Leavenworth County KS

Biography of John Porter

John Porter. This is the name of one of the old pioneers of Kansas territory. It was fifty-seven years ago when he established his first home within the limits of the presant Shawnee County and there began working out his own destiny and to some extent the destiny of Kansas as a free state and the welfare of his children. It is a name that will always be spoken with respect, and those who bear it in the future will have reason to congratulate themselves in the splendid character of their pioncor Kansas ancostor, John Portor. He was a native … Read more

Biography of Carl F. Mayer

In the sudden demise of Carl F. Mayer, which occurred at Joplin, Missouri, on the 19th of September, 1921, when he was fifty years of age, Miami lost one of its most progressive, public-spirited and highly respected citizens and the government a trusted official whose entire active life had been spent in its service. The place which he left vacant will be a difficult one to fill, for broad experience had given him a comprehensive understanding of Indian affairs, and the service which he rendered was one of great value to the nation. He was born at Leavenworth, Kansas, August … Read more

Biography of Albert Irven Decker

Albert Irven Decker. In the demands which it makes upon its devotees, educational work is exceedingly exacting. The duty of the educator, ostensibly, is to instill a practical, working knowledge into each of his pupils, but his correlative, although less direct, function of instilling character and worthy precepts through his personal influence is equally important. The duty first named calls for an individual of knowledge and specialized training, while the second demands a conscientious and capable person whose life and mode of living provide a fit criterion and example for the minds of youth. When a man is found in … Read more

Biography of John Thomas Bartley

John Thomas Bartley has spent many years in Kansas and the Southwestern country and his business had been chiefly ranching on a large scale, either as manager for others or for himself. He now looks after a large farm at Fostoria in Pottawatomie County and had been a fine factor in the founding and upbuilding of that comparatively new village of Kansas. The home of the Bartleys for several generations had been Monroe County, Kentucky, where John Thomas was born March 7, 1865. His great-grandfather, Thomas Bartley, was born in Ireland in 1760. He came to this country a young, … Read more

Biography of William C. Phenicie

William C. Phenicie, an honored veteran of the Civil war, a resident of Kansas for more than half a century, had played his varied part in life with exceeding industry, thrift, and a public spirited sense of responsibility as a citizen. He is now a resident of Tonganoxie in Leavenworth County. His birth occurred on a farm near Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, December 19, 1841. His parents were George W. and Mary Ann (Howk) Phenicie. His father was an Ohio farmer. He also had the pioneer spirit which led Americans of all classes away from the settled states into the … Read more

Biography of Henry J. Helmers, Sr.

Henry J. Helmers, Sr. The high rewards attainable through a life of industry, guided by a strong sense of integrity, are strikingly exemplified in the career of Henry J. Helmers, Sr., president of the Helmers Manufacturing Company of Leavenworth, and one of that city’s leading business citizens. Starting life handicapped by a lack of education, without financial assistance or influential friends, he had made his own way, fought his own battles and established for himself a place of honor and eminence in a community in which the mere occupancy of position is an indication of the possession of more than … Read more

Biography of Rev. B. L. Baldridge

Rev. B. L. Baldridge was born in Adams County, Ohio, February 9, 1821. His father, Rev. William Baldridge, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1760. He served in the Revolutionary war at the age of sixteen years, and for many years after its close was an active minister in the United Presbyterian Church. He graduated from college in 1790, was licensed to preach in 1792, was ordained in 1793, and died October 31, 1830. The subject of this biographical sketch was educated at Miami University and subsequently studied theology at Oxford. He was ordained January 10, 1851, at Centerville, Michigan, by … Read more

Biography of Jackson B. Crane

Jackson B. Crane. Although the founder of the Crane family in Kansas, Jackson B. Crane was neither born nor died in this state, he spent forty-five years here, the best part of his life, and his name deserves preservation in the country’s enduring annals. His was one of the first pioneer cabins built in 1854 within a radius of eleven miles west of Leavenworth, then the frontier. He was one of that hardy band that not only dared the privations of the wilderness but had the resolute will that accepted a life that, at that time, positively demanded eternal vigilance … Read more

Biography of James A. McGonigle

James A. McGonigle. For many reasons may James A. McGonigle, contractor and builder and one of Leavenworth’s most respected citizens, be regarded as deserving of extended mention in a history of Kansas. He came to Leavenworth as a pioneer in 1857; he was an early, brave and loyal soldier in the Union army until incapacitated by wounds in the Civil war; since then had been more prominent in the upbuilding of the city than any other man; and still at the age of eighty-three carries on large business operations and with the same facility and exactness that won him the … Read more

Biography of Frederick M. Thompson

Frederick M. Thompson, superintendent of the city schools of Horton, and an educator of long and successful experience, is a native of Kansas, and his family have been identified with this state since the territorial period. His father, Samuel C. Thompson, who is now living at Leavenworth at the venerable age of eighty-two, came out to Kansas in 1856 and for a time was identified with the frontier Town of Leavenworth and later removed to Springdale. where he was employed by the firm of Russell Waddell and Major in their big sawmill twelve miles west of Leavenworth on “Big Stranger.” … Read more

Biography of James Bassett

James Bassett was a pioneer figure in Kansas. He arrived in the territory in 1857 and from that time forward until his death which occurred at Dover in Shawnee County, December 26, 1915, he was an upright, conscientious, hard working and successful citizen. He came to Kansas from Onondaga County, New York. A native of England, he was born in Glastonbury, January 25, 1856, and was one of the nine children of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hale) Bassett. Some years later, in 1849, Joseph Bassett set out for America, determined to establish a home for himself and family in the New … 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 Nathan C. Delano

Nathan C. Delano is the oldest merchant of Bellevue, when years of active and consecutive connection with business interests are considered, and is a most reliable representative of the commercial welfare of the town. He is now enjoying a large and constantly increasing trade and his prosperity is the reward of his well directed efforts and untiring diligence. A native of New York, he was born in Allegany County, October 31, 1852, and on the paternal side is of French-Huguenot ancestry, while on the maternal side he is of English lineage. Both families were founded in America at an early … Read more

Hepburn, John – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon The last sacred rites were held over the remains of John Hepburn last Sunday afternoon. Mr. Hepburn was one of Joseph’s most respected citizens and his death is a sad loss to all of his friends. John Hepburn was born at Leavenworth, Kansas in 1872 and died in Joseph June 7th, 1918 at the age of 45 years and eleven days. He came to Wallowa County in 1879, accompanied by his parents. He leaves four brothers and one sister to mourn his loss. One of these brothers is residing in Washougal, Wash. and one sister in … Read more

Biography of Matthew Edgar Pearson

Matthew Edgar Pearson is serving his fifteenth consecutive year as superintendent of the public schools of Kansas City, Kansas. He began his work in the schools of this city thirty years ago, and no one individual had so intimate a knowledge of the actual growth and development of the local school system and had done more to improve its efficiency than the Pearsons. He is one of the best known and oldest educators in the State of Kansas. Mr. Pearson was born at Plainsfield in Hendricks County, Indiana, March 8, 1862, but had lived in Kansas since he was ten … Read more

Biography of John Baptist Miege

John Baptist Miege, first Catholic bishop of Kansas, was born in 1815, the youngest son of a wealthy and pions family of the parish of Chevron, Upper Savoy, France. At an early age he was committed to the care of his brother, the director of the episcopal seminary of Moutiers, and completed his literary studies at the age of nineteen. After spending two more years at the seminary in the study of philosophy, on October 23, 1836, he was admitted to the Society of Jesns. The following eleven years he spent in further study, a portion of the time at … 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 George A. Clark

George A. Clark, now president of the Toneka Title and Bond Company, is a representative of that class of citizen who without special ostentation have been leaders in making Kansas one of the foremost states of the Union. He is a true and typical Kansan by reason of more than thirty-five years of active participation in its life and affairs. In one respect his career had been unusual. The greater part of his life had been passed in newspaper work, ranging in locality from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, but chiefly in Kansas. This work began as “printer’s … Read more

Biography of Percival G. Lowe

Percival G. Lowe, for many years prominent in the public affairs of the city and county of Leavenworth, worth, was, in his young manhood, a typical plainsman and Kansas dragoon. He was essentially a man of action, and his only literary production in book form, “Five Years a Dragoon,” presents many cloarcut pictures of those early times. As a life-member and president (1893) of the State Historical Society he has also placed on record many valuable papers dealing with those subjects with which he was so practically identified. Mr. Lowe was born at Randolph, Coos County, New York, September 29, … Read more

Biography of August Bondi

August Bondi was a splendid figure in the annals of Kansas for fully half a century, and had been fitly described as soldier and patriot and one of the immortal followers of John Brown. From the city of culture and of old world civilization, Vienna, Austria, it is a far cry to the plains of Kansas where were performed those deeds which will ring down through history. August Bondi was born at Vienna July 21, 1833, a son of Hart Emanuel and Martha (Frankl) Bondi, who were also natives of Vienna. His father was a Jewish manufacturer of cotton goods. … Read more