El Dorado Kansas

Biography of Walter J. Eilerts, M. D.

Walter J. Eilerts, M. D., in active practice at El Dorado and associated with Dr. F. E. Dillenbeck, one of the oldest and best known physicians in that part of the state, is a native of Kansas and his people were pioneers in Harvey County. Doctor Eilerts was born at Annelly in Harvey County, Kansas, December 27, 1881. His father, John Eilerts, was born in Germany, in 1837. The family came to America in 1846, and Grandfather Eilerts spent the rest of his life as a farmer in Illinois. He died at Chapin in that state. John Eilerts was nine … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ray E. Frazier

Ray E. Frazier, the elder son of Nathan F. and Emma (Crook) Frazier, was born at El Dorado September 15, 1876. He received his education in the public schools of El Dorado and at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1895, and began his financial training in a minor position in the Merchants National Bank, or which his father was president. There he evinced a marked aptitude for banking and applied himself so earnestly to his duties that upon the organization of the Citizens State Bank he was made assistant cashier and later vice president. … Read more

Biography of John Bunyan Adams

John Bunyan Adams was born in Butler County, Kansas. That county had been his home all his life, and beginning there as a country school teacher and subsequently entering banking, he had achieved a reputation built up on constructive service that had made him widely known over the state as a legislator, banker and financier. He is a former president of the State Bankers’ Association, and for years had been a recognized leader in his part of the state in the republican party. His birth occurred on March 25, 1873, on his father’s farm near Potwin in Butler County. He … Read more

Biography of Juniata Adams

Juniata Adams, one of the successful educators of Kansas and now connected with the El Dorado schools, is a native Kansan and represents a pioneer family in that section of the state. Benjamin Franklin Adams, her father, was a widely known Kansan and for years was distinguished by his enterprises and success in the field of general farming and stock raising. He was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, December 2, 1834, and represented a family that came out of England to Pennsylvania in colonial times. His father, John Adams, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, and spent his life there. … Read more

Biography of Aaron Jacob Lesh

A. J. Lesh at different stages in his career had been a successful teacher, merchant, pharmacist, physician and oil refiner. He is now head of the Lesh Oil Refining Company of Arkansas City, and through his business energy and activities had contributed one of the most important local industries to this section of Southern Kansas. Mr. Lesh had been a resident of Kansas for over thirty years. For a man who had done so much on his own account it is natural that Mr. Lesh should take justifiable pride and interest in his line of worthy American ancestors. His lineage … Read more

Biography Of Mary Alice Murdock

Mary Alice Murdock probably deserves to rank first among Kansas women in the field of journalism. As editor and manager of the El Dorado Republican she is continuing a publication and an influence which were dignified and ennobled by her honored father, the late Thomas Benton Murdock. She was born at Emporia, Kansas, February 28, 1870, and four days after her birth her parents removed to El Dorado, where she grew up and was educated in the public schools. She worked nearly through the senior year in high school, and finished her education in Mount Washington Seminary at Baltimore, Maryland. … Read more

Biography of C. A. Aikman

C. A. Aikman, youngest of the Aikman brothers, had chosen to express his energies and inclinations in the lines of business rather than at the law. He is the only one of the brothers who are natives of Butler County, Kansas. He was born in Benton Township July 5, 1874. He had the advantage of the common schools during his youth, and also had a business course in the Wichita Commercial College. He started life as a farmer, and while still living on his farm he engaged in the buying and shipping of field seed and grain in 1898. By … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Childers

One of the representative citizens of Nowata county is Charles W. Childers, who is residing on the old family homestead eight miles southeast of Lenapah. He was born in Henry county, Missouri, on the 18th of May, 1867, a son of Benjamin F. and Mary Susan (Webster) Childers, the former a native of Henry county and the latter of North Carolina. In the acquirement of his education Charles W. Childers attended the schools of El Dorado, Kansas, and came to Indian Territory with his parents in 1884. They located at Coodys Bluff in Nowata county, where they lived for one … Read more

Biography of Joseph L. Eyman, Dr.

Joseph L. Eyman, M. D. In the profession of medicine and surgery few Kansas physicians have dispensed their services more widely and more successfully than Dr. Joseph L. Eyman of El Dorado, He is a most loyal Kansan. Coming to the state when a child with his parents, he began the practice of his profession twenty-one years later and had witnessed the gradual change and transformation which have made Kansas a highly developed agrienltural and industrial section from what was within his personal recollection an open prairie. Doctor Eyman had traveled over many of the states of the Union, and … Read more

Biography of John Gardner Shelden

John Gardner Shelden, of El Dorado, had made himself a man of success and influential leadership in spite of handicaps and obvious disadvantages. In his early life he was a farmer and school teacher, lost a leg in the railroad service, continued to fight the good fight regardless of physical conditions and in recent years had become one of the leading oil and gas operators in this section of the state. There are many sound reasons why the name Shelden rings honorable and true in Butler County. It is good sound Ameriean stock, of the pioneer type. The story of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Curtis L. Harris

Curtis L. Harris has been a practicing attorney at El Dorado for the past thirty years and during that time had been identified with the business and political movements which have made Butler County prominent. Mr. Harris was reared near Alliance, Ohio. at which place he attended school and was graduated in 1883 from Mount Union Gollege. He began the study of law in the office of Hon. David Fording at Alliance, and was admitted to practice in Butler County, Kansas, in 1887, after completing the then usual course in the law office of Judge C. A. Leland, with whom … Read more

Biography of Abraham James Holderman, Sr.

Abraham James Holderman, Sr. Perhaps a great majority of successful Kansans came to the state poor men and carved their fortunes from the opportunities here presented and by a wise and capable direction of their private affairs. There were some, however, who brought with them considerable capital and left behind in their older communities a record of successful business experience. One of these is Abraham James Holderman, banker, farmer and business man of El Dorado. For a great many years the Holdermans have been numbered among the wealthiest and most influential farmers and stock men in Northern Illinois. In that … Read more

Biography of Mary M. (Lamb) Shelden Mrs.

Mrs. Mary M. (Lamb) Shelden. Among the interesting names belonging to El Dorado is that of Shelden, which since 1874 had been identified with civic progress, advancement and education here. The late Alvah Shelden, who for thirty years was owner and editor of the Walnut Valley Times, was one of the best known of Butler County’s citizens and did much to encourage development and a high form of government, and is survived by his widow, Mrs. Mary M. (Lamb) Shelden, who is widely and favorably known because of her activities, particularly in connection with El Dorado’s library. Mrs. Shelden was … Read more

Biography of Glen E. Kiser

Glen E. Kiser is a member of an old and substantial family of Butler County, and on assuming the responsibilities of manhood he himself took up newspaper work, and experience had developed many exceptional qualifications in that profession. He is now editor and proprietor of the Augusta Gazette. Mr. Kiser was born in Leon, Kansas, April 11, 1891, was educated in the public schools at El Dorado and graduated from high school in 1909. After one year in the University of Kansas he joined the staff of the El Dorado Times and had a great variety of newspaper experience for … Read more

Biography of Mrs. James Atkins

Mrs. James Atkins presided over one of the fine homes of El Dorado and had long been prominent socially in that city. Mr. James Atkins is an honored veteran of the Civil war, one of the earliest settlers of Butler County, and though he began life in the West with little more than his courage and the labor of his hands he now had abundance and deserves both his leisure and his success. Mrs. Atkins was born at Louisville, Kentucky, December 11, 1864. Her maiden name was Eva J. Pool. Her parents were Anthony and Matilda J. (Bennett) Pool. In … Read more

Biography of Miller M. Van Denberg

Miller M. Van Denberg. One of El Dorado’s oldest business men and citizens is Miller M. Van Denberg, who had lived in that community for thirty-nine years. The name is most prominently associated with the lumber business. In that connection it is known not only in El Dorado but in many other towns of Kansas and Oklahoma. Mr. Van Denberg had owned at different times as many as twenty-three lumber yards in these two states. However, his home had always been at El Dorado. Perhaps the chief fruit of his many years of business effort had been the opportunity presented … Read more

Biography of Robert H. Ramsey

Robert H. Ramsey. During the past thirty-five years no name had been more closely identified with the ranching and stock raising interests of Butler County than that of Ramsey. Robert H. Ramsey is a son of A. C. Ramsey, who was the pioneer of the family in the cattle industry. Robert Ramsey himself had handled cattle and ranching as a conspicuous interest of his career, but is also identified with the business community of El Dorado. He was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, November 18, 1881. Albert C. Ramsey, his father, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, June 7, 1837, one … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Richard Smith Miller

Mrs. R. S. Miller. The power and effectiveness of woman’s work in the community as well as in the home had been splendidly exemplified at El Dorado by Mrs. R. S. Miller. The dignity of woman becomes more than an empty phrase when considered in connection with her many varied activities and lines of useful influence. Her career is a fit subject for consideration in the history of Kansas, along with that of her honored husband, the late Dr. R. S. Miller, who gained the esteem of Butler County citizens by his many years of faithful service as a physician … Read more

Biography of Chester C. Shelden

Chester C. Shelden has followed in the profession which his father, the late Alvah Shelden, did much to dignify and honor, and is now proprietor and editor of the Walnut Valley Times at El Dorado, his father’s old paper. The late Alvah Shelden was for thirty years owner and editor of the Walnut Valley Times. He was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, January 13, 1849, a son of Benjamin and Louisa (Vaught) Shelden, the former of German and the latter of Dutch ancestry. When Alvah was three years old his parents removed to Little Rock, Arkansas, and a year … Read more

Biography of Frederick E. Dillenbeck, M. D.

Frederick E. Dillenbeck, M. D.,of El Dorado, had attained as much prominence in the fleld of medicine and surgery as others of his fantily have gained in the breeding and raising of some of the finest trotting horses known in Kansas or anywhere in the country. Doctor Dilleubeck, who had practiced medicine at El Dorado for twenty years, is local and dispensing surgeou for the Missouri Pacific and the Santa. Fe Railway companies, is consulting surgeon for the Rock Island Railroad Company, is medieal examiner for a number of old line life insurance companies, is a member of the County … Read more