Kansas

Biography of Winslow Cipra

Winslow Cipra, editor and proprietor of the Lincoln Sentinel and present postmaster of that city, had spent nearly all his life in Kansas, and had had a varied career of usefuluess as a teacher, business man and in journalism and public affairs. Mr. Cipra represents that sterling stock of Bohemian people who have accomplished so much for the cause of agriculture and development in Kansas. He was born at Teskov, Bohemia, December 8, 1873. His father, Frank Cipra, was born in Zbirov, Bohemia, in October, 1839, grew up and married at Teakov, and followed farming according to the intensive methods … Read more

Biography of William H. Cheney

William H. Cheney. To trace the founding of the Cheney family in America one must go far back in colonial history, back almost to the days when a friendly sovereign presented the present State of Maryland to Lord Baltimore. But a few years later the Cheneys, of English and French descent, came also and received from Lord Baltimore grants of land on which they lived for many years. These lands were in Washington County, which was the family home as far back as the great-grandfather of William H. Cheney, who is one of the representative men of Vesper, Kansas, and … Read more

Biography of John Calene

John Calene. The mercantile interests of Sylvan Grove, Kansas, are well represented by stable and intelligent business men, and one of these is John Calene, who is president of the Calene mercantile Company and is identified with other enterprises of importance. Mr. Calene was born in Sweden, near the great City of Stockholm, July 17, 1856. His parents were L. E. and Christine Calene, both of whom were born in Sweden, the father in 1822 and the mother in 1825, and both died in Dickinson County, Kansas, the former in 1880 and the latter in 1907. L. E. Calene grew … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Otto W. Shelksohn, M. D.

Otto W. Shelksohn, M. D. Occupying a prominent place among the medical men of Lincoln County is Dr. Otto W. Shelksohn, of Sylvan Grove, Kansas, where he had been in active and successful practice for a number of years. Doctor Shelksohn is an example of a self-made man, in that he conquered early drawbacks of environment and lack of opportunity through his own efforts and had won his way far toward the front through the recognition of his own ability and a determination to excel in his chosen profession. Otto W. Shelksohn was born October 18, 1868, at Homestead, Allegheny … Read more

Biography of Jesse M. Foster

Jesse M. Foster, a native Kansan, had been a practical newspaper man since leaving college. He is now proprietor and publisher of the Clifton News, one of the oldest papers in continuous publication in Washington County. This paper was established in December, 1885, by J. M. and J. C. Padgett. It was first known as the Local News. It was changed to the Clifton News in 1891 by L. A. Palmer, then the publisher. The successive owners and publishers were I. C. Ware, one year, A. Q. Miller, two years, N. F. Hewitt, Stoy E. Ware, Burt Fraser, P. M. … Read more

Biography of Henry McMillan

Henry McMillan. A truly useful and justly honored citizen of Kansas, widely known in business, politics and public affairs generally is Henry McMillan, formerly and for years a member of the Upper House of the State Leglslature and strongly mentioned in recent years for nomination for governor, and for four comsecutive terms mayor of his home city, Minneapolis. He came to Kansas in 1885, and few men under the same circumstances in the interval have accomplished more deflnite results or achieved more for their communities in the way of solid and substantial progress. Henry McMillan was born at New Milford … Read more

Biographical Sketch of F. J. Ruffner D. V. M.

F. J. Ruffner, D. V. M. The senior veterinarian at Beloit, Doctor Ruffner had been in active practice there since 1912. He had a hospital located on Second Street, furnished with all the facilities for the modern practice of veterinary surgery and his business had grown so rapidly that he had completed the erection of a larger and still more modern veterinary hospital. He practices all over that section of Kansas and is known not only for his skill but for his personal popularity. A native of Kansas, born in 1889, Doctor Ruffner is a son of Andrew and Louise … Read more

Biography of William R. Zook

William R. Zook (1846–?), a Civil War veteran and Kansas pioneer, was born in Indiana and later raised in Missouri. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1863, serving with the Second Nebraska Volunteer Cavalry on the Western frontier. After the war, Zook moved to Kansas in 1869, where he homesteaded in Republic County and endured the challenges of early settlement, including scarce resources and conflicts with Native Americans. Over decades, Zook became a respected landowner and retired in Cuba, Kansas. He married Nancy Casteel in 1869, and they had five children: John F., Tilly, Aaron, Alveretta, and Jessie.

Biography of John M. Copeland

John M. Copeland is one of the three survivors of that group of pioneers who constituted the original settlement of Glasco in Cloud County. His name had been closely identified with the pioneer history of that loeality for more than forty-five years. His part had been an honorable one, had been useful both in what he had accomplished as a private citizen and as a business man and public spirited factor in local affairs. Apart from his service as a soldier during the Civil war his life had not been one of conspicuous activities, and his accomplishments have come through … Read more

Biography of Leonard V. McKee

Leonard V. McKee. The life, the personal character and the influence of Leonard V. McKee impressed themselves strongly upon the formative period of Marshall County’s history. He was founder and president of the Frankfort State Bank, was a large land owner and one of the leading business men and citizens of the community. He was born in Allen County, Ohio, August 18, 1845, and died at his home in Frankfort, Kansas, December 22, 1916, aged seventy-one years, four months and four days. His parents, Robert and Sarah (Dunlap) McKee, were both natives of Ohio. His father was a cabinet maker … Read more

Biographical Sketch of J. J. Donelan

J. J. Donelan is secretary, treasurer and manager of the Concordia Gas Company, the progress and development of which have largely depended upon his ability as an engineer and as a business executive. The plant of the Concordia Gas Company was erected by the American Gas Construction Company. The Lowe-Tenny process of manufacture is used, and the company manufactures gas for lighting, heating and cooking purposes to the amount of about 16,000,000 cubic feet annually or 150,000 feet per day. They have storage capacity for 70,000 feet. The company now had fifteen miles of gas pipe about the city, with … Read more

Biography of Robert C. Heizer, Judge

Judge Robert C. Heizer. For fourteen years Judge Robert C. Heizer had been on the district bench at Osage City, and the dignities and honors of his later years are a merited tribute to a man who had always relied upon the principle of self help and endured many of the vicissitudes and hardships of early life in Kansas. He was brought to Kansas in 1858, when two years of age. He had been born at Vermont in Fulton County, Illinois, in 1856. On coming to Kansas his parents located on a quarter section of land along the Santa Fe … Read more

Biography of Roley S. Pauley

Roley S. Pauley. The greater part of forty years Roley S. Panley had given to farm ownership and management on a large scale in Marshall County. His achievements classify him as one of the leaders in Kansas agriculture. As a practical man of affairs his advice and counsel have naturally been sought by his fellow citizens, and among other honors a term in the State Senste was conferred upon him, He is also interested in banking and other affairs in his section of the state, but essentially first and last he is a farmer and had always kept in close … Read more

Biography of Arnold R. Hoffmann

Arnold R. Hoffmann. It is the business of every man to get ahead in the world, to provide for himself and those dependent upon him, and to perform with all due diligence and faithfulness those duties which are a part of home making and citizenship. From the time he was a boy with a boy’s strength Arnold R. Hoffmann had proved equal to all emergencies and by hard work had become one of the leading business men and stock breeders in Washington County, Kansas. His home is at Haddam. Mr. Hoffmann was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, March 14, 1868, but … Read more

Biography of William Landren Privett

William. L. Privett has had much to do with the public life and affairs of Doniphan County, and is now in his third consecutive term as county clerk and county assessor, with official quarters in the courthouse at Troy. Mr. Privitt represents probably the oldest of the pioneer names with a continuous connection with Doniphan County and one of the oldest families in the annals of settlament in the entire state. A number of generations back the Privetts had their home in Germany, and immigrating from there settled in Pennsylvania in colonial times. The founder of the family in Kansas … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dan A. Michael

Dan A. Michael is now in the concluding months of his four years of service as the capable and popular sheriff of Mitchell County. His term ends with 1916 and according to the custom enjoined by a decree of law he is not eligible for another term in the same office, though his fellow citizens would gladly see him there and would feel that every function of the sheriff’s duties was in splendid hands. Mr. Michael served four years as under sheriff prior to his election to the office. Though not a native of Kansas he had lived in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of A. N. Keeler

Keeler Brothers, Perhaps no more attractive town in Mitchell County, Kansas, can be found than the one that bears the name of Scottsville, which might now celebrate its thirty-eighth birthday, although it was not incorporated for a number of years afterward. It had made wonderful progress since first laid out in 1878, and from then on down to the present great credit must be given for the same to the Keeler family, for it had been continuously identified with all the substantial development here. Ira B. and A. N. Keeler, under the firm style of Keeler Brothers, are the leading … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas H. McCall

Thomas H. McCall. Because of his fine business qualifications and his upright character, Thomas H. McCall, of Beloit, Kansas, had been frequently chosen by his fellow citizens for offices of public trust and responsibility. For the past four years he had served with the greatest efficiency as county clerk of Mitchell County and previously in other important positions. It reflects credit on a community when men of Mr. McCall’s character and experience are selected for offices which in their operation closely concern the general public. Thomas H. McCall was born in 1855, in Clinton County, Ohio, and is a son … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ira B. Keeler

Keeler Brothers, Perhaps no more attractive town in Mitchell County, Kansas, can be found than the one that bears the name of Scottsville, which might now celebrate its thirty-eighth birthday, although it was not incorporated for a number of years afterward. It had made wonderful progress since first laid out in 1878, and from then on down to the present great credit must be given for the same to the Keeler family, for it had been continuously identified with all the substantial development here. Ira B. and A. N. Keeler, under the firm style of Keeler Brothers, are the leading … Read more

Biography of Benjamin Rees

Benjanin Rees. For a half century the Rees family had been known in Mitchell County, Kansas. While largely agricultural, it had been otherwise connected but had always been numbered with the stable, reliable, progressive and law-abiding class. The leading representative at present, Benjamin Rees, a substantial farmer residing at Asherville, was born on the site of this village in 1869. He is a son of John and Nancy Bees, the former of whom is an honored retired resident of Barnard, Lincoln County, Kansas, and the latter of whom died there in 1906. John Rees was born in Wales and from … Read more