Marshall-Washington County KS Archives Biographies.....Green, Joseph 1850 - living in 1917
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 23, 2005, 5:57 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen

JOSEPH GREEN.

    Among the many well-known and prominent residents of Waterville, Marshall
county, a history of the county would not be complete without mention of Joseph
Green, one of the substantial retired farmers and the owner of five hundred and
sixty acres of splendid land in Waterville township, who was born in Nutbourne,
Sussex, England, on November 20, 1850. He is the son of James and Sara (Bourn)
Green, both of whom were natives of England, where they were educated in the
public schools and spent their entire lives. They were the parents of nine
children, eight of whom grew to maturity, namely: Emma Wolffe, now living in
England; William, a resident of Brooklyn, New York; George, in Africa; Alice,
who resides at Asbury Park, New Jersey; Joseph, the subject of this sketch;
Arthur, who died in Africa; Lucy Hohn, a resident of Waterville, Kansas, and
Walter, a resident of Canada. The parents were well-known in their home
community and. were prominent in the social and the religious life of the
district in which they lived. James Green died in 1894, aged seventy-nine years;
his widow survived until 1901, at her death being eighty-eight years old.

    Joseph Green received his education in the public schools of England, but
was never able to attend school for any great length of time, on account of
assisting his father, who was a butcher. At the age of fourteen years he went to
work for a family as a sort of chore boy, and for his services he received sixty
cents per week, with board. When he reached the age of nineteen years he was
given the opportunity to come to the United States with a friend, who was an
excellent carpenter. He accepted the offer and in 1869 he left his native clime
in a sailing vessel and after a voyage of four weeks he landed in the United
States. The fare to the new land was twenty dollars, with very poor food and
accommodations. When he arrived in this country, he was met by a brother, who
was a butcher in Brooklyn. At that time Mr. Green was possessed of but
forty-eight cents and his first job was in a hardware store, where he earned
four dollars per week. This meager sum would not pay his board and keep him, so
he engaged in working on a sewer at two dollars per day, and continued at that
work as long as it lasted. He then worked in a livery stable at nine dollars per
month and board, which was increased to fifteen dollars. In the spring of 1870
he came to Kansas, and here he located at Waterville. The carpenter with whom he
came to this country was then homesteading on Swede creek, seven miles south of
Waterville, and here he obtained work for the summer. Later in the year he
homesteaded one hundred and twenty acres on Swede creek, but he lost eighty
acres of the tract, which was transferred to the St. Joe & Denver Railway
Company, and the remaining forty acres be sold for one hundred dollars. He was
then employed by George Wright, and worked for him until he had money enough to
buy a team of oxen, which cost him seventy-five dollars, and these he later
traded for a team of mules. He then purchased a drilling machine and was engaged
in the well business for some time. He continued in this work until 1874, when
he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Cottage Hill township for
six hundred and fifty dollars. He paid one hundred and forty dollars in cash,
which he raised on his crop-of wheat, and had seven years to. pay the balance.
The next seven years were busy ones, for in meeting his payments on the land and
making the necessary improvements on the place, he had a hard time. Hogs were
selling at two dollars per hundred, potatoes at ten cents per bushel and corn at
twelve cents per bushel. At the same time farm machinery was very high and
interest was fifteen to thirty per cent. When breaking his farm and making
improvements, Mr. Green experienced many hardships and lost a large part of a
crop of corn by prairie fire. During those early days he boarded with a Mr.
Thomas and that was his best home until after he was married.

    In the fall of 1885 Mr. Green returned to his native land and there married
Elizabeth Williams, and in the spring of 1886 they came to the home farm in
Cottage Hill township. Here three children were born, two of whom died in
infancy. The family remained on the home farm, where Mr. Green engaged
successfully in general farming and stock raising. During that time he
thoroughly developed his farm and made many valuable improvements. In 1893,
owing to his health failing, he moved to Waterville, where he engaged in the
buying and the shipping of stock, in which he continued until the death of his
wife in 1899. He then retired from the grain and stock business and sold his
farm, which he had greatly improved, and purchased a farm of two hundred and
forty acres two miles east of Waterville. In 1900 he and his daughter visited
England and again viewed the scenes of his early life, and after eighteen months
they returned to this country. In January, 1902, Mr. Green was united in
marriage to Nellie Gilbert, of the state of New York, and to this union two
children were born, one of whom died in infancy.

    In 1904 Mr. Green purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land in
Washington county, Kansas, and became known as one of the prominent and
substantial men of the district. In 1911 he moved to his present home in
Waterville, where he has a splendid modern house and one of the beautiful homes
of the city. His first wife, Elizabeth (William) Green, was born in England in
1848. The only living child by this marriage is Alice Steel, who is a resident
of Washington county, where Mr. Steel is successfully engaged in general farming
and stock raising on his splendid farm, six miles southwest of Waterville. Mr.
and Mrs. Steel are the parents of four boys, all of whom are at home with their
parents.

    Nellie (Gilbert) Green, the second wife of Mr. Green, is the daughter of
Henry and Martha (Gardiner) Gilbert, both of whom were natives of England, where
they received their education and as children came to the United States, and
with their parents located in the state of New York, where they lived to the end
of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Green are the parents of one child, Arthur, a lad
of twelve years and now attending the home school.

    Joseph Green is identified with the Republican party and has ever taken an
active interest in local affairs and is one of the prominent members of the
local lodge of- the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Waterville. He and his
wife are among the prominent members of the local social circles of their home
town, where they are held in the highest regard.


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/green90bs.txt

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