Leavenworth Kansas

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 Ezra King Longley

Ezra King Longley was one of the very early members of the bar of Elk County. He had not resided continuously in Elk County since he first went there more than forty-five years ago, but in recent years he had given all his time to his general practice as a lawyer with offices at Howard. Mr. Longley is now seventy years of age. Few men of that age have had such opportunities to know American life at the fountain head and have had experiences covering so many different and varied scenes and bringing them into closer contact with the men … 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 Harvey W. Ide

Harvey W. Ide was one of the men who bore a conspicuous part in the early history of that section of Kansas around Leavenworth. He arrived when Kansas was a territory, and at the height of the epoch-making struggle over the slavery question. He was long distinguished as a lawyer, for many years was judge of the district bench, and a leader possessing not only brilliant intellectual qualities but that moral stability which is the expression of a strong character. He was born in Saratoga County, New York, April 19, 1833, and fourteen years later, in 1847, his father, Rodman … Read more

Biography of William Small

William Small. In the death of William Small Leavenworth lost one of its greatest merchants and one of its most upright, energetic and lovable citizens. He had been a resident of Leavenworth nearly thirty years. He developed the largest real estate establishment of the city, a permanent monument to his name, and still conducted as William Small & Company. He was a man of even and gentle disposition, thoroughly alert in business matters, and public spirited in his attitude toward citizenship and towards the larger social life of his community. He was an invaluable factor in the growth and enterprise … 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 George A. Crawford

George A. Crawford, the founder of Fort Scott, a well known editor and public man and several times a gubernatorial candidate, was born in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1827, of Scotch-Irish-German stock. After recejving an aendemie education and graduating from Jefferson College, he taught school in Kentucky and Mississippi, when he returned to Pennsylvania to study law. While still reading for the bar, he became edjtor and proprietor of the Clinton Demoernt. During the early ’50s he took an active part in politics against the Know-Nothings and in 1855 was a delegate to the Pennsylvania Demeratie State Couvention. In … 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 William Gerald Bolman

William Gerald Bolman, who came to Kansas in 1863, is one of the veteran business men of Leavenworth, where for the past six years he had lived retired. For a number of years he was associated in a clerical capacity with the wholesale house of which the late Governor Carney was a member, but eventually engaged in business on an independent footing. He had many interesting experiences before coming to Kansas, and was a member of a prominent family in Canada. He was born at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, July 30, 1837, and was reared at Lunenburg and at Shelbourne. He … Read more

Biography of August Renz

August Renz, of Leavenworth, is a rather remarkable man. He is now eighty-three years of age, and while his material means would justify such a course, he refuses to be considered in the retired class. He is still working every day, and goes about with erect form and with a decision of purpose such as many younger men might envy. He had put in fifty-eight years of business activity at Leavenworth. So far as can be ascertained he is the oldest active business man of the city in point of continuous service. Mr. Renz is a native of Wuertemberg, Germany, … Read more

Biography of Hon. Vinton Stillings

Hon. Vinton Stillings, only son of the late Judge Edward Stillings, had lived in Leavenworth since early boyhood, though he spent much time in the East and abroad while securing his education and for purposes of travel. With the leisure afforded by ample means he had accepted the many opportunities which come to such men for rendering the vital service so much required in realizing the civic ideals of every community. He is a citizen upon whom progressive Leavenworth had often called and who had never failed to respond. While he is extremely modest as to his personal role, others … Read more

Biography of Col. James L. Abernathy

Col. James L. Abernathy, a key figure in Kansas history, moved to Leavenworth in 1856 and significantly contributed to its growth, particularly in the furniture industry. Born in Ohio in 1833, he displayed entrepreneurial spirit and civic involvement, serving as Leavenworth’s mayor and a bank president. An ardent supporter of the Union during the Civil War, he held the rank of captain. Known for his keen business acumen and charming personality, Abernathy was deeply respected and beloved, both in business and home life. He passed away on December 16, 1902.

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 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

Biographical Sketch of Benjamin S. Hubbell

Hubbell, Benjamin S.; architect; born, Leavenworth, Kas., July 11, 1867; educated, Cornell University, in senior year won scholarship in architecture, and was elected member of the Sigma XI, took degree in architecture in 1894; now practising under the name of Hubbell & Benes; firm was architect for Wade Memorial, Citizens Bldg., Cleveland School of Art, and other important structures; member Masons, Chamber of Commerce, American Institute of Architects and Colonial Club.

Biography of Matthew Weightman, Jr.

In the way of public service Mr. Weightman is best known for his work as treasurer of Shawnee County, an office he filled two terms and from which be retired quite recently. He had been a resident of Topeka for over forty years, is a native of Kansas, and represents an old and substantial family of the state. His father, after whom he was named, came to Kansas in 1855 during territorial days. Matthew Weightman, Sr., was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, came to America a young man, and for a time was in newspaper work associated with G. W. Wilder at Leavenworth. … Read more

Biography of Elmore W. Snyder

Elmore W. Snyder. A resident of Kansas since 1878, and with possibly one exception the oldest living bank president in the state, Elmore W. Snyder, president of the Manufacturers National Bank of Leavenworth, had been actively identified with the commercial and financial history of Kansas for nearly forty years. He was born in the Village of Red Creek, Wayne County, New York, November 23, 1850. Jacob Snyder, his great-grandfather, settled in that section of York State in pioneer times and operated a grist mill for many years. His grandfather, Amos Snyder, was there reared, engaged in farming, practiced law and … Read more

Biography of Henry Ettenson

Henry Ettenson, who died at Leavenworth October 19, 1909, though of foreign birth deserved and exemplified every characteristic associated with the title of a true American citizen. His was a career remarkable for obstacles overcome, for successes attained and for influences that helped make a community better and greater. He was born at Wilkowishken, Russia, June 30, 1850, one of a family of five children. He received the foundation of a practical education in his native country, and like most Jewish boys was well grounded in those two essential cardinal virtues of success–thrift and industry. To avoid the compulsory military … 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 Bernard Stephen Kelly, Father

Father Bernard Stephen Kelly. A man honored and beloved, an ecclesiastic revered and respected by all sections of the community, liberal natured, broad minded, generous, kindly and free, full of understanding of special circumstances and conditions, and with a heart open in sympathy to every necessity, Father Bernard Stephen Kelly, rector of the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, is an individual who exerts a powerful influence for morality and Christianity in the City of Leavenworth. Father Kelly is a son of William E. and Katherine (Dowd) Kelly, natives of Ireland, from which country they were brought by their respective parents in … Read more