Douglas County KS

Biography of Martin S. McCreight, M. D.

Martin S. McCreight, M. D. A resident of Kansas since early boyhood, Doctor McCreight is one of the oldest business men and professional men of the City of Oskaloosa, where he began the practice of medicine and surgery over twenty years ago, and during the greater part of the time had also conducted a drug business and is vice president of the Jefferson County Bank. Doctor McCreight was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. February 19, 1870, and is of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather McCreight was a native Scotchman and on coming to America located in Pennsylvania. Johnston McCreight, father of … Read more

Biography of Jesse Clyde Nichols

Jesse Clyde Nichols. Under the stressful conditions of modern life the work that a man does cannot in any sense be estimated by his personal age, but rather by the intensity and concentration of his performance. Many Kansas people and people in other states know something of the positions and achievements of J. C. Nichols and the natural assumption would be that he is a man past the middle age of a natural lifetime at least. The fact is that he graduated from Kansas University fifteen years ago and within that time he had compressed as much dynamic force and … Read more

Biography of William S. Tyner

William S. Tyner was one of the early settlers of Kansas, though he lived in the state only a few years, but founded a family which had become especially well known and prominent in Osage County. The Tyners were an old and prominent family of Indiana. William S. Tyner was one of seven sons and was born on a farm in Rush County, Indiana, September 20, 1820. His parents were John and Nancy (Sailors) Tyner, both Indiana people. William S. Tyner was a consin of James N. Tyner, who served as postmaster-general under President Hayes. The early education of William … Read more

Reminiscences of Early Lawrence Kansas

Reminiscences of early Lawrence Kansas

“Reminiscences of early Lawrence” by Agnes Emery, self-published in 1955, offers a deeply personal and detailed account of the author’s experiences and observations in Lawrence, Kansas, during its formative years. Emery’s narrative blends historical details with a vivid recollection of community life, making it a valuable resource for understanding the local history of Lawrence and the broader societal changes of the time.

Biography of Glenn Swogger

Glenn Swogger is one of the younger men in the newspaper business in Kansas and began his career as an editor and publisher soon after leaving Kansas University. Mr. Swogger is editor and owner of The Waverly Gazette and The Harris Commercial. The Waverly Gazette is one of the older papers of Coffey County. It was established as the Gridley Gazette in 1887 by Ben Swearingen, was moved to Burlington in 1888 and in 1889 to Waverly, where it had been published continuously ever since. The Harris Commercial is one of the live weekly papers of Anderson County and was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Richard Ll. D. Cordley, Rev.

Rev. Richard Cordley, Ll. D., during a period of nearly forty years minister of the Plymouth Congregational Church at Lawrence, a victim of the Quantrill raid and somewhat known in public life, was born at Nottingham, England, September 6, 1829. When he was about four years of age he came with his parents to America, the family locating on a tract of Government land in Livingston County, Michigan, where Richard attended the pioneer public schools. In 1854 he graduated from the University of Michigan and in 1857 from the Andover Theological Seminary. On December 2, 1857, he preached his first … Read more

Biography Of John Hermann

John Hermann. America as a land of opportunities means much to every citizen, but the meaning in all its depth and breadth is seldom realized. Perhaps no Kansan had a truer assurance of all this than John Hermann of Lawrence. He is able to contrast the American life of the past half century with the restricted and intolerant regime of the European fatherland where he was born and bred. He early conceived an abomination for a country which imposed compulsory military service, compulsory education, and a host of other restrictions upon the freedom and liberty of its people. It was … Read more

Biography of Wallace H. Anderson

Wallace H. Anderson, county attorney of Allen County, had won many of the honors of his profession during his active practice at Iola, is a native of Kansas, and is a worthy product of Kansas country life and schools. His family came to Brown County in 1869 and Wallace Harmon Anderson was born on the farm there December 26, 1877. His ancestors were Englishmen who came to Pennsylvania in colonial days. His grandfather Amos Anderson was born in Pennsylvania in 1802, and had a brother who served in the War of 1812. Amos Anderson lived in Ohio, in Iowa, came … Read more

Biography of William R. Smith

One of the fine buildings bordering the State Capitol grounds at Topeka is the Kansas State Printing plant. That is the official headquarters of William R. Smith, state printer, and also secretary of the State Printing Commission and chairman of the School Book Commission of the state. Doubtless any citizen, and particularly a printer, would deem it an honor to be at the head of an establishment which experts pronounce to be the equal in mechanical equipment and operating effieiency of any commercial printing establishment in the country. When Mr. Smith went into office on July 1, 1915, he brought … Read more

Biography of Aldamar P. Elder

Aldamar P. Elder. One of the names that will always have significance in Kansas history is that of Elder. Over the state at large it is most closely associated with the career of the late Peter Percival Elder, who came to Kansas when it was a territory, was prominent in many ways during the early and formative period of the state, and at one time filled with distinction the office of lieutenant governor. Governor Elder had a long and active career, and died in 1914. His only son is Aldamar P. Elder, who for over forty years had been one … Read more

Biography of Oscar G. Richards

Oscar G. Richards, who died at his home in Eudora April 4, 1915, exemplified in his long career the true spirit of the Kansas prairies and more important than any of the items of wealth he may have accumulated was the sterling character which men living today delight to recall and use as a source of inspiration and an example of the heroic times of Kansas now passed. He was born in Jackson County, Michigan, January 12, 1836. With little opportunity for schooling, by self-study coupled with a fine analytical mind, he attained a real education, and was always known … Read more

Biography of Edward E. Dix

Edward E. Dix. The vocation of railroading continues to attract many ambitious young men when they enter upon life’s activities, and this field of activity has often proven rich in opportunity to those who have possessed the inclination to work industriously and faithfully, to scorn hardships, to face heavy responsibilities, and to give absolute devotion to the interests of the great systems which employ them. There is no place for those who do not thus prove themselves. Among the officials of almost every other line of business there are found men of sterling worth who would have succeeded well in … Read more

Biography of Oscar Eugene Learnard, Col.

Col. Oscar Eugene Learnard was born in Fairfax, Vermont, November 14, 1832, the son of Stephen Tracy Learnard, and he died in Lawrence, Kansas, November 5, 1911. He grew to manhood in his native state, attended the common schools and Bakersfield Academy, taught school, and attended Norwich, Vermont, University. He did not finish his course at the University but that institution afterward conferred a Master’s degree upon him. Ill health compelled him to give up his studies, and he went to Tennessee, where he was for a time collector for a commercial house. After regaining his health he returned to … Read more

Biography of Claude Emmett Hamill, M. D.

Claude Emmett Hamill, M. D. The first thirty-two years of his life Doctor Hamill spent in gaining a liberal education and in successfully following the industry of farming. His ambition was always fixed on medicine, but various business interests contrived to keep the goal distant until some six or seven years ago. Since 1910 he has been in active practice at Parsons and enjoys a splendid reputation as physician and surgeon. His name represents an old and honored family in Kansas. His paternal ancestry goes back to Ireland, where his grandfather, Samuel Wallace Hamill, was born at Dablin in 1776. … Read more

Biography of Edward Bumgardner, A. M., M. D., D. D. S.

Edward Bumgardner, A. M., M. D., D. D. S., of Lawrence, had been a resident of Kansas for over thirty-five years. Though not a native, he is a loyal Kansan and deeply interested in its progress and standing among the states. He had read and studied with sympathy and understanding Kansas history, and his pride in the state’s past and her institutions had prompted him so far as consistent with his professional work to assist in various public and semi-public undertakings. Doctor Bumgardner is a native of Indiana, born in Warren County, April 10, 1865. His parents were Andrew and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Henry Chalkley

Thomas Henry Chalkley, though identified with business affairs of Kansas only a few years, became widely known and was especially esteemed as a citizen of Lawrence. He was born at Tottenham, now part of London, England, October 23, 1858, a son of Henry George and Hannah (Baron) Chalkley, being the oldest of their six children. His family was one of substantial means, and to complete his education the son was sent to Germany. Later he began his business career as a helper in the office of his father, who was the English agent in London of the J. B. Watkins … Read more

Biography of Lester Martin Combs

Lester Martin Combs has been an active newspaper man since he graduated from Baker University five years ago and is now editor, manager and treasurer of the Anthony Republican, the official paper of Harper County. The Republican is the oldest paper in Harper County and was established a few years after the county was organized in 1879. The first editors and publishers were George W. Maffet and Charles Metcalf. For several years in the late ’80s the Republican had a daily edition. At the present time the Republican is printed at a modern plant on South Bluff Street. The Anthony … Read more

Biography of Alexander Lewis

Alexander Lewis was identified with business and civic affairs at Lawrence from territorial times until his death on January 30, 1905. He was one of the fine characters of the university city and a man whose capable business judgment was marked by a benevolence and a kindly interest in the welfare of his community and his fellow man. He was born in Tompkins County, New York, November 13, 1830, and lived to be nearly seventy-five years of age. His parents were Luther and Mary (Sheldon) Lewis. His grandfather Luther Lewis was a native of Suffield, Connecticut, and moved from there … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lawrence D. Bailey, Judge

Judge Lawrence D. Bailey, long a resident of Emporia and the pioneer lawyer of Southwestern Kansas, also accomplished much in forwarding the agricultural interests of the state. He was a New Hampshire man, born at Sutton, Merrimack County, August 26, 1819. He was of an old Euglish manufacturing family, and his American ancestors are said to have built the first woolen factory in America at what is now Georgetown, Massachusetts. The judge was educated in Pennsylvania, read law and was admitted to the bar in July, 1846, and after practicing three years in New Hampshire started for California, by way … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James F. Legate

James F. Legate was a leading citizen of Leavenworth for nearly forty years, and during the active period of his life few men in the state were better known in legislative affairs. He was a native of Massachusetts, born in Worcester County, November 23, 1829, in the house built by his paternal ancestor five generations preceding him, and on land deeded to that ancestry by the Engilsh government in the reign of George H. His father was a captain in command of a privateer in the War of 1812, and on both maternal and paternal sides were numerous representatives of … Read more