Butler County KS

Biography of Alvin L. Williamson

Alvin L. Williamson. The many business interests that at present serve to make Clay Center one of the important young cities of Kansas cover almost every modern activity and profession, and include also some of the oldest industries, milling for example, that aecompanied the settlement of the first pioneers in Clay County. Long before improved machinery and modern methods of using motive power had been thought of, every deep-falling stream that could be profitably dammed had a grinding mill on its bank before civilized living was accepted as complete in that section. Pioneer history is full of atories of the … Read more

Biography of Richard C. Howard

Richard C. Howard. There is hardly any man in Kansas to whom the title veteran printer and journalist would more aptly apply than to Richard C. Howard, proprietor and editor of the Arkansas City Traveler. Mr. Howard had to go back to the earliest recollections of his youth to find a time when he was not so familiar with printer’s ink, and he achieved a knowledge of the mysteries of the art preservative when most boys are learning the rudiments of arithmetic and grammar. He assisted in establishing the first daily paper at Arkansas City and had been connected with … Read more

Biography of Maj. James A. Melton

The intelligence and ability shown by Maj. Melton as a progressive tiller of the soil, and the interest he has taken in the advancement of measures for the good of Stone County, Missouri, caused him long since to be classed as one of the leading citizens of his section. All that he has achieved or gained has come as the result of his own efforts, and he deserves much credit for the determined way in which he faced and overcame many difficulties. In tracing his genealogy, we find that his ancestors came originally from England, settled in North Carolina, and … Read more

Biography of Newt Purcell

Newt Purcell has known Butler County since he was a boy, and the people of that county have known him throughout this period as an upright and straight-forward citizen, one who had gained his position in life by hard struggle and conscientious effort, and who is equal to duties that have devolved upon him. For a number of years he had been connected with the sheriff’s office, and is now serving his second term as sheriff. Mr. Purcell was born in James County, Tennessee, December 25, 1876, a son of Samuel E. and Mary (Kimbrough) Purcell, both natives of the … Read more

Biography of Nathan Frank Frazier

Nathan Frank Frazier. Among the names that have been long and prominently identified with the businese, agricultural, mining and financial interests of Kansas, few have attained greater prestige than that which attaches to the name of Frazier. There is hardly an industry of importance that can be mentioned that had not beneflted by the activities of the men who have borne it, and today there are found two able and worthy representatives of the family in the persons of Nathan Frank Frazier and Ray E. Frazier, vice president and president respectively of the Citizens State Bank of El Dorado and … Read more

Biography Of Mary Alice Murdock

Mary Alice Murdock probably deserves to rank first among Kansas women in the field of journalism. As editor and manager of the El Dorado Republican she is continuing a publication and an influence which were dignified and ennobled by her honored father, the late Thomas Benton Murdock. She was born at Emporia, Kansas, February 28, 1870, and four days after her birth her parents removed to El Dorado, where she grew up and was educated in the public schools. She worked nearly through the senior year in high school, and finished her education in Mount Washington Seminary at Baltimore, Maryland. … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Gibson, M. D.

Charles M. Gibson, M. D. During the past decade Dr. Charles M. Gibson has been engaged in the practice of medicine at Franklin, Kansas, and by his devotion to the duties of his profession, his close study and his pronounced skill, has won a liberal and representative practice. His talents and executive ability have gained him recognition in his community, and he has maintained throughout his career a high standard of professional ethics and honorable principles. Dr. Charles M. Gibson was born at Richview, Illinois, July 6, 1879, a son of Samuel B. and Sarah C. (Hussey) Gibson, and a … Read more

Biography of John Wilson Bogue, Hon.

Hon. John Wilson Bogue. It is not possible for every man to succeed in both business and public life. Each line of endeavor demands certain specific characteristics, and few there are who have so many differentiating ones, or are capable of adapting those which they possess so as to make them eminently fitting for divergent avenues of progress. Conditions in any live community are exacting; they demand much from the citizens of a prosperous and growing city before they are crowned with success. But there are some men who seem possessed in equal degree of the qualities which make for … Read more

Biography of James R. Mead

James R. Mead, one of the founders of Wichita and one of the noted pioneers of Kansas, was a Vermonter, born May 3, 1836, and at an early age showed his love for out-of-doors life. During his school days he read and dreamed of the Great American Desert, and in the fall of 1859 started for the plains. For four years he traded with the various Indian tribes in the present State of Kansas, hunted buffaloes and finally established a post on the Salina River, about twenty miles from its mouth. In 1861 he contracted his first marriage, and two … Read more

Biography of J. D. Melton

J. D. MELTON. The question of food supplies is one that agitates the whole human family, and is the first with which they have to grapple. Without doubt the well-appointed grocery establishment furnishes the best solution of feeding the masses, and in this connection due reference is made to that over which J. D. Melton presides and of which he is the proprietor. He was born in the neighborhood of Galena, Missouri, December 6, 1842, a son of Austin and Elsie (Haley) Melton, and grandson of Ansel Melton, who was one of the pioneers of Tennessee. In that State Austin … Read more

Biography of Juniata Adams

Juniata Adams, one of the successful educators of Kansas and now connected with the El Dorado schools, is a native Kansan and represents a pioneer family in that section of the state. Benjamin Franklin Adams, her father, was a widely known Kansan and for years was distinguished by his enterprises and success in the field of general farming and stock raising. He was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, December 2, 1834, and represented a family that came out of England to Pennsylvania in colonial times. His father, John Adams, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, and spent his life there. … 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 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

Varney, Roy

Enterprise, Oregon Roy Varney, a prominent farmer of Prairie Creek, died Sunday, August 25, 1935, at Hot Lake after having been taken there for treatment following a two weeks illness. He had been in poor health for some time as a result of a serious heart disease but had carried on his usual farm work until his condition became serious two weeks before his death. It is thought that an injury he received while building a barn might have hastened his death. Funeral services were conducted Tuesday afternoon at the Methodist church with Rev. G.R. Archer in charge and interment … Read more

Biography of Joseph Cook Bunten, M. D.

Joseph Cook Bunten, M. D. Since 1915 the medical profession at Douglass had been capably represented by Doctor Bunten, a young physician and surgeon of thorough training and capabilities and already well established in practice. He is a native son of Kansas, and had shown those traits and talents which have been distinctive of the Scotch people and also the enterprise of the typical Kansan. Doctor Bunten was born at Scranton, Kansas, January 27, 1891. His grandfather, John Bunten, was born in Scotland at Irvine, April 7, 1830. He came to this country in May, 1885, locating at Scranton, Kansas, … Read more

Biography of Wilhelm E. Regier M. D.

Wilhelm E. Regier, M. D. The courageous, investigating attitude of the Twentieth Century is nowhere more forcibly shown than in the ranks of the exponents of medical science. The tendency of the modern scientific physician to avoid, above all things, a hasty jumping to conclusions or too ready dependence upon formulae, is serving to destroy ancient delusions, thereby placing the health of the nation in the hands of reasoners and independent thinkers. In this class of rational thinkers belongs Wilhelm E. Regier, M. D., whose opportunities along professional lines have been numerous and whose use of the same had made … Read more

Biography of John C. Hoyt

John C. Hoyt became identified with the real estate, loan and insurance business at El Dorado over thirty years ago. He is the dean in that line of business in Butler County, and the reputation for honesty and integrity which had become associated with his name through many long years had brought him all the business that his firm could attend to during the rapid development of Butler County’s resources in recent years. Mr. Hoyt was born near Bellevue, Ohio, September 3, 1860. His people have been identified with Northern Ohio since pioneer times. His grandfather, John Hoyt, was born … 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 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 H. B. Smith

H. B. Smith. The greater part of the forty-five or more years he had lived in Kansas Mr. Smith had spent as a farmer and business man, but is now living retired at El Dorado. He had acquired property, had the superintendence of that, and also busies himself with public duties as a member of the city council. He was born in Macoupin County, Illinois, June 20, 1849. His ancestors came originally from Scotland and were Colonial settlers in America. Mr. Smith’s grandfather was a soldier under Washington for four years during the Revolution and spent the dreadful winter with … Read more