Coffeyville Kansas

Biography of Fred C. Childs

Fred C. Childs, now superintendent of the Cudahy Refining Company at Coffeyville, is an oil refiner of almost world wide experience. He has been connected with that industry since youth, and has spent a number of years in the Kansas field. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1867, a son of Caleb O. and Sarah A. (Langdon) Childs. His Childs ancestors came from England to Rhode Island in colonial times. His great-grandfather John Cole Childs was a Revolutionary soldier and an extensive land owner in Rhode Island. His grandfather, Thomas Cole Childs, was born in Rhode Island in … Read more

Biography of Byron Williams

Byron Williams. The mention of the name of Byron Williams calls up associations as one of the foremost livestock men of the State of Kansas. Mr. Williams is comparatively young, only forty years of age, but in the years since he started out on his own responsibility has shown a remarkable ability in all branches of the live stock industry. He has operated extensively as a rancher and raiser of horses and cattle, his dealings have made him a familiar figure in all the leading markets of the Middle West, and he is undoubtedly one of the best known men … Read more

Biography of Thomas C. Harbourt

Thomas C. Harbourt. A resident for thirty-eight years is not the only distinction of Thomas C. Harbourt at Coffeyville. He is a man of wide interests and activities, has been a contractor and builder, has filled many local offices with credit and efficiency, and is one of the best known men in fraternal circles in Southeastern Kansas. He is still active in business, handles real estate, and is also a justice of the peace. His earlier years were spent in Ohio. His people were of German stock, lived in old Virginia some years, and afterwards identified themselves with the abolition … 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 Arthur M. Thurman

Arthur M. Thurman. As the prosperous and rapidly-growing city of Caney is located almost on the state line between Oklahoma and Kansas, many men who make their homes in the city are the owners of property in the former state, particularly land that is used for agricultural purposes. A large number of these make daily trips between their country estates and their city residences, either by way of train or automobile, and in this class is found Arthur M. Thurman, a prosperous farmer and rancher, who lives at Caney, but whose magnificent property, consisting of 1,280 acres of fertile and … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Ball

Charles M. Ball. While every type of business man must possess certain qualities to ensure success in his enterprises, those indispenable to the banker rest along such high lines that his position in a community is comparable to no other in importance. As a bank represents the most conservative of all institutions, the honest banker is conservative, thereby safeguarding the interests entrusted to his care. Such bankers are invaluable protectors of the public as well as of the private individual. The steadying influence of a conservative banker has often proved a bulwark to a business community in time of real … 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 John Kossuth Beatty

John Kossuth Beatty. Before the Indians had been completely removed from Southeastern Kansas across the line into what is now Oklahoma, the Beatty family established its residence in Montgomery County. It is an old and honored name in this section of the state. It is probable that John K. Beatty, a prominent real estate man of Coffeyville, is the oldest native of Montgomery County still living who has spent his entire active career within the limits of that civil division. To speak of him as being the oldest native son is by no means to credit him with age, since … Read more

Biography of James L. McCoy

James L. McCoy has for many years been identified with the lumber industry both in Kansas and Arkansas, and manages his extensive interests from his home and headquarters at Coffeyville. Nearly all his active career has been spent in the West and in the early days of Oklahoma he went there as a pioneer and opened a farm. James L. McCoy was born in Atchison County, Missouri, May 21, 1862. Four generations of the McCoys have lived in this country, having come originally from Scotland, and the family were early settlers in the State of Ohio. Mr. McCoy’s grandfather, Andrew … 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 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 Thomas James Hanlon

Thomas James Hanlon has achieved a place as a prominent attorney in Southern Kansas, and is now senior member of the firm of Hanlon & Hanlon at Coffeyville, being associated in practice with his younger brother. Kansas is his native state. He was born at Howard in Elk County July 27, 1882. His ancestry is Irish. His grandfather Thomas Hanlon was a stone mason by trade, emigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1847, lived for a time in Massachusetts, and afterwards near Peoria and Quincy, Illinois, in which state he died. He was a democrat in politics. His … Read more

Biography of Will R. Black

Will R. Black is a native Kansan, grew up and received his education in this state, and is now one of the capable oil inspectors under the state government, with headquarters and home at Coffeyville. He traces his ancestry back to a family of Scotch origin, and one that was planted in Virginia during colonial days. His grandfather Andy Black, was born in Pulaski County, Virginia, in 1814, was reared and married in that state, and in 1838 went to Western Indiana, where he followed farming and stock raising until his death. He died at Greencastle, Indiana, in 1872. He … Read more

Biography of Albert Erskine Wilson

Albert Erskine Wilson, who is a son of that splendid Montgomery County pioneer, the late Ebenezer Erskine Wilson, has had an active business career at Coffeyville covering a period of twenty years, during which time he has progressed from the position of stenographer and clerk to head of one of the leading elevator companies of Southern Kansas, and has also acquired other business interests. His birth occurred in Independence, Kansas, February 24, 1876. Mr. Wilson is descended from a family that originally lived in Scotland, and among his direct ancestors were the noted Erskines of Seotland. The Wilsons came from … 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 Marshall Marion McCaslin

Marshall Marion McCaslin is a native of Kansas and has crowded a great many activities and experiences into the thirty years since his birth. He was formerly a farmer, but is now proprietor of the Acetylene Welding Company, one of the important industries of Coffeyville. The McCaslin family came out of Ireland, were early settlers in America, and for many years lived in the State of Indiana. Mr. McCaslin was born in Crawford County, Kansas, July 23, 1886. His father, W. M. McCaslin, was born in Illinois in 1860, was reared there. In 1880 he came with his family to … 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 Richard Yates Kennedy

Richard Yates Kennedy. A man of genial presence, of manifest sympathy, of resourceful brain and high educational standards, is found in Richard Yates Kennedy, principal of the Coffeyville High School. He has bad many years of experience in the educational field, some thirty-three more or less continuous, and there are few problems of a teacher’s life that he has not, at one time or another, successfully solved. Professor Kennedy has been a resident of Kansas since 1887, has valuable property investments in Montgomery County, and social, business and civic interests at Coffeyville. Richard Yates Kennedy was born in Whiteside County, … Read more

Biography of William H. Shepard

William H. Shepard. When William H. Shepard left college he chose the work which seemed most congenial and for which he had the greatest apparent adaptability, and entered a bank in Illinois. For thirty consecutive years he has applied himself to the subject of banking, and his business success and prominence is largely due to this concentration of effort along one line. Mr. Shepard is now vice president of the First National Bank of Coffeyville, and is identified with several other important concerns which might be classed as public utilities in that part of Kansas. His branch of the Shepard … 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