Matt. Gerber came to this county originally in 1855, as pastry cook on a Government steamer. There was almost no town at Atchison then, and he went to Sioux City with the boat and afterwards returned to St. Louis. In 1856 he was pastry cook on the “A. B. Chambers,” which ran between St. Louis and Weston and was commanded by Captain Bowman, the father of Mrs. D. C. Newcomb and Mrs. G. H. T. Johnson. Mr. Gerber was born in Baden in 1833 and came to America in 1853, landing at New Orleans, and for a time ran on boats on the lower Mississippi. For many years he was the hero of Atchison children, as he operated a bakery, confectionery and toy store on the south side of Commercial street, near Fourth. Mr. Gerber first located in Sumner in 1858, where he ran a bakery, coming to Atchison in 1860, and was in business at the same location for over thirty-four years. Mr. Gerber died in Atchison, December 14, 1907. [Illustration: S. O. POMEROY ] [Illustration: JIM LANE ] J. H. TALBOTT. J. H. Talbott came west in 1855 and was a passenger on the “A. B. Chambers,” of which George W. Bowman was captain and E. K. Blair, second clerk. The cholera was so bad that year that Mr. Talbott left the boat at Jefferson City and came overland to Monrovia, although his passage was paid to Leavenworth. Several passengers on the “A. B. Chambers” died of cholera and were buried on sand bars. Mr. Talbott preëmpted a claim at Monrovia, and when his family came two years later he kept a boarding house at Monrovia for four years. Albert D. Richardson was often a guest at his house. He was a clean, neat city man of about thirty, and was engaged in writing up the Kansas war for the _New York Tribune_. Jim Lane also stopped at J. H. Talbott’s occasionally. Mr. Talbott first heard him make a speech in a grove at Pardee, and A. J. Westbrook was in the audience. Lane made some abusive reference to Westbrook, who made a movement as if to pull a pistol, but Lane shook his celebrated boney finger at Westbrook and defied him to shoot. At that time Atchison was controlled by the pro-slavery element, but the Free State men predominated around Monrovia and Pardee. The noted Colonel Caleb lived at Farmington. James Ridpath was often at J. H. Talbott’s, and D. R. Anthony and Webb Wilder appeared there as young men and took up claims. Another famous place in those days was the Seven Mile House, seven miles west of Atchison on the road traveled by the freighters, kept by John Bradford. Talbott’s boarding house was built of logs and the beds were nailed against the wall, one above another. Sometimes the house was so crowded that the floor was also occupied with beds.