Illustrious Men of Owl Creek

Benjamin R. Kelley

Owl Creek was so named from the many owls that once infested the lonely regions. The owls have disappeared; the round log school house has long since crumbled into dust. The hewed log school house is now used as a stable. It stands as a memento of other days, a relic of the past, inviting owls and bats to come in and chant a requiem to departed cheerfulness. Is it any wonder then it has so long borne the name of classical Owl Creek for in its lovely valley has lived and loved some illustrious men whose works shall follow them. To the legal profession let us named the late Judge James Hester, Hon. Anderson Percifield and Hon. Ed Campbell. Among its preachers and divines have arisen from humble birth the Rev. Berg Frost, Rev. Daniel Campbell, and Rev. Ira Yoder. Some of its teachers have been Joel R. and John W. Carter, William and James Bowden, James L. Campbell, Jennie Wilson, Sylvester Barnes and Joshua Bond.

Owl Creek has not been without her worthy and competent officials. Let us mention Wren Brummet, township trustee and sheriff of Brown County, Stephen A. Kennedy, sheriff of Brown County, John S. Williams, auditor of Brown County and afterwards member of the State Legislature, Charles Taylor, township assessor, William O. Barnes, eminent physician and afterwards member of the legislature in the state of Kansas, Captain James M. Yoder, chairman of the Republican central committee of Brown County.

We cannot close this article without mentioning some the brave Owl Creek boys who offered their lives a sacrifice on the alter of their country in the dark hours of the great Civil War. Let us mention them: John Matheney, Col of the 82nd Regiment Ind. Vol; George and Samuel Goffland (Coffland), James M. Yoder, George Bowden, Benjamin Kelley, Manvill Tomlinson, Caleb & Daniel Ferguson, William and Sail Barnes. Some of the boys returned to happy homes and some were left in lonely graves in that distant southern sunny land.

J.W.C.
(Brown County Democrat, Feb. 8, 1906)


James M. Yoder

Being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, I'm particularly looking for info on the Civil War soldiers mentioned in this article.