Henry W. Weber, cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Wilson, had worked and had lived in close touch with business and banking affairs since he was a young boy. Part of his early experience was as a farmer, and he is individually owner of a farm and had that invaluable asset of the country banker, a close knowledge and sympathy and understanding with farming interests and farmers.
Mr. Weber was born near Dubuque in Russell County, Kansas, March 31, 1883. His father, Nicholas Weber, who still lives in that community, had long been a prominent man of affairs in Kansas. He was born in Luxemburg, Germany, in 1855 and left his native country when about eighteen years of age for America. He came here poor and with neither capital nor influential friends. For five years he worked at wages in Dubuque County, Iowa, and there gained his first real knowledge of merchandising. In 1878 Nicholas Weber arrived in Kansas and settled in Barton County, just over the line from Russell County. There he established a general mercantile store, also conducted farming on an extensive scale, being owner of 4,500 acres of farm lands at the present time. Prosperity had attended his efforts in every direction and he is an example of the man who had raised himself by sheer determinstion and industry to a place of secure success. He had long been a banker and is president and director of the Farmers State Bank at Wilson and a director in the Farmers and Merchants Bank at Claflin and in the Farmers State Bank at Redwing, Kansas. Politically he is a Democrat and is a member of the Catholic Church. Nicholas Weber married Mary Crippes, who was born in Dubuque County, Iowa, in 1859. These worthy people deserve credit not only for their material achievements but for the fine family who have grown up in their household and most of whom have gone out to successful positions in the world. John, the oldest, conducts a lumber and milling business at Salina under the name of Weber-Freeman Milling Company, but really had his home at Wilson. The second in the family is Henry W. Nicholas, Jr., is a hardware merchant at Wilson. Anna married Joseph P. Mans, a farmer in Barton County, Kansas. Joseph is in the lumber and grain business at Dorrance in Russell County. Leo is in the automobile business at Wilson. Mary is assistant cashier and bookkeeper in the bank at Wilson. Vera married Leo V. Turgeon, a physician and surgeon at Dorrance, Kansas. Peter manages a store in Russell County. Paul is the member of the family who upholds the military record and is now a soldier in the new National army. Mathias Weber is a student. The three younger children of the thirteen, Frances, Emma and Frank, are still at home with their parents.
Henry W. Weber received his early education in the rural schools of Russell County. Up to the age of seventeen he lived on his father’s farm and did general work around his father’s store. After that he was with a lumber and grain business at Dorrance until 1904 and then worked on the home farm for two years. In 1906 he became a banker as cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Wilson and had continuously held that post for the past eleven years.
This bank was established in 1904 with Nicholas Weber as its president. It had a capital stock of $10,000, surplus of $17,000, undivided profits of $13,000, figures which indicate nnusual resources, and its many friends and patrons have deposits in the institution aggregating $250,000. The present officers are: Nicholas Weber, president; John Weber, vice president; H. W. Weber, cashier; and Mary Weber, assistant cashier.
Mr. Weber’s farm, containing 160 acres, is located in Gove County, Kansas. He and his family live on Indiana Avenue in Wilson, where he built a modern home in 1909. He is independent in politics and he and his family are active in the Catholic Church, and he is a member of Salina Council No. 601 of the Knights of Columbus.
In 1908, at Ellinwood, Barton County, Mr. Weber married Miss Anna Klepper, daughter of Nicholas and Mary (Madernsch) Klepper. Her parents reside at Ellinwood, her father being a retired farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Weber have four children: Marie E., born November 3, 1909; Bernardine, born January 2, 1912; Richard, born January 11, 1914; and Dryl James, born May 12, 1915.