Kansas

Biography of Herbert Miller

Herbert Miller, president of the State Bank of Admire, and one of the very successful and influential farmers, bankers and business men of Lyon County, is one of the comparatively few men who have passed their sixtieth birthday and who can claim nativity in the commonwealth of Kansas. Of good English stock, of people who settled in America before the American Revolution, he was born in Osage County, Kansas, February 26, 1856. His ancestors located in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, and it was there that his father Richard Miller was born in 1829. Shortly after his marriage he … Read more

Biography of August Bauman

August Bauman. Because of their variety and importance, the interests which have engrossed the attention and abilities of August Bauman have brought him to the very forefront among the business men of Neodesha, with which city he had been most prominently identified for about thirty years. For the most part he is now directing his energies toward the advancement of his huge grain business, but various other interests also have the benefit of his sound advice and judgment. Mr. Bauman’s extensive connections have necessarily made him a very busy man, yet he had never found himself too actively employed in … Read more

Biography of William Edward Hogueland

William Edward Hogueland, who had lived in Kansas since 1869, had the unusual distinction of being admitted to the bar when he was nineteen years of age and had been in active practice at Yates Center for the past thirty-six years. He had been elected to a county office just about the time he attained his twenty-first birthday, and having established his home at the county seat while in office he had remained there in the practice of law. Mr. Hogueland’s ancestors came out of Holland in very early times. There were three brothers, one settling in New York, one … Read more

Biography of Whitsed Laming, Sr.

Whitsed Laming, Sr. The Laming family came to Leavenworth County thirty-five years ago, and there is no name more prominently associated with the business and civic life of the district in and around Tonganoxie than this. The Lamings are bankers, extensive farmers and stockmen, and have also developed some of the largest public utilities and other industrial enterprises in this part of the state. The founder of the family was the late Whitsed Laming, Sr., who came to Kansas in 1882, locating on a farm of 740 acres four miles north of Tonganoxie in Leavenworth County. He was born in … Read more

Biography of Charles Pilla

Charles Pilla. The pages of this publication can render no better service than to record upon them the names and activities of such a man as the late Charles Pilla, who for over half a century was one of the vital factors in the prosperity and progress of the Town of Eudora. Much of what he accomplished in a business way is still in existence and carried forward by his descendants. Many other influences that went from his life and wrought themselves into community action and benefit are also still vital even after their originator had passed away. He was … Read more

Biography of Thomas Gray

Thomas Gray is one of the largest stock raisers in Osage County. His fortunes have been identified with this state since early manhood, and though he had to start out with only an ordinary equipment of training and capital, he had made prosperity by sheer force of ability and constant exercise of good judgment and hard work. He was born on a farm at Crows Hill, New York, March 9, 1854. Of the eight children born to Joshua and Elizabeth (Foxley) Gray he is the only one now living. His parents were English people and on account of the crowded … Read more

Biography of Bobbie J. Dunning

Bobbie J. Dunning. Some men in the course of their careers gain wealth, others high public position, but probably the greatest good fortune that comes to any one is a wealth of esteemed and true-hearted friendship such as surrounded the late Bobbie J. Dunning of Kansas City, Kansas. He was one of the widest known Masons in the state, and had pre-eminently the faculty of making and retaining friends. He was by no means unsuccessful in business, and started in a small way, and though still a young man at the time of his death, he built up one of … Read more

Biography of Walter Charles Isern

Walter Charles Isern, a young and progressive business man of Kansas, is the responsible head of the chief mercantile enterprise of Alden. Mr. Isern grew up in the atmosphere of a store and had developed his talents for business by careful and painstaking work since he left school. Mr. Isern was born at Ellinwood, Kansas, October 18, 1887. He is of German ancestry. His grandfather, Frederick Isern, came from Germany more than seventy years ago, after serving his time in the regular German army. He located at New Bremen, Ohio, where he was a farmer and carpenter until his death. … Read more

Biography of William C. Suttle

William C. Suttle. Under modern conditions the water works of any thriving and prosperous community is one of the most important branches of the civic service, and its management requires abilities far beyond the ordinary. Fredonia boasts of one of the best water systems in Southeastern Kansas, and much of the credit for the present excellent conditions existing in this enterprising city is due to the capable and experienced work of the superintendent of the water works, William C. Suttle, who had been connected with this department for about eleven years and had been in his present position since 1913. … Read more

Biography of Peter Welling, O.F.M.

Rev. Peter Welling, O. F. M., had for many years been a constructive factor in the upbuilding of the Catholic Church and its institutions in Kansas, and his name and career are especially associated with the town of Olpe in Lyon County, where he is pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. The first Catholic services in that locality were held about 1884, when the mission was attended by priests from Emporia. The fine new modern church, situated in the northeastern part of the village on Main Street, was erected in 1910 during the pastorate of Father Welling, O. F. M. … Read more

Biography of William S. Tyner

William S. Tyner was one of the early settlers of Kansas, though he lived in the state only a few years, but founded a family which had become especially well known and prominent in Osage County. The Tyners were an old and prominent family of Indiana. William S. Tyner was one of seven sons and was born on a farm in Rush County, Indiana, September 20, 1820. His parents were John and Nancy (Sailors) Tyner, both Indiana people. William S. Tyner was a consin of James N. Tyner, who served as postmaster-general under President Hayes. The early education of William … Read more

Biography of George Pierson Morehouse

George Pierson Morehouse has a place among the prominent and well known public men of Kansas due to an exceptional range of interests and activities. His life had touched agricultural and business affairs, and had bad its influence in the political, legal and literary life of the West. For many years he lived at Diamond Springs or Council Grove in Morris County, but at present resided in Topeka, though he still spends considerable time upon the large stock farm known as the old “Morehouse Ranche” at Diamond Springs, which he owned and upon which the family settled nearly fifty years … Read more

Biography of Burritt H. Hill

Burritt H. Hill. Men of force are found in every prosperous community who by reason of their natural ability, by their capacity for handling large enterprises, by the use of their brains and the soundness of their judgment, attain distinction and acquire authority. Working industriously toward a given goal, in helping themselves these men add to the welfare and prosperity of their city, and their efforts not only bring into being the substantial industries that support commerce, but conduct them along the safe and sane channels which assure public progress and general contentment. In Wilson County one of the men … Read more

Biography of Charles South

Charles South. The oil industry in the Mid-Continent field of Kansas had an able representative in the person of Charles South, of Chanute, who had been producing in this field since 1903. Like many of the men interested in the business here, Mr. South had his introduction to oil production in the Pennsylvania fields, and when he arrived in Kansas had a number of years of experience back of him to assist him in his enterprises. Mr. South was born near the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 26, 1864, and is a son of John and Vilinda (Everly) South. He … Read more

Biography of Isaac M. Hinds, Hon.

Hon. Isaac M. Hinds. Mound Valley and Labette County have for many years been the scene of the extensive business and public activities of Isaac M. Hinds. Some years ago that district sent Mr. Hinds to represent its interests in the State Senate, and he is still a member of the upper house of the State Legislature. Though he had spent nearly all his years in Kansas, Senator Hinds was born in Cole County, Missouri, December 30, 1862. He was brought to this state when an infant. Going back several generations his Hinds ancestors were Germans who came to America … Read more

Biography of Charles S. Walker

The Farmers Union of Kansas is a branch of the great national organization known as The Farmers Educational and Co-operative Union, with business headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia. C. S. Barrett is president of the national organization. This organization had a membership of 2,500,000, located in thirty-one different states. The head office of the Kansas organization is at Salina, and the president of The State Farmers Union is Maurice McAuliffe, while the manager, with headquarters at Kansas City, Kansas, is Mr. Charles S. Walker. The Kansas Union had 50,000 members, and had undoubtedly been the greatest single factor in creating a … Read more

Biography of John W. Deer

John W. Deer. Sometime it may be conceded that calamities come as blessings in disguise, and a happy view of an accident that practically changed the whole current of his life, is that it led John W. Deer, now one of Neodesha’s most substantial business men, to engage in a line for which Nature undoubtedly gave him special talent. Mr. Deer’s unusual success in handling real estate from the time he embarked in the business until the present, justifies this interpretation, for he is the busiest and most extensive dealer in this city. One tract of land after the other … Read more

Biography of C. F. Lutes

C. F. Lutes. The largest hand glass plant west of the Mississippi River is that of the Fredonia Window Glass Company, located at Fredonia, Kansas. The president and general manager of this enterprise, C. F. Lutes, had been connected with the glass industry ever since entering upon his career, and is a man of experience, resource and energy, who, since coming to Kansas in 1904, had occupied a position of importance among the business men of Fredonia. The success of the company with which he is identified, and its allied interests at Caney, Kansas and Okmulgee, Oklahoma, must be accredited … Read more

Biography of Fred L. Stone

Fred L. Stone. One of the first men to strike a pick into the mineral deposits around the present City of Galena in Cherokee County was the late Joseph T. Stone, whose experiences in that new mining field began nearly forty years ago. His son Fred L. Stone had spent the greater part of his active career in and around mines, beginning as a miner and later developing a business of his own, and is now one of the leading mine operators and business men of Galena. This is a family that had been in America since colonial days. The … Read more

Biography of William George Jack, M. D.

William George Jack, M. D. Though born and reared on a farm and spending most of his early years in the vicinity of Chautauqua, William G. Jack had an early ambition for a professional career and gratified it after a thorough course in colleges and clinics and for the past fifteen years had successfully practiced as a physician and surgeon at Chautauqua. He is regarded as one of the best informed physicians and most skillful surgeons in this section of the state. A resident of Chautauqua County since he was nine years of age, William George Jack was born in … Read more