Geary County KS

Biography of James Humphrey

James Humphrey, as lawyer, editor, judge and state official, firmly established his position throughout a period of half a century as one of the ablest and most popular citizens of Central Kansas. He was born in Nottinghamshire, England, March 8, 1833; came to New England in 1854, and during the succeeding three years was a resident of Fall River, Massachusetts. There he became interested in the Kansas agitation for free statehood and in April, 1857, reached Manhattan. His first employment in connection with the shrievalty was a good test of his pluck, and he so arose to the occasion that … Read more

Maldonado, Audrey – Obituary

La Grande, Oregon Audrey Maldonado, 89, of La Grande, died Feb. 28 at her home. A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. March 16 at the La Grande Country Club, 10605 S. McAlister. Audrey was born Jan. 15, 1918, to L. W. and Adrian (House) Copeland in Pendleton. She was raised in Pendleton and graduated from Pendleton High School in 1935. After graduation she moved to the San Francisco Bay area to further her education and worked for several companies and at the 1938-1939 World’s Fair on Treasure Island. While in California she met Jim Maldonado. They were married … Read more

Biography of Frank T. Vaughan

Frank T. Vaughan, one of the younger lawyers of Newport, was born May 4, 1864, in Woodstock, Vt., son of Edwin and Elizabeth L. (Tenney) Vaughan. The father, who graduated at the Albany Law School, New York, followed the legal profession, and at the time of his death was Judge of Probate. Edwin Vaughan commenced his law practice in New York City; but in 1859 he removed to Claremont, N.H., and entered into partnership with Colonel Alexander Gardner. In 1861 he enlisted in the New Hampshire Battalion of the First Rhode Island Volunteer Cavalry, and was afterward transferred to the … Read more

Biography of William L. Nelson, M.D.

Dr. William L. Nelson, a physician with office and residence at No. 1483 Union boulevard in St. Louis, was born in Montgomery county, Missouri, July 12, 1879. His father, William Nelson, was of American birth, but his father came from Ireland to the new world. The former took up the occupation of farming in southeastern Missouri, where he owned three hundred acres, constituting a valuable farm to which he added many modern improvements. He married Ursula Gibbens, who was also born in the new world and was a niece of Brigadier General Gibbens of Civil war fame, serving with the … Read more

Biography of Alfred Clark Pierce

At the age of eighty-one, bearing the impress of a life of remarkable experience, a pioneer builder of Kansas, for many years identified with its public and business life, this venerable citizen is now living in comfortable retirement at Junction City. A small party of free state men arrived in Kansas in 1856. It comprised eight or ten men. One of them was Preston B. Plumb, whose name is a household word in Kansas. Alfred Clark Pierce was also in that little party. At Iowa City, Iowa, he had first met Mr. Plumb, and they were ever afterwards intimate friends. … Read more

Biography of Bertrand Rockwell, Captain

Bertrand Rockwell, who had had his home at Kansas City, Missouri, since 1906 was one of the constructive figures in Kansas from the close of the Civil war until he retired from business. Apart from the individual interest of his career, his activities have had the greatest value in connection with Junction City and that section of the state. Before he had reached his majority he had left school and entered the army, and came out with the rank of captain. Two weeks after being mustered out, in September, 1865, Captain Rockwell reached Leavenworth, Kansas. From there he was carried … Read more

Biography of Samuel N. Harper

Samuel N. Harper. Many of the men of Kansas whose closing years of life were devoted exclusively to the peaceful pursuits of agrionlture, had seen much adventure in earlier times and on many occasions had proved as heroie as any knight of romance or history. Thus may be brought to notice the late Samuel N. Harper, for many years one of Menoken Township’s most esteemed and valued citizens. A survivor of the great civil war, afterward one of the courageous and hardy men who dared Indian treachery on the frontier and engineered great wagon trains through the mountains, and still … Read more

Biography of Edson Baxter

Edson Baxter. Now serving as clerk of the District Court at Marion, Captain Baxter is an old timer of Kansas and had lived in close touch with the developments of half a century and his own part therein allows him to speak with authority on the history of that period. The Baxter family came to Kansas in territorial times and did their pioneering in Morris County. Edson Baxter was fifteen years of age when he accompanied the family caravan overland, and he was able to make himself useful from the very beginning of the settlement. He was born on a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Sturm, Henry

Henry Sturm, wholesale and retail dealer in all kinds of liquors. He also has a soda factory, where he manufactures all kinds of soda and mineral water and Champagne cider. The building cost $2000 and is 20×30 feet. He employs four men. He has a warehouse 20×75 foot, where he keeps a stock of Joseph Schlitz Milwaukee Lager Beer. His stock of liquors invoice at $3,000. He also keeps a billiard and saloon parlor. He has two icehouses, respectively 20×30 feet and 30×50 feet, and has 400 tons of ice stored to supply the city. He first came to Junction … Read more

Houses of the Kansa Tribe

Kansa Habitation

To quote from the Handbook: “Their linguistic relations are closest with the Osage, and are close with the Quapaw. In the traditional migration of the group, after the Quapaw had first separated there from, the main body divided at the mouth of Osage River, the Osage moving up that stream and the Omaha and Ponca crossing Missouri River and proceeding northward, while the Kansa ascended the Missouri on the south side to the mouth of Kansa River. Here a brief halt was made, after which they ascended the Missouri on the, south side until they reached the present north boundary … Read more

Biography of Isaac E., Lambert, Sr.

Isaac E. Lambert, Sr., whose tragic death in the burning of the Copeland Hotel at Topeka in 1908 is generally recalled, was in his time one of the most prominent attorneys of Kansas and stood in the forefront of his profession and also as a public leader. His son, Isaac E. Lambert, Jr., is also a lawyer, a resident of Emporia, and is now serving as chief clerk of the Kansas House of Representatives. At the time of his death Isaac E. Lambert, Sr., was fifty-five years of age and in the prime of his powers. He was born in … Read more

Biography of Samuel V. Mallory

Samuel V. Mallory, now superintendent of the city schools of Morrill, Brown County, had been a, Kansas educator for many years. He had been connected at different times with the public schools of three states–Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma–and both as a teacher and administrator his work rests upon the seeure foundation of sincere and effective service. Mr. Mallory had lived in Kansas since early youth and he represents some of the best elements of American ancestry. His great-grandfather, John William Mallory, spent his life in Virginia, having been born near Harper’s Ferry. He married Elizabeth peyton, who was the daughter … Read more

Biography of Rev. John A. Anderson

Rev. John A. Anderson, so long identified with the work of the Presbyterian Church at Junction City, and, while a resident of that place, with the affairs of Congress, of which he was a member, had a remarkable experience for a elergyman. He graduated from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1853, Benjamin Harrison being his roommate for a time. Mr. Anderson began his ministerial work at Stockton, California, in 1857, and is said to have preached the first union sermon on the Pacific coast. In 1860 the state legislature of California elected him trustee of the state insane asylum. Two … Read more

Biography of Christian Hoffman

Christian Hoffman. While Kansas had produced many notable business men, the success of none of them had more perfectly represented the outflowing of integrity of character and a tireless energy and good judgment than that achieved by Christian Hoffman, founder of the City of Enterprise in Dickinson County and the founder and upbuilder of a milling and elevator industry which, until it was merged with other similar enterprises, was one of the largest in the entire State of Kansas. He was a territorial pioneer of Kansas, having arrived at Leavenworth in 1857. During his early years in Kansas he was … Read more

Biography of Charles H. Trott

Charles H. Trott, who died at his home in Junction City March 2, 1916, attained many of those ideals for which ambitious men will always strive. He proved a gallant and faithful soldier when the country’s integrity was in danger, was a merchant and business man of the finest integrity, was a good friend, a good Christian and a good citizen. For half a century he lived in Kansas, and at the time of his death was one of the oldest if not the oldest business man of Junction City. He arrived in Junction City in the spring of 1866 … Read more

Biography of J. A. Truex

J. A. TRUEX, editor of the Journal and postmaster of West Plains, was a native of the Buckeye State,and was born in Marion County, November,6, 1843. The Truex family is of Dutch origin and an old Colonial one. The father of our subject, Benjamin Truex, was a native of Pennsylvania, and a farmer and carpenter. He raised a family of eight children, of whom our subject was third in order of birth. The latter grew to mature years in his native country, received his primary education in the schools of the same, and subsequently entered the High School at Goshen, … Read more

Biography of Rev. William Knipe

Rev. William Knipe is one of the few surviving participants in the war with Mexico, which was fought nearly seventy years ago. Many other interesting distinctions attach to this venerable and useful resident of Kansas. He was one of the pioneer Methodist missionaries in Jackson County, Kansas, and is one of the very oldest members of the Methodist Conference. He was also a soldier of the Civil war and few men who live so long succeed in compressing so much useful service to humanity within a lifstime. His birth occurred in a log house in Wayne County, Indiana, September 28, … Read more

Biography of Albe B. Whiting

Albe B. Whiting, a resident of Topeka for the past forty years, is distinguished as being one of the few survivors of the great free-soil struggle in Kansas during the decade of the ’50m. His home had been in Kansas since 1856, and few men now living have more interesting-experiences to connect them with Kansas history. Of New England birth and ancestry, he was born in Lamoille County, Vermont, November 10, 1835, and had already Imssed the fourscoro milestone on life’s joursey. His parents were Harris and Mary (Dodge) Whiting. His father was of old English celonial ancestry, and died … Read more

Biography of Charles May

When the roll of the pioneers of Boise, Idaho, is called the name which heads this sketch will be found well to the top. Charles May was born in Berkshire, England, May 17, 1833, and was reared in his native county, learning in his boyhood the business of brick manufacturing and brick-laying, his father, Charles May, having been engaged in that business. Indeed, the family for centuries, or as far back as their history can be traced, were brick-makers in England. The younger Charles May remained in England until 1856, when he came to America, locating first in New York, … Read more

Biography of John Henry Prescott

John Henry Prescott. At the close of the Civil war, in which he had played a gallant role as a Union soldier and had attained the rank of captain, Mr. Prescott came out to Kansas and from that time until his death on July 5, 1891, was a notable figure in the life and affairs of Salina and that part of the state. He attained high rank as a lawyer and as a jurist, and was also remarkably successful in business affairs. His name and memory may well be cherished by his descendants and by the people of the entire … Read more