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Daniel H. Rush
Cedar Township.
1901 BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
[FEBRUARY 1870] PAGE 487.
DANIEL H. RUSH was a resident of Cowley County since the fall of 1870. He located in Cedar township, in section 16, Township 35, range 8 east.
Mr. Rush was born in Monroe County, Kentucky, October 8, 1849, a son of Hiram and Esther (Combs) Rush. The family is of French-German ancestry.
Daniel M. Rush’s father, Hiram Rush, was born in Kentucky, and lived there all of his life, dying in 1864, aged 50 years. His wife was of Dutch descent, and died before she reached the age of thirty years. She was the mother of three children: Ezekiel, who died in Chautauqua County, Kansas, April 9, 1896; Mary (Carter), of Kentucky; and Daniel H.
Hiram Rush contracted a second marriage by wedding RUTH Pittcock, who still lived in Kentucky at the age of 72. This union resulted in five children: James, of Kentucky; Isaac, of Tennessee; Rebecca (Moore), deceased; and Rachel (Smyers), of Tennessee; and Martha, twins, the latter now deceased.
Daniel H. Rush was reared in Kentucky and lived at home with his step-mother until he reached his majority, when he began to work for himself. He was married on the verge of his removal to Kansas, where he arrived with just five cents in his pocket, which piece of money he wore as a watch-charm. Accompanied by his father-in-law, Stephen Cable, he drove through from Monroe County, Kentucky, with a team of oxen. Stephen Cable, who had a brother, Hiram in Anderson County, Kansas, located in Chautauqua County. Upon arriving in the state, they camped in Lookout Valley, Cowley County, and this place of encampment, in section 20, township 34, range 8 east, continued to be Mr. Rush’s home for a period of ten years. He first built a cabin of logs hauled from the gulch, a few miles south, where he now resides [1901].
He secured a plow, broke up some land, and planted it to corn, having a yield of 40 bushels to the acre. He sold his claim, in 1880, to Thomas Richardson, of Arkansas City. He marketed his produce at Cedar Vale, then consisting of two houses and some tents. Luke Phelps then kept a two-room hotel for the accommodation of sawmill hands. The first store was built by O. C. and S. T. Hill. This sawmill, operated by C. R. Pollard, was built by Mr. Russell, and brought from Greenwood County to the valley of Otter Creek, not far from Cedar Vale. Mr. Rush, who was an engineer in Kentucky, secured a position as engineer of the 18 horse-power engine at the sawmill. He worked at this for two or three years, and helped to saw lumber for many of the first houses in the locality—the principal woods being sycamore, cottonwood, oak, hackberry, and some walnut. In the early days there was plenty of game in this region, and he killed several deer.
In 1880, Mr. Rush purchased, of Mr. Rankins and ’Squire Lynch, his present home in Cedar Township, in section 16, township 35, range 8 east—a part of the Cherokee Reservation. He added to this and eventually owned 346-2/3 acres, altogether, in section 16. There were about eight acres broken, and a log cabin had been built on the Rankins tract. Mr. Rush built a frame house, measuring 14 by 22 feet, in which he lived until his present stone house of one story and with 18-inch walls, was completed, in 1892. He cultivated about half of the farm, and raised stock, preferring Shorthorn cattle and Berkshire hogs. He also fed largely for others. There was an excellent water supply on the farm, furnished by the south fork of Rock Creek, or Wild Cat Branch, which had its source in the Flint Hills. He also had a good well, 15 feet deep.
Mr. Rush married Sarah Elizabeth Cable, who was born June 19, 1853, and was of Dutch-Irish descent. She was a daughter of Stephen and Rachel (Speer) Cable. Her mother died in 1861, and her father was living at Hewins, Kansas, aged 78, on April 2, 1901.
Stephen and Rachel Cable had four children: Sarah Elizabeth (Rush); Bennett, of Chautauqua County, Kansas; Nancy (Bennett) of Galesburg, Illinois; and Peyton P. Cable of the same place. Nancy Combs became Mr. Cable’s second wife. She died in Chautauqua County, in June 1892, leaving three children: Mary (Moore), who lived on her father’s farm; Willis, a resident of Chautauqua County; and Sherman, of Golden, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel H. Rush became the parents of 11 children, two of whom died in infancy. The following nine survived.
1. Isaac S. Rush, who married Ora Higgins, and was a farmer of Cowley County.
2. William Jefferson Rush, who was born in 1873, and married Mary E. Gregory.
3. Mary E. (McBride), who was a teacher in the Creek country, as was her husband.
4. Nancy Ellen (Meade), of Cowley County.
5. Daniel H. Rush, Jr., of Chautauqua County.
6. Celestia Rachel (Beuoy), of Chautauqua County.
7, 8, and 9. Rebecca, Charles H., and Joshua Homer, who were attending school in 1901.
Mr. Rush and his family were Republicans. He served on the township board, and was township treasurer and road overseer. He assisted in the organization of school district No. 142, in 1885, and was a member of its board in 1901. Religiously, he was a Baptist, and attended Lookout Valley church.
Note: Mr. Rush was found living in Otter Township (not Cedar) in 1875.
Kansas 1875 Census Otter Township, Cowley County, March 1, 1875.
Name age sex color Place/birth Where from
D. H. Rush 25 m w Kentucky Kentucky
S. E. Rush 21 f w Kentucky Kentucky
I. S. Rush 3 m w Kansas
Wm. J. Rush 1 m w Kansas
Cedar Township 1879:
D. H. Rush, 30; spouse, S. E., 25.
Thomas Rush, 35; spouse, L., 25.
Cedar Township 1880:
D. H. Rush, 31; spouse, S. E., 26.
Cedar Township 1882:
D. H. Rush, 32; spouse, Sarah, 28.
FROM THE NEWSPAPERS.
[COMMISSIONER’S PROCEEDINGS.]
Winfield Courier, February 21, 1884.
Office of the County Clerk, Winfield, Kansas, February 12th, 1884.
BOARD met in regular session agreeable to adjournment of January 16, 1884. Present: S. C. Smith (Chairman), Amos Walton, Commissioner, County Attorney, and J. S. Hunt, County Clerk.
Among other proceedings the following claims were allowed the Judges and Clerks of the February 5th 1884 election...paid from $2.00 to $6.00.
CEDAR EAST TOWNSHIP.
Judges: Jacob Smith, D. H. Rush, Jacob Shipman.
Clerks: Robt. E. Howe, John Bartgis.
Arkansas City Traveler, Wednesday, September 16, 1885.
FROM OUR EXCHANGES.
Cedar Vale Star: On Thursday of last week a most painful accident occurred in Lookout Valley, at the home of Dan Rush, in which his boy had his foot caught in the rollers of a cane mill and fearfully lacerated it. Drs. Donelson and McMahon were promptly called, and found it necessary from the nature of the hurt to amputate all the toes.
Winfield Courier, Thursday, December 10, 1885.
Mr. D. H. Rush was over from Cedar Vale Saturday assisting to move Mr. L. Blackman’s family over to Winfield. He drove facing the severe wind of Friday and did not like these Alaska zephyrs.
