Labette County KS

Biography of A. H. Skidmore

A. H. Skidmore. The general instances in the early life of men who “do things” are peculiarly similar. Differing in detail, the general outline is the short and simple story of the rise and progress to eminence from poverty to prosperity. Assiduous toil, the common school advantages, and the struggle for supremacy generates reliance on self, the natural, rather than art is their guide; individual talents are developed and each shows through the originality thereby becoming and recognized as self-made men. Judge Skidmore was born in Virginia February 14, 1856, was reared to manhood on a farm by parents possessing … Read more

Smelcer, Dorothy Louise Romine Mrs. – Obituary

Halfway, Oregon Dorothy Louise Romine Smelcer, 91, of Halfway, died May 6, 2003, at St. Elizabeth Care Center. Her graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Pine Haven Cemetery in Halfway. Dorothy was born Dec. 24, 1911, at Alamont, Kan., to Eber and Irene Romine. She was the second of nine children. Her family moved to Pine Valley in 1917. She attended Sunnydell School and graduated from Pine Valley High School in 1931. She married Lawrence J. Smelcer on June 1, 1931, at Vancouver, Wash. They were married for 72 years, and were partners in the cattle operation. … Read more

Biography of Samuel Brownlee Fisher

Samuel Brownlee Fisher of Parsons, consulting engineer of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, is one of the eminent railway engineers of America. He had had nearly fifty years of active experience and had been identified with the construction of various railway lines in the West and East. He comes of an old Scotch family of Covenanter stock. On the maternal side his ancestors were the Brownlees, who were Covenanters in Scotland and were exiled because of their religious belief and settled in Pennsylvania. Mr. Fisher’s great-great-grandfather in the maternal line, George Wilie, was a soldier in the Revolutionary … Read more

Biography of Edwin B. Morgan

Edwin B. Morgan. When Edwin B. Morgan came to Kansas in 1892, at the age of nineteen, he found his first opportunity for service and work as a school teacher. He taught in Linn County one year, and two years in Franklin County. Already his ambition was set upon the law as a career. Entering the State University at Lawrence, he pursued the studies of the law department until graduating LL. B, in 1898. In July of that year he began practice at Oswego, and was one of the rising young attorneys of that city for seven years. Since removing … Read more

Biography of William Wallace Brown

William Wallace Brown, general attorney at Parsons for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway and a director in that railway company, is one of Kansas’ prominent lawyers with many well earned distinctions in the profession. The secret of his success has been hard work. He began practice only after a thorough preliminary training of self reliance and after getting his professional education through his own earnings and efforts. A native of Kansas, he represents a pioneer family. Mr. Brown was born in Coffey County July 29, 1868. He is of English ancestry. His grandfather Robert Brown was born in England, … Read more

Biography of John Thomas Sims

John Thomas Sims, who many years ago secured prestige as one of the most forcible lawyers of the Kansas City, Kansas, bar and is now serving as judge of the Probate Court of Wyandotte County has had his share of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. His early life was one of hard and continuous work, often ill repaid, and again and again overtaken with calamity or disaster. He tried farming in the early days of Kansas, and various other occupations, and again and again when prosperity seemed to smile upon him he was put back at the beginning … Read more

Biography of Samuel Bowman

Samuel Bowman, now of Coffeyville, where he is engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan business with his sons, is a Kansas resident of nearly thirty-five years and was long prominent in Labette County, where he served two terms as probate judge. His Bowman ancestors were German people who came to Pennsylvania in Colonial times. His grandfather, Benjamin Bowman, a native of Pennsylvania, was a farmer and cabinet maker, also a minister of the Dunkard Church, and spent many years in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where he died some years before Judge Bowman was born. It was in … Read more

Biography of C. B. Mitchell

Although one of the more recent additions to the Miami bar, Charles B. Mitchell has already demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricacies of the law and is building up a good practice. He is also well known as a writer of ability and has contributed many interesting articles to leading magazines. He was born at Brunswick, Maine, on the 9th of October, 1870, his parents being George E. and Agnes E. Mitchell, also natives of the Pine Tree state, the former born at Brunswick, August 3, 1850, while the birth of the latter occurred at Oldtown in 1854. … Read more

Biography of Edgar Fenton Broomhall

Edgar Fenton Broomhall is secretary of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company with headquarters and home at Parsons. Native ability and long experience in railroading have given Mr. Broomhall unusual qualifications for the large responsibilities he now enjoys. He was born in Chicago August 18, 1877, and from that date it will be seen that he is still a young man. His father, Charles W. Broomhall, was born in Wilmington, Ohio, August 9, 1850, grew up and married in his native state, and in early life learned telegraphy and was an operator until 1888. For several years he was … Read more

Biography of Ellsworth L. Burton

Ellsworth L. Burton. One of the very able members of the Kansas Legislature in the session of 1915-16 was Representative E. L. Burton from Parsons. Mr. Burton is an attorney by profession, has spent most of his life in Kansas, and has some very influential and important connections in his part of the state. He was born at Mattoon, Illinois, April 30, 1868. The Burtons came from England and settled in the Carolinas during colonial days. Mr. Burton is a direct descendant of Cavalier Burton. His grandfather Alfred Burton was born near Guilford Court House in North Carolina, and died … Read more

Biography of Hon. W. W. Thompson

Hon. W. W. Thompson. The interests of the widow and orphan are protected and safeguarded so far as is humanely possible in Labette County where W. W. Thompson is probate judge. That is the finest proof of his administration of that office during the last six years. Judge Thompson, while not a lawyer by profession, is a man of judicial temperament, of wide experience in business and public affairs, and has both the personal integrity and impartiality which qualify him so well for his present duties. He is one of the older settlers of Labette County. He was born in … Read more

Biography of Charles T. Carpenter

Charles T. Carpenter is one of the pioneer bankers of Coffeyville, and for thirty years has been closely identified with what is now known as the Condon National Bank, being vice president of that institution. Mrs. Temple W. Carpenter, his wife, is one of the prominent women of Southern Kansas, has been a leader in religious, social and public affairs, and is president of the Carnegie Library of Coffeyville, and is the only woman who has ever been honored with a place on the school board of that city. The Carpenter family is a very old one in America, having … Read more

Biography of Herbert M. Howison, Prof.

Prof. Herbert M. Howison. As one of the flourishing cities of Kansas, Parsons has representatives in nearly all the industries and professions. As a developer of its musical interest the city has recently received an important addition in the person of Herbert M. Howison, a prominent professional musician and a man of wide experience as a teacher and devotee of the art. Professor Howison is a young man of much talent and has been thoroughly trained in many of the best schools and under some of the best instructors of the country. The family have lived in this country for … Read more

Biography of Richard Allen

Richard Allen had been professor of history in the Montgomery County High School since the organization of that excellent institution more than fifteen years ago. He is one of the most widely known educators in Southern Kansas. His Allen ancestors came originally from England, one branch settling in Massachusetts and the other in Virginia during colonial days. His grandfather, William Allen, was born in Virginia in 1780, and some years later the family moved across the mountains into Kentucky, and subsequently became early settlers in Illinois. William Allen died in White County, Illinois, in 1845. Richard Allen was born in … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Leda C. Steele

Mrs. Leda C. Steele, one of the most notable figures in the musical circles of Oklahoma and the southwest and enjoying as well an international reputation in connection with her art, makes her home in Muskogee, where she has resided since 1900. She was born in St. Paul, Kansas, a daughter of Edson H. and Artimissia (Sutherland) Crawford, the former a native of Elgin, Illinois, while the latter was born in the vicinity of Elgin. The father was a veteran of the Civil war. Having pursued her education in the public schools of St. Paul, Kansas, and in the high … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Charles C. Beggs

No grander monument can be placed at the head of the grave of any man than the noble work that the pioneers did in this section of the country, when they fought back the bloodthirsty hordes of savages and invaded the wilds of nature, to reclaim for homes and civilization’s abode these regions which was done at the expense of much trying labor, great hardships, perils of serious nature and self-denial all the way through. Among this worthy class and deserving of special honor for his faithful life and excellent achievements, is the esteemed subject of this memoir, to whom … Read more

Biography of William P. Bowen

William P. Bowen. For thirty years or more the name Bowen has been extensively associated with milling industries in Southern Kansas. William P. Bowen owns the only flour and feed milling enterprise at Independence, and this was established by himself and his father a great many years ago in connection with several other mills of the same kind located in other parts of the state. Mr. Bowen is not only a business man but a citizen well known throughout Montgomery County. He has filled the post of mayor of his home city, and has done much to advance community welfare. … Read more

Biography of Charles Sumner Newlon, M.D.

Dr. Charles Sumner Newlon, who for the past fifteen years has engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Kansas City, Missouri, and who for many years prior to this period was a physician and surgeon of the state of Kansas, was born at Newton’s Grove, Cass county, Iowa, in 1858, a son of Dr. William Smithson and Maria (Wimp) Newlon. The ancestral line is traced back to his great-grandfather, John Newlon. The grandfather, Hiram Newlon, was born in Virginia and was a cousin of Dolly Madison, wife of the fourth president of the United States and also a … Read more

Biography of Julius S. Waters

A distinguished jurist has said: “In the American state the great and good lawyer must always be prominent, for he is one of the forces that move and control society. Public confidence has generally been reposed in the legal profession. It has ever been the defender of popular rights, the champion of freedom regulated by law, the firm support of good government. In the times of danger it has stood like a rock and breasted the mad passions of the hour and finally resisted tumult and faction.” A review of the history of Julius Spencer Waters shows that his life … Read more

Biography of Peter J. Ringler

Peter J. Ringler, who is manager and part owner of the Parsons Bottling Works, one of the largest concerns of its kind in the state, has had a very active and successful business career. He was born in Livingston County, Illinois, December 14, 1868. His grandfather Peter Ringler was born in Kurhessen, Germany, came to the United States about 1876 after his wife had died in Germany, and lived on a farm in Livingston County, Illinois, until his death. In Germany he was a contractor for the building of railroads, and he also served his regular term in the German … Read more