Cowley County KS

Biography of Ross Homer Rhoads

Ross Homer Rhoads is agent for the Santa Fe Railroad Company at Arkansas City. He had been a railroad man for a number of years, and it was his efficiency and his ability that led to his promotion to one of the most important posts along the Santa Fe system in Kansas. Mr. Rhoads had spent most of his life in Kansas but was born at Somerset, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1883. His grandfather, Samuel A. Rhoads, was a native of Germany and came from there to Pennsylvania. He had ten children: Sarah, deceased; Adaline, single; Etta, deceased; Philip, deceased; Susan, … Read more

Biography of Nelson H. George

Nelson H. George is one of the veterans in the service of the Santa Fe Railroad in Kansas. He had been connected with the railroad in different capacities for twenty-five consecutive years, and when he first came to Kansas over thirty years ago he entered the employ of the railway company, though afterwards for some seven or eight years he had a most diversified experience as a West Kansas homesteader. He now had the heavy responsibilities of general yardmaster of the Santa Fe Railway at Arkansas City. His name is familiar to railroad men throughout the southwest, and his efficiency … Read more

Biography of Allen Dale Hileman

Allen Dale Hileman. Belonging to that class of business men whose practical education, quick perceptions and great capacity for painstaking industry have advanced them to positions of business prominence formerly occupied only by men many years their seniors, Allen Dale Hileman, while representing the vigorous and resourceful present of Kansas, gives promise of participating in its more enlightened future, more especially at Cherryvale and in Montgomery County, where he is engaged in a well-established real estate, loan and insurance business and also connected with the Montgomery County National Bank. Allen Dale Hileman, or Dale Hileman, as he is universally known, … Read more

Biography of C. B. Goodrich

C. B. Goodrich. A life of quiet effectiveness, marked by a record of many duties well done and many responsibilities faithfully fulfilled, was that of the late, C. B. Goodrich, who died in Lawrence in 1910 at the age of sixty-six. He was one of those quiet unassuming men, rarely known to the world in general, but worthily filling the niche in the affairs of life allotted to them. Of Canadian nativity, born at Sarnia, he was brought to the United States when very young and was reared in and about Kankakee, Illinois. The first service in his quiet routine … Read more

Biography of Almon A. Gist

Almon A. Gist. Arkansas City is one of the most important points on the system of the Santa Fe Railway, the Oklahoma & Gulf Line there connecting with the eastern and western divisions of the system. Many of the important offices connected with the traffic and operating departments are located in Arkansas City, and some of the men who have risen highest in the service have their business headquarters there. One of them is A. A. Gist, now train master, who had been a railroad man during the most of his active career and had been located at Arkansas City … Read more

Biography of John C. Hoyt

John C. Hoyt became identified with the real estate, loan and insurance business at El Dorado over thirty years ago. He is the dean in that line of business in Butler County, and the reputation for honesty and integrity which had become associated with his name through many long years had brought him all the business that his firm could attend to during the rapid development of Butler County’s resources in recent years. Mr. Hoyt was born near Bellevue, Ohio, September 3, 1860. His people have been identified with Northern Ohio since pioneer times. His grandfather, John Hoyt, was born … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Carl H. Skinner

Carl H. Skinner is superintendent of the city schools of Nortonville. He had been engaged in school work since before he attained his majority, and is one of the school men who are thoroughly in love with their calling and profession. Mr. Skinner possesses that fundamental requisite of a good teacher–a love for and understanding of young people. That is worth more than a bundle of academic degrees. But he also possesses in addition the technical skill and the experience which enable him to guide and administer a school system. A native of Kansas, Mr. Skinner was born at Burden … Read more

Biography of E. O. Smith, M. D.

E. O. Smith, M. D. A physician and surgeon in Kansas for twenty years, Dr. E. O. Smith had attained high rank as a surgeon and is now the active associate of his brother, F. R. Smith, in the practice of surgery at the Winfield Hospital, which the brothers own. A resident of Kansas since 1874, Dr. E. O. Smith was born on a farm three miles from Peru, Madison County, Iowa, January 19, 1869, a son of William and Ellen (Hollingshead) Smith. His father was a native of Kentucky, but in early life went to Illinois with his parents, … Read more

Biography of William T. McKay, M. D.

William T. McKay, M. D. In point of continuous service Doctor McKay is one of the oldest physicians in Southern Kansas, having located at Arkansas City thirty years ago. He had always maintained a position among the leaders of his profession, and besides his large private practice he had elevated standards of medical service and furnished additional facilities through Mercy Hospital, of which he is one of the proprietors. Doctor McKay was born at Indianola, Iowa, September 4, 1860, and is of Scotch-Irish descent. His ancestors were pioneers in Kentucky. His father, Charles McKay, was born at Bardstown, Kentucky, in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles L. McMasters

Charles L. McMasters, dealer in grain, coal and seeds, and a popular young man of Tuscola, was born on a farm three miles northwest of Tuscola, in Tuscola township, March 26, 1867, and is a son of S. L. and Hannah ( Maris) Maris)McMasters, who were natives of Parke County, Indiana. In 1869 his father sold, his farm and removed to Sand Springs, Kansas, where he followed farming and stock raising until his death in Mary, 1870, after which his mother, with three children, two sons and one daughter-Charles being the younger-removed to Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas, where she resided … Read more

Biography of Solomon A. Smith

Solomon A. Smith is one of the old time residents of Cowley County and he taught school to an earlier generation of children in the country districts, but for upwards of thirty years had been a successful lawyer of high standing at Winfield, and is one of the oldest members of the bar of that city. His home had been in Kansas since 1869. He was born near Salem in Marion County, Illinois, May 1, 1853. His people were among the very first settlers in Marion County, having located there very early in the nineteenth century. This branch of the … Read more

Biography of Harry Prince Farrar

Harry Prince Farrar. The spirit of enterprise which had stimulated and had produced a development that now makes Arkansas City one of the most important industrial centers of Southern Kansas had no better representative than H. P. Farrar, who came out to this then frontier post on the Southern Kansas border in 1872 and had ever since been closely identified with the town’s upbuilding and growth. Mr. Farrar is known among his associates as a man of remarkable personality, energy and capacity for business, and while absorbed in the management and direction of his private affairs had at the same … Read more

Biography of Arthur E. Le Stourgeon

Arthur E. Le Stourgeon. One of the most progressive younger business men of Arkansas City, Arthur Edward Le Stourgeon, is secretary and manager of the Arkansas City Ice Company, a business with which he had been actively connected since coming here nearly twenty years ago, is secretary of the American Paint & Button Company, and vice president of Henneberry & Co., all being prominent local industries, and is president of the city board of education. Mr. Le Stourgeon is of French ancestry. His ancestors came out of France and settled in Virginia in colonial times. His grandfather was an artist … Read more

Biography of John Madison Dosbaugh

John Madison Dosbaugh. Ready adaptation to opportunity, a capacity for gauging the possible value of investments and securities and the well developed speculative instinct that places the natural banker and business man in a class by himself, are factors which have directed the business and financial energy of John Madison Dosbaugh, president of the Dosbaugh National Bank of Cedar Vale, and one of his community’s leading citizens and principal landholders. Mr. Dosbaugh had been identified with the bank of which he is now the directing head for more than a quarter of a century, during which period he had aided … Read more

Biography of Charles Sumner Newlon, M.D.

Dr. Charles Sumner Newlon, who for the past fifteen years has engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Kansas City, Missouri, and who for many years prior to this period was a physician and surgeon of the state of Kansas, was born at Newton’s Grove, Cass county, Iowa, in 1858, a son of Dr. William Smithson and Maria (Wimp) Newlon. The ancestral line is traced back to his great-grandfather, John Newlon. The grandfather, Hiram Newlon, was born in Virginia and was a cousin of Dolly Madison, wife of the fourth president of the United States and also a … Read more

Biography of V. E. Creighton

V. E. Creighton, president of the Traders State Bank of Arkansas City, had spent most of his active career in Kansas, began life as a teacher, afterwards was a railroad clerk, and by hard work and a certain special ability in financial affairs had promoted himself to his present standing and influential connections as a banker. The Traders State Bank of Arkansas City was organized in 1905 by B. C. Straughan, J. E. Heard and W. M. Bummell. The original capital was $25,000. On May 1, 1914, Mr. Creighton and his associates bought the institution, and besides Mr. Creighton the … Read more