Edward F. Erbacher is manager of the Kingman Mills of the Kansas Flour Mills Company. He was promoted to that responsibility when a little past his thirtieth birthday, and at the time of his promotion was the youngest man among the many employed in the plant. The Kingman Mills are among the largest and best equipped flour mills of Kansas.
Mr. Erbacher belongs to a prominent family of business men of St. Mary’s, Kansas, where he was born February 17, 1887. His father is Mr. John Erbacher, who was born in Germany in 1856, and was chiefly educated there. Coming to the United States when about fourteen years of age, he located in Pottawatomie County, Kansas, in 1870, and followed general lines of employment there until his marriage. After that he farmed several years, and then moved into St. Mary’s, where he entered the general merchandise business. He was one of the pioneer merchants of the town, and though beginning on a small scale and with modest capital he had continued to build up his enterprise until it is today second to none in towns of that size and would compare favorably with any general department store in any city of the state. His partner is his brother, August Erbacher. Though one of the busiest men of St. Mary’s he had taken time to fill various city offices with credit and efficiency. He is a republican, a member of the Catholic Church and affiliates with the Knights of Columbus. In Pottawatomie County John Erbacher married Mary Kramer, who was born in Germany in 1859. They are the parents of a large family of nine children: Marie, a nun in the Sisters of Charity Convent at Leavenworth; Richard G., secretary of the Erbacher Brothers Mercantile Company at St. Mary’s; Henry J., a Jesuit priest at St. Louis, Missouri; Edward F.; Leo A., manager of the dry goods department of the Erbacher Brothers Mercantile Company; Cecelia J., a nun in the Sisters of Charity Convent at Leavenworth; Genevieve V., also at the Sisters of Charity Convent; Eulalia G., living with her parents; and Vincent F., a student of St. Mary’s College at St. Mary’s.
Edward F. Erbacher was educated in the parochial schools of St. Mary’s and was a student in St. Mary’s College into the fifth year. Leaving school in 1903 he had since had a very active and varied business career. For three years he was in the general offices of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and then entered the lumber business at Topeka with the Star Lumber Company. From that he went with the McClecry Lumber Company at Topeka. In 1910 Mr. Erbacher took up the milling business, being employed as an auditor in the offices of the Topeka Milling Company until 1914. In that year he went to Arkansas City as office accountant with the Kansas Flour Mills Company, and later was promoted to traffic manager. Mr. Erbacher had been a resident of Kingman since January, 1917, first acting as sales manager of the Kingman mill and since June, 1917, as manager. These mills employ about fifty men and have a daily capacity of 700 barrels of white flour and 200 barrels of corn meal. The mill is a structure located on South Main Street.
Mr. Erbacher is an independent republican in politics. He belongs to the Catholic Church and is a member of St. Mary’s Council No. 657, Knights of Columbus. In a business way he had interests in several oil companies, and is a stockholder in the Arkansas City Building and Loan Association.
In 1910, at Topeka, he married Miss Elizabeth White, daughter of J. T. and Caroline White, the latter a resident of Ottumwa, Iowa, while her father is deceased. He was a pioneer farmer in Kansas, coming to this state in 1874 and locating near Junction City and later moving to a farm at Marion, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Erbacher have one daughter, Elizabeth Louise, born April 17, 1917.