Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 750 - 753 

JOHN LAURIE. In the career of this gentleman we find an excellent example for young men just embarking in the field of active life, of what may be accomplished by a man beginning poor, but honest, prudent and industrious. A native of another hemisphere, Mr. Laurie was born among the Highlands of Scotland, on the 4th of February, 1842, and received from a line of excellent ancestry those elements of character which have commanded the admiration of the world for hundreds of years. He was reared to manhood at the parental homestead, receiving a fair education, and after his marriage and the birth of two children, not being satisfied with his condition or his prospects in the Old World, determined to seek his fortune in the New. He first set foot upon American soil in the city of Quebec, Canada, whence he proceeded directly westward, crossed the Father of Waters, and located on a farm near the city limits of Wichita, this State, making permanent settlement and continuing there until the spring of 1887, when he sold out and took possession of his present farm. His property includes 320 acres of fertile land under a good state of cultivation, with suitable buildings and all the appurtenances of the model country home.

             Our subject is the son of William and Mary Laurie, natives of the same county as their son, and where the father spent his entire life engaged in farming pursuits, and departed hence in August, 1879. They reared a large family, of whom the following survive: William, who continues in Scotland; John, of our sketch; Ellen, Mrs. Creighton, of Wichita; Francis W., of Salem Township; Henry A., of Clearwater; Janet and Martin, of Kingman County, this State, and Thomas and David, in Scotland. John, our subject, after his marriage, was variously employed until setting sail for the United States. His wife in her girlhood was Miss Isabella R. McCracken, who was also born in Scotland, not far from the early home of her husband, Dec. 22, 1835. Her marriage with our subject took place on the 12th of June, 1866. Her parents, William and Margaret McCracken, were also born and reared in the land of the thistle.

             Mr. and Mrs. Laurie, upon taking up their residence in this county, experienced, in common with their neighbors, the trials and difficulties of life in a new country, but they labored together with mutual interest, and in due time began to reap their reward. To the little household there were added two more children, and each year witnessed some improvement appertaining to their homestead, enhancing both its beauty and value. Their eldest son, William J., was born April 9, 1867; Mary, May 15, 1870; Thomas, Feb. 8, 1874, and Robert, Aug. 15, 1868. The latter died Feb. 2, 1869.

             Our subject and his wife have uniformly given their encouragement to the enterprises tending to the general welfare of the people around them, and for a period of over twenty years have been identified with the Presbyterian Church, and endeavored by a life of kindness and charity to set an example worthy of imitation. Mr. Laurie upholds the principles of the Republican party.

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