ARHTUR LARKIN

ARHTUR LARKIN, merchant, was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, on the 20th day of August, 1832. He was the third child born to Thomas and Ann Larkin. His early education was received at a Seminary on Wicklow Street, Dublin, under the charge of Mr. William Stapleton, who, prior to the establishment of the Seminary, had been one of the faculty of Trinity College, Dublin. His father was a coal merchant and Arthur, while yet a boy, assisted his father in his business by attending to his collections. When sixteen years old, seized with a desire to try his fortune in the New World, he left Dublin and proceeded to Liverpool, where, on the 6th day of July 1848, he engaged passage on a sailing vessel bound for New York, and arrived at the latter city in July. Shortly after his arrival he hired to a farmer residing at Cranberry Neck, N. J., for whom he went to work. After trying farming for about a year, he enlisted in the regular army and served as a Texas Ranger during two terms of service under Captain Ford, and was discharged at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in 1861.

After leaving the service he married Miss Alice Baird, in Leavenworth, who was a native of Indiana. By this marriage six children have been born to him, three of whom are dead and three yet living, and all born at Ellsworth, Kan. Thomas, the eldest, was born November 20, 1869, and died April 18, 1870. Arthur, the oldest now living, was born February 28, 1871. Mary Ann, born September 21, 1873; died October 22, 1873. Francis, born June 25, 1875. Eddie, born October 13, 1878; died January 4, 1881. Hubert F., born February 6, 1880. Quitting the army, Mr. Larkin engaged in the restaurant business at Leavenworth, and while thus engaged, he fitted up a wagon train and made a freighting trip to Denver and back.

In the fall of 1866 he left Leavenworth and moved to Junction City, where he re-established himself in the restaurant business and continued freighting from there to the end of the Kansas Pacific Railway, which was then at Salina. In the spring of 1867, he moved from Junction City to Ellsworth, where he built and opened the first hotel in that town. In the latter part of 1868, he embarked in the mercantile business, opening up with a line of dry goods, clothing, boots and shoes, hats and caps. Since then he has established a store at Lincoln Center, and another at Little River, in Rice County. In company with Mr. Getty, he built a large flouring-mill at Ellsworth, in which he still has a half interest. He also deals quite extensively in live-stock, and superintends the working of two large farms, which he owns in the vicinity of Ellsworth. This great accumulation of wealth in the short space of twenty years, is the result of hard work, energy, industry and economy.

This information was taken from ( William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas.)
ELLSWORTH COUNTY, Part 5.