Belmont County, Ohio

Married: Eliza Ellen Groves

June 15, 1864

Noble County Ohio

Emigrated to Kansas: 1887

Died: September 13, 1922

Four Generations: Great Grandfather (Isaiah Danford), grandfather (EF Danford), father (CWD), and son (Robert Danford).

This portrait must date from about 1916 based on Robert James Danford (born June 1914) --- he appears to be 1 or 2 in this photo.

March 10, 1887 -- from the Noble County Republican

"Western Emigrants (headline).

Last Thursday was a busy day at the railroad stations at Caldwell. A half dozen railroad agents made music in rates to the great delight of those who came here to buy tickets for the West. Nearly 200 persons went on the Excursion. Most of the parties purchased tickts for Kansas; the others went to near every state and Territory west of the Mississippi River. The following is a partila list of those who went on this trip: Wayne Ogle, wife and children; David Miller, Jahn Nace, Wm Grandstaff and family; Isaiah Danford and family; LS Collins and wife; James McKee, IC Phillips, WIllie Peters, Aaron Miller, Pharan McAtee, Alva Edwards, Milton Day, Wm Nehls Fred Kiniah, ...... Peter Crow, John Cohart, Isaac Mann.....

In all about 200 left on this Excursion. The crowd was equally divided between the B&O Ry and the Pan Handle. The price of the tickets varied widely. THe lowest figures at which they were sold was Kansas CIty $7.50, Hutchinson $10, Garden CIty $11, Denver $21.50, Los Angeles, California and Portland, Oregon $40 each. Round trip tickets to Florence and Frankfort, Kansas, good for 40 days, sold as low as $20. Those who waited an hour or so of the departure paid from $3 to $5 more for tickets than they could have been secured earlier in the day."

March 17, 1887, p. 3:

"One of the Kansas excursionists has already been heard from. He writes that skilled mechanics can get $2.50 per day but there is no work at all for the common labor. As this emigrant did not buy a return ticket, his chances to get home by rapid transit is not good."

The following is from

History
of
Reno County
Kansas

By

Sheridan Ploughe

Volume II

1917
F. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana

(Beginning on page 221)
ISAIAH DANFORD

Isaiah Danford, a well-known and prosperous farmer and dairyman of Reno township, this county, now living retired in the city of Hutchinson, is a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm in Noble county, that state, June 27, 1841, son of Abraham and Lavina (Bates) Danford, both natives of that same state, the former born in Belmont county and the latter in Noble county.
Abraham Danford was reared on a farm and became a successful and well-to-do farmer in his own right, the owner of two hundred and eighty acres of land. He was a Whig in his political belief and for many years served his township well in the capacity of justice of the peace. He and his wife were members of the Christian church and their children were reared in that faith. Abraham Danford lived to be ninety years of age. His wife died ten years previous to his death. They were the parents of eight children, five of whom are still living, those besides the subject of this biographical sketch being Eli, Elizabeth. who married John Rowe; Nancy, who married Julius Groves, and Roland Jasper, all of whom still live in their native county, substantial, well-to-do people.

Isaiah Danford was reared on the paternal farm in Ohio, receiving his education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, and after his marriage his father helped him buy a one-hundred-acre farm four miles from the old home place. Presently he sold that farm to advantage and bought a farm of two hundred and ninety-seven acres in the same county, becoming an extensive farmer, and there his ten children were born. In 1887 he sold hi!; farm in Ohio and .came to Kansas with his family, locating in Hutchinson, this county, where he engaged in the hotel business, operating the Noble County Hotel for a year, with much success, that being in "boom" times. He then traded the hotel for a quarter of a section of land in Reno township and moved to the latter place, making his home on that farm for four years, at the end of which time he sold the farm and rented a ranch of sixteen hundred acres in Cowley county, this state, which he operated for five years. He then returned to Reno county and bought a farm of ninety acres in Reno township, on which he made his home for two years, at the end of which time he bought a dairy farm in South Hutchinson and in 1915 started the South Hutchinson Dairy, which he still owns, the same now being operated by his son-in-law, Benjamin Myers. In 1917 Mr. Danford and his wife retired from the active labors of the farm and moved into Hutchinson, where Mrs. Danford died on November 10, 1909.

In 1862 Isaiah Danford was united in marriage to Eliza Ellen Groves, who was born in Noble county, Ohio, August 16, 1846, daughter of John and Matilda Groves, and to this union. ten children were born, all of whom are still living, namely: Lincoln, born on July II, 1866, now operating a large ranch in Edwards county, this state; Annie, July 8, 1868, who married Benjamin Myers. who conducts the South Hutchinson Dairy; Eli Franklin, September 9, 1869, a large farmer in Reno township, this county; William Collins, May 25. 1871, an extensive farmer in Oklahoma; Lavina Della, October 19, 1872, who married L. S. Kent, a well-known auctioneer, of Hutchinson; Louis P., January 9, 1874, a well-to-do farmer of Reno township, this county; Mary Alice, January 31, 1876, who married A. T. Moupin, proprietor of the "Sunflower" dairy in South Hutchinson; Carrie May, January 27, 1878, who married Robert Carlisle, a merchant of Stafford, this state; Rosanna, August 17. 1880, who married Patrick Hamilton and lives in South Hutchinson, and Ella, October 30. 1882, who married Richard Kennedy and lives at Haven, this county. The Danfords are all doing well in their several undertakings and all are held in high regard in their respective communities. Mr. Danford is a Republican and ever has given a good citizen's attention to local political affairs, though never an aspirant for office. He has many friends in Hutchinson and throughout the county and is held in high regard by all.