Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 715 - 716

PHILO M. HERRON is the junior member of the firm of Herron & Son, which represents the livery, feed and sale stable interests of Goddard, in which department of business they are the leading men. Mr. Herron is an energetic man of sound principles and good judgment, and, from a capital of $500 left him from his father's estate, has accumulated a fine property, and laid up something for a rainy day. In addition to his own interests he has a fertile farm of eighty acres, with moderate improvements, including a substantial set of frame buildings, a good orchard and the smaller fruits, and stocked with good grades of cattle and swine. He keeps himself well posted on current events, and is wide-awake and industrious, and occupys a good social position among the successful business men of Goddard and vicinity.

            Mr. Herron was born in the town of Conquest, N. Y., April 27, 1827, and is the son of Philo and Lucy (Aldridge) Herron, natives respectively of New York State and New Hampshire. Philo Herron was born April 5, 1803, and departed this life at his home in Van Buren County, Mich., Jan. 20, 1875. The parental household included eight children. The eldest, Betsy, is the widow of Rev. Harrison Myers, a minister of the Baptist Church, and the mother of ten children, three of whom are deceased; Philo M., our subject, was the second born; Edward married Miss Elizabeth Shourman, who died in Van Buren County, Mich., and left four children; Harvey, a farmer of the latter-named county, married Miss Mary Clark, and they are the parents of three children; Calvin died in Van Buren County, Mich., when a lad nine years of age; Ashbell, who is farming in the State of Michigan, married Miss Elnora Myers, and they are the parents of two sons; Amariah died when eighteen months old; Lucy Jane married O. S. Brown, a mechanic of Van Buren County, Mich., and is the mother of three children.

             Young Herron, when twenty-one years of age, commenced on his own account, employing himself at farm labor, and July 4, 1848, was united in marriage with Miss Lydia Ann Bidgood, who was born in Genesee County, N. Y., June 6, 1830, and is the daughter of Benjamin and Margaret (Pickle) Bidgood, who also were natives of the Empire State. The father died in early manhood, and the mother in 1869, at the age of seventy-two years, having been born in 1797. She was a member in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church, The parental household included three children, of whom the eldest, Benjamin E., married Miss Ann Wier, and is farming in Grant County, Wis.; they are the parents of nine children, eight living, one having died from injuries received from being thrown from a wagon. Sarah is the widow of Abel Burns, who was one of the wealthy farmers of Van Buren County, Mich., and the principal stockholder in the Bank of Almena; of their nine children, three daughters are deceased. By a former marriage the mother of Mrs. Herron had two children: Caroline, Mrs. Holbrook; and Betsy, Mrs. Lyman Ashley, of Pratt Center, this State. Mr. Mains, the father of these, died in Genesee County, N. Y. Of the second marriage of the mother of Mrs. Herron, to a Mr. Kelts, there were born five children: The eldest, Clarissa, married Mr. Freeman, and became the mother of eight children; Margaret is the wife of Lyman Alcott, of New York, and the mother of ten children; Mary is the widow of Dennis Wheeler, and lives in Illinois, and is the mother of five children; Philip, a farmer by occupation, married Miss Ellen Wier, and both are deceased; Eve was first married to David Hathaway, by whom she became the mother of three children, and after his death she married Cyrenus Brown, and became the mother of one child. Mr. Brown also died, and she is now the wife of Mr. Lathrop, a retired farmer of Grant County, Wis.

             To Mr. and Mrs. Herron there were born nine children, of whom the record is as follows: Nancy was born Oct. 20, 1849, and married to S. B. Wilcox, March 20, 1867; she died in Van Buren County, Mich., July 2, 1887. Benjamin Franklin was born March 3, 1851, and died in Warren Township, Van Buren Co., Mich., Sept. 28, 1866; Margaret Melissa was born Nov. 7, 1852, and became the wife of S. L. Starks, a miller by trade, and now a resident of Morgan County, Col., where they are establishing a claim; they have one child. James H. was born Jan. 16, 1857, and was married to Miss Cora Boles, who died in 1881; he was subsequently married to Miss Minnie Brooks, and they have two children -- Margaret and John; they are living on a farm in Berrien County, Mich. Harvey was born Jan. 6, 1859, and died in Michigan in September, 1867; Oren C. was born May 8, 1861, and is a partner in the livery business with his father; Lucy R. was born Oct. 28, 1863, and is the wife of Cornelius Smith, who is farming in Union Township; they have three children -- Floyd and Florence (twins), and Frank. Leonard A. was born Dec. 16, 1867, and is at home with his parents; Chloe was born July 20, 1870, and died when two and one-half months old.

             Mr. Herron landed in Barton County, Kan., on the 17th of March, 1879, and five years later changed his residence to this county. He is a strong Republican politically, with Prohibition principles, and Mrs. Herron is a member in good standing of the Baptist Church.

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