Dickinson County KS

Dickinson County, Kansas, established in 1857, lies in the central part of the state, playing a significant role in the westward expansion and development of the American frontier. The county’s early economy was driven by agriculture, cattle trade, and the influence of the railroads, notably the Kansas Pacific Railway, which facilitated the movement of goods and people, contributing to the growth of towns like Abilene, its county seat. Abilene’s prominence as a cattle town in the late 1860s and early 1870s, serving as the terminus for the Chisholm Trail, marks a significant chapter in the county’s history, reflecting the dynamic economic activities that shaped the region. For genealogists, Dickinson County offers a wealth of historical records that provide insights into the lives of early settlers, including land deeds, agricultural records, census data, and vital records from the mid-19th century onwards. These documents are invaluable for tracing lineage, understanding family histories, and reconstructing the social fabric of the time. The county was also influenced by its Native American heritage, with the region historically inhabited by various tribes, which adds another layer of depth to genealogical research. The county’s archives, historical societies, and libraries are key resources for accessing these records, offering a comprehensive view of the people who lived, worked, and shaped the history of Dickinson County, Kansas.

Biography of Horace Greeley Kyle

Horace Greeley Kyle, whose name is widely known over the State of Kansas on account of his legislative experience and active participation in public and business affairs, is a successful stock farmer and owned a splendid place in Dickinson County known as “The Cedars.” That is the scene of his business activities as a farmer and raiser of blooded livestock. Mr. Kyle is a native of Kansas and belongs to the pioneer and territorial element. He was born in a log cabin four miles west of Holton in Jackson County October 21, 1861. His father, James B. Kyle, came to … Read more

Biography of John August Lindahl

John August Lindahl. One of the families that came as pioneers to Dickinson County in 1870 were the Lindahls. The head of the family, the late August Swenson Lindahl, was a very poor man, having barely enough to bring his family across the ocean and reach this situation almost on the frontier of civilization in Kansas. Like other early settlers he took up a tract of Government land, locating in Center Township, and 2½ miles northeast of the present Town of Enterprise in Dickinson County. There he began the hard work to which he had become accustomed in his native … Read more

Biography of William C. Kandt

William C. Kandt, a native of Kansas, and member of a pioneer family in the state, has been a banker all his active career, and while he maintains offices and has his home at Independence he is active cashier of the Wayside State Bank and president of the Citizens State Bank of Elk City. His birth occurred in Dickinson County, Kansas, August 24, 1877. His grandparents, John and Mary Kandt were German people who came to this country in the early ’50s and in 1857 pioneered into Dickinson County, Kansas, where they were among the first to break the virgin … Read more

Biography of William G. Anderson

William G. Anderson. A native of Kansas, a member of a prominent old family of Dickinson County, William Gibson Anderson had had a varied experience but early found his real work and vocation in the newspaper profession, and had been actively identified with a number of papers in Southern Kansas. He is now editor and proprietor of the Evening Free Press at Winfield. He was born on a farm near Abilene, Kansas, July 30, 1874, attended the public schools of Abilene, graduating from high school in 1894, and his college alma mater is Baker University at Baldwin. He was graduated … Read more

Biography of Joseph Ralph Burton, Hon.

Among the men who have come out of the Hoosier State to aid Kansas in its. real growth and development, there had been no finer man nor better citizen than Hom. Joseph Ralph Burton. Youthful in years as he was in experience when he came to Kansas in 1878, he plunged at once into the heart of affairs and gained ready recognition from the people. Senator Burton had at that time the ability to impress others with his reliability; he gained public confidence; he possessed the power of making people know that his talents were not merely skin deep but … Read more

Norwood, Dorothy Mosley Mrs. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Dorothy Norwood, 78, of Baker City, died March 15, 2002, at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Her memorial service will be held later at Palm Mortuary in North Las Vegas, Nev. Local arrangements are under the direction of Coles Funeral Home. Mrs. Norwood was born March 30, 1923, at Herington, Kan., to Wilhelmina and Clayton Mosley, who preceded her in death. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Fred Norwood, of Baker City; a daughter, Mozella Seltzer and her husband, Edward, and a son, Fred Norwood, Jr. and his wife Wanda, all of Las Vegas, Nev.; … Read more

Throe, Cala L. – Obituary

Mrs. H. P. Throe (Cala L. Fovargue) Joseph, Oregon Mrs. H.P. Throe, a pioneer of Union and Wallowa counties, died after an operation performed at the Enterprise Hospital. Cala L. Fovargue was born May 2nd, 1854, in Elkriver Township, Clinton County Iowa. She was married to Hans P. Throe January 14th 1872. In November of 1877 they moved to Abilene, Kansas. After residing there for three years they moved to Oregon, making the journey by wagon. Three months after starting, they reached the Grande Ronde valley. In 1887, they moved to Joseph where they have resided ever since. Mrs. Throe … Read more

Biographical Sketch of T. B. Johns

T. B. Johns, farmer, P. O. Athens, was born in Galena, Ill., April 8, 1841. In 186l he went to California, and back to Nevada in 1862; thence to Utah; thence to Idaho; thence to British Columbia; thence to Oregon; thence to Montana; thence to Wyoming; thence back to Utah; thence to Prescott, Arizona, back to Nevada, and again back to Illinois; thence to Queenstown, Ireland, and back to the United States, settling at Abilene, Kan., in 1871. Came to Jewell County in October 1871, and is now the owner of 240 acres of land. Mr. Johns has been an … Read more

Biography of John K. Forney

John K. Forney. Dairying is more and more looked upon as one of the most important means of elevating the general agricultural industry of the country. One of the pioneers in stimulating dairying as a farm resource in Western Kansas is Mr. John K. Forney of Abilene, president of the Belle Springs Creamery Company. This is the largest creamery company in Kansas owned exclusively by Kansas capital. Like many other great business enterprises it had been developed from small beginnings. Mr. Forney was at the beginning. He arrived in Kansas with limited capital in 1879, and bought a tract of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles Moreau Harger

Charles Moreau Harger, Kansas editor and old time resident of the state, is known to thousands of people outside Kansas through his writings in magazines and through his active participation in several movements recognized as of national scope. He was born in Phelps, New York, in 1863, came west to Dickinson County in 1879 with his parents, and had resided in Abilene since that date. He was educated in a classical school. For several years he was a farmer and rancher, then teacher, being principal of the Hope City schools in 1887-88. He then became a reporter on the Abilene … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Joseph A. Muir

One of the farms that gives a character of progressiveness to Saline County is owned and occupied by Joseph A. Muir, one of the younger representatives of the agricultural industry in this state. This farm is near Mentor in Walnut Township. It is a farm that Mr. Muir had known all his life and he was born there. He had 200 acres of land, and well adapted for the raising of alfalfa, which is one of his principal crops. In every point it is modern in equipment and facilities. He had substantial buildings, including barns and silos for the care … Read more

Biography of Charles H. Browne

Charles H. Browne is proprietor and editor of the Horton Headlight-Commercial, now the only journal published in that enterprising and flourishing city of Brown County. Mr. Browne had been largely identified with newspaper work since he left school, and is a vigorous type of citizen and easily a leader in any community. For a number of years he had been connected with the National Guard of Kansas and had been especially active in recent events in which the country had been involved in tronble, first with Mexico and later with Germany. The Horton Headlight-Commercial is a consolidation of half a … Read more

Biography of William A. Hopkins

William A. Hopkins, now living retired at Solomon, had turned the seventy-fifth milepost on life’s journey. His years have accounted for something not only to himself but to his country and his community. He was a gallant and loyal soldier of the Union during more than three years of the Civil war. After his part in that struggle he came to Kansas and had been a resident of Dickinson County for practically half a century. The Solomon community esteems him not only as one of its oldest but one of its most highly respected citizens. An Indiana man by birth, … Read more

Kansas Registrations of Enemy Aliens, 1917 – 1921

The series contains original affidavits of registration that record personal information about each registrant, their photograph affixed to the majority of documents, and the registrants fingerprints. All of these are specific to Kansas, and most have the actual documents attached.

Throe, H. P. Mrs. – Obituary

Mrs. H.P. Throe (Cala L. Fovargue) Mrs. H.P. Throe, a pioneer of Union and Wallowa counties, died after an operation performed at the Enterprise Hospital. Cala L. Fovargue was born May 2nd, 1854, in Elkriver township, Clinton county Iowa. She was married to Hans P. Throe January 14th 1872. In November of 1877 they moved to Abilene, Kansas. After residing there for three years they moved to Oregon, making the journey by wagon. Three months after starting, they reached the Grande Ronde valley. In 1887, they moved to Joseph where they have resided ever since. Mrs. Throe was the mother … Read more

Biography of George Rushton

George Rushton. The George Rushton Baking Company, Incorporated, at Rosedale, is the largest concern of its kind in the State of Kansas. Every day its ovens turn out 20,000 loaves of high class bread, sold and consumed principally in the two Kansas cities, while the weekly capacity of the pie plant is 75,000 pies. It is the only pie baking plant on a large scale in the two cities. Baking had been a trade in the Rushton family for so many generations back that no record had been kept of the originator of the business. The president and founder of … Read more

Biography of William C. Roughton

William C. Roughton, editor and proprietor of the Manchester Motor in Dickinson County, with his wife as local editor, had been identified either with the printing trade or with newspaper work since early boyhood. His father was at one time proprietor of the Jetmore Republican. The Roughton family is one of the earliest names that occur in the history of Hodgeman County. At Jetmore in that county William C. Roughton was born September 21, 1882. He is a son of Columbus E. and Amanda (Wilson) Roughton. Columbus E. Roughton, who was born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, in 1843, a … Read more

Biography of John Franklin Haskell

John Franklin Haskell is the Topeka and Kansas representative of the greatest creamery organization in America. He is general manager and vice president of the Beatrice Creamery Company, consolidated, with headquarters in Topeka. Both he and his brother George Everett have long been prominently identified with this business. His brother George E., who is president of the Beatrice Creamery Company, lives in Chicago. George was the founder of the industry at Beatrice, Nebraska, about 1890. He pushed the enterprise with so much success that it soon outgrew the limits of its home city, but the company still bears the name … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Parker

Charles W. Parker is the world’s Napoleon in the manufacture of amusement devices. He lives in Kansas, had his immense plant, sometimes known as the “Wooden Horse Ranch,” at Leavenworth. He had been a resident of Kansas since he was an infant of five years. A philosopher may discover, if he can, any connection between the fact that he was brought to Kansas in one of the old fashioned movers or emigrant wagons, and the fact that his carnival outfits, shows, amusement machinery now circulate and travel to all parts of the habitable globe. He was born April 26, 1864, … Read more

Biography of Richard Waring

Richard Waring, during his long and active career at Abilene, won the respect and esteem of every citizen. He was a man whose character inspired confidence. He was the trusted adviser of many. Successful in his own affairs, strong in self reliance, he stood as a commanding figure in that community until the close of his life, and his memory will always be revered by the hundreds who knew him as a friend and associate. His life was the expression of a strong and self reliant nature. Born at Belfast, Ireland, July 4, 1850, coming alone to America in 1868, … Read more