William C. Waldorf, a prosperous farmer and stockman of El Dorado township, is a Kansas pioneer. Mr. Waldorf is of New England parentage. His father, William Waldorf, Sr., was a native of Vermont and of German ancestry. William, Sr.'s, father was a native of Ger-

many, and when a young man immigrated to America and settled in Vermont, where he lived for a time and was married. Later he migrated to Pennsylvania and from there to Putnam county, Ohio, where he and his wife spent their lives.

William C. Waldorf's mother bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Hensel and was a native of Richland county, Ohio. Her father was of Pennsylvania Dutch parentage and died in Richland county, Ohio. William C. Waldorf's parents first settled in Putnam county, Ohio, but later removed to Morrow county, and from there to Holmes county, that State, where the mother died. The father, William Waldorf, Sr., was a soldier in the Civil war, as was also William C., the subject of this sketch. The father served in Company I, Sixteenth regiment, Ohio infantry, and died while in the service in a hospital at Milliken's Bend, La., in April, 1863.

William C. Waldorf was one of a family of ten children, the following of whom are living: Samuel, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Mrs. Mary J. Cramer, Mansfield, Ohio; Mrs. Anna N. Appleman, Corsica, Ohio; Mrs. Sarah E. Wrenn, Boston, Mass.; William C., the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Elvira E. Gilbert, Hutchinson, Kans.

When William C. Waldorf was about fourteen years of age, he left home and went to live with the family of a stockman in Wayne county, Ohio. Mr. Waldorf was born September 14, 1845, and enlisted August 7, 1862, in Company H, One Hundred and Second regiment, Ohio infantry, and thus it will be seen that he lacked just one month and seven days of being seventeen years old when he elected to bear arms in defense of his country. He served until the close of that great conflict, and endured many hardships and privations, as well as the dangers incident to the life of a soldier, and at the close of the war, received his honorable discharge. He then returned to Ohio, where he followed farming for a time, when he went to Shelby county, Illinois.

Four years later he went to Iowa county, Iowa, and after spending about a year there, returned to Shelby county, Illinois, where he remained until 1870. He then came to Butler county, Kansas, with a colony of people from Maringo, Iowa, numbering twenty-four in all. They drove from Iowa to Butler county with a train of seven wagons, and made the trip between September 6 and November 6, 1871. Mr. Waldorf and some of the others of the party settled in Fairview township, Butler county, and about a year later, he went to McPherson county, where he was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until 1902, when he returned to Butler county and bought a farm in El Dorado township, one mile south of the city limits of El Dorado. Here he owns 175 acres of some of Butler county's most valuable land. Mr. Waldorf resides on his place, but rents the land to his son, and Mr. Waldorf is practically retired.

October 21, 1873, William C. Waldorf and Miss Phoebe Appleman were united in marriage. She is a daughter of John R. and Mary

(Waldorf) Appleman, and was born in Wood county, Ohio, December 14, 1855. The Appleman family came to Butler county in 1870 from Maringo, Iowa, when Mr. Waldorf came, and located in Fairview township. Later the parents removed to Great Bend, Kans., and from there to St. Louis, Mo., where they died. To Mr. and Mrs. William C. Waldorf have been born ten children, as follows: Jessie V.; who married Charles E. Parks, El Dorado township; Samuel J., who lives at Dexter, Cowley county, Kansas; Charles A., who is engaged in the grocery business at El Dorado; Harry R., who was a railroad man and was killed in Denver; John M. operates the home place; Gertrude married Gus Benjamin, Kokomo, Ind.; Emma and Mamie reside at home; Burton and Louis died in infancy.

While living in McPherson county Mr. Waldorf took quite an active part in politics and served as township trustee and held other offices of trust and responsibility. He has been a life-long Republican, and is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic; Lew Wallace Post, El Dorado; and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is also a member of the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. Waldorf are one of the pioneer couples in Butler county, and can relate many interesting incidents of pioneer life on the plains when they first came here in 1870. At that time the country was new and frontier conditions prevailed to a great extent. Wild game was plentiful and wild turkey and prairie chickens were just common every day articles of food.

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