Dickinson Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and
Biographical Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and
Marion Counties-Alonzo L. Vickers
Portrait and Biographical
Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and Marion
Counties
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1893
ALONZO L. VICKERS, who is engaged in
general farming on section 27, Flora
Township, has been a resident of Dickinson
County since 1877, and as he has been
one of its leading agriculturists, he well deserves
representation in this volume. He was born in
Fayette County, Ohio, on the 27th of October,
1837, and is a brother of James and a son of
Lorenzo Vickers, both of whom are represented
elsewhere in this work. His mother died when he
was only six months old and he was left to the
care of his grandmother, Mrs. Mary Vickers, who
was a resident of Muskingum County, Ohio. He
attended the common schools of the neighborhood
until seventeen years of age, and then started out to
earn his own livelihood, which he did working as
a farm-hand by the month.
In the meantime a war cloud was gathering
over this country and at last burst upon Ft.
Sumter. Mr. Vickers, prompted by patriotic impulses,
enlisted in 1861 as a member of Company
G, Thirty-second Ohio Infantry. He participated
in many important battles, including the engagements
at Greenbrier River, Winchester, Harper's
Ferry, Vicksburg, Resaca, Atlanta, Goldsboro and
Savannah, Ga. His term of service having expired
in December, 1864, he re-enlisted as a veteran .and
continued as one of the defenders of the Union
until the South had Laid down arms. At one time
he had been taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry,
when Gen. Miles surrendered, but was not imprisoned.
However, he was on parole for three
months before he was exchanged. In all his service
he was never wounded and was only sick a
short time. Only two of his company answered to
as many roll-calls as Mr. Vickers. When the war
was over and the country no longer needed his
services, he was honorably discharged at Louisville,
Ky., in 1865, as a faithful and valiant
soldier, who had followed the Old Flag for four
years.
In the year succeeding his return from the army,
Mr. Vickers was married, October 7, to Sarah Llewellyn,
and unto them were born the following children:
Cora, twenty-five years of age, is the wife of
Alex Young, Jr., a resident farmer of Flora Township;
Charles, aged twenty-three is at home; Emmett
is living in Missouri; Mary, a young lady of eighteen
years, is in Ohio; and Hattie, aged seventeen;
Ella, aged fifteen; Rosie, twelve years of age;
Harrison Blaine, a lad of eight; and Maggie, a
little maiden of seven summers, are still with their
parents. The mother of this family died August
28, 1884. Mr. Vickers was again married, October
3, 1887, his second union being with Miss Annie
Smart, daughter of James and Anna Smart, the
former a native of Scotland and the latter of England.
They have one child, Vieva.
Mr. Vickers continued to engage in farming in
Ohio until 1877, when he came to Dickinson
County, Kan., and located in Flora Township.
From a wild tract of prairie land of one hundred
and sixty acres, he has developed an excellent
farm, now highly improved and cultivated. In
politics, he is a stanch Republican, talking an
active interest in the success and upbuilding of
that party, whose principles he warmly advocates.
He is a well-informed man, an enterprising farmer
and valued citizen of the community.
(c) 2009 Sheryl McClure for
Dickinson County KS AHGP