Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Dexter, Thomas B. 1841 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com May 10, 2007, 7:06 pm Author: Emma E. Forter (1917) THOMAS B. DEXTER. Thomas B. Dexter, one of the pioneers of Marshall county, for many years justice of the peace in and for Center township and the proprietor of a well-kept farm in that township, where he and his family have a very comfortable home, is a native of the Dominion of Canada, but has been a resident of Kansas and of this county since 1870, having therefore been a witness to and a participant in the development of this part of the state since pioneer days. He was born on June 19, 1841, son of Asahel and Jane (Whitfield) Dexter, the latter of whom was of the same family of Whitfields to which the great English divine, George Whitfield, who founded the sect of Calvinistic Methodists, belonged. She was but a child when her parents emigrated from England to Canada and she wore wooden shoes at the time she crossed the ocean. In 1870 Asahel Dexter and his family left Canada and came to Kansas, settling in Marshall county, among the pioneers of this county. Thomas B. Dexter came here in April, 1870, and a week after his arrival homesteaded a tract of eighty acres north of Reedville and proceeded to develop the same. Four years later he married and established his home there, remaining on that homestead until 1880, when he moved to a half section of land a mile south of his original location. This latter tract, a quarter of a section of school land and a quarter of a section of railroad land, he had bought with money earned as commissions for the sale of lands of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. He paid four dollars an acre for the half section, and in 1910 sold the identical tract for one hundred dollars an acre. Mr. Dexter early took an active part in the affairs of his home township and from the beginning of things there was regarded as one of the leaders in the new community's activities. It was he who circulated the petition for the establishment of a postoffice at Home in the winter of 1872-73 and when the office was created it would have been called Dexter, in his honor, save for the fact that there already had been established a Dexter postoffice in the southern part of this state. As Mr. Dexter prospered in his farming operations he gradually added to his land holdings until he became the owner of eight hundred acres of land. As his children married and started out for them-selves he gave each an "eighty" and now holds for himself, in the pleasant "evening time" of his life, only the eighty surrounding his home. In 1907 he bought a quarter of a section for four thousand dollars. After selling the half section above referred to in 1910 he bought a half section, including his present home place, paying for the same fifty-three dollars an acre. He has taken advantage of rising land values and has made money in his real-estate transactions. Politically, Mr. Dexter is an "independent." He has ever given close attention to local civic affairs, for years served as a justice of the peace and for twenty-five years was a member of the school board, during that period doing much for the advancement of the cause of education in his district. He and his wife were among the charter members of the Marshall Center Baptist church, and when the Baptist church at Winifred was organized in 1910, Mr. Dexter was one of the leaders in that movement. Fraternally, Mr. Dexter is a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and for years has taken a warm interest in the affairs of the same. On October 4, 1874, Thomas B. Dexter was united in marriage to Emma L. Smith, who was born in Pennsylvania, August 3, 1856, daughter of Nathan C. and Amanda J. (Adams) Smith, natives, respectively, of New York and Pennsylvania, the former born on June 29, 1820, and the latter, March 13, 1835, who came to Kansas in September, 1870, and located in Wells township, this county. Mr. Smith bought a homesteader's right to a tract of land five and one-half miles northwest of Frankfort and there established his home, remaining there until 1894, when, under the administration of Governor Llewellen, he was made overseer of the state farm at Ossawattomie. Upon the completion of that service he made his home at Horton, where he died on March 12, 1900. His widow survived him more than four years, her death occurring on December 1, 1904. Nathan S. Smith was an honored veteran of the Civil War and was one of the leading members of the Grand Army of the Republic in this section. In September, 1861, he enlisted for service in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and with that command served until the close of the war. During this service Mr. Smith participated in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, including Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Winchester and the campaigns through Virginia and Maryland. At one time he captured Mosby, the famous guerilla chief, but did not recognize him. He took him to headquarters, where he also escaped identication and he was exchanged as a common soldier and permitted to go. To Thomas B. and Emma L. (Smith) Dexter ten children have been born, namely: Minnie, who married Alvin Watkins and lives in Center township; Dane O., also a resident of Center township; Gertrude, who married George Denton and lives in Rock township; Ray, who married Mabel Newton, of Marysville, and now lives at Siloam Springs, Arkansas; Thorne, who married Emma Hull, of Frankfort, and lives in Center township; Olga, wife of Roy Evans, of Washington, this state; Earl, who died in his third year: Arnott, a minister of the Baptist church, who married Grace Loomis, of Chicago, and is now preaching at Iron Mountain, Michigan; Ellis, who married Bessie Banks and now lives at Whiting, this state, and Lorne, at home. 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) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/dexter413gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 6.5 Kb