My Genealogy Hound

ANDREW J. HUFF. The lives of some men stand out in bold relief as examples of what may be accomplished by perseverance, industry and a steady determination to succeed and make a place for themselves among their fellow men. Success rarely comes to him who labors not for it. This line of thought is suggested as we review the life record of Mr. Huff, who for some years was a well known educator of Woodson County and is now ex-clerk of the district court.

He was born in Dubois County, Indiana, December 8, 1866, and is a son of Jefferson Huff, who now resides in Toronto township, where he is successfully engaged in farming, carrying on operations on an extensive scale. He has large tracts of land under cultivation, and is raising and feeding stock in large numbers.

Andrew J. Huff spent the first fifteen years of his life in the county of his nativity, and during that time acquired a common school education and was trained to farm work, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He arrived in southeastern Kansas in 1881 and took up his abode upon a farm in Toronto township where he remained until called to public office. In the meantime he had supplemented his early educational privileges by study in the Fort Scott Normal, of Fort Scott, Kansas, and had engaged in teaching for ten years in the district schools and in the city of Toronto. His labors in that direction gave uniform satisfaction and largely promoted intellectual activity. He continually strove to improve the methods of teachings and his work was effective and beneficial.

The Huffs have ever been Republicans, unfaltering in support of the principles and measures of the party, and in 1888, Andrew J. Huff cast his first presidential vote, depositing his ballot for General Benjamin Harrison. In 1894 he was nominated for the position of district clerk, but met defeat by seven votes. In 1896, however, he received the unanimous support of the party as a candidate for that office and at the polls was given a majority of one hundred and fifty-three. He filled the position so capably that he was re-elected in 1898 by the increased majority of three hundred and sixty-nine, so that he was retained in the office for four years. Socially he is identified with the Odd Fellows society, and is highly esteemed in the fraternity as well as in other walks of life where his genial manner and sterling qualities pass current as a readily accepted medium of exchange for the merited regard and confidence of his fellow men.