Cherokee County KS

Biography of William Nelson Johnson, M. D.

William Nelson Johnson, M. D. A physician whose career has been one of devotion to his profession and the interests of his patients in Cherokee County for over twenty years, and whose ability ranks him among the leaders in medical circles in that section, Doctor Johnson is a man who throughout his career has made the best of his resources and in the best sense of the term is a self-made man. He was born on a farm in Franklin County, Missouri, August 29, 1853, and his early youth was spent in the troubled conditions during and subsequent to the … Read more

Biography of Charles Stephens

Charles Stephens. The history of Kansas can best he interpreted by the careers of the men who have made the state what it is and also by those careers which have been largely shaped and moulded by Kansas influences. A resident of Columbus almost continuously since 1872, and a widely known lawyer in Southeastern Kansas, Charles Stephens is a man who had practiced the principles that self-help is the best means of realizing all the resources of an individual character and advancing one’s self to a worthy station in the world. As an orphan youth he had experience in farming, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Richard W. Blue

Richard W. Blue, a Union veteran of Virginia and a leading lawyer and judge of Kansas, finally advanced to the halis of Congress as a representative of his adopted state. He was born in Wood County, Virginia, September 8, 1841, and was raised on a mountain farm near the present city of Grafton. In 1859 he entered Monongalia Academy at Morgantown, Va., and remained at that institution several years, first as pupil and later as teacher, Subsequently he entered Washington College, Pennsylvania, and remained there until he enlisted in the Third West Virginia Infantry, at the opening of the Civil … Read more

Biography of Charles B. Skidmore

Charles B. Skidmore. To attain success as a member of the Kansas bar requires more than ordinary ability which had been trained along the lines of the legal profession, as well as a vest fund of general information, and keen judgment with regard to men and their motives. In the big and pulsing communities of the Sunflower State there is so much competition, circumstances play such an important part in the shaping of events, and these events crowd each other so closely, that the legist had to be capable of grasping affairs with a competent hand to effect satisfactory results. … Read more

Biography of M. W. Burrows

Coming to Indian Territory in 1890, M. W. Burrows was for many years actively identified with oil development work in this state, but has recently purchased a farm in Cherokee County, Kansas, which he intends to devote to the raising of fruit. He was born in Newton County, Missouri, January 17, 1876, of the marriage of J. H. and Mary E. (Medlin) Burrows, both natives of that state. The father is seventy years of age and is now living in Cherokee County, Kansas. In 1890 he came to Indian Territory, locating near Copan, on the Little Caney River, and there … Read more

Biography of Claude Emmett Hamill, M. D.

Claude Emmett Hamill, M. D. The first thirty-two years of his life Doctor Hamill spent in gaining a liberal education and in successfully following the industry of farming. His ambition was always fixed on medicine, but various business interests contrived to keep the goal distant until some six or seven years ago. Since 1910 he has been in active practice at Parsons and enjoys a splendid reputation as physician and surgeon. His name represents an old and honored family in Kansas. His paternal ancestry goes back to Ireland, where his grandfather, Samuel Wallace Hamill, was born at Dablin in 1776. … Read more

Biography of Edwin B. Morgan

Edwin B. Morgan. When Edwin B. Morgan came to Kansas in 1892, at the age of nineteen, he found his first opportunity for service and work as a school teacher. He taught in Linn County one year, and two years in Franklin County. Already his ambition was set upon the law as a career. Entering the State University at Lawrence, he pursued the studies of the law department until graduating LL. B, in 1898. In July of that year he began practice at Oswego, and was one of the rising young attorneys of that city for seven years. Since removing … Read more

Biography of John Hebrank

John Hebrank. During a residence in and a familiarity with the West for a long period of years Mr. Hebrank has many and varied experiences, but it was through the resources of Kansas that he found the medium for the achieving of his maximum success, and he is now one of the prominent and influential figures in the development of the oil industry in this state, with residence and business headquarters at Independence, Montgomery County. Mr. Hebrank was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 19th of September, 1848, and in that same section of the great German … Read more

Biography of Oliver W. Sparks

Oliver W. Sparks. In a greater degree than is true of most towns the City of Galena is the result of the enterprise of a comparatively small group of men. Oliver W. Sparks came along and discovered zinc and lead on the Schermerhorn farm. That marked the opening chapter in the industrial history of one of the most progressive mining towns of Southeastern Kansas. After his first strike Mr. Sparks opened up other mineral deposits on the Maston land, later on the Bunco farm, and now for many years he had been continuously operating in that vicinity. Today he is … Read more

Biography of James N. Dunbar, Hon.

Hon. James N. Dunbar. As lawyer, judge, farmer and stockraiser, Judge Dunbar has long been one of the prominent citizens of Cherokee County, and has taken an active and valuable part in local affairs. It was the confidence felt by the people in his judgment and integrity as well as his sterling reputation as a lawyer that brought about his election to the district bench, and his administration of that position has more than justified the expectations of those who supported him for the office. Though most of his life has been spent in this section of Kansas, Judge Dunbar … Read more

Biographical Sketch of B. F. Townsend

B. F. Townsend a prosperous farmer near Garden Grove, was born in Bowdoinham, Maine, in 1834, educated at the high school there, and in 1855 left home to take care of himself. For nine years he worked in a wholesale boot and shoe store in Massachusetts, and from there, January 13, 1864, he went to Chicago, Milwaukee, Sioux City and other places; then to Omaha, and to Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, where he worked on a farm until 1866, teaching school during the winter seasons. Then he went to Baxter Springs, Cherokee County, Kansas, engaging in the manufacture and sale … Read more

Biography of James Henry Boice

James Henry Boice. In 1877 the late F. S. Boice arrived at Galena, and from that time forward was actively engaged in the mining operations that have always formed the basis of the prosperity of that city. For fully forty years the family has been prominently represented at Galena both in the mining industry and in mercantile and other affairs, and the work which was begun by the late F. S. Boice has been continued along even broader lines by his son James Henry. This is a family whose origin was in Scotland. From that county the father of F. … Read more

Biography of John D. Burton

John D. Burton. Like many of his contemporaries in the field of journalism in Southeastern Kansas, John D. Burton, proprietor and editor of the Potwin Ledger, began his career at the case. His entire life had been devoted to newspaper work, as compositor, editor and owner of publications in various parts of the country, but principally in Kansas, where he had resided and labored since the fall of 1878. While his present publication was founded only recently, it had already gained a wide circulation and promises to become an organ of influence in public matters under Mr. Burton’s wise and experienced direction. John D. … Read more

Biography of Ernest Everett Stonecipher

Ernest Everett Stonecipher. A Kansas educator of fifteen years’ experience, Mr. Stonecipher has taught in country schools, has been principal of village and city schools, and with increasing capabilities and growing reputation has been preferred to some of the larger responsibilities connected with school work in Cherokee County. He is now county superintendent of public instruction in Cherokee County, and his place in the profession is well indicated by the fact that he is also serving as president of the Southeastern Kansas Teachers Association, the largest organization of school workers in the state. Mr. Stonecipher was born in Cherokee County, … Read more

Biography of Edwin D. Mikesell

Edwin D. Mikesell. The long and uniformly progressive career of Edwin D. Mikesell, of Fredonia, had been characterized by several noticeable personal traits, among which may be mentioned versatility of talents combined with thoroughness of preparation and depth of legal knowledge. A man of broad education and wide experience, of high personal character, courteous and able, he is not alone one of Wilson County’s strong legists, but a man who had served his community and his state in positions of official importance, in which he had demonstrated unusual executive ability. Mr. Mikesell was born on a farm nine miles southeast … Read more

Biography of Corbin Asahel McNeill

Corbin Asahel McNeill, brother of Edwin V. McNeill, was born in Macoupin County, Illinois, January 13, 1867, in a log cabin. He received his public school education in Cherokee County, Kansas, following which he attended the State Normal School, at Fort Scott, and became a telegraph operator, a vocation which he followed for a short time. Mr. McNeill read law in the offices of Ritter & Wiswell, attorneys at Columbus, and was admitted to the bar in 1892, and two years later had so favorably impressed himself upon the people that he was elected county attorney, an office in which … Read more

Biography of Edwin Grant Betz

Edwin Grant Betz. The Arkansas City Business College is an institution in which the people of that community take special pride. Technical training for business is now a recognized necessity, and among the schools of Kansas that supply such technical training the Arkansas City Business College had in many respects a record of unexcelled competence and thoroughness. The proprietor of this school is Edwin Grant Betz, who had had a varied business experience but had given his chief time through his active life to commercial education. He comes of an old Dickinson County family, while Mrs. Betz, his wife, is … Read more

Biography of Stephen Robert Ping

Stephen Robert Ping. Kansas is not only famous for its rich lands, its crops of wheat and alfalfa, but also for its untold wealth of resources under ground, and though these resources are comparatively little known even to many of the Sunflower people, Southwestern Kansas is pre-eminently a mineral section. One of the centers of the production of lead and zinc ores is Galena in Cherokee County, Kansas. Galena is one mile from the Missouri state line and ten miles to the Oklahoma state line. In the year of 1916 a strip of country thirty-five miles long and fifteen miles … Read more

Biography of Samuel Aaron Kenoyer

Samuel Aaron Kenoyer, a prominent real estate operator of Miami, has won a substantial, measure of success through the capable management of his business affairs and has also aided materially in improving and developing his city, being recognized as a most progressive and public-spirited citizen. He was born in Kentland, Newton county, Indiana, September 30, 1873, of the marriage of James and Nancy Jane Kenoyer, the former also born in that county, while the latter was likewise a native of the Hoosier state. For a time the father engaged in farming and he afterward turned his attention to the carpenter’s … Read more

Biography of Edwin E. Sapp

Edwin E. Sapp. There has been a Sapp connected with the bar of Cherokee County almost since the City of Galena was founded. Coming to that town in January, 1884, after having worked and studied earnestly to prepare himself for the bar, earning his own living in the meantime, Edwin E. Sapp in a comparatively brief time had won the approbation and favor of a considerable clientage. In the years that have followed hardly a member of the Cherokee County Bar has been shown greater honors and has been accorded a larger and more profitable share in the civil practice … Read more