Franklin County KS

Moravian Tribe

Moravian Indians. Mahican, Munsee, and Delaware who followed the teachings of the Moravian brethren and were by them gathered into villages apart from their tribes. The majority were Munsee. In 1740 the Moravian missionaries began their work at the Mahican village of Shekomeko in New York. Meeting with many obstacles there, they removed with their converts in 1746 to Pennsylvania, where they built the new mission village of Friedenshuetten on the Susquehanna. Here they were more successful and were largely recruited from the Munsee and Delaware, almost all of the former tribe not absorbed by the Delaware finally joining them. … Read more

Biography of Herbert Franklin Sheldon

Herbert Franklin Sheldon. The original settlers of a new state, county or city, irrespective of any intrinsic qualities which they possess, are subjects of peculiar interest to succeeding generations. Men are interested in recalling their accomplishments and delight to treasure in memory the slightest incident connected with their persons and their settlement. As the years go by the pilgrims of New England are gradually elevated from the level of ordinary humanity and placed before our contemplation on pedestals challenging the admiration and respect of posterity. Each successive step in the settlement of the country as adventurous pioneers have pushed out … Read more

Biography of Francis C. Herr M. D.

Francis C. Herr, M. D. One of the most widely known physicians in Franklin County is Dr. Francis C. Herr, who graduated from one of the oldest medical colleges in the country forty years ago, and had been in active practice at Ottawa since 1884. Born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, December 1, 1852, he is a son of Amos F. and Anna (Frantz) Herr, both of whom are natives of Lancaster County. This is a very old and prominent family of early colonial German ancestry. Doctor Herr is a descendant of Hans Herr, who represented a Suabian family of Germany, where … Read more

Biography of John S. Kinkaid

John S. Kinkaid, one of the highly respected farmers of Camas prairie, was born in Indiana, September 9, 1833, and is a representative of an old Kentucky family. His grandfather, Joseph Kinkaid, was a soldier of the war of 1812, and was an early settler of Kentucky. His son, Andrew Kinkaid, was born, reared and educated in Kentucky and became a minister of the Christian church. In 1841 he removed to Missouri and was a prominent preacher of the gospel in that state. He married Miss Elizabeth Landis, a native of Tennessee, who is still living and has celebrated her … Read more

Slave Narrative of Clayton Holbert

Interviewer: Leta Gray Person Interviewed: Clayton Holbert Location: Ottawa, Kansas Place of Birth: Linn County, Tennessee Age: 86 THE AMERICAN GUIDE TOPEKA, KANSAS EX SLAVE STORY OTTAWA, KANSAS BY: Leta Gray (interviewer) “My name is Clayton Holbert, and I am an ex slave. I am eighty-six years old. I was born and raised in Linn County, Tennessee. My master’s name was Pleasant “Ples” Holbert. My master had a fairly large plantation; he had, I imagine, around one hundred slaves.” “I was working the fields during the wind-up of the Civil War. They always had a man in the field to … Read more

Biography Of John S. Amick

John S. Amick. It is a strong augury of success for a young man to have a variety of experiences in practical matters before he assumes professional work. Especially if he is a lawyer, his substantial future is far more assured in the West than if he possessed a greater fund of professional knowledge and less ability to judge of persons and things in a common sense way–which comes only with actual experience, and often of the hard kind. Such remarks as the foregoing hold true in the career and progress of John Amick, a young lawyer of Lawrence who … Read more

Biography of Elmer E. Glenn

Elmer E. Glenn. When Elmer E. Glenn was a young man he learned the blacksmith trade in the railroad shops at Ottawa, Kansas. He spent his early life on a farm near that city. The trade which he learned and worked at for a number of years had been the basis upon which he had built his present successful business at Sedan, where he is proprietor of machine shops specializing in the repair and manufacture of oil well tools. Though Mr. Glenn had spent most of his life in Kansas he was born at Mattoon, Illinois, November 11, 1874. His … Read more

1859 List of Munsee from Leavenworth County Kansas

This list was adapted for the web from a photocopy of a two-page typed document possessed by the family of Clio Caleb Church. Since it has no official heading or signature, the document appears to be someone’s transcription of an original report to the Office of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. Likely this is a census of the Munsee who were moving from Leavenworth County to the new reservation in Franklin County, coinciding with the Treaty of 1859. It is not an enrollment list — it includes non-Indian spouses and there are no enrollment or allotment numbers. The document lists the person’s name, sex, and age, grouped by family unit.

Biography of Edward Cockrell Hoffman

Statistics show that more than ninety per cent of men are failures in business and investigation brings to light another fact that too many are prone to make constant changes in business instead of concentrating along a single line and developing a thorough mastery of the work undertaken. A notable example of this rule is Edward Cockrell Hoffman, who is now engaged in the line of business in which he started out as a young tradesman, being the secretary, treasurer and manager of the Hoffman-Speed Printing Company of Muskogee. He has been instrumental in building up a substantial business at … Read more

Biography of Edwin B. Morgan

Edwin B. Morgan. When Edwin B. Morgan came to Kansas in 1892, at the age of nineteen, he found his first opportunity for service and work as a school teacher. He taught in Linn County one year, and two years in Franklin County. Already his ambition was set upon the law as a career. Entering the State University at Lawrence, he pursued the studies of the law department until graduating LL. B, in 1898. In July of that year he began practice at Oswego, and was one of the rising young attorneys of that city for seven years. Since removing … Read more

Biography of Harry Pray Study, A. B., A. M.

Harry Pray Study, A. B., A. M. Among the learned callings there is none, perhaps, that demands a greater degree of patience, tact, specialized knowledge, judgment and natural executive ability than that of the educator, and the individual who enters into this important field, selecting it as a calling, is called upon to make many personal sacrifices and to give many of the best years of his life unreservedly to its demands, often without the emoluments that would be attached to an equal amount of labor expended in another direction. However, there are many satisfying rewards which come to the … Read more

Biography of Horatio W. Gates

Horatio W. Gates is one of the oldest and best known undertakers and embalmers in the State of Kansas. He had been in business for many years at Rossdale, his present location being 29 Southwest Boulevard. He had not been alone in that profession, and it is noteworthy that Mrs. Gates was the first woman to receive an embalmer’s license in either Kansas or Missouri, and while many women have in recent years taken up the profession she was one of the real pioneers. Mr. Gates was born August 2, 1849, at Mansfield, Ohio, but had been a resident of … Read more

Biography of Peter P. Elder

Peter P. Elder, deceased, ex-lieutenant governor of Kansas, and for many years a resident of Ottawa, was one of the most notable characters of Kansas and one of the select few who gave it a unique and substantial standing among the western states of the Union. He was a native of Maine, born in Somerset County, September 30, 1823; was of North-of-Ireland ancestry and Revolutionary stock. Mr. Elder spent the first thirty-four years of his life in his native county, getting an education and teaching school. He became an ardent abolitionist early in life, and in 1857 located in Franklin … Read more

Biography of Henry Herman Kiehl

Henry Herman Kiehl, who had lived in Kansas since the spring of 1870, is one of the foremost citizens of Lyndon. While the days of border ruffianism were past when he came to Kansas, his individual experience covers most of the period of growth and development. As a farmer he had a full share of the hardships and difficulties which the early agriculturists had to encounter and he fully deserves all the prosperity that had come his way. His grandfather was a native of Germany. His father Eli Kiehl was born in Pennsylvania, became owner of a brick yard and … Read more

Biography of Carey J. Wilson

Carey J. Wilson is superintendent of insurance for the State of Kansas. His is one of the busiest offices at the State Capitol and practically every minute of his official time is taken up either with the broader policies of the state insurance department or with the immense amount of details pertaining to the ability of companies to meet solvency requirements, as well as the general conduct of business within the state. To this office Mr. Wilson brought years of practical experience in the insurance field. He had been solely identified with insurance since he left college. Though a native … 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

Fager, Vern A. – Obituary

La Grande, Union County, Oregon Vern A. Fager, 50 Dies At His Home Vern Andrew Fager, 50, a carpenter maintenance foreman at Eastern Oregon College, died Thursday at his home, following a sudden illness. Funeral services will be held Monday at 3:30 p.m. in the Daniels Funeral Home. The Rev. Lawrence Abla will officiate. Burial we be in the Island City Cemetery. Mr. Fager was born in Centroplis, Kan., September 11, 1919. He had been a resident of La Grande for the past 38 years. He was a member of the Carpenters union 2019, the First Baptist Church and OSEA. … Read more

Biography of William C. Suttle

William C. Suttle. Under modern conditions the water works of any thriving and prosperous community is one of the most important branches of the civic service, and its management requires abilities far beyond the ordinary. Fredonia boasts of one of the best water systems in Southeastern Kansas, and much of the credit for the present excellent conditions existing in this enterprising city is due to the capable and experienced work of the superintendent of the water works, William C. Suttle, who had been connected with this department for about eleven years and had been in his present position since 1913. … Read more

Biography of Prof. James Anderson Yates

Prof. James Anderson Yates. From England to North Carolina, in colonial times, the Yates family may be traced by generations as it extended into Tennessee and Kentucky and 1916 finds it firmly and honorably established in other states. For two decades this name in Kansas has been connected with the educational field, the scholastic attainments of Prof. James Anderson Yates, the head of the departments of chemical and physical sciences, in the State Manual Training Normal School at Pittsburg, having won recognition in this and in other large institutions of learning. Professor Yates enjoys a wide acquaintance with the leading … Read more

Biography of James Otis Tulloss

James Otis Tulloss. In 1856, the year the republican party had its first presidential candidate in the field, and when the Kansas-Nebraska question was agitating the entire nation, the citizenship of this then territory acquired an important addition in certain members of the Tulloss family. It is a name therefore that had been identified with Kansas for sixty years. James O. Tulloss named above had no part in that earlier period of the family’s connection with Kansas. He represents a younger generation, and his active career had been largely confined to the past twenty years, during which time he had … Read more