Jefferson County KS

Biography of Frank H. Roberts

Frank H. Roberts is proprietor and editor of the Oskaloosa Independent. The Independent enjoys distinction among Kansas newspapers. It was established in 1860 by his father, the late John W. Roberts. It had been published continuously and successfully during all the intervening years by father and son. No other newspaper in Kansas had been published so many years in one locality. The town let in Oskaloosa where John W. Roberts began his pioneer enterprise as a newspaper publisher fifty-seven years ago is still the site of the present plant of the Independent, and in this quality of permanence and stability, … Read more

Biography of William B. Wade

William B. Wade. When the pioneers of 1854, who were men of solid worth, as was William B. Wade, later a member of the First Territorial Legislature of Kansas, came to Shawnee County, it was for the peaceful conquest of the soil and for the establishing of permanent homes in which they could rear their families to succeed them with credit to state and parentage. These pioneers were home-seekers, not restless, irresponsible wanderers, and, while many brought a measure of capital, all came with sturdy, industrious habits insuring the earning of it. The historian of today looks back over the … Read more

Biography of J. L. Raines

J. L. Raines.  The bankers of Kansas paid a significant honor to J. L. Raines in 1916 when they elected him president for the year of the Kansas State Bankers Association. Mr. Raines is a country banker, president of the Bank of Perry, and while most of his financial service had been rendered in connection with that institution his range of vision and judgment had not been confined by the limits of his experience. Mr. Raines took the lead in establishing and organizing the Bank of Perry in 1890, his principal associate being W. H. Huddleston, of Oskaloosa. It was … Read more

Biography of Omer O. Clark

Omer O. Clark, a well known Kansas banker, is cashier of the Exchange State Bank of Nortonville. The Exchange State Bank of Nortonville was organized in 1902 by Mr. C. C. McCarthy, and O. A. Simmons as cashier. The bank had been a medium for careful conservation of the funds of its depositors and of active service to its patrons in every way consistent with legitimate and conservative banking, It had a capital stock of $10,000, surplus and profits of $30,000, and the personnel of its stockholders and officers indicates great resources and strenght besides its nominal assets. The bank … Read more

Biography of Martin S. McCreight, M. D.

Martin S. McCreight, M. D. A resident of Kansas since early boyhood, Doctor McCreight is one of the oldest business men and professional men of the City of Oskaloosa, where he began the practice of medicine and surgery over twenty years ago, and during the greater part of the time had also conducted a drug business and is vice president of the Jefferson County Bank. Doctor McCreight was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. February 19, 1870, and is of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather McCreight was a native Scotchman and on coming to America located in Pennsylvania. Johnston McCreight, father of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Albert G. Patrick

Albert G. Patrick, of Jefferson and Calhoun counties, Kansas, was one of the free-state leaders and, although he finally died full of years and honor, had a most narrow escape from death in the most exciting period of the border troubles. He was an Indiana native, born at Salem, Washington County, in 1824, and a settler at Leavenworth, February 18, 1856. He wrote an account of the robbery and stuffing of the ballot box in the Currler-Beck contest for a seat in the Council, which was published in an Indiana paper and aroused the men of the town. In the … Read more

Biography of Cassius C. Surber, M. D.

Cassius C. Surber, M. D. An exceptionally long and valuable service in the field of medicine has been rendered by the Surber family in Kansas. The late Dr. David Surber was a distinguished physician in Kansas during the territorial period and afterward. The son, Dr. Cassius C. Surber, has been in practice more than thirty years, the greater part of that time at Independence, and is undoubtedly one of the ablest surgeons in the state. Originally in Germany, the Surbers were colonial settlers in America, and the family subsequently became pioneers in the Territory of Indiana. Dr. C. C. Surber’s … Read more

Biography of William O. Worswick

William O. Worswick, though he began his career as a teacher and commercial man, had been in active practice as a member of the Oskaloosa bar for the past thirty years, and is an ex-county attorney of Jefferson County. Mr. Worswick is of English ancestry. The name was originally Warwick, and as such it is famous in English history. Mr. Worswick’s paternal grandfather was Henry Ward Worswick, who served as captain of a Man of War in the English Navy. He was born in Lancastershire, England, and in 1826 he brought his family to America and settled at Brooklyn, New … Read more

Biography of James A. Walker

James A. Walker, a resident of Kansas for more than thirty years, had applied himself with credit to various lines of business and official activity, but is now most widely known as state deputy of the Modern Woodmen of America, with headquarters at Emporia, where he had had his home for the past six years. Born at Winterset, Iowa, February 12, 1866, he grew up on his father’s farm in Missouri, gained his early education in the public schools of that state, and early in 1884 at the age of eighteen arrived in Jefferson County, Kansas. Then followed two years … Read more

Biography of Charles G. Royer

Charles G. Royer, whose father was one of the men chiefly identified with the early history and upbuilding of Winchester in Jefferson County, is cashier of the Citizens State Bank of that town. Mr. Royer entered the bank in 1907 as cashier, and had been continuously in that post since the day the bank was first opened for business on August 22, 1907. Throughout the ten years this bank had stood representative of strength and a wholesome influence and helpfulness in that farming community. It had a capital of $25,000 and surplus of $6,000, and its service is such as … Read more

Biography of N. T. Van Natta, Hon.

Hon. N. T. Van Natta. Accurately speaking there remains no new locality in our country, and pioneers and pioneer life no longer exist. An engrossing and interesting condition had passed into history, and its lessons and inspiration live principally in the retrospection of those individuals who endured the hardships and contributed by various services and diversified gifts to the upbuilding of the present. Republic County had as noble a roll call of early settlers as any part of Kansas, and among those inseparably connected with the Republic County records none are more deserving of prepetuation in its annals than Hon. … Read more

Biography of George Howe Bechtel

George Howe Bechtel. Of the men who are maintaining Montgomery County’s reputation and prestige in financial circles, few are more highly esteemed as banking officials and citizens than George Howe Bechtel, eashier of the Liberty State Bank, of Liberty. Like many other Kansas bankers, Mr. Bechtel is a product of the farm and of the schoolroom. It would seem that the practicality developed in agricultural life and the mental sharpening acquired in the educator’s vocation form a combination happily adaptative to the great and important business of banking. At least, Mr. Bechtel’s career and his success support such a view. … Read more

Biography of John William Moser

John William Moser has been a figure in the commercial life of Meriden, Kansas, for over thirty years. Besides his large mercantile enterprise and the ownership of considerable property Mr. Moser is active in various public and semi-public movements and enterprises of Jefferson County. He was born March 3, 1857, in Georgia Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in which state his ancestors, the Mosers, have lived since Colonial times, locating there from Germany. His great-grandfather, Abraham Moser, was born in Pennsylvania in 1767 and spent his last years in Georgia Township of Fayette County, where he belonged with the pioneer stock. … Read more

Biography of Henry W. McAfee

Henry W. McAfee. Of the men who have been contributing factors in the development and progress of Shawnee County, none have given in greater degree of their time, talents and energies to the general advancement than had Henry W. McAfee, proprietor of Prospect Farm, lying two miles west of the City of Topeka, on the Sixth Street road just west of Gage Park. A resident of this property for more than thirty-eight years, Mr. McAfee had been identified with numerous enterprises for general betterment, but it is, perhaps, as a promoter of good roads movements that he is best known … Read more

Butler, Horace John – Obituary

Wallowa County, Oregon Horace John Butler was born in Louisville, Henry County, Indiana May 28, 1850, and died at his home near Fruita, Oregon, September 16, 1926, aged 76 years, 3 months and 19 days. For several years Mr. Butler had been suffering from the ills usual to old age. His oldest son was drowned December 5, 1923, after which time he failed rapidly, the shock and grief undoubtedly shortening his life. Born of Quaker parentage he united with that denomination early in life. At the age of 19, he began teaching school, following that occupation for four years. When … Read more

Biography of Leonard R. Manley

The value of a useful trade, of making one’s energy count toward one thing, of forging steadily ahead, regardless of obstaeles and discouragements, finds emphatic expression in the life of Leonard R. Manley, president and manager of the Topeka Pure Milk Company, the largest concern dealing exclusively in milk in the State of Kansas. When Mr. Manley first came to Topeka, it was in a humble capacity, but he was a thorough master of his trade, and possessed the ambition, energy and ability to better and elevate himself, so that he had shapod his abilities to his needs, had made … Read more

Biography of Ira Puderbaugh, M.D.

Ira Puderbaugh, M. D. The second physician in practice at Ozawkis was Dr. Aaron Puderbaugh, and in that same locality his son Dr. Ira Puderbaugh had handled the bulk of the professional work for the past fifteen years. Ozawkie is the native town of Dr. Ira Puderbaugh, where he was born March 5, 1878. His ancestors were Germans who immigrated to Pennsylvania in very early times. His grandfather was born in Pennsylvania in 1810, afterwards moved to Western Ohio, from there to Indiana, and finally came to Kansas, where be lived retired until his death at Ozawkie in 1883. Dr. Aaron … Read more

Biography of James D. Corbet

James D. Corbet. A resident of Kansas more than half a century, since early boyhood, James D. Corbet is one of the substantial farmers and stock raisers of Shawnee County. His life and career is one worthy in every respect of emulation. He had been enterprising and progressive and having acquired success as a business man had devoted a goodly tithe of his means and his energies to the public welfare. He had been especially intezested in the advancement of public schools. His is an ancestral history of unusual interest. The family is of French origin, and at the time … Read more

Biography Of Clitus B. Hosford

Clitus B. Hosford. The Hosford family is one of the oldest in Kansas, dating back to territorial times. The three generations have been represented in this state by men of force and ability and of that initiative which brings constructive results in any community. Dr. William Hosford, the founder of the family in Kansas, came to this territory from Ohio in 1858. He homesteaded a tract of 160 acres in Jefferson County, and developed his claim though he was a physician by profession and immediately undertook to meet the heavy demands upon his professional skill. He was a native of … Read more

Biography of John W. Roberts

John W. Roberts, educator, superintendent of the city schools at Sedan, had attained prominence in educational circles in Southeastern Kansas, and though a native of the City of Topeka he represents one of the oldest and most noted families of Oskaloosa. Both his grandfather and father were men of distinction in the newspaper profession and his grandfather edited one of the early free state papers of Kansas. The family of which he is a member originated in England, and there were four of the Roberts brothers who came to America in Colonial times, one of them settling in New York, … Read more