Alexander C. Flack, M. D. Thirty-one years of practice at Fredonia entitles Dr. Alexander C. Flack to recognition as the second oldest physician and surgeon of the city, whence he came in 1885 shortly after receiving his diploma. He had since been one of the reliable members of the medical fraternity here and a citizen who had done his share in aiding in the city’s progress and prosperity. Doctor Flack is a native of the Buckeye state, born at East Liberty, Logan County, Ohio, May 2, 1858, a son of Thomas H. and Agnes (Bell) Flack.
Hugh Flack, the grandfather of Doctor Flack, was born at Bailieborough, County Cavan, Ireland, and was a grandson of people on the paternal side who were born in Scotland. His mother, Christine Linster, was born in Ireland of Scotch descent. Hugh Flack passed his entire life as a farmer and never left the shores of his native Erin, passing away in County Cavan. He was the father of twin sons: Thomas H.; and Patrick, the latter of whom died near East Liberty, Ohio, after a career passed in agricultural pursuits. Walter Bell, the maternal grandfather of Doctor Flack, was born in Ireland, but his parents came from England, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Nancy Parker, was born in Ireland, but of Scotch parentage.
Thomas H. Flack was born at Bailieborough, County Cavan, Ireland, in 1818, and was twenty-two years of age when he emigrated to the United States. He first located in New York City, where he secured employment in a wholesale house, and worked therein for four years and four months. In his native land he had been reared on a farm, and he finally answered the call of the soil, going to East Liberty, Ohio, where he settled on a farm. On that property he continued to be engaged in operations during the remainder of his life, and died in 1912, at the remarkable age of ninety-four years. He was a good citizen and an honorable man of business and won the respect and esteem of those with whom he came into contact. In his political views he was a democrat, but politics played only a small part in his life, and he never sought personal preferment at the hands of his party or of his fellow-citizens. His religious faith was that of the Presbyterian Church, and he lived his faith daily. Mr. Flack married Miss Agnes Bell, who was born February 10, 1827, near the Town of Bailieborough, and died at East Liberty in 1909. They became the parents of the following children: Walter, born June 2, 1849, who died in infancy in New York City; William Henry, born June 11, 1851, who was a prosperous retired farmer and schoolteacher of East Liberty, Ohio, until his death October 19, 1916; Thomas, born June 15, 1853, who died at the age of twelve years; Tillie Jane, born December 9, 1855, who is the wife of J. R. Lynch, of Muncie, Indiana, a machinist and specialist in the work of making special parts in an automobile factory; Dr. Alexander C., of this notice; Lida, born October 3, 1861, who died August 16, 1866; Lillie Fay, born December 14, 1863, who married Oscar Alexander, a farmer, and resided in one of the most beautiful and modern homes in the country, at Bellefontaine, Ohio; Dr. Orra M., born June 24, 1886, a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, and now a successful practicing physician and surgeon of Boswell, Indiana; and Anna Belle, born December 7, 1868, who is the wife of Pearl J. Humphreys, a lumber merchant and farmer of East Liberty, Ohio.
Alexander C. Flack received his early education in the rural schools near East Liberty, Ohio, and subsequently attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1881. In the meantime he had taught school for three years in the country and two years at Copley, Ohio, where he was principal of schools, and during this time also studied medicine whenever he could get the leisure. Doctor Flack pursued his medical studies at the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in 1885, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and nimest immediately thereafter came to Fredonia, where he had continued in a general medical and surgical practice. In point of practice he is the second oldest physician now living at Fredonia. Doctor Flack maintains well appointed offices at No. 520 Madison Street, where he had a large and comprehensive medical library and all instruments and appliances for the practice of his calling. In addition to his own modern residence, at No. 303 Eighth Street, he owned 226 acres of fine land on the Verdigris River bottoms in Wilson County.
Doctor Flack is local surgeon for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. He belongs to the Wilson County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is a respecter of the highest ethics of his profession, among the members of which he bears an excellent reputation. A democrat in politics, he had long taken an active part in civic matters, but is apt to maintain an independent stand in local affairs. He is a member of the school board of Fredonia, and had been for some years, was formerly a member of the city council, and on one occasion was candidate for the office of mayor. Aside from his profession, he had a number of interests, being vice president and a director of the Citizens State Bank, of which he was formerly president for 1½ years; a stockholder in the Fredonia Portland Cament Company; and treasurer, a director, and one of the stockholders of the Excelsior Brick Company, one of the largest concerns of its kind in Kansas, which is manufacturing 27,000,000 brick annually. He had been identified with many movements that have added to Fredonia’s prestige as one of the thriving and growing cities of southeastern Kansas.
Doctor Flack was married first in 1886 to Miss Hattie J. Wells, who died November 18, 1890. The doctor was again married, in the fall of 1892, to Anna Herron, who is also deceased. In 1914 he married his present wife, who was Lena M. Koch. She was for a number of years a teacher in the Fredonia public schools. Doctor Flack had three children: Mary Agnes, who is the wife of Mark O. Wiley, cashier of the Citizens State Bank of Fredonia; Wilma, who took two years of study at Emporia College and now is a junior at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Herron, who is a member of the senior class at the Fredonia High School.