Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 665 - 666 

INGLE H. HECK. This gentleman is accredited with the ownership of one of the best farms in Greeley Township, amply watered by the Arkansas River, which runs through a portion of it, and along the banks of which graze the well-kept live stock, the raising of which he makes a specialty. Mr. Heck improved this farm from a tract of uncultivated land, and has now in process of construction a handsome brick residence, the only one built of this material outside of the city of Wichita. The other farm buildings and the machinery are fully in keeping with the enterprise of the proprietor.

            Mr. Heck, a native of the Buckeye State, was born in Clarke County, Sept. 31, 1832. His parents, Frederick and Nancy (Danner) Heck, were natives of Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Ohio during its pioneer days, where the father was extensively engaged as a farmer and stock-raiser, and where, with his excellent wife, he passed his declining years, and died Feb. 23, 1878, aged eighty-four years, nine months and four days. Both were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The mother died in 1862. Of their children, nine in number, but four are living. Martin Luther, the youngest brother of our subject, settled in Colorado, was elected Sheriff of Durango, and in an attempt to arrest a desperado was shot five or six times, from the effects of which he died three days later, in April, 1886.

            Mr. Heck spent his boyhood and youth amid the rural scenes of Clarke County, Ohio, and remained in that vicinity until twenty-six years of age, continuing most of the time under the parental roof. Later he moved to the vicinity of Terre Haute, Ind., and purchasing 921 acres of land, commenced farming and stock-raising on an extensive scale. During the subsequent flooding of that section of  country by heavy rains, he lost in stock and the damage to his lands from $50,000 to $60,000 and then, discouraged, left that section of country for Colorado Springs. There he engaged in freighting goods from the Springs to Leadville, and during that time passed the hardest part of his life, being among rough population and in a country but half civilized.

            In 1879, deciding upon another change of location, Mr. Heck came to Southern Kansas and located on his present farm of 140 acres, which he purchased for $6.50 per acre. Here he has been uniformly prosperous, and is reaping his reward for the toils and tribulations of the past. Sharing in these has been his faithful wife, who in her girlhood was Miss Catherine Keplinger, and to whom he was united in marriage on the 7th of July, 1857. She was born in Greene County, Ohio, Oct. 30, 1838. Her parents, Peter and Mary Ann (Stough) Keplinger, were natives of Pennsylvania, where the father followed farming during his early manhood and removed later to Greene County, Ohio. He departed this life Feb. 13, 1875. The mother is still living in Ohio. They identified themselves with the Evangelical Lutheran Church when young. They were the parents of seven children, but four of whom are living, and residents of Ohio mostly. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Heck are recorded as follows: Emma was born June 27, 1858, and married John F. Rogers, a prosperous grain dealer, of Arcola, Ill.; Ida was born March 15, 1862, and married George C. Robins, a banker and a dealer in real estate, grain, stock, etc., at Mt. Hope; Lee was born March 18, 1865, and died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Heck are members in good standing of the Congregational Church, at Mt. Hope.

            Mr. H., during the late war, was drafted into the army, but hired a substitute at a cost of $1,000. He served, however, for a time in the Ohio State Militia during Morgan's raid in the southern part of that State. He is a stanch Democrat, politically, but in voting reserves the right of an independent American citizen to support the man whom he considers best qualified to serve the interests of the people. He was assisted when starting out for himself in life by his father, who had accumulated a fine property.

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