Abilene Kansas

Abilene, Kansas, established in 1857 and incorporated in 1861, is situated in Dickinson County and historically served as a vital hub in the development of the American West. Known for its role as a key terminus of the Chisholm Trail, Abilene was a primary cattle shipping point from 1867 to 1871, where cowboys drove cattle from Texas to the railroads in Abilene, transforming it into a bustling town. Its strategic location contributed significantly to its growth, with the establishment of railroads facilitating commerce and the movement of people. The city’s early settlers, including a mix of European immigrants and Americans from the eastern states, were attracted by the opportunities in agriculture, cattle trade, and the railroad industry. Abilene’s genealogical records from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including land transactions, business records, and vital records, offer a window into the lives of these settlers and the rapid development of the town. The area around Abilene was originally used as hunting and camping grounds by Native American tribes, notably the Kansa, before the arrival of European settlers. For genealogists, Abilene’s historical societies and public records provide valuable resources for tracing ancestry, understanding the economic and social conditions of the time, and exploring the transformative impact of the cattle and railroad industries on the American Midwest.

Biography of Frank Geoffroy

Frank Geoffroy, who is a successful commission and grain merchant at Abilene, is a native of Kansas, and he and his people have been identified with this state since early pioneer days. Kansas was a territory and was known throughout the country as”bleeding Kansas” when his father and grandparents came and located as pioneers in Franklin County in 1855. His father, Ernest Geoffroy, was born near Metz, France, September 7, 1841, and was brought to America in 1849. The grandparents lived on a farm in Iowa for a few years, but in 1855 came out to Kansas and began their … Read more

Biography of Jacob E. Brewer

Jacob E. Brewer. The author of the two cent railroad fare law in Kansas is Jacob E. Brewer of Abilene. Mr. Brewer proposed, introduced and successfully advocated that law during his membership in the State Senate from 1905 to 1909, representing the district of Clay and Dickinson counties. Mr. Brewer is an old and well known merchant of Abilene. He had the chief department store there and is also a wholesale commission merchant. It is said that 200 carloads of eggs are gathered and shipped to market through his plant every year. Permanence and solidity is a part of Mr. … Read more

Biography of William Thomas Davidson

William Thomas Davidson, an old soldier, a pioneer in Western Kansas, and an expert abstractor at Abilene, was born in a log house on a farm in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1842. Several years ago he celebrated the birthday which made him three score and ten years of age. His had been a long and active lifetime, and his experiences for more than forty-six years identify him with Abilene. On January 1, 1860, Mr. Davidson started to keep a diary, and it illustrates the persistence of his character that he had never missed a day in itemizing some fact … Read more

Biography of Hiland Southworth

Hiland Southworth. Abilene was far out on the western frontier when a young lawyer named Hiland Southworth joined himself to the community in 1878. In the growth and development of the city and surrounding connty Mr. Southworth afterward had a most infinential and active part. His own success and prosperity rose with the community and he made his business, that of investment banking, a tried and sure resource and a bulwark of financial integrity. The judgment and abilities required for the handling of investments both large and small Mr. Southworth possessed to a rare degree approximating genius. Mr. Southworth was … Read more

Throe, H. P. Mrs. – Obituary

Mrs. H.P. Throe (Cala L. Fovargue) Mrs. H.P. Throe, a pioneer of Union and Wallowa counties, died after an operation performed at the Enterprise Hospital. Cala L. Fovargue was born May 2nd, 1854, in Elkriver township, Clinton county Iowa. She was married to Hans P. Throe January 14th 1872. In November of 1877 they moved to Abilene, Kansas. After residing there for three years they moved to Oregon, making the journey by wagon. Three months after starting, they reached the Grande Ronde valley. In 1887, they moved to Joseph where they have resided ever since. Mrs. Throe was the mother … Read more

Biography of John B. Favor

John B. Favor, present sheriff of Sumner County, has been a resident of Western Kansas for over forty-five years, and though he was a small boy when the family moved here he knows both by recollection and personal experience all the vicissitudes and trials that beset the early pioneers. This story of a pioneer Kansas family begins with the removal of Gaines and Susan (Lavender) Favor from their native state of Tennessee to a farm near Cairo, Illinois, in 1855. On that farm in the southern part of Illinois was born on January 22, 1860, John B. Favor, first mentioned … Read more

Throe, Cala L. – Obituary

Mrs. H. P. Throe (Cala L. Fovargue) Joseph, Oregon Mrs. H.P. Throe, a pioneer of Union and Wallowa counties, died after an operation performed at the Enterprise Hospital. Cala L. Fovargue was born May 2nd, 1854, in Elkriver Township, Clinton County Iowa. She was married to Hans P. Throe January 14th 1872. In November of 1877 they moved to Abilene, Kansas. After residing there for three years they moved to Oregon, making the journey by wagon. Three months after starting, they reached the Grande Ronde valley. In 1887, they moved to Joseph where they have resided ever since. Mrs. Throe … Read more

Biography of Edward Everett Hazlett, M.D.

Edward Everett Hazlett, M. D. From 1880 until his death on June 17, 1915, Doctor Hazlett practiced medicine and surgery at Abilene, Kansas. That was a period of thirty-five years. He was one of the pioneers in his profession at Abilene, and began practice there when the city to some extent still retained the prestige and the somewhat unenviable prominence it derived as a center of the great cattle industry. Without disparaging the merits and attainments of his contemporaries, it can be stated that Doctor Hazlett was always the leader of his profession in that city, not only in point … Read more

Biography of David Franklin Shirk

David Franklin Shirk, a prominent Kansas educator and a worker in behalf of child welfare, had been a resident of this state thirty years. Born at Shannon, Carroll County, Illinois, July 10, 1859, he was reared and educated in his native state, and as a young man began teaching school in Illinois. In 1886 he came to Abilene, Dickinson County, Kansas, and followed educational work in this state actively for twenty-four years. In 1906 Mr. Shirk was graduated from Friends University at Wichita. Much distinction attaches to his work as a school man. He assisted in organizing the first county … Read more

Biography of John K. Forney

John K. Forney. Dairying is more and more looked upon as one of the most important means of elevating the general agricultural industry of the country. One of the pioneers in stimulating dairying as a farm resource in Western Kansas is Mr. John K. Forney of Abilene, president of the Belle Springs Creamery Company. This is the largest creamery company in Kansas owned exclusively by Kansas capital. Like many other great business enterprises it had been developed from small beginnings. Mr. Forney was at the beginning. He arrived in Kansas with limited capital in 1879, and bought a tract of … Read more

Biography of William G. Anderson

William G. Anderson. A native of Kansas, a member of a prominent old family of Dickinson County, William Gibson Anderson had had a varied experience but early found his real work and vocation in the newspaper profession, and had been actively identified with a number of papers in Southern Kansas. He is now editor and proprietor of the Evening Free Press at Winfield. He was born on a farm near Abilene, Kansas, July 30, 1874, attended the public schools of Abilene, graduating from high school in 1894, and his college alma mater is Baker University at Baldwin. He was graduated … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Gross, Daniel

Gross, Daniel first came to Abilene, Kan. in 1874 and clerked some time, finally came to Bunker Hill and became a member of the firm of Eyler & Gross, dealers in general merchandise, opening the business July 21, 1879, and carrying a stock of about $12,000, occupying two rooms, 22×40 and 22×50 feet. Mr. Gross was born in York County, Pa in 1857. Was raised and educated in his native county; married in 1879 to Miss Katie Gardner, a native of Ohio.

Biography of Charles H. Browne

Charles H. Browne is proprietor and editor of the Horton Headlight-Commercial, now the only journal published in that enterprising and flourishing city of Brown County. Mr. Browne had been largely identified with newspaper work since he left school, and is a vigorous type of citizen and easily a leader in any community. For a number of years he had been connected with the National Guard of Kansas and had been especially active in recent events in which the country had been involved in tronble, first with Mexico and later with Germany. The Horton Headlight-Commercial is a consolidation of half a … Read more

Biography of Frank L. Abbey M. D.

Frank L. Abbey, M. D., long a resident of Newton and formerly a druggist but for twenty years a successful physician, had during the greater part of his professional career been identified with the Axtell Hospital as a member of its staff of physicians. Doctor Abbey was born at Kingsbury, Illinois, February 1, 1861. He is of English ancestry, his grandfather, Luke Abbey, having been born in Yorkshire, England, in 1787. When about twenty-four years of age he came to America with his second wife and two children, and settled first in New Jersey, then in Ohio and finally, as … Read more

Biography of Joseph Ralph Burton, Hon.

Among the men who have come out of the Hoosier State to aid Kansas in its. real growth and development, there had been no finer man nor better citizen than Hom. Joseph Ralph Burton. Youthful in years as he was in experience when he came to Kansas in 1878, he plunged at once into the heart of affairs and gained ready recognition from the people. Senator Burton had at that time the ability to impress others with his reliability; he gained public confidence; he possessed the power of making people know that his talents were not merely skin deep but … Read more

Biography of Richard Waring

Richard Waring, during his long and active career at Abilene, won the respect and esteem of every citizen. He was a man whose character inspired confidence. He was the trusted adviser of many. Successful in his own affairs, strong in self reliance, he stood as a commanding figure in that community until the close of his life, and his memory will always be revered by the hundreds who knew him as a friend and associate. His life was the expression of a strong and self reliant nature. Born at Belfast, Ireland, July 4, 1850, coming alone to America in 1868, … Read more

Biography of Thomas M. Jones

Thomas M. Jones. From 1903 to 1917 Thomas M. Jones was assistant postmaster of Abilene, and in that time really handled the important responsibilities and executive details of the city postal system. He received his appointment under the late Richard Waring, and steadily continued in the office under subsequent administrations. Mr. Jones is an expert accountant, and that ability gave his service a great value in the postoffice, and during his long residence at Abilene he had been given many important commissions in auditing and in straightening up the books of commercial concerns. He is now cashier of the United … Read more

Biographical Sketch of T. B. Johns

T. B. Johns, farmer, P. O. Athens, was born in Galena, Ill., April 8, 1841. In 186l he went to California, and back to Nevada in 1862; thence to Utah; thence to Idaho; thence to British Columbia; thence to Oregon; thence to Montana; thence to Wyoming; thence back to Utah; thence to Prescott, Arizona, back to Nevada, and again back to Illinois; thence to Queenstown, Ireland, and back to the United States, settling at Abilene, Kan., in 1871. Came to Jewell County in October 1871, and is now the owner of 240 acres of land. Mr. Johns has been an … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles Moreau Harger

Charles Moreau Harger, Kansas editor and old time resident of the state, is known to thousands of people outside Kansas through his writings in magazines and through his active participation in several movements recognized as of national scope. He was born in Phelps, New York, in 1863, came west to Dickinson County in 1879 with his parents, and had resided in Abilene since that date. He was educated in a classical school. For several years he was a farmer and rancher, then teacher, being principal of the Hope City schools in 1887-88. He then became a reporter on the Abilene … Read more

Biography of George W. Hurd

George W. Hurd. In 1869, a few years after the close of the war in which he had fought for the Union with an Illinois regiment, George W. Hurd pioneered into Dickinson County, Kansas, and established himself on a homestead. However, during his long residence in the county and at the City of Abilene, he had been best known and distinguished as a lawyer. He was one of the pioneer members of the bar, and had long held a place of leadership in the profession and in public affairs. Born at Lafayette, Illinois, June 20, 1846, he had recently passed … Read more