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Mrs. Ellen Edgerton
Mrs. Ellen Edgerton, of Dawson township, whose
maiden name was Ellen Coacayne, was born near Richmond, Indiana,
November 9, 1834, her parents being James and Elizabeth (Unthank)
Coacayne. The father was born in Maryland and was a carpenter and
farmer, who became a pioneer resident of Indiana, but is now deceased.
The mother, a native of North Carolina, has also passed away.
Mrs. Edgerton was reared to womanhood on her father’s farm, pursuing
her education in the public schools, while during the periods of
vacation she was trained to the duties of the household and was thus
well qualified to take charge of a home of her own when in early
womanhood she gave her hand in marriage to William T. Edgerton in 1855.
A native of Poplar Ridge, Ohio, he was born April 24, 1834, his parents
being Thomas and Mary T. (Taylor) Edgerton, the former a native of Ohio
and the latter of Dublin, Ireland.
It was in the year 1857 that Mr. and Mrs. Edgerton removed from Indiana
to Kansas, settling on a farm near Lawrence, Douglas county. They were
among the pioneer residents of that territory and were still living
there when Kansas was admitted to the Union. In fact they resided there
during the troublous times of the border warfare occasioned by the
attempt of one party to secure its admission as a free state and the
other party as a slave state. Mrs. Edgerton is, therefore, a personal
witness of many of the events which find record on the pages of the
history of that momentous period. After the outbreak of the Civil war
Mr. Edgerton, feeling that his first duty was to his country, enlisted
in 1862, joining the boys in blue of Company H, First Kansas Colored
Regiment. He was assigned to the rank of second lieutenant and served
for eighteen months, when he resigned on account of ill health.
Throughout his entire life he followed the occupation of farming,
remaining a resident of Kansas up to the time of his death. His
military experience brought on troubles which ultimately ended his life
on the 5th of May, 1874. His widow now receives a good pension from the
government in recognition of the aid which be rendered in defense of
the Union cause.
After the death of her husband Mrs. Edgerton returned to Indiana and
seven years later, or in 1881, came to Greene county, Iowa, with her
family. This was still largely a pioneer district at that time. She
bought forty acres of land, which was then a cornfield and, clearing
away the stumps, had her dwelling erected and has since made her home
upon this place, which is pleasantly located in Dawson township, not
far from Paton. Mrs. Edgerton is, perhaps, the only widow of the county
who became a pioneer resident here and reared a family. She personally
conducted her farm, being a lady of unusual determination and energy.
She possesses also good executive force and business insight and as the
years have gone by has won a very gratifying measure of success.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Edgerton were born seven children: Alice, the eldest,
is the deceased wife of L. H. Roberts, of Paton. William H., who lives
with his mother and owns eighty acres of land adjoining her farm,
married Emma Roberts, a daughter of the Rev. William Roberts. He lost
his wife and their only child, Annie, is also deceased. Susie, the next
member of the family, is the wife of J. B. Wilson, of Kansas. Mary is
the deceased wife of E. G. Elmore, of Paton. Elizabeth is the wife of
J. C. White, of Dawson township. Charles married Estella Mertz and is
residing in Paton. George died at the age of four years.
Mrs. Edgerton was born of Quaker parentage and still holds to that
faith, being an earnest Christian woman identified with the Friends
church near her home. She is still in good health and able to attend to
the duties of her own household. She certainly deserves prominent
mention in this volume as a worthy pioneer woman. She was born in
Indiana during the days when it was largely a frontier state, lived in
Kansas during the period of excitement and danger which antedated its
admission to the Union and later became a pioneer resident of Greene
county. Here she has watched the growth and upbuilding of this section
of the state and has borne her full share in its agricultural
development, at the same tinie rearing a family of sons and daughters
who have become a credit to her name. She has certainly done her share
of the world’s work, cultivating, too, those graces of character - a
kindly spirit, a gentle manner and womanly refinement - which have
endeared her to all with whom she has come in contact. She can relate
many interesting incidents of her early experiences in the west. Being
an early riser, she got up long before daylight and saw the starting of
the fire which destroyed Lawrence, Kansas, during the border warfare in
that state. She knew Sally Spurgeon, the leader of the band of ruflians
who committed this outrage and robbed the people of the town. This same
girl shot Mr. Edgerton at Little Rock, Arkansas, inflicting a slight
scalp wound. During the war, in August, 1862, Mrs. Edgerton was an eye
witness of one of the most horrible sights ever beheld. She and her
husband, together with their two children, crossed the plains with an
ox team, returning to Douglas county, Kansas, in the fall of 1862. They
came in contact with three different tribes of Indians, the Arapahoes,
Comanches and Flatheads, who, however, were not hostile to them. Mrs.
Edgerton once encountered a panther on the prairie but she soon put the
beast to flight though she had no weapons with her.
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