Perry 0liver Cook Nixon

PERRY OLIVER COOK NIXON, who for more than thirty years past has been one of the foremost citizens of Osage township, Labette county, Kansas, is located in section 6, township 32, range 18. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1839, and is a son of George and Christina (Pence) Nixon.

George Nixon was born in Delaware, and died in Ohio, in the spring of 1861. His wife was a native of Pennsylvania, and died in Ohio in 1845. They were the parents of the following children: Elizabeth J., a widow, residing in Ohio; Seeds and Susan, also of Ohio; Emeline, who lives in Iowa; Perry 0. C.; Isaiah, who located in Osage Mission, in Kansas, in 1867, and later resided in Osage township until 1885, when he removed to Iowa, where he still resides; Marcus, who died while serving in the army during the Civil war; and Charles Alexander, who was killed in the army at Vicksburg.

Perry 0. C. Nixon was very young when his parents took him to Ohio, where he was reared. At an early age he was bound out to Wilson Walden, and went with him to Knox county, Illinois. He worked for him ten years, at the conclusion of which period he had reached the age of eighteen years, and began looking out for his own interests. In 1860, he went to Pikes Peak, and spent his twenty-first birthday in the mountains. In the fall of 1860, he returned to St. Louis and began working in the American bottoms. Early in 1861, he returned to Knox county, Illinois, and there hired out by the month. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, 10th Reg., Ill. Vol. Inf., as a private, and was later promoted to be a sergeant. He served three years and eleven months, and was at the front nearly all the time. He was in Granger's reserve corps during the battle of Chickamauga, and then was attached to the 2d Division, 14th Army Corps. Three days before Atlanta fell, he was placed with the 17th Army Corps, accompanied Sherman in his famous march to the sea, participated in the grand review at Washington, District of Columbia. His messmate and friend, William Morris, was killed at his side, but he was always fortunate enough to escape injury. He was mustered out July 4, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, received his pay, and was discharged at Chicago, July 12, 1865. He then bought a rough farm on Spoon river, and engaged in farming In 1869, he and his family, with two other families, drove from Knox county, Illinois, to Labette county, Kansas. He had a brother at Osage Mission, and stopped there long enough to make him a visit. At that time the town of Parsons had not yet been thought of, and Girard was the nearest railroad station. Mr. Nixon took as a claim 40 acres in section 6, township 32, range 18, on which are located his present buildings, and three 40-acre tracts in section 1, township 32, range 17. He has since disposed of some of his land, and now owns 100 acres. His first house was built of native lumber, cut on Big Hill creek. During the first year he raised sod-corn, which he planted with the assistance of an ax, and was very successful with his first crop. Mr. Nixon's house was destroyed by a cyclone in 1892, and was replaced by a larger and more substantial one. He has recently completed a new barn, and the entire farm is kept in the best possible condition. He follows general farming, and raises high grade cattle and Poland-China hogs. Mr. Nixon was present at the investigation of the famous "Bender slaughter pen," and saw seven of the bodies exhumed.

The subject of this sketch was united in marriage with Virginia Humphreys, who was reared in Illinois. She died in the fall of 1898, at the age of forty-two years, having given birth to the following children: John William T., who died at the age of eighteen years; Emeline (Edwards), of Oklahoma, who has five children, - Ethel, Minnie, Ross, Mabel, Ivy and an infant boy; Charles; Etta Jane (Tussig), of the Indian Territory, who has three children, Mamie, Beatrice and Clara; Flora (Sinclair), who resides on her father's farm, and has three children, - Beulah, Millie and Ruth; Mary E.; Sabie; and Egbert P. In politics, Mr. Nixon is a Republican, and was formerly a member of the school board in District No. 36. He is a member of Hackleman Post, No. 142, G. A. R., of Cherryvale. Religiously, he and his family are Methodists, and attend the church at Excelsior, which he helped to erect. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Nixon accompany this sketch.