Biography of Mamie J. Tanquary, M. D.

Mamie J. Tanquary, M. D., of Independence is one of the leading woman physicians and surgeons of Kansas. She comes of a family that has supplied several able members to the profession, and her work throughout the fifteen years she has practiced at Independence shows her capabilities are on a plane with her own brothers and her professional brethren throughout the state. Doctor Tanquary, whose maiden name was Edwards, was born at Water Valley in Hickman County, Kentucky, April 29, 1870. She is of old Southern stock, but her first ancestors in the Edwards line came from England of Seotch-Irish … Read more

Biography of August Bauman

August Bauman. Because of their variety and importance, the interests which have engrossed the attention and abilities of August Bauman have brought him to the very forefront among the business men of Neodesha, with which city he had been most prominently identified for about thirty years. For the most part he is now directing his energies toward the advancement of his huge grain business, but various other interests also have the benefit of his sound advice and judgment. Mr. Bauman’s extensive connections have necessarily made him a very busy man, yet he had never found himself too actively employed in … Read more

Biography of W. T. Yoe

The Independence Tribune is one of the oldest papers in Kansas, with a record of continuous issue in one locality for forty-six years, and it is even older than that since the same plant had been used for publishing a paper in Missouri for several years before its removal to Independence, when that town was located on the frontier and at the very beginning of its growth and development. The Tribune ever since its establishment has been under the control of two veteran newspaper men, both brothers, W. T. Yoe, who is editor, and Charles Yoe, who is president of … Read more

Biography of Joshua A. Stone

Joshua A. Stone. One of the old time citizens of Montgomery County was the late Joshua A. Stone, who identified himself with Independence and that locality soon after the country was open to settlement, and who impressed his ability and energy upon many local business activities. He was especially prominent in the coal mining industry. Mr. Stone died at his home in Independence April 30, 1914. Mrs. Stone, who is executrix of his estate, has proved herself a very competent business manager, and is one of the highly esteemed women of Montgomery County. Born in Centerville, Michigan, in March, 1846, … Read more

Biography of Claude B. Clements

Claude B. Clements. Among the men who have won success in the Mid-Continent oil fields, one whose prosperity and present position have been gained solely through hard, unremitting labor and specialized knowledge and ability in this vocation, is Claude B. Clements, of Peru, Kansas. A man of large personal interests, which demand steadfast and undeviating attention, he had managed to reserve a part of his time for public official duties, and at this time is mayor of Peru, an office in which he had gained a reputation that assures him of the confidence and respect of his fellow townsmen. Mr. … Read more

Biography of William W. Vanbuskirk

The rich lands of Washington county furnish splendid opportunity to the farmers and stock raisers and the men of enterprise who have taken advantage of the chances here offered along agricultural lines have won substantial success as the reward of their efforts. To this class belongs William W. Vanbuskirk, who was born in central Indiana, near Indianapolis, on the 18th of March, 1863. His father, Bennett Vanbuskirk, was a native of that state, while the mother, who bore the maiden name of Arvey Smith, was born in Georgia. Both have passed away. William W. Vanbuskirk was educated in the country … Read more

Biography of Michael Dougherty

Michael Dougherty is one of the able industrious workers and business men who have identified themselves with the City of Independence because it is a center for the oil and gas industry of the Southwest. For forty years he had been a boilermaker, and had followed his trade as a workman and as a contractor in nearly all the oil and gas fields in the country. He is now superintendent of tankage construction for the Prairie Oil and Gas Company. He is a native of Ireland and of an old County Donegal family. His grandfather spent his life as a … Read more

Biography of Thomas E. Wagstaff

An attorney of long and successful experience in Montgomery County, both in Coffeyville and Independence, Thomas E. Wagstaff had been and is a leader in republican politics in the state, and a few years ago his name beeame known all over Kansas as a candidate for nomination to the office of governor. He lost the nomination by only a few votes. This was in 1910, when W. R. Stubbs was nominated and afterwards elected. His family have been identified with Kansas for forty years. Thomas E. Wagstaff was born at Galesburg, Illinois, July 23, 1875, and was still an infant … Read more

Biography of John B. Adams

John B. Adams is manager of the Security Abstract Company of Independence. This is the largest abstract firm in Montgomery County, and in many ways its business rivals in volums that of any similar concern in the entire state. Mr. Adams had had a very active business career, beginning in boyhood, and taking him into many fields of activity, and during his life in Southern Kansas he had seen Independence grow from a frontier town to one of the metropolitan centers of Kansas. He comes of that same ancestry which, originally transplanted from England to the shores of Massachusetts, produced … Read more

Biography of Robert H. Childs

Robert H. Childs, now superintendent of the Petroleum Products Company plant in Independence, is one of the veteran oil men of America. His father was a pioneer in the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania, and Mr. Childs himself grew up in that environment, and took to the work as naturally as a New England youth goes to sea. There is probably not an important oil field in the country with which he has not been identified in some capacity or another. The Petroleum Products Company established a plant in Independence in 1908. The general officers of the company at Chicago … Read more

Biography of T. C. Long, M. D.

T. C. Long, M. D., now of Independence, has been successfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Kansas for the past fifteen years. His reputation is especially based on his skill as a surgeon, and he is rated as one of the most proficient in that class of work in Montgomery County. He was near Portland in Jay County, Indiana, February 5, 1871. His grandfather, who died at the age of forty years, was a native of Ohio and moved from that state to a farm in Jay County. That farm, settled by the family more than … Read more

Esther Elvira Todd Funk of Independence KS

FUNK, Esther Elvira Todd8, (Silas7, Elam6, Edmund5, Christopher4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born Dec. 17, 1828, in Mina, Chautauqua County, N. Y., married Feb. 17, 1846, Joseph Alonzo Funk, whose father was a Capt. in the Indian war, was born Nov. 6, 1826, died Jan. 23, 1910. Mrs. Funk taught school about two years when she married. The school house in which she taught, was built of logs, the same as all the dwelling houses. The floor was what they called a punchon floor, that is, logs split and when laid were smoothed off. One desk made of the same material, … Read more

Biography of Ivy E. Hancock, D. O.

Ivy E. Hancock, D. O. The ablest representative of the school of osteopathy in practice at Independence, Doctor Hancock, who has been in practice there for the past thirteen years and around her skill and thorough ability has built up a splendid clientele. Doctor Hancock is a native of Melrose, Iowa. Her great-grandfather came from Ireland and settled in this country in the early part of the last century. Her grandfather, William Vardaman Hancock, was born in Indiana in 1828, and went out to Iowa as a pioneer, following farming and stock raising there until his death at Plano in … Read more

Biography of Millard Fillmore Wood

Millard Fillmore Wood. A little more than forty years age Millard F. Wood came to Montgomery County, a young school teacher. While he taught school for a time, he also interested himself in improving a homestead claim, and afterwards advanced rapidly in business and also in politics. He is now secretary and treasurer of the Ideal Supply Company. An Illinois man by birth, he was born at Aviston, Clinton County, November 12, 1850. His grandfather, Wiley Wood, was born in Virginia in 1791, and was a farmer and one of the early circuit riders of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In … Read more

Biography of John F. Overfield

During his service in the Kansas Legislature as a senator from Montgomery County it had been the enviable distinction of John F. Overfield to have become one of the leading members in influence and aetivity of the State Senate. It is said that he had never introduced a bill in behalf of his constituents that had not secured the approval of both houses and hecome a law. Politically Senator Overfield is a republican of the old school, and is by no means ashamed of the description stand-pat republican. He was elected to the State Senate in 1908, and had served … Read more

Biography of Harry Haynes Culmer

Harry Haynes Culmer, superintendent of the Staudard Asphalt and Rubber Company at Independence, is one of the expert technical men connected with the oil industry and has had a wide range of experience in his profession both in the United States and Canada. He came to Independence in 1906, and laid out the works of the Standard Asphalt and Rubber Company, which he has since served as superintendent and chemical engineer. Mr. Culmer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, October 30, 1878. He comes of notable ancestry. Records show that the Culmers go back to the year 862 A. … Read more

Biography of Charles Daniel Ise

Charles Daniel Ise, a prominent lawyer and now county attorney of Montgomery County, had an individual record worthy of mention in this history of Kansas, and also represents a family which have many claims to distinction, some of them gained in this state, and others back in the Germen fatherland where the ancestors for generations were of the nobility. In Germany the name was spelled Eisenmenger. The family seat for generations had been in the Kingdom of Wnerternberg, and they had been members of the noble classes in that kingdom from the fourteenth century. One of the family was hero … Read more

Biography of William Alexander Hood

William Alexander Hood brought his extensive experience as a manufacturer, mining operator and oil and gas producer to Independence about three years ago, and is now rated as one of the leading producers in that field and also conducts a large business as a general contractor. He is of old Southern stock, and his Scotch-Irish ancestors came from England to North Carolina in colonial times. William Alexander Hood was born in Birmingham, Alabama, October 6, 1876. His family connections in that great industrial center of the South have long been prominent in manufacturing and commercial affairs. His father, William Hood, … Read more

Biography of William W. Jones

For more than thirty-six years William W. Jones has been a resident of Washington County, Oklahoma, and is a representative of one of its honored pioneer families. A native of the Lone Star state, he was born in Fannin County, Texas, in 1883, and is a son of John W. S. and Martha T. (Stowe) Jones. The father, a native of Illinois, was reared to manhood in that state, while the mother’s birth occurred in Indiana, but was also reared to young womanhood in the Sucker state, where her marriage was celebrated. In 1878 the parents removed to Texas, where … Read more

Biography of Frank Winfred Shelton, M. D.

Frank Winfred Shelton, M. D. One of the institutions which serve to give metropolitan character to the City of Independence is the Independence Hospital, the founder and builder of which was Dr. Frank Winfred Shelton, one of the most prominent surgeons of Southern Kansas. Doctor Shelton built this institution in 1906. It is situated on a commanding site at 706 South Fifth Street and in equipment and service, considering its accommodations, it is one of the best hospitals in the state. Besides the hospital building proper, Doctor Shelton erected a special building to serve as nurses’ dormitory, storerooms, laundry and … Read more