Barton County KS Archives Biographies.....Fee, William James 1838 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com November 9, 2005, 10:09 pm

Author: Great Bend Tribune

WILLIAM JAMES FEE

TO attempt the biography of William James Fee in the space at command would be
imp;ssible, because he has probably lived more in his allotted time than most of
the resident farmers of Barton County. He was born June 16th, 1838, on a farm
near Laurel, Clearmont County, Ohio, and in 1859, when twenty-one years of age,
was attracted by the gold excitement in California, and decided that that was
the shortest route to attain both fortune and fame among those with whom he had
grown to manhood. An expedition was fitting out in Omaha, Nebraska, to cross the
plains by ox teams via the Northern Platte route, and this he and his companions
joined and consumed six weary months in the journey. The California-Oregon trail
was conceded to be a favorable passway, but those who made the trip recount many
hardships and the written history of that time proves that these who made the
trip possessed stout hearts. In haying time Honey Lake Valley, California, was
reached and Mr. Fee piled hay until fall and then took up placer mining for a
company, and was launched in the business that he had crossed many weary miles
to attempt, and his eyes at last feasted on the gold that had lured, and which
has been the making and unmaking of man in all ages. A farm hand in Ohio
received at that time $8 per month, and $2.50 a day mining seemed a fortune for
a time, but as the golden microbe assumed dominion, and as he had learned during
his experience how to do all classes of mining; prospect work was taken up with
more or less favorable results. The year 1862 found him in Idaho, where he
worked for others, prospected on his own account, owned a pack train which made
regular trips out of Boise City; and at one time owned a flume in California
that conducted water to the mines. His mining experience covered districts in
California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and in the Black Hills in Dakota, during the
excitement of 1875-6, and ended at Tombstone, Arizona, in 1886. During these
years of search he was rewarded many times and had fortune within his grasp; but
owing to many causes—the lack of sufficient capital being the greatest
obstacle—he was forced to abandon them to the next claimant, who frequently made
his fortune. One instance recalled sold for $100,000 after slight additional
development, and there were others that promised as well. His labors were often
in a country overrrun with hostile Indians, and where if their claims had any
shadow of right in the eyes of the government at Washington the regular troops
took the side of the Redman and the miner was at the mercy of both factions. The
reward, however, while fought for in contests that tried the man, netted as much
in dollars as could have been earned in a life time of peace on an Ohio farm,
and Mr. Fee is now well satisfied to rest at ease on his Kansas acres and
recount what he has passed through.

   Satisfied that he could not "buck nature single-handed" in February, 1886,
Wm. J. Fee, wife and son came to Barton County and purchased the right to a
homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, entered by one Hemmingway, seven miles
west from Great Bend. This he afterward proved up in his own name, and later
buying another quarter, he now owns and cultivates a half section. It is well
improved and in a high state of cultivation.

   William James Fee and Miss Elizabeth T. Haines, of New Richmond, Clearmont
County, Ohio, were married in September, 1881, at Santa Fe New Mexico, and have
one son, Charles Haines Fee, 27, who resides with them.



Additional Comments:
From:
Biographical History Of Barton County


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