Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Cain, Peter S. 1871 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 5, 2007, 6:28 pm

Author: Emma E. Forter

PETER S. CAIN.

    Peter S. Cain, one of the well-known and successful farmers of Guittard
township, Marshall county, was born in a log cabin on the present farm on June
27, 1871, and is the son of Edward and Johanna (FitzGerald) Cain, natives of
Ireland, where they were educated, grew to maturity and were later married.
While yet young they came to the United States, where they became pioneers of
Marshall county, and here they spent their last days, honored and respected
citizens, and where they had much to do with the general growth and development
of the township and the countyy.

    .Edward Cain was born in County Meath, Ireland, in 1826, and at the age of
twenty-six years came to this county and located in the state of Massachusetts,
where he remained for five years, becoming a citizen of the United States. In
1857 he moved to Illinois, where he remained until 1858, when he came to
Leavenworth, Kansas, where he lived until the next year when he came to Marshall
county. Here he pre-empted a quarter section of land in section 17, in what
later became Guittard township, and thus became one of the earliest landowners
in Marshall county. At Atchison, Kansas, he was married in 1861, and during the
Civil War he was engaged with the government in the steamboat service between
St. Joseph and Kansas City. As a lad and young man in his native country he had
learned the lesson of economy and during his service on the steamboat he saved
his wages so that he might improve the farm he had obtained. In August, 1865,
after the close of the war, he brought his family to his claim and here they
established their permanent, home. He built a log house and stable and at once
began the task of developing the farm according to the high standard that he has
set. By hard work and close economy, together with close application to
business, he prospered and he soon enjoyed a large measure of success as a
general farmer and stockman. He increased his land holdings and became the owner
of four hundred and forty acres of most excellent land, all of which he put
under a high state of cultivation. He built a fine house and other good, and
substantial farm buildings and here he made his home until the time of his death
on April 20, 1894. Mr. Cain was associated with the Democratic party and always
took a keen interest in local affairs. He assisted-in the organization of
Guittard township and in the organization of his home school district, the
school house having been built on his farm. He and his wife were devout members
of the Catholic church, and saw the little parish grow from a very few families
to one of large proportions, and became a great factor for good in the community.

    On December 22, 1861, at Atchison, Kansas, Edward Cain was united in
marriage to Johanna FitzGerald, who was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in
1832, and who came to the United States in 1851 and located at Baltimore,
Maryland, where she remained for six years, after which she was a resident of
Chicago for two years, when in 1858 she came to Atchison, Kansas, where she met
and married Mr. Cain. To this union the following children were born: Peter S.;
James H., who married Mary A. Cook and resides at Beattie, where he is engaged
in the stock business; Mary E., who married Henry G. Frisch, of near Billings,
Oklahoma: John F., a railroad conductor, married Mary A. Scanlon and they reside
at Lincoln, Nebraska, and Patrick W., the first born, who married Mary A.
Schaaf, and is now one of the best-known and successful farmers and stockmen of
Marshall county. Mrs. Johanna Cain was of a most retiring disposition, though
most kind and generous to her neighbors and friends. Her life as a pioneer on
the plains of Kansas, was a worthy one and at her death on November 12, 1911,
she was mourned by a large circle of friends, who had known and learned to love
her during her many years of residence in the community.

    Peter S. Cain received his education in the local schools and grew to
manhood on the home farm, where as a lad and young man he assisted with the farm
work. He also attended school at Beattie, in the old building, a part of which
is now used as a coal house for the school. After completing his education, he
was a member of the police force at Lincoln, Nebraska, from 1906 to 1907, when
he resigned and returned to his father's farm. The place being at that time held
as an estate, he and his brother purchased the interest of three of the heirs,
Peter S. obtaining one hundred and twenty acres. This he farms, in addition to
forty acres of rented land of his sisters and one hundred and twenty acres of
his mother's estate; he also owns one hundred and sixty acres in Texas. He is a
progressive farmer and successful stockman and is recognized as one of the
substantial men of the township. He is a shareholder of the Farmers Telephone
Company and has always taken a keen interest in local affairs. As a Democrat, he
was appointed deputy sheriff of Marshall county in 1906, which position he held
for a number of years, and is still serving under the present sheriff, having
served in all ten years in this capacity.

    On January 4, 1904, Peter S. Cain was united in marriage to Catherine
Scanlon, who was born on June 12, 1881, in Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland,
where she resided until she was twelve years of age. At that time she came to
the United States and made her home with her sister, Mary, who was the wife of
John F. Cain, a brother of Peter S. Cain. Catherine (Scanlon) Cain is the
daughter of James and Ann (Davey) Scanlon, both of whom were natives of Ireland,
where they spent their lives and where they died before Mrs. Cain came to this
country. After coming to this country Mrs. Cain engaged as a milliner and is a
graduate of the Madison Hunt's Millinery School of Chicago, Illinois. She was
engaged in her work in the city of Chicago for a number of years, after which
she returned to Lincoln, Nebraska, where she was employed in Charles Bryan's
printing and publishing establishment and also on the Freie Press, a German
publication. She is a woman of unusual ability, and of high moral and
intellectual capabilities.

    To Peter S. and Catherine Cain have been born the following children: Emmett
P., born on May 31, 1912; John R., August 15, 1914; Retta Rose, September 19,
1916, and a twin to Rita Rose, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Cain are
earnest members of the Catholic church and are prominent in the social life of
the community, where they are held in the highest regard and esteem by all who
know them. They take the greatest interest in the welfare of their children, and
their home life is one of the most pleasant in the county. They take much
interest in-the growth and the development of the educational and moral growth
of the home district, and their efforts are always exerted for the promotion of
those enterprises that will tend to make the township and the county a better
and more ideal home district.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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