From the Perry Mirror, Sept. 8, 1921
Donated Townsite of Grantville and Laid it out.
A.J. [Andrew Jackson] Kleinhans, 90, one of the pioneer farmers and stockmen of Jefferson county, died at his home in Grantville, Tuesday. Death followed a stroke of paralysis which he suffered last Saturday. Mr. Kleinhans was born in Belvidere, N.J., April 25, 1831, and was educated in Belvidere college. He went to California during the gold rush of 1849, coming back to Kansas in 1856. He purchased the farm on which the family now lives, in 1857. The townsite of Grantville was laid out by Mr. Kleinhans and donated to the town's company. The Kleinhans home is one of the finest in Jefferson county.
Mr. Kleinhans was one of the original incorporators of the Bank of Topeka and was one of the close friends of the late John R. Mulvane. In 1856, Mr. Kleinhans married Mary J. Coffman, whose father was also a pioneer resident of Jefferson county. Mrs. Kleinhans survives her husband.
Two sons and two daughters also survive. Charles H. lives at Grantville, John A. resides at 827 Quincy Street. Mrs. W.T. [Della] Crosby, a daughter, is in California with Mr. Crosby, and is now on her way back to Topeka. Mrs. Mattie A. Ingram, another daughter, lives in Calcutta, India, with her son, Everett Ingram, representative of one of the largest rubber concerns in the United States.
Mrs. Crosby will arrive in Topeka in time for the funeral which will be held at Grantville, Thursday. The funeral will be private. — Topeka Daily Capital
This story appeared in “Yesteryears” in April 2003.
From the Topeka State Journal, Jan. 4, 1930
Mrs. Mary J. Kleinhans, 87, widow of the late A. Jackson Kleinhans, for seventy-one years a resident of Grantville, died this morning at the family homestead.
During the first term of President U. S. Grant, Mr. Kleinhans founded the town. The neighbors favored naming it Kleinville, but he was a modest man and insisted that it should be named in honor of the President. He donated the land for the Methodist Church, of which his wife was a member, the district school and the railroad station. Mr. Kleinhans died in 1923 at the age of 90.
From The First Hundred Years of Jefferson County, Kansas:
Kaw Township
Originally a part of Kentucky township. It was organized in 1858. Settlers of 1854 were Jefferson Riddle, J.T. Wilson, K. Kukendall and R.P. Beeler. A town company was formed in 1857 and a town site of 320 acres was laid off and named Kaw City. A postoffice was established in 1858, on the east side of Big Muddy Creek. When the Kansas Pacific came through the township in 1865 a station was built on the farm of D.W. Kleinhans and called Kaw station. The Kaw City postoffice was moved to the new location, Mr. Kleinhans laid off a town around it, this was the original town of Grantville.
Mary Jane Tucker of Grantville was a relative through the Ingrams. Her children would be related but not still in the community. The general store/post office was torn down in the late 1970s.
ReplyDeleteHi Robbie, 2 of Mary Janes grandchildren still live on the family farm. There has been 7 generations of moms family that have lived on the farm and are continuing to live and enjoy Grantville.
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