Samuel R. Dillinger, Jr. At all times the grain trade is one of vital importance in every country, and at the present time, when the eyes of a large portion of the earth are turned expectantly to the mighty grain yields of the United States, does the conservation of this food and its proper handling as a commercial factor take on added importance. To buy grain carefully, knowingly and economically requires something more than the trading instinet, it necessitates the possession of special talents and certain knowledge that can only come through actual experience. Samuel R. Dillinger, who is manager of the Co-operative Grain Association at Green, Kansas, was brought up in the business and is one of the best judges of grain in Kansas.
Samuel R. Dillinger was born in Hamilton County, Nebraska, September 23, 1880. His parents are Samuel R. and Melissa Belle (Galientine) Dillinger, residents of Bennington, Kansas. They were born in Iowa and for some years resided in Clay and Hamilton counties, Nebraska. The father had always been more or less identified with farm and grain interests and at present is manager of an elevator at Bennington. Politically he is a Democrat and for nine years had been a member of the school board at Bennington. He belongs to and liberally supports the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a eitizen who is held in universal esteem. His children, six in number, are as follows: Samuel R.; Helen, who is the wife of Milton Fritz, resided on a farm near Plainville; Nellie, who is the wife of William Wing, who owned a lumber yard at Luray, Kansas; Otis, who is in an elevator business at Delphos, Kansas; Letha, who is a public school teacher, resided with her parents; and Irene, who is a student in the high school.
Samuel R. Dillinger, who bears his father’s honored name, attended school in Western Kansas and the Colby High School for two years, and then began to assist his father and was mainly associated with him in the grain and elevator business until 1903, when he came to Green and became manager for the Midland Elevator Company, which company in 1917 became the Co-operative Grain Association. Mr. Dillinger had continued manager all these years, The company operates its elevators with the best possible modern equipment, the principle of the old “marine leg” being retained but improvements bringing better facilities for the handling and grading of the grain. In all that pertains to the business Mr. Dillinger is a valuable man. He owned a fine farm of eighty acres sitnated one-half mile east of Green.
Mr. Dillinger married in February, 1908, at Brewster, Kansas, Miss Flora Wheeler, who died in September of the same year. On June 8, 1906, he married Miss Luetta Craft, a dsughter of Henry and Barbara Craft. The mother of Mrs. Dillinger resided at Green, Kansas, but the father is deceased. He was one of the pioneers in Olay County and followed farming all his life. Mr. and Mrs. Dillinger have a pleasant and comfortable home on the farm.
In politics Mr. Dillinger had always maintained an independent attitude but by no means is indifferent concerning public affairs, on the other hand, doing his full duty when occasion arises and by money and influence giving support to worthy local enterprises. For a number of years he had been interested in the fraternal order of Odd Fellows and belongs to Green Lodge No. 363 and is noble grand in the same body. He is able to trace his ancestry many generations back. The Dillingers came from Germany to Pennsylvania and settled in Westmoreland County, where his grandfather was born. He served in the Civil war and afterward moved to Iowa and died in Des Moines County.