Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Maitland, Henry 1841 - living in 1917
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 23, 2005, 3:15 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen

HENRY MAITLAND.

    One of the best known residents of Summerfield, Marshall county, is Henry
Maitland, who was born in Middlesex, England, on January 13, 1841, and is the
son of James H. and Mary M. (Dupleir) Maitland. The father was born in 1810. The
parents were also natives of that country; there they received their education
in the public schools, grew to maturity and there they died. The father was a
great traveler. He had independent means and visited many countries, among them
this country. It was in 1826 that the father, James Maitland, came to the United
States, and remained here for some time. He returned to England and married in
1839. He intended to return to America, but he died in England in 1867. James
and Mary Maitland were of good families, who were held in the highest regard in
the community in which they lived. They were ever active in the social and the
religious life of the district, and were honest and thrifty people, who took the
keenest interest in the moral and educational welfare of their children.

    Henry Maitland received his education in the schools of England and there
spent his early life. In 1854 he came to America and located at Haverhill,
Massachusetts, where he was employed as a laborer. He later came to Illinois and
in 1863 he enlisted in the First Missouri Light Artillery and did good service
with the Union forces until the close of the Civil War. He was at the battle of
Black River near Vicksburg, and was in the Atlanta campaign with General
Sherman, and fought with the forces of General Thomas at Franklin and Nashville,
two of the hardest-fought and most destructive battles of the war. After the
war, Mr. Maitland located at Lebanon, Illinois, where he was married on December
29, 1865, to Mary Douglas Clark, who was a native of County Down, Ireland, where
she was born on September 14, 1840. After their marriage they continued to live
at Lebanon and at Trenton, Illinois, until 1869, when they came to Kansas, and
established their home on a farm near Irving, Blue Rapids, Marshall county, and
there Mr. Maitland engaged in general farming and stock raising, with much
success until 1898, when he came to Summerfield, and was at that time the second
man to settle on what is now the site of the city of Summerfield. The old Pawnee
court house had been moved here, and is now the residence of J. W. Woodward and
family. On their arrival, Mrs. Maitland was startled by the local conditions and
it was a wonder to her what they were going to do. Mr. Maitland had prepared a
small house, fourteen by sixteen feet, in which he, his wife and five children
were to live. Not alone was the house to serve as a residence, but as an office
for the father, who had been elected a justice of the peace. The tiny shack was
a decided contrast for Mrs. Maitland, who had just left a comfortable home on
the farm, near Irving. There was a rush to Summerfield at that time, owing to
the possibility of the town becoming a railroad division point and property was
selling rapidly. Mr. Maitland says that he purchased five hundred dollars' worth
of lots at the time and did not know where his property was, owing to imperfect
descriptions. The town built up rapidly, most of the building being done on
Front, or Railroad street and Main street was at that time a big ditch, and as
such remained until after the big fire some years ago. After the fire the dirt
and trash were thrown in the ditch and thus made Main street one of the best
roads in the country. It was then that the business houses began to be located
on this street.

    During his residence in Illinois, after the war, Mr. Maitland devoted three
years of his life to teaching, then after locating in Blue Rapids township he
engaged in farming, also teaching. In the early seventies he taught at the Lamb
school house near Irving. Since taking up his residence in Summerfield he has
held the position of justice of the peace. He was re-elected in 1916, and had no
opposition, as both Democrats and Republicans voted for him, he being a popular
man and competent for the position that he has held for so many years. He and
his wife are active members of the United Presbyterian church and have long been
prominent in the social and religious life of the district. Mr. Maitland is a
member of the Grand Army of the Republic and holds his membership in the post at
Irving. He is also a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights
of Pythias and the Eastern Star. For thirty years he has served as secretary of
the Masonic lodge, he having been secretary of the lodge at Irving before
serving in that capacity at Summerfield. He served for four years as trustee of
Blue Rapids township, and since coming to Summerfield has served as a member of
the school board for many years.

He taught school for a time in Blue Rapids township, and is the oldest living
school teacher in Marshall county, he having taught in the county as early as 1870.

    Henry and Mary Maitland are the parents of the following children: Clark, a
barber of Kirksville, Missouri; Margaret Walters, whose husband is a real-estate
dealer of Abeline, Kansas; Martha Ryan, of Park, Gove county, Kansas, where Mr.
Ryan is engaged in the hardware business; Edward, of Bogart, Georgia. Mr. and
Mrs. Maitland celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on December 29,
1915, at which time they received the congratulations of the resident population
of their home city. Many substantial presents were given them in token of the
high regard in which they are held by the home folks. Mr. Maitland is known as
the father of Summerfield, as he has beeji identified with the best interests of
the place since it was a wild tract of land. He has always given his best
efforts to its growth and development, and today takes the greatest pride in its
growth and development.


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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