Harvey County KS Genealogy – Page 2 of 3

Biography of H. B. Rodecker

H. B. Rodecker, an enterprising and successful druggist of Ramona, was born near Eureka, Illinois, on the 22d of August, 1874, and was taken by his parents, William B. and Leona (Hellen) Rodecker, to Newton, Harvey county, Kansas, in 1880. The mother is a niece of the late Cecil Rhodes, multi-millionaire and statesman of South Africa. The father was a tinner by trade and followed that pursuit until 1889, when the family removed to Oklahoma City and he entered the employ of W. J. Pettie, a hardware merchant, conducting a business that has since been developed into a large wholesale … Read more

Biography of Albert L. Egy

Albert L. Egy. A retired cattleman and a bank director at Newton, A. L. Egy had had many interests to identify him with Harvey County, in which part of Kansas he had spent all the years of his life since early boyhood. Albert Lorenzo Egy was born at Wenona, Illinois, September 9, 1863. Going back several generations to his great-grandfather, the family came from Germany. His father, the late Solomon Egy, was a prominent pioneer of Harvey County. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1827, he grew up in that rugged and historic section of the Keystone State, afterwards … Read more

Biography of Edward C. Willis

Edward C. Willis, superintendent of the State Orphans Home at Atchison, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and came to kansas nearly forty years ago with the equipment and training of a oultured New Englander. His work in this state had been largely of an educational nature, and he had taught, had been superintendent of schools, and was finally appointed to his present post at Atchison, where he had served with the exception of two years since 1907. Nearly all of Mr. Willis’ ancestors were colonial families of New England. The Willis family came originally from the northern part of … Read more

Biography of George P. Nieman

George P. Neiman. A career of singular interest and one that had been characterized by marked achievement is that of George P. Neiman, executive head of the Bank of Whitewater, an extensive farmer and stockman, and a citizen who had contributed in many ways to the growth of Butler County, and particularly to the thriving community of Whitewater, which he promoted and which is situated upon a portion of his original homestead, on which he filed in 1869. Mr. Neiman is a native of Pennsylvania, born at New Berlin, Union County, January 24, 1842, and a son of Isaac and … Read more

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

Biography of Leslie Arthur Fitz

Leslie Arthur Fitz. When the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan called in March 1910, an expert from the agricultural department of the United States Government to take the chair of professor of milling industry, it was a happy choice that fell upon Leslie Arthur Fitz, who is not only an expert in his line but is also a native of Kansas and represents some of the old and prominent families of the state. His grandfather, George W. Fitz, came to Kansas Territory in 1855, being one of the pioneers in Douglas County. Two years later another settler of that … Read more

Biography of Edison E. Shive

Edison E. Shive. The Shive family have been identified with Kansas more than forty-five years and have supplied much of the means and personal ability to the banking business of Harvey and Reno counties. The founder of the family is Mr. John W. Shive, now a resident of Burrton. He was born in Barren County, Kentucky, August 1, 1841, and remained in his native state until after the war. He was a Union man and in 1862 enlisted in Company K of the Ninth Kentucky Regiment of Infantry. He fought at the battle of Shiloh, and at the battle of … Read more

Biography of Charles Clifford Mack

Charles Clifford Mack, who so capably represented Harvey County in the State Legislature during the session of 1917, is a prominent business man of Newton, proprietor of the Mack Mortgage and Loan Company of that city. Mr. Mack is a comparatively young man, not yet forty years of age, and his record is especially interesting because of the success he had made from nothing except the sources and talents contained in his own energetic nature. Mr. Mack was born July 5, 1878, and his birth-place was the backwoods community of Southern Indiana, at the Town of Rising Sun. His father, … Read more

Biography of David Bernhard Buhler, M. D.

David Bernhard Buhler, M. D. The work of Doctor Buhler as a physician and surgeon had been done in the county and locality where he was born and reared, Reno County, and the people living in and around the village of Pretty Prairie have for many years appreciated his abilities and excellent services. Doctor Buhler was born at Buhler, in Reno County, April 12, 1879. He represents a pioneer family of Mennonites who settled there in early days, and the village of Buhler was named in honor of his older brother, one of its most enterprising citizens. His father, Bernhard … Read more

Biography of William J. Krehbiel

William J. Krehbiel is editor and owner of The McPherson Daily and Weekly Republican, the pioneer newspaper of McPherson County. It was established as a weekly issue in 1872, the year that McPherson City was founded. In 1885 it took on a daily issue, and Mr. Krehbiel had been its proprietor and manager for the past twenty years. Mr. Krehbiel had been a resident of Kansas since he was nine years of age, and was born at Denmark, Iowa, December 11, 1870. His parents were John J. and Anna (Leisy) Krehbiel. John J. Krehbiel was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, … Read more

Biography of Harry W. Hart

Harry W. Hart, former county attorney of Harvey County, had enjoyed a steadily increasing practice and prestige as a lawyer at Newton since his admission to the bar. Mr. Hart was born on a farm in Highland Township of Harvey County October 27, 1885. His grandfather, Henry Hart, was born in Germany in 1824. After his marriage he came to America, settling at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced his profession as a veterinary surgeon. He died at Dayton, Ohio, in 1897. At the outbreak of the war of the rebellion in 1861 he enlisted with the Fourth Ohio Cavalry and … Read more

Biography of Frank L. Abbey M. D.

Frank L. Abbey, M. D., long a resident of Newton and formerly a druggist but for twenty years a successful physician, had during the greater part of his professional career been identified with the Axtell Hospital as a member of its staff of physicians. Doctor Abbey was born at Kingsbury, Illinois, February 1, 1861. He is of English ancestry, his grandfather, Luke Abbey, having been born in Yorkshire, England, in 1787. When about twenty-four years of age he came to America with his second wife and two children, and settled first in New Jersey, then in Ohio and finally, as … Read more

Biography of Roy G. Williams

Roy G. Williams, editor and proprietor of the Burrton Graphic, is one of the younger newspaper men of Kansas, but since entering that field had proved a master of the difficult art of conducting a country journal with usefulness and influence and with a fair share of profit on the credit side of the business ledger. The Burrton Graphic is a continuation of the old Burrton Monitor, which was founded in 1881 by George Vandeveer and published by the Burrton Publishing Company. This was later succeeded by the Burrton Graphic, with M. L. Sherpy editor. In 1904 the Kansas Grit … 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.

Biography of Jacob S. Eymann

Jacob S. Eymann. In the death of Jacob S. Eymann on June 29, 1916, the community of Halstead, Kansas, lost a citizen who for years had stood as a pillar in the advancement and prosperity of that community. He was more than a successful business man. Such was his integrity of character that his judgment came to be accepted without question by all his associates and he passed through life doing all the good he could as he went along. Mr. Eymann was born in Haysville, Ohio, March 19, 1853, and was sixty-three years of age at the time of … Read more

Biography of David Franklin Shirk

David Franklin Shirk, a prominent Kansas educator and a worker in behalf of child welfare, had been a resident of this state thirty years. Born at Shannon, Carroll County, Illinois, July 10, 1859, he was reared and educated in his native state, and as a young man began teaching school in Illinois. In 1886 he came to Abilene, Dickinson County, Kansas, and followed educational work in this state actively for twenty-four years. In 1906 Mr. Shirk was graduated from Friends University at Wichita. Much distinction attaches to his work as a school man. He assisted in organizing the first county … Read more

Biography of Arthur Louis Cludas, M. D.

Arthur Louis Cludas, M. D. The medical profession in Ottawa County had no better representative than Dr. Arthur Louis Cludas, who for the last eighteen years had been established at Minneapolis and through professional knowledge and skill and high personal character had became representative of the city’s best citizenship. Doctor Cludas was born at Vinton, Iowa, November 3, 1872, and is a son of William and Belle (Gatka) Cludas. William Cludas was born at Berlin, Germany, in 1833 and there his parents both died. He was educated in Berlin and at Heidelberg University, served, as did his father, in the … Read more

Biography of John Charles Nicholson

John Charles Nicholson. To name John Charles Nicholson, of Newton, as one of the distinguished lawyers and citizens of Kansas is superfluous information for at least the present generation, since his services and position are too well known to require such introduction. Therefore the following paragraphs are confined to the simple and unvarnished statements regarding his individual career and those important achievements which he had been most influential in bringing about. He was born on his father’s farm in Parke County, Indiana, January 2, 1862, the oldest of nine children born to David and Mary Catherine (Dickson) Nicholson. The industry … Read more

Biography of Allan Arthur Gilbert, M.D.

Dr. Allan Arthur Gilbert, an internist of St. Louis, who in his practice has gained high professional standing, was born in Burrton, Kansas, May 26, 1890, a son of the Rev. H. M. Gilbert, who was born in South Carolina, but was descended from one of the old families of Connecticut of English lineage. The progenitor of the family in the new world was Mathew Gilbert, who came across the Atlantic on the historic Mayflower and was the first deputy governor of Connecticut under King George. Among the ancestors of Dr. Gilbert was also Colonel Ethan Allen, who commanded the … Read more

Biography of Robert M. Todd

Robert M. Todd is an old timer of Halstead, had lived there more or less continuously for the past forty-three years, and during the greater part of that time followed his trade as a carpenter and builder. He is now manager of the Farmers Elevator Company and had been very much in public affairs, having filled the offices of mayor and postmaster among others. Mr. Todd is an Ohio man by birth, having been born in Warren County, January 27, 1851. He is in either the fifth or sixth generation of the family in America. The Todds are Scotch-Irish people … Read more