Coffey County KS

Biography of Glenn Swogger

Glenn Swogger is one of the younger men in the newspaper business in Kansas and began his career as an editor and publisher soon after leaving Kansas University. Mr. Swogger is editor and owner of The Waverly Gazette and The Harris Commercial. The Waverly Gazette is one of the older papers of Coffey County. It was established as the Gridley Gazette in 1887 by Ben Swearingen, was moved to Burlington in 1888 and in 1889 to Waverly, where it had been published continuously ever since. The Harris Commercial is one of the live weekly papers of Anderson County and was … Read more

Biography of David Crawford Thoroman

David Crawford Thoroman. The first of his name to come to Kansas, the late David Crawford Thoroman was for many years engaged in school teaching and farming in Coffey and Osage counties, and is still remembered by the older residents as a man of upright character, possessed of a high sense of justice. His experiences during the Civil war had placed upon him the handicap of being weak physically, but his energetic spirit and industry helped him to overcome this in large part, and throughout his career he was a useful member of whatever community he made his home. David … Read more

Biography of John Redmond

John Redmond. One of the prominent newspaper men of Kansas, and there is no doubt but that the state had its full share of talented journalists, is John Redmond, the able editor and prosperous owner and publisher of the Burlington Daily Republican of Burlington. A natural inclination for this profession probably prevented the state from registering one more able member of its bar, for he was early designed for the law, in which his brother, C. H. Redmond, now of Denver, Colorado, is so successful, and in which his father, the late James Redmond, so long held a distinguished place. … Read more

Biography of John Child Maxson, M. D.

John Child Maxson, M. D. For over twenty-four years Doctor Maxson had practiced his profession in Kansas and is now located at Corning, where as a physician and surgeon of thorough attainments he had an extensive practice. His family were early settlers in Sonthern and Southeastern Kansas. Doctor Maxson is in the tenth generation from the immigrant of the family from England to the American colonies. The founder of the Maxson family in this country was Richard Maxson. Doctor Maxson’s grandfather, James Maxson, spent his life as a farmer in Alleghany County, New York. James S. Maxson, father of Doctor … Read more

Biography of George James Sharp

George James Sharp during the thirty odd years he had lived in Elk County had been a farmer, school teacher, county official, abstractor and lawyer, and his friends and associates say that whatever he undertakes he does with all the enthusiasm of his nature and to the limit of his ability. He is an exceedingly useful citizen, and his services have for several years been untilized by the City of Howard through the office of mayor. Mr. Sharp was born on a farm in Hendricks County, Indiana, December 26, 1862, a son of William P. and Anna T. (Higgins) Sharp. … Read more

Biography of Winfield S. Andrews

Winfield S. Andrews, a merchant and one of the most liberal and enterprising citizens of Neosho Rapids, represents a family name that had been identified with that interesting section of Kansas since territorial days. The Andrews family came from England to Pennsylvania in colonial times, and Mr. Andrews’ grandfather, Thomas Andrews, was born in Pennsylvania in 1780. From Pennsylvania he went to the western frontier, then in Ohio, and from there again became a pioneer in Wisconsin, and when a very old man in 1859 accompanied other members of the family to Kansas, and died at Neosho Rapids in 1860. … Read more

Biography of William C. Suttle

William C. Suttle. Under modern conditions the water works of any thriving and prosperous community is one of the most important branches of the civic service, and its management requires abilities far beyond the ordinary. Fredonia boasts of one of the best water systems in Southeastern Kansas, and much of the credit for the present excellent conditions existing in this enterprising city is due to the capable and experienced work of the superintendent of the water works, William C. Suttle, who had been connected with this department for about eleven years and had been in his present position since 1913. … Read more

Biography of Joseph Henry Hoopingarner

Joseph Henry Hoopingarner has for twenty-five years been identified with the Methodist Conference in Kansas, though he has not spent all of that time in the active ministry. He is a large property owner and is now pastor of the leading church at Baxter Springs. He comes of a very interesting family of pioneers in Southeastern Kansas. Rev. Mr. Hoopingarner himself was born in Crawford County, Kansas, April 3, 1871, only a few years after the real settlement of that region began. His ancestry goes back to Wuertemberg, Germany, where his great-grandfather Coonrad Hoopingarner was born. Coonrad and a brother … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Colonel and Judge Oscar E. Learnard

Colonel and Judge Oscar E. Learnard, one of the founders of Burlington, for many years a resident of Lawrence, one of the organizers of the republican party in Kansas and prominent in numerous state institutions and enterprises, was born at Fairfax, Vermont, November 14, 1832. He was of English and Franch Huguenot stock. In 1855, the year after his graduation from the Albany Law School, Mr. Learnard came to Kansas and located at Lawrence, and the next year he commanded a “mounted regiment” of the free-state forces in the border war. In the spring of 1857 he helped to locate … Read more

Biography of Frank L. Abbey M. D.

Frank L. Abbey, M. D., long a resident of Newton and formerly a druggist but for twenty years a successful physician, had during the greater part of his professional career been identified with the Axtell Hospital as a member of its staff of physicians. Doctor Abbey was born at Kingsbury, Illinois, February 1, 1861. He is of English ancestry, his grandfather, Luke Abbey, having been born in Yorkshire, England, in 1787. When about twenty-four years of age he came to America with his second wife and two children, and settled first in New Jersey, then in Ohio and finally, as … Read more