Kansas

Biography of James B. Roberts

James B. Roberts, now living retired at Denton, was a pioneer in that section of Doniphan County, and his life, which had been prolonged to four score, had been one of well directed and houorable effort throughout. He is a veteran of the great was between the states, and Mrs. Roberts is couspicuous among Kansas women for the part she had taken officially and otherwise in the Woman’s Relief Corps. Mr. Roberts was born at Remsen in Oneida County, New York, November 7, 1837. His father, Rees Roberts, was born in Wales in 1805. When a young man he came to America, … Read more

Biography of George Eli Whitcraft

George Eli Whitcraft, superintendent of the city schools of Oskaloosa, had been active in educational work in Kansas for over twenty years, being well known as a teacher, superintendent and school executive throughout Northeastern Kansas. He was born in Jackson County, Kansas, June 28, 1872. His people have been in the state almost as long as Kansas had been a state. His grandfather, George Whiteraft, was born in Ireland in 1798, and came to America when a boy. After a brief residence in Pennsylvania he went to Ohio and was a farmer in that state for many years. He served … Read more

Biography of Theodore H. Polace

Theodore H. Polace has been a lawyer of recognized standing and ability at the Marysville bar for over thirty-five years. His career began as a teacher, but he soon turned to the law and had found in it an occupation fitted to his talents and tastes, and had made it the medium of his chief service in the world. Mr. Polace was born near Grete in Will County, Illinois, March 12, 1860. He comes of a scholarly family and one that had given several members to the ministry of the Lutheran Church. His father, Rev. Gustav W. Polack, was born … Read more

Biography of Allen Thomas Stewart

Allen Thomas Stewart is one of the younger business men of Doniphan County and had established himself firmly in business and civic esteem at Denton, where he is proprietor of the only drug store and is now serving his second suecessive term as mayor. Most of his life had been spent in Kansas. He was born at Salem, Kentucky, in Livingston County, March 11, 1881, and came to this state with his parents when he was five years old. He attended public schools, graduated from the high school at Seneca. Kansas, in 1901, and following that had two years in … Read more

Biography of A. J. Shaw

A. J. Shaw, of McPherson, is the acknowledged expert authority in the West on the subject of hail insurance. Since its organization in 1899 he had been continuously secretary of the McPherson Hail Insurance Company. The McPherson Hail Insurance Company is a business organization of which the State of Kansas may be proud. It was the first Kansas company to offer an adequate service in this department of insurance. Prior to twenty-five years ago insurance against Hail was almost unknown as a practice in Kansas. The only company that offered such insurance was the St. Paul Fire & Marine. About … Read more

Biography of Arnold Francis Weeks

Arnold Francis Weeks. Much of the commercial history and the civic annals of the prosperous little Town of Assaria in Saline County could be told as a commentary upon the life of Mr. Arnold Francis Weeks, the leading merchant and now the mayor of that little city. In 1907 Mr. Weeks organized the Assaria Hardware Company. He became president and chief executive in the concern, while his brother Joseph was made secretary. In 1913 the two brothers bought all the other interests, and since dissolving the incorporation had conducted it as a partnership and had made it the leading business … Read more

Biography of Herman Zabel

Herman Zabel has spent all his life in Pottawatomie County and is a son of one of the early pioneers there. His own career had been one of varied interests and activities. He still owned a big farm near the county seat and is also vice president of the Farmers State Bank of Westmoreland in that city. His father, the late Charles Zabel, was born near the city of Berlin, Germany, in 1851, and deserves a permanent record among the pioneers of Pottawatomie County. At the age of nineteen he came to the United States, worked in the pineries and … Read more

Biography of John M. Morley

John M. Morley has devoted practically his untire career to the business of banking, is one of the largest private bankers in Northeastern Kansas, is sole owner of the Bank of Severance and is also president of the State Bank of Purcell. Born at Mason in Warren County, Ohio, November 23, 1852, he is of Catholic parentage and ancestry, His grandfather, John Morley, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, and spent his life there as a farmer. Boger Morley, father of John M., was a territorial pioneer in Kansas. Born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1829, he came to this … Read more

Biography of Edmund Needham Morrill, Hon.

Hon. Edmund Needham Morrill. Of the record of Governor Morrill during his term as head of the state government of Kansas a review is given on other pages of this history. It will be wise to supplement that record with some of the more personal details of his career and his various connections, public and business and philanthropic, with Brown County, where his name will always be revered and where he was regarded by common consent as the foremost citizen. He was born at Westbrook, Cumberland County, Maine, February 12, 1834, and died in 1909, after completing three-quarters of a … Read more

Biography of Charles D. Lamme

Charles D. Lamme is president of the Morrill-Janes Bank of Hiawatha, one of the largest and most prosperous financial institutions of Northern Kansas. His is a business career that may be studied with profit by all members of the rising generation. He was not yet twenty years of age when in January, 1880, he became connected with the Morrill-Janes Bank. At first his dutles were not classified on the regular payroll. Morning and night he did janitor work and during the day was variously employed as a messenger and in any other duties thought best by his superiors. He possessed … Read more

Biography of Joseph L. Eyman, Dr.

Joseph L. Eyman, M. D. In the profession of medicine and surgery few Kansas physicians have dispensed their services more widely and more successfully than Dr. Joseph L. Eyman of El Dorado, He is a most loyal Kansan. Coming to the state when a child with his parents, he began the practice of his profession twenty-one years later and had witnessed the gradual change and transformation which have made Kansas a highly developed agrienltural and industrial section from what was within his personal recollection an open prairie. Doctor Eyman had traveled over many of the states of the Union, and … Read more

Biography of Kate L. Cowick

Miss Kate L. Cowick, now serving her second term as county treasurer of Wyandotte County, probably had the most responsible office of any woman in Kansas. She had the business efficiency needed in the administration of such an office. She is thoroughly trained in the public service, having for many years been a teacher and administrative official of schools, and her work as county treasurer had given her not a little of justly earned fame among the women of Kansas. Miss Cowick is a native of Missouri, born at Tarkio in Atchison County on February 8, 1885. She was the … Read more

Biography of James B. Roberts, M. D.

James B. Roberts, M. D. A physician and surgeon of broad and successful experience, Dr. James B. Roberts had practiced for many years in Kansas, and had long been the leader in professional circles at Goff in Nemaha County. Doctor Roberts was born in Newton County, Indiana, February 18, 1857. His Roberts’ ancestors came originally from Wales and were pioneers in the State of Indiana. His father, Thomas Roberts, was born in that state in 1823 and became a pioneer in the northwestern part of the state in Newton County, where he followed farming until his death in 1858, when … Read more

Biography of George Rushton

George Rushton. The George Rushton Baking Company, Incorporated, at Rosedale, is the largest concern of its kind in the State of Kansas. Every day its ovens turn out 20,000 loaves of high class bread, sold and consumed principally in the two Kansas cities, while the weekly capacity of the pie plant is 75,000 pies. It is the only pie baking plant on a large scale in the two cities. Baking had been a trade in the Rushton family for so many generations back that no record had been kept of the originator of the business. The president and founder of … Read more

Biography of A. M. Minier

A. M. Minier, assistant cashier and managing officer of the First National Rank of Highland, is a native of this community and is directly connected with a family that originally established this town in Northeastern Kansas. It was his maternal grandfather, John Bayless, who founded the Town of Highland. Mr. Bayless was a native of New York State and first came out to Kansas in 1855, when it was a frontier territory. He acquired large tracts of land in what is now Doniphan County and from that land was taken the site of the present Town of Highland, which was platted in … Read more

Biography of Jesse H. Moore

Jesse H. Moore is the cashier of the Oketo State Bank. The Moore family had for many years been identified with banking and other affairs of Marshall County, and Mr. Moore’s father was the founder of the present bank, his mother is now its president, and this excellent Kansas woman had another special distinction as being one of the few women of the state to hold the office of mayor of a town. The Oketo State Bank’s history begins in 1889, when Z. H. Moore started it as a private bank. In 1900 it was reorganized under state charter. It … Read more

Biography of Robert Jackson Cabeen, M. D.

Robert Jackson Cabeen, M. D.,is the only physician and surgeon practicing at Leon, Kansas, and that community takes just pride in having available the services of one of the very skillful and capable members of the profession in Kansas. Besides the work he had done as a physician he had taken a very active part in local affairs, and had been one of the leaders in the civic and progressive life of the town. Doctor Cabeen’s early home was in Illinois. He was born at the Town of Seaton in Mercer County of that state May 26, 1876. His grandfather, … Read more

Biography of David Johnson, M. D.

David Johnson, M. D., a prominent medical specialist whose home and laboratories are at Salina, returned to Kansas a few years ago after many years spent in practice in the New England states, most of the time at Boston. He returned to Kansas because many years ago, on first coming to America, he had located in this then new state, and it was those early impressions and experiences with Kansas life and people that caused him to locate here for a permanent home in his decliaing years. Doctor Johnson was born in Sweden on May 4, 1848. He was liberally … Read more

Biography of William F. Isley

William F. Isely is a native of Brown County, where his father was a pioneer farmer, and he himself followed farming on an extensive and successful scale for many years but is now living in Fairview of that county. where among varied other interests he is president of the Fairview State Bank. He is also the city’s mayor. Mr. Isely is of sterling Swiss stock. His grandfather, Christian Isely, was born in Switzerland, came to America after his marriage, and located near Winesberg in Holmes County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming and also in the manufacture of harvesting implements. … Read more

Biography of Anna Mallows, Anna

Miss Anna Mallows. To paraphrase an old proverb, To woman’s work there is neither end or limit of capacity for human service and usefulness. Women have succssded as home makers, as teachers, in all the learned professions, in executive business, and one of the bright Kansas women, Miss Anna Mallows, is a very successful newspaper woman, proprietor, and publisher of the White Cloud Globe. The White Cloud Globe is now the only paper published in that city. It was founded in 1892 by John J. Faulkner, and throughout its twenty-five years it had never exhibited more enterprise as a real … Read more