Winfield Freeman. Lawyer, author, traveler, leader in republican politics and a business man, Winfield Freeman has been a Kansan for more than thirty-five years. He has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the foremost members of the bar in Kansas City, Kansas.
He was born at London, Ohio, January 3, 1848, a son of James F. and Eleanor (Dawson) Freeman. His early life was spent in Winchester, Ohio, where he attended the public schools and where he read law in the office of Hon. A. Stiver. Admitted to the bar in 1869, at the age of twenty-one, he practiced law for a number of years in Ohio, and in 1878-79 served as prosecuting attorney of Preble County. Since 1879 he has been a resident of Kansas. From 1880 to 1884 he was assistant attorney for the Solomon Valley Railroad Company. In 1881 he was elected mayor of Minneapolis, Kansas. As one of the promoters of the Kansas City Elevated Railroad Company Mr. Freeman removed to Kansas City, Kansas, in 1884, and was actively identified with that transportation service as attorney until 1888. It is forty-eight years since he commenced the practice of law in Ohio in 1869, and his experience is a remarkably long one. He was associated with Silas Wright Porter, now associate justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas, from 1891 to 1899, and was also a partner with Hon. William J. Buchan, who for many years was representative and state senator. Another one of his professional associates was W. A. Johnston, now chief justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas.
Judge Freeman has for many years been one of the leading campaign speakers of the republican party. He was elected to the city council in 1887-89, and from 1890 to 1892 served as city counselor of Kansas City, Kansas. In 1893 he was appointed county attorney of Wyandotte County, and from 1903 to 1907 served as probate judge.
Judge Freeman is a member of the Kansas State Bar Association. He was a delegate to the Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists at St. Louis in 1904. For several years he was lecturer on medical jurisprudence before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Kansas City, Kansas. An active Methodist, he has been a teacher in its Sunday schools for forty-six years.
Judge Freeman made a trip around the world in 1907-08, and has not only traveled extensively but has studied foreign people, and during his world trip he delivered numerous addresses at missionary centers. He is a favorite lecturer on the Orient, and has contributed many articles to the press on Eastern countries and their people. He is also well known for his historical writings. His “Battle of Arickaree” is found in Volume 6 of the reports of the Kansas State Historical Society, and is a splendid contribution to the Indian history of Kansas. It is a graphic description of one of the most romantic incidents of the Great Plains.
Judge Freeman was married July 6, 1876, to Miss Reba Silver of Richmond, Indiana. They reside at 749 Washington Boulevard, Kansas City, Kansas.