C. E. WESTBROOK A Pioneer Settler of Peabody and a Noted Horse Raiser AN ARTICLE EXTRACTED FROM THE PEABODY NEWS 1901 Contributed by Charmaine Keith (charmain@southwind.net) 13 October 1998 --------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. --------------------------------------------------------------------- PEABODY NEWS 1901 The editor felt that this edition would not be complete without a sketch of Mr. C. E. Westbrook, who lives a mile south of town, so he drove out the other day with our photographer who took the view of the farm above shown, and obtained a few particulars of Mr. Westbrook's career, which we herewith present as an example of what one man may do with a clear brain and a willing pair of hands. Mr. Westbrook came to Marion County from Greenlake County, Wisconsin 28 years ago, when this place was known as Coneburg. He bought 320 acres of school land one mile south of town, and soon bought 160 acres more adjoining, which 480 acres he has since owned and lived upon, and stocked it with cattle, sheep and horses, which he shipped from Wisconsin. The picture shown above presents no adequate idea of his magnificent residence, which is richly and comfortably furnished throughout. The house consists of fourteen large rooms, none of them less than sixteen feet square, besides the cellars, bathroom, closets, summer kitchen, etc. It is built in four sections. All connected together, and one might almost get lost in it if he were unacquainted. Buried as it is in a grove of trees it is impossible to get a fair picture of it. He has ever been a fancier of fine stock and has devoted his attention to breeding fine-blooded stock of all kinds. His cattle are Shorthorn Durhams, his sheep blooded Merinos, He goats pure Angoras, his hogs, chickens, geese, turkeys, ducks and even bees are all of the best breeds obtainable. But raising horses is his pet hobby, and he has raised some fine ones. He has dealt principally in the Wilkes stock and can show you horses today with pedigrees as long as your arm, that date clear back to Mambrino Chief and George Wilkes. He raised and brought out Joe Young that he sold for $10,000, and in Silverthorn, says he now has a better horse than Joe Young. Even his buggy team and riding nag have records that would astonish you. Mr. Westbrook is one of the few men who has raised and driven trotting horses forty years and made a success of it. It is said of him that he never drove a race in which the best horse did not win. He is known all over Kansas and Missouri, and better known in Wisconsin, as a breeder and driver of fast horses. He now owns three fine quarter sections of land, as above stated, a fine home, thousands of dollars worth of fine cattle, horses and sheep, a large interest in a bank, of which he is one of the directors, and owes no man a dollar. Besides the attention given his horses Mr. Westbrook has found time to raise ten children and gives them a good start in life. Of the ten, eight of them own a fine farm well improved and free from encumbrance. There are five boys, Willis, who is a cashier in the First National Bank; Frank, who lives on a farm south of town; Ira, also a well-to-do farmer near Canton; Roy, who lives on a farm south of town, and Eddy, who is yet at home. The daughters are Carmitis, who married Wm. Gray; Ella, who married Geo. Wagner; Emma, now Mrs. Winfield Knight; Jessie, the wife of Walter Nusbaum, and Miss Winnie, who yet remains at home to brighten the family hearth. Mr. Westbrook is in his 69th year, though he does not appear to be over 50, and has given up active work and is enjoying the fruits of his industry and upright life. He is a man of wide experience and liberal views. When we say liberal we mean the term in its broadest sense. There is not a little or stingy hair in his head. He believes in giving his family the best the farm produces and in treating his neighbors as friends. He has been called "no farmer" because he would turn his cattle and his horses into the fields to get the cream of the crops and would pick out the best fruits, vegetables and livestock for his own and family use. But results justify him in his views that life is a success so far as one gets the best out of it and benefits those around him. Mr. Westbrook thinks there is nothing to good for his family, his stock or his friends, and as a consequence he has the best of each. Of all the apples his orchards have produced, the eggs his hens have laid or the honey his bees have stored he never sold a neighbor a pound, but it was as free to them as the air they breathed, and many a family can thank him for neighborly gifts that were tokens of genuine good fellowship. To sum it up Mr. Westbrook is an honest man, a good neighbor, and indulgent parent and a first class citizen----a success in life in its fullest sense. --------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ---------------------------------------------------------------------