A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans Collections – Page 91 of 109

Biography of Calvin M. Hill

Calvin M. Hill. One of the long established business houses of Topeka, and one which has established itself firmly in the confidence of the public by reason of the honorable manner in which its affairs have been conducted, is the wholesale wall paper and retail paint business of Calvin M. Hill. Mr. Hill has been a resident of Kansas for thirty-four years, having come here with his parents in 1882, and, with the exception of four years has been identified with the painting and decorating business throughout his career. His present enterprise was started in a small way sixteen years … Read more

Biography of Calvin L. Long

Calvin L. Long. When Calvin L. Long came to Montgomery County thirty-seven years ago he found himself associated with the very early pioneers, and is one of the residents of that county who have witnessed practically every phase of development and progress. Mr. Long is one of the oldest men in the real estate business at Coffeyville, and his reputation as a reliable dealer and man of unusual judgment and experience in that line has been in full proportion to his years of activity. Born in Delaware County, Indiana, July 12, 1852, he grew up on a farm, attended country … Read more

Biography of Calvin Arthur Davis

Calvin Arthur Davis. The superintendent of the Cudahy Refining Company at Chanute, Kansas, Calvin Arthur Davis, is one of the sons of the Sunflower state who has worked his own way to position and independence. A product of the farm, when he started upon his career his equipment consisted of ambition, determination and good common sense, and these qualities he directed so well that he soon became recognized as a man from whom large things could be expected. Promotion naturally followed, and his career has since been one of constant advancement. Mr. Davis was born on a farm south of … Read more

Biography of C. W. Copeland

C. W. Copeland. A veteran in the ice business, C. W. Copeland is president of the Belleville Lee and Cold Storage Company. He is one of the leading business men and citizens of that thriving city. The Belleville Ice and Cold Storage Company was incorporated January 15, 1915, with Mr. Copeland as president and with G. H. Bramwell as secretary and W. K. Bramwell as treasurer. This plant had a capacity for the manufacture of twenty-five tons of ice per day, and had storage capacity for 5,000 tons. The plant, eligibly situated on the Rock Island Railroad tracks, covers 90 … Read more

Biography of C. O. Ross

C. O. Ross. In a conspicuous place on the roll of men who have become successful through their connection with the oil and gas industry is found the name of C. O. Ross, a native of the Buckeye state and a splendid type of the alert, progressive and public-apirited men whose records are indications that success is ambition’s answer. His long and prominent connection with the oil business began at the time of his majority, when he started in at the bottom to make his way to a position of prominence, and no oil producer in Kansas has a better … Read more

Biography of C. J. Van Doren

C. J. Van Doren’s extended business experience had been almost entirely in connection with the cement industry. He knows the business in every detail, both on the technical and manufacturing side, and also selling end. Mr. Van Doren is now superintendent of the Great Western Portland Cement Company’s plant at Mildred, Kansas. A native of Michigan, he was born at Adrian July 22, 1874. His paternal ancestry goes back to Peter Van Doren who immigrated from Holland and settled on Long Island between 1637 and 1640. Mr. Van Doren’s grandfather, Jacob Van Doren, a native of New York State, was … Read more

Biography of C. H. Fortner, M. D.

C. H. Fortner, M. D., has long enjoyed a well-earned reputation and position in the medical profession at Coffeyville. He entered practice with a thorough and comprehensive training and his fine talent soon attracted to him a patronage that has grown steadily in volume and importance, while his participation in progressive movements has made him one of the community’s most valuable and valued citizens. Doctor Fortner represents an old Indiana family. His ancestry goes back through several generations to some Fortners who came from Germany, and the family has lived in this country since colonial times. His grandfather, Aaron Fortner, … Read more

Biography of C. G. Pierce

C. G. Pierce. A quarter of a century is a long time to be identified with any line of business in one location, and twenty-five or more years of continuous management of a country paper almost constitutes a record in itself. C. G. Pierce was the founder of the Severyite at Severy, Kansas, more than twenty-five years ago, and is still its editor and proprietor. He was born at Cobleskill, New York, January 1, 1869. His Pierce ancestors came out of Ireland and settled in New York in colonial days. His great-grandfather is buried at Fergusonville in Delaware County, New … Read more

Biography of C. F. Lutes

C. F. Lutes. The largest hand glass plant west of the Mississippi River is that of the Fredonia Window Glass Company, located at Fredonia, Kansas. The president and general manager of this enterprise, C. F. Lutes, had been connected with the glass industry ever since entering upon his career, and is a man of experience, resource and energy, who, since coming to Kansas in 1904, had occupied a position of importance among the business men of Fredonia. The success of the company with which he is identified, and its allied interests at Caney, Kansas and Okmulgee, Oklahoma, must be accredited … Read more

Biography of C. B. McVay

C. B. McVay is secretary and treasurer of the Western States Portland Cement Company of Independence. He has been identified with the manufacture and sale of cement for over fifteen years, that having been the chief work of his life. He was born in Yankton, South Dakota, in 1878. His ancestors, the McVays, were Scotch people who settled in Pennsylvania more than a century ago. The father, William H. McVay, was born at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1839, was reared and married near Warren County, Ohio, his wife, Rebecca Rutan, being a native of Trumbull County, Ohio. In 1876 he moved … Read more

Biography of C. B. Goodrich

C. B. Goodrich. A life of quiet effectiveness, marked by a record of many duties well done and many responsibilities faithfully fulfilled, was that of the late, C. B. Goodrich, who died in Lawrence in 1910 at the age of sixty-six. He was one of those quiet unassuming men, rarely known to the world in general, but worthily filling the niche in the affairs of life allotted to them. Of Canadian nativity, born at Sarnia, he was brought to the United States when very young and was reared in and about Kankakee, Illinois. The first service in his quiet routine … Read more

Biography of C. A. Aikman

C. A. Aikman, youngest of the Aikman brothers, had chosen to express his energies and inclinations in the lines of business rather than at the law. He is the only one of the brothers who are natives of Butler County, Kansas. He was born in Benton Township July 5, 1874. He had the advantage of the common schools during his youth, and also had a business course in the Wichita Commercial College. He started life as a farmer, and while still living on his farm he engaged in the buying and shipping of field seed and grain in 1898. By … Read more

Biography of Byron Williams

Byron Williams. The mention of the name of Byron Williams calls up associations as one of the foremost livestock men of the State of Kansas. Mr. Williams is comparatively young, only forty years of age, but in the years since he started out on his own responsibility has shown a remarkable ability in all branches of the live stock industry. He has operated extensively as a rancher and raiser of horses and cattle, his dealings have made him a familiar figure in all the leading markets of the Middle West, and he is undoubtedly one of the best known men … Read more

Biography of Byron Judd, Hon.

Hon. Byron Judd was a pioneer of Wyandotte County. He established his home in the village of Wyandotte in November, 1857, when Kansas was still a territory. He lived in the village, his capacities expanding with the growth of the community, and his personal position and influence rising as Wyandotte County grew and prospered, and at his death on July 27, 1909, it was generally recognized and appreciated that he was one of the men who had left a permanent impress for good upon Kansas City, Kansas, a great city of which his old home village of Wyandotte had in … Read more

Biography of Byron Jennings Carver

Byron Jennings Carver, who served as county attorney for Miami County from 1913 to 1917, had not only proved his ability on many occasions as an able lawyer, but also as a forceful man of affairs and one who is willing to fight for his convictions and his position as to right. Mr. Carver had a hard struggle to get into the legal profession, being a poor young man and having to teach and struggle along at the same time that he was studying and qualifying for the bar. He is a native of Indiana, having been born at Franklin … Read more

Biography of Burton Emory Clifford

Burton Emory Clifford. Chances for success are slight with the lawyer of modern times unless he be a man of sound judgment, possessed of a liberal education and a stern training, combined with a keen insight into human nature and motives. The reason for this lies in the spirit of the age with all its complexities, for modern jurisprudence had become more and more complex because of new laws and conditions. Years of experience and a natural inclination for and inherent ability in his profession are superinduced upon a careful training in the case of Burton Emory Clifford, ex-prosecuting attorney … Read more

Biography of Burritt H. Hill

Burritt H. Hill. Men of force are found in every prosperous community who by reason of their natural ability, by their capacity for handling large enterprises, by the use of their brains and the soundness of their judgment, attain distinction and acquire authority. Working industriously toward a given goal, in helping themselves these men add to the welfare and prosperity of their city, and their efforts not only bring into being the substantial industries that support commerce, but conduct them along the safe and sane channels which assure public progress and general contentment. In Wilson County one of the men … Read more

Biography of Bryce Muir

Bryce Muir is one of the prominent pioneers of Saline County, Kansas. He had lived in that locality more than fifty years, and if any man can be accounted an authority on the early history and development of that section of the state it is this genial and well known old timer. Prosperity had come to him in large measure during these long years, but he still prefers to keep his home on his fine farm near Salina, on rural route No. 2. He was born September 9, 1840, in Scotland. He had many of the characteristics that have made … Read more

Biography of Bror G. Grondal

Bror G. Grondal. At the very head of the profession of photography in Kansas stands Bror G. Grondal, who for thirty consecutive years had conducted the leading studio at Lindsborg. Mr. Grondal both in his profession and in other lines of activity is a man of widely diversified experience. His career is an interesting one since he came to America in childhood years and had fought continuously a brave and unremitting struggle until he placed himself in a position where he is master of a congenial profession. Mr. Grondal is a former president of the Kansas State Photographers Association. He … Read more

Biography of Braden C. Johnston

Braden C. Johnston is a lawyer by profession and had in a few years’ time snccessfully established himself with a good practice and standing at Marion. A native of Kansas, his birth occurred on a farm two miles north of Lyons in Rice County March 7, 1889, His parents are James A. and Cynthia (Chitty) Johnston. His mother is of the same branch of Chittys that gave to the legal profession some of its brightest lights both as lawyers and authors of standard law books. James A. Johnston was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1852, and when a child he … Read more