he also dealt extensively in land, buying and
selling. He finally acquired 2 1/2 sections, in sections 20, 28 and 33. He was
responsible for bringing this large acreage under improvements and put two
sections under the plow. As farming became more and more profitable he abandoned
the cattle business on a large scale. His cattle are chiefly of the Shorthorn
and Galloway strains. The easiest money he ever made in Western Kansas came from
buying calves and selling them as two year olds. He was frequently a shipper by
car load lots to the Kansas City markets. As time went by and finances became
easier he built a substantial home, barns and granary, and put two complete sets
of improvements on his farm.
Mr. Franz is one of the directors of the Farmers Elevator Company at Rozel and
is a stockholder in the State Bank at Burdett. When he moved to Rozel in the
fall of 1909, he erected a large bungalow on his place and has made numerous
other improvements. His home lacks none of the conveniences now of the best city
places. His house is completely modern, heated by furnace, lighted with
acetylene gas, and has running water and bath.
Politically Mr. Franz is a republican. He served as trustee of Grant Township,
as school director of district No. 46, and in 1909 was elected a county
commissioner and spent four years on the board. His associates during that time
were Brinkman, Shady, Zook and Gilkerson. The chief work of the board during his
term was the building of county roads and cement bridges.
Mr. Franz has been twice married. In 1871, about the close of the Franco-Prussian
war, he married Miss Emma Zitzman. She came out to Kansas, and died about five
years after they located on their claim, in 1885. Amanda, their oldest child, is
now a resident of Denver, Colorado, and the wife of George DesPrisay, their
children being George, Peter, Helen and Mary. Emma, wife of Luther Braley of
Alva, Oklahoma, has the following children, Clarence W., Eddie, Hugh, Amelia,
John, George, Maybelle, Richard and Alpha. Hugh, the third child, a farmer in
Pawnee County, married Sarah Beeman, and their children are Dewey, Edith and
Ralph. Amelia, the fourth child, was the wife of William Springel, living in
Republic, Washington, where she died in February, 1918; they had the following
children, Dora, Paul, Lawrence and Lou. Augusta, the fifth child, married Lew
Heaton, who is a missionary of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Honolulu;
they have two children, George and Margie. Albert, the youngest child, is a
Pawnee County farmer, and married Maggie Beeman. Their children are Amanda,
Irvin, John, Laverne and Lola.
On March 17, 1889, at LaCrosse, Kansas, Mr. Franz married Miss Clarissa Smith,
daughter of James E. Smith, mentioned below. Mr. and Mrs. Franz have five
children: Ida May, who graduated in 1917 from the Kansas State Normal; John E.,
who took some courses in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan,
married Irene McElroy and has a daughter, Dorothy May, and is now a practical
farmer; Dr. George, who also studied in the Agricultural College of Kansas, is
now a veterinary for the Government, and is stationed at Omaha, he married Pearl
Aulthouser; Ella, a student in the Agricultural College of Kansas; and Nora.
James E. Smith, who has lived in Pawnee County for over thirty years and is now
retired, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio. September 6, 1843, a son of William
and Lucy A. (Kridler) Smith. His mother was of German descent. William Smith was
born in Virginia, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and spent his last years in
Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He and his wife reared a large family, and several of
the sons were soldiers in the Union army. James E. Smith had a limited country
school education, and when a few days past eighteen he enlisted in Company E of
the Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry. He joined his regiment in Southern Missouri,
saw his first fighting there, and afterwards was on the east side of the
Mississippi and at the siege of Corinth and in the Kentucky campaign against
Bragg. He was in the battle of Stone River, and at Chickamauga was wounded in
the left hip and taken prisoner. He spent several months in Libby prison at
Richmond, and suffered extremely from his wound, gangrene having set in. After
his parole he recuperated in the North and finally rejoined his command in time
to participate in the Atlanta campaign. He was almost constantly under fire from
June 10th to September 5th of 1864. At the end of three years he was granted his
honorable discharge. He joined the Union League in Illinois, this organization
being the origin of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has taken an active part
in the Grand Army.
JOHN A. FRANZ, of Rozel in Pawnee County, is an active farmer and spent the
first thirty-one years of his life in Germany. In the month of February, 1880,
he emigrated from the Fatherland and in the course of the same year arrived in
Pawnee County. Few of the early settlers of this section experienced a more
complete change from their former condition and environment than Mr. Franz. He
had lived in a country where industrial affairs were regulated by centuries of
practice and experience, came out to Western Kansas where the country was still
raw and unimproved, and where civilization had to be built from the ground up.
The prosperity that has followed his efforts is all the more remarkable and
creditable on this account.
Mr. Franz was born August 6, 1849, in Saxony, near Erfurt. His people had lived
in that section for 200 years or more and generation after generation of them
had followed milling and manufacturing. His father, Eberhart Franz, was a miller
and a man of considerable wealth. He married Maria Hoffman. Their children were:
John A., Edward and Emilie. The only one of the family to come to America was Mr.
Franz. He was reared in Germany and acquired a liberal education in what would
correspond to an American high school. He also learned his trade as miller under
his father. When old enough he served his time in the German army in the Light
Cavalry. He was in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71, as a member of the Fourth
Hussars. Most of his work was guard duty, performed at Gravelotte and Sedan.
After he had been in service about a year he was discharged and then returned to
his business as a miller.
In February, 1880, he sailed from Bremen on board the Rhine for New York. His
family followed him after he had acquired settlement in Pawnee County. While his
work in Germany had been as a miller and manufacturer, he had some practical
knowledge of how farming was done, and in combating the special conditions of
Western Kansas he was perhaps not at any greater disadvantage than most of his
neighbors. He paid $200 on a relinquishment on the southwest quarter of section
28, township 20, range 19, and began farming and stock raising. For a time he
occupied the little sod house he found on the quarter section. He at once
engaged in the cattle business and also broke up some land to raise feed. His
initial efforts as a stockman were subject to misfortune, since he lost 200 head
during the blizzard of 1885-86. He gradually recovered from that loss and in the
days of the free range he grazed large herds. He also got into the wheat
industry and for a number of years has grown an extensive acreage. In 1893 he
had 1,800 acres in that crop. That was his crowning disaster as a wheat grower.
The wheat came up but never matured, and his header never went into the fields.
He refused to be discouraged by this experience, and practically every year has
sown wheat. In 1917 Mr. Franz put in 800 acres, the results of which have not
yet appeared. The biggest yield per acre was thirty-five bushels. The best
average yield came in 1914, when he harvested twenty-eight bushels to the acre.
That year he also threshed his heaviest crop, putting about 15,000 bushels
through the separator. Mr. Franz recalls the time when wheat sold in Western
Kansas as low as 35 cents a bushel. He never sold any of his own wheat for less
than 50 cents, and the price has been steadily increasing until it reached what
was long regarded as the wheat grower's ideal, $1 a bushel, and in recent years
has ascended almost to the $2 mark. A bushel of wheat is now worth almost as
much as an acre of ground was when Mr. Franz came to Kansas.
Besides his quarter section Mr. Franz took up a timber claim and improved both
of them. Out of his profits he also dealt extensively in land, buying and
selling. He finally acquired 2 1/2 sections, in sections 20, 28 and 33. He was
responsible for bringing this large acreage under improvements and put two
sections under the plow. As farming became more and more profitable he abandoned
the cattle business on a large scale. His cattle are chiefly of the Shorthorn
and Galloway strains. The easiest money he ever made in Western Kansas came from
buying calves and selling them as two year olds. He was frequently a shipper by
car load lots to the Kansas City markets. As time went by and finances became
easier he built a substantial home, barns and granary, and put two complete sets
of improvements on his farm.
Mr. Franz is one of the directors of the Farmers Elevator Company at Rozel and
is a stockholder in the State Bank at Burdett. When he moved to Rozel in the
fall of 1909, he erected a large bungalow on his place and has made numerous
other improvements. His home lacks none of the conveniences now of the best city
places. His house is completely modern, heated by furnace, lighted with
acetylene gas, and has running water and bath.
Politically Mr. Franz is a republican. He served as trustee of Grant Township,
as school director of district No. 46, and in 1909 was elected a county
commissioner and spent four years on the board. His associates during that time
were Brinkman, Shady, Zook and Gilkerson. The chief work of the board during his
term was the building of county roads and cement bridges.
Mr. Franz has been twice married. In 1871, about the close of the Franco-Prussian
war, he married Miss Emma Zitzman. She came out to Kansas, and died about five
years after they located on their claim, in 1885. Amanda, their oldest child, is
now a resident of Denver, Colorado, and the wife of George DesPrisay, their
children being George, Peter, Helen and Mary. Emma, wife of Luther Braley of
Alva, Oklahoma, has the following children, Clarence W., Eddie, Hugh, Amelia,
John, George, Maybelle, Richard and Alpha. Hugh, the third child, a farmer in
Pawnee County, married Sarah Beeman, and their children are Dewey, Edith and
Ralph. Amelia, the fourth child, was the wife of William Springel, living in
Republic, Washington, where she died in February, 1918; they had the following
children, Dora, Paul, Lawrence and Lou. Augusta, the fifth child, married Lew
Heaton, who is a missionary of the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Honolulu;
they have two children, George and Margie. Albert, the youngest child, is a
Pawnee County farmer, and married Maggie Beeman. Their children are Amanda,
Irvin, John, Laverne and Lola.
On March 17, 1889, at LaCrosse, Kansas, Mr. Franz married Miss Clarissa Smith,
daughter of James E. Smith, mentioned below. Mr. and Mrs. Franz have five
children: Ida May, who graduated in 1917 from the Kansas State Normal; John E.,
who took some courses in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan,
married Irene McElroy and has a daughter, Dorothy May, and is now a practical
farmer; Dr. George, who also studied in the Agricultural College of Kansas, is
now a veterinary for the Government, and is stationed at Omaha, he married Pearl
Aulthouser; Ella, a student in the Agricultural College of Kansas; and Nora.
James E. Smith, who has lived in Pawnee County for over thirty years and is now
retired, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio. September 6, 1843, a son of William
and Lucy A. (Kridler) Smith. His mother was of German descent. William Smith was
born in Virginia, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and spent his last years in
Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He and his wife reared a large family, and several of
the sons were soldiers in the Union army. James E. Smith had a limited country
school education, and when a few days past eighteen he enlisted in Company E of
the Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry. He joined his regiment in Southern Missouri,
saw his first fighting there, and afterwards was on the east side of the
Mississippi and at the siege of Corinth and in the Kentucky campaign against
Bragg. He was in the battle of Stone River, and at Chickamauga was wounded in
the left hip and taken prisoner. He spent several months in Libby prison at
Richmond, and suffered extremely from his wound, gangrene having set in. After
his parole he recuperated in the North and finally rejoined his command in time
to participate in the Atlanta campaign. He was almost constantly under fire from
June 10th to September 5th of 1864. At the end of three years he was granted his
honorable discharge. He joined the Union League in Illinois, this organization
being the origin of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has taken an active part
in the Grand Army.