MRS. MARTHA (HUEY) MAILS and her husband, the late John Mails, were among the earliest settlers of Pottawatomie County, and were active factors in developing its agricultural interests and advancing its social and moral status. They were people who for principle's sake left relatives and friends, and a pleasant home with all its comforts in the East, to seek-the wild, uncivilized Western frontier that they might identity themselves with the noble, high-sprited, self-sacrificing pioneers of the Territory of Kansas, who were struggling to consecrate its soil to liberty and gain its admission into the Union as a Free State. Years of hardship and trial followed their settlement here, though not of actual privation as they were not without means when they came here. By judicious management they added to their capital and were numbered among the moneyed people of their community. For the better education of their children they spent a few years in Manhattan when the city was in its infancy, and aided in its upbuilding. In order to stimulate enterprise and to attract outside capital, the proprietors of the site of the city offered the lot on the southeast corner of Third street and Poyntz avenue, to any one who would build a good house on the spot and Mr. Mails accepting the offer, erected a commodious, substantial stone house that still stands there. A short time before his death Mr. Mails moved into the city again with his family and Mrs. Mails is still residing here, widely known and respected for her many fine qualities of head and heart, and a noble type of pioneer womanhood.

She was born Jan. 9, 1821, in Boalsburg, Pa., a small village On the State Road between Pittsburg and Philadelphia. Her father. James Huey, was also a native of the Keystone State, and he was the son of William and Agnes (Newell) Huey, natives of Ireland, who came to America before marriage and settled in Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer and spent the last years of his life in Mifflin County. Mrs. Mails' father was a pioneer of Center County. He followed the trade of a blacksmith in Boalsburg till 1830, and then moved to Clarion County, and buying an improved farm engaged in farming for many years, till death rounded out his life in 1874 at the advanced age of seventy-nine. The maiden name of Mrs. Mails' mother was Elizabeth Everhart, and she was a native of Center County, Pa. Her father, Samuel Everhart, was a farmer and spent his entire life in Pennsylvania. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Thomas; she was born in Wales and died in Center County on the old homestead.

Our subject remained an inmate of the parental household till her marriage, and from her good mother received careful instructions in spinning, knitting and in all work pertaining to the proper management of a house, and thus when she had a home of her own she went to it well fitted to care for it properly and make it a cheery and cosy abiding place for her husband. Jan. 26, 1841, she was wedded to John Mails, and for more than forty years they traveled life's road together, giving an example of a true union, and mindful not only of their duties to one another but to the community at large.

Mr. Mails was a native of Clarion County, Pa., a son of William Mails, who was born one mile from Gettysburg, and spent his entire life as a farmer in Pennsylvania. The husband of our subject, was reared in his native county, and in early life learned the blacksmith's trade. Soon after marriage, however, he turned his attention to farming, and buying timbered land in Clarion County, with characteristic energy immediately commenced to clear it. He was very industrious, and in a few years the forest trees had fallen before his vigorously wielded axe, the land was placed under fine tillage, and he had erected comfortable, well-finished buildings, and had his farm well stocked. But while they were thus prospering, our subject and her husband were not unmindful of what was going on in the outside world, but kept themselves well-informed as to public affairs. Thus their sympathies were aroused at the accounts of the sufferings of the Free-State people in Kansas, and after much earnest and deliberate conversation on the subject they thought it their duty to come here and aid the cause of freedom. They then sold the pleasant home where the happy years of their wedded life had been spent till that time, and went forth with their children alone to their destination, starting from Pennsylvania on the 21st of March, 1855, and journeying thither by way of the Alleghany, Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Kansas City, then a small hamlet. Mr. Mails rented a room for his family, and as he could not buy a wagon there, he went to Independence where he bought one and purchased two yoke of oxen beside, and on his return to Kansas City he bought two cows. Mrs. Mails made a wagon cover of cotton cloth, and with the wagon ladened with a cooking stove, bedding, 200 pounds of flour, 100 pounds of corn meal and a supply of bacon, they started on their journey to the promised land. Mr. Mails was taken sick while in camp near Lawrence, and they remained there a week, and obtained some idea of life in a rough frontier town, and they observed that the land which was not then surveyed, was held mostlj' by squatters. They resumed their travels when Mr. Mail's health was re-established and pushing on to the Blue River found a white family on Sargent's Creek, and obtained lodgings with them, it being the first house in which they had slept since leaving Kansas City. The following day Mr. Mails selected a claim in was is now Blue Township, Pottawatomie County, and then returned for his family. When nearing their future home, while crossing Elbow Creek, one of the wagon wheels broke, and they had to traverse the remaining two miles with three wheels. The first night on the claim was spent in the wagon, and the next day Mr. Mails cut some poles, and standing them on one end, slanting toward the top, covered them with carpet and wagon cover, and that rude structure was the home of the family for six weeks. During that time Mr. Mails cut some cotton wood logs and built a hewed log house. The shingles were rived by hand, and as nails were not procurable, were held down by poles. There were no saw mills here then, but two Englishmen coming along with a whip saw, Mr. Mails engaged the first 1,000 feet of boards that they sawed for a floor, which was the nicest floor in that region for some months, and Mrs. Mails was so proud of it that she did not put down the carpet till cold weather. It was too late to plant a crop that year, so Mr. Mails made several trips to Kansas City with his oxen, and while he was away Mrs. Mails lived alone with her children in her cabin far from neighbors. Fortunately for her she was a woman of strong nerve and was in no way timid. There was no store in Manhattan at that time and Mr. Mails used to bring home groceries and such articles on his return from Kansas City, and as his wife used to sell them she may well be considered the pioneer merchant of this section of the country.

In 1856 Mr. Mails bought a pair of fine horses, and commenced to improve his land. In May, 1859, a severe storm raged in this region and the roof was blown from the house of Mr. and Mrs. Mails, and as it was in the night the children sleeping up stairs were left without shelter from the open air. Luckily none of them were hurt, but their clothing was strewn all over the farm, and the crops were nearly ruined. There were no schools near where they lived so our subject and her husband moved into Manhattan. Mr. Mails building the afore-mentioned house. He still continued to improve his land, however, and in 1865 again took up his residence there, and did not leave it permanently till a few months before his death, when he again made his home in Manhattan, and here his honorable, well-spent life was brought to a close in February, 1884. He was a man of strong, intelligent convictions, whose rectitude of purpose and act, and innate manliness of character commanded the respect of all with whom he came in contact, and as a citizen, husband, father, neighbor and friend, his life-record is without a blot, and he has left to his children the precious legacy of an untarnished name.

Mrs. Mails still occupies the home from which her husband passed away. She is a bright and intelligent woman, whose mind and memory do not seem to be at all impaired by approaching age. and her genuine worth and kind heart have gained her a warm place in the affections of all about her. She has a keen remembrance of pioneer life and times in the early settlement of Kansas, and can give many interesting facts concerning them. As well-known pioneers, the history of this part of the State would be incomplete without a record of the lives of herself and husband, and it is with pleasure that we introduce this brief sketch in this volume. She and her husband joined the Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania, and she is still a devoted member, he remaining true to the faith till death.

Mrs. Mails is the mother of five children: John J., who resides in Manhattan; Celia, wife of J. S. Corbett, of whom see sketch; Jennie, wife of William Orr, of Manhattan; Charles, who resides in Arkansas City, and Mattie E., wife of J. W. Coens.