Kansas

Biographical Sketch of William F. Riley

William F. Riley, is a well known banker of Topeka but he laid the foundation of his prosperity as a farmer and stock raiser in Wabaunsee County. He had been a resident of the state since 1883, and his family is one that had performed its full share of services in the development of the Sunnflower Commonwealth during the last thirty-three years. Born in Muskingum County, Ohio, January 10, 1871, William F. Riley is the youngest of eight children. His parents were John and Christiann (McDonald) Riley. During his residence in Ohio his father followed sheep raising and farming. On … Read more

Biography of William W. Webb

William W. Webb. A resident of Topeka thirty years, Mr. Webb was at first in the service of the Sants Fe Railway Company, later a merchant, and for many years past had been in the real esfate and insurance business. Successful in private affairs, his enterprise in public matters is worthy of special mention. In 1890 he became identified with the Topeka Commercial Club. Through that medium he had worked in and out of season for the improvement and betterment of his city. He had asslsted in every undertaking prompted by the club, and was particularly active in the movement … Read more

Biography of Walter L. McVey

Walter L. McVey is one of the able young members of the Independence bar, and had enjoyed extensive relations with the profession in Montgomery County for the past eight years. Though a native of Illinois, his life had been spent largely in this part of Southern Kansas. He was born at Marshall, Illinois, September 11, 1880. His father, William H. McVey, was born in the same state in 1833, and died in Independence, Kansas, in 1891. He was reared and married in Illinois and in 1883 moved to Montgomery County, Kansas. He devoted his life to the service of the … Read more

Biography of John P. Slaughter

John P. Slaughter. One of the largest and best known financial houses in Kansas is the Farm Mortgage Company, which to a large degree represents the personality and the financial judgment of John P. Slaughter, who is its president. The Farm Mortgage Company, which deals almost entirely in farm mortgages, is an institution occupying a large building of its own at Topeka, and its business also extends to Oklahoma and elsewhere, there being a branch office at Hobart, Oklahoma. The company is capitalized at $100,000 and its chief officers are: J. P. Slaughter, president; W. A. Smith, vice president and … Read more

Biography of Wilbur F. George

Wilbur F. George. With the exception of a short time spent in travel, Wilbur F. George had been a resident of Kansas since 1870, and during this time had been commensurately rewarded by the results which inevitably follow in the wake of industry, energy and careful management. Like many of his fellow agriculturists who have won success, he entered upon his career an a poor man, and whatever of success had come to him–and it is not inconsiderable–has beon attained solely through the medium of his own strength of purpose and hard labor. Mr. George, who is now a resident … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Edward E. Bundy

Edward E. Bundy. Among the fine farms and homesteads that are found in Mission Township of Shawnee County, one is owned and occupied by Edward E. Bundy, who had been a progressive resident of Kansas for thirty years. His venerable father, Jesse Bundy, had lived in Mission Township of Shawnee County for many years, and reached the remarkable age of ninety-four in 1916. Like hundreds of others of the state’s best people, he is a man who had worked hard, taken an equal part with his neighbors in the support of all worthy causes for the general good, and in … Read more

Biography of Nathan Brobst

Nathan Brobst, who died May 3, 1910, was one of the sterling pioneer farmers of Shawnee County, Kansas. In a lifetime of nearly seventy years he had experiences that identified him closely with many of the interesting phases of the history of the Middle West. He was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, on a farm November 13, 1840, one of ten children, two of whom died in infancy and two of whom still survive. Their parents, Henry and Susan (Fullwieler) Brobst, were born in Pennsylvania, but moved to Ohio and took their part in the activities of the wilderness, where … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William E. Stich

William E. Stich. The largest general insurance office in Independence is owned and managed by William E. Stich. Mr. Stich is a brother of the late A. C. Stich, whose career as a business man and eitizen of Montgomery County had been described on other pages, where many of the detalls of the family history will be found. William E. Stich was born in Hanover, Germany, February 16, 1850. His parents came to this country in 1857 and located at Kalamazoo, Michigan. His early education was received in the schools there, and in the meantime he learned to be a … Read more

Biography of William A. Kearney

William A. Kearney. In a comfortable home, enjoying a liboral prosperity, and with the esteem of a large circle of friends, William A. Kearney and wife are people whose record should be considered in any history of Kansas. They have lived in Shawnee County since 1880. Their present prosperity seems the greater in contract with their condition when they landed at Tecumseh thirty-five years age. At that time it is said that they had only two cents in money and an ax. A Pennsylvanian, William A. Kearney was born in Venango County, April 15, 1854. His father, Samuel K, Kearney, … Read more

Biography of Samuel N. Harper

Samuel N. Harper. Many of the men of Kansas whose closing years of life were devoted exclusively to the peaceful pursuits of agrionlture, had seen much adventure in earlier times and on many occasions had proved as heroie as any knight of romance or history. Thus may be brought to notice the late Samuel N. Harper, for many years one of Menoken Township’s most esteemed and valued citizens. A survivor of the great civil war, afterward one of the courageous and hardy men who dared Indian treachery on the frontier and engineered great wagon trains through the mountains, and still … Read more

Biography of Theodore Saxon

Theodore Saxon. The career of Theodore Saxon is an expression of well directed and intelligent industry, of devotion to the best interests of the community, and promotion of the highest tenets of agriculture. His financial standing is indicated by the possession of 1,240 acres of Kansas land, all of which had come to him through the exercise of thrift, good management and business sagacity. Like so many founders and builders of civilization in Shawnee County, Mr. Saxon, who is now a retired resident of Topeka, sprang from the soil of the Hoosier state, and carved his way to prominence and … Read more

Biography of Shepard Keene Linscott

Shepard Keene Linscott. The late Shepard Keene Linscott, who was born March 6, 1887, and died December 11, 1905, represented in the best sense the highest type of American manhood. A farm near Chesterville, Maine, was the place of his nativity and he was the only son of Shepard and Esther (Keene) Linscott. The house in which he was born was built by his grandfather, Samuel Linscott, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. When but sixteen years of age, Shepard Keene Linscott left the parental roof and became a pioneer farmer of Henry County, Indiana. Realizing the importance … Read more

Biography of Horace Mann Philips

Horace Mann Philips. Up to twenty-five years ago Horace Mann Philips was a Pennsylvania banker. To look after his investments in Kansas real estate he came West, and the visit made such a strong impression upon his mind that he determined forthwith to identify himself with the growing Sunflower State. He had been a resident of Kansas ever since, was a former county treasurer of Shawnee County, and is now engaged in banking at Dover in that county. Mr. Philips was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, December 7, 1850. He is one of four children, two of whom are still … Read more

Biography of George E. Weaver

George E. Weaver. One of the most important offices in a municipality is that of city engineer. The permanence, the efficiency, the economy of operation of practically every public improvement and public convenience depends upon the skill exercised by the engineer in planning and supervising the construction of such improvements. That had been the work of George E. Weaver at Independence, who is now serving his second term as city engineer. In the past three years the city had undertaken an exceptionally heavy amount of paving, sewer construction and other forms of improvement, and the citizens give Mr. Weaver great … Read more

Biography of George G. Kungle

George G. Kungle was one of the sterling citizens of Shawnee County whose lives deserve special record in these pages. The family is still living at Tecumseh, and since his death his wife and oldest son, George, Jr., have competently managed a farm there. Born at Come, Illinois, in 1864, George G. Kungle was a son of Joseph Byron Kungle, who was born in 1834 in Pennsylvania, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. Joseph B. Kungle was a carpenter and contractor, was a very successful man, and later in life followed farming. Highly respected by all who knew him, he enjoyed this … Read more

Biography of Thomas George Howell

Thomas George Howell. The agricultural interests of Silver Lake Township, Shawnee County, have an able representative in the person of Thomas George Howell, whose well-cultivated farm of 235 acres is situated in section 21, township 10, range 14. He had been a resident of the county for many years, and while energetically engaged in advancing his own prosperity had not been unmindful of the duties of citizenship, so that he is rated among his locality’s helpful citizens. Mr. Howell was born on a farm near Brockville, Quebec, Canada, April 80, 1861, the fifth in order of birth of the six … Read more

Biography of Johnathan T. Snyder

Jonathan T. Snyder. One of the old homesteads of Williamsport Township in Shawnee County is that of Jonathan T. Snyder. He had been a resident of Kansas nearly fifty years, and during almost all that time had been continuously devoted to farming and stock raising. At the same time he had borne an infinential part in the affairs of his home community and is one of the highly respected men of that section of Shawnee County. He was born on a farm near Johnsville, in Morrow County, Ohio, August 14, 1845, a son of John and Mary (Held) Snyder, the … Read more

Biography of Thomas J. Reynolds

Thomas J. Reynolds. The “Poot of the Wakarusa” was the title bestowed upon that beloved old pioneer of that section, Thomas J. Reynolds. He was a man better versed in the arts and skill of the woodsman, the plainsman, the humter, the miner and the pioneer than making poetry, but there was a fine spirit dwelling in his nature, and it found expression in such a way as to bring him the title above noted. He arrived in Kansas in 1854 and pre-empted land near where Wakarusa now stands. Thomas J. Reynolds was a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, born in … Read more

Biography of John B. Adams

John B. Adams is manager of the Security Abstract Company of Independence. This is the largest abstract firm in Montgomery County, and in many ways its business rivals in volums that of any similar concern in the entire state. Mr. Adams had had a very active business career, beginning in boyhood, and taking him into many fields of activity, and during his life in Southern Kansas he had seen Independence grow from a frontier town to one of the metropolitan centers of Kansas. He comes of that same ancestry which, originally transplanted from England to the shores of Massachusetts, produced … Read more

Biography of John L. Troutman

John L. Troutman. With the exception of one year, when he was traveling in California, the entire carser of John L. Troutman, since he was thirteen years of age, had been passed in Kansas and in agricultural pursuits. He had resided and carried on operations in various parts of the Sunflower State, making a success of his enterprises in each locality, and at the present time is the owner of a valuable alfalfa farm at Twenty-first Street and California Avenue, Topeka. Mr. Troutman comes of a farming family and had ingrained in his make-up the inclination for the soil that … Read more