Butler County KS

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

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 Frederick E. Dillenbeck, M. D.

Frederick E. Dillenbeck, M. D.,of El Dorado, had attained as much prominence in the fleld of medicine and surgery as others of his fantily have gained in the breeding and raising of some of the finest trotting horses known in Kansas or anywhere in the country. Doctor Dilleubeck, who had practiced medicine at El Dorado for twenty years, is local and dispensing surgeou for the Missouri Pacific and the Santa. Fe Railway companies, is consulting surgeon for the Rock Island Railroad Company, is medieal examiner for a number of old line life insurance companies, is a member of the County … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ray E. Frazier

Ray E. Frazier, the elder son of Nathan F. and Emma (Crook) Frazier, was born at El Dorado September 15, 1876. He received his education in the public schools of El Dorado and at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1895, and began his financial training in a minor position in the Merchants National Bank, or which his father was president. There he evinced a marked aptitude for banking and applied himself so earnestly to his duties that upon the organization of the Citizens State Bank he was made assistant cashier and later vice president. … 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 James Atkins

James Atkins was born in St. Clair County, Michigan, in 1844, a son of Alexander and Eliza (Lewis) Atkins. His father was a native of Scotland and his mother of Connecticut, and he was one of their eleven children. Mr. Atkins grew up on a farm in Michigan, attended the common schools, and was only seventeen years of age when the war broke out. At the age of twenty he enlisted in Company A of the First Michigan Cavalry, and served with that noted organization during the remainder of the war. After the close of actual hostilities between the armies … 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 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 Joseph L. Eyman, Dr.

Joseph L. Eyman, M. D. In the profession of medicine and surgery few Kansas physicians have dispensed their services more widely and more successfully than Dr. Joseph L. Eyman of El Dorado, He is a most loyal Kansan. Coming to the state when a child with his parents, he began the practice of his profession twenty-one years later and had witnessed the gradual change and transformation which have made Kansas a highly developed agrienltural and industrial section from what was within his personal recollection an open prairie. Doctor Eyman had traveled over many of the states of the Union, and … 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 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 Mrs. James Atkins

Mrs. James Atkins presided over one of the fine homes of El Dorado and had long been prominent socially in that city. Mr. James Atkins is an honored veteran of the Civil war, one of the earliest settlers of Butler County, and though he began life in the West with little more than his courage and the labor of his hands he now had abundance and deserves both his leisure and his success. Mrs. Atkins was born at Louisville, Kentucky, December 11, 1864. Her maiden name was Eva J. Pool. Her parents were Anthony and Matilda J. (Bennett) Pool. In … Read more

Biography of Nannie C. Ellis Mrs.

Mrs. Nannie C. Ellis. A member of a prominent old family of Butler County, Mrs. Ellis, who now lives in El Dorado, was left a widow more than thirty years ago and since then had not only reared and carefully trained her children but had successfully managed her business affairs. Mrs. Ellis owned a fine farm in the vicinity of Chelsea, Butler County, and is a type of the courageous and independent spirited Kansas woman. Nannie Catherine McDaniel was born five miles south of Decatur, Illinois, on a farm, June 1, 1864. Her McDaniel ancestors came across the Atlantic Ocean … Read more

Biography of Samuel S. Gross, M. D.

Samuel S. Gross, M. D. With an experience as a physician and surgeon covering over twenty years, and with increasing eapabilities for exact and thorough service, Doctor Gross had been located for the past ten years at Denton, Kansas, where he controls a large practice and had also identified himself with the business interests of the locality. His paternal ancestors several generations back came out of Germany and were early settlers in the State of Tennessee. Doctor Gross’ grandfather was a native of Tennessee and went as a pioneer to that pietureeque district of Northwest Missouri now known as Excelsior … 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 John Gardner Shelden

John Gardner Shelden, of El Dorado, had made himself a man of success and influential leadership in spite of handicaps and obvious disadvantages. In his early life he was a farmer and school teacher, lost a leg in the railroad service, continued to fight the good fight regardless of physical conditions and in recent years had become one of the leading oil and gas operators in this section of the state. There are many sound reasons why the name Shelden rings honorable and true in Butler County. It is good sound Ameriean stock, of the pioneer type. The story of … 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 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 John C. Kirby, M. D.

John C. Kirby, M. D. For the past fifteen years the name of Dr. John C. Kirby had been increasingly identified with the best tenets of medical and surgical science in the city and vicinity of Cedar Vale. By many of the longest established and most conservative families his skill, resource and obliging temperament have come to be regarded as indispensable, and there exist many who are indebted to him for their restoration to health, happiness and usefulness. Doctor Kirby had the zeal which recognizes no limitations in his profession, and the great unrest which projects him into ever-widening channels … Read more

Biography of Clayton A. Swiggett

Clayton A. Swiggett is a mechanical engineer both by college diploma and by long and practical experience gained in many localities and in many positions. He is now superintendent of the Western States Portland Cement Company at Independence, and is contributing his ability towards the making of that one of the great industries of Kansas. The Western States Portland Cement plant began operations at Independence in 1905, and from time to time it has been enlarged and improved until its annual capacity is now a million barrels. About 250 men are employed and the pay roll is one of the … Read more