Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Pauley, Roley S. 1849 - ************************************************ 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 18, 2007, 6:35 pm Author: Emma E. Forter (1917) ROLEY S. PAULEY. The Hon. Roley S. Pauley, former state senator from this district, former county treasurer and one of the most extensive landowners and stockmen in Marshall county, now living on his fine farm in Guittard township, this county, is a native of the old Hoosier state, but has been a resident of Kansas since 1878, in which year he came to Marshall county, and has thus been actively identified with the development of this part of the state since pioneer days. He was born on a farm in Monroe county, Indiana, June 23, 1849, son of Solomon and Americus (Smock) Pauley, the former of whom was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and the latter at Bloomington, in Monroe county, Indiana. In 1855 the Pauley family moved from Indiana to Iowa and settled in Monroe county, in that latter state, where Solomon Pauley died on October 18, 1892. Roley S. Pauley was about six years of age when his parents moved from Indiana to Iowa and he was reared on a farm in the latter state, receiving his elementary schooling in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, supplementing the same by a course in a business college at Burlington, Iowa. In 1878 he came to Kansas and rented a farm in Rock township, where, in company with Henry C. Boggs, he "batched it" for two years, until his marriage in 1881, after which he bought a farm in Guittard township and there established his home. He later bought the farm he had first rented and on that place his eldest son is now living. When Mr. Pauley came to Marshall county he had four old horses and a wagon and little else, hence his rise to his present state of good fortune has been due to his own efforts, aided by his wife, a daughter of pioneer parents and who has been a most competent helpmate in all her husband's undertakings. From the very beginning of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Pauley have worked together and have prospered together. During the early years of their life on the farm, Mrs. Pauley thought nothing of going into the fields and making "a hand", and even after the babies were toddling about her feet she continued to aid in the field work. She recalls that at one time, she then having two small children, it became necessary for her to lend her assistance in the field driving a corn-stalk cutter. She fastened a box onto it and in this box she tucked the babies safely away, thus driving with them all day. Prosperity presently attended these admirably combined efforts and now the Pauleys have more than one thousand acres of valuable land, including a wheat farm over in Graham county on which, in the summer of 1916, there was raised six thousand bushels of wheat. The Pauleys have a beautiful home on their farm in Guittard township, have a fine family of children and are very pleasantly and very comfortably situated, long having been recognized as one of the most substantial and influential families in the county. Mr. Pauley early began raising standard live stock and for years fed cattle for the market, later taking up general farming, though continuing to engage extensively in the raising of cattle, and has done very well. He is president of the hog and cattle department of the Marshall County Fair Association, is a stockholder in that association and one of the most active promoters of the same. In addition to his extensive agricultural and live-stock interests, Mr. Pauley also has other interests and has for years been regarded as one of the most prominent factors in the general business life of the community. He was one of the organizers of the Bremen State Bank at Bremen, of the Citizens State Bank at Marysville and of the State Bank at Bigelow, but has recently disposed of those interests, his only banking connection at present being as a stockholder and member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Beattie. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Mutual Telephone Company and of the Farmers Union Elevator Company at Beattie. Mr. Pauley is a Republican and for many years has been looked upon as one of the leaders of that party in this part of the state. Since 1885 he has been a member of the school board in his home district, which he helped to organize, and has been treasurer of the same all these years. In 1906 he was elected treasurer of Marshall county and in 1908 was re-elected, thus serving for two terms of two years each, during which time he and his family made their home in Marysville, tne county seat, returning to the farm at the conclusion of his official service. In 1912 Mr. Pauley was elected state senator from the nineteenth Kansas senatorial district and served in the state Senate during the sessions of 1913 and 1915, rendering valuable service not only to his district, but to the state at large, his service as a member of the committees on live stock, fish and game and hygiene, proving of particular value. For years Mr. Pauley has been an active party worker and has been a frequent delegate to county, state and congressional conventions. On December 22, 1881, Roley S. Pauley was united in marriage to-Nora E. Totten, who was born on September 22, 1865, in a log cabin on a pioneer farm on the banks of Vermillion river, two miles west of her present home, a daughter of Joseph and Susan Totten, who had come to this county from Illinois in 1858, thus having been among the very earliest settlers of Marshall county. Joseph Totten was a carpenter and helped build the first houses in Marysville and at Frankfort. At the time he settled here the nearest trading point was at Leavenworth and he would haul his grain to that point in the fall, returning with a load of provisions sufficient for the coming year. During the early years of his residence here he was actively engaged in carpentering during the season for such work and his wife and children looked after affairs on the developing farm. In time the Tottens prospered and became the owners of a fine farm of two hundred acres. Joseph Totten was one of the first trustees of Guittard township, serving at a time when that township comprised one-fourth of Marshall county, and served in that capacity for several terms, performing a most excellent service during the formative period of the county's civic life. He died in 1892 and his widow survived him for ten years, her death occurring in 1902. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom Mrs. Pauley was the ninth in order of birth, the others being as follow: Elizabeth, widow of George Thorne, living just north of Beattie; Emma, widow of Peter Jones, living on a farm two miles north of Beattie: John L., who died at Ottawa, this state; Florence, deceased, who was the wife of H. K. Sharp, former register of deeds for this county; Eliza N., deceased, who was the wife of John Morton; Henry T., who lives near Mina, this county; Frank H., who lives south of Beattie; Charles, who died in infancy; W. J., of Spokane, Washington, and Cora, wife of Henry Weaver, of Guittard township. To Roley S. and Nora E. (Totten) Pauley eight children have been born, namely: Delia E., who was born on December 6, 1882, and is now at home; Ray S., December 17, 1884, now living on the farm in Rock township where his parents got their start, and who married Nellie E. Graham and has two sons, Monroe and Calvin; Susan A., deceased; Jesse T., born on November 17, 1889, who married Ida Peterson and lives on one of the Pauley farms in Guittard township; Lulu A., deceased; Elsie T., born on July 28, 1895. who is now a stenographer in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan; Cora E., April 26, 1900. and Wayne R., July 28, 1903. Mrs. Pauley and children are members of the Baptist church, to which Mr. Pauley is a generous contributor, and the family have ever taken an earnest part in the general social activities of their home community, helpful in promoting all movements having to do with the common welfare thereabout. During the annual contest held at Blue Rapids on May 11, 1917, in which specially selected representatives from all of the high schools of the county took part, their daughter, Cora E., distinguished herself by winning first honors in oratory, her subject being "Individual Preparedness." Fraternally, Mr. Pauley has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Beattie since 1885; he is also active in Masonic circles, as are his sons. Mrs. Pauley is a charter member of the Beattie Eastern Star, in which she has always taken a prominent part having filled all of the chairs but that of worthy matron. 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/pauley437gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 9.3 Kb