My Genealogy Hound

Charles H. Willhaf, manager of the mammoth store of the Kansas and Texas Coal Company, at Huntington, was born in Crawford County, Ark., in 1848, and is a son of Leonard and Mary (Beckel) Willhaf, who were born in Wurtemburg and Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. When young they came to the United States, and after their marriage at Fort Smith they settled in Van Buren, where for years Mr. Willhaf kept a baker and grocery store. He was a lieutenant in Yell’s Arkansas regiment during the Mexican War, and one of the first merchants of Van Buren, where he died in 1866, and the mother still lives. Our subject was an only child and passed his youth in Van Buren, receiving but a limited education, and at an early age began life for himself by clerking. In 1868 he went to Oswego, Kas., where he clerked until 1881, and since that time has been employed by the Kansas and Texas Coal Company, with the exception of two years at Pittsburg, Kas., Monett, Mo., Hackett City and Huntington, Ark. He has been a resident of the last named place since August, 1887. Mr. Willhaf was married in 1876, at Oswego, Kas., to Caroline J., daughter of Isaac A. Marks, formerly of Crawfordsville, Ind., where Mrs. Willhaf was born. Mr. and Mrs. Willhaf have but one child. The former is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity.