Reser, Zachariah

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Zachariah Reser. Among the comfortably situated residents of Rossville, Kansas, is Zachariah Reser, one of the substantial and well known retired farmers of Shawnee County. He has been a resident of Kansas for a half century and has large possessions here acquired through his own industry.

Zachariah Reser was born in Kentucky, March 13, 1848. His parents were Wyatt and Nancy Reser, natives of Kentucky and of their thirteen children seven survive and live in Kansas, representatives of a sturdy stock from which class came many pioneers hither. When Wyatt Reser and wife packed their household goods and children in the wagon that was to carry them out of their native state, they headed for Indiana and on reaching that state located on a farm near Rising Sun. There they lived until 1866 when they were attracted to Kansas and again a long journey was made and land was secured near Topeka and on that place the parents of Zachariah Reser died in advanced age.

Zachariah Reser was eighteen years old when he accompanied his parents to this state. He had not been given many educational advantages as he was an older member of the large family and from boyhood had been obliged to work hard for his own support and to help others. He was a good son and did his duty. In the course of time he secured a homestead in Pottawatomie County and later sold it and came to Shawnee County and bought sixty acres to which he has added until he now owns 400 acres of fine land. With his wife he lives retired at Rossville.

In 1868 Mr. Reser returned to Indiana and was married there to Lizzie Meyers, who died three years later. On January 17, 1883, Mr. Reser was married to Miss Mary Alice Lemon, who was born in Ohio, and is a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Braton) Lemon. They were pioneers of an early date in Kansas, coming into the state in a covered prairie wagon in 1855. Relatives had previously settled at Holton and there they stopped and later Mr. Lemon hauled merchandise for three years between Leavenworth and Atchison. He then rented and later bought a farm and on that place he died in 1904 and his wife in 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Reser have two children: Edith, who is the wife of U. G. Stewart; and George, a young man of twenty-four years, who carries on farming on the home place.

Mr. Reser has always been a good citizen but has kept free from party ties, voting independently but intelligently and has never accepted any political office, although, as a man of keen judgment and honest and upright living, he would have made an honest record. He and wife are Christian people, members of the Methodist Church and active in forwarding its good work. Both are members of the fraternal order of Knights and Ladies of Security.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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