Afternoon all. I want to continue writing about the families of Wilber V. and Mabel Edith (Phillips) Herron. My daughter’s family are coming next week for Thanksgiving and I know I won’t have time to write while they’re here.

Let’s finish the Herrons first. Wilber V. “Jack” Herron was only known as Jack in all the time he lived in Maple Hill. I doubt there were many who knew that his real name was “Wilber Volney.” As I mentioned in an earlier post, he came to Kansas with his family in the early 1890s. I never did hear him say why they all moved here. If anyone knows, I’d be glad to have the information.

His parents were Alfred E. and Hannah Jane (Gardener) Herron and they were from Scott County, Indiana. As I’ve mentioned before the US Census for 1890 burned in a tragic fire in Washington DC , so I’m fairly certain they were still living in Indiana in 1885, but the family is recorded on the 1895 Census as being residents of Mission Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas. They were living in the area between Snokomo and Eskridge. Both Alfred and Hannah (Gardener) Herron’s families had lived in Scott and Clark County, Indiana for several generations. If anyone is interested in knowing more of either’s genealogy, just message me and I’ll be glad to send you a link to their family trees.

They were the parents of five children, all of whom lived to adulthood, married and raised families in Kansas.

1. Wilber Volney “Jack” Herron – 1881-1972
2. Clarence Dorsey Herron – 1883-1962
3. Carrie Blanche (Herron) Phillips – 1886-1965
4. George Scott Herron – 1889 – 1960
5. Thomas Viril Herron – 1893 – 1974

I have not been able to find any indication that Alfred and Hannah Herron owned a farm in Wabaunsee County. However, they rented farms in the Mission Creek and Newbury Township areas between their arrival in 1890 and about 1925, when they moved into a house in Maple Hill. The Newbury farm they rented was near the Phillips and Steck Families in the Dog Creek area. When they moved into Maple Hill, they lived in one of the two homes built from lumber that was reclaimed from the razing of the Windler Hotel on Main Street.

At this point, I’ll stop and tell a story about Alfred E. Herron. He and my Great Grandfather, Leander E. “Deacon” Jones, were great friends. Alfred passed away suddenly from a heart attack in 1938. The family asked Deacon Jones to be a pall bearer. His daughter, my paternal grandmother, Mable Rachel (Jones) Clark, was the Maple Hill Central Office chief operator at that time (1914-1958) and she asked him to join other families members going to come to the Central Office and have lunch. It was May 21, 1938. Grandmother told him she would make his favorite meal, ham, beans with dumplings. He sat down at the table and she served him first. He said, “Honey, these are the best you have ever made.” With that he fell forward into his plate and never spoke or breathed again. The Maple Hill Undertaker, Russel T. Updegraff, came as soon as grandmother called him. He and my Grandfather Clark and father placed him on their bed and Mr. Updegraff asked them if it would be alright if they left him there until after Alfred Herron’s service and burial was concluded. The agreed and Updegraff came back and picked up the body about 5:00pm that day. I’ll tell about Great Grandpa Jones’ funeral in another post.

The oldest of Alfred and Hannah Herron’s children was Wilber Volney “Jack” Herron, who was born on October 2, 1881 and died June 1, 1972. He tried farming in his young years but never liked it. James and David Fyfe built a stone building on Maple Hill’s Main Street in 1909. Half of the building was a cafe and the other half was a barbershop, a bath house and a billiard parlor. The Fyfe brothers also sold cigars and candy in their building. Robert McClelland, another Maple Hill pioneer, was also a partner in the project. The Fyfe brothers were successful and bought him out after five or six years.

The Fyfes needed a barber. Uncle Jack told me that he had never cut hair nor had he even thought about it. He had married Mabel Edith Phillips on November 4, 1904 at the Wabaunsee County Courthouse in Alma. Their daughter, Leona Bernice Herron, had been born in 1906. He had rented land near the Phillips Homestead in Newbury Township, and was at that time renting land in Wabaunsee County near the little town of Willard east of Maple Hill.

He said he came into Maple Hill to get a haircut and went to Fyfe’s shop but found that the barber they had hired had quit and they were looking for a barber. Jack Herron told them, “Well I can cut hair.” The Fyfe boys were hesitant and also wondered if he’d be able to pay the rent on the barbershop, which was $7 per month. Jack Herron said he didn’t tell lies but on that day he told two!!

“Well, I’ve been farming and have have a really good team of mules. They both mares and I think one of them is going to have a colt in the spring, but they’re young and I know they can both have colts. I’d be glad to trade you that team of mules to guarantee my rent for a few months.” Jack said it was all he could do to keep a straight face, but the two Scotsmen said that they’d make the bargain.

Now if you know anything about mules—you know that that female mule was not pregnant because mules are hybrid animals and the only way you can “make” mules is for a male mule (called a jack) to mate with a female horse (called) a mare.

After two or three months, Jack said one of the Fyfe brothers came to him and said he didn’t think the mule was pregnant. Jack said by that time he was doing very well cutting hair and giving shaves, so he felt he had to break down and tell them he had pulled a fast one on them. He said they were disgusted for a while, and raised the rent $2 a month, but life went on.

So that’s the story about how Jack Herron became the Maple Hill Barber for more than 60 years. He, Mabel and Bernice moved to Topeka so she could attend Washburn University, but moved right back to Maple Hill when she graduated and lived there the rest of their lives.

The second child was Clarence Dorsey Herron, born December 8, 1883 in Scott County, Indiana and died February 12, 1961 near Centralia, Nemaha County, Kansas. Clarence was raised in the Mission Creek and Newbury Township area. He was married and he and his wife Martha, were the parents of five boys and one girl.
There children were Delmar, Clarence, Jr., Harold, Roger, Donna and Kenneth. Clarence was a railroader in his early life and later became a farmer in Nemaha County. He and his wife Martha are buried in the Old Stone Church Cemetery, Maple Hill, Kansas.

Carrie Blanche Herron was born April 21, 1886 in Scott County, Indiana and died March 16, 1965 at Topeka, Kansas. Carrie Blanche Herron married Frederick Norman Phillips, the brother of Mable Edith (Phillips) Herron. So Jack and Carrie Herron married Phillips siblings.
Fred and Carrie Phillips lived in Topeka and Lawrence all of their married lives. He was an excellent mechanic and worked on farm tractors, then as an engineer in a packing plant and finally as a truck driver for a moving company. They had two children: Theodore Phillips and Alberta Phillips.

George Scott Herron was born on July 6, 1889 in Scott County, Indiana and died on December 29, 1960 at Los Angeles, California. In 1914, he married Margaret Rebecca Zeller who was from the Paxico Community. In 1917, he and Margaret were living in St. Marys, Kansas where he was a clerk in a hardware store. In 1958, he and Margaret were living in St. Louis, Missouri. They were the parents of four children: Kathleen Marie Herron born in 1917; Gertrude E. Herron born in 1919; Robert Eugene Herron in 1921 and Dennis Alfred Herron in 1923.

Their fifth child was Thomas Virgil Herron born January 18, 1893 in Scottsburg, Scott County, Indiana and died June 16, 1974 in Topeka, Kansas. In 1910, he was married to Ruth Clements, daughter of John and Maggie (Sharai) Clements of Maple Hill. They were the parents of three children: Mary Ann Clements born in 1921; John Herron born in 1924 and William Lloyd Herron born in 1925. I knew Virgil Herron well. He often came to Maple Hill to visit family and friends. Virgil was very well educated and was a principal in the Topeka School System.
He and his wife Ruth, are buried in the Old Stone Church Cemetery, Maple Hill, Kansas.

I believe that concludes the children of Alfred E. and Hannah Jane Gardner of Maple Hill, Kansas.