My Genealogy Hound

ISAAC JESSE CAMAC, who is engaged in the harness business in Yates Center, is a representative of that class of men who form the bulwark of the nation—men who in the active business affairs of life are energetic and progressive, who are loyal to the duties of citizenship and are faithful to the obligations of home and social life. He has made his home in Kansas since 1871, coming to this state from Illinois. He was born, however, in Randolph County, North Carolina, November 19, 1846, a son of Dixon Camac, a farmer, who died in Ottawa, Kas., in March, 1889, at the age of seventy-five years. He too was a native of North Carolina and was of English descent. In his political affiliations he was a Democrat. He married Nancy Gaddis, who died in Windsor, Illinois, in 1865, and is survived by five of her eight children, namely: Martha, wife of J. B. Holmes, of Stafford, Kas.; Rebecca, wife of Harvey Rodgers, of Ottawa, Kas.; Isaac J., who was the fifth in order of birth in the family; Maggie, wife of Lewis Heshman, of Ottawa, and Dovie Ann, wife of ___ Dey, of Franklin County, Kas.

Mr. Camac spent the greater part of his youth in Illinois and was reared as a farmer boy until twenty years of age, when he began learning the trade of a harness maker and saddler, serving an apprenticeship in Windsor, Illinois, after which he was employed as a journeyman for two years. He then spent four years as a farmer, half of that time being passed in Putnam County, Missouri, the other half in Franklin County, Kansas. He removed from Shelby County, Illinois, to Franklin County, and on his retirement from agricultural fields he began business in Ottawa as a dealer in harness and saddlery. In 1884 he removed to Eminence township, Woodson County, where he farmed seven years and then came to Yates Center in 1891. Here he purchased the harness and saddlery establishment formerly owned by Fred Wachtman, and has since been sole proprietor. He enjoys a large and lucrative patronage, having been well equipped by previous experience for the business when he began operations at this place. He carries a large and well selected stock of goods such as is found in a first class establishment of the kind and his business is constantly growing in volume and importance.

On the 2d of April, 1868, in Windsor, Illinois, Mr. Camac was united in marriage to Miss Victoria York, a daughter of John York, a native of North Carolina. He was a tailor by trade and spent his last days in Ottawa, Kas. In his family were four children, of whom three are yet living. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Camac have been born eight children: Cora, wife of W. M. Patterson, of Rose, Kas.; John, a farmer of Woodson County; Nettie, wife of W. M. Hartshorn, of Ottawa, Kas.; Isaac J., Jr.; May, a teacher in Woodson County; Winnie, who is a graduate of the high school of Yates Center; Blanche and Katie. The family is one of prominence in the community, the members of the household occupying an enviable position in social circles. Mr. Camac cast his first presidential vote in 1876, supporting R. B. Hayes, and since that time he has been a stalwart Republican, heartily endorsing the men and measures of the party. He belongs to the subordinate lodge and the Rebekah department of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also holds membership with the Knights and Ladies of Security. In the Odd Fellows lodge he has filled all of the chairs and has served as representative to the grand lodge. Such in brief is the life history of one who has been an energetic and straight-forward business man and has walked worthily in all life’s relations, thereby commanding uniform respect.