James A. Lounsbury, M. D. In the career of Dr. James A. Lounsbury there had been demonstrated the fact that an individual can dominate in more than one direction, and that some of the most prominent citizens and successful business men are those who have branched out from their original field of endeavor and directed their abilities towards perfecting various business interests as well as raising the standard of their communities. When he entered upon his active career it was as a laborer in the prolific field of medicine, but subsequent interests wooed him away from his profession and took him into business and financial affairs, and he is now president of the Farmers State Bank of Barnard and had large responsibilities and holdings in commercial and industrial lines.
Dr. James A. Lounsbury was born in Genesee County, New York, September 13, 1842, and is a son of Rudolphus and Almira (Brown) Lounsbury, and a grandson of the immigrant who came from England and founded the family in New York. In that state, in 1805, was born Rudolphus Lounsbury, who passed his entire life in Genesee County in agricultural pursuits and died in 1870. He was a republican and a member of the Free Baptist church. Mrs. Lounsbury, who was born in 1807, in New York, died in Genesee County in 1865. There were three children in the family: Earl B., who was a physician and surgeon and died at Byron, Genesee County; James A.; and Carl M., who is a retired farmer of Lincoln, Kansas, where he was a pioneer.
James A. Lounsbury received his primary education in the public schools of Genesee County, and after his graduation from the high school at Alexander began to read medicine. After some preparation he entered Buffalo Medical College, at Buffalo, New York, being graduated from that institution with the class of 1867, degree of Doctor of Medicine, and began practice in La Salle County, Illinois, where he remained three years. In 1870 he made his advent in Kansas and for three years resided in Lincoln County, where he built up a practice in the rural districts, but in 1873 turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and for four years conducted a general store in Osborne County. At the end of that time he came to Barnard, Lincoln County, where he continued to be engaged in successful mercantile operations until 1902, having been the pioneer general merchant of this place. In the year mentioned he disposed of his business and two years later began his connection with financial affairs as cashier of the Farmers State Bank. This position he held until 1912, when he was made president of the institution, in which capacity he had since acted. The Farmers State Bank, one of the reliable monetary organizations of this part of the state, was founded in August, 1904, by James A. Lounsbury, M. D., James Wild, Cole D. Swank, J. W. Johnson, W. S. Swank and Dr. H. L. Hinckley. It had enjoyed a steady and consistent growth, and today had a capital of $15,000, with surplus and profits of $16,500, its present officers being: President, Dr. J. A. Lounsbury; vice president, Dr. H. L. Hinckley, and cashier, Thomas A. Biggs. The bank is situated at Main Street and Ballard Avenue. In the position of president of the institution Doctor Lounsbury had directed its policies in a manner that had given it a good reputation in banking circles and gained for it the confidence of the people of this rich agricultural community. The Doctor is a republican and takes an active interest in politics, although not as a seeker for personal preferment. He is past master of Saltville Lodge No. 59, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. In addition to his home, at Ballard Avenue and White Street, and a business building on Main Street, Barnard, he is the owner of a farm of 320 acres located in Cedron Township. In the various activities which make up the life of this thriving little Kansas city he takes an influential part, and no citizen here is held in higher esteem.
Doctor Lounsbury was married in 1892, at Barnard, Kansas, to Miss Maude D. Biggs, daughter of John J. Biggs. They have no children.