Kansas

Biography of John Edgington

The name of Edgington is a well known one throughout Rock Island County. It is the name of one of the county’s earliest pioneer families. It is also the name of one of the county’s most prosperous little villages, named in honor of one of the founders of that family, John Edgington, the subject of our sketch, a man who in his long lifetime spent in this county, lived to see it grow from a waste of prairie and wilderness into a wonderfully fertile farming community, dotted here and there with busy little villages and cities devoted to manufacture and … Read more

Biography of Colonel Stanhope E. Blunt

The history of the United States Government Arsenal located upon Rock Island is exhaustively narrated from its inception in another portion of this work. Consequently it is not the intention of the writer of this sketch to touch upon any phase of that history except the period covered by the regime of the present Commandant of Rock Island Arsenal, Colonel Stanhope E. Blunt, a man whose executive ability has been demonstrated of a high order. Stanhope E. Blunt was born in Boston, Massachusetts, September 28, 1850. His father was Colonel Charles E. Blunt, Corps of Engineers, United States – Army, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Nathan Baker

NATHAN BAKER. – Mr. Baker is a native of Indiana, having been born in that state in 1837. When but a child of three years he accompanied his parents to Missouri. In 1849, he suffered the loss of his father, who died that year in California, whither he had gone to dig gold. In 1858, the young man went to Kansas, and, entering a tract of land, made that state his home for fourteen years. During this time he had been two years in the army, serving in the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, and a year in the Tenth Kansas Infantry. … Read more

Biography of Hon. T. J. Medill

Ranking among Rock Island’s prominent men, who have been honored politically and who have achieved a high standing in the realm of business, stands the subject of this sketch, Thomas J. Medill. He was born in Milan, Illinois, March 16, 1859. His parents were Thomas J. and Eliza A. (Dickson) Medill. The father, when a young man, emigrated from the north of Ireland to America, and here he married Miss Eliza A. Dickson, the daughter of William Dickson, and a native of Erie County, Pennsylvania. William Dickson, of whom a more extended biography appears elsewhere in this volume, laid out … Read more

Biography of William J. Hill

William J. Hill has one of the responsible positions connected with the Santa Fe Railway at Arkansas City. He is master mechanic at that division headquarters and handles the large force of men employed in the immense yards and shops of the railroad at that point. Mr. Hill had been long in the railroad service in the mechanical department, beginning when a boy with the Chicago & Alton in Illinois. He was born at Bloomington, Illinois, August 20, 1863. His father was William Hill, a native of London, England, where he was born in 1834. He spent his early life … Read more

Biography of Edward C. Fisher M. D.

Edward C. Fisher, M. D. While Rice County was organized more than thirty-five years ago and even before that was the home of a considerable number of people, none of the real pioneer physicians are still living there or in practice. The honor of being the oldest active physician and surgeon in continuous practice belongs to Doctor Edward C. Fisher, who located at Lyons thirty-three years ago. Doctor Fisher is a man of notable attainments in his profession, and brought to Rice County the ability and value of service which would have made him as successful in the larger centers … Read more

Biography of Charles Clifford Mack

Charles Clifford Mack, who so capably represented Harvey County in the State Legislature during the session of 1917, is a prominent business man of Newton, proprietor of the Mack Mortgage and Loan Company of that city. Mr. Mack is a comparatively young man, not yet forty years of age, and his record is especially interesting because of the success he had made from nothing except the sources and talents contained in his own energetic nature. Mr. Mack was born July 5, 1878, and his birth-place was the backwoods community of Southern Indiana, at the Town of Rising Sun. His father, … Read more

Biography of William D. Green

William D. Green has for thirty years been one of the substantial business men of Holton and he represents a family that were among the very earliest settlers of Jackson County. Mr. Green was for a long time a merchant but for years had been looked upon as a reliable real estate man in his city. A native of Jackson County, Kansas, where he was born January 22, 1863, he is a son of Simpson and Matilda (Roach) Green, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. They came to Kansas in the spring of 1857, locating in Straight Creek Township … Read more

Biography of James R. Frizzell

James R. Frizzell, now living retired at Halstead, came to Kansas over thirty years ago, and for many years was actively identified with farming and the dairy business. He was born in Montville Township of Medina County, Ohio, February 27, 1847. He is of old American and Irish stock. At the time of the reign of King Charles I of England some members of the original Scotch clan of Fraziers displayed such active interest in the political troubles of the time that they were compelled to seek refuge in America, and on their immigration they changed the name to Frizzell. … Read more

Biography of Hon. George A. Neeley

Hon. George A. Neeley, of Hutchinson, is one of the younger men of Kansas, but had already gained distinction both in the law and business and as a valiant fighter for the cause of advanced principles in public affairs. Mr. Neeley came into special prominence not only in Kansas but over the nation during his two terms as congressman from the “Big Seventh” district. He was elected on the democratic ticket. In 1910 he was a candidate for the office against the redoubtable E. H. Madison. Madison was elected, but died in September, 1911, before finishing his term. At a … Read more

Biography of Henry B. Lautz

Henry B. Lautz has hardly attained that period in life when he might be described as a middle aged man. Nevertheless he is a veteran in railroad circles, and beginning as a boy of fourteen in the capacity of messenger he had been steadily with the Santa Fe Railway Company, enjoying successive promotions based on merit and efficiency until he is now superintendent of the Middle Division of the Santa Fe lines at Newton. Mr. Lautz was born in Pekin, Illinois, August 2, 1876. His grandfather, Wendell Lautz, was born in Germany in 1801 and became a German machinist. Coming … Read more

Biography of John W. Mahuran

John W. Mahuran, postmaster of Chase, also editor and owner of the Chase Register, was about fourteen or fifteen years old when he made his first acquaintance with a printing office. He had worked as a printer or as a newspaper editor and owner the greater part of his active life. He is one of the second generation of Kansans, and was born in a sod dugout on a farm in Reno County, February 24, 1876. As a boy he imbibed some of the spirit of the western plains which had always been a noticeable feature of his business and … Read more

Biography of Jacob S. Eymann

Jacob S. Eymann. In the death of Jacob S. Eymann on June 29, 1916, the community of Halstead, Kansas, lost a citizen who for years had stood as a pillar in the advancement and prosperity of that community. He was more than a successful business man. Such was his integrity of character that his judgment came to be accepted without question by all his associates and he passed through life doing all the good he could as he went along. Mr. Eymann was born in Haysville, Ohio, March 19, 1853, and was sixty-three years of age at the time of … Read more

Biography of Frederic Louis Flint

Frederic Louis Flint. Among the solid, reliable men of Ottawa County no one stands higher in public esteem and confidence than Frederic Louis Flint, president of the Minneapolis National Bank of Minneapolis, Kansas. Mr. Flint’s paternal ancestor, Thomas Flint, immigrated from Wales to America in the early part of the seventeenth century, he being one of the first settlers of Salem Village, Massachusetts, now South Danvers. Frederic Louis Flint was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, June 11, 1855. His parents were Joseph K. and Hulda (Wilder) Flint. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Flint, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, April 19, 1784, and … Read more

Biography of S. T. Yoder

S. T. Yoder, vice president of the Farmers State Bank of Washington, had been a Kansas business man for over thirty years and had acquired many important interests to identify him with Washington County. Mr. Yoder is of the old Pennsylvania stock of Yoders, a family that originated in Switzerland and was planted in Pennsylvania during the very early colonial period in that state. Mr. Yoder himself is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Somerset County May 3, 1851. His father, Benedict Yoder, who was born in the same county, spent his life in that county as an active farmer, … Read more

Biography of Will Shackelford Thompson

Will Shackelford Thompson has as much as any other citizen during the past twenty years identified himself with those activities which spell the vital and pulsing commercial life of the City of Hutchinson. He possesses that quality so much valued in any community of putting himself in line either as a leader or co-operator with movements and enterprises that are considered essential to the general welfare. Mr. Thompson’s main business at Hutchinson had been as an insurance man. The Thompson family seems to have been generally inclined in that line of work, his father and several of his brothers having … Read more

Biography of Ashton E. Morgan

Ashton E. Morgan, who had been steadily climbing to success as a lawyer at Newton, is junior member of the law firm of Von der Heiden & Morgan, his partner being W. H. Von der Heiden, one of the oldest members of the Newton bar. Mr. Morgan was born in Harvey County, Kansas, February 4, 1878, and belongs to a family of Kansas pioneers. His ancestors were from Wales and were frontiersmen and Indian fighters on the western line of Old Virginia, settling in what is now the state of West Virginia, where the City of Morgantown was named for … Read more

Biography of Robert M. Todd

Robert M. Todd is an old timer of Halstead, had lived there more or less continuously for the past forty-three years, and during the greater part of that time followed his trade as a carpenter and builder. He is now manager of the Farmers Elevator Company and had been very much in public affairs, having filled the offices of mayor and postmaster among others. Mr. Todd is an Ohio man by birth, having been born in Warren County, January 27, 1851. He is in either the fifth or sixth generation of the family in America. The Todds are Scotch-Irish people … Read more

Biography of John Willard Campbell

John Willard Campbell is a pioneer of Reno County, had lived there continuously forty-four years, and had identified himself successfully and public spiritedly with the community of Plevna, where he still resided. Mr. Campbell was born in what is now Bay City, Michigan, May 4, 1852. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the Campbells having located in New York State in colonial days. His grandfather, John Campbell, was born in New York State and died near Buffalo in 1845. He was a sturdy farmer of Western New York. N. R. Campbell, father of J. W., was born near Buffalo in 1820, … Read more

Biography of John Samuel Gibson

John Samuel Gibson has for thirty years been a banker at Geneseo, and had been the leading man of affairs in that rich and prosperous section of Rice County. Mr. Gibson might be called a pioneer of Geneseo, since he arrived in the village only two years after it was established. He had used his personal influence and his business position in many ways to build up the community and had been honored with almost every office in the gift of his fellow citizens. His ancestry in both the paternal and maternal lines shows him to be a member of … Read more