Lawrence Kansas

Biography of William Lloyd Garrison Soule

William Lloyd Garrison Soule, Auditor of San Bernardino County, and founder of the mining town of Calico, is a lineal descendant from Puritan stock, and was born in the State of Maine, in July, 1836. He was reared from early childhood in Massachusetts, and started to learn the printer’s trade in Boston at the age of fourteen. He came with his parents to Kansas in 1854, and set the first stickful of type ever set within the boundary of that State, on the Herald of Freedom, established at that time in Lawrence. Being like his illustrious namesake, an uncompromising enemy … Read more

Biography of James Walter Gowans

James Walter Gowans, superintendent of the city schools of Winfield, is one of a trio of brothers all of whom are graduates of the University of Kansas and all capable school men in this state. Mr. Gowans is not only an educator but a thoroughly constructive administrator in educational affairs, and the public schools of Winfield have benefited much from his superintendence. Though a resident of Kansas nearly all his life, James Walter Gowans was born at Centerview, Missouri, September 21, 1877. He is of Scotch ancestry in the paternal line. His paternal grandparents, Walter and Elizabeth (Donnan) Gowans, were … Read more

Biography of John F. Overfield

During his service in the Kansas Legislature as a senator from Montgomery County it had been the enviable distinction of John F. Overfield to have become one of the leading members in influence and aetivity of the State Senate. It is said that he had never introduced a bill in behalf of his constituents that had not secured the approval of both houses and hecome a law. Politically Senator Overfield is a republican of the old school, and is by no means ashamed of the description stand-pat republican. He was elected to the State Senate in 1908, and had served … 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 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

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

Reminiscences of Early Lawrence Kansas

Reminiscences of early Lawrence Kansas

“Reminiscences of early Lawrence” by Agnes Emery, self-published in 1955, offers a deeply personal and detailed account of the author’s experiences and observations in Lawrence, Kansas, during its formative years. Emery’s narrative blends historical details with a vivid recollection of community life, making it a valuable resource for understanding the local history of Lawrence and the broader societal changes of the time.

Biography Of Joseph Gardner

The ancestors of Joseph Gardner were descended from Quaker stock which landed upon the shores of Nantucket Island in 1620. Later they lived in North Carolina and emigrated from there to the Territory of Indiana in the latter part of the eighteenth century. It was in Union County, Indiana, that Joseph Gardner was born in July, 1820. His parents, William Gardner and Mary Hollingsworth, were ardently opposed to slavery, hence adhered to the anti-slavery wing of the Quaker Church. Upon attaining his majority, Joseph Gardner aligned himself with the Abolitionists and finally died fighting for the freedom of the slaves. … Read more

Biography of Joseph O. Ward M. D.

Joseph O. Ward, M. D., is a physician and surgeon of Horton whose work and attainments have brought him increasing repntstion for skill and ability. Doctor Ward is a native of Kansas, was a successful teacher before he took up his preparation for a medical career, and had been in practice now for almost twenty years. His father, M. Ward, who is still living at the venerable age of eighty-four, had had a most mteresting career and one that had brought him in close contast with pioneer conditions of the Middle West. Born in Ireland in 1833, he came to this … Read more

Biography of Andrew H. Reeder, Governor

Pennsylvania had long been noted for her distingnished men in all walks of life. This is particalarly true of the Pennsylvania bar, and the current and popular phrase “a Philadelphia lawyer,” denoting unusual ability and intellectual acumen, illustrates the fact that it was thoroughly recognized both in and out of Pennsylvania that the lawyers of this commonwealth were worthy of the pre-eminence claimed for them. The bar of Northampton County shared this preeminence, and for more than a century it had maintained its prestige in the front rank of the profession in the commonwealth. Its roll contains the names of … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Gibson, M. D.

Charles M. Gibson, M. D. During the past decade Dr. Charles M. Gibson has been engaged in the practice of medicine at Franklin, Kansas, and by his devotion to the duties of his profession, his close study and his pronounced skill, has won a liberal and representative practice. His talents and executive ability have gained him recognition in his community, and he has maintained throughout his career a high standard of professional ethics and honorable principles. Dr. Charles M. Gibson was born at Richview, Illinois, July 6, 1879, a son of Samuel B. and Sarah C. (Hussey) Gibson, and a … Read more

Slave Narrative of Eliza Whitmire

Person Interviewed: Eliza Whitmire Location: Vinita, Oklahoma Date of Birth: 1833 Age: 102 My name is Eliza Whitmire. I live on a farm, near Estella, where I settled shortly after the Civil War and where I have lived ever since. I was born in slavery in the state of Georgia, my parents having belonged to a Cherokee Indian of the name of George Sanders, who owned a large plantation in the old Cherokee Nation, in Georgia. He also owned a large number of slaves but I was too young to remember how many he owned. I do not know the … Read more

Biography of Tom D. Smith

Tom D. Smith, lawyer at Hiawatha, had for a number of years been regarded as one of the most forceful orators and leaders in the republican party of Kansas. Because of his unusual resources as a speaker and reasoner, he was given some of the most important assignments during the national republican campaign of 1916. Much of his work was done in the far East. He spoke at President Wilson’s home and at Long Brauch, and spoke with Charles E. Hughes and William Taft during the Union Square meeting in New York City. He stumped all over New Jersey, Connecticut … Read more

Biography of George Slosson

George Slosson. Although one who usefully and nobly lived, like the late George Slosson, whose whole career was marked with accomplishment for the common good, and who left behind him substantial enterprises that he built up through his own vitalizing energy, that in the ramifications of business still go on benefiting a newer generation, may need no eulogy to perpetuate remembrance, there is a feeling that does the world credit, that such a man, honored and beloved as he was in private life, belonged more or less to his time and community. Thus his achievements should be gratefully brought to … Read more

Biography of James Willis Gleed

James Willis Gleed, general attorney for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company of St. Louis, was born at Morrisville, Vermont, March 8, 1859. His father, Thomas Gleed, now deceased, was a native of England, who came to America during the ’30s, settling at first in Canada, but later he removed to northern Vermont, where he resided to the time of his death in 1861, when he was but thirty-five years of age. In early manhood he had wedded Cornelia Fisk, a native of the Green Mountain state and a representative of an old New England family that was established in Massachusetts … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William B. Clark

Of the two sons who continue his honorable record in the State of Kansas, William B. was born in Knox County, Illinois, November 8, 1847. He received a public school education, lived on an Illinois farm until he was nine years of age, and after reaching manhood he identified himself with agrisulture. After spending some years as a farmer in Illinois he sold out and moved to Kansas in the spring of 1878. The first year he lived on a rented farm near Lawrence, but in the spring of 1879 moved to his present place of 160 acres which had … Read more

Biography of David Winfield Mulvane, Hon.

Hon. David Winfield Mulvane. For years one of the prominent characters of Kansas who have helped to influence and direct national life has been David W. Mulvane of Topeka. In his home state Mr. Mulvane is best known as a lawyer and his power in republican politics has not been exercised through office but through his chieftainship in the party itself. For many years he has been identified with the state organization, and also with the national party organization, and was one of the national party committee for a dozen years. He was born in Princeton, Illinois, January 4, 1863, … 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 Charles Fussman

Charles Fussman was a Kansas pioneer. He was one of the first settlers at Humboldt, and that community and Allen County will always pay a respectful regard to his memory and the high-minded and conscientious citizenship that he exemplified. He was a German by birth, and had those substantial virtues and qualities for which the German people are most respected. He was born at Frankfort on the Rhine in 1829. In the old country he learned the trade of tinsmith. Coming to the United States in young manhood, he first located in Uniontown, Iowa, but in 1857 arrived in the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hibbard, H. C.

Hibbard, H. C. attorney-at-law, and insurance agent, first came to Russell County, Kan. in May, 1871, farmed until 1874, and came to Russell village, where he engaged in the practice of law, was born in Fulton County, Ill. Enlisted in January, 1864, in Company I, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, participated in all the battles of his command, mustered out at Benton Barracks, Mo., June 17, 1865. He came to Kansas in September of the same year, located in Johnson County. He attended the State University at Lawrence in 1870. Previous to the latter dates he also taught school, was married in … Read more