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 William Lester Kellogg

William Lester Kellogg. The superintendent of motive power of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, William L. Kellogg, had worked his way to his present position through his own initiative. At the outset of his career he had no favorable influences to assist him, and he had depended upon no happy circumstances to aid him in his promotion. The chances he had had have been the chances that have come to every man who had been placed in a position similar to his own; the reason that he had gone further than some of his fellow workmen is due to … Read more

Biography of Christopher Leonidas Aikman

Christopher Leonidas Aikman, who was admitted to the Kansas bar over a quarter of a century ago, had been in practice at El Dorado and much of the time had been an associate of his brother, Judge Aikman. He was born at London, Kentucky, October 22, 1865. He was six years of age when the family came to Butler County, Kansas, and here he attended country schools and the town schools at Augusta and El Dorado. He was also a student in the Fort Scott Normal College at Fort Scott, and for a number of years before entering the legal … 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 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 Aaron Jacob Lesh

A. J. Lesh at different stages in his career had been a successful teacher, merchant, pharmacist, physician and oil refiner. He is now head of the Lesh Oil Refining Company of Arkansas City, and through his business energy and activities had contributed one of the most important local industries to this section of Southern Kansas. Mr. Lesh had been a resident of Kansas for over thirty years. For a man who had done so much on his own account it is natural that Mr. Lesh should take justifiable pride and interest in his line of worthy American ancestors. His lineage … Read more

Biography of Robert Harmon Hazlett

Robert Harmon Hazlett. Kansas is rapidly becoming a creditor state. It produces more than it consumes. It is flourishing, opulent and as progressive in material interests as in the field of legislation, social ideas and politics. Kansas farmers, Kansas business men, Kansas bankers are getting as securely established as factors in national affairs as Kansas politicians and social and civic leaders did in earlier years. One of these successful men whose achievements in some fields at least are well known beyond the borders of the state is Robert H. Hazlett, lawyer, banker, Hereford cattle breeder, and business man of El … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Nathan Frank Frazier, Jr.

Nathan Frank Frazier, Jr., the younger son of Nathan F. and Elmma (Crook) Frazier, and vice president of the Citizens State Bank of El Dorado, was born at El Dorado March 13, 1882. He was reared in his native town, where he received his preparatory education in the public schools, following which he entered Lake Forest Academy at Lake Forest, Illinois, from which institution he was graduated in 1903. After graduation he was employed at Kansas City, Missouri, for a short time, and then returned to El Dorado, where he became associated with his father and assisted the elder man … Read more

Biography of T. P. Mannion

T. P. Mannion, postmaster of El Dorado, had long been identified with that city as a business man and citizen. He therefore knows what the community expects of the postoffice, and had the executive and business ability to give adequacy to its service and make the local office what the general postal system had been called “an instrument of trade and industry,” and “enlarger of the common life.” Mr. Mannion was born in Macon City, Missouri, March 2, 1866, and when only one year old was brought to Butler County, Kansas, by his parents, John and Margaret Mannion. Both parents … 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 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