Biography of Marshall M. Murdock

Marshall M. Murdock, a pioneer journalist of Kansas, the founder of the Wichita Eagle and one of the marked men of the commonwealth, was born in the Pierpont settlement of what is now West Virginia, in 1837. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his father married into the Governor Pierpont family. Soon after his marriage the family moved to Ironton, Southern Ohio, and there Marshall Murdock attended the public schools and commenced to learn the printer’s trade. Thomas Murdock, the father, was unsuccessful in his business venture, and, as he had an abhorrence of slavery and Kansas was then the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Clark W. Sloan

Sloan, Clark W.; optometrist; born, Ironton, O., Oct. 18, 1875; son of Ezra C. and Mary C. Wood Sloan, D. D. S.; educated, Ironton Grammar and High School, Chicago Ophthalmic College, 1899, and post graduate courses; married, Ironton, 1893, Frances E. Donohoe; issue, one son, and three daughters; six years with the Bowler & Burdick Co.; one year with The Webb C. Ball Co.; established his own office in 1903; pres. Cleveland Optometrical Society, 1908-1910; vice pres. Ohio State Optical Ass’n, 1909; pres. Ohio State Optical Ass’n, 1910-1912; member Finance and Educational Committees, American Optical Ass’n, 1910-1911; active in promoting … Read more

Biography of Thomas M. Sechler

Moline is a city of manufacturers, one of the most prominent of whom is the subject of this sketch, Thomas M. Sechler. He was born October 25, 1841, in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, at which place his father, D. M. Sechler, at that time conducted a carriage factory. His father, Daniel Montgomery Sechler, was born at Danville, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1818, and his mother, Pamela (Mackey) Sechler, was born in Rutland Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, December 19, 1819. She is still living at her home in Cincinnati, Ohio. T. M. Sechler’s paternal great-great-great grandfather came from Holland in 1685, together … Read more

Biography Of Thomas Benton Murdock

In 1841 Thomas Benton Murdock was born in the mountains of Virginia. He was one of the five children who lived to maturity of Thomas Murdock and Katherine Pierrepont. On the mother’s side came the pride of the Pierrepont; from the father’s the insurgent instincts of the Irish Murdocks who left Ireland after the Irish rebellion failed in 1798. Though reared in the mountains among the most simple people and most primitive surroundings, the Murdocks who have been known in Kansas for half a century have proved soldiers of the militant democracy. They have been fighters who led naturally, by … Read more

Boyd County, Kentucky

BOYD CO. (Carl F. Hall) The Commonwealth of Kentucky, having for a northern boundary the Ohio River-the dividing line between the northern free states and the southern slave states has always been regarded as a southern state. As in the other states of the old south, slavery was an institution until the Thirteenth Ammendment to the Constitution of the United States gave the negro freedom in 1865. Kentucky did not, as other southern states, secede from the Union, but attempted to be neutral during the Civil War. The people, however, were divided in their allegience, furnishing recruits for both the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James Hood

James Hood, farming and stock; P. O. Arcola; the subject of this sketch was born in West Union, Adams Co., Ohio, Oct. 29, 1834. He married Miss Sarah E. Willson Jan. 1, 1861; she was born in Adams Co., Ohio; they have seven children, viz., John E., Mary S., Sarah B., James W., Annie E., Robert B. and Clara Dell. His father was engaged in general merchandise, and he assisted in the business until he was about 26 years of age; he then came West and herded cattle in this neighborhood for one year; he then went back to Ohio … Read more

Biography of Daniel M. Sechler

Daniel M. Sechler, founder of the D. M. Sechler Carriage Company, of Moline, Illinois, was born March 4, 1818, at Danville, Pennsylvania, and died at his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 27, 1903. Mr. Sechler’s forefathers, in the days of the persecution of John Huss, were obliged to flee for refuge from Austria, taking up their abode in Holland, from which country, in 1685, Mr. Sechler’s great great grandfather emigrated to America, locating near William Penn’s town of Philadelphia. His grandson, John Sechler, a revolutionary soldier, founded the town of Danville, the birthplace not only of the subject of this … Read more

Biography of Thomas Shirman Salathiel

Thomas Shirman Salathiel for twenty-two years had been in the practice of law at Independence, and is one of the ablest members of the profession in Southern Kansas. In that time he had handled a vast volume of litigation involving both private and public interests, and as a lawyer, business man and citizem had identified himself closely with the life and affairs of his home city. A native Kansan, he represents a family that had lived here since territorial days. His grandfather, Morgan Salathiel, was a native of Wales and was a mineralogist and geologist. In the service of a … Read more