Coffeyville Kansas

Biography of Harry S. Brown

Harry S. Brown. A lawyer of twenty years’ experience, Harry S. Brown has been identified with the Coffeyville bar the greater part of his professional career and he has shown a remarkable capacity for handling litigation entrusted to him and is a leading citizen as well as a lawyer. He represents an old Indiana family of English origin. His first American ancestors came to South Carolina in colonial times. Through his grandmother Mr. Brown is of Scotch descent. One of his Brown ancestors was a captain in the English navy and lost his life at sea. His grandfather, John Brown, … Read more

Biography of David Stewart Elliott, Capt.

Capt. David Stewart Elliott. For more than half a century the name Elliott has been one of important associations with Kansas history. The quality of public service has distinguished the family in all generations. The first of the name in Kansas was a Pennsylvania soldier, also named David Stewart Elliott, who was killed by Quantrell’s band of raiders during the Civil war. The late Capt. David Stewart Elliott of Coffeyville, long known as a lawyer, editor, fraternal organizer, and soldier, also gave up his life as a sacrifice to the country during the Philippine war. Several of the children of … Read more

Slave Narrative of Emma Barr

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson Person Interviewed: Emma Barr Location: Madison, Arkansas Age: 65 Occupation: Nursed, Farmed “My parents belong to two people. Mama was born in Mississippi I think and papa come from North Carolina. Papa’s master was Lark Hickerson. Mama was sold from Dr. Ware to Dr. Pope. She was grown when she was sold. She was the mother of twenty-seven children. She had twins three times. “During the Civil War she was run from the Yankees and had twins on the road. They died or was born dead and she nearly died. They was buried between twin trees … Read more

Biography of Charles T. Bickett

Charles T. Bickett. Well established in business affairs at Coffeyville, with an office for the handling of insurance, collections and also for the discharge of his duties as justice of the peace, Charles T. Bickett has had an unusually wide range of experience and association with Montgomery County, where he has lived since pioneer times. His ancestry goes back to an old English family, and in fact may be traced to that noted scholar and thinker, Thomas a’ Becket, of the fourteenth century. The Bicketts came from England to Virginia in colonial times. From Virginia they spread across the mountains … Read more

Biography of Arthur A. Hughart

Arthur A. Hughart. The life work of Arthur A. Hughart has been in the educational field. In his native state of Indiana he gained more than a local reputation as an able schoolman, not only as an individual teacher but as a school executive, and it was from that field he was called to the superintendency of the city school of Coffeyville in 1912. Here his influence has been of the greatest value. He has thoroughly reorganized and systematized the work of the city school system, has introduced some new departments and methods, and has made the local schools an … Read more

Biography of Samuel Bowman

Samuel Bowman, now of Coffeyville, where he is engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business with his sons, is a Kansas resident of nearly thirty-five years and was long prominent in Labette County, where he served two terms as probate judge. His Bowman ancestors were German people who came to Pennsylvania in Colonial times. His grandfather, Benjamin Bowman, a native of Pennsylvania, was a farmer and cabinet maker, also a minister of the Dunkard Church, and spent many years in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where he died some years before Judge Bowman was born. It was in … Read more

Biography of Calvin L. Long

Calvin L. Long. When Calvin L. Long came to Montgomery County thirty-seven years ago he found himself associated with the very early pioneers, and is one of the residents of that county who have witnessed practically every phase of development and progress. Mr. Long is one of the oldest men in the real estate business at Coffeyville, and his reputation as a reliable dealer and man of unusual judgment and experience in that line has been in full proportion to his years of activity. Born in Delaware County, Indiana, July 12, 1852, he grew up on a farm, attended country … Read more

Biography of Andy Curry

Andy Curry has been a resident of Montgomery County for thirty-four years. To an older generation of the people of this county he is well remembered as a successful teacher. For nearly a quarter of a century he has been in the insurance business at Coffeyville and has built up one of the largest local agencies in the state for general insurance. His ancestors were Irish people who came to America and settled in Kentucky in the very early days. From Kentucky the family moved to Southern Indiana, locating in the Wabash valley, and it was in Sullivan County, Indiana, … Read more

Biography of Frank D. Custer

With industry and determination as dominant qualities, Frank D. Custer has made steady progress in the business world, being now the owner of a valuable fruit farm near Bartlesville and also having oil wells on his property. He was born in Montgomery County, Indiana, the boyhood home of General Lew Wallace of military and literary fame, on the 6th of August, 1855. Three of his brothers served in the Civil war and one of these, A. R. Custer, is now living retired in Bartlesville with his family. Frank D. Custer acquired his education in the public schools of Thornton, Indiana, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Frank Newell Skinner

Frank Newell Skinner, vice president and assistant manager of the Coffeyville Furniture Company, owes his successful position to the fact that he has steadily pursued one line of endeavor since leaving school as a boy. He was born at Clathe, Kansas, June 2, 1872, a son of James L. and Elizabeth (Newell) Skinner, who moved to Coffeyville about two years after his birth and are numbered among the old settlers of that city. In the public schools of Coffeyville Frank N. Skinner obtained his early education, and after leaving school at the age of eighteen began clerking in a grocery … Read more

Biography of William H. Lewark.

William H. Lewark was one of the prominent factors in the business and social life of Coffeyville for many years. His death in that city July 3, 1914, removed a forceful and energetic worker and a man whose public spirit had always been uppermost in all his relations with that community from the early days. He was born in the State of Indiana in 1848, a son of John and Elizabeth Lewark. His father was a farmer and died in Idaho, and his mother died in Indiana. The late Mr. Lewark was one of the boy soldiers of the Union … Read more

Biography of Hanmond R. Heal

Hanmond R. Heal is enrolled among the progressive young business men of Coffeyville, where he is secretary and treasurer of the Kansas Oil Refining Company. An Indiana man by birth, be grew up and received his education in that state, and has been a resident of Kansas the past twelve years. In that time he has acquitted himself creditably in every business and civic relation. He comes of an old Pennsylvania family, the Heals having come from England and settled in that state during the colonial days. Mr. Heal was born at Marion, Grant County. Indiana, January 18, 1884. His … Read more

Biography of Harold McGugin

Harold McGugin. The McGugin family came from Ireland to the United States many years ago, the first of the name in America appearing in Pennsylvania. Removal was subsequently made to Ohio and the family records do not definitely prove whether David McGugin, the grandfather of Harold McGugin, one of the able young attorneys of the Coffeyville bar, was born before or after the family exodus. He was a farmer and a merchant and died in Montgomery County, Kansas, prior to the birth of his grandson. He may thus be numbered with the pioneers of this section. William McGugin, son of … Read more

Biography of James F. Blackledge

James F. Blackledge. Protective laws are passed in every state that seemingly assure the safety of all money that may be deposited either by the laborer or the capitalist in a bank, and still permit enough latitude in the bank’s policy to make the business profitable. On the president of the concern rests the responsibility and thus, at the head of financial institutions of solidity are usually placed men of business experience and known integrity, of sterling character and conservative habit. It reflects credit on Coffeyville, Kansas, that just such a man is president of the Caney Valley National Bank, … Read more

Biography of John J. Jones

John J. Jones. Actively connected with a profession that has an important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or community, and one which has ever been considered as conserving the public welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights, the reputation of John J. Jones, of Chanute, as a lawyer has been won through honest, earnest labor, and his standing at the bar is a merited tribute to his ability. For a quarter of a century he has been engaged in practice at Chanute, and during this time has been connected with much … Read more

Biography of Cassius C. Surber, M. D.

Cassius C. Surber, M. D. An exceptionally long and valuable service in the field of medicine has been rendered by the Surber family in Kansas. The late Dr. David Surber was a distinguished physician in Kansas during the territorial period and afterward. The son, Dr. Cassius C. Surber, has been in practice more than thirty years, the greater part of that time at Independence, and is undoubtedly one of the ablest surgeons in the state. Originally in Germany, the Surbers were colonial settlers in America, and the family subsequently became pioneers in the Territory of Indiana. Dr. C. C. Surber’s … Read more

Biography of Joseph Edward Exner

Joseph Edward Exner, now president of the Coffeyville Shale Products Company and especially identified with a number of other manufacturing and business concerns of Montgomery County, is a veteran railroad man, having retired from the hazardous and responsible position of locomotive engineer some thirteen years ago to take up a career as a manufacturer at Coffeyville. He is an Eastern man, though most of his experience in railroading and business has been gained in the West. His Exner ancestors had their original seat of residence in Germany. During colonial times two brothers of the name came to New York State, … Read more

Biography of Camden L. Bloom

C. L. Bloom. One of the most picturesque careers in the mid-continent oil and gas fields has been that of Camden L. Bloom of Independence. By an unusual capacity for hard labor and by a foresight seasoned by long and active experience he made one large fortune, which was swept away in the panic of 1907. With a few dollars realized by mortgaging his home, he made a new start, and today his operations and holdings would constitute another modest fortune at least. His life began in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1868. His people, the Blooms, came from Germany … Read more

Biography of Edward S. Rea

Edward S. Rea. One of the largest milling concerns in Southern Kansas is the Rea-Patterson Milling Company of Coffeyville. The plant was established at Coffeyville in 1894, and at that time the daily capacity of the mill was 400 barrels. Since then, by gradual additions and improvements, the daily capacity is now 1,800 barrels of uour and 600 barrels of meal, while the elevator capacity is 700,000 bushels, this being one of the largest mills in the state. In fact the product from the Rea-Patterson Milling Company has a very wide distribution, particularly over the South and Southwest, and the … Read more

Biography of Fred C. Hall

One of the alert and enterprising business men of Nowata is Fred C. Hall, secretary and manager of the Henderson Gasoline Company, with offices in the First National Bank building. He was born in Galt, Illinois, on the 15th of October, 1883. His father, William Boyd Hall, was a native of New York and removed to Illinois at an early day, where he followed farming. His death occurred in 1885. William B. Hall married Miss Alice Buck, a native of Illinois. Her death occurred in Nowata in 1919. In the acquirement of an education Fred C. Hall attended the schools … Read more