Coffeyville Kansas

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 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 James A. Templeton

James A. Templeton. One of the most important industries of the southeastern part of Kansas is the production of oil, a business that has enlisted the best talents of skilled men from every part of this and other states, and of the men who are devoting their energies to this line of endeavor few are better known than is James A. Templeton, of Caney. Mr. Templeton has been engaged in this business from early youth and his success therein has been brought about through a combination which includes a thorough knowledge of conditions, business talent of a high order and … Read more

Biography of William Cochran Hall, M. D.

William Cochran Hall, M. D., has lived at Coffeyville nearly thirty years. As a physician and surgeon he has been successful, as is indicated by the numerous professional relations he has enjoyed as physician and surgeon to a large number of the railway companies and other industrial organizations of that section of the state. But Doctor Hall’s usefulness has not been confined entirely within the lines of his profession. He is one of the men who have made Coffeyville a city. He has helped bring many of its industries and organizations, and has aided in numerous worthy enterprises inaugurated for … 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 Mrs. A. C. Stich

Mrs. A. C. Stich by her inheritance of some of the best of old American stock and as head of the home over which she presided for so many years, is a Kansas woman of whom some special note should be made. Her great-grandfather William Henry Stoy was the founder of the family in America, having emigrated from Germany. He was a ministor of the Episcopal Church, and spent many years in preaching in Pennsylvania, where he died. Her paternal grandfather Heury William Stoy was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in 1782 and died in West Virginia in 1858. He was … 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 William Henry Francis

William Henry Francis. Among the men foremost in Montgomery County identified with industrial enterprises, those who have become widely known by reason of the magnitude of their operations and the extent of their trade connections, few are better known than is William Henry Francis, superintendent and manager of the Coffeyville Vitrified Brick and Tile Company’s plants at Coffeyville, Collinsville, Cherryvale and Fort Smith. Mr. Francis has spent his entire career in the business in which he is now engaged, and is maintaining the prestige in business circles attained by his honored father, the late George Francis. William H. Francis was … Read more

Biography of E. L. Graham

E. L. Graham. The large industries of Coffeyville have brought to that community many men of ability from all parts of the world. One of those to be named in this class of energetic citizenship is E. L. Graham, treasurer and manager of the Acme Foundry and Machine Company. Mr. Graham was the real founder of this business, and is an experienced foundry man, having served his apprenticeship many years ago in Kansas. A native son of Kansas he was born at Neodesha June 25, 1877. This branch of the Graham family came originally from Scotland and lived for many … Read more

Biography of J. W. Jackson

Among the public-spirited citizens and progressive farmers of Washington County whose intelligently directed labors are valuable assets in promoting the agricultural development of northeastern Oklahoma is numbered J. W. Jackson, who resides on a highly productive farm situated on the Caney river, near Vera. He was born in Logan County, Kentucky, December 16, 1865, and his parents were George C. and Josephine (Anderson) Jackson, the former a native of Tennessee, while the latter was born in the Blue Grass state. The father established his home in Kentucky during the Civil war, in which he served until the close of hostilities … Read more

Biography of William Martin Ladd

William Martin Ladd. Prominent among the younger Government officials of Montgomey County, Kansas, is William Martin Ladd, who is capably discharging the duties of postmaster of the thriving little City of Dearing. Mr. Ladd had as training for his official services an experience in banking, and having attained his position by virtue of successful participation in a civil service examination, is handling the affairs of the mail service in an entirely acceptable manner. He is a native son of Kansas and was born at Vernon, Woodson County. October 4, 1891, his parents being Ira W. and Mine L. (Martin) Ladd. … 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

Slave Narrative of Morris Sheppard

Person Interviewed: Morris Sheppard Location: Fort Gibson, Oklahoma Date of Birth: November, 1852 Age: 85 Old Master tell me I was borned in November 1852, at de old home place about five miles east of Webbers Falls, mebbe kind of northeast, not far from de east bank of de Illinois River. Master’s name was Joe Sheppard, and he was a Cherokee Indian. Tall and slin and handsome. He had black eyes and mustache but his hair was iron gray, and everybody liked him because he was so good-natured and kind. I don’t remember old Mistress’ name. My mammy was a … Read more

Biography of Charles T. Carpenter

Charles T. Carpenter is one of the pioneer bankers of Coffeyville, and for thirty years has been closely identified with what is now known as the Condon National Bank, being vice president of that institution. Mrs. Temple W. Carpenter, his wife, is one of the prominent women of Southern Kansas, has been a leader in religious, social and public affairs, and is president of the Carnegie Library of Coffeyville, and is the only woman who has ever been honored with a place on the school board of that city. The Carpenter family is a very old one in America, having … Read more

Biography of George F. Boswell

George F. Boswell, who represents a pioneer family of Montgomery County, has spent most of his active career at Coffeyville, was a merchant there for a number of years, and now devotes his time to the management of his extensive property interests and also his holdings in the oil and gas district. He was born in Atchison County, Missouri, October 29, 1859. The record of his family in America goes back to his grandfather George Finley Boswell, who was born in England of Scotch descent in 1804. After his marriage to Hannah Colter, who was a native of Ireland and … Read more

Biography of Frank McClellan

Frank McClellan. After many years employed as an educator in Kansas, Frank McClellan turned his attention to business affairs at Coffeyville, and now has one of the leading offices there for insurance and loans. His birthplace was Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he was born January 21, 1860. His grandfather, Abraham McClellan, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1798, came to the United States when a young man, becoming a farmer and stock raiser in Pennsylvania. He died at Rainsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1883. On account of his service in the state militia he was familiarly known as Captain McClellan. Captain McClellan married … Read more

Biography of C. O. Ross

C. O. Ross. In a conspicuous place on the roll of men who have become successful through their connection with the oil and gas industry is found the name of C. O. Ross, a native of the Buckeye state and a splendid type of the alert, progressive and public-apirited men whose records are indications that success is ambition’s answer. His long and prominent connection with the oil business began at the time of his majority, when he started in at the bottom to make his way to a position of prominence, and no oil producer in Kansas has a better … Read more

Biography of Pratt Barndollar

Pratt Barndollar, a cattle dealer at Coffeyville, had some very interesting connections with the country and the people of Southern Kansas and of Old Indian Territory. His father was the late J. J. Barndollar, who built up by energetic business methods a large estate consisting of mercantile, manufacturing, mining, banking and other business properties, and was one of the leading men of his time in Southern Kansas and Northern Oklahoma. J. J. Barndollar was born at Everett, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1842, and came west when a young man. He arrived at Humboldt, Kansas, in 1869, and in 1871 went … Read more

Biography of J. H. Stephens, Mrs.

Mrs. J. H. Stephens. As president of the City Federation of Women’s Clubs, an active factor in the Current Club and a member of the Carnegie Library Board, at Coffeyville, Mrs. J. H. Stephens occupies a prominent position in the social, civic and intellectual life that has made this city one of the centers of cultural interests in the state. Mrs. Stephens (Esther Logan) comes of an old colonial family of English origin. The Logans were pioneers in Kentucky, in which state Mrs. Stephens’ grandfather was born and died. Her father, G. H. Logan, was born in Somerset County, Kentucky, … Read more

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