A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans Collections – Page 42 of 109

Biography of John Spencer Kenyon

John Spencer Kenyon is a member of the furniture firm of Hardcastle & Kenyon at Emporia. Established nearly thirty-five years ago, this is one of the oldest furniture houses in Kansas, and so far as known only one firm had been in business for a longer time and that is the Thompson Brothers at Topeka. Mr. Kenyon’s had been a most creditable business record. His name had been familiar to the people of Emporia and that section of Kansas for more than a generation, and always suggests the best qualities of commercial enterprise. His public spirit had also been a … Read more

Biography of John Schilling

John Schilling. A hazardous and arduous task confronted those venturesome and hardy men who forsook the security and comforts of the settled communities during the ’50s and penetrated the wilds of the untrodden West. None but themselves and their children can ever realize, in the faintest degree, the difficulties with which they were forced to contend, the perils to which they were exposed, and the privations which they endured. Fortunately, they were animated by an indomitable spirit and sustained by inflexible resolution, and patiently, perseveringly and steadfastly accomplished their mission, leaving to their posterity the fruits of their enterprise, in … Read more

Biography of John Schalker, Sr.

John Schalker, Sr. Among the names which have become indelibly impressed upon the recent commercial history of Leavenworth, one of the most prominent is that of Schalker, in connection with the Schalker Packing Company. This concern, the growth of which had been phenomenal, and which had only lately doubled its operations, was founded by John Schalker, Jr., and Austin Schalker, sons of John Schalker, Sr., a resident of Leavenworth since 1883. John Schalker, Sr., was born June 2, 1858, in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, and is one of five children born to Jacob and Susan (Widmer) Schalker. His youth … Read more

Biography of John Sayre Downes

John Sayre Downes. The City of Topeka is the home of the largest organization of its kind in the United States, the Aetna Building and Loan Association, which maintains about 600 agencies in Kansas and Oklahoma. The growth and development of this institution during the quarter of a century in which it has been in existence is a commentary upon the success to be attained by enterprises in the Sunflower State when their policies are directed by men of substantial ability, strict integrity and business foresight. At the head of the Aetna Building and Loan Association today, in the office … Read more

Biography of John Sargent

John Sargent was and is an honored name in the State of Kansas. For years he was foremost among the building contractors of Topeka. The power he exerted as a factor in business affairs was only part of the outflowing of a strong and harmonious character. He was a big man in all the relationships of a long lifetime. Thus death selected a partieularly conspicuous victim when John Sargent died suddenly Sunday morning, March 12, 1916, just before stepping into his automobile to be driven to church. Both before and after his death it was recognized that the city had … Read more

Biography of John Samuel Gibson

John Samuel Gibson has for thirty years been a banker at Geneseo, and had been the leading man of affairs in that rich and prosperous section of Rice County. Mr. Gibson might be called a pioneer of Geneseo, since he arrived in the village only two years after it was established. He had used his personal influence and his business position in many ways to build up the community and had been honored with almost every office in the gift of his fellow citizens. His ancestry in both the paternal and maternal lines shows him to be a member of … Read more

Biography of John S. Sutcliffe, M. D.

John S. Sutcliffe, M. D., is one of the widely known physicians and surgeons of Kansas, and besides a large private practice at Iola is proprietor of the Iola Hospital and Sanitarium, which he had brought to a high standard of excellence in its appointments and had made it an institution of widely extended benefit and service. Doctor Sutcliffe is a native of England, born January 10, 1861. He attended a private school known as Beckwith College at Liverpool, but at the age of fifteen came to America to join his father, who some years before had established himself in … Read more

Biography of John S. Stover

John S. Stover. During an unusually busy life many important interests have claimed the attention of John S. Stover, one of Lincoln’s representative and substantial citizens, these including financial, agricultural, mercantile and political, and few men are better known in Lincoln County or more generally trusted and esteemed. He comes of old Pennsylvania stock and in that state the name of Stover is yet well and honorably represented. John S. Stover was born at Boalsburg, Center County, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1870. His parents were David and Elvina (Sechler) Stover. David Stover was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, in 1838, and … Read more

Biography of John S. Rhodes

John S. Rhodes. Thousands of people who possess only a passing knowledge of Topeka, including the whereabouts of the State House and a few other important institutions, have a very definite acquaintance with a certain store on Kansas Avenue, the proprietor of which is John S. Rhodes. Mr. Rhodes has been a resident of Topeka for thirty-six years. It is in no wise detrimental to his dignity to say that he has a “junk” shop. One visiting his establishment is reminded of the “old curiosity shop” of Dickens. His shop contains literally thousands of dollars worth of goods consisting of … Read more

Biography of John S. Gilmore

John S. Gilmore. In journalistic circles of Kansas few men are better known than is John S. Gilmore, one of the energetic and progressive of the younger generation of newspaper men, who, as publisher and editor of the Wilson County Citizen, is directing the policies of one of the county’s leading organs and one of the oldest in the state of Kansas. Mr. Gilmore had been a resident of Fredonia all his life, for it was here that he was born April 26, 1891, a son of John S. and Florence (Barton) Gilmore. Robert G. Gilmore, the grandfather of John … Read more

Biography of John S. Dean

John S. Dean, of Topeka, has been a Kansas lawyer for over thirty years, was for five years United States district attorney and by the force of his ability and his acknowledged service in many capacities is undoubtedly one of the foremost living lawyers of the state. His birth occurred in Seneca County, Ohio, November 11, 1861, and he is a son of William O. and Harriet J. (Curtiss) Dean. Mr. Dean was well educated, having attended college at Oberlin and determined upon the law as a profession when quite young. He became a student in the office of Judge … Read more

Biography Of John S. Amick

John S. Amick. It is a strong augury of success for a young man to have a variety of experiences in practical matters before he assumes professional work. Especially if he is a lawyer, his substantial future is far more assured in the West than if he possessed a greater fund of professional knowledge and less ability to judge of persons and things in a common sense way–which comes only with actual experience, and often of the hard kind. Such remarks as the foregoing hold true in the career and progress of John Amick, a young lawyer of Lawrence who … Read more

Biography of John Ross Newman

In the large metropolitan cities are found a number of men who are able to confine themselves exclusively to some one specialty in medicine or surgery, but in the smaller cities, however much a professional man may incline to specialization, he is almost invariably engaged in general practice. An exception to this rule is the case of Dr. John Ross Newman of Fort Scott. Doctor Newman is a surgeon of rare attainments and ability. For the past six years he had handled only surgical cases. He is one of the very few men in the entire state who can be … Read more

Biography of John Rose

John Rose, who for several years had been numbered among the leading oil producers in Montgomery County fields, and resided at Independence, is a thoroughly practical as well as successful man, as his career indicates. When only thirteen he started out for himself, and had since hewed his way through difficulties, through poverty, to a successful position in the world. He was born February 26, 1861, near Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and is of Scotch parentage. His father, James Rose, was born in Scotland in 1822, was reared and learned the trade of stone mason in his native country, and about … Read more

Biography of John Redmond

John Redmond. One of the prominent newspaper men of Kansas, and there is no doubt but that the state had its full share of talented journalists, is John Redmond, the able editor and prosperous owner and publisher of the Burlington Daily Republican of Burlington. A natural inclination for this profession probably prevented the state from registering one more able member of its bar, for he was early designed for the law, in which his brother, C. H. Redmond, now of Denver, Colorado, is so successful, and in which his father, the late James Redmond, so long held a distinguished place. … Read more

Biography of John R. Tercy

John R. Tercy, present prohate judge of Ellsworth County, possesses in a distinguishing degree that fine balance of qualities and faculties which enables a probate judge to handle the many delicate problems of administration in a manner that means the approximation of justice to them all. Judge Tercy is not so much a lawyer as a man of affairs. He had had a long and active experience and for many years was a prominent minister of the Presbyterian Church both in Kansas and other weetern states. Judge Tercy was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, September 19, 1858, and is of English … Read more

Biography of John R. Mulvane

John R. Mulvane had been a resident of Kansas since 1868 and for nearly forty years president of the Bank of Topeka. That position, together with the many other interests he had actively prosecuted, have made him a power in the financial and industrial life of Kansas. His family lineage some generations back was identified with that of the McIlvaines of Scotland. His first American ancestor came to North Carolina before the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, John Mulvane, located in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, in 1803 and was one of the five original taxpayers of that county. He marricd Mary McCune, whose … Read more

Biography of John R. Beeching

John R. Beeching is a lawyer and since 1910 had been accumulating a large general practice and a rising reputation at the bar of Hutchinson. Mr. Beeching is a native Kansan, and represents a pioneer family in Rush County, where he was born February 19, 1884. His grandfather, Charles Beeching, was an Englishman, born in 1830, was a mechanic by trade, and on coming to America first settled in Connecticut and afterwards moved to Huntington, Indiana, where he died in 1898. Perry Beeching, father of the Hutchinson lawyer, was born in Connecticut in 1858. He was reared at Huntington, Indiana, … Read more

Biography of John Quincy Smith

John Quincy Smith. The career of J. Quincy Smith, of Fredonia, had been an expression of well directed and diversified industry and in its development had invaded various fields of human activity, in each of which J. Q. Smith had won a full measure of material success and satisfying reputation. He had had experience in both professional and business labors, and while he is now retired from the activities of life, having approached the Psalmist’s three-score-and-ten years, is still an influence for good in his community and a citizen whose help and support continue to be factors for the development … Read more