William C. Kandt, a native of Kansas, and member of a pioneer family in the state, has been a banker all his active career, and while he maintains offices and has his home at Independence he is active cashier of the Wayside State Bank and president of the Citizens State Bank of Elk City.
His birth occurred in Dickinson County, Kansas, August 24, 1877. His grandparents, John and Mary Kandt were German people who came to this country in the early ’50s and in 1857 pioneered into Dickinson County, Kansas, where they were among the first to break the virgin soil and where they lived as farmers the rest of their lives. A. F. Kandt, father of the Independence banker, was born in Germany in 1850 and was brought to this country when three years of age. His parents first lived in Wisconsin, and he was about seven when he came to Kansas. Reared and educated in Dickinson County, he has followed an active career as a farmer and stock raiser, but since 1906 has lived retired at Herington, in Dickinson County. He is a democrat and has filled various township offices, including the office of treasurer. He is a member and deacon of the German Lutheran Church. A. F. Kandt married Fannie Kux, who was born in Austria in 1852. Her father, Ignitz Kux, brought his family to America when she was very young, settling in Chicago and afterwards becoming an early farmer in Marion County, Kansas. A. F. Kandt and wife were married in Dickinson County, and their children were: William C.; Ida, wife of W. F. Ziebel, a retired farmer and cattle man at Herington, Kansas; Fannie, wife of A. F. Holfgren, a banker at Lincolnville, Kansas; Sophie, who is at home with her parents.
William C. Kandt received his early education in the public schools of Dickinson County, and at the age of nineteen finished a general business course at Salina, Kansas. His first employment after leaving business college was in teaching in a commercial school at Fort Smith, Arkansas, for one term. He then became connected with the bank of Herington as bookkeeper, and since then for a period of twenty years has been almost continuously identified with banking. He was bookkeeper at Herington for two years, then helped organize the Tampa State Bank of which he was cashier a year. Selling out his interests, he organized the Woodbine State Bank in 1901, and was its cashier two years. His next activities as a banker were in organizing the First National Bank at Byars, Oklahoma, of which he was cashier seven years. While there he was also connected with the American Trust Company, of which he was president, and was president of the Rosedale State Bank of Rosedale, Oklahoma. Disposing of his interests in these concerns in 1908, he opened an office in Oklahoma City and was in the loan and brokerage business there until 1914.
In that year Mr. Kandt organized the Wayside State Bank at Wayside in Montgomery County, also the Citizens State Bank at Elk City, being cashier of the one and president of the other. The Wayside State Bank, which has a capital of $10,000 and surplus of $2,000, has the following officers: George L. Hess, president; A. D. Berry, vice president; and William C. Kandt, cashier. The officers of the Citizens State Bank of Elk City which has a capital of $15,000 and surplus of $1,500, are William C. Kandt, president; J. A. Brown, vice president; and E. E. Lugenbeal, cashier.
In political matters Mr. Kandt is a republican. While living in Dickinson County he served as treasurer of Lyon Township. He has been a deacon in the German Lutheran Church. Besides his interest as a banker he is district agent for the Franklin Life Insurance Company, and has offices in the Kress Building at Independence. His home is at 212 South Sixth Street in Independence.
In 1901 at Herington, Kansas, Mr. Kandt married Miss Ollie Mencke, a daughter of Rev. O. and Josephine Mencke. Her father is a German Lutheran minister and he and his family reside at Bremen, Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Kandt have been born seven children: Raymond, born in 1902, and now in the public schools; Edgar, born in 1904; Persis, born in 1906; Alton, born in 1908; Serena, born in 1911; William, born in 1913; and Josephine, born in 1915. All except the three youngest are attending the public schools of Independence.