Butler County KS

Biography of William Clinton Bardo

William Clinton Bardo, vice president of the Security National Bank of Arkansas City, was a pioneer in the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma, was a homesteader and farmer there for a number of years, but finally moved across the line to Arkansas City, where he had become prominent in financial and business affairs. Mr. Bardo is of an old Pennsylvania family. The lineage goes back originally to France. Four brothers of the name during the turbulent times that led to the French Revolution came from France and landed in Pennsylvania, and from there their families became widely scattered. One of the … Read more

Biography of Park E. Salter

Park E. Salter. The name Salter had had a very vital and intimate relationship with Butler County for forty years, particularly with the development of its livestock interests and also, in later years, with the oil and gas industry. The founder of the family in Butler County was the late Thomas B. Salter, a figure of unusual prominence in that section of the state. He was born in Centerville, Iowa, in 1849 and came to Kansas in 1876. In Butler County he took a claim of 160 acres, and after improving that he continued increasing his holdings until before his … Read more

Biography of Abraham James Holderman, Sr.

Abraham James Holderman, Sr. Perhaps a great majority of successful Kansans came to the state poor men and carved their fortunes from the opportunities here presented and by a wise and capable direction of their private affairs. There were some, however, who brought with them considerable capital and left behind in their older communities a record of successful business experience. One of these is Abraham James Holderman, banker, farmer and business man of El Dorado. For a great many years the Holdermans have been numbered among the wealthiest and most influential farmers and stock men in Northern Illinois. In that … Read more

Biography of Thomas E. Trigg

Thomas E. Trigg. “A map of busy life” mused the poet Cowper more than a hundred years ago, over his newspaper. The description yet holds good, a century of existence only having widened its field and strengthened its power. With its modern perfected machinery for the garnering of news, and with its vivid portrayal of the world’s happenings, it is, indeed, a map of swiftly passing events, one that had become a necessary vitalizing element and an indispensable factor of every day living. How surely the development of a newspaper in a community marks the latter’s progress. A name well … Read more

Biography of Frank A. Moss

Frank A. Moss. For over thirty years the name Moss had been significant of the finest integrity and ability in connection with the banking affairs of St. Marys. The First National Bank of that city is practically a product of the financial genius of the Moss family. The founder and for many years the president was the late John A. Moss, and that office is now filed by his son, Frank A. Moss. The late John A. Moss was born in London, England, May 5, 1846, and had an experience that identified him with the frontier towns of Kansas. He … Read more

Biography of William Ingram Shriver

William I. Shriver. The financial interests of a section of country are exceedingly important and their healthy growth an indication of public prosperity. Directly connected with this growth are the men whose knowledge, judgment, foresight and energy are necessary in the organization and maintenance of these enterprises and in the retention of public confidence. Capital with no wise directing hand or stabilizing intellect would be useless and the results of unregulated effort would be unsubstantial and retrogressive. William I. Shriver, cashier of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of El Dorado, is one of the men well known as a … Read more

Biography of Frank H. Cron

Frank H. Cron. Of the men who have in recent years taken a prominent part in the financial and public life of Butler County few are better known than Hon. Frank H. Cron, assistant cashier of the Citizens State Bank of El Dorado and ex-member of the Kansas State Legislature. He is a native son of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, born June 3, 1868, his parents being A. G. and Emma F. (Womer) Cron. A. G. Cron, who is now a resident of Mulvane, Kansas, was born in Pennsylvania and came to Kansas in 1881, locating in Bourbon County, where he … Read more

Biography Of Thomas Benton Murdock

In 1841 Thomas Benton Murdock was born in the mountains of Virginia. He was one of the five children who lived to maturity of Thomas Murdock and Katherine Pierrepont. On the mother’s side came the pride of the Pierrepont; from the father’s the insurgent instincts of the Irish Murdocks who left Ireland after the Irish rebellion failed in 1798. Though reared in the mountains among the most simple people and most primitive surroundings, the Murdocks who have been known in Kansas for half a century have proved soldiers of the militant democracy. They have been fighters who led naturally, by … Read more

Biography of John Ellis

John Ellis. Within the lifetime of John Ellis, El Dorado banker, stockman and farmer, had been unfolded practically the entire history of civilization in Butler County. He came here when a boy of five or six years. Kansas was still a territory, and his people located on the very fringe of settlement and in what was then and for a number of years afterward regarded as Southwestern Kansas. Few of the old timers can look back to a time in Butler County when its prairies supported herds of buffalo, but John Ellis recalls having seen as many as 150 in … Read more

Biography of Jabez Bunting Watkins

Jabez Bunting Watkins of Lawrence is one of the most successful lawyers and bankers of the state. His business affairs have not been confined to Kansas but have extended all over the southwestern country. His reputation as a financial authority is likewise wide extended. A son of James and Barbara (Sprankle) Watkins, he was born near Punxsutawney in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, June 25, 1845. His father was a native of Wales, came to America at the age of twenty-five and died in Pennsylvania when his son, Jabez, was eight years old. The mother was a native of Pennsylvania of German … Read more

Biography of Granville T. Ledgerwood

Granville T. Ledgerwood. The community around Beaumont in Butler County and also in Greenwood County had known Mr. Ledgerwood as a substantial farmer citizen and business man for over thirty years. As a farmer he attended strictly to his business, worked with all the power that was in him and in time acquired a well developed farm and sufficient property for his needs. Mr. Ledgerwood is now a resident of the Village of Beaumont, and among other interests is looking after the local postoffice as postmaster. He comes of that fine stock of people that located in East Tennessee during … Read more

Biography of Col. Perry M. Hoisington

Col. Perry M. Hoisington, of Newton, is one of the big men of Kansas today. For over a quarter of a century he had been closely identified with the state military organization, at first with the old Kansas Militia and now with the Kansas National Guard. At the head of his fine regiment, the Second, he gave some good service on the Texas border in 1916 and is now ready for the call to duty in France. His business career had been equally successful and progressive. Colonel Hoisington is president of the First National Bank of Newton and had been … Read more

Biography of G. Leroy Ramsey

G. Leroy Ramsey. Among the men who are marking their names indelibly upon the stockraising history of Southeastern Kansas, one who had been more than ordinarily active in this field of endeavor and whose operations have assumed large proportions is G. LeRoy Ramsey, who owned and operates 1,760 acres six miles north of El Dorado and 560 acres northeast of that city, all in Butler County. Mr. Ramsey not only raises and ships cattle extensively, but of recent years had been interested in oil leases. He was born at Belle Center, Ohio, December 22, 1872, and is a son of … Read more

Biography of William H. Nelson

William H. Nelson, secretary of the Arkansas City Commercial Club, an office through which he had rendered inestimable benefits to that community, is an old time business man of the city, having located there more than thirty years ago. Mr. Nelson had the distinction of being postmaster of Arkansas City at the time it had its greatest population. He was appointed postmaster by President Harrison in 1889, and held the office four years and five months. It will be recalled that in 1889 the original Oklahoma Territory was opened for settlement. Then and for several years previously Arkansas City had … Read more

Biography of Volney P. Mooney

Volney P. Mooney, now probate judge of Butler County, had resided in this section of Kansas more than forty-eight years and had been successively teacher, merchant, lawyer and public official. The people of Butler County know him and trust him as completely as any other citizen. His father, the late Rev. Isaac Mooney, was one of the notable men in this section of Kansas. He was the founder of a town and community, and throughout his life held that community up to his own high ideals. It is not easy to lose sight of the tremendous influence either for good … 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

Biographical Sketch of Curtis L. Harris

Curtis L. Harris has been a practicing attorney at El Dorado for the past thirty years and during that time had been identified with the business and political movements which have made Butler County prominent. Mr. Harris was reared near Alliance, Ohio. at which place he attended school and was graduated in 1883 from Mount Union Gollege. He began the study of law in the office of Hon. David Fording at Alliance, and was admitted to practice in Butler County, Kansas, in 1887, after completing the then usual course in the law office of Judge C. A. Leland, with whom … Read more

Balter, Alice Viola Beith – Obituary

Mrs. Alice Balter, aged pioneer of Wallowa County, passed quietly away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Guy Mitchell, just before midnight, Tuesday September 6,1932. Mrs. Balter had been in poor health for some time and following an illness of flu in Montana last winter has been much worse. August 29 she was stricken with paralysis and never recovered complete consciousness before the end. Alice Beith was born Sept. 7,1856 in Batavia, Illinois and died Sept 6, 1932 at the age of 76 years. When she was a small child, the Beith family moved to Waseca, Minn., and at … Read more

Biography of Mary M. (Lamb) Shelden Mrs.

Mrs. Mary M. (Lamb) Shelden. Among the interesting names belonging to El Dorado is that of Shelden, which since 1874 had been identified with civic progress, advancement and education here. The late Alvah Shelden, who for thirty years was owner and editor of the Walnut Valley Times, was one of the best known of Butler County’s citizens and did much to encourage development and a high form of government, and is survived by his widow, Mrs. Mary M. (Lamb) Shelden, who is widely and favorably known because of her activities, particularly in connection with El Dorado’s library. Mrs. Shelden was … Read more

Biography of John Parker Johnson

John Parker Johnson deserves to be remembered as one of the aggressive men who supplied substance and vitality to the early commercial affairs of Arkansas City. He was a banker and business man, helped promote industrial affairs, and was a citizen of the highest standing. His associates were the most prominent men of Arkansas City from the early days. Mr. Johnson died at Arkansas City, February 18, 1903. Many of his interests have since been continued by Mrs. Lola B. Johnson, who had also been a leader among the influential women of this section of the state. The late Mr. … Read more