Dickinson Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and
Biographical Record of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and
Marion Counties-John W. Hoover
Portrait and Biographical
Record of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and Marion
Counties
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1893
JOHN W. HOOVER, County Commissioner
of Dickinson County, residing on section
23, Lincoln Township, was born on the 14th
of August, 1840, in Marion County, Ind.,
where the days of his boyhood and youth were
quietly passed, no event of special importance occurring
during his childhood. In 1861, however,
he donned the blue, and responding to the country's
call for troops enlisted at Indianapolis in the
Eleventh Indiana Infantry for three years' service.
His duty was first in Mississippi, Tennessee, and in
the Cumberland Mountains, and he took part in
all the engagements of the campaign under Gen.
Lew Wallace. His command then joined the division
engaged in the Banks' expedition. At the
battle of Port Gibson, Mr. Hoover was twice
wounded, and afterward served on detached duty
in the commissary department during the last
year of the war. While in New Orleans, he had an
attack of smallpox and was never afterward fit for
active service. When the war was over he was
honorably discharged in Indianapolis.
While home on a furlough, Mr. Hoover was
united in marriage with Miss Mary Sylvester,
in Marion County, Ind., December 20, 1864. Her
death occurred May 16, 1870. After six years,
Mr. Hoover was again married, on the 17th of December,
1873, his second union being with Miss
Agnes Clark, a native of Canada. They have two
daughters, Cassie and Mary, intelligent and entertaining
young ladies, who possess more than
average ability.
Immediately after the war, Mr. Hoover came to
Kansas and purchased one hundred and sixty acres
of land in Lincoln Township, where he has since
made his home. The boundaries of his farm have
been extended, however, until it comprises two
hundred and fifty acres, all bottom land. His home
is pleasantly situated about four miles west of
Abilene. Mr. Hoover engages in general farming
and stock-raising and feeds from one hundred to
two hundred head of cattle each year and the same
number of hogs. He has about fifty acres planted
in corn, and in his business has been very successful,
accumulating a comfortable competency.
Mr. Hoover is a member of the Odd Fellows'
Society and his wife and daughters are members
of the Baptist Church. In 1889, he was elected a
member of the Board of County Commissioners on
the Republican ticket, and has proved himself an
able, competent officer, having in the discharge of
his duties combined judgment with progressive
ideas and sterling integrity. The confidence of
his friends is well deserved, for his life has ever
been an honorable and upright one. His duties of
citizenship he faithfully discharges, as when in the
days of war his country called upon him to do
battle in her behalf.
(c) 2009 Sheryl McClure for
Dickinson County KS AHGP