Samuel Jefferson Shepler (Swank) was born April 12, 1826 in Pennsylvania.
     He married Hester Frye, who was born in Pannsylvania, December 1828. After
     serving in the Civil War and returning home, Samuel decided to go west. For
     some long time Hester had not heard from him except that he was near 
     Coffeyvill, Kansas. She determined to find him, so she loaded her wagons
     with all she could carry, her children, Frank, John and Clara May and left
     Peoria, Illinois. She did find him very sick with a high fever, but with
     her good care he was soon better.
       In 1874, they were the first family to live in what was to be Medicine
     Lodge. Samuel was active in community affairs and held offices of County
     Clerk, Probate Judge, and Mayor. He organized the Masonic Lodge of Medicine
     Lodge and was Grand Master for three years. He and Hester homesteaded in the
     Grandview area. When we know the men worked in town, we also know the women
     were more than busy at the homestead. Samuel died September 5, 1885 and
     Hester, November 21, 1891. Their graves are east and a little south of the
     chapel in Highland Cemetery.
       Frank, their son, married Sharlotty Fisburn in Sun City in 1879. She and
     their son, Robert, drowned in the flood April 22, 1885. Frank married Mary
     Ann Wennet; they homesteaded near Capron, Oklahoma, where Frank died in 1914.
     John Shepler died November 15, 1885.
       Clara May Lytle, the first girl to live in Medicine Lodge, came when she
     was twelve years old. She was born November 16, 1862 at Peoria, Illinois. On
     July 4, 1880, she married Orlando Vernon Lytle, son of John William Lytle
     and Catherine Schuyoer, who was born in Illinois, February 28, 1857. Vernon
     was a harness maker by trade and was employed at one time by the Comanche
     Pool Syndicate. He participated in the capture of the bank robbers, but was
     definitly against hanging them. One of the robbers had ridden to town behind
     his saddle and, fearing for his life, asked Vernon to let his mother know
     what had happened.
       Vernon and May homesteaded in the Grandview district. Their children were:
     Nora Blanch, who married Edd Spangler and had two children. Wayne and Roberta.
     She died in 1918. Jennie, who married Ralph Long and lived near Belvedere.
     She died in 1955. Pearl Anna who married Rink McCullough on March 10, 1910
     and died March 2, 1975. Loren Roy married Marie Lording of Coldwater. Their
     children were, Betty May, Vernon Fred and Marie (Beebee). Roy died June 3,
     1964 and his wife March 1979. Orlando Vernon died April 17, 1898.
       A tornado struck the north part of town, in May 1907, May Lytle was sick
     in bed, and when the storm was over, she was still in bed, the covers all
     in place, but the bed was in top of a cottonwood tree.
       After Vernon's death, May provided for her family by having a millinery
     store and dressmaking. She was a true professional. After Pearl and Rink 
     McCullough moved to town and May's health failed, she moved to their home.
     She was a lovely lady and it was such a delight to hear her tell the old
     stories. She died December 15, 1944.
                 
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 413 
     Submitted by: Virginia Woodward Measday and Juanita and Vernon Lytle