A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans Collections – Page 89 of 109

Biography of Charles Elda Banker

Charles Elda Banker, city clerk of Salina, had been a resident of Saline County forty years, and his family is one of the best known in this section of the state. His father was the late John A. Banker, who was especially well known for his services as a landscape gardener in Saline County, and also had the distinction of establishing the first nursery in the county. John A. Banker was born near Germantown, Ohio, December 25, 1848. He followed farming for many years in Ohio, subsequently became a merchant at Germantown, but in 1877 brought his family to Kansas … Read more

Biography of Charles Edwin Westlake

Charles E. Westlake. There is a type of business man who had apparently a peculiar genius for doing a number of things well and efficiently. Such a man had the commercial instinct highly developed. Charles E. Westlake of Sedan illustrates the type. He had been a farmer and rancher, had merchandised in several different lines, had been an oil producer, and is now engaged in the undertaking business at Sedan, and one of the livest and most energetic citizens of that town. Both he and his family have been identified with Kansas a great many years. The Westlakes originated in … 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 Charles E. Spooner

Charles E. Spooner. When he started upon his wage-earning career, at the age of fifteen years, Charles E. Spooner began at the bottom of the ladder in the capacity of bundle-boy in a department store. No favors were shown him, for he had no important friends or other favoring influences, but his fidelity, energy and ability won him recognition and promotion and he soon grew beyond the opportunities of his immediate environment, and from that time his advancement has been sure and steady. In 1888 he became connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, in a minor position and … Read more

Biography of Charles E. Phillips, M. D.

Charles E. Phillips, M. D. A resident of Kansas since infancy, Doctor Phillips is a highly trained physician and surgeon and since locating at Zenda twelve years ago had built up more than a local reputation in the field of surgery and enjoys a highly successful and profitable practice. Doctor Phillips was born in Knox County, Missouri, August 15, 1877. His father is Mr. P. W. Phillips, now a resident of Pratt County, Kansas. In his experiences as well as his achievements he deserves mention as one of the remarkable men of Kansas. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, … Read more

Biography of Charles E. Moore

Charles E. Moore. When Charles E. Moore came home from college in 1887, his first efforts were directed along the line of the loan and mortgage business. He had been at it continuously ever since, now for thirty years, and had built up the largest organization handling loans and mortgages at Eureka or in that section of the state. As the head of a successful business of this kind Mr. Moore’s interests have naturally gone into a wider field of finance and business affairs. Since 1908 he had been president of the Citizens National Bank of Eureka. He is an … Read more

Biography of Charles Daniel Ise

Charles Daniel Ise, a prominent lawyer and now county attorney of Montgomery County, had an individual record worthy of mention in this history of Kansas, and also represents a family which have many claims to distinction, some of them gained in this state, and others back in the Germen fatherland where the ancestors for generations were of the nobility. In Germany the name was spelled Eisenmenger. The family seat for generations had been in the Kingdom of Wnerternberg, and they had been members of the noble classes in that kingdom from the fourteenth century. One of the family was hero … Read more

Biography of Charles D. Welch

Charles D. Welch. Since his admission to the bar in 1899 Charles D. Welch had built a reputation as a sound, hard working and able lawyer, and had also been a factor in public affairs and is one of the leading republicans of Coffeyville, where he had been in practice for the past twelve years. His ancestors were New York State people, having settled there probably before the Revolution. His grandfather, Daniel Welch, was born in New York, but moved from that state to a farm in Indiana and died in Illinois. It was in McLean County, Illinois, that Charles … 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 Charles Clyde Myers

Charles Clyde Myers. A young lawyer of pronounced character, whether considered from the viewpoint of his professional attainments or from the standpoint of progressive citizenship, Charles Clyde Myers had been engaged in practice at Mankato since November, 1913, and is now serving his second term as attorney of Jewell County. Like many of the members of his profession he began his career as a school teacher, and his training had been thorough and comprehensive, so that while he had been in active practice for only comparatively a short period, he had already been able to take a leading place in … Read more

Biography of Charles Clifton Crain

Charles Clifton Crain, who is the executive head of one of the largest and most successful enterprises doing business in the wholesale and retail hardware trade in Kansas, being president of the Crain Hardware Company, of Fort Scott, is one of the alert and enterprising men who, during the last half century, have so utilized the opportunities offered here for business preferment that the fame of Fort Scott had been extended to every part of the country. Nothing so builds up a country or section as its commerce and the directing forces are those men whose marvelous foresight see the … Read more

Biography of Charles Clifford Mack

Charles Clifford Mack, who so capably represented Harvey County in the State Legislature during the session of 1917, is a prominent business man of Newton, proprietor of the Mack Mortgage and Loan Company of that city. Mr. Mack is a comparatively young man, not yet forty years of age, and his record is especially interesting because of the success he had made from nothing except the sources and talents contained in his own energetic nature. Mr. Mack was born July 5, 1878, and his birth-place was the backwoods community of Southern Indiana, at the Town of Rising Sun. His father, … Read more

Biography of Charles C. Shumway

Charles C. Shumway, who had been a resident of Rice County for over thirty years, was formerly a farmer and rancher and for the past five years had been a leading factor in the Little River State Bank, of which he is president. Mr. Shumway is of old colonial stock. His ancestry in the paternal line goes back to Peter Shumway, who was born in 1635 and came to America from France between 1660 and 1675. He was of Huguenot stock. He was on the roll of colonial soldiers of Massachusetts as early as 1675. He was called out for … Read more

Biography of Charles B. Skidmore

Charles B. Skidmore. To attain success as a member of the Kansas bar requires more than ordinary ability which had been trained along the lines of the legal profession, as well as a vest fund of general information, and keen judgment with regard to men and their motives. In the big and pulsing communities of the Sunflower State there is so much competition, circumstances play such an important part in the shaping of events, and these events crowd each other so closely, that the legist had to be capable of grasping affairs with a competent hand to effect satisfactory results. … Read more

Biography of Charles B. Lines

Charles B. Lines was born in New Haven, Connecticut, March 12, 1807, was a self-educated and self-made man, having never attended school and was thrown on his own responsibility when a boy. He started out to be a sailor but gave it up and entered the cabinet business when thirteen years of age. He had told his grandsons how his boss would come around and tell him to push his planes faster. Although he was quite successful in business he took time for public affairs. While in the cabinet and undertaking business he placed Noah Webster in his coffin, also … Read more

Biography of Charles Albert Connelly

Charles Albert Connelly, whose long and able connection with the Independence Tribune has already been noted, has been one of the live and progressive citizens of Independence and has accepted many opportunities to serve the community in addition to his work as a newspaper man. He was born in Parke County, Indiana, August 12, 1869. His father, Charles T. Connelly, who was born in Parke County, Indiana, in 1845, is especially deserving of note in a history of Kansas. He was reared and married in Indiana and in 1885 moved to Garden City, Kansas, and proved up a claim there. … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Straub

Charles A. Straub, a veteran oil worker in Western Pennsylvania, came to Kansas about the opening of the fields in the southern part of this state, and in recent years had become the responsible factor in developing much of the oil and gas interests in and around Moran, where he resided. Mr. Straub is manager, secretary and treasurer of the Eastern Kansas Oil Company, Limited, whose home and headquarters are in Moran. Mr. Straub was born at Sheldon, Wyoming County, New York, March 29, 1863. His father, A. B. Straub, was born in 1838 and by the accident of birth … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Smith

Charles A. Smith, of Halstead, is a Kansan of long and varied experience, and his people were pioneers here. Mr. Smith is now one of the active heads of a large produce business at Halstead. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his people were early day Quakers in North Carolina, their hatred of slavery causing them to migrate to the North. Mr. Smith was born in Randolph County, Indiana, October 13, 1867. His father, John W. Smith, was born in North Carolina July 30, 1836, and in 1846, when he was ten years of age, his parents moved to Randolph … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Karlan

Charles A. Karlan. Though comparatively a newcomer in Kansas, Mr. Karlan in a few years has made a record of practical accomplishment and a reputation for himself such as few who have spent their entire lives within the state’s borders have been able to attain. He is an artist in furniture. The making of high grade furniture has been a specialty of his for many years, and it was in 1905 that he came to Topeka and set up his establishment in that line. It is no disparagement to other similar concerns to state that his is the largest and … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Hill

Charles A. Hill for thirty-seven years had been closely identified with the progress and development of Eudora and its vicinity. His had been a life worth remembering, and in the community in which his labors have been most productive and his influence most widespread that memory will not cease for a long time to come. His record and that of his family indicates some of the finer elements which have entered into the social makeup of Kansas. Mr. Hill was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, on June 9, 1838. His parents were John and Lydia B. (Starbuck) Hill Bock. … Read more