ARON RANDOLPH EYLAR

The self-made man is very much in evidence in Kansas, a state in the making and development of which "many men of many minds" have had a part. Doniphan county has had its full proportion of these hustling, useful and successful citizens and one of the most prominent of them is the man whose name is the title of this notice.

Aron Randolph Eylar, a successful farmer of Union township, Doniphan county, Kansas, is a son of Joseph Eylar, whose memory is revered by the old residents of Winchester, Adams county, Ohio, and a younger brother of James Monroe Eylar, a biographical sketch of whom is presented in this work. Joseph Eylar was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1786, and died at Winchester, Ohio, in 1851, aged sixty-five years. He was a soldier in defense of his country in our last war with England. In 1808 he located at Winchester, Ohio, where he put a tannery in operation and rose to business and political prominence. He was a leader of the local Democracy and served with distinction as an associate justice of the judicial district of which Adams county formed a part. Joseph Eylar's father, with his brother, John, came early from Germany to Maryland, where he founded a home. His mother was a Miss Rosemiller, a member of a family conspicuous in the American Revolution, and they are both buried in the old graveyard in Fincastle, Ohio.

On his mother's side, Aron Randolph Eylar, who was born in Adams county, Ohio, March 21, 1847, is connected with the Fentons. Elizabeth Fenton, his mother, was a daughter of John Fenton, born in Kentucky, whose father was Jerry Fenton. The last named went into Ohio, about the time it became a state and died there on his new farm soon after his settlement. The children of Joseph and Elizabeth (Fenton) Eylar were: Samuel, who lives near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; James M., of Union township, Doniphan county, Kansas; Elizabeth, the wife of F. T. Liggett, of Ripley, Ohio; Emeline, who married Albertus McMeekin, of Columbus, Ohio; Aron Randolph, of Union township, Doniphan county, Kansas, and Charles, of Oklahoma. For his second wife Joseph Eylar married Elizabeth Fenton, a relative of his first wife. Of their nine children not one survives. Three of their daughters left families. These were: Ruth, who married Colonel J. R. Cockrell; Mary, who married Richard Moore, and Sallie Ann, who married Samuel McNown.

The subject of this notice began the stern battle of life for himself before he attained his majority. He worked two years on a farm by the month and after that was profitably employed until the spring of 1873, when he went to Kansas and located in Doniphan county. His means were limited and for nine years he worked rented land in Wolf River township. In 1882 he removed to Union township and bought a farm of seventy acres on Wolf river of Thomas Robbins. He has since added thirty acres to the place, making it a farm of one hundred acres, and he has so assiduously devoted himself to its development and improvement that he now has a productive and attractive country place and a home which, considering its location and environments, is a model from every point of view.

Mr. Eylar is a Democrat and a citizen of much public spirit. He was married, December 17, 1872, to Miss Matilda Homer, a daughter of Ephraim Homer. Mr. Homer was from the state of Pennsylvania and his wife was Drusilla Swearingen, who bore him children as follows: Matilda; Nancy, who is dead; William L., of Highland county, Ohio; John T., of Adams county, same state; Calvin E., of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Laura, wife of Richard Lenter, of Adams county, already mentioned. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Eylar are named Calvin Leroy, Lydia Elizabeth and Alfred Louis.