My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES S. SAFERITE. Few of the residents of Woodson County have been longer connected with this portion of the state than Charles S. Saferite, who has made his borne in this locality for forty-two years. He was but a babe when brought to Kansas by his parents, his birth having occurred in Hendricks County, Indiana, October 22, 1858. His father, Asa Saferite, was a native of North Carolina, and when a young man emigrated to Indiana, where he met and married Miss Nancy Berryman, a native of Kentucky. He was familiar with several lines of mechanical work, being a miller, millwright, carpenter and cabinet-maker and his efficiency in those directions enabled him to provide well for his family. In 1859 he came with wife and children to Kansas, settling first in Leroy where he lived for 12 years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Neosho Falls, where he died in 1884, at the age of 54 years. His wife still survives him, and is living in Neosho Falls, at the age of sixty years.

Charles S. Saferite is the second child and eldest son in their family of six children, all of whom are yet living. He was only a year old when brought to Kansas, where he has since resided, being one of the honored pioneers of Woodson County. He acquired a common school education and from the age of 13 years was reared upon a farm. He remained with his parents until twenty years of age and then went to Colorado, where he spent a year in viewing the state, after which he returned to Woodson County.

On the 10th of February, 1880, Mr. Saferite was united in marriage to Miss Susan McDaniel, and then rented a farm which he continued to cultivate for four years. With the money he had acquired through the sales of crops in that time, he then purchased one hundred acres of timber land on the bank of the river a mile above Neosho Falls, and by untiring labor and capable management transformed it into a very desirable farm. He began raising potatoes and corn and now has in cultivation upon that farm seventy acres of land. In 1896 he purchased one hundred and forty acres a half mile east of his first place, and therefore today owns two hundred and forty acres of rich bottom land which never fails to yield a crop. He plants corn, wheat and potatoes and annually gathers good harvests. He is also successfully engaged in raising hogs. When he started upon an independent business career he had only thirty-five dollars and a mule team; today he owns a very fine farm and is accounted one of the well-to-do citizens of the community.

The lady who now bears the name of Mrs. Saferite is a native of Virginia and in 1869, she accompanied her mother to Illinois, whence they came to Kansas in 1875. Her father, Alford McDaniel, was a native of Virginia and was killed in the Civil war at the battle of Sharpsburg, September 17, 1862, after serving for one year. The mother afterward removed westward with her children and died in Woodson County in 1880. Mrs. Saferite was a maiden of sixteen summers when she came to Kansas and here she has since resided. By her marriage, she has become the mother of nine children: Ira Asa, Jennie May, Lee Alford, Iva Etta, Ray George, Ada Ellen, Roy Charles, Ida Susan and Ola Malinda. The family circle yet remains unbroken by the hand of death, and the children are all under the parental roof.

Mr. Saferite is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the National Aid Association and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, all of Neosho Falls. In his political sentiments he is a Freesilver Republican. There have been no exciting chapters in his career, but a steadfastness of purpose has enabled him to overcome all difficulties and obstacles in his path and advance steadily toward the goal of prosperity. His example in this respect is certainly a commendable one, for the course he has followed has ever been in harmony with upright business principles. As a pioneer settler he also deserves mention in this volume for he has witnessed the growth and development of the county from the primitive period, has seen the great transformation wrought as the district has been settled by a thriving and contented people and has felt a commendable pride in its advancement.