Kansas City Kansas

Biography of William Lee Vaughan

William Lee Vaughan for a number of years had been one of the foremost business men and merchants of Kansas City, Kansas. Nearly all the residents of that city know his place of business at Eighteenth and Central Avenue, and particularly in that district of Kansas City his influence is recognized as having been one of the chief factors in many lines of development and improvement which have been brought about during the last decade or so. Mr. Vaughan had an interesting family history. He was born at Sedalla, Missouri, June 29, 1873, but had lived in Kansas for thirty … Read more

Biography of Edwin Ruthven Heath

Edwin Ruthven Heath, a prominent physician and specialist of Kansas City, Kansas, had a record among Kansas citizens that is unique. As a boy he knew the terrors, excitements and thrilling incidents of life in California following the discovery of gold in ’49. As a traveler both in North and South America he had contributed a part of the world’s knowledge of geography, peoples and science. He spent twelve years in South America, practiced medicine in remote construction camps and among wild and semi-barbarous tribes, and he helped build some of the pioneer railways of that continent. To as great … Read more

Biography of Howard C. Tillotson

Howard C. Tillotson. Some men make a success in life apparently by disregarding the old rule of sticking to one thing and to one place. The possession of several talents, and the judgment to make use of them operate to contradict the rule which the average person finds safe for his guidance. One of these men of varied abilities and varied experiences is Howard C. Tillotson, a prominent resident of Latham. Mr. Tillotson is a native of Kansas, and both he and his wife are people of special interest and note because of what they have done for others as … 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 Leonard V. McKee

Leonard V. McKee. The life, the personal character and the influence of Leonard V. McKee impressed themselves strongly upon the formative period of Marshall County’s history. He was founder and president of the Frankfort State Bank, was a large land owner and one of the leading business men and citizens of the community. He was born in Allen County, Ohio, August 18, 1845, and died at his home in Frankfort, Kansas, December 22, 1916, aged seventy-one years, four months and four days. His parents, Robert and Sarah (Dunlap) McKee, were both natives of Ohio. His father was a cabinet maker … Read more

Biography of J. M. Massey

J. M. Massey. One of the live and prosperous communities of Southeastern Kansas which is offering unsurpassed opportunities for the development of men and large business interests is the growing City of Chanute. In this locality may be found many of the raw materials, or they can be easily obtained through railroad shipments. Here is an immense local market, and here are the men, solid, reliable and aggressive, ready and willing to push ahead to the ultimate end whatever enterprise they connect themselves with. Once an individual establishes himself in the line for which he is best fitted, if he … Read more

Biography of Martin L. Foltz

Martin L. Foltz. His span of years greater than the average lifetime had been spent by Martin L. Foltz as an active citizen and resident of Kansas. He is one of the few survivors of that epoch when the nation’s destiny hung upon the outcome of the conflict in Kansas. He is also one of the survivors of the great Civil war, in which he served almost from the beginning to the end in the Union army. For many years his home had been in Williamsport Township of Shawnee County. Born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1841, he is a … Read more

Biography of Frank J. Hauber

Frank J. Hauber. A business is only as strong as that of the character and the personal forces behind it. This had been demonstrated over and over again, and perhaps no one enterprise in Kansas is a more signal illustration of this truth than the great Hauber Cooperage Company of Kansas City, Kansas. The president of this company is Mr. Frank J. Hauber. It is a business which had endured all the arrows and slings of fortune, was twice destroyed by floods, and twice by fire, and Phoenix-like had arisen again and is now bigger and better than ever. The … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Green

Charles W. Green, a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, since March, 1893, was born in Grcene County, New York, July 1, 1868, son of Charles and Avesta (Wright) Green. His father was a farmer and a veteran of the Union army. He was educated in public schools, in Greenville Academy and Eastman’s Business College. After some experience as a grocery clerk and in real estate and insurance lines he went west in 1891 to Colorado, was connected two years with a smelting company, and on coming to Argentine, now part of Kansas City, Kansas, had charge of the copper department … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Henry McGrew

Henry McGrew, a son of the late Governor James McGrew and his wife Mary (Doggett) McGrew, has spent practically all his life in Kansas City, Kansas, was formerly prominent as a member of the bar of that city, and is still one of the leading business men. He was born at Lancaster, Keokuk County, Iowa, April 18, 1857, the same year that his father came as a pioneer to Wyandotte, Kansas. He grew up at Wyandotte, attended the public schools, and had all the advantages that a young man of ambition would crave as a preparation for a career. Determining … Read more

Biography of William Warring Gordon

William Warring Gordon is now in his second term as chief of police of Kansas City, Kansas. An office fraught with so much importance and complicated with so many difficulties and responsibilities had received an administration from Mr. Gordon which had been a splendid tribute to his tact, forcefulness and efficiency as a public official. Mr. Gordon had spent the greater part of his life as a resident of Kansas and was a successful business man before he was called upon to administer his present office. He was born in Kentucky in Owen County on a farm June 13, 1874. … Read more

Biography of Fred Robertson

Fred Robertson, the present United States district attorney for Kansas, with office and residence at Kansas City, Kansas, had been a resident of this state since 1885. It is only necessary to recall some of the early conditions of his life in Kansas to show that he had won his way to influential poaition over many obstacles. He was fourteen years old when his parents came to Kansas, and he had been born in Orange County, New York, and his early boyhood was spent on a farm, with an education in the district schools. His parents were John M. and … Read more

Biography of J. Edgar Buffington

J. Edgar Buffington, a representative of an honored pioneer family of Oklahoma, figures prominently in financial circles of northeastern Oklahoma as President of the Vinita National Bank, in which connection he is controlling one of the most substantial moneyed institutions in this part of the state. He was born in that portion of Indian Territory known as the Cherokee Nation, on the 13th of March, 1881, of the union of Ezekiel and Anna (Scarcewater) Buffington and when but an infant lost both of his parents. His boyhood was spent as an inmate of the Cherokee Orphans’ Home at Salina, in … Read more

Biography of William W. Rose

William W. Rose has been practicing his profession as architect in the metropolitan district of Kansas City for thirty years. Without question he ranks as one of the ablest men both in the artistic and practical branches of his profession. Mr. Rose had also been prominently identified with civic affairs, and is well remembered as mayor of Kansas City, Kansas, during a very critical period of municipal affairs. He is now head of the architectural firm of Rose & Peterson, with offices in the Barker Building. He was born at Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, March 12, 1864, second … Read more

Biography of Anthony C. Fasenmyer

Anthony C. Fasenmyer, now retired, has been a constructive factor in the commercial affairs of Kansas City, Kansas, and many of the results of his thirty-one years of activity still stand and have entered permanently into the life and well being of the community. Mr. Fasenmyer was born at Fryburg in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1857. He was the third of five children whose parents were Jacob and Frances (Fletcher) Fasenmyer. His grandfather Balthaser Fasenmyer lived near Strassburg in Alsace, France. He spent seven years as a soldier under the great Napoleon. From there he emigrated to America and … Read more

Biography of Wesley R. Childs

Wesley R. Childs is a native Kansan, had been a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, since 1895, had accepted the many opportunities to make himself useful in civic affairs as well as in business, was formerly postmaster, and is now giving his attention to his duties as executive special representative in Kansas and Missouri for the Illinois Life Insurance Company. Mr. Childs was born June 26, 1869, in Allen County in an old log cabin that stood on the farm now owned by L. L. Northrop near Iola. His parents, Lucas S. and Sophia (Keyes) Childs had come to Kansas … Read more

Biography of Ira I. Cammack

Ira I. Cammack, who has devoted the greater part of his life to educational work, has done valuable service in the capacity of superintendent of schools in Kansas City, which position he still holds. He was born at Deming, Hamilton county, Indiana, on the 16th of February, 1858, his parents being James and Edith J. Cammack, who were pioneer settlers of eastern Indiana, taking up their abode in Randolph county. They held birthright membership in the Friends church and were prominently identified therewith throughout their entire lives. The father brought the first steam sawmills to central Indiana. Joseph Pearson, the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Patrick McInerney, Rev.

Rev. Patrick McInerney is pastor of the Assumption Catholic Church of Topeka. Reared and trained for the duties of the priesthood abroad, he has been in the ministry of the church in America for the past eighteen years, and all that time has been spent in Kansas. He is an able priest, devoted to the cause, and has an important record of constructive work in the various parishes where he has served. One of the eleven children of Patrick and Bridget (Purcell) McInerney, he was born in Ireland March 6, 1876. He attended the local schools of Ireland and the … Read more

Biography of Samuel N. Simpson

Samuel N. Simpson. A notable life came to a close with the death of Samuel N. Simpson on November 27, 1915: Important though his achievements were in the field of business and in the development of many useful enterprises and undertakings in the cities of Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, it is because his activities and influence were so vitally identified with the primitive period of the territorial Kansas that his individual history bulks so large in the annals of the state and furnishes a chapter that may be read with instruction and profit by every student of Kansas annals. … Read more

Biography of Peter J. Broll

Peter J. Broll. Of the successful business men of Kansas City, Kansas, perhaps none began life with fewer opportunities and under more unpromising circumstances than Peter J. Broll. The education which most boys secure while living in comfortable homes and attending schools with nothing else to divert their minds was denied him and he obtained his education largely by direct contact with the world and those processes of intelligent thought which are quickened by a live mind and a fundamental interest in the life about him. A humble clerkship was his first opportunity of experience, and gradually, being of a … Read more