The Warren Mortgage Company of Emporia is the largest farm mortgage loan company in Kansas. It was founded by the late S. B. Warren, who came to Emporia in 1876, and its notable position among financial organizations in the state is largely due to his personal integrity and many years of honorable and straightforward dealing. Its field of operations covers about two-thirds of Eastern Kansas. Its business is making loans on farm property, which are sold to several savings banks in the New England states and to trust companies and life insurance companies. The present officers of the company are: S. H. Warren, president; F. O. Lakin, vice president; E. P. Warren, secretary and treasurer.
The late S. B. Warren, the founder of the company, was born in Mentor, Ohio, in 1840, and was a direct descendant of Richard Warren, who came to America in the seventeenth century from England. He grew up in Ohio, and made a gallant record as a soldier during the Civil war. He was captain of Company I in the 23rd Ohio Infantry. The late William McKinley was major of that regiment, and the regiment was part of the division commanded by Rutherford B. Hayes. He was in all the engagements of his command, including the battle of Antietam, and was prominent in Grand Army circles after the war.
Soon after the close of the war Captain Warren moved his family to Kansas, and was a resident of Emporia from 1872 until his death in 1893. He was a member of Emporia Lodge No. 12, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
As a republican he had a special place in the political history of Kansas, because of his service in 1891 as a member of the House of Representatives and his active part in that body of the republican minority known as “the loyal twenty-three.” His associates during that session of the legislature were John J. Ingalls, John Seaton, O. L. Atherton, George L. Douglas, J. Nixon, J. B. Remington, E. D. York, N. R. Hopkins, A. Pratt, W. F. King, J. T. Showalter, F. W. Willard, W. E. Brown, W. C. Webb, A. H. Heber, James H. Reeder, J. D. Williamson, N. Simmons, S. S. Gilmore, W. M. Rice, L. B. Pearson, F. M. Stahl, C. H. Phinney and C. N. Bishoff.
S. B. Warren married Emily Huestis, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1850 and died at Emporia, Kansas, May 4, 1915. Their three children were: S. H. Warren, president of the Warren Mortgage Company; Marshall, who died suddenly December 24, 1915; and F. P. Warren, who is secretary and treasurer of the Warren Mortgage Company.