George Mentzer—From Massachusetts to Woodson County
One of the joys of genealogy is rediscovering old county histories. While these books often contain glowing descriptions of their subjects, they can also preserve details that may not be found anywhere else.
For today’s Monday’s Diggings, I’m sharing a biographical sketch of George Mentzer, an early settler of Woodson County, Kansas. I obtained a photocopy of this article many years ago while researching at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka. Today, the same volume is also available digitally through both Ancestry and Archive.org, making it much easier for researchers to access.
George Mentzer has appeared on Heartland Genealogy before. Earlier this month I wrote about a Woodson County deed involving George and the fascinating connection between the Mentzer family and George W. Allen of Massachusetts. This biography adds valuable context to that story by describing George’s early life, Civil War service, migration west, and family.
As with many county histories published in the late nineteenth century, the article should be treated as a secondary source. Nevertheless, it provides numerous clues that can be verified through census records, military records, land records, and other contemporary documents.
Among the details preserved in this sketch are:
- George Mentzer was born 12 June 1838 in Stowe, Massachusetts.
- He was the son of Phillip A. Mentzer and Orinda (Miles) Mentzer.
- His father, a native of Germany, died in 1844.
- At age sixteen, George moved to Illinois before eventually returning to Massachusetts.
- He enlisted in Company C, 24th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War.
- He participated in numerous campaigns in North Carolina and Virginia, including Roanoke Island, New Berne, White Hall, Goldsboro, Kinston, Bermuda Hundred, and Petersburg.
- After the war, he returned to Illinois before settling in Woodson County, Kansas, in 1869.
- He married Emeline Minnick on 1 January 1867 in Henry County, Illinois, and the biography names their eight children.
One reason I enjoy preserving these articles is that they often contain small details that disappear in modern indexes. Occupations, migrations, political views, and even brief comments about a person’s character help bring an ancestor—or, in this case, an early community member—to life.
Below is a transcription of the complete biography.
George Mentzer
GEORGE MENTZER.
The veteran soldier who risked his life in defense of the flag, all things else being equal, takes high rank as a citizen. This may be partly because of the quality of the patriotism of the American public, but there is another reason for the pre-eminence of the veteran. The man who has the form of character to win distinction as a faithful defender of his country possesses the resourceful perseverance so necessary to success in other fields, and this is abundantly verified in the life of George Mentzer, who loyally followed the starry banner during the Civil war and is now one of the enterprising and prosperous agriculturists of Woodson county, where he has made his home since 1869.
A native of Stowe, Massachusetts, he was born June 12, 1838, and is a son of Phillip A. and Orinda (Miles) Mentzer. The father, a native of Germany, died in Massachusetts in 1844, and his widow was buried by the side of her husband on the old home place in the Bay state. They had ten children, but only three are now living: Rufus, of Ft. Morgan, Colorado; Mrs. Sarah A. Green, of Boston, Massachusetts, and George of this review.
The last named was reared in his native village until sixteen years of age, when he emigrated to Illinois and became a farm hand, being employed in that capacity for about two years. He then went to Chicago, where he secured a situation as clerk in a grocery store, also acting as assistant in a butchering establishment. Upon leaving the city he returned to Massachusetts to visit his mother and while there he learned the trade of a comb maker, the combs being manufactured from the horns of cattle. He also improved his literary education by attending school. He was still in his native state when the Civil war broke out and there he enlisted as a member of Company C, Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry, which was sent to Annapolis and on to North Carolina and thence to South Carolina, being discharged in front of Petersburg, Virginia. Among the important engagements in which he participated were the battles of Roanoke Island, Newberne, White Hall, Goldsboro, Kinston, Bermuda Hundred and Petersburg. He did duty in front of the Rebel fort which was blown up by a Pennsylvania regiment. In all of his three years’ service he was never wounded, but was always found at his post of duty faithfully defending the starry banner—the emblem of an undivided union.
When the war was ended Mr. Mentzer returned to Massachusetts and spent the succeeding winter in Boston, after which he turned his attention to farming. He then again made his way to Illinois, where, prior to the war, he had aided in establishing the first hotel in Kewanee. He remained a resident of Henry County and was engaged in the butchering business until 1869, when he came to Woodson County, Kansas, settling on section six, Center Township, where he has since made his home, his labors being given to the improvement of his farm. He now has a rich tract of land, the alluvial soil yielding good harvests for the work bestowed upon it.
In Henry County, Illinois, Mr. Mentzer was united in marriage to Miss Emeline Minnick, a daughter of John Minnick, a Pennsylvania German, who had a family of five daughters and one son. The wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Mentzer was celebrated on the 1st of January, 1867, and they are now the parents of eight children, as follows: Charles O., who married Nettie Wells; John F., who married Anna Wells; Susie May; Henry A.; Phillip E., who is now a student of the State Agricultural College of Kansas; Ernest E.; Clara E.; and Clarence A. Although the Mentzer family have usually been Republicans, George Mentzer cast his first presidential vote for the Democratic nominee in 1860, and is now a Prohibitionist. He believes most firmly in the abolishment of the liquor traffic through acts of legislation, and he is the type of citizens who support all measures to advance the moral welfare of the community.
Source
History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas (Iola, Kansas: Iola Rigister, Printers and Binders, 1901), pp. 680–681, biographical sketch of George Mentzer. I used a photocopy obtained at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas. The volume is also available digitally through Ancestry and Archive.org.