From: The United States Biographical Dictionary Kansas 1879
Benjamin F. Hepler, M. D.
Fort Scott.
Benjamin F., son of Jacob and Mary Hepler, descendant of a Huguenot family of French and German extraction, was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1832. His father died in 1854, aged fifty-four years; his mother in 1876, aged sixty-eight. Seven brothers of his father's mother, whose family name was Dauvinspike, were soldiers in the war of the Revolution. Benjamin's father was a farmer, his mother the daughter of a farmer, and both were earnest, faithful members of the German Lutheran church.
He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, pursued his professional studies at Philadelphia Medical College, during the years 1856-8, in which latter year he graduated, and soon after located for practice in Nevada City, Vernon county, Missouri. Here he rapidly acquired an extensive practice and gained considerable property. In 1859 he moved a short distance into the country upon a well stocked and improved farm, to which he gave personal supervision, being at the same time actively engaged in his professional duties. Here Dr. Hepler was leading a busy, useful life, when the war of the Rebellion in 1861 deranged all his plans, as well as changed the general aspect of affairs all over the Union. The Doctor had always been a pro-slavery Democrat, and his sympathies and interests were with the South. He did not approve of secession, but he was a rebel, strongly opposed to the coercion measures of the Republican administration, and his sympathies naturally drew him into co-operation with the rebel element of the State. Early in the summer of 1861 he was appointed surgeon of Hunter's Regiment, Range Division, Confederate Army of Missouri. He had charge of the hospital at Cassville during November and December of that year, and when removing from that post was taken prisoner by the United States forces under Colonel William Jewell, and carried to Fort Scott, Kansas. Here he was soon paroled, and commissioned by the Union commander as an officer of exchange, with special orders to proceed to General Price's camp, procure the release of four Unionists who had been taken prisoners, and return with them to Fort Scott, or pay the forfeit of his own life should he ever fall into the hands of the United States Army again; besides which, his home in Vernon county and the homes of his friends should be burned and visited with general devastation. The orders were not very pleasant, particularly as the country was infested with bushwhackers, who were always on the alert for Union men or those who in any way aided them. Dr. Hepler's orders were imperative, and he started upon his mission, found General Price as Osceola, who also created him an officer of exchange, succeeded in getting the "four men" and left the rebel camp for Fort Scott, where he arrived in safety after successfully eluding the vigilance of the guerrillas, and relieved the Union general from the necessity of exacting his forfeit. He continued to act as an efficient officer of exchange for six months in which time he assisted in exchanging many prisoners in both armies, and was more or less engaged in such service as long as the war continued. In the summer of 1862 he returned to his home in Vernon county, resumed the practice of his profession, and again attempted farming. But his location was just in the path of the two armies, as they passed and repassed in mutual aggression. The Union forces came and demanded to be fed because he was an enemy; the Rebels came, and, as they were friends, of course must be fed. But heavy as was this drain, it was not all - three times his farm was burnt over, fencing and produce destroyed; his stock were taken again and again, until all were gone; one span of horses was taken away from him three times and three times recovered, the ownership at last develving upon himself, and his house was robbed five times in one week. Human nature could stand it no longer, and in the spring of 1863 he removed to Fort Scott, having little remaining save the bare acres that were useless as long as hostilities lasted.
Upon coming to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler immediately engaged in the practice of his profession, and notwithstanding his rebel sympathies, soon obtained a successful practice. But he was not allowed to remain entirely at peace. The Union League charged him with being a spy and determined upon his death which was only prevented by the good offices of his friends; whereupon he was ordered to leave town within five days, but this order was also countermanded, and the Doctor was allowed to continue in the peaceful pursuit of his calling. During the Price raid in Kansas, in 1864, Dr. Hepler was appointed assistant-surgeon of the 14th Kansas Militia and served in that capacity thirty days, becoming in turn surgeon and officer of exchange for both armies.
Since his removal to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler has always identified himself with the public interests and general improvements of the city and county. He has been quite prominent in educational matters, helped to organize the public school district, was chairman of the school board, and in that capacity negotiated for the purchase of the "Plaza" hospital building, now used for the colored school of the city. From 1866 to 1870 he as connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, was one of the directors and chief manager of the company's interests in that locality, and was most energetic in working up the construction of the road. At the same time he was secretary of the contemplated Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad, which he aided with money and influence, but the road failed and was a source of serious loss to all who were financially interested in it. In 1868 he assisted in establishing the Fort Scott Hydraulic Cement Manufactory, of which he was manager and superintendent for four years; he also aided in organizing the agricultural society of the county, was its president for two years, and contributed both money and labor to maintain its interests, but after two years operations the expenses became too burdensome, the society fell into arrears, and lost the fair ground with all its improvements. During seven years of his residence in the city, Dr. Hepler has been engaged in the drug business, but notwithstanding this, and his connection with the various enterprises referred to, has continued in the successful practice of medicine with the exception of four years, is now actively engaged in it, and is considered one of the leading physicians of the city.
He has always remained true to his early Democratic faith, and has never, save once, stepped outside the party lines, and that was to vote for Horace Greeley. He has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow since 1853; has not passed all the chairs of either order, but has been Grand Junior and Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Commandery of the State; was for three years Recorder and is now Generalissimo of Hugh DePayens Commandery, Fort Scott. Dr. Hepler is a patron of the Episcopal church, but not a communicant; he does not and cannot conform in his ideas to any particular creed, though he gives liberally to all church enterprises and is held in respect by the various denominations.
October 23, 1853, he was married to Sarah G., daughter of Dr. Charles Snowden, an eminent physician of Freeport, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler's family are of Scotch origin and originally settled in Philadelphia. Her grandfather, Nathaniel R. Snowden, was greatly devoted to the educational interests of the State, and founded the Female College at Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler died July, 1864; she was the mother of eight children, six of whom died in their infancy. The survivors are: Mary Jane, born in 1856, educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, and is now the wife of Wm. L. Saffel, of the postoffice department, St. Louis; and C. G. S. Hepler, born in 1859, clerk in a St. Louis drug store. December 30, 1864, Dr. Hepler married Mrs. Mary A. Ranney (whose first marriage was with Mr. Mills), daughter of Mr. Herrick, a wealthy Cleveland merchant; she had one child by her first husband, Ella M. Mills, who was educated at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, Missouri, and is now the wife of Richard Watham, of New York City. Mrs. Hepler's brother, Colonel Charles Herrick, of the Confederate army, lost his life at the siege of Vicksburgh.
At the time of the organization of the Eastern Star in Kansas, in 1876, Mrs M. A. Hepler was elected the first Worthy Matron, and has been elected for the third term in Olive Chapter, No 48. When the Grand Chapter was organized, she was elected Grand Worthy Matron, was re-elected to the same office in 1877, and has thus been elevated to the highest honors in the order that can be awarded in the State. She is a communicant fo the Episcopal church.
Doctor Hepler is widely and favorably known throughout the State, is a man of fine professional skill, good administrative ability, genial and social in his nature, with but little malice in his disposition; is still in the prime of life, and one of the most honorable, upright and generally respected citizens of Fort Scott, his constant residence for the past fifteen years.
From:William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
BOURBON COUNTY, Part 11
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (HEPLER - LOTTERER).
BENJAMIN F. HEPLER, M. D., was born in Pennsylvania; emigrated to Missouri in the winter of 1858, and established himself as physician and surgeon at Nevada, Mo., remaining there during the beginning of the war, the hostilities of which were the mitigating cause of his removing to Fort Scott, in 1863, and opening a drug store. In 1864, he became assistant surgeon of the Twenty-fourth Kansas State Militia, Col. Isaac Stadden commanding, which was called into active service during the Price raid. The Doctor, possessing a social, enthusiastic spirit and genial nature was soon acknowledged a nessary acquisition in business relations. He not only assumed his professional duties, but identified himself with most of the public enterprises of the city, often receiving the seat of honor. The first feature seemed to be an educational demand, as no feasible Free School system had as yet been established; and in 1864, he, with others, organized a School Board, and eventually succeeded in maintaining literary advantages, and to-day he lives to see the public schools of Fort Scott "living monuments of honor." He has been ever since 1865 prominently connected with the various railroad interests of the State, being one of the originators, and always one of the directory of the railroad chartered as the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company in the state of Missouri. The Nevada Times of Nevada, Mo., in one of its issues of 1869, in speaking of him in connection with this enterprise, calls him the "Headlight of the Road." In 1867, he got up a charter, and selected the charter members for the Missouri, Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad Company, with a view of ultimately merging the two roads into one, and to further this enterprise, a treaty was conceived and arranged with the Big and Little Osage tribes of Indians, which treaty was held in May and June of 1868, at the mouth of Drum Creek, on the Verdigris River, where the town of Independence, Montgomery County, now is; he, and others connected with the directory of the two railroads, met the Secretary of the Interior with their commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, at the time and place appointed to treat with the aforesaid tribes for a body of land involving 13,000,000 acres, then known as the "Osage Indian Reservation," to secure a landed franchise to build the two roads. In October, 1869, the Tebo & Neosho directory sold their franchises to the Land Grant Railway & Trust Company of New York City, Levi G. Parsons, President, R. S. Stevens, General Manager, and through whose management the road was built under the name of Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. He was also connected with the Memphis, Topeka & Fort Scott narrow gauge Railroad, organized in 1870, and the Laclede & Fort Scott, is still director in that road, also a member of the executive committee. He holds the position at the present time of assistant surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf division, also chief surgeon of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad Company. The Bourbon County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Society, was organized in 1865, and in 1871 he was elected President of the society, and at the same time was made President of the Kansas & Missouri District Fair Association, organized in 1871. At an early day he became identified as one of the proprietors of the Fort Scott Paint and Cement Works, in the manufacturing of hydraulic cement, and in July, 1872, became general Superintendent, and sold out his interest in 1876. In 1871, he, with others, organized a Town Stock Company in Crawford County, twenty miles southwest on the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, of which he was elected President, and in honor of its President they named the town "Hepler." He was one of the instigators and assisted in organizing the District Medical Society known as the Southeast Kansas District Medical Society in 1879, with G. R. Baldwin, M. D., President; F. F. Dickman, Secretary, and in 1880 he himself was elected President of this society, and in 1881 he became one of the proprietors of the Kansas Medical Index, F. F. Dickman, M. D., editor. For a series of years he did very little in a professional way, and in 1876 resumed the practice of medicine, since which time he has been very actively devoted to the interests of his profession, still holding some landed and mining interests in the suburbs of the city and adjoining counties. Thus we see in point of labor he has been one of the happy mediums through which the populace of the great State of Kansas have been able to prove by united efforts to their posterity the magnitude of advancement and improvement.
Published September 29, 1894 in Parsons, KS Blade:
Dr. B. F. Hepler died in his home in Fort Scott, KS of cerebral softening. He was one of the organizers of the Missouri, Texas and Kansas railway company and active in the construction of that road. He served as president of the Kansas medical society and editor of the Kansas Medical Journal. He founded the town of Hepler, KS and figured more prominently in the early history of railroads in southern Kansas than any other man.
Benjamin F. Hepler, M. D.
Fort Scott.
Benjamin F., son of Jacob and Mary Hepler, descendant of a Huguenot family of French and German extraction, was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1832. His father died in 1854, aged fifty-four years; his mother in 1876, aged sixty-eight. Seven brothers of his father's mother, whose family name was Dauvinspike, were soldiers in the war of the Revolution. Benjamin's father was a farmer, his mother the daughter of a farmer, and both were earnest, faithful members of the German Lutheran church.
He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, pursued his professional studies at Philadelphia Medical College, during the years 1856-8, in which latter year he graduated, and soon after located for practice in Nevada City, Vernon county, Missouri. Here he rapidly acquired an extensive practice and gained considerable property. In 1859 he moved a short distance into the country upon a well stocked and improved farm, to which he gave personal supervision, being at the same time actively engaged in his professional duties. Here Dr. Hepler was leading a busy, useful life, when the war of the Rebellion in 1861 deranged all his plans, as well as changed the general aspect of affairs all over the Union. The Doctor had always been a pro-slavery Democrat, and his sympathies and interests were with the South. He did not approve of secession, but he was a rebel, strongly opposed to the coercion measures of the Republican administration, and his sympathies naturally drew him into co-operation with the rebel element of the State. Early in the summer of 1861 he was appointed surgeon of Hunter's Regiment, Range Division, Confederate Army of Missouri. He had charge of the hospital at Cassville during November and December of that year, and when removing from that post was taken prisoner by the United States forces under Colonel William Jewell, and carried to Fort Scott, Kansas. Here he was soon paroled, and commissioned by the Union commander as an officer of exchange, with special orders to proceed to General Price's camp, procure the release of four Unionists who had been taken prisoners, and return with them to Fort Scott, or pay the forfeit of his own life should he ever fall into the hands of the United States Army again; besides which, his home in Vernon county and the homes of his friends should be burned and visited with general devastation. The orders were not very pleasant, particularly as the country was infested with bushwhackers, who were always on the alert for Union men or those who in any way aided them. Dr. Hepler's orders were imperative, and he started upon his mission, found General Price as Osceola, who also created him an officer of exchange, succeeded in getting the "four men" and left the rebel camp for Fort Scott, where he arrived in safety after successfully eluding the vigilance of the guerrillas, and relieved the Union general from the necessity of exacting his forfeit. He continued to act as an efficient officer of exchange for six months in which time he assisted in exchanging many prisoners in both armies, and was more or less engaged in such service as long as the war continued. In the summer of 1862 he returned to his home in Vernon county, resumed the practice of his profession, and again attempted farming. But his location was just in the path of the two armies, as they passed and repassed in mutual aggression. The Union forces came and demanded to be fed because he was an enemy; the Rebels came, and, as they were friends, of course must be fed. But heavy as was this drain, it was not all - three times his farm was burnt over, fencing and produce destroyed; his stock were taken again and again, until all were gone; one span of horses was taken away from him three times and three times recovered, the ownership at last develving upon himself, and his house was robbed five times in one week. Human nature could stand it no longer, and in the spring of 1863 he removed to Fort Scott, having little remaining save the bare acres that were useless as long as hostilities lasted.
Upon coming to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler immediately engaged in the practice of his profession, and notwithstanding his rebel sympathies, soon obtained a successful practice. But he was not allowed to remain entirely at peace. The Union League charged him with being a spy and determined upon his death which was only prevented by the good offices of his friends; whereupon he was ordered to leave town within five days, but this order was also countermanded, and the Doctor was allowed to continue in the peaceful pursuit of his calling. During the Price raid in Kansas, in 1864, Dr. Hepler was appointed assistant-surgeon of the 14th Kansas Militia and served in that capacity thirty days, becoming in turn surgeon and officer of exchange for both armies.
Since his removal to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler has always identified himself with the public interests and general improvements of the city and county. He has been quite prominent in educational matters, helped to organize the public school district, was chairman of the school board, and in that capacity negotiated for the purchase of the "Plaza" hospital building, now used for the colored school of the city. From 1866 to 1870 he as connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, was one of the directors and chief manager of the company's interests in that locality, and was most energetic in working up the construction of the road. At the same time he was secretary of the contemplated Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad, which he aided with money and influence, but the road failed and was a source of serious loss to all who were financially interested in it. In 1868 he assisted in establishing the Fort Scott Hydraulic Cement Manufactory, of which he was manager and superintendent for four years; he also aided in organizing the agricultural society of the county, was its president for two years, and contributed both money and labor to maintain its interests, but after two years operations the expenses became too burdensome, the society fell into arrears, and lost the fair ground with all its improvements. During seven years of his residence in the city, Dr. Hepler has been engaged in the drug business, but notwithstanding this, and his connection with the various enterprises referred to, has continued in the successful practice of medicine with the exception of four years, is now actively engaged in it, and is considered one of the leading physicians of the city.
He has always remained true to his early Democratic faith, and has never, save once, stepped outside the party lines, and that was to vote for Horace Greeley. He has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow since 1853; has not passed all the chairs of either order, but has been Grand Junior and Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Commandery of the State; was for three years Recorder and is now Generalissimo of Hugh DePayens Commandery, Fort Scott. Dr. Hepler is a patron of the Episcopal church, but not a communicant; he does not and cannot conform in his ideas to any particular creed, though he gives liberally to all church enterprises and is held in respect by the various denominations.
October 23, 1853, he was married to Sarah G., daughter of Dr. Charles Snowden, an eminent physician of Freeport, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler's family are of Scotch origin and originally settled in Philadelphia. Her grandfather, Nathaniel R. Snowden, was greatly devoted to the educational interests of the State, and founded the Female College at Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler died July, 1864; she was the mother of eight children, six of whom died in their infancy. The survivors are: Mary Jane, born in 1856, educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, and is now the wife of Wm. L. Saffel, of the postoffice department, St. Louis; and C. G. S. Hepler, born in 1859, clerk in a St. Louis drug store. December 30, 1864, Dr. Hepler married Mrs. Mary A. Ranney (whose first marriage was with Mr. Mills), daughter of Mr. Herrick, a wealthy Cleveland merchant; she had one child by her first husband, Ella M. Mills, who was educated at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, Missouri, and is now the wife of Richard Watham, of New York City. Mrs. Hepler's brother, Colonel Charles Herrick, of the Confederate army, lost his life at the siege of Vicksburgh.
At the time of the organization of the Eastern Star in Kansas, in 1876, Mrs M. A. Hepler was elected the first Worthy Matron, and has been elected for the third term in Olive Chapter, No 48. When the Grand Chapter was organized, she was elected Grand Worthy Matron, was re-elected to the same office in 1877, and has thus been elevated to the highest honors in the order that can be awarded in the State. She is a communicant fo the Episcopal church.
Doctor Hepler is widely and favorably known throughout the State, is a man of fine professional skill, good administrative ability, genial and social in his nature, with but little malice in his disposition; is still in the prime of life, and one of the most honorable, upright and generally respected citizens of Fort Scott, his constant residence for the past fifteen years.
From:William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
BOURBON COUNTY, Part 11
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (HEPLER - LOTTERER).
BENJAMIN F. HEPLER, M. D., was born in Pennsylvania; emigrated to Missouri in the winter of 1858, and established himself as physician and surgeon at Nevada, Mo., remaining there during the beginning of the war, the hostilities of which were the mitigating cause of his removing to Fort Scott, in 1863, and opening a drug store. In 1864, he became assistant surgeon of the Twenty-fourth Kansas State Militia, Col. Isaac Stadden commanding, which was called into active service during the Price raid. The Doctor, possessing a social, enthusiastic spirit and genial nature was soon acknowledged a nessary acquisition in business relations. He not only assumed his professional duties, but identified himself with most of the public enterprises of the city, often receiving the seat of honor. The first feature seemed to be an educational demand, as no feasible Free School system had as yet been established; and in 1864, he, with others, organized a School Board, and eventually succeeded in maintaining literary advantages, and to-day he lives to see the public schools of Fort Scott "living monuments of honor." He has been ever since 1865 prominently connected with the various railroad interests of the State, being one of the originators, and always one of the directory of the railroad chartered as the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company in the state of Missouri. The Nevada Times of Nevada, Mo., in one of its issues of 1869, in speaking of him in connection with this enterprise, calls him the "Headlight of the Road." In 1867, he got up a charter, and selected the charter members for the Missouri, Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad Company, with a view of ultimately merging the two roads into one, and to further this enterprise, a treaty was conceived and arranged with the Big and Little Osage tribes of Indians, which treaty was held in May and June of 1868, at the mouth of Drum Creek, on the Verdigris River, where the town of Independence, Montgomery County, now is; he, and others connected with the directory of the two railroads, met the Secretary of the Interior with their commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, at the time and place appointed to treat with the aforesaid tribes for a body of land involving 13,000,000 acres, then known as the "Osage Indian Reservation," to secure a landed franchise to build the two roads. In October, 1869, the Tebo & Neosho directory sold their franchises to the Land Grant Railway & Trust Company of New York City, Levi G. Parsons, President, R. S. Stevens, General Manager, and through whose management the road was built under the name of Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. He was also connected with the Memphis, Topeka & Fort Scott narrow gauge Railroad, organized in 1870, and the Laclede & Fort Scott, is still director in that road, also a member of the executive committee. He holds the position at the present time of assistant surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf division, also chief surgeon of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad Company. The Bourbon County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Society, was organized in 1865, and in 1871 he was elected President of the society, and at the same time was made President of the Kansas & Missouri District Fair Association, organized in 1871. At an early day he became identified as one of the proprietors of the Fort Scott Paint and Cement Works, in the manufacturing of hydraulic cement, and in July, 1872, became general Superintendent, and sold out his interest in 1876. In 1871, he, with others, organized a Town Stock Company in Crawford County, twenty miles southwest on the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, of which he was elected President, and in honor of its President they named the town "Hepler." He was one of the instigators and assisted in organizing the District Medical Society known as the Southeast Kansas District Medical Society in 1879, with G. R. Baldwin, M. D., President; F. F. Dickman, Secretary, and in 1880 he himself was elected President of this society, and in 1881 he became one of the proprietors of the Kansas Medical Index, F. F. Dickman, M. D., editor. For a series of years he did very little in a professional way, and in 1876 resumed the practice of medicine, since which time he has been very actively devoted to the interests of his profession, still holding some landed and mining interests in the suburbs of the city and adjoining counties. Thus we see in point of labor he has been one of the happy mediums through which the populace of the great State of Kansas have been able to prove by united efforts to their posterity the magnitude of advancement and improvement.
Published September 29, 1894 in Parsons, KS Blade:
Dr. B. F. Hepler died in his home in Fort Scott, KS of cerebral softening. He was one of the organizers of the Missouri, Texas and Kansas railway company and active in the construction of that road. He served as president of the Kansas medical society and editor of the Kansas Medical Journal. He founded the town of Hepler, KS and figured more prominently in the early history of railroads in southern Kansas than any other man.
From: The United States Biographical Dictionary Kansas 1879
Benjamin F. Hepler, M. D.
Fort Scott.
Benjamin F., son of Jacob and Mary Hepler, descendant of a Huguenot family of French and German extraction, was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1832. His father died in 1854, aged fifty-four years; his mother in 1876, aged sixty-eight. Seven brothers of his father's mother, whose family name was Dauvinspike, were soldiers in the war of the Revolution. Benjamin's father was a farmer, his mother the daughter of a farmer, and both were earnest, faithful members of the German Lutheran church.
He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, pursued his professional studies at Philadelphia Medical College, during the years 1856-8, in which latter year he graduated, and soon after located for practice in Nevada City, Vernon county, Missouri. Here he rapidly acquired an extensive practice and gained considerable property. In 1859 he moved a short distance into the country upon a well stocked and improved farm, to which he gave personal supervision, being at the same time actively engaged in his professional duties. Here Dr. Hepler was leading a busy, useful life, when the war of the Rebellion in 1861 deranged all his plans, as well as changed the general aspect of affairs all over the Union. The Doctor had always been a pro-slavery Democrat, and his sympathies and interests were with the South. He did not approve of secession, but he was a rebel, strongly opposed to the coercion measures of the Republican administration, and his sympathies naturally drew him into co-operation with the rebel element of the State. Early in the summer of 1861 he was appointed surgeon of Hunter's Regiment, Range Division, Confederate Army of Missouri. He had charge of the hospital at Cassville during November and December of that year, and when removing from that post was taken prisoner by the United States forces under Colonel William Jewell, and carried to Fort Scott, Kansas. Here he was soon paroled, and commissioned by the Union commander as an officer of exchange, with special orders to proceed to General Price's camp, procure the release of four Unionists who had been taken prisoners, and return with them to Fort Scott, or pay the forfeit of his own life should he ever fall into the hands of the United States Army again; besides which, his home in Vernon county and the homes of his friends should be burned and visited with general devastation. The orders were not very pleasant, particularly as the country was infested with bushwhackers, who were always on the alert for Union men or those who in any way aided them. Dr. Hepler's orders were imperative, and he started upon his mission, found General Price as Osceola, who also created him an officer of exchange, succeeded in getting the "four men" and left the rebel camp for Fort Scott, where he arrived in safety after successfully eluding the vigilance of the guerrillas, and relieved the Union general from the necessity of exacting his forfeit. He continued to act as an efficient officer of exchange for six months in which time he assisted in exchanging many prisoners in both armies, and was more or less engaged in such service as long as the war continued. In the summer of 1862 he returned to his home in Vernon county, resumed the practice of his profession, and again attempted farming. But his location was just in the path of the two armies, as they passed and repassed in mutual aggression. The Union forces came and demanded to be fed because he was an enemy; the Rebels came, and, as they were friends, of course must be fed. But heavy as was this drain, it was not all - three times his farm was burnt over, fencing and produce destroyed; his stock were taken again and again, until all were gone; one span of horses was taken away from him three times and three times recovered, the ownership at last develving upon himself, and his house was robbed five times in one week. Human nature could stand it no longer, and in the spring of 1863 he removed to Fort Scott, having little remaining save the bare acres that were useless as long as hostilities lasted.
Upon coming to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler immediately engaged in the practice of his profession, and notwithstanding his rebel sympathies, soon obtained a successful practice. But he was not allowed to remain entirely at peace. The Union League charged him with being a spy and determined upon his death which was only prevented by the good offices of his friends; whereupon he was ordered to leave town within five days, but this order was also countermanded, and the Doctor was allowed to continue in the peaceful pursuit of his calling. During the Price raid in Kansas, in 1864, Dr. Hepler was appointed assistant-surgeon of the 14th Kansas Militia and served in that capacity thirty days, becoming in turn surgeon and officer of exchange for both armies.
Since his removal to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler has always identified himself with the public interests and general improvements of the city and county. He has been quite prominent in educational matters, helped to organize the public school district, was chairman of the school board, and in that capacity negotiated for the purchase of the "Plaza" hospital building, now used for the colored school of the city. From 1866 to 1870 he as connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, was one of the directors and chief manager of the company's interests in that locality, and was most energetic in working up the construction of the road. At the same time he was secretary of the contemplated Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad, which he aided with money and influence, but the road failed and was a source of serious loss to all who were financially interested in it. In 1868 he assisted in establishing the Fort Scott Hydraulic Cement Manufactory, of which he was manager and superintendent for four years; he also aided in organizing the agricultural society of the county, was its president for two years, and contributed both money and labor to maintain its interests, but after two years operations the expenses became too burdensome, the society fell into arrears, and lost the fair ground with all its improvements. During seven years of his residence in the city, Dr. Hepler has been engaged in the drug business, but notwithstanding this, and his connection with the various enterprises referred to, has continued in the successful practice of medicine with the exception of four years, is now actively engaged in it, and is considered one of the leading physicians of the city.
He has always remained true to his early Democratic faith, and has never, save once, stepped outside the party lines, and that was to vote for Horace Greeley. He has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow since 1853; has not passed all the chairs of either order, but has been Grand Junior and Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Commandery of the State; was for three years Recorder and is now Generalissimo of Hugh DePayens Commandery, Fort Scott. Dr. Hepler is a patron of the Episcopal church, but not a communicant; he does not and cannot conform in his ideas to any particular creed, though he gives liberally to all church enterprises and is held in respect by the various denominations.
October 23, 1853, he was married to Sarah G., daughter of Dr. Charles Snowden, an eminent physician of Freeport, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler's family are of Scotch origin and originally settled in Philadelphia. Her grandfather, Nathaniel R. Snowden, was greatly devoted to the educational interests of the State, and founded the Female College at Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler died July, 1864; she was the mother of eight children, six of whom died in their infancy. The survivors are: Mary Jane, born in 1856, educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, and is now the wife of Wm. L. Saffel, of the postoffice department, St. Louis; and C. G. S. Hepler, born in 1859, clerk in a St. Louis drug store. December 30, 1864, Dr. Hepler married Mrs. Mary A. Ranney (whose first marriage was with Mr. Mills), daughter of Mr. Herrick, a wealthy Cleveland merchant; she had one child by her first husband, Ella M. Mills, who was educated at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, Missouri, and is now the wife of Richard Watham, of New York City. Mrs. Hepler's brother, Colonel Charles Herrick, of the Confederate army, lost his life at the siege of Vicksburgh.
At the time of the organization of the Eastern Star in Kansas, in 1876, Mrs M. A. Hepler was elected the first Worthy Matron, and has been elected for the third term in Olive Chapter, No 48. When the Grand Chapter was organized, she was elected Grand Worthy Matron, was re-elected to the same office in 1877, and has thus been elevated to the highest honors in the order that can be awarded in the State. She is a communicant fo the Episcopal church.
Doctor Hepler is widely and favorably known throughout the State, is a man of fine professional skill, good administrative ability, genial and social in his nature, with but little malice in his disposition; is still in the prime of life, and one of the most honorable, upright and generally respected citizens of Fort Scott, his constant residence for the past fifteen years.
From:William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
BOURBON COUNTY, Part 11
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (HEPLER - LOTTERER).
BENJAMIN F. HEPLER, M. D., was born in Pennsylvania; emigrated to Missouri in the winter of 1858, and established himself as physician and surgeon at Nevada, Mo., remaining there during the beginning of the war, the hostilities of which were the mitigating cause of his removing to Fort Scott, in 1863, and opening a drug store. In 1864, he became assistant surgeon of the Twenty-fourth Kansas State Militia, Col. Isaac Stadden commanding, which was called into active service during the Price raid. The Doctor, possessing a social, enthusiastic spirit and genial nature was soon acknowledged a nessary acquisition in business relations. He not only assumed his professional duties, but identified himself with most of the public enterprises of the city, often receiving the seat of honor. The first feature seemed to be an educational demand, as no feasible Free School system had as yet been established; and in 1864, he, with others, organized a School Board, and eventually succeeded in maintaining literary advantages, and to-day he lives to see the public schools of Fort Scott "living monuments of honor." He has been ever since 1865 prominently connected with the various railroad interests of the State, being one of the originators, and always one of the directory of the railroad chartered as the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company in the state of Missouri. The Nevada Times of Nevada, Mo., in one of its issues of 1869, in speaking of him in connection with this enterprise, calls him the "Headlight of the Road." In 1867, he got up a charter, and selected the charter members for the Missouri, Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad Company, with a view of ultimately merging the two roads into one, and to further this enterprise, a treaty was conceived and arranged with the Big and Little Osage tribes of Indians, which treaty was held in May and June of 1868, at the mouth of Drum Creek, on the Verdigris River, where the town of Independence, Montgomery County, now is; he, and others connected with the directory of the two railroads, met the Secretary of the Interior with their commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, at the time and place appointed to treat with the aforesaid tribes for a body of land involving 13,000,000 acres, then known as the "Osage Indian Reservation," to secure a landed franchise to build the two roads. In October, 1869, the Tebo & Neosho directory sold their franchises to the Land Grant Railway & Trust Company of New York City, Levi G. Parsons, President, R. S. Stevens, General Manager, and through whose management the road was built under the name of Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. He was also connected with the Memphis, Topeka & Fort Scott narrow gauge Railroad, organized in 1870, and the Laclede & Fort Scott, is still director in that road, also a member of the executive committee. He holds the position at the present time of assistant surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf division, also chief surgeon of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad Company. The Bourbon County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Society, was organized in 1865, and in 1871 he was elected President of the society, and at the same time was made President of the Kansas & Missouri District Fair Association, organized in 1871. At an early day he became identified as one of the proprietors of the Fort Scott Paint and Cement Works, in the manufacturing of hydraulic cement, and in July, 1872, became general Superintendent, and sold out his interest in 1876. In 1871, he, with others, organized a Town Stock Company in Crawford County, twenty miles southwest on the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, of which he was elected President, and in honor of its President they named the town "Hepler." He was one of the instigators and assisted in organizing the District Medical Society known as the Southeast Kansas District Medical Society in 1879, with G. R. Baldwin, M. D., President; F. F. Dickman, Secretary, and in 1880 he himself was elected President of this society, and in 1881 he became one of the proprietors of the Kansas Medical Index, F. F. Dickman, M. D., editor. For a series of years he did very little in a professional way, and in 1876 resumed the practice of medicine, since which time he has been very actively devoted to the interests of his profession, still holding some landed and mining interests in the suburbs of the city and adjoining counties. Thus we see in point of labor he has been one of the happy mediums through which the populace of the great State of Kansas have been able to prove by united efforts to their posterity the magnitude of advancement and improvement.
Published September 29, 1894 in Parsons, KS Blade:
Dr. B. F. Hepler died in his home in Fort Scott, KS of cerebral softening. He was one of the organizers of the Missouri, Texas and Kansas railway company and active in the construction of that road. He served as president of the Kansas medical society and editor of the Kansas Medical Journal. He founded the town of Hepler, KS and figured more prominently in the early history of railroads in southern Kansas than any other man.
Benjamin F. Hepler, M. D.
Fort Scott.
Benjamin F., son of Jacob and Mary Hepler, descendant of a Huguenot family of French and German extraction, was born in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1832. His father died in 1854, aged fifty-four years; his mother in 1876, aged sixty-eight. Seven brothers of his father's mother, whose family name was Dauvinspike, were soldiers in the war of the Revolution. Benjamin's father was a farmer, his mother the daughter of a farmer, and both were earnest, faithful members of the German Lutheran church.
He was educated in the public schools of his native State, and at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, pursued his professional studies at Philadelphia Medical College, during the years 1856-8, in which latter year he graduated, and soon after located for practice in Nevada City, Vernon county, Missouri. Here he rapidly acquired an extensive practice and gained considerable property. In 1859 he moved a short distance into the country upon a well stocked and improved farm, to which he gave personal supervision, being at the same time actively engaged in his professional duties. Here Dr. Hepler was leading a busy, useful life, when the war of the Rebellion in 1861 deranged all his plans, as well as changed the general aspect of affairs all over the Union. The Doctor had always been a pro-slavery Democrat, and his sympathies and interests were with the South. He did not approve of secession, but he was a rebel, strongly opposed to the coercion measures of the Republican administration, and his sympathies naturally drew him into co-operation with the rebel element of the State. Early in the summer of 1861 he was appointed surgeon of Hunter's Regiment, Range Division, Confederate Army of Missouri. He had charge of the hospital at Cassville during November and December of that year, and when removing from that post was taken prisoner by the United States forces under Colonel William Jewell, and carried to Fort Scott, Kansas. Here he was soon paroled, and commissioned by the Union commander as an officer of exchange, with special orders to proceed to General Price's camp, procure the release of four Unionists who had been taken prisoners, and return with them to Fort Scott, or pay the forfeit of his own life should he ever fall into the hands of the United States Army again; besides which, his home in Vernon county and the homes of his friends should be burned and visited with general devastation. The orders were not very pleasant, particularly as the country was infested with bushwhackers, who were always on the alert for Union men or those who in any way aided them. Dr. Hepler's orders were imperative, and he started upon his mission, found General Price as Osceola, who also created him an officer of exchange, succeeded in getting the "four men" and left the rebel camp for Fort Scott, where he arrived in safety after successfully eluding the vigilance of the guerrillas, and relieved the Union general from the necessity of exacting his forfeit. He continued to act as an efficient officer of exchange for six months in which time he assisted in exchanging many prisoners in both armies, and was more or less engaged in such service as long as the war continued. In the summer of 1862 he returned to his home in Vernon county, resumed the practice of his profession, and again attempted farming. But his location was just in the path of the two armies, as they passed and repassed in mutual aggression. The Union forces came and demanded to be fed because he was an enemy; the Rebels came, and, as they were friends, of course must be fed. But heavy as was this drain, it was not all - three times his farm was burnt over, fencing and produce destroyed; his stock were taken again and again, until all were gone; one span of horses was taken away from him three times and three times recovered, the ownership at last develving upon himself, and his house was robbed five times in one week. Human nature could stand it no longer, and in the spring of 1863 he removed to Fort Scott, having little remaining save the bare acres that were useless as long as hostilities lasted.
Upon coming to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler immediately engaged in the practice of his profession, and notwithstanding his rebel sympathies, soon obtained a successful practice. But he was not allowed to remain entirely at peace. The Union League charged him with being a spy and determined upon his death which was only prevented by the good offices of his friends; whereupon he was ordered to leave town within five days, but this order was also countermanded, and the Doctor was allowed to continue in the peaceful pursuit of his calling. During the Price raid in Kansas, in 1864, Dr. Hepler was appointed assistant-surgeon of the 14th Kansas Militia and served in that capacity thirty days, becoming in turn surgeon and officer of exchange for both armies.
Since his removal to Fort Scott, Dr. Hepler has always identified himself with the public interests and general improvements of the city and county. He has been quite prominent in educational matters, helped to organize the public school district, was chairman of the school board, and in that capacity negotiated for the purchase of the "Plaza" hospital building, now used for the colored school of the city. From 1866 to 1870 he as connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, was one of the directors and chief manager of the company's interests in that locality, and was most energetic in working up the construction of the road. At the same time he was secretary of the contemplated Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad, which he aided with money and influence, but the road failed and was a source of serious loss to all who were financially interested in it. In 1868 he assisted in establishing the Fort Scott Hydraulic Cement Manufactory, of which he was manager and superintendent for four years; he also aided in organizing the agricultural society of the county, was its president for two years, and contributed both money and labor to maintain its interests, but after two years operations the expenses became too burdensome, the society fell into arrears, and lost the fair ground with all its improvements. During seven years of his residence in the city, Dr. Hepler has been engaged in the drug business, but notwithstanding this, and his connection with the various enterprises referred to, has continued in the successful practice of medicine with the exception of four years, is now actively engaged in it, and is considered one of the leading physicians of the city.
He has always remained true to his early Democratic faith, and has never, save once, stepped outside the party lines, and that was to vote for Horace Greeley. He has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow since 1853; has not passed all the chairs of either order, but has been Grand Junior and Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Commandery of the State; was for three years Recorder and is now Generalissimo of Hugh DePayens Commandery, Fort Scott. Dr. Hepler is a patron of the Episcopal church, but not a communicant; he does not and cannot conform in his ideas to any particular creed, though he gives liberally to all church enterprises and is held in respect by the various denominations.
October 23, 1853, he was married to Sarah G., daughter of Dr. Charles Snowden, an eminent physician of Freeport, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler's family are of Scotch origin and originally settled in Philadelphia. Her grandfather, Nathaniel R. Snowden, was greatly devoted to the educational interests of the State, and founded the Female College at Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Hepler died July, 1864; she was the mother of eight children, six of whom died in their infancy. The survivors are: Mary Jane, born in 1856, educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, St. Louis, and is now the wife of Wm. L. Saffel, of the postoffice department, St. Louis; and C. G. S. Hepler, born in 1859, clerk in a St. Louis drug store. December 30, 1864, Dr. Hepler married Mrs. Mary A. Ranney (whose first marriage was with Mr. Mills), daughter of Mr. Herrick, a wealthy Cleveland merchant; she had one child by her first husband, Ella M. Mills, who was educated at the Convent School of the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph, Missouri, and is now the wife of Richard Watham, of New York City. Mrs. Hepler's brother, Colonel Charles Herrick, of the Confederate army, lost his life at the siege of Vicksburgh.
At the time of the organization of the Eastern Star in Kansas, in 1876, Mrs M. A. Hepler was elected the first Worthy Matron, and has been elected for the third term in Olive Chapter, No 48. When the Grand Chapter was organized, she was elected Grand Worthy Matron, was re-elected to the same office in 1877, and has thus been elevated to the highest honors in the order that can be awarded in the State. She is a communicant fo the Episcopal church.
Doctor Hepler is widely and favorably known throughout the State, is a man of fine professional skill, good administrative ability, genial and social in his nature, with but little malice in his disposition; is still in the prime of life, and one of the most honorable, upright and generally respected citizens of Fort Scott, his constant residence for the past fifteen years.
From:William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
BOURBON COUNTY, Part 11
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES (HEPLER - LOTTERER).
BENJAMIN F. HEPLER, M. D., was born in Pennsylvania; emigrated to Missouri in the winter of 1858, and established himself as physician and surgeon at Nevada, Mo., remaining there during the beginning of the war, the hostilities of which were the mitigating cause of his removing to Fort Scott, in 1863, and opening a drug store. In 1864, he became assistant surgeon of the Twenty-fourth Kansas State Militia, Col. Isaac Stadden commanding, which was called into active service during the Price raid. The Doctor, possessing a social, enthusiastic spirit and genial nature was soon acknowledged a nessary acquisition in business relations. He not only assumed his professional duties, but identified himself with most of the public enterprises of the city, often receiving the seat of honor. The first feature seemed to be an educational demand, as no feasible Free School system had as yet been established; and in 1864, he, with others, organized a School Board, and eventually succeeded in maintaining literary advantages, and to-day he lives to see the public schools of Fort Scott "living monuments of honor." He has been ever since 1865 prominently connected with the various railroad interests of the State, being one of the originators, and always one of the directory of the railroad chartered as the Tebo & Neosho Railroad Company in the state of Missouri. The Nevada Times of Nevada, Mo., in one of its issues of 1869, in speaking of him in connection with this enterprise, calls him the "Headlight of the Road." In 1867, he got up a charter, and selected the charter members for the Missouri, Fort Scott & Santa Fe Railroad Company, with a view of ultimately merging the two roads into one, and to further this enterprise, a treaty was conceived and arranged with the Big and Little Osage tribes of Indians, which treaty was held in May and June of 1868, at the mouth of Drum Creek, on the Verdigris River, where the town of Independence, Montgomery County, now is; he, and others connected with the directory of the two railroads, met the Secretary of the Interior with their commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, at the time and place appointed to treat with the aforesaid tribes for a body of land involving 13,000,000 acres, then known as the "Osage Indian Reservation," to secure a landed franchise to build the two roads. In October, 1869, the Tebo & Neosho directory sold their franchises to the Land Grant Railway & Trust Company of New York City, Levi G. Parsons, President, R. S. Stevens, General Manager, and through whose management the road was built under the name of Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. He was also connected with the Memphis, Topeka & Fort Scott narrow gauge Railroad, organized in 1870, and the Laclede & Fort Scott, is still director in that road, also a member of the executive committee. He holds the position at the present time of assistant surgeon of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf division, also chief surgeon of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad Company. The Bourbon County Agricultural, Horticultural and Mechanical Society, was organized in 1865, and in 1871 he was elected President of the society, and at the same time was made President of the Kansas & Missouri District Fair Association, organized in 1871. At an early day he became identified as one of the proprietors of the Fort Scott Paint and Cement Works, in the manufacturing of hydraulic cement, and in July, 1872, became general Superintendent, and sold out his interest in 1876. In 1871, he, with others, organized a Town Stock Company in Crawford County, twenty miles southwest on the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, of which he was elected President, and in honor of its President they named the town "Hepler." He was one of the instigators and assisted in organizing the District Medical Society known as the Southeast Kansas District Medical Society in 1879, with G. R. Baldwin, M. D., President; F. F. Dickman, Secretary, and in 1880 he himself was elected President of this society, and in 1881 he became one of the proprietors of the Kansas Medical Index, F. F. Dickman, M. D., editor. For a series of years he did very little in a professional way, and in 1876 resumed the practice of medicine, since which time he has been very actively devoted to the interests of his profession, still holding some landed and mining interests in the suburbs of the city and adjoining counties. Thus we see in point of labor he has been one of the happy mediums through which the populace of the great State of Kansas have been able to prove by united efforts to their posterity the magnitude of advancement and improvement.
Published September 29, 1894 in Parsons, KS Blade:
Dr. B. F. Hepler died in his home in Fort Scott, KS of cerebral softening. He was one of the organizers of the Missouri, Texas and Kansas railway company and active in the construction of that road. He served as president of the Kansas medical society and editor of the Kansas Medical Journal. He founded the town of Hepler, KS and figured more prominently in the early history of railroads in southern Kansas than any other man.
Family Members
Siblings
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