Jackson County KS

Biography of O. F. Walke

O. F. Walke who has spent most of his life in Kansas has developed a very substantial business career, and for several years has been proprietor of the Independent Laundry, one of the best equipped establishments of its kind in the southern section of the state. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his great-grandfather came from the North of Ireland, and was an early farmer in Ohio. Mr. Walke’s grandfather, William Walke, was born in Ohio in 1840, came to Kansas about a quarter of a century ago, and was an active farmer until he retired and died at Columbus, … Read more

Biography of F. A. Cassady

F. A. Cassady is one of the most successful business men of his age in the State of Kansas. He is proprietor of one of the largest general stores at Neosho Rapids and is also vice president of the Neosho Rapids State Bank. He had reached this position in business circles before attaining his twenty-second year. He was born in Graysville, Missouri, September 24, 1894. His grandfather was a native of County Londonderry, Ireland, and in the old country spelled his name William O’Cassady but dropped the first syllable when he came to the United States. He lived a time … Read more

Biography of Horace Greeley Kyle

Horace Greeley Kyle, whose name is widely known over the State of Kansas on account of his legislative experience and active participation in public and business affairs, is a successful stock farmer and owned a splendid place in Dickinson County known as “The Cedars.” That is the scene of his business activities as a farmer and raiser of blooded livestock. Mr. Kyle is a native of Kansas and belongs to the pioneer and territorial element. He was born in a log cabin four miles west of Holton in Jackson County October 21, 1861. His father, James B. Kyle, came to … Read more

Biography of Edmund Woodbridge Buffon

E. W. Buffon. For the greater part of twenty years Edmund Woodbridge Buffon had been engaged in educational work and is now superintendent of the city schools of Centralia. He is a highly educated gentleman and had made his influence a decided factor in Nemsha County in other ways than as a school man. Mr. Buffon was born at Beatrice, Nebraska, November 30, 1875, but had lived in Kansas since early childhood. His ancestry goes back to Denmark. His great-grandrather came from that country and settled in one of the New England states. Mr. Buffon’s grandfather, George Buffon, was born … Read more

Biography of Ben S. Paulen, Hon.

Hon. Ben S. Paulen. Each individual, under a democratic form of government, possesses an equal chance for public advancement. There is no reason why any man, providing that he possess real ability and sound judgment, cannot aspire to the highest position in the land, but while this is true theoretically, in actuality it is the one who had always been a little in advance of his associates and had developed his faculties beyond the ordinary who forges ahead and is placed by the people in positions of honor and responsibility. In this connection the foregoing is true of Hon. Ben … Read more

Biography of Oliver Franklin Winner

Oliver Franklin Winner. The excellent business standing of Oliver Franklin Winner rests upon many years of connection with agricultural affairs in Shawnee County, where he is still the owner of a large and valuable property. Particularly is he known as an authority upon the subject of alfalfa growing, to which he has devoted many years of study and investigation. Mr. Winner is an Illinoisan by nativity, and was born at Belvidere, Boone County, in 1859, being a son of Martin W. Winner. Martin W. Winner was born in New York, from which state he emigrated as a young man to … Read more

Biography of Elizabeth Tantum Spencer

Elizabeth Tantum Spencer was born near Jerseyville, Illinois, September 28, 1871. She attended the rural schools in Jersey County, Illinois, and Woodson County, Kansas, was graduated from the Yates Center High School (a member of the first class) in 1890, and from the Kansas State Normal at Emporia in 1894. She taught three years in the rural schools of Woodson County, during the first year riding fourteen miles each day. Since that time she had taught in the schools of Yates Center, Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. In 1912 she became deputy county treasurer of Woodson County under … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. R. Hoag

E. R. Hoag, farmer and stock-dealer, P. O. Ionia, was born in Peoria County, Ill., December 26, 1844. Came to Jackson County, Kan., and to Jewell County in the fall of 1871, where he took a homestead eleven miles southwest of Mankato, and is now the owner of 320 acres of land, and feeds 200 head of cattle. In July 1861, he enlisted in the United States army, in Company A, Illinois Second Light Artillery. Discharged October 4, 1864. Was married April 22, 1869, in Tazewell County, Ill., to Miss Catherine Anderson. They have four children – Winter, Emita, Mary … Read more

Biography of Charles J. Searle

An attorney whose marked ability has been repeatedly recognized not only in Rock Island County, by whose Bar Association he has, at the time this sketch is written, recently been honored by the election as its president, but throughout the State of Illinois, is Charles J. Searle, of Rock Island. A biographical sketch of a man so well and widely known, seems almost superfluous, for there are but few in Rock Island County, and indeed in this section of Illinois, who do not enjoy a personal acquaintance with the gentleman himself. And were these sketches written and published merely for … Read more

Biography of John F. Richards

John F. Richards, born October 23, 1834, in Bath County, Virginia, the founder of the wholesale hardware house Richards & Conover Hardware Company of Kansas City, Missouri, and now residing at 200 Forty-fourth Street in that city, is not only one of the merchants who have risen to prominence in this section of the Middle West, but had a career connected by many experiences and activities with the Territory and State of Kansas. His parents were Walter and Nancy (Mayse) Richards, both natives of Virginia. Their old farm, Cloverdale, was situated on one of the stage lines which then crossed … 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 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 Bartholomew John Bux

Bartholomew John Bux. By many years of industry, directed by sound judgment and thorough common sense, B. J. Bux had become one of the most prosperous citizens of Kansas, owner of many valuable farms, and is now living retired at Meriden, where he is one of the directors of the State Bank. A resident of Kansas since he was six years of age, Mr. Bux was born in St. Clair County, Illinois, January 6, 1864. His people were all Germans, His father, John Bux, was born in Baden, Germany, in 1828, grew up there, and had six years of experience in the … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Knipe

Charles A. Knipe, a pioneer farmer of Oklahoma, who is residing near Bartlesville, was born in Jackson county, Kansas, August 24, 1864, his parents being William and Lucy Ann (Brennan) Knipe. The father was a pioneer of Kansas and died in May, 1920, at the advanced age of ninety-two. The mother is also deceased. Their son, Charles A. Knipe, came to Oklahoma the year before it was opened up for settlement; taking up his residence on the George Keeler farm, on Keeler creek, in Washington county, where he remained for a year and then removed to his present place of … Read more

Biography of Edwin Grant Betz

Edwin Grant Betz. The Arkansas City Business College is an institution in which the people of that community take special pride. Technical training for business is now a recognized necessity, and among the schools of Kansas that supply such technical training the Arkansas City Business College had in many respects a record of unexcelled competence and thoroughness. The proprietor of this school is Edwin Grant Betz, who had had a varied business experience but had given his chief time through his active life to commercial education. He comes of an old Dickinson County family, while Mrs. Betz, his wife, is … Read more

Biography of Elba Elton Edwards, M. D.

Elba Elton Edwards, M. D. A physician and surgeon of splendid capabilities and with a large practice at Admire, Doctor Edwards is a native of Kansas and represents one of the early families to settle in Lyon County. He was born in Rock Creek, in Jefferson County, Kansas, December 23, 1883. His grandfather, William Edwards, was a native of Germany, coming to this country as a young man and spent the rest of his life on a farm in Ohio. Henry Edwards, father of Doctor Edwards, was born in Ohio in 1842, was reared and married in that state, and … Read more

Biography of Shepard Keene Linscott

Shepard Keene Linscott. The late Shepard Keene Linscott, who was born March 6, 1887, and died December 11, 1905, represented in the best sense the highest type of American manhood. A farm near Chesterville, Maine, was the place of his nativity and he was the only son of Shepard and Esther (Keene) Linscott. The house in which he was born was built by his grandfather, Samuel Linscott, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war. When but sixteen years of age, Shepard Keene Linscott left the parental roof and became a pioneer farmer of Henry County, Indiana. Realizing the importance … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Paul E. Walker

Paul E. Walker, a son of A. D. Walker of Holton, has been a Topeka lawyer for the past fifteen years. He was born at his father’s home in Holton, Kansas, August 27, 1876, grew up in his native city, attending the public schools, and took his college course in California, being a graduate of Leland Stanford University. He took his A. B. degree there in 1898, and then entered the Harvard Law School, where he was graduated LL.B. in 1902. In the fall of 1902 Mr. Walker began practice in Topeka as assistant attorney for the Rock Island Railway … Read more

Biography of Oscar Eugene Learnard, Col.

Col. Oscar Eugene Learnard was born in Fairfax, Vermont, November 14, 1832, the son of Stephen Tracy Learnard, and he died in Lawrence, Kansas, November 5, 1911. He grew to manhood in his native state, attended the common schools and Bakersfield Academy, taught school, and attended Norwich, Vermont, University. He did not finish his course at the University but that institution afterward conferred a Master’s degree upon him. Ill health compelled him to give up his studies, and he went to Tennessee, where he was for a time collector for a commercial house. After regaining his health he returned to … Read more

Biography of Wilbur Austin Lawton

Wilbur Austin Lawton. When Mr. Lawton came to Lyon County more than thirty years ago he found the district around what is now the flourishing little City of Americus a raw and almost unbroken prairie. He was one of the men who undertook to convert the former cattle range into a fertile farming district, and he had contributed to this development to the extent of several hundred acres at least. At the same time he had been an important factor in local affairs, had been a banker, active in local politics, and for a number of years had been postmaster … Read more