Chetopa Kansas

Biography of Wilfrid Cavaness

Wilfrid Cavaness, who had been a Kansas newspaper man for over twenty years, was born at Chetopa November 24, 1875. He attended the public schools there, graduating from high school in 1892, and for two years was a student in Baker University. In 1895 he became connected with the Chetopa Advance under his father, and remained there until 1899. For the following two years he was with the Columbus Courier, and in 1901 came to Chanute and is now treasurer and manager of the Chanute Tribune. The Chanute Tribune was established April 8, 1892, by George M. Dewey. It had … Read more

Biography of Lewis Corbin True, Col.

Col. Lewis C. True. Some interesting distinctions belong to this veteran soldier and lawyer who now lives retired at Kansas City, Kansas. He came to Kansas soon after leaving the army, and spent several years combating the hardships and plagues which afflicted the farmers in that period in Franklin County. Unable to make progress as a farmer, he took up the study of law, and in 1871 was admitted to practice in Cherokee County. He spent five years in general practice at Chetopa, and was then elected county attorney of Labette County. Kansas had just enacted its state wide prohibition … Read more

Biography of Cavaness, James M.

James M. Cavaness. The name Cavaness belongs to both the pioneer and modern era of Kansas. Anywhere in the southeastern part of the state the name is most closely associated with the newspaper business, and two generations are still active in that work, James M. Cavaness and two of his sons, Herbert and Wilfrid, all of whom are connected in some official capacity with the Chanute Tribune. The origin of the Cavaness family was undoubtedly in Ireland, but the first of the name came to America in the colonial period and settled in North Carolina. Urban C. Cavaness, father of … Read more

Biography of Col. Jeremiah B. Cook

Col. J. B. Cook. In all Southeastern Kansas there is no better known figure than Col. J. B. Cook of Chetopa. For more than forty years he has been recognized as one of the old and reliable and standard real estate dealers. He was one of the pioneers in Labette County, and lived on and improved a claim there before taking up his present business. He is not only an interesting character because of his long and honorable record in business, but for a life of varied service and experience. Many who know him well in real estate circles have … Read more

Biography of Harry L. O’Bryan

Harry L. O’Bryan is a Chetopa business man who has made himself very active in local affairs there for a number of years. He is a banker, an extensive farm owner, and operator, his name is associated with several of the leading business and commercial enterprises, and at the present writing he is serving as postmaster of the city. He is of Irish descent. His great-grandfather came out of Ireland as early as 1760, settled in Maryland, and about 1800 moved across the mountains into the new State of Kentucky. Mr. O’Bryan’s grandfather Sydney Francis O’Bryan was born in Kentucky … Read more

Biography of Elmer E. Liggett, M. D.

Dr. Elmer E. Liggett (b. 1861, Marysville, Ohio) was a prominent physician and surgeon in Labette County, Kansas, where he practiced for over thirty years. Born into a family of Scottish descent, Liggett moved to Kansas as a child and pursued his medical education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Keokuk, Iowa, graduating in 1884. He further specialized in surgery at Bellevue Hospital Medical College and the New York Post-Graduate School. Dr. Liggett was highly regarded for his medical expertise and community involvement in Oswego, Kansas. He married Mary Parsons Maynard in 1887, with whom he had one daughter, Ruth Ellsworth.

Biography of William Paxton Hazen

William Paxton Hazen, who died at Chetopa, Kansas, April 16, 1909, was for many years a successful Kansas banker. His widow, Mrs. Addie (Glass) Hazen, who survives him, is widely known in women’s circles in Kansas, and is especially active in charitable and philanthropic enterprises in her home city. Mr. Hazen died when at the high tide of his usefulness. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1858. His father, David Hazen, was a lawyer by profession, practiced for many years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but died in Erie, Kansas. Mr. Hazen’s maternal grandmother, Mary Ewing, had her pew in … Read more

Biography of Allan Arthur Gilbert, M.D.

Dr. Allan Arthur Gilbert, an internist of St. Louis, who in his practice has gained high professional standing, was born in Burrton, Kansas, May 26, 1890, a son of the Rev. H. M. Gilbert, who was born in South Carolina, but was descended from one of the old families of Connecticut of English lineage. The progenitor of the family in the new world was Mathew Gilbert, who came across the Atlantic on the historic Mayflower and was the first deputy governor of Connecticut under King George. Among the ancestors of Dr. Gilbert was also Colonel Ethan Allen, who commanded the … Read more

Molitor, Lawrence Henry, Jr. – Obituary

Lawrence Henry Molitor Jr., 72, of Dallas and formerly of La Grande, died Dec. 5. A memorial service begins at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Dallas Mortuary Tribute Center. Mr. Molitor, known as Hank, was born Jan. 5, 1934, in Chetopa, Kan., to Lawrence Henry Sr. and Nellie Juanita Caldwell Molitor. He was raised in Kansas and moved to Idaho during his teenage years. On Oct. 13, 1951, he married Irene Humphreys in Idaho. The couple and their children lived in Oakridge, where he worked in the plywood mill, and later moved to La Grande, where Mr. Molitor worked for … Read more

Biography of John P. Slaughter

John P. Slaughter. One of the largest and best known financial houses in Kansas is the Farm Mortgage Company, which to a large degree represents the personality and the financial judgment of John P. Slaughter, who is its president. The Farm Mortgage Company, which deals almost entirely in farm mortgages, is an institution occupying a large building of its own at Topeka, and its business also extends to Oklahoma and elsewhere, there being a branch office at Hobart, Oklahoma. The company is capitalized at $100,000 and its chief officers are: J. P. Slaughter, president; W. A. Smith, vice president and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Benoni H. Durall

(See Duncan) Ada Bertha, daughter of John Robert and Emma (Landrum) Dobkins was born August 6, 1879. Educated at Chetopa, Kansas. Married at Welch, August 25, 1897 Benona H., son of B. S. and Anna Durall, born March 9, 1873 in Neosho County, Kansas. They are the parents of Harold Robert, born June 23, 1898. Enlisted in the navy during the World War assigned to the reserves force stationed at Pelham Bay, N. Y. from May 29, 1918 to February 1, 1919. Married May 15, 1921 Florence L. Rodant; Hugh Allen, born November 16, 1902; George Marvin, born March 2, … Read more