Background of the Frederick Funston Boyhood Home
The Funston home was the boyhood home of Major General Frederick Funston. The home was located on the family farm four miles north of Iola, in Carlyle, Kansas.
Early History (1860-1955)
Edward Hogue Funston (1836-1911) came to Kansas from Ohio in 1867 looking for a new home for his family. Near Carlyle in northern Allen County, he encountered an old acquaintance from back East, and decided that Allen County would be a good place to settle. He bought a farm about 1 mile from Carlyle. The house on this farm dates its ancestry back to 1860 when Charles P. Twiss homesteaded it. This house was a mere shack standing starkly naked upon the open prairie with but one tree in sight—a native cottonwood. The house was simple in appearance and lacking in appeal as a home. A story-and-a-half building with gabled roof and dormer window, it had three low ceilinged rooms, an attic, and a native stone chimney.
Edward felt that the house was inadequate as a home for his small family that was soon to arrive from Ohio, and thus with the help of a neighbor, he expanded what is now known as the dining room and added to it on the back another room which he called the “summer kitchen.”
In 1868, Edward’s wife, Ann Eliza Mitchell Funston (1843-1917), with her two small sons, Frederick and James Burton, arrived at the farm from their former home of New Carlisle, Ohio, where Frederick was born.
Edward saw in the Kansas State Legislature his opportunity to help in the building of his adopted State in its formative and struggling years. He was elected and served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1873 through 1875, and was made Speaker in 1875. In 1880, he was elected to the State Senate fro four years and was made President Pro Tempore of that body.
Edward was elected on the Republican ticket in 1884 to the United States House of Representatives and served until 1894. Because of his loud, booming voice, he was known as “Foghorn” Funston. In height he was an imposing man, being 6’2” tall. In contrast, his wife Ann was approximately on foot shorter and was a dainty woman.
In the years following 1874 and with small remunerations from his political activities, Edward made a few additions to their home. By the addition of two rooms along one side of the house—a “parlor” and a “spare bedroom”—and a porch across the entire front of the house, the home met the needs of his growing family.
When the parlor was added on, two bedrooms were constructed immediately above, thus providing a bedroom for Edward and Ann and a separate, very small bedroom for their only daughter, Ella. Until that time, there was only the one bedroom upstairs in the original house, this being a very low-ceilinged room, and this was the bedroom for the sons. Eventually, there were five sons, the oldest of whom was Frederick. Access to this bedroom of the sons is by the steep staircase off of the dining room, and while there is a doorway from this bedroom to the parents’ bedroom immediately adjoining, a separate staircase was constructed off of the sitting room leading to Ella’s bedroom and the parents’ bedroom. A portion of the small bedroom off the dining room was taken to provide room for the staircase.
As the years passed and Edward received more substantial returns from his public offices, he made more extensive improvements. He built a large barn with a floored driveway, an ample loft for hay, stalls for his horses—Fanny, Pete, Dan, Panic, Doll, and the pony, Tom—harness, and machine rooms. Additional buildings were grain cribs, chicken houses, a carriage shed, an ice house, a stone smokehouse where country hams were cured over hickory log fires, and an outdoor cellar or storm cave, with a store room above it (this is the store house which was moved to Iola in 1994 along with the Funston home). There was also a three-hole privy, which was the third building moved to Iola in 1994 and which is presently situated along the back fence.
In the yard adjoining the Funston Home, Edward built a tenant house and barn where the man lived who tended the garden and yard. His large farm gates were carpenter-made and painted white like all the buildings. Fences were built about the farm and ponds located at convenient spots. Cattle were in well-built corrals, and “porkers” were in feedlots about the barn. Labor was now plentiful and a great part of the farm work was delegated to “hired help.” Neatly kept flowerbeds, square and star-shaped, filled with cheery tulips and peonies, decorated the front lawn and contrasted the somber gray cedars. Large red tubs holding blooming plants graced either side of the yard.
Close beside the house was a deep well over which was built a small pagoda-like structure that kept the water refreshingly cool as it was hauled up by bucket to the curb by pulley and rope. Based on a contemporary photo, this well house was reconstructed next to the back porch of the Funston Home.
A large cast iron dinner bell mounted on a tall cedar post stood at the far end of the back porch. This bell was rung regularly at eleven-thirty to call the men in from the fields for their dinner. This original bell has been mounted on a cedar post near the restored Funston home and is available for viewing and ringing.
Fred Funston regarded this home and farm as his home until his death in 1917. He entered the military service in 1898, and was married that year; he never lived there of course, but he did visit his childhood home whenever possible.
Edward and Ann were the parents of six children who reached maturity, as well as two children who died in infancy. They had one daughter, Ella, who married Dr. F. A. Eckdall and moved to Emporia. Their five sons in order of birth were Frederick, James Burton, Pogue Warwick, Aldo, and Edward Hogue, Jr. In 1917, Ann died of a broken heart after her eldest son, Fred, died two months prior.
In 1955 the Funston family gave it to the State of Kansas as a memorial to Frederick Funston.
Early History (1860-1955)
Edward Hogue Funston (1836-1911) came to Kansas from Ohio in 1867 looking for a new home for his family. Near Carlyle in northern Allen County, he encountered an old acquaintance from back East, and decided that Allen County would be a good place to settle. He bought a farm about 1 mile from Carlyle. The house on this farm dates its ancestry back to 1860 when Charles P. Twiss homesteaded it. This house was a mere shack standing starkly naked upon the open prairie with but one tree in sight—a native cottonwood. The house was simple in appearance and lacking in appeal as a home. A story-and-a-half building with gabled roof and dormer window, it had three low ceilinged rooms, an attic, and a native stone chimney.
Edward felt that the house was inadequate as a home for his small family that was soon to arrive from Ohio, and thus with the help of a neighbor, he expanded what is now known as the dining room and added to it on the back another room which he called the “summer kitchen.”
In 1868, Edward’s wife, Ann Eliza Mitchell Funston (1843-1917), with her two small sons, Frederick and James Burton, arrived at the farm from their former home of New Carlisle, Ohio, where Frederick was born.
Edward saw in the Kansas State Legislature his opportunity to help in the building of his adopted State in its formative and struggling years. He was elected and served in the Kansas House of Representatives from 1873 through 1875, and was made Speaker in 1875. In 1880, he was elected to the State Senate fro four years and was made President Pro Tempore of that body.
Edward was elected on the Republican ticket in 1884 to the United States House of Representatives and served until 1894. Because of his loud, booming voice, he was known as “Foghorn” Funston. In height he was an imposing man, being 6’2” tall. In contrast, his wife Ann was approximately on foot shorter and was a dainty woman.
In the years following 1874 and with small remunerations from his political activities, Edward made a few additions to their home. By the addition of two rooms along one side of the house—a “parlor” and a “spare bedroom”—and a porch across the entire front of the house, the home met the needs of his growing family.
When the parlor was added on, two bedrooms were constructed immediately above, thus providing a bedroom for Edward and Ann and a separate, very small bedroom for their only daughter, Ella. Until that time, there was only the one bedroom upstairs in the original house, this being a very low-ceilinged room, and this was the bedroom for the sons. Eventually, there were five sons, the oldest of whom was Frederick. Access to this bedroom of the sons is by the steep staircase off of the dining room, and while there is a doorway from this bedroom to the parents’ bedroom immediately adjoining, a separate staircase was constructed off of the sitting room leading to Ella’s bedroom and the parents’ bedroom. A portion of the small bedroom off the dining room was taken to provide room for the staircase.
As the years passed and Edward received more substantial returns from his public offices, he made more extensive improvements. He built a large barn with a floored driveway, an ample loft for hay, stalls for his horses—Fanny, Pete, Dan, Panic, Doll, and the pony, Tom—harness, and machine rooms. Additional buildings were grain cribs, chicken houses, a carriage shed, an ice house, a stone smokehouse where country hams were cured over hickory log fires, and an outdoor cellar or storm cave, with a store room above it (this is the store house which was moved to Iola in 1994 along with the Funston home). There was also a three-hole privy, which was the third building moved to Iola in 1994 and which is presently situated along the back fence.
In the yard adjoining the Funston Home, Edward built a tenant house and barn where the man lived who tended the garden and yard. His large farm gates were carpenter-made and painted white like all the buildings. Fences were built about the farm and ponds located at convenient spots. Cattle were in well-built corrals, and “porkers” were in feedlots about the barn. Labor was now plentiful and a great part of the farm work was delegated to “hired help.” Neatly kept flowerbeds, square and star-shaped, filled with cheery tulips and peonies, decorated the front lawn and contrasted the somber gray cedars. Large red tubs holding blooming plants graced either side of the yard.
Close beside the house was a deep well over which was built a small pagoda-like structure that kept the water refreshingly cool as it was hauled up by bucket to the curb by pulley and rope. Based on a contemporary photo, this well house was reconstructed next to the back porch of the Funston Home.
A large cast iron dinner bell mounted on a tall cedar post stood at the far end of the back porch. This bell was rung regularly at eleven-thirty to call the men in from the fields for their dinner. This original bell has been mounted on a cedar post near the restored Funston home and is available for viewing and ringing.
Fred Funston regarded this home and farm as his home until his death in 1917. He entered the military service in 1898, and was married that year; he never lived there of course, but he did visit his childhood home whenever possible.
Edward and Ann were the parents of six children who reached maturity, as well as two children who died in infancy. They had one daughter, Ella, who married Dr. F. A. Eckdall and moved to Emporia. Their five sons in order of birth were Frederick, James Burton, Pogue Warwick, Aldo, and Edward Hogue, Jr. In 1917, Ann died of a broken heart after her eldest son, Fred, died two months prior.
In 1955 the Funston family gave it to the State of Kansas as a memorial to Frederick Funston.