Lawrence Kansas

Biography of Solon O.Thachek

Solon O. Thachek, of Lawrence, able lawyer, judge and public man of Kansas, achieved a wider fame as one of the pioneers in the great work of promoting friendly relations with the republics of South America. He came of a distinguished English and Revolutionary ancestry and was born in Stenben County, New York, August 31, 1830. His father was a county judge. After graduating from Union College of Schenectady, New York, and from the Albany Law School, he married, and in 1858 located at Lawrence, where he became one of the proprietors of the Journal. He was a member of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James F. Legate

James F. Legate was a leading citizen of Leavenworth for nearly forty years, and during the active period of his life few men in the state were better known in legislative affairs. He was a native of Massachusetts, born in Worcester County, November 23, 1829, in the house built by his paternal ancestor five generations preceding him, and on land deeded to that ancestry by the Engilsh government in the reign of George H. His father was a captain in command of a privateer in the War of 1812, and on both maternal and paternal sides were numerous representatives of … Read more

The Rodman Genealogy of New Bedford, MA

Thomas Rotch Rodman

The Rodman family was early settled in Massachusetts. The first of the name of whom there is authentic record was John Rodman, who died on the island of Barbadoes some time between Sept. 16 and Dec. 4, 1686. Thomas Rodman, son of John, born Dec. 26, 1640, came to Newport, R. I, from the island of Barbadoes in 1675, with William Edmundson, a “Friend,” who was on a religious visit to Barbadoes. He (Thomas) was a prominent member of the Society of Friends, and was clerk of the monthly, quarterly and yearly meetings for thirty years. He was also the first clerk of the New England Yearly Meeting, which position he held until 1718, He was an eminent physician and surgeon. His death occurred Jan. 11, 1728.

Biography of Francis Huntington Snow

Francis Huntington Snow. High in the list of names that Kansas honors, statesmen, soldiers, business and industrial executives, farmers and homesteaders, must be placed the name of a scientist and educator, Francis Huntington Snow, one of the greatest of them all. He came out of New England to Kansas. He was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, June 29, 1840, a son of Benjamin and Mary (Boutelle) Snow. He attended the public schools of his native city, and then entered Williams College, from which as valedictorian of his class he was graduated in 1862. He received the degrees B. A. and M. … Read more

Biography of Walter E. Brown

Walter E. Brown is one of the younger members of the Atchison bar, but had been favored by his ability and training and early associations and had attained just recognition as one of the resourceful lawyers of the state. He is junior member of the well known firm of Waggener, Challiss, DeLacy & Brown, senior partner of which is one of Kansas’ most distinguished and eminent lawyers and citizens, Hon. Bailie P. Waggener. Mr. Brown represents a pioneer name in Kansas history. He was born in Whiting, Kansas, November 17, 1887. His grandfather, Michael Brown, came to Kansas in 1872 … Read more

Biography of William R. Smith

One of the fine buildings bordering the State Capitol grounds at Topeka is the Kansas State Printing plant. That is the official headquarters of William R. Smith, state printer, and also secretary of the State Printing Commission and chairman of the School Book Commission of the state. Doubtless any citizen, and particularly a printer, would deem it an honor to be at the head of an establishment which experts pronounce to be the equal in mechanical equipment and operating effieiency of any commercial printing establishment in the country. When Mr. Smith went into office on July 1, 1915, he brought … Read more

Biography of Dennis Joseph Sheedy

Dennis Joseph Sheedy. One of the sons of the Nutmeg State who had achieved prominence at the Kansas bar is Dennis Joseph Sheedy. A practitioner at Fredonia since 1906, he had won a reputation in his profession through his conservative, self-assured, well-prepared, clean-cut and successful handling of the cases placed in his charge. He was born at Portland, Connecticut, October 14, 1874, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Marooney) Sheedy. Mr. Sheedy comes of good Irish stock, his grandfather having been Dennis Sheedy, a native of County Cork, who passed his entire life in his native Erin as … Read more

Biography of Charles Long

Charles Long, one of the well known farmers in Nowata County, was born on the Grand River, Indian Territory, on the 3d of October, 1869. His father, William Long, was of Wyandotte Indian extraction and his demise occurred when Charles was but a baby. The mother, Katie Ketchum, died when her son was but four years of age. In the acquirement of an education Charles Long attended the Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas, and after putting his text-books aside engaged in farming near his boyhood home. His sons own one hundred acres, one mile east and one-half north of Coodys … Read more

Biography of G. S. Holt

G. S. Holt. A Kansas territorial pioneer whose name and services will always be specially remembered in the City of Ottawa was G. S. Holt, a native of Connecticut who came to Kansas Territory in the early ’50s. For a time he lived at Lawrence, but from there went to Ottawa and became proprietor of the first dry goods store, opened in a building at the corner of Second and Main streets. This building had been constructed from the timbers of the old capitol building at Mineola. Besides his work as a business man Mr. Holt was identified and was … Read more

Biography of Seth J. Bailey

Seth J. Bailey. The gratifying success which had crowned the efforts of Seth J. Bailey, of Chanute, clearly and emphatically evidence the business skill, perseverance and enterprise of this individual, who had been engaged in business here since the fall of 1900. This is a utilitarian age, one in which advancement and progress come through activity in the industrial and commercial interests of life. There is nothing to which America owes her pre-eminence among the nations of the earth so much as to her inventions, and each year sees additions to the list which bear marked impress upon the world … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Colonel and Judge Oscar E. Learnard

Colonel and Judge Oscar E. Learnard, one of the founders of Burlington, for many years a resident of Lawrence, one of the organizers of the republican party in Kansas and prominent in numerous state institutions and enterprises, was born at Fairfax, Vermont, November 14, 1832. He was of English and Franch Huguenot stock. In 1855, the year after his graduation from the Albany Law School, Mr. Learnard came to Kansas and located at Lawrence, and the next year he commanded a “mounted regiment” of the free-state forces in the border war. In the spring of 1857 he helped to locate … Read more

Biography of Theodore Poehler

Theodore Poehler. Of the able and large-hearted Germans who emigrated from the fatherland when Kansas was one of the frontier territories of the United States, none hold a more secure place in the admiration and affection of living pioneers and their descendants than Theodore Poehler, whose death occurred at Lawrence, December 31, 1901, a few days after he had entered his seventieth year. He stood for industry, thrift, a broad business outlook, warm affections, a Christian charity, practical usefulness, wide culture and thoroughness in education, as well as every other activity of life. Besides his many good works, a monument … Read more

Biography of Lester Martin Combs

Lester Martin Combs has been an active newspaper man since he graduated from Baker University five years ago and is now editor, manager and treasurer of the Anthony Republican, the official paper of Harper County. The Republican is the oldest paper in Harper County and was established a few years after the county was organized in 1879. The first editors and publishers were George W. Maffet and Charles Metcalf. For several years in the late ’80s the Republican had a daily edition. At the present time the Republican is printed at a modern plant on South Bluff Street. The Anthony … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Prof. Lewis L. Dyche

Prof. Lewis L. Dyche, who held the chair of systematic zoology and taxidermy at the University of Kansas from 1900 until his death January 20, 1915, had a wide reputation in North America in his chosen fields. He was born at Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, March 20, 1857, in early life he came to Kansas, and in 1884 received the degrees of B. S. and B. A. from the University of Kansas. During the years 1885-86 he was assistant professor of zoology, and in 1886 he received the degree of A. M. He was then made professor of comparative anatomy, … Read more

Biography of Clark Goodhue Howland, Rev.

Rev. Clark Goodhue Howland was one of the early Unitarian ministers of Kansas. The work he did as pastor of that church at Lawrence made him widely known, but he is remembered not as a minister of creeds or denominations, but as a minister of service. He was the personification of kindness and sympathy, and the grateful memory that follows him is better than any form of material wealth. Rev. Mr. Howland was born in Orleans County, New York, August 8, 1835. He was the eighth in direct line of descent from John Howland, who came to the American colonies … Read more

Biography of Charles Tholen

Charles Tholen, who came to Kansas in 1857, was for a long period of years a recognized force in the professional and civic life of Leavenworth and was especially a leader among the German element of the city. He was a pioneer lawyer and had come to Kansas when it was still a territory and was first identified with Leavenworth as an employe of the fort. He was born at Emden in the Province of Hanover, Germany, January 28, 1827. He came of a prominent family and was given unusual advantages and training as a youth. His father, Claas Tholen, … Read more

Biography of Cyrus K. Holliday

Cyrus K. Holliday was one of the founders of Topeka, in which, for many years, he was the largest taxpayer; projected and built the first portion of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad; was one of the organizers of the republican party in Kansas, and an all-around promoter of great enterprises. Born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1826, he was educated for the legal profession, but decided in early manhood in favor of a business life. His first venture was the building of a short line of railroad in his native state, in which he accumulated some $20,000, which … Read more

Biography of Justin Dewitt Bowersock

Justin Dewitt Bowersock. The secret of human leadership is a matter both of determination and temperament. Some men achieve it by a rugged aggressiveness which bears all before them, leaving in their wake many painful bruises and some wounds which never heal; other progress, perhaps even more rapidly, endowed with a decisive elasticity, a considerate and friendly spirit, a broad and attractive outlook, and obtain the enthusiastic cooperation of those who are best qualified to advance laudable enterprises and movements, either private or public in their character. It is to the latter class of elastic, able and pleasing leaders that … Read more

Biography of Henry W. Klemp

Henry W. Klemp. When, in the spring of 1863, Henry W. Klemp arrived in the United States, he was a poor German youth, without knowledge of the manners, customs of language of the people among whom he had decided to make his home. Notwithstanding his limited resources, however, he had a large fund of practical common sense, an overflowing store of ambition and energy, and a determination to make the most of his opportunities in whatever field he found himself. Today he is one of the successful business men of Leavenworth, the directing head of an enterprise the product of … Read more

Biography of Thomas E. Wagstaff

An attorney of long and successful experience in Montgomery County, both in Coffeyville and Independence, Thomas E. Wagstaff had been and is a leader in republican politics in the state, and a few years ago his name beeame known all over Kansas as a candidate for nomination to the office of governor. He lost the nomination by only a few votes. This was in 1910, when W. R. Stubbs was nominated and afterwards elected. His family have been identified with Kansas for forty years. Thomas E. Wagstaff was born at Galesburg, Illinois, July 23, 1875, and was still an infant … Read more