My Genealogy Hound

CHAUNCY W. LANKTON. The subject of this review is a self-made man who without any extra ordinary family or pecuniary advantages at the commencement of life has battled earnestly and energetically, and by indomitable courage and integrity has achieved both character and fortune. By sheer force of will and untiring effort he has worked his way upward and is numbered among the practical farmers of Everett township, Woodson County.

Mr. Lankton was born in Allegany County, New York, April 27, 1834, his parents being Joel and Sarah (Evans) Lankton. The father was born in the Empire state in 1799 and became a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal church, preaching for many years. He was also a carpenter by trade and while not in the pulpit worked at the bench. In 1839 he removed to Morgan County, Illinois, where he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in 1855, when he was fifty-five years of age. His wife passed away many years before, being called to her final rest in 1841, when thirty-six years of age.

Chauncy Lankton, their sixth child, was a little lad of five summers when his parents went to Illinois. Schools in the west were very primitive at that time and his educational privileges were necessarily limited. At an early age he began work at the carpenter’s trade under the direction of his father and followed that pursuit throughout a long period. He was married in Illinois and there remained until 1879 when with his family, he came to Kansas, purchasing one hundred and sixty acres of land two miles north and one mile west of the present site of Vernon, in the fall of that year. The improvements on the place were meager, but with characteristic energy he began the development of his farm and has since erected a good residence and a large barn, has planted a fine orchard and has everything in good condition, the place being particularly neat in appearance. They did not have three hundred dollars when they came here, and through their energetic efforts they have advanced until they are now the possessors of a handsome competence, sufficient to provide them with all the necessaries and many of the luxuries of life.

In 1857 Mr. Lankton was united in marriage to Miss Rhoda Rhea, who was born in Illinois, while her parents were natives of Kentucky, removing to the former state at an early day. Mr. and Mrs. Lankton became the parents of three children: Fletcher H., who is a printer by trade and is now foreman of the Daily Drovers Telegram office, in Kansas City, Missouri; Adda L, wife of C. B. Norton, a resident farmer of Everett township, and Lydia, wife of R. E. Dickinson, now the owner and proprietor of a harness shop in Leroy, Kansas. The family are well known, and their friends and acquaintances in Woodson County are many. Mr. Lankton is independent in his political views, voting for the men whom he thinks best qualified for office without regard to the party affiliation of candidates. Such is the life record of one of the enterprising agriculturists of Woodson County, whose place in business circles is the reward of his own honorable labors.