Lincoln County KS

Biography of Willard E. Lyon

Willard E. Lyon, of Lincoln, is an old time Kansas man, having lived in this state from early infancy. He became widely known in educational affairs, but in more recent years had applied his time and energies to a rapidly developing business as a real estate and oil man at Lincoln. Mr. Lyon was born at Chilton, Calumet County, Wisconsin, March 30, 1874, but came to Kansas too early in life to have any distinct recollections of his native locality. His grandfather, Christopher C. Lyon, was born in Western New York in 1817, was a farmer by occupation, and lived … Read more

Biography of W. R. Blanding

W. R. Blanding. Among the prosperous business enterprises of Barnard, Kansas, none perhaps are more soundly established than is the Blanding Hardware Company, which was started by W. R. Blanding, the present secretary and treasurer, who is also vice president of the First National Bank of Barnard. He is a man of large business experience and in public esteem no citizen is considered more trustworthy. W. R. Blanding was born in Kent County, near Lowell, Michigan, May 11, 1871. His ancestors came to the United States many generations ago from Germany and settled in New York, and in that state … Read more

Biography of Rolla Edwin Long

Rolla Edwin Long, superintendent of the city schools of Galena, is an educator of wide and diversified experience in the schools of this state, and has spent altogether upwards of twenty years in a profession which is one of the most important to the welfare of mankind. In 1916 he entered upon his fourth consecutive year as superintendent of the schools of Galena. The people of that city take special pride in their schools, and Mr. Long has done much to raise the local school standards and improve the different departments of instruction. Under his supervision are six schools, a … Read more

Biography of Benjamin Rees

Benjanin Rees. For a half century the Rees family had been known in Mitchell County, Kansas. While largely agricultural, it had been otherwise connected but had always been numbered with the stable, reliable, progressive and law-abiding class. The leading representative at present, Benjamin Rees, a substantial farmer residing at Asherville, was born on the site of this village in 1869. He is a son of John and Nancy Bees, the former of whom is an honored retired resident of Barnard, Lincoln County, Kansas, and the latter of whom died there in 1906. John Rees was born in Wales and from … Read more

Biography of Michael Joseph Healy

Michael Joseph Healy has come into the distinctions of public life at a very early age. He had been active as a teacher and school administrator, is former clerk of the District Court, and is now serving as county attorney of Lincoln County. His family were among the earliest settlers of Lincoln County. His father, Owen Healy, was born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1842, where his father was a farmer and where he died. The grandmother, Ellen Healy, who was born in County Galway in 1822, came to the United States in 1865 and with her son Owen settled … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Otto W. Shelksohn, M. D.

Otto W. Shelksohn, M. D. Occupying a prominent place among the medical men of Lincoln County is Dr. Otto W. Shelksohn, of Sylvan Grove, Kansas, where he had been in active and successful practice for a number of years. Doctor Shelksohn is an example of a self-made man, in that he conquered early drawbacks of environment and lack of opportunity through his own efforts and had won his way far toward the front through the recognition of his own ability and a determination to excel in his chosen profession. Otto W. Shelksohn was born October 18, 1868, at Homestead, Allegheny … Read more

Biography of James A. Lounsbury M.D.

James A. Lounsbury, M. D. In the career of Dr. James A. Lounsbury there had been demonstrated the fact that an individual can dominate in more than one direction, and that some of the most prominent citizens and successful business men are those who have branched out from their original field of endeavor and directed their abilities towards perfecting various business interests as well as raising the standard of their communities. When he entered upon his active career it was as a laborer in the prolific field of medicine, but subsequent interests wooed him away from his profession and took … Read more

Biography of William Bruce Middlekauff

William Bruce Middlekauff, banker, farmer and stockman of Vesper, came to Kansas with his father over forty years ago, and since then the interests and activities and holdings of the Middlekauff family have grown apace until the name is now one of the most substantial and respected in Lincoln County. The family through its varied relationship had become prominently known in Kansas, Mr. Middlekauff himself is a native of Maryland and in the vicinity of Hagerstown the family and its kin have lived for generations. Mr. Middlekauff’s grandfather, Daniel Middlekauff, was also born near Hagerstown, Maryland, was a farmer and … Read more

Biography of Carlton M. Lounsbury

Carlton M. Lounsbury has played a very effective and successful role in Kansas affairs for over fortyfive years and now, at the age of seventy-one, a young old man, is enjoying comfortable retirement at the city of Lincoln. Mr. Lounsbury is of an English family. It was his grandfather who came from England and first settled in Canada. Carlton M. Lounsbury’s father Rudolphus Lounsbury, was born in Canada in 1797, but when a young man came to the United States and settled in Western New York, in what was known as the “Holland Purchase.” He followed the vocation of agriculture … Read more

Biography of John Calene

John Calene. The mercantile interests of Sylvan Grove, Kansas, are well represented by stable and intelligent business men, and one of these is John Calene, who is president of the Calene mercantile Company and is identified with other enterprises of importance. Mr. Calene was born in Sweden, near the great City of Stockholm, July 17, 1856. His parents were L. E. and Christine Calene, both of whom were born in Sweden, the father in 1822 and the mother in 1825, and both died in Dickinson County, Kansas, the former in 1880 and the latter in 1907. L. E. Calene grew … Read more

Biography of Carl Judge

Carl Judge. While Carl Judge, the well known journalist, the owner and editor of the Beverly Tribune, at Beverly, Kansas, could ill be spared from the newspaper profession, there are other lines in which he was trained, and in which he would have undoubtedly gained recognition had he chosen to pursue them. Mr. Judge was a man of considerable newspaper experience before he came to Kansas, and had owned and very ably edited other journals than the Tribune. Carl Judge was born in Osage County, Kansas, July 10, 1878. His parents were Martyr C. and Mary (Roberts) Judge. His father … Read more

Biography of Thomas A. Biggs

Thomas A. Biggs, cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Barnard, and one of the progressive and enterprising business men and financiers of Lincoln County, was born on a farm six miles south of Barnard, February 13, 1881, a son of Capt. John J. and Mary Ann (Stokes) Biggs. The Biggs family were pioneers in Ohio, where, in Meigs County, January 13, 1838, was born Capt. John J. Biggs. His title was secured as a soldier during the Civil war, he having enlisted from his native county in 1861 as a member of an Ohio volunteer infantry regiment, from which … Read more

Biography of Winslow Cipra

Winslow Cipra, editor and proprietor of the Lincoln Sentinel and present postmaster of that city, had spent nearly all his life in Kansas, and had had a varied career of usefuluess as a teacher, business man and in journalism and public affairs. Mr. Cipra represents that sterling stock of Bohemian people who have accomplished so much for the cause of agriculture and development in Kansas. He was born at Teskov, Bohemia, December 8, 1873. His father, Frank Cipra, was born in Zbirov, Bohemia, in October, 1839, grew up and married at Teakov, and followed farming according to the intensive methods … Read more

Biography of Harry L. Hinckley, M. D.

Harry L. Hinckley, M. D. Visitors of a decade past at Barnard, Kansas, who found good reason, especially in bad weather, to hasten the transaction of their business so that they might pass on to a more attractive and modern village, would scarcely recognize the present beautiful town, with its substantial buildings, its fine graveled streets and its air of progress and civic pride. There are few of the satisfied residents who do not gratefully acknowledge that much of this change had been brought about through the admirable administrative efforts of Dr. Harry L. Hinckley, who is serving in his … Read more

Biography of John S. Stover

John S. Stover. During an unusually busy life many important interests have claimed the attention of John S. Stover, one of Lincoln’s representative and substantial citizens, these including financial, agricultural, mercantile and political, and few men are better known in Lincoln County or more generally trusted and esteemed. He comes of old Pennsylvania stock and in that state the name of Stover is yet well and honorably represented. John S. Stover was born at Boalsburg, Center County, Pennsylvania, September 29, 1870. His parents were David and Elvina (Sechler) Stover. David Stover was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, in 1838, and … Read more

Biography of William H. Cheney

William H. Cheney. To trace the founding of the Cheney family in America one must go far back in colonial history, back almost to the days when a friendly sovereign presented the present State of Maryland to Lord Baltimore. But a few years later the Cheneys, of English and French descent, came also and received from Lord Baltimore grants of land on which they lived for many years. These lands were in Washington County, which was the family home as far back as the great-grandfather of William H. Cheney, who is one of the representative men of Vesper, Kansas, and … Read more

Biography of George Alvin Wilson

George Alvin Wilson, present sheriff of Lincoln County, is one of the strong, fearless and independent men developed by life on the plains and in contact with the ranching business. Mr. Wilson had spent many years as a practical stockman and so far as his official duties permit he still gives active superintendence to his farm in Lincoln County. Mr. Wilson was born in this county March 10, 1877. His people were among the early settlers. A number of generations back the Wilsons claimed German ancestry, but the family was established in New York in colonial days and subsequently were … Read more

Biography of Newton J. Davison

Newton J. Davison, former county clerk of Lincoln County, had been in Kansas for many years and is now giving a splendid business service as an abstractor and real estate and loan business man at Lincoln. Mr. Davison was born at Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, September 14, 1866. His grandfather Davison was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1798, married in his native country, where he had a small bit of farming land, and later he and his wife, Rachel, immigrated to America, settling first in New York State and moving from there to Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he farmed until his … Read more

Biography of Harry D. Hall

Harry D. Hall. A very necessary business house in every community is a first-class drug store, one conducted, in an open and honorable way, by a well qualified man who holds himself responsible for the remedies he compounds and recommends. A druggist of this character is found in Harry D. Hall, who is the leading man in his line in Lincoln, Kansas, his drug store on Main Street being an old landmark, the site of the first drug store in this section of the state. Harry D. Hall was born at Toulon, Illinois, February 17, 1872, the fourth in a … Read more

Biography of Reinhold W. Simon

Reinhold W. Simon. One of the representative business men of Westfall, Kansas, is found in Reinhold W. Simon, who is cashier of the Westfall State Bank, a financial institution that was established in 1916 and already is doing a large business, great confidence being placed in its solidity because of the high character of its officials. Although one of the younger generation of business men here, Mr. Simon had had considerable banking experience and had an enviable reputation for business ability. Reinhold W. Simon was born at Markesan, Wisconsin, January 26, 1889, and is a son of E. F. and … Read more