Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Drumm, William M. 1847 - ************************************************ 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 31, 2007, 4:15 pm Author: Emma E. Forter (1917) WILLIAM M. DRUMM. William M. Drumm, one of Marshall county's best-known and most substantial landowners and the proprietor of a fine farm in Bigelow township, is a native of the old Buckeye state and has been a resident of this county since 1883, when he came over here from Missouri and settled on the place where he has now been long established and where he and his family are very comfortably situated. He was born on a farm in Logan county, Ohio, January 17, 1848, the fifth in order of birth of the ten children born to his parents, Samuel H. and Mary Jane (Holmes) Drumm, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia, whose last days were spent in Illinois. Of their ten children, five sons are still living, three sons and two daughters being deceased. Samuel H. Drumm was the son and only child of John and Frances (Hanson) Drumm, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the state of Ohio. John Drumm left his native Germany with his parents, en route to the United States. The parents died on board ship on the way over and upon his arrival in this country he settled in Virginia, later moving to Ohio. He enlisted for service upon the declaration of war against England in 1812 and rendered valiant service during the second American war of independence, but was compelled to suffer the humiliation of surrender under General Hull at Detroit. Samuel H. Drumm grew up in Ohio and there married Mary Jane Holmes, who was born in Virginia in 1818, a daughter of Nathaniel and Betty (Whitley) Holmes, the former of whom also was a soldier during the War of 1812. Some time after his marriage Samuel H. Drumm moved to Illinois, settling on a farm in Edgar county, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1901, he then being eighty-four years of age. His widow survived him until 1904. William M. Drumm was but a child when his parents moved to Illinois from his native Ohio and there he grew to manhood on a farm, remaining there until he reached his majority, when, in 1869, he went to Missouri, where he began working at farm labor, later becoming engaged on county bridge work. After his marriage in 1874 he began farming on his own account, on a rented place, but the next year, in 1875, ne bought a forty-acre farm in Nodaway county, that state, where he made his home until 1882, in which year he sold out his holdings in Missouri and with his family and some necessary household articles drove over into Gage county, Nebraska, leading a cow behind his covered wagon, with a view to buying a tract of Indian land that had just been opened to settlement. He found the price of that land too high, however, and the next year, in 1883, fitted out another covered wagon and drove on down into Kansas and settled in his present location in section 16 of Bigelow township, this county, where he bought land and where he ever since has been established, now owning two hundred and twenty acres in the home tract in section 16 and the north half of the northwest quarter of section 22 and the west half of the southwest quarter of section 15. When Mr. Drumm bought his home place in this county the same was partly broke and there was a log cabin on it. He built an addition to that humble house and lived in the same for a year or two, at the end of which time he moved to the village of Bigelow in order to secure for his children better, advantages in the way of schooling, continuing, however, to farm his place and to improve and develop the same. In 1892 he moved back to the farm, built a new house and made other essential improvements and has lived there ever since, now having one of the best-established farm plants in that part of the county. Mr. Drumm is a Democrat and has ever given his thoughtful attention to local political affairs. He was a former member of the school board at Bigelow and in 1916 was a member of the Democratic county central committee, representing his home township. In 1874, while living in Nodaway county, Missouri, William M. Drumm was united in marriage to Mary Lynch, who was born in that county on February 14, 1852, a daughter of Thomas and Lizzie (Mercer) Lynch, natives of Kentucky, and to this union eight children have been born, three of whom died in infancy, the Others being as follow: Alta, who married Charles Phillips, now living in Garfield county, Oklahoma, and two children, Vera and Milton E.; Odessa, who married Lee Fraker, a bookkeeper, living at Kansas City, Missouri, and has one child a daughter, Helen; Charles E., who is now conducting a gold-cure institute at Grand Island, Nebraska, in partnership with Charles Judd; Mary, who married Joseph Wasser, of Frankfort, this county, and has one child, a son, Garwood, and Clarence Milton, who is now at home assisting his father in the management of the farm. Clarence M. Drumm was graduated from the normal school at Grand Island and later taught in that institution. During his school days he achieved considerable note as an athlete and for some time was a baseball player, attached to the Nebraska state league of baseball clubs. Charles E. Drumm (called Ed), taught school for ten years and in 1908 was elected county superintendent of Marshall county. He served for four years before going into the gold-cure business. For forty-two years William M. Drumm has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, now affiliated with the lodge of that order at Irving, and has ever taken a warm interest in the affairs of that ancient order. He also is a member of the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen and takes much interest in the affairs of that order. 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/drumm536gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 6.4 Kb