Taken from History of the State of Kansas, by William G. Cutler
WILLIAM SIMONS, farmer, P.O. Howard, was born in England in, 1838; emigrated to America, 1856; locating in Athens County, Ohio, where he remained until 1859, going from there to Canada, and at the end of one year settled in Huron County, Mich, remaining there until after the war, when he returned to Canada. In 1870, came West and located in Howard County, Kan, securing a claim on Section 12, Town 29, Range 10, sixty miles from a railroad point, and with little to do with, was a voter at the first election held in the county, organized the first Sunday school in the township.