Kansas

Biography of Woodford P. Evans

Woodford P. Evans. Among the able and valued newspaper men of Kansas, one who gave the best years of an active and achieving life to journalism was the late Woodford P. Evans, whose closing twenty-one years were spent at Lebo as editor and owner of the Lebo Enterprise. He was well known in other parts of the state and in other sections of the country, and was an honored veteran of the Civil war. Throughout his entire career he was an earnest and fearless advocate of right, irrespective of class or station, and he inspired such universal confidence that many … Read more

Biography of Col. Perry M. Hoisington

Col. Perry M. Hoisington, of Newton, is one of the big men of Kansas today. For over a quarter of a century he had been closely identified with the state military organization, at first with the old Kansas Militia and now with the Kansas National Guard. At the head of his fine regiment, the Second, he gave some good service on the Texas border in 1916 and is now ready for the call to duty in France. His business career had been equally successful and progressive. Colonel Hoisington is president of the First National Bank of Newton and had been … Read more

Biography of Edison E. Shive

Edison E. Shive. The Shive family have been identified with Kansas more than forty-five years and have supplied much of the means and personal ability to the banking business of Harvey and Reno counties. The founder of the family is Mr. John W. Shive, now a resident of Burrton. He was born in Barren County, Kentucky, August 1, 1841, and remained in his native state until after the war. He was a Union man and in 1862 enlisted in Company K of the Ninth Kentucky Regiment of Infantry. He fought at the battle of Shiloh, and at the battle of … Read more

Biography of William H. Holt

William H. Holt came to Kansas a number of years ago as a railway employee, but soon took up banking and had had a wide experience in that field, partly in Kansas and partly in Northwestern Texas, and is now cashier of the Central National Bank of Ellsworth. This is one of the largest and most substantial banks in Southern Kansas. Mr. Holt was born at Grafton, West Virginia, August 2, 1879. His ancestors came originally out of England and were colonial settlers in Virginia. His father, James W. Holt, was born at Kingwood in Preston County, West Virginia, in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. T. Shive

J. T. Shive, another son of John W. Shive, was born on his father’s farm in Harvey County December 12, 1875, was educated partly in the rural schools there and attended the State Normal School at Emporia. At the age of nineteen he began teaching in Neosho County, followed that work two years, then for nine years was connected with the Burrton State Bank, beginning as bookkeeper and promoted to assistant cashier and cashier. In April, 1908, he became cashier of the Galesburg State Bank, but on July 1, 1917, returned to the Burrton State Bank as cashier. He is … Read more

Biography of Maj. Willis L. Brown

Maj. Willis L. Brown, of Kingman, is one of the eminent Kansas whose records serve to illustrate and adorn the history of the commonwealth. Mr. Brown had been through nearly everything that is significant of Kansas life for forty years. He was at one time a poverty stricken homesteader and while the general public knows him chiefly through his broader business and civic relations, he is still in close touch with Kansas farming and through his work and initiative had probably done as much as any man in Kingman County to promote intensive and high class farming and stock raising. … Read more

Biography of Gotthart Schippel

Gotthart Schippel spent nearly fifty years of life in Kansas. He was one of the real pioneers. His active lifetime was one of hard work, and in the early days he encountered constant hardships and overcame difficulties that would have daunted any man less sturdy and courageous. He helped to build the solid foundation on which the prosperity of the great state now rests. Kansas was still the disputed territory of the wild Indians and the wild animals, and vast stretches of prairie grass occupied only by the countless herds of buffalo and the tepees of the red men surrounded … Read more

Biography of John Charles Palmer

John Charles Palmer is the popular superintendent of schools of Harper County. He is the only county superintendent to hold the office three consecutive terms, and also had the distinction of being the only candidate for that office who succeeded in carrying every precinct in the county. That honor was given him at the last two elections. Mr. Palmer had made education his life work and his activities in Harper County have been a source of influence and upbuilding to every school with which he had been individually connected or over which his supervision extends. Superintendent Palmer was born in … Read more

Biography of Wayne F. Shaw

Wayne F. Shaw grew up on a farm in Kansas, but at an early age had an ambition to teach, and had made teaching a life work and vocation, attended by unusual success. He is now superintendent of the city schools of Kingman. Mr. Shaw is of a New England family transplanted to Kansas. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish and English people who went to Massachusetts in colonial times. One of his ancestors was a Revolutionary soldier. His grandfather, Elijah Shaw, was born at Buckland, Massachusetts, in 1813, spent his life in that state as a farmer and died at Buckland … Read more

Biography of Charles E. Wetherall

Charles E. Wetherall has spent most of his life in Kingman County, and for a number of years had been a merchant and business man at Cunningham. He and his brother own the electric light plant there, and this is significant, because Mr. Wetherall had literally and figuratively supplied much of the motive power which had generated business and general development in that locality. Mr. Wetherall represents an old American family of Irish stock. They came to Virginia in colonial times. His great-grandfather, George Wetherall, was born at Madison Court House, Virginia, and was a planter and slave owner. His … Read more

Biography of William M. Burkholder

William M. Burkholder is one of the younger native Kansans filling places of responsibility and action and recently became proprietor and editor of the Anthony Bulletin. He had one of the older papers of Harper County. The Bulletin had enjoyed an independent existence since 1891, but is a continuation of several earlier papers. The old Harper County Enterprise was founded at Anthony in 1884, was consolidated in 1891 with the Alliance Bulletin of Harper, and was continued under the name Weekly Bulletin. The editor and publisher prior to Mr. Burkholder’s ownership was R. P. McColloch. The Bulletin is independent in … Read more

Biography of Rev. Daniel Kenneally

Rev. Daniel Kenneally came to Kansas fresh from his studies and his ordination as a Catholic priest in Ireland and after a few months at Wichita was assigned to the position as rector of the Immaculate Conception Church at Danville in Harper County. Danville had one of the oldest Catholic parishes in Harper County, established fully thirty years ago, and it had been growing in membership rapidly during Father Kenneally’s administration. He represents an old family of County Cork, Ireland, and was born at Ballylanders, Cloyne, in that county, May 3, 1883. He was the one of a large family … Read more

Biography of Don Francis Reed

Don Francis Reed has been identified with Harper, Kansas, successively as a blacksmith, farmer and lawyer. Admitted to the bar a little more than two years ago he had won his spurs in his first legal contest, and is now well established with a general clientage drawn from all over Harper County. Mr. Reed was born at Logansport, Indiana, January 10, 1887, and is a member of a family that had three living generations. He is of Scotch ancestry. His great-grandfather, Herriman Reed, was born in Scotland, came to this country in early times, settling in Philadelphia, and died there. … Read more

Biography of Lester Martin Combs

Lester Martin Combs has been an active newspaper man since he graduated from Baker University five years ago and is now editor, manager and treasurer of the Anthony Republican, the official paper of Harper County. The Republican is the oldest paper in Harper County and was established a few years after the county was organized in 1879. The first editors and publishers were George W. Maffet and Charles Metcalf. For several years in the late ’80s the Republican had a daily edition. At the present time the Republican is printed at a modern plant on South Bluff Street. The Anthony … Read more

Biography of Stewart P. Rowland

Stewart P. Rowland has devoted the best years of his life to teaching and education in the broader sense, and is now in his tenth consecutive year as superintendent of schools of Reno County. Mr. Rowland had lived in Kansas since early boyhood, having moved there with his parents at an early age. His parents were Perry and Mary E. (Ellison) Rowland. His mother was born about fifteen miles from the City of Liverpool, England, in 1831, and died at her home in Reno Township of Reno County, May 26, 1810. Perry Rowland was born in Noble County, Ohio, in … Read more

Biography of Lew Wallace Duncan

Lew Wallace Duncan. The close of the Civil war launched a new era of settlement in the West. Young men who had lately fought the battles of freedom and restored the unity of the nation abandoned their birthplaces and “hit the trail” leading to the boundless and trackless region beyond the “border.” Distance alone separated them from the beckoning prairies of an unknown plain and the scream of the locomotive had not been heard west of St. Louis, so that the “prairie schooner” method of reaching their destination had to be resorted to. Once across the Mississippi the mecca of … Read more

Biography of Willis Franklin Sams

Willis Franklin Sams. Neosho County figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and prosperous divisions of the State of Kansas, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked advancement in the material upbuilding of the section. The county had been and is signally favored in the class of men who have controlled the affairs of its different communities in official capacities, and in this connection Willis Franklin Sams, commissioner of finance of Chanute, is worthy of representation as one who had served the locality faithfully and … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Sample

Charles W. Sample has been a business man at Kingman nearly forty years and had been closely identified with the commercial affairs of that city, as a land owner, banker and in real estate and loans. Mr. Sample was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, October 29, 1851. His ancestors came out of Ireland and settled in Virginia in colonial days. His grandfather, Andrew Sample, was a pioneer farmer in Indiana and died in Jefferson County in that state in 1854. George W. Sample, father of Charles W., was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1815, a date which indicates the … Read more

Biography of Edward Stillings

Edward Stillings. Measured not in the abnormal achievement, but in the steady glow of a powerful mind, in an unceasing devotion to his profession, and in a degree of public spirit that allied him as a leader with all the big movements of his time and place, the late Edward Stillings of Leavenworth was one of the big men claimed by Kansas. Nearly thirty years of his life were spent in Leavenworth, where he died February 20, 1890. His reputation was not merely local; professionally it extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He was a big man, big in … Read more

Biography of Hon. Vinton Stillings

Hon. Vinton Stillings, only son of the late Judge Edward Stillings, had lived in Leavenworth since early boyhood, though he spent much time in the East and abroad while securing his education and for purposes of travel. With the leisure afforded by ample means he had accepted the many opportunities which come to such men for rendering the vital service so much required in realizing the civic ideals of every community. He is a citizen upon whom progressive Leavenworth had often called and who had never failed to respond. While he is extremely modest as to his personal role, others … Read more