Leavenworth County KS

Biography of Paul Rohr

Paul Rohr. The Rohr family is one of the oldest names of Leavenworth. The family came to Kansas in the early territorial period, soon after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and at the beginning of the struggle between the free state and pro-slavery elements. The name had many active associations with business, public and civic affairs in Leavenworth and the surrounding district. The late Paul Rohr, founder of the family in Kansas, was born in the Province of Lorain, then part of France, now Germany, in the district of Rohrbach on October 1, 1818. His father was Paul Rohr … Read more

Biography of Charles R. Jennison, Dr.

Dr. Charles R. Jennison, of Leavenworth, a brigadier general during the Civil war and afterward a leader in the public affairs of the state, was born in Jefferson County, New York, June 6, 1834. When he was twelve years old he moved with his parents to Wisconsin, and at the age of nineteen years he began to study medicine. After completing his medical course he practiced for a short time in Wisconsin and then came to Kansas, settling at Osawatomie in 1857. Within a short time he moved to Mound City, where he remained for three years, and then went … Read more

Biography of John Adam Endres

John Adam Endres was one of the notable men of Northeastern Kansas, for nearly thirty years was engaged in business and proved an active exponent of the best civic spirit in the City of Leavenworth, and died at his home there August 11, 1893. No finer class of citizens had ever been incorporated into American nationality than the emigrants from Germany in the decade following the Revolution of 1848. They exemplified the soul of patriotism, adapted themselves with wonderful versatility to the life and conditions of the New World, many of them fought for freedom and union, and in all … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Owen A. Bassett

Owen A. Bassett was one of the ablest and most energetie actors in the Border troubles, the Civil war and the civil affairs of the Roconstruction period. A Pennsylvasian by birth, his father moved to Illinois in 1837 and two years later to Iowa. The family home was first in Lee County. The son’s original intention was to be a civil engineer, but he finally decided in favor of the law, although the stirring and compelling affairs which entered his life prevented him for many years from utilizing the legal training which he acquired. In 1855 he was employed in … Read more

Biography of John Wilson Lauk, M. D.

John Wilson Lauck, M. D. Since 1903 Doctor Lauck had been engaged in his work as a physician and surgeon at Olsburg in Pottawatomie County. During that time Doctor Lauck had become a citizen of prominence in that community. He had done something toward the development of modern farming in that locality and is also a factor in the commercial enterprise of the village. Doctor Lauck is a native of Kansas, having been born in the City of Atchison October 28, 1875. He is of Scotch ancestry and his forefathers came from that country to Maryland in early days. His … Read more

Biography of Daniel W. Wilder

Daniel W. Wilder was one of the very few able men of Kansas who had little to do with politics or public office and passed most of his life in newspaper and literary pursuits. He graduated from the Boston Latin School in 1852, four years later received the degree of A. B. from Harvard and studied law in that institution at Rochester, New York, before he came west. In 1857 Mr. Wilder came to Kansas, located at Elwood in 1858, edited the Free Press and practiced law. He was one of the founders of the republican party in Kansas in … 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 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

Wall, William – Obituary

Brakeman Killed At Hilgard Saturday William Wall a brakeman in the employee of the O.W.R.& N. company, was instantly killed last Saturday night at Hilgard; when he stepped between two engines as they suddenly came together. His skull was crushed. Mr. Wall was born at Leavenworth, Kansas thirty-one years ago. He was unmarried making his home with a brother in La Grande. The funeral was held at La Grande Wednesday. North Powder News Saturday, October 30, 1920

Biography of James Wood

James Wood. Among her valued citizens Kansas can number yet many of her pioneers, not the floating population of her earliest territorial days, but men who came to the state as homeseekers, even before the outbreak of the Civil war. These courageous and resourceful men are universally held in honorable esteem for the great progress made by Kansas was founded upon their hardihood and energy. One of these is found in James Wood, a representative citizen and a substantial farmer of Ogden Township, Riley County. James Wood was born in England, September 27, 1844, the eldest son of William and … Read more

Biography of Joseph Kennedy Hudson, General

Gen. Joseph Kennedy Hudson. One of the ablest soldiers of Kansas and most determined fighter for the free-state movement, the late General Hudson will have a lasting fame not only for what he did in the trying years of Kansas’ youth, but also as founder and for many years editor of the Topeka Capital. It was his resourcefulness as a practical newspaper man and his wonderful ability as an editor and molder of public opinion that gave the Capital its wide influence and standing as a journal, and the history of the Kansas Press had no more notable figure than … Read more

Biography of Rev. John G. Pratt

Rev. John G. Pratt, one of the most widely known Protestant missionaries of Kansas and the West, was born in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1814 and graduated from Andover Seminary in the fall of 1836. He was immediately licensed to preach and the Baptist Suciety sent him to the Indian country to labor among the Shawnees. He continued that work for seven years, and in the fall of 1844 located four miles south of Fort Leavenworth to take charge of a contemplated mission of Green Bay Indians, lately arrived from Wisconsin. But they did not receive the promised allotment of land, … 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

Biographical Sketch of Marcus J. Parrott

Marcus J. Parrott, the second delegate to Congress from Kansas Territory, was born at Hamburg, South Carolina, October 27, 1828. He received both a classical and a legal education and served two terms in the Ohio Legislature (having located for practice at Dayton) previous to becoming a resident of Leavenworth in 1855. At the first session of the Territorial Supreme Court, which commenced in July of that year, he was appointed reporter of the decisions, and in October was elected a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional Convention. He acted as a lawyer of the defense in the trial of Governor … Read more

Biography of Thomas W. Morgan

Thomas W. Morgan is warden of the Federal prison at Leavenworth. He began his career in Kansas as a newspaper man. Newspaper work brought him naturally into touch with all sorts and conditions of men and affairs and he is only one of many examples that might be noted of newspaper men who have graduated into other spheres of interest and activity. For a number of years Mr. Morgan had been connected with the penal and reformatory institutions of the state, and had become deeply interested in the many sociological problems involved in the handling and administration of prison affairs. … Read more

Biography of John Clare

John Clare. The name of John Clare recalls one of the very early territorial pioneers of Kansas. This family, of Irish origin, settled in Eastern Kansas about the time the original Kansas-Nebraska bill was being considered by Congress, and from that time to the present members of the family have shared their fortunes with the fortunes of the Sunflower State, have been worthy members of various communities and have done their share in carrying forward the work of advancement and progress. The late John Clare was born in Queens County, Ireland, in 1836. His father Michael Clare first brought his … Read more

Biography of Robert A. Lovitt

Robert A. Lovitt. As president of the Saline County Bar Association, Robert A. Lovitt’s professional status with his brethren may be judged, but his reputation in business, politics, social life and on the lecture platform extends all over the state. He had been a valued resident of Salina since August 5, 1876. Robert A. Lovitt was born in his father’s primitive log cabin in Muskingum County, Ohio, October 10, 1851. His parents were Evan J. and Leah (Stamats) Lovitt, he of English ancestry and she of German revolutionary stock. The father of Mr. Lovitt was born in New Jersey, was … Read more

Biography of Early Whitten Poindexter

Early Whitten Poindexter. On January 8, 1854, there was born on a farm in Martin County, Indiana, near the village with the euphonious name of Loogootee, a boy whose destiny soon took him away from his father’s fields and livestock and in 1885 brought him to Kansas, where now for more than thirty years he has been general agent for Kansas of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is recognized as one of the ablest life insurance men of the country. He is one of the leaders in the force of men who are regarded as the most aggressive … Read more

Biography of Leonard R. Manley

The value of a useful trade, of making one’s energy count toward one thing, of forging steadily ahead, regardless of obstaeles and discouragements, finds emphatic expression in the life of Leonard R. Manley, president and manager of the Topeka Pure Milk Company, the largest concern dealing exclusively in milk in the State of Kansas. When Mr. Manley first came to Topeka, it was in a humble capacity, but he was a thorough master of his trade, and possessed the ambition, energy and ability to better and elevate himself, so that he had shapod his abilities to his needs, had made … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Clark Ferguson

CLARK FERGUSON. – This gentleman was born in Putnam county, New York, October 13, 1835, and lived at his birthplace until the age of twenty. In April, 1855, he came with his brother Yates via the Nicaragua route to the land of gold, arriving in San Francisco in May. After two years of life in California, he returned to his Eastern home, but one year later again came west via the overland route. On reaching Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and receiving the intelligence of the Mormon troubles, he located in that place, remaining two years. He then came to the mines … Read more