Kansas

Biography of Charles R. Hewins

Charles R. Hewins is in point of continuous service one of the oldest educators in Kansas. His work had been accomplished almost entirely within the limits of Doniphan County. For thirty years he had been connected with the schools of that county and in November, 1916, he was elected county superintendent, beginning May 14, 1917. Mr. Hewins represents a pioneer family of Northeastern Kansas, and his own birth occurred near Wathena on December 1, 1866. His family were Colonial settlers in Maine from England. His grandfather, John A. Hewins, Sr., was a native of Maine, followed farming in that state … Read more

Biography of John Harrison Atwood

John Harrison Atwood. While Mr. Atwood had had his home and law business at Kansas City, Missouri, since 1909, he is still regarded as a Kansas man. His is one of the names most familiar to the people of the state in the realm of law and oratory and political leadership. For a quarter of a century Mr. Atwood was a member of the Kansas bar, residing at Leavenworth. Perhaps as much credit is due to him as to any other individual for the rehabilitation and upbuilding of the democratic party in Kansas. In 1896 came Bryan and a new … Read more

Biography of Austin McCreary Keene

Austin McCreary Keene. The subject of this sketch is one of the prominent and successful attorneys of Southeastern Kansas. He was born at Middletown, Ohio, September 4, 1865, the son of Marshall B. Keene and Jennette McCreary Keene. Marshall Keene was born in 1823 at Keensburg, Illinois, a village in Wabash County named for his forbears. The Keenes of Keensburg have been men of prominence in that locality, having served as members of the Illinois Asscmbly, and been notable physieians and manufacturers. Jennette MeCreary was born in Monroe, Ohio, in 1836, and was married to Marshall B. Keene in 1861. Mr. Keene … Read more

Biography of Harrison E. King, Mrs.

Mrs. H. E. King is one of the capable business women of Leon, Kansas, where since her husband’s death she had managed the estate, is a director in the State Bank of Leon, and had many other extensive interests in Butler County. Her husband, the late Harrison E. King, was a man of great business ability, and his untimely death at the age of forty-seven, on February 7, 1914, was a matter of general regret throughout the large community in which he was so well known. Mr. King was a man of striking appearance, possessed business judgment in a marked … Read more

Biography of George Monroe Carpenter

George Monroe Carpenter. In those activities which lead to success George M. Carpenter had pursued an undeviating career since early manhood. He is one of the leading bankers, capitalists and business men of Southern Kansas and Northern Oklahoma, and is the founder of the City of Elgin, Kansas, where he resided. He began life in comparatively humble circumstances. He knows what it is to be poor and work hard, and his sympathy had always gone out to the man who is struggling to get ahead. He was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, November 16, 1842. The public schools … Read more

Biography of Alford Jonathan Harwi

Alford Jonathan Harwi was one of the great merchants of Kansas. Beginning as an obscure hardware dealer in Atchison he built up a busines which now stands as a monument to his energy and foresight, the A. J. Harwi Hardware Company being one of the leading wholesale concerns of the Missouri Valley. Life extended to him only the opportunities which it extends to every one. It was his own personal character, his enterprise, and a vigorous and resourceful mind which enabled him to seize and develop possibilities into realities of a large and imposing character. While he would be mentioned … Read more

Biography of John M. Cain

Mr. John M. Cain, father of Mrs. Harwi, was born July 30, 1839, at Castletown, Isle of Man. He grew up on his native island, attended the select schools, and learned the trade of carpenter. At the age of seventeen, in 1856, he immigrated to America and identified himself with the territory of Kansas. Here he lived a very useful and prominent career. He was successively a farmer, soldier, merchant and banker. During the period of bitter border warfare he was a volunteer in the company organized by A. S. Peck and Asa Barnes. In 1862 he entered Captain P. … Read more

Biography of La Rue Royce

La Rue Royce, who recently began practice of his profession as a lawyer at Salina, represents one of the distinguished names of Kansas. He is a son of John Quincy Royce of Topeka, long prominent as a lawyer, editor and a dominating character in republican politics in this state. John Quiney Royce was born on a farm in Fayette County, Iowa, June 1, 1856, a son of David P. Royce, who was a native of New York State. When nine years of age John Quincy Royce was taken from the farm in his native Iowa county to Independence in that … Read more

Biography of Ziba Hibbard Moore

The late Ziba Hibbard Moore was for many years a prominent figure in Marshall County, and died at Oketo December 19, 1916. He was born near Avondale in Chester County, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1845. He grew up in his native community, was married in Adams County, Pennsylvania, and in early life followed the trade of carpenter. In 1875 he went to the Indian reservation in Gage County, Nebraska, and was employed as a carpenter by the Indian Agency. In the fall of 1879 he removed to Oketo, Kansas, and was a merchant there until he established his bank in 1889. … Read more

Biography of Warren S. Plummer

Warren S. Plummer, former county clerk of Pottawatomie County, is secretary, treasurer and manager of the Westmoreland Mercantile Company, the largest general merchandise house in business at the county seat. Mr. Plummer started life with an earnest purpose, and had steadily kept that in view and by industry and honorable dealings had attained a position where he is recognized as one of the leading men of his home county. He is a native of Pottawatomie County, having been born near the present Village of Flush, then known as Myers Valley, on January 7, 1875. He is of old American stock, … Read more

Biography of Seth Ingalsbee

Seth Ingalsbee is now living retired at Wheaton, Kansas. His had been a long and useful career, and he is now past eighty-eight years of age. He served as a soldior during the Civil war, and came to Kansas a few years later and identified himself with the homesteading era in Pottawatomie County. Mr. Ingalsbee is of early English and of Revolutionary stock. There is a record of military service in almost every generation. The founder of the family and his remote ancestor was John Ingoldsby, who came from England and was a Colonial settler. Mr. Ingalsbee’s great-grandfather was Ebenezer … Read more

Biography of Harvey L. Brammell

Harvey L. Brammell owns one of the finest farms in Jefferson County, adjoining the Village of Ozawkie, and for many years had been engaged in the ministry of the Church of the Brethren and had achieved the highest rank, the office of bishop. The locality where he now lives was also the scene of his birth. Mr. Brammell was born October 4, 1871, and his people were early settlers in Jefferson County. The Brammells came out of Germany and were early settlers in Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Reuben Henry Brammell, was born in 1815, and from Pennsylvania moved to Wabash, Indiana, where … Read more

Slave Narrative of Emma Barr

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Emma Barr Location: Madison, Arkansas Age: 65 Occupation: Nursed, Farmed “My parents belong to two people. Mama was born in Mississippi I think and papa come from North Carolina. Papa’s master was Lark Hickerson. Mama was sold from Dr. Ware to Dr. Pope. She was grown when she was sold. She was the mother of twenty-seven children. She had twins three times. “During the Civil War she was run from the Yankees and had twins on the road. They died or was born dead and she nearly died. They was buried between twin trees … Read more

Biography of Miller M. Van Denberg

Miller M. Van Denberg. One of El Dorado’s oldest business men and citizens is Miller M. Van Denberg, who had lived in that community for thirty-nine years. The name is most prominently associated with the lumber business. In that connection it is known not only in El Dorado but in many other towns of Kansas and Oklahoma. Mr. Van Denberg had owned at different times as many as twenty-three lumber yards in these two states. However, his home had always been at El Dorado. Perhaps the chief fruit of his many years of business effort had been the opportunity presented … Read more

Biography of Charles C. Finney M. D.

Charles C. Finney, M. D. A native of Atchison and a representative of a pioneer family in that city, Dr. Charles Finney had his introduction to the profession of medicine during an erperience of eight years while he was in the hospital department of the Missouri Pacific Railway under Dr. D. J. Holland. He realized the possibilities of a professional career, was encouraged by his friends to make use of his talents in that direction, and soon entered the Beaumont Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was gradusted M. D. on March 14, 1894. Since his graduation in … Read more

Biography of Glen E. Kiser

Glen E. Kiser is a member of an old and substantial family of Butler County, and on assuming the responsibilities of manhood he himself took up newspaper work, and experience had developed many exceptional qualifications in that profession. He is now editor and proprietor of the Augusta Gazette. Mr. Kiser was born in Leon, Kansas, April 11, 1891, was educated in the public schools at El Dorado and graduated from high school in 1909. After one year in the University of Kansas he joined the staff of the El Dorado Times and had a great variety of newspaper experience for … Read more

Biography of John M. Haines

The wise system of industrial economics which has been brought to bear in the development of Boise has challenged uniform admiration, for while there has been a great advancement in all material lines, there has been an entire absence of that inflation of values and that erratic “booming” which have in the past proved the eventual death knell to many of the localities of the west, where “mushroom” towns have one day smiled forth with “all modern improvements” and practically on the next day have been shorn of their glories and of their possibilities of stable prosperity, so to remain … Read more

Biography of Nathan C. Delano

Nathan C. Delano is the oldest merchant of Bellevue, when years of active and consecutive connection with business interests are considered, and is a most reliable representative of the commercial welfare of the town. He is now enjoying a large and constantly increasing trade and his prosperity is the reward of his well directed efforts and untiring diligence. A native of New York, he was born in Allegany County, October 31, 1852, and on the paternal side is of French-Huguenot ancestry, while on the maternal side he is of English lineage. Both families were founded in America at an early … Read more

Biography of Clarence W. Brooks

A little thoughtful consideration of the career of Clarence W. Brooks, proprietor of the Brooks House, Idaho Falls, brings one to the conclusion that he has in most of his business operations been impelled by the spirit of the pioneer. He has sought out new plans and new conditions likely to favor his projects, and after he has made them available and profitable, he has sought out still others, and after those others. The wisdom of his selection has been proven by the success which has crowned his efforts. Not only is he one of the boldest, most venturesome and … Read more

Biography of Virgil A. Bird

Virgil A. Bird has long been one of the live business factors in the Town of Bern. He is a native of Northeastern Kansas and his people were among the pioneers of Doniphan County. Mr. Bird was born near Severance in Doniphan County September 3, 1869. His ancestors were New England people, and in that section his grandfather, Isaac Bird, spent his life. The Bird family came originally from England, and became Americans in Colonial days. George Bird, father of Virgil A., was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1834, and is still living, at the age of eighty-three, in Denton, … Read more